Monday was a full day at sea, no ports.  We had some plans for the day:  we wanted to work out and we had signed up for a food and wine pairing at the Golden Fleece Steakhouse at 3 pm.  I hung out the door tag for room service to deliver coffee, fruit, bread, yogurt and smoked salmon between 9:00 and 9:30 am.

9:30 passed and nothing.

9:45 passed.

10:00 we called to ask where the food was.  They said, on its way.

10:15 nothing.

10:30 I called and told them not to bother.

10:31 a knock at the door!

So far our meal experiences had not been great–bad service at dinner the first night due to a HUGE crowd of incredibly obnoxious people, and now terrible room service.  I was in a foul mood.

We ate quickly and went to work out.  The gym was PACKED!  There was a line for the treadmills so Chris and I decided to just go up to the weight area.  It was full but not as bad.  There were two 20 something guys working out and hitting on women who were hilarious.  For instance, one of them approached a women doing some squats and “corrected” her form while asking if she used to be a dancer.  They would also do a few reps with really low weight (for instance, bicep curls at 15 pounds) and then look really strained.  I nicknamed them Hans and Franz.  Anyway, Chris and I worked out for over an hour and felt much better afterwards.

After that we were starving!  I didn’t think we could get ready for the dining room in time (lunch was only from 12 to 1:30 there) so we went to the Lido Deck “Unicorn Cafe” for buffet instead.  Taste of the Nations today was Caribbean and had a few goodies (calamari and cheese bread) but I primarily ate salad.  The best thing about buffets is the variety of options!

As I write this I can’t recall what we did next.  I think we might have gone up to the pool deck for some sun, but maybe not.  I personally love sitting out in the sun, reading, but Chris doesn’t like to do that for as long, so we might not have.  I just don’t remember!

At 3 pm we had signed up for the Wine and Food pairing lecture up at the Golden Fleece Steakhouse.  The Golden Fleece is the specialty steakhouse on the Legend.  For $30 you get dinner, and it’s supposed to be a really great dinner.  We actually had reservations for Tuesday night.  The restaurant is located at the top of ship–you take the elevators from the main atrium all the way up and you are there!  We were interested in learning more about wine, and the advertisement suggested this talk would change our lives.

We were given a small plate of food and five different wines:  one sparkling (white), two whites, and two reds.  The sommelier talked about the history of wine and then about specifically each wine.  We were then instructed on how to swirl it (or not) and to try a sip, then try various bites of food.  Most surprising:  riesling with brie cheese (with pepper) was delicious!  Ordinarily I do not care for white wine at all, and prefer only sparkling or red wine.  Anyway, it was a very informative hour, and I wish there had been more activities like that on the ship–I think other lines than Carnival may have more things like that.

After the wine pairing, we may have gone up to the sun deck.  Either before or after, I don’t remember.  We also may have hit the blackjack table–I am not much of a gambler myself but Chris enjoys playing blackjack.  Unfortunately, he had very bad luck all week at the tables and gave Carnival even more money than they needed 😉

Tonight was the first formal night.  I wanted to get dressed and then perhaps see the Captain’s celebration, which was in the main atrium area, or Promenade Deck.  We decided to get formal portraits taken (free to taken, $$$$ to buy).  We were in line behind just one other couple…and suddenly EVERY member of their extended family joined them for various pictures.  Seriously, like eight people cut the line and suddenly each wanted a single picture, various groups, etc.  I was STEAMING, they were so incredibly rude.  Combined with the room service fiasco, and our worries that we would need to try to change dinner tables, I was not having a great time, and was beginning to think that the Carnival cruise was a big mistake.

We went to dinner and tonight was MUCH better.  Our waiter seemed a bit more in control, and again our tablemates were very fun.  The waiter was working hard to make us happy even though he had to deal with 40 or 50 other (incredibly) obnoxious people, so I was much happier.  Also it was lobster night!

After dinner we went with our tablemates to “Jazz Hot”, in the Follies Lounge.  The show was singing and dancing, lots of costume and props, lots of fun.  Afterwards went to see another comedian in the Firebird Lounge, Larry Omaha.  He was not as funny as the guy the night before but still very funny!  Again, by the end I was utterly exhausted…so off to bed.  Another day, another towel animal!

Tomorrow’s plan:  Grand Cayman, we booked a jetski tour through Islandmarketing.com with Action Water sports.  The ship arrives at 7 am…so early start!  I’d been to the Caymans before, for almost a week with a wonderful “orchestra” gig (Grand Cayman National Orchestra) