March 3 - 6, 2025 - Biscotti - Windshield Washer Pump - Suitcases - Concert - Downspout - MH Gone - Practice

 My Blog Reflection

“You have not seen all there is to see, and that, my friend, is a beautiful thing.”

​

– MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS

Monday March 3, 2025

The rest of the week we will be busy and on Friday Renee and Jim arrive for a visit. Today not much is on the agenda so I decided to make two batches of Biscotti - one with dates and one with cranberries. The first was the cranberry batch and they came out fine.

I made a rookie mistake on the baking time of the batch with dates. This batch got a little overcooked but still edible. (Mikey will eat anything.)

Our neighbors, Mark and Susan, arrived from Pennslyvannia last night. I saw Mark this morning and gave him the bottle of “Shipwreck Mango Rum” we purchased to thank him for his help with the stump grinder on the driveway project. He told me they are having a lot of company for the next couple of weeks so we may not get to hang out with them before we leave at the end of the month.

Last week the windshield washer pump quit working on the HHR. I pulled the pump out and got online to find a replacement. On most sites this little plastic pump costs up to $90.00! Crazy for a four-inch plastic pump.

I kept looking until I found one on Amazon for $9.00. I ordered it and it arrived today. The new pump looked identical to the old one but it would just not plug in. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the prongs on the replacement were flat whereas the prongs on the original were round. Here is the new one.

 Here is the old one.

I have to find another pump and pay a much greater price I guess.

Tuesday March 4, 2025

Early this morning I went for a bike ride around the park. It is trash day so I always keep my eye open for items being thrown away that I may want. LOL. 

Yesterday on the way home we saw two very nice large suitcases sitting out by the curb on our street. It is customary in the park to set things out by the curb that you no longer want but think may be of value to someone else. Kelly and I briefly discussed stopping to look at the suitcases but we did not. On my bike ride I stopped to examine them. They were in perfect condition on the outside. They each had four rollers on the bottom, which is a great convenience in airports, etc. Our larger suitcases at home only have two wheels. These would be an upgrade. I got the golf cart and hauled them home. Upon closer examination I found that all the zippers work well, there are no tears nor damage on the outside, the insides were like new, and neither suitcase had any kind of smell.  

We will take them home for future trips and donate our two-wheeled ones to St. Vincent's Thrift Store.

Back on the bike, as I was riding around the park, I came upon an old mobile home that was being demolished and hauled off. They use two dumpsters - one for metal to be recycled and one for the rest of the debris. Even a small trackhoe makes short work of such a project.

I would imagine that this mobile home was one of the originals in the park dating back fifty years. It was probably damaged by the hurricane and not worth repairing. People buy the old mobile homes for the price of the co-op share, tear them down, and bring in a brand new double-wide. I've been told this project costs about $250,000.00 by the time the new home is purchased and installed, utilities connected, steps put in, driveways poured, and carport and/or Florida Room added on. When this happens it is a good sign that people are interested in investing their money in the park.

At 9:00 a.m. I went up to the clubhouse to buy tickets for the "Camel Races", which are taking place in a couple of weeks as a fundraiser for the Women’s Club. We have never been to them before and thought we would try our luck. The lady selling the tickets told me it is a lot of fun and the $8.00 ticket price includes a pulled pork dinner. Not bad if you don’t loose a lot. LOL

My morning project was to look online for a replacement windshield washer pump that would fit but not cost $90.00. After some searching I found one at NAPA for $32.99. I drove to the nearest store taking the old along to make sure this one had the right electrical prongs. It did. From there I went to the UPS Store to return the pump from Amazon. Upon arriving home, within ten minutes, I had the new one installed and working. Yippee! Now we can see out the windshield.! It is amazing how much we rely on these accessories.

In the evening we attended a "Temptations - Four Tops Concert" at Ruth Eckerd Hall, which is an acoustically perfect 2,180-seat auditorium in Clearwater. There wasn't an empty seat. Packed with boomers.

Here is our picture to prove we were there. We paid for good seats - Row L, Center Stage. Worth the money.

The “Four Tops” performed first. None of them are the original members but the man on the left is the son of one member. They did a great job with the songs although we thought the orchestra was too loud for their vocals.

