January 24 - “San Juan”

We had quite the anticipatory morning. The ship was due to dock at San Juan, Puerto Rico, but not until around 1:30. They kept making announcements asking everyone to wait in the common areas instead of blocking the stairways to the exit level. Reckon they have had some folks on previous trips not behave?

We grabbed a slice of pizza and went back up to our room to watch docking from our balcony. We were surprised by an unexpected announcement. They were once again switching time zones, and the ship’s official time was now an hour earlier. How about getting a little more confusing?  

We walked around San Juan. I mean literally. We hiked an entire loop around old town San Juan. In those 11,651 steps (about 4.7 miles), we explored two massive castles (At one a small group started randomly singing Amazing Grace in a small chapel - beautiful), saw a very colorful outdoor basketball court, saw a hotel that has been transformed from a convent (guess the name of the hotel- The Convent), saw a really pretty cathedral and a gorgeous tiny chapel, saw a lady letting hundreds of pigeons roost on her - just like the lady in Home Alone, stopped at a souvenir shop and bought, of all things, a Puerto Rico Roberto Clemente jersey, took my picture next to one of those giant chair photo op places, and someone may or may not have even danced a bit in the rain (hint: it was NOT Chris). Whew! We earned those almost five miles. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬ says, Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus

Father, thank you once again for new experiences. Amen. 

January 23 - “New Art Connoisseurs”

We started the day off with a walk. Just a stroll around those parts of the ship we haven’t seen yet. We finally located the walking track and the gym. Got those areas in our muscle memory now. 

Later in the morning we went to our first Art auction. Yep. The world may just have a couple of new Art Connoisseurs. It was kinda strange. We had to register to get a bidding card and number. After we had ten minutes to peruse the art, the auctioneer got started. She was an amazingly fast talker, as auctioneers must be. The atmosphere was electric.  The serious bidders were excited to get started. The onlookers like us were excited to see if we would win a raffle prize (we didn’t). 

The only painting that interested me was of a guy in a white suit and white hat with his head exploding. Minimum bid was $969. Nope. My own head would explode for that price. 

Back in the room after a Guy’s Burger for lunch, we had to make a different reservation for a replacement excursion on our next cruise. Royal Caribbean cancelled the one we wanted. They did refund what we already paid, so we booked the new one. As it happened, this one was almost a hundred dollars less. Go figure. 

Before dinner we went to another music gig. This time the violin trio did a set of Beatles music.  They also introduced each song with the history behind it. Fascinating. I knew the songs, but I had never heard the history. The violins did a great job. Wish someone else would have sung the words … er … I mean someone … just someone. 

After dinner we raced to the opposite side of the ship (we were all the way aft; had to get all the way fore). We made it in plenty of time for the show night, “80’s Pop to the Max.” I didn’t know any of the songs. We were busy raising kids around that time, so … Jesus Loves Me, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the like made up our repertoire. 

On the way back to the room we grabbed an ice cream cone. Then we sat by the pool and watched the pool water crash from one side to the other. Hey. It doesn’t take much to entertain us. 

‭‭Philemon‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ says, I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ.

Father, please ease up the pain Chris has been having in her back and hip. We have some walking to do today. Amen. 

January 22 - “Surprise Violins”

We finally found some land that we could stop at. It was at a place called Celebration Key. Apparently Carnival owns a huge swatch of land that they have developed into a tourist resort there. 

I watched as we docked. Always pretty impressive how they maneuver such a massive ship into such a tiny space. And to top it off, another cruise ship, Carnival Freedom, docked shortly after us. That equaled lots of people on the sand. 

We had breakfast with an interesting partner. A lady by herself asked if she could share our table while she drank her tea. She was from Canada with roots in Denmark. And boy, could she talk! We heard all about her family and other cruises she has been on. That’s one of my favorite parts of going on a cruise - the people you get to meet from all over. 

After breakfast we did make our way off the ship. Had to be able to say we went to the Bahamas, after all. The place, Celebration Key, is essentially a large water park with beaches as well as fresh water pools. There was a large area right as we entered that was set aside for vendors. Some of them were the national chains that have contracts with Carnival. We pretty much skipped through them. 

