“Will not break, will not break…
It broke.”
https://images.app.goo.gl/CzmS1fgMmLuRcZRU6
That’s among my favorite scenes from the animated “Aladdin,” but that line inspired today’s post based on a few things that have broken, especially after something like that.
Continue readingThe name of this post suggests a few different directions. But, it states something that I do not do at sporting events. Of course, I really wanted to a few times yesterday at the Huskers football game, as the officials made some terrible non-calls in both directions. But, I’m not talking any more about the Boo Birds in this post.
Instead, it’s about an annual Lincoln event that I went to for the first time in my life this year.
Continue readingLast week, I wrote a blog post about mini-golfing at Adventure Golf Center. Today was the last day before an expected cold snap, which could mean the end of the season (and tournament) for Samantha and me. I compiled the overall results (for both stroke and match play) into a spreadsheet, and here are some of the interesting insights!
Both courses are 18-hole courses. The Red is a par-42 and the Blue is a par-41. Neither of us are par mini-golfers, as both of us make a lot of mistakes (and par on a mini-golf course is much better than par on a full-golf course anyway!)
Continue readingFriday, August 4, 2023
Given the chaos of the last few days, both of us decided to sleep in a little bit: it was about 07:50 when we got up. Since we have no ports to worry about, we have more time in the day today to explore the ship and do activities OR just relax. I had an orange and some yogurt (with my meds) in the stateroom, and Samantha had some leftovers as well. We donned our matching “Hawaii” gear that we had purchased on Night One, and headed down to the grand atrium for the Royal Gathering.
This Royal Gathering was a ticketed event that we had signed up for in advance, and was exclusive photo ops with several Disney princesses. In order, we got photos with Tiana, Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, and Rapunzel! It was nice to see them all, since all of them (except maybe Cinderella) are in movies that we regularly put on at bedtime. All of them were very well-played and consented to hugs, which is great for both of us. For another photo op, we went up one deck, and into Preludes, where Spider-Man was waiting for photo ops, as this was for Samantha’s nieces. Nice!
Next up, we had breakfast at Lumiere’s again. We had the same menu as on Wednesday, and this time, we marveled at our journey that we have had, both how quickly it went and at the same time how long it seemed. Cruise time is indeed not regular time. We also discussed whether we wanted to act on the placeholder deposit, which could get us a discount on our next cruise and is fully refundable if we choose not to sail. Thus, it’s a no-lose situation! Other topics also came up, but nothing really stuck out to me.
We finished breakfast with enough time to go up to the Concierge Lounge for a social with other Concierge guests, as well as a photo op with a mystery Disney character. Up there, there was a chocolate smoothie for us to enjoy as well. We chatted with a few fellow voyagers, but none of the conversations really stood out. The mystery guest was Daisy Duck! After this, we exited the Lounge and went down one deck to get to the Gazebo on the 9th deck, for Photos with a Touch of Magic. We’ll see what touch of magic appears on them after the cruise! (Perhaps I will also post some of these photos on social media and/or this blog later in the month.)
Although it was not that late in the day, Samantha felt like taking a nap, and so I joined her back to the stateroom. There were not too many activities during this next hour that seemed very interesting to either of us, so we had some “Us” time in the room. I did some “business” with jotting down a few notes in the journal, and also filling out the gratuity cards that we will personally hand to our Concierge and dining staff that have been so helpful for us during this cruise. I also put on the TV, which somehow had some live non-closed-circuit channels, and on ESPN was the game OmegaBall, which is basically a three-sided Association football game (three teams, three goals; the objective is to score the most, regardless of against whom). At this time of the summer, it seems that ESPN loves to put on “The Ocho” sports, and OmegaBall definitely qualifies as this.
After Samantha’s nap, we headed down to the Soul Cat Lounge for General Knowledge Trivia (Family Edition), and to us adults, it really seemed like questions in the style of “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” Quite a few of the questions were stuff that I may have learnt in elementary school, but had long since forgotten. Samantha bailed me out on a few questions, but we still missed several questions. It was fun anyway, for both of us seem to enjoy the trivia games.
Then, both of us went to the 9th deck. Samantha headed to the forward because she had a spa appointment (pedicure), and I went to Pinocchio’s to get both of us pizza. When I joined her, thankfully there were no other customers in that part of the spa at the time, so I was able to sit in the chair next to Samantha and just relax as she was being pampered. We both ate, and the crew member L. from Zimbabwe was an excellent pedicurist. We all chatted about various topics, and got to watch the sea go by in a very serene way.