After the intermission “The Temptations” took the stage. The gentleman in the middle is the only one left of the original group. He is 83 years old and held his own with all the singing and choreography. 

They just released a new album entitled "Temptations Sixty" to celebrate the 60th year the group has been around.

It was an enjoyable evening hearing all the old songs.

Wednesday March 5, 2025

Early this morning I was looking at the pathetic stand of grass that came up along the driveway, or should I say the pathetic lack of grass along the driveway, when Marvin came by walking his dog. He said he tried three times to grow grass with no results. He said he bought some grass plugs from Home Depot and they worked. Now I have to decide if I want to spend another $50.00 on this project. 

Mid-morning Kelly had to get blood work. After leaving there we picked up a few items at the grocery store and headed home before the predicted heavy rain. Did it come down! At 11:30 a.m. it poured as hard as I’ve ever seen it. Water was three inches deep in the street for some time. In looking out I noticed the front carport downspout wasn’t discharging water while the downspout by the golf cart couldn’t get the water out fast enough. It is supposed to continue to rain until about 3:00 p.m. so I wanted to investigate because we had gotten a little interior damage last year from a clogged downspout on the other side of the house. When the rain let up I got out the ladder and found this piece of a dead palm leaf completely covering the front downspout hole. It was about four inches long and two inches wide. Just enough to totally block the downspout hole.

I’ll need to check the downspouts on the other side. I checked all downspouts on both sides about a month ago and they were clear. I need to install some type of leaf protector even though the closest tree is a palm tree about twenty feet behind the house. The way the roof is tied into the gutter limits my options. There is only about an inch-wide opening between the roof and the gutter for debris to get in. I'll need to get creative.

At 3:30 p.m. There was a technical rehearsal for the show on Sunday which lasted two hours. Of course there were some more changes in the music to be cued up.

Thursday March 6,2025

On my morning bike ride I took a picture of the empty lot where an old mobile home sat. All is gone but the concrete driveway. I'm sure by next winter a new home will be in place. You can see the blue tarp covering the damage to the roof of the home next door. People want to fix these homes but materials are not available due to major demand.

Around 9:00 a.m. I got a call from T asking if I could come to the clubhouse and cue up music for a group practicing at 10:00 a.m. I went and it ended up that four groups practiced for an hour. I need the practice on cuing up the music anyway so it wasn’t all bad. There has been a lot more time involved with this theater job than I anticipated when I volunteered. Seems like that happens a lot.

My sister, Renee, and her husband, Jim, fly in from St. Louis tomorrow for a visit of about five days. Renee has volunteered Jim to help with any projects. I have two projects lined up. While we work around the house the women plan on laying around the pool. There’s a method to their madness. 

I’ll blog about the visit afterwards.

February 24 - March 1, 2025 - Driveway Edging Redone - A Visit With Ralph - Theater Practice - Golf Cart Parking Brake - Garage Sales - Blues Festival

My Blog Reflection

There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.

Henry Ford

Monday, February 24, 2025

The plastic edging I bought for the golf cart driveway project didn’t work out to our liking. It arrived rolled up tightly in a box. I let it lay out in the sun to uncurl for two days but once installed, even with multiple stakes, it looked like a drunk snake. We hated it.

Today I went to Home Depot to buy the four inch tall metal edging that we used at home for our landscaping. It came in eight foot lengths so I could haul it in the HHR. While it was listed in stock, myself and a store employee could not find it anywhere. Finally a young lady, who worked in that department, said something about it being taken off the shelf at the direction of the manufacturer, who didn’t want it back. She went out back and found two pallets of the stuff sitting there, one in Green and one in black. She asked what color I wanted and how many. I opted for the black and she loaded the five pieces I needed onto my cart. I went to the cashier to pay and she said it was my lucky day - no charge. The item was taken out of their inventory. How cool was that! The stuff sells for $16.00 a strip.

I got it home and, between rain showers, installed it. The driveway looks MUCH better now. Here are a couple of pictures. You can see the plastic edging I pulled out still curling up after being down for well over two weeks.

The rain then poured hard so I quit on the project for the day.