But there was one area designated for local craftsmen. That’s where we headed. We didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to see what the artisans came up with using wood and local seashells. 

Pulled away from the dock to waves and cheers from the Freedom. On our way to Puerto Rico. It’ll take another day, though. Fun Day at Sea … again. 

Last night we made the rounds and listened to ova lot of music. All styles. I liked the rock and roll guys. Gotta say, though, my favorite of the night was violin trio group. Their rendition of “Devil Went Down to Georgia “ was really good. I even taped it. You don’t have anything to worry about, Corey. They were just awesome violinists. They hadn’t learned to fiddle yet. 

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭10‬ says, The name of Yahweh is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.

Father, please be with the local craftsmen. Grant them success in their small businesses. Amen. 

January 21 - “Motown Music”

Breakfast was a bit different. Instead of going through the buffet, we decided to try the omelet station. Always fun to see the different techniques this guys display. And the omelets aren’t half bad, either. 

We finally found some land! Our first clue came when the weather app said we were in the United States instead of the Gulf of America. Then Chris said she could see land aport (we’re on the port side of the ship). Finally our phones clocks caught up with where we were. 

Our first stop of the journey was at Key West. Again … still in America. However …

High winds and waves at Key West caused the cancellation of that stop. So, another “Fun Day at Sea.” So much for getting off the ship for a while. 

After lunch we went to meeting about the different islands that were excursion sites. Then we stumbled across a young lady giving away free artwork. All we had to do was guess how much painting was worth. She did give us a clue: “It’s under $10,000.” I guessed $7,999.99. She was impressed. Didn’t tell us how much it really was though. We have to go to some future event to find that out. 

We also played an art scavenger hunt game. We had to match actual art with a list of clues. We got 17 out of 20. Not bad. 

From there we went to the comedy club for a performance that was added. They assured us it was rated PG. I would say it was true to its promise. And the guy really was funny. Good storyteller. 

Then we raced over to an art seminar. Yep. You read that right. I’m pretty fascinated by the whole art scene (Read here Salvadore Dali). And bless Chris’ heart - she sat through the whole thing with me. Thanks, Babe. 

Last night’s dinner was the one where all the waiters spread out across the room and sing and dance. Our waiter may or may not have enlisted the assistance of someone from our table to join him in the dancing part of the evening’s revelry. And that someone may or may not have been all too happy to rock out. Of course all this is strictly hypothetical …

After dinner we took in part of the Motown Music show. Then we stuck around for the after party with lots of singing and dancing. It was fun, but kind of exhausting. And Chris’ hip has been bothering her, so we ambled back to the room for the rest of the evening. 

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭15‬ says, See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

Father, please ease up the hip pain Chris has been having. Amen. 

January 20 - “Some hard core Elvis”

Did time change on the ship instead of staying on Galveston time. That was different from every other cruise we have been on. Usually they stay on whatever time it was when the ship left its home port. 

Heading down to join the 50’s dance class when we ran into Joe and Cindy, some friends from their  Seaside days. Stood in the hallway and chatted with them for 15 or 20 minutes. Just long enough to miss the dance class. But reuniting with old friends? Way better. 

We spent the bulk of the afternoon sleeping. Yep. Whiling away our day doing absolutely nothing. It was kinda nice. 

At dinner we met another of the couples assigned to our table. Jay and Brenda are from Burleson, near Mansfield. We had something in common right away - the Metroplex. 

Next we headed over to the show of the night, Consuela Ivy, a singer. She did a lot of talking as well. She did her dead-level best to connect with the audience. And her message (I think she said it 50 or 100 times), was “Love, Love, Love.” Pretty good voice, but she was fond of adding her own twiddly-diddly extra flare to everything. Not my favorite approach to music. 

Now the next place we went was much better. At least they played old rock and roll songs that we oldies knew. Even hit us with some hard core Elvis. That group? I liked. 