After the pedicure, we returned to Deck 3 and the Soul Cat Lounge for Disney Tunes Trivia. This went just like the other music trivias, but you had to give song title and movie title (yay, didn’t need to know “obscure” artists). But, there were a few really obscure songs that neither of us had any idea what they were, and even after the answers were given, we were still unfamiliar! But, that’s how trivia goes: some people are buffs and others are just playing for the fun of it. We each contributed unlike some of the previous games.
There was a small amount of down time for us, so we went up to our stateroom and began cleaning up our room and starting to pack as well. We have to have our suitcases packed by the end of the night, as just like when we started in the hotel, they will collect suitcases to be collected by us off the ship. We didn’t fully pack at this point but did what we needed to do in order to not have to rush later.
At 16:30, we went to the Concierge Lounge to get some Shirley Temples for us, since it would cost us money at the O’Gill Pub (for some reason). Then, there was General Knowledge trivia for adults there, and it was a game that both of us contributed to our team. However, at the same time, there were some questions that neither of us could get. (This seems like a fairly common refrain for all of these trivia games). We were nowhere close to the leaderboard, but we had fun anyway. After this, we had a little time before we went to [undisclosed] for the final show of the cruise.
The show was “Disney Dreams,” which starred a modern teenager who didn’t want to grow up. Naturally, Peter Pan appears in the show, and she goes through various well-known Disney stories as the night’s hours increase, one-by-one. She learned to discover the magic with each story through each scene. It was really cute, but unfortunately I missed the ending because I had to rush out with an explosive bladder. Indeed, I feel that some of the activities on this trip were marred by my body laughing at me, but I have still mostly been able to enjoy it. The shows on the ship were all fun, and I would love to see them again at some point: probably the next time we go on a cruise!
At that point, we shopped the gift shops one last time, deciding if we wanted any more souvenirs or gifts for others. Much to my relief, we declined to purchase anything else, as we had already used up our shipboard credit. We also went to the Photos with Scenic Backdrops in the Atrium, and thos were good to get. Then, before dinner, we went upstairs to complete the packing (and to get our swimsuits ready to go for after dinner). We put our suitcases out in the hallway and returned to the 3rd deck for our last dinner on the cruise.
We ate one more time at Lumiere’s, for that was our assigned rotation. Both of us got comfort food: I got the slow-roasted chicken and Samantha got chicken strips, with the appropriate sides. The bread was once again the excellent pretzel bread (per our request), and again there was no entertainment in the dining room at Lumiere’s. We had time to ourselves to chat and just enjoy while we waited for our food. We also opened the blue non-alcoholic beverage that we had gotten in our welcome-aboard package. Samantha liked it, but it was much too apple-y for me (since I’m not a fan of apple-based beverages). We presented our gratuity cards to each of Antara and Miranda, and got photos with them. Our food was tasty, and we were satisfied!
We then went to Diamonds and Wishes to get help with my charms that had broken off. Unfortunately, these charms are more showpieces rather than wear-pieces, as they are obviously intended to be cheap and promotional items. At this point, we also decided that the last night would be for us rather than any more activities. So, we donned our swimsuits and saw that our bags had already gotten taken. Walking up to the Adults Only pool and hot tub, we had the entire area to ourselves (by happenstance, not by any special arrangement.) Thus, it was time just for us, to chat and to just be with each other.
As the hot tub and pool closed at 23:00, we returned to the stateroom. And, I will say the term “Fantasy Suite” and turn off the verbal cameras.
Although technically, I should turn on the verbal camera for the next day, who really cares to know about the details of debarkation? If requested, I will give that day’s account as well, but I’m guessing it won’t be requested. Ha!
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Today is the twenty-second day of the twelfth round of O.C.T.O.B.E.R. That’s three weeks and one day.
Thanksgiving recess: 31 days
Winter vacation: 58 days
Thursday, August 3, 2023
At 07:00, after a mostly restful sleep, I started my day, and Samantha followed shortly thereafter. We got equipped with matching UPF shirts, since we would be out in the sun for the early part of the day (though not all that much of it), and matching swimsuits too. We then went up one deck to Cabanas, but unlike Tuesday, we headed to the Concierge Lounge to eat. I had precariously perched my tray at one point, and of course it tipped over, causing me to lose the croissant and oatmeal that I had gotten. I still had and ate the hash-browns and Mickey waffles and cantaloupe. The food tasted good, and despite what I had wasted, I had enough to be satisfied. We also chatted with the crew in the Lounge and got sunscreened-up with the sunscreen that was on the private deck adjoining the Lounge.