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

After installing the edging there were some areas where, when I straightened out the line, needed dirt filled back in. Also the four-inch metal edging sticks up higher than the plastic edging. I tied the trash can onto the back of the golf cart, borrowed my neighbor’s rake and shovel, and headed to the dirt pile at the maintenance shed where I dumped all the dirt that was dug out earlier. 

I put forty shovels of dirt in the trash can and headed back to the house. I spread the dirt where needed and called it good. 

Two weeks ago I had ordered a small bag of grass seed from Amazon for this project. The local places sold the grass seed in much larger quantities than I needed. In checking the website it said it would be delivered by the post office on Monday evening. It wasn’t. I checked the website again this morning and it said they tried to deliver it yesterday but couldn’t reach us. Bull hockey! We were both here all day. I even waived at our mail carrier around 3:00 p.m. as she went by.

In any event, the website said I had to go to the post office to pick it up. I went there and, even with my name, address, and tracking number, it took them a half hour to find it in the back somewhere. To me this was further proof they hadn't tried to deliver it yesterday or it would have been right in plain sight. Once back home I spread the seed. I will keep it watered and with a little luck it will grow. If not the crappy, creeping weeds we have here will take over.

In the afternoon I had theater practice. I missed the previous practice because we were on our cruise. The practice went well but about a third of the "acts" did not show up for various reasons. My job is to have the music cued up for each "act". I have all the music laid out in order on my computer. While we were practicing the internet went down. With that I could not access Spotify nor YouTube, where I obtained all the music. To help alieviate this problem on show night, I downloaded all the Spotify songs onto the computer. I can't download the karaoke songs on YouTube. Fortunately there are only three of those. Hopefully there will be no internet glitches on show day.

Wednesday February 26, 2025

At 7:00 a.m. I drove over to Roberts RV Park to get a haircut by Gary. Gary is a retired barber from Indiana who cuts hair on Wednesdays at his house for a donation. This may be the last haircut he gives me because he and his wife are not coming back to Florida next winter due to her progressing Alzheimer's. Gary is a great guy and it has been a pleasure knowing him over the years. We golfed together, drank together, and enjoyed each other's company on numerous occasions. I wish him the best.

I then headed to Home Depot to purchase three more bags of pea gravel for the driveway. Once home I spread them out along the new edges. The end of the golf cart driveway project at long last.

It was now only 8:00 a.m. My sister, Renee, and her husband, Jim, are coming down to spend a week with us. They will be here for the theater performance. I headed up to the clubhouse to purchase tickets for them and Kelly. Since I’m part of the production I get in free.

In the afternoon the wind shields for the Blackstone arrived so, after a little modification, I was able to install them. I hope they work. I won’t know until the next time I want to cook when it is windy. That could be awhile.

Before supper Kelly and I rode Buster around our park and the adjoining park, Sunset Palms. Sunset Palms is a nice park but we think our park, Golden Gate, just gives off a little better vibe. Also Golden Gate has many more activities.

Thursday February 27, 2025

We drove over to Adelaide Shores RV Park in Avon Park, Florida, to visit and have lunch with our Canadian friend, Ralph. Ralph was our back neighbor two years ago when we stayed in that park for the winter. He is a great guy. He lost his wife ten years ago to cancer but continues to come down and use the fifth wheel camper that he keeps at this park. Like us he enjoys the warm weather every winter. I wish I had taken a picture of him. He may come over to our place next month so I may have a second chance.

Friday February 28, 2025

A national buying boycott all day today! I'm in.

I went up and played cornhole in the morning. It was quite warm in the sun. I perspire so much that sweat rolls into my eyes and on to my sunglasses while playing. Next week I need to remember to take along a sweat band.

When I got home I decided to look into the issue of the "Parking Brake" on the golf cart not locking. Club Car calls it a "Hill Brake" in their diagrams but to us it is a parking brake. We use it even on level ground.

To those of you not familiar with golf carts, the "Parking Brake" is engaged by pushing on the smaller pedal on the brake pedal marked "Park".

When you push on it a rod engages a pivoting block below causing the block to fall into teeth on a gear, which is connected to a rod that then locks the brakes.

My investigation found that the block was pivoting into place as it should but it would then slide right out of the gear, not locking the brake. The teeth on the gear looked a little worn so my first point of attack was to file a point on the teeth I could access. Here is a picture of the teeth and pivoting block above.