We stopped off for an ice cream cone on the way back to the room. That was near the huge outdoor movie screen. And the national championship college football game was being shown. I went out to check the score while Chris waited inside. ESPN showed a commercial for every sport known to man. They even had one for cricket. Whew! Indiana was beating Miami at the half. I was hooked. Not on sitting outside in the cold, though. I watched the rest of the game on my phone back in the room. Indians won in a squeaker. 

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭133‬:‭1‬ says, How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

Father, thanks for our serendipitous meeting with Joe and Cindy. Bless their time on the cruise. Amen. 

January 19 - “The Day”

Well, The Day finally arrived. Time to get on a big ol’ boat and sail off into the Eastern Caribbean wilds for destinations island-ish (but allegedly different from the island we already live on). It’s been a long time coming. 

To complicate matters, I woke up to a temperature of 38 degrees, with a windchill of 26. Yep. Disturbingly cold for our tropical island paradise. We braved the harsh elements, though. Many thanks to April and Nathan for the ride. 

We made our way through the maze of roped-off lines fairly easily. That is until we went through the metal detector. Chris sailed through with no problem. But when I walked through, the burglar alarm sounded. The lady asked if I had any metal in my body. I replied, “Oh, yeah. All Over. Neck. Back. Knee.” She laughed and called out their secret code. Sounded something like, “Cleanup on aisle 2!” I had to be patted down like a criminal because I had metal in my body. But hey. There was laughter all around. 

Next task … the elevators were all jam-packed, so I had to carry our very heavy carryon bag from the 4th deck all the way to our room on Deck 9.  Well, why not start the cruise with a sore back?

We stayed in port a very long time. Seems there was some difficulty loading the provisions. Gotta have those provisions. 

Meanwhile, we stood on our balcony (for short periods at a time - did I mention that it was cold? Very cold). And why would we torture ourselves like that? Well, I was taking pictures of the Battleship Texas (moored right across the channel from us) and the frolicking dolphins. 

Finally, our appointed time for dinner arrived. The crowd was large waiting for the doors to open, but things went really fast when they did. Our servers were from Indonesia.: Ibrahim, Nisi (or something like that) and Atma. Great guys. Our table mates were 

Tony & Maria from San Antonio, but they left before they ever ordered, and Bill and Pam from Garland. They seemed to be a fun couple. I’m looking forward to seeing them every night. 

Back to the delayed departure. Our scheduled departure time of 4:30 soon became 7:00. No one really noticed except those of us who enjoyed watching the island fade into by the distance. We got to see it by the lights, though. Very pretty. 

We strolled around some more after dinner. I tried to get Chris to dance with me during the three violin gig happening at the dance floor. Maybe I shouldn’t have shown her my moves. But the violinists liked ‘em. Maybe later?

And there they were. The moves busted out again. We went to a show that was the crew singing funky music stuff. Not there. The best part of that show was when they had two audience members play that shake the ping pong balls out of the box tied to their backsides game. Funny stuff. 

But the moves. That came at the after party. Even got Chris to loosen up a little on some of the dances. But I didn’t know there were line dances. Macarena (I never have gotten that one). Electric slide (is that the right name?).  And whatever that one is called that John Travolta danced to. Let’s just say they finally found some songs that us old folks remembered. We’ll leave it at that. 

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭says, Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

Father, please sail with us these next 14 days. Amen. 

January 18 - “Packed”

Well, Chris is officially in packing mode. She even got me to start pulling the clothes I want to take. Not sure why. We had until about 12:30 or so today to get it all done. How hard could it be?

We did take a break or two. I was determined to finish our binge of Stranger Things. That proved somewhat difficult. All we had left was two one-hour episodes and the two-hour series finale. We did it. Great sense of accomplishment there. 

Of course while that was going on, so was the washing machine and dryer. And we also got pretty much all of the suitcase-type packing (ie clothes) done. 

I think we are just about ready to board a ship. See ya when we get back. 

Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬ says, No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.

Father, come ride this boat with us, work you? Amen.