We returned to the stateroom and got packed for the excursion, and then headed down to O’Gill’s Lounge to prepare for our excursion to Cozumel. We chatted with a few of the other excursion people, since there are more than what we are doing. The TVs in the Lounge were all on modern Mickey Mouse cartoons, but there were no captions. So it goes!
Once we got off the ship, we met our tour guide Jose, and the long pier led to an outdoor shopping center that included outdoors escalators. On said pier, there were Compass Roses, but one of the directions was “wrong.” The letters were N, E, S, W, but the W should have been “O” since in Spanish, the cardinal directions are norte, este, sur, and oeste. Walking through the upper portion of the mall, since the walking was somewhat one-way in that sense, we saw a slew of souvenir shops, as well as the Diamonds International. Unlike the jewelry stores that I saw in Alaska, the door here was mezuzah-less.
After walking to the end of the upper strip and taking the stairs to street level and retracing our steps toward the street, we turned to the north (I think) to head down a street. We turned left at the “many-arrows” sign pointing to different places, with kilometrages. We are 2148 kilometers from Puerto Rico, and 15816 kilometers from Australia! Walking down the street, more shops lined the street, but we stopped nowhere until our destination. One of the places, Farmacias yza, caused me to say to Samantha, “I hope there’s no missing “m” in that logo.
After a short walk, we reached SNUBA / SeaTREK Cozumel, for our excursion! Walking through a restaurant, we checked in and got our gear. Then, under a canopy, there was a short introduction to the idea of sea-walking. We will be wearing masks that are self-pressurized, so that we can breathe normally in them. Because we won’t be able to really hear much, hand signals will be used. The “A-OK” signal is to be used with the guides to say “Everything’s OK.” The “thumbs-up” signal is the sign “I want to get out of here”, and the hand-waving side to side means “Something’s wrong.” We then walked across the beach and everyone went into the water, one-at-a-time. Thankfully, the temperature of the ocean water was acceptable to me.
I stood on the ladder, got nearly-face-deep on the ladder, and they put the mask on me and helped me to walk down the ladder to the sea floor. My ears popped, but because of the way that the mask was, I could put my hands into the mask and blow my nose to release the pressure. It was a very interesting feeling, with water not being in the mask but being surrounded by water, hearing the sound of the pressure system. I was walking next to Samantha, holding on to the rope along the sea floor that was covered in seaweed and probably barnacles (as a diversion?)
This tour went in a counterclockwise circle in the property of SeaTREK, as we saw various fish and other sea life, but thankfully we didn’t bother them and they didn’t bother us. I was holding my GoPro in one hand and was using my other hand for signals. During parts of the walk, for whatever reason, I was humming the theme to the underwater ship levels in Donkey Kong Country 2. The guides pointed to various things to look at, and it was nice to see. This adventure, although I was a little nervous about the risks related to the waiver that we signed, ended up being a highlight of the trip. We completed the circle and it was a good thing. We both enjoyed it!
After surfacing, we traded in our gear for snorkel gear, and I went in to the snorkeling portion much more confident than on Tuesday. We got to see what we saw below from above, and just enjoyed each other’s company without anyone else there: a true honeymoon togetherness. (It was G-rated swimming.) After snorkeling, we dried off, purchased a souvenir mug, and did not purchase the photo package that they had offered (they had cameras down there too). Walking back to the ship, it started to feel warm, but since we still had residual coolness from the dry-off, it wasn’t too bad. We stopped at DI before returning to the ship to get a sombrero charm.
Once at the ship, we ascended to Deck 9, and took our chance at the Dunk Slide. I had to go up and down the stairs several times, because eyeglasses and cameras were not allowed on said slide. It was one-at-a-time, and I went first. Standing on the trap door, there was a count-down and I was asked to be in a braced position, crossing my legs and arms. I was supposed to say, “Pull the lever Kronk,” and at the end of the countdown, “WRONG LEVER!” But instead when the floor opened, I just screamed, plunged into darkness, and couldn’t see anything until the slide became transparent. Though a thrill, I won’t do that again on a future Disney cruise. Samantha felt the same way, especially because in her bracing, she may have hurt herself.
On the deck after the slide, we had pizza and ice cream. The latter was excellent, because it was chocolate-and-mint twist. (The Eye Scream has had a different promotional flavor every day, and since we both like mint, we were excited for this one). We sat and ate under the deck, out of the sun, and it wasn’t that busy on deck since many people were probably still on Cozumel excursions. It allows us to have some time to do things on the ship and it’s nice.