The sharpened teeth helped a little but the parking brake still was not reliable. Sometimes it caught but usually it did not. I pulled off the pivoting block to sharpen its edges. You can see how it had worn where it engaged.

Sharpening the edge on the pivot block helped but the parking brake still did not catch every time. Upon moving the apparatus around I realized that the rod from the brake pedal above was too long. It was essentially pushing the pivoting block too far and thus out of the gear teeth. I followed the rod up through the floor to the brake pedal where it was attached. I found that the rod length was adjustable via threads on the top of the rod. I was able to easily remove the rod from the pedal.

Of course all of the threads on the rod were EXTREMELY rusty. There was no chance of making an easy adjustment by turning the rod to shorten it. I put the rod in the vice and with a wire brush in the drill, cleaned the rust off the threads as best I could. I also soaked everything with "BP Blaster". It is a great rust remover and lubricant that I always keep on hand. With vise grips on the top fitting I was able to break the fitting loose from the rod.

Upon unthreading the rod completely I found only a few threads were inside. This meant I had a lot of room for adjustment. Now I had to get the top fitting to turn down on the rusty threaded rod.

Here is a picture of the rod at the bottom where it inserts into the pivoting block. It is the rod with the plastic white washer on it.

I needed to shorten the length of the rod so the pivoting block would not slip out when pressed. Or so I hoped.

I threaded the fitting on so that the rod was shortened about a quarter of an inch. I then reinstalled it. The parking brake would engage but it would not "unlock" when the pedal was depressed. With a little trial and error I got the rod adjusted to the correct length. The parking brake now engages and disengages as designed. I believe part of the reason this parking brake issue arose now was the installation of the new "brake block" last week. This changed the geometry of the setup a little.

Another successful golf cart repair. I'm learning a lot about golf carts.

Saturday March 1, 2025

We went to a number of garage sales in the morning. Kelly purchased a few more pictures for $1.00 each, a vase (she liked it for some reason), glass candle holders and linen napkins (for all of our formal dinner parties here), and a large cooking pot. She said the pot was a very expensive brand and it was too good of a deal to pass up. Now we need to make a big pot of soup to make sure it works. For all of our paperwork down here, for $2.00 I bought a portable file box, which included the hanging files, a couple of cheap cozies for a quarter, and like-new whiskey flask for fifty cents. No tools, although I was tempted.

We then went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. This place also had a surcharge for eggs but not as much as the last place. The service was great and the food came out quickly. We will be back.

Once back at the house we loaded up the lawn chairs to attend the "Clearwater Sea Blues Festival" in Coachman Park in Clearwater, about ten miles away. We parked near the park in a lot which was marked "Overflow Parking for Library, Non-Authorized Vehicles Will Be Towed". Several couples were doing the same. We all decided they would tow all of us. Or maybe they could and would.

We walked about a block to the top of the hill overlooking the park. It was sunny and warm so we decided to sit there under a big shade tree. We had a view of the stage and the music was plenty loud for us to hear without being down in the crowded infield.

Two things cut our stay short. The first was that the music wasn't the type of Blues we like, maybe the evening bands were better. The second was that the sun went in and the wind kicked up. It ended up being quite cool and we hadn't brought any jackets or blankets. After a light meal from one of the food trucks we headed home. Luckily, admission was free.

February 18 - 22, 2025 - Golf Cart Repair - A Visit by Annie, Violet, and Wren

My Blog Reflection 

The memories we make with our family is everything.

Candace Cameron Bure

Monday, February 17, 2025

The night before we left for the cruise something broke on the golf cart brake pedal. It would go in on an angle and would not return after being pushed. I had no time to investigate before we left. I suspected a broken spring. After supper I investigated and found an entirely different issue. The rubber block that holds the pivot rod for the brake pedal had broken on one side due to old age. (This is a 1985 cart). Here is a picture.

Tuesday February 18, 2025 - Chasing Down the Part

I took a picture of the broken part and looked it up on the golf cart schematic drawing I had. The part was shown but there was no name was given to it. Since I had no name I couldn’t Google it to find the part online.

