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Published: February 11th 2016
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Time to Leave
Good-bye, Carnival Cruise Ship 2/16/16- FYI - My travel blog delivery site had a bug in their system so my last 2 blogs did not get sent out to my subscribers. Doing it again and hoping it works this time. Note dates on my blogs to see where I left off. Thanks for your patience - Sandy
Time to get up! I know it's early but everyone wants breakfast before we start leaving the ship. Once, twice, three times, we check the room to make sure nothing is left behind. Lulu hooks herself onto my purse. She's not staying! No way!
Our instructions are vague and confusing for disembarking. We need to stay together. If one gets lost, we will all get lost. Breakfast is slowly ingested, savoring every morsel..... and we are on our way. Need to find our holding area. Oh, good grief, our assigned spot is back at that tortuous Liquid Lounge theater I had thought we had left behind for good. At least, it is quiet except for the chatter and talk amongst our group. And so we wait for our departure number to be called. Our travel director is no where in sight. Haven't seen much of him
Moving on out.......
Checking through security and customs throughout the entire cruise to really gather any information. Oh, well...we are big girls and boys. Figure it out yourselves! Soon, our number is announced. We now head to baggage claim. First through security....no bells and whistles this time. The staff on this ship really know what they are doing. Everything is well organized. We gather up our luggage and move slowly but continuously through the "Disney-like" lines. Next, customs....nothing to declare so we are allowed to pass. All our money was spent in the stupid casino. We all follow-the-leader to the exit doors and step outside to get the bus. What the he-l?Yikes. Help! It's freezing outdoors! The cold wind whips around us as we stand clumped together in a shivering mass. Are we really in Florida or did the boat take a wrong turn and dock us in Alaska? I think so! Where the he-l is the bus? Not to be seen. Mumbling and grumbling in discomfort and distress, we search for the bus.....nothing. Every other bus is here but not ours. Sure! Where is our travel director? Sam, Diane and I found a small ray of sunshine glowing down on a pole near the building wall. We
chain ourselves to it trying to survive. Lulu turns into a popsicle. Eventually, the travel director shows up and tries to locate our bus. Our frozen herd now heads away from this frigid spot to another......many blocks down the pike. Just keep moving -- just keep moving (Nemo)! You'll freeze if you stop. Ultimately, we make it to our bus. Please have the heater on! We all waste no time getting in our seats. Finally, we are set to go! Hooray, Hooray, Hooray! Nope! Wait a minute! We aren't going anywhere. One couple has not boarded. No one knows where they are. Jeepers. At least we have a seat and are out of the windy cold air but the wait seems forever. Eventually, they show up and we can depart. Someone said they were watching a rocket launch as we sat & tapped our frozen toes. Moving on...the bus driver directs this big vehicle towards Tropical Palms. No heat in the section of the bus we are in....feels like the windows have been left open. Brrrrrrr. Cold air blowing and circulating around us. We just can't catch a break. Just like our RV when we travel down in January.....but we
Looking for the bus and sunshine!
Cold, cold weather we waited in! have learned to turn on the furnaces so we don't freeze to death. Not this time! This whole senerio has been difficult and rugged. I'm really trying not to whine but it's not easy. Up front, they are warm and toasty. The cruising crowd is quiet during the ride. Whether it is sadness because it is over, or some have just frozen to death, or just pure exhaustion......many weary travelers used this lulling ride to take a snooze or they may be dead. I wrote a blog. Lulu slept (warm inside my pocketbook). And finally, we were back at Tropical Palms. Always good to return home. We wasted no time cranking our two furnaces up and warming the RV to a high & toasty temperature. We started putting things away but suddenly, we just had to stop. Between the high heat and exhaustion, we slumped onto our couches and slept the rest of the afternoon. A dead sleep. Oh, it was good.
This ends the saga of our latest cruise on the Carnival Sunshine. We hope you had a good time riding the high seas. We were so glad you hoped aboard with us. The more the merrier. We
wish you all smooth sailing and happy days from this point on.
Don't get too weary and lethargic.....we still have places to go and things to do! Are you kidding me? Nope. Time to get going, again. This has become like an endurance test!
Tonight, our friend, Joe Rossi, has worked very hard to put together an evening at the horse races for the Tropical Palms people. He has done this for several years. Every attendee loves it. I know you will, also. Put your betting visors on. We all buy a horse: color it and name it. Mine is called Lucky Lulu....obviously! Cory's is called Hard Eight from his poolroom days. Throughout the night, a DVD of actual horse races shows on the TV's. Our own horses are correlated with those on the screen. And then "They're Off"! The betters all scream and thrash for their horse to win. In the beginning, we are given many $1,000's of fake dollars.....when your horse wins, you get even more and if you have bet on that horse, you also share in the winnings. Once all the races end, you use your fake money to buy tickets that you put
Cold as if in a refrigerator
No kidding! We felt like this! towards winning gift certificates from local restaurants, etc. We won a $25 certificate at Cracker Barrel. Hooray! Kudos to Joe & Bonnie. They really know what's fun and how to entertain this group from Tropical Palms. Thank you for all the work you do to make this evening such a fun filled success. Oh, yeah.....we even had free food at this event. What more could you ask for? Fun & Food & Prizes.......Hip-Hip-Hooray for Joe! He's the man!
I don't even know how we found our RV, let alone our long missed bed. The cruise ship had a comfy bed but our mile high bed still tops it. Zonk.......down and out for the call! See you soon! Hope you had a good time! We did (mostly)!
P.S. - I ended up with a rotten cold after being exposed for so long to the frigid air we had to stand like icicles in. We would have been warmer inside a refrigerator! Lulu is sick, too!
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