However, since there were excursions, there wasn’t a lot of programming on the ship at this time. We took the time to go back to our stateroom to relax. Although I like the go-go-go (as mentioned yesterday), vacations sometimes need down time, so we showered and just relaxed in our stateroom. We had “Pirates of the Caribbean” on the TV, and I journaled as Samantha quasi-napped. I also started to assemble the charms onto my souvenir bracelet, and wanted to wear it. But it’s hard for me to get it on my wrist by myself. I don’t know how people self-wear jewelry so easily.
At 15:30, we headed down to the atrium, and got photos with Mirabel, Bruno, and Stitch. Yes, we have two “Encanto” photos now, but of course that movie was one of our favorites after it released. I wonder how long it takes after a Disney movie is released, especially if it’s a hit, for characters from that movie to start appearing on cruises and Disney properties. At least on average…?
Then, we went to the Soul Cat Lounge for Pirate Trivia, which was a sequence of multiple-choice questions. There were not a lot of people there, so it didn’t feel as engaging or fun as the music trivias that we went to in the previous nights. (Granted, family events might feel different from adults-only events anyway.) I still had fun with it, as did Samantha.
Then, we went to the Buena Vista Theatre (instead of the Walt Disney Theatre, which was showing Haunted Mansion). Our movie was the new Little Mermaid, which had a story very similar to the original animated version. Despite all of the outrage from some people about the changes, I was neutral to them, as who is cast usually doesn’t affect my perception (especially because I’m not a movie buff!) Of course, there were some modernized differences in the dialogue and some of the scenes. Once Ariel became human, a few new songs appeared as her inner monologues, which I kind of liked. I won’t spoil much more about the movie, (a) because this wasn’t a new story unlike Elemental, and (b) I’ve got more of our own story to tell!
After the movie, we entered a short line and got a photo with Minnie Mouse, and it was nice to meet her! There was no Concierge privilege here, but it was a quickly-moving line anyway. After that, we stepped out onto the deck, because the sun was starting to set, so we got a few selfies and just marveled at the sun going off into the sea’s horizon. Before dinner, we then went to get a drink from the Concierge Lounge (though I of course just had non-alcohol) before heading to dinner, again at Rapunzel’s Royal Table.
Unfortunately for us, we literally got pirated out of our second chance to get a photo with both Rapunzel & Eugene, because tonight was “Pirates IN The Caribbean” night at all dining rooms. The menus were obviously pirate-themed, and each of us got items from the “main” menu (rather than the simple or the kids menu). I got falafel that was very tasty (but not in a pita pocket), Samantha got jerk chicken that she really liked, and we also got the excellent pretzel bread that was a part of yesterday’s menu. Our servers have been top-notch with our specific requests for food, and I should also mention that we had Shirley Temples at our table when we were seated!
Although the entertainment was not Tangled, it was still fun. There were pirate-themed songs, and after we ate, there was a limbo contest and of course some of the Pirates of the Caribbean came out (none were Captain Jack Sparrow, however). We then went up to Deck 10 to watch the pirate party and the fireworks-at-sea show. We decided to not join the “mosh pit” on the 9th deck, especially since both of our feet were hurting us due to various bang-ups that have happened during the course of this trip. It was a fun show watching the battle of the pirates and Captain Mickey ziplining in from one of the towers of the ship. I mostly covered my ears for the fireworks show, and Samantha seemed to have a good time too.
After that party ended, we went to Eye Scream and both of us wanted to scream in annoyance. The mint flavor had already been replaced with BoNoNo! [Yes, I intentionaly misspelled “banana.”] We still got vanilla/chocolate twist cones, but it was still a bummer.
Then, we headed down to After Hours and went to Fathoms for Karaoke. We were one of the first in line, and we had “A Whole New World” to duet. After a few more songs, I wanted to do a solo song. As we waited for that, listening to others sing (some were great, some were not), we also chatted with people around us, who recognized us from other things that we had done. Between our “Mr/Mrs” ears, our bubbly personalities, and our matching/corresponding shirts, we got to be pretty recognizable.
It was about 23:30 or so, and my name still wasn’t called. I found out that my second request was put at the bottom of the list so that everyone would have a chance to sing (understandable), but since both of us were super-tired, I decided to withdraw the second request and we took the elevator back to our stateroom. We have to save some energy for tomorrow since there’s one more day of cruise fun!
>> TO BE CONTINUED…
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Today is the twenty-second day of the twelfth round of O.C.T.O.B.E.R. That’s three weeks and one day.
Thanksgiving recess: 31 days
Winter vacation: 58 days
Never A Worry 