The girls LOVE to ride around in the golf cart so the first thing in the morning the three of us headed to “Cruisin Carts”, which had excellent reviews for helping people with their carts. The parts man there was outstanding. He told me the name of the part - a brake block. He didn’t have the part in stock and said ordering one would take several days. He then hunted a shop guy up to see if they had a used one on a cart somewhere. They guy said the cart they had was in pretty bad shape and he wouldn’t want to try and take it off. They sent me down the road to a “Capital Carts” because they carried more parts. The guy at ""Capital Carts" was great. He thought he had one in stock and looked and looked. Not finding one he looked online and said I could get a new set of blocks for both sides of the rod, with new hardware, for $10.99 on Amazon. Knowing I wanted it right away to ride the girls around, he called “Discovery Carts”. They had one in stock so we headed there. It was about five miles away. When I got there the guy had the block - $38.60 for one side with no hardware. I told him “thanks, but no thanks. I expected double the online price but not quadruple. I got online and ordered the set from Amazon. It will be here tomorrow.

The girls and I then went to the park’s annual shareholders meeting so I could vote on several issues. There was a huge turn out due to a vote on whether or not to install speed bumps. (It got defeated 10 to 1.) They provided donuts so after the girls each got one we found a seat up front. The meeting dragged on and on due to people, who didn’t read ahead of time what was being voted on, were wanting to argue issues, over and over. I had voted so after an hour we left. I was really proud of how well the girls behaved. They just sat there and ate their donuts and never complained about the extremely boring meeting. Back at the house the girls played while Annie worked online.

After lunch we loaded up the car for a trip to "Honeymoon Island Beach" near Dunedin. Annie heard about it from a friend and we had never been there. It was rocky and not nearly as nice as "Fort DeSoto Beach", where we usually go. It was great for shelling and the girls loved doing that and collected many shells up and down the beach. On the way home we stopped at “Frenchy’s” for a great meal. 

Wednesday February 19, 2025

In the morning we went up to enjoy the pool before the predicted afternoon rain arrived. The girls had a great time. I got in with them, Annie and Kelly did not.

The brake blocks arrived for the cart so I installed the one on the broken side. Here is a picture. The new one is some type of plastic, not rubber like the old one. I don't know if that is good or bad but I'm sure it will outlast me even if it is plastic.

While Annie was working online we took the girls to “Catapult”, a huge  indoor bouncy house. They  jumped and jumped for an hour and were pooped. We stopped for an ice cream on the way home. It started to rain so we had to finish our ice cream in the car.

Due to the the predicted rain, I had earlier moved the grill from the backyard onto the carport. As the rain poured down we all sat around on the carport while I grilled chicken thighs for supper.

Thursday February 20, 2025

Some weeks back we had purchased tickets to a lunch hour dinner theater that was today.  We went to it while Annie and girls went shopping. The play was entertaining but the meal was pretty mediocre. I doubt we will go back next year.

Annie and the girls, fresh from shopping, headed once again to the pool. It was cool and windy. Kelly went along and sat on the pool deck and shivered. While the heated pool kept the girls warm, the air was almost cold.

We then headed to "Whimzeyland" in Safety Harbor, Florida. The owners have taken all types of items, like bowling balls, bottles, etc. and displayed them in several yards and houses. The houses are B & Bs.

The girls loved climbing on this concrete moon crescent covered with tile in the front yard of one house.

For supper I made smash burgers with potatoes and onions on the Blackstone griddle. I had trouble keeping the griddle hot enough because of the wind. I need to buy some wind guards. I also have one burner that is hard to light so I need to check into that at some point.

Friday February 21, 2025

In the morning Annie took the girls to the pool one last time. They don’t care if it’s cool, they love to be in the pool. Once back at the house the four of them tied dyed T-shirts using t-shirts and a kit Kelly had purchased for them. The shirts turned out nice. A souvenir to take home. Being Friday evening we had "Friday Night Pizza Night". When they are in California on Friday nights they Facetime us while they are eating pizza for supper.

Saturday February 22, 2025

Before they left for the airport I took the girls for a long golf cart ride through our park and through the park that adjoins us. They love to "drive" while taking turns sitting in my lap.

It was then off to the airport in Tampa. Their flight home was long but uneventful, which is always nice.

Sunday, February 22, 2025

We did very little, just hung out around the house all day doing laundry, etc. I bought the ingredients to make a crock pot Lasagna dish which I found on the internet. It cooked all day. It was “ok” but I wouldn’t make it again. It made enough for four meals so I froze half to have some other days..

+

February 14 - 17, 2025 - Last Three Days of Caribbean Cruise

 

My Blog Reflection

"To travel is to live."

Hans Christian Andersen

Day 7: Friday February 14th

In the morning we met our guide, Laurie, for a bus tour of Antigua. She was fabulous. I wish I could have kept track of all she told us but here is some of it.

All greetings are "Ya man". Totally cool.

St. John's is the capital of Antigua, with a population of 97,000. Antigua, along with neighboring Barbuda, form an independent country in the British Commonwealth. The English settled here in 1632 and imported slaves to build sugar plantations. There is no sugar production anymore. They obtained their independence in 1981.

Our first stop was at a fort area overlooking the ocean. Quite the harbor area.

In this picture you can see some of the land fortifications to the harbor below. We were told they also strung a cable across the opening to keep ships out.

From this location below and to the left you can see an island owned by Eric Clapton - 45 acres. He bought it after he had too many neighbors on the other side. He built a drug rehab center for celebrities but if any local resident wishes to go they are admitted for free. He built a house out on the end of the island that he rents out for $10,000 per day.

Our final stop was at Nelson's Dockyard. It is a UNESCO site and a National Park.

When it was in use as a dockyard no cats, dogs, children, nor women were allowed. Men were hired to scrape barnacles off the sides of ships in the harbor. They were paid a pint of rum and a gallon of beer per day. As a result, a job that was supposed to take four weeks, would take them four months. LOL

What is now their museum building was built in 1855. It is the youngest building on the site.

The harbor and surrounding hills protect the area and the buildings from the forces of nature. All of the original buildings are still standing and well-preserved.

It was interesting that in Antigua there is no real estate tax until the house is completed. To take advantage of this quirk in the law, most people leave an area uncompleted forever. To help the poor, there are no real estate taxes on smaller homes. Bigger homes are taxed 3-5 percent of the value of the property per year.

Everything is imported. All the cars are from Japan. It looked like 80% were Toyotas, even our bus was a Toyota.

There are many Anglican churches on the two islands due to the English colonization. The islands are now an independent Republic but still under the King of England.

There are five women to every man. It is common for men have inside children (born in marriage) and outside children (born of other women).

Schools are paid for by a 6% income tax. All children wear school-supplied uniforms. Every school uniform is different so you can identify what school a student attends. If you find a child playing hooky, you are paying for their education, so you report them. They are then dealt with by the school administration often with corporal punishment.

To continue on in school after 6th grade a student has to write an essay for review. They are given three chances to write an essay that will pass. If a student doesn't pass he/she is sent to a trade school.

Clearly there is a lot of poverty. If you pay Medicare through your paycheck then your healthcare is free. If you don't you are billed.

Cheap wooden two bedroom houses cost $30,000 to $80,000. Other homes up in the hills, owned by wealthy individuals mostly from other countries, cost up $100 million. Crazy.

Back on the ship, for Valentine's Day we gathered in the grand foyer with a large group to renew our wedding vows in a ceremony conducted by the Captain. Here we are on the sidelines waiting for the Captain to arrive for the ceremony.

A large number of couples participated. A lot of red lighting for Valentine's Day.



At the end of the ceremony loads of confetti was dropped from above which made it very festive.

After the vows ceremony we went to the theater to see the show “Topper” by the ship’s troupe. It was very weird singing and dancing. We didn't get it at all.

Day 8: Saturday February 15th

We cruised all night, all day, and all night again to get back to Fort Lauderdale.

Final cruise thoughts:

I believe at three different ports we were delayed waiting for an ambulance to pick someone up off the ship and cart them to the hospital. I named this the “75+ Crippled Rich White People’s Cruise”. I would guess 80% of the passengers were over 75 and out of 2500 passengers only about a half of dozen were non-white. A huge number of passengers were handicapped or infirm. I never saw so many regular wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, electric scooters, walkers, canes, knee braces, and gimpy old people in one place in my life. They all have money so they were pampered by the crew. After cruising with this crowd for nine days I felt blessed.

It was always entertaining to watch folks struggling to walk up the steps out of the theater when the ship was swaying. We met one couple who were on their 40th cruise! I can't imagine a fourth. We met another couple who have been married 67 years. As I said, a 75+ crowd.

The ship was the Celebrity Eclipse. It can accommodate 2800 passengers and has a crew of 1200. It was launched in 2010 and refurbished in 2021. A nice sized ship, not overwhelming in size.

Our stateroom was on the 12th deck and was next to the elevators and the pool area. We thought it would be a noisy location but it was not at all. The elevators were the quietest I've ever seen and there were two sets of doors between us and the pool activities and music. We heard nothing. Our balcony was great with two lounge chairs and a table to sit and watch the ocean glide by. The food was for the most part excellent, especially the seated evening meals. I ate escargot as an appetizer every night. 

We paid for the drink package and learned quickly which bars to get drinks from. Some made awful drinks but most did well. The shows were enjoyable but not memorable.

We had great seas. The trip back to Fort Lauderdale was two full days. North winds as we left St. Martin caused more rocking the first day back than any other time on the entire cruise, but it was not bad at all.

The staff were the most friendly, professional, and impeccably dressed of any I have ever seen, whether on land or at sea. They are mostly young people who sign up on this ship for a season. Our evening waiter, who was from India, told us he is signed up until the end of July. He will go home then for a while. They work ten to twelve hours a day for the length of each cruise. We pulled in port and the ship loaded passengers and supplies and headed back out that same day. Essentially the crew gets no time off.

As mentioned earlier, our tour guide, Jasper, was flown home to Michigan from the Dominican Republic. When we left the ship we were told he was still in the hospital there.

We had a departure meeting on Saturday morning. Denise jumped from one topic to another, never getting any one item settled at a time. Luckily a ship crew member was there to help keep her track. One passenger, who had taken this cruise before, finally stood up and explained all we needed to know to disembark in two sentences. Refreshing. Luckily I attended the meeting because the wrong luggage tags had been left in our room. We were departure group 14.

The last day we went for a sit down lunch in the main dining room for the first time. The food was excellent. We sat next to a couple from Bakersfield, California. This was their second cruise. He was retired military. They had a long day flying back to California.

In the afternoon we attended a matinee performance by the singer, Gen Maldonado. She put on another good performance.

Kelly spent a little time in the casino. She didn't want to bring any money home. After a lobster dinner we went to bed early.

Day 9: Sunday February 16th

This cigarette display on the ship struck me as so odd. I haven't seen anything like it in many years.

 

It was a very leisurely day as things wound down. Kelly went to the casino and won back the money she lost yesterday plus some more. (She didn't share any with me.) 

We went to see a magician show in the theater at 2:00 p.m. He was entertaining.

We have to have our bags outside our room between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. tonight. We packed our bags, put them outside the door, and went to supper at the grill, rather than the main dining room, so we could catch the 7:00 p.m. show in the theater. It was okay but not the show I expected.

Arrival in Fort Lauderdale: Monday February 17th

We had to be out of our room by 8:00 a.m. and at our muster location for disembarking at 8:25 a.m.  At 7:00 a.m. we went to the buffet to get a hearty breakfast before the long ride home - a three hour bus ride to Port Charlotte then a two hour drive to Pinellas Park. The disembarking process was really well orchestrated. We were in group fourteen. They called numbers three at a time for people to get off the ship. This kept crowds of people with wheel chairs, scooters, and carry-ons from bunching up and creating chaos. 

Once you were off the ship you walked into a huge building where luggage was sitting in groups by number. With the large signs marking the group areas, I quickly found our luggage at Group 14, grabbed it, and headed to Customs. With facial recognition we didn’t even have to show our passports. 

Once through Customs we walked a short distance to catch our bus back to Port Charlotte. The bus ride was fine but on the drive back to Pinellas Park we encountered a lot of traffic.

I enjoyed the cruise but don't know if I will ever do it again.

Once we reached the house we found our daughter, Annie, and granddaughters, Violet, and Wren, from California, waiting for us on the front porch. It will be fun spending the rest of the week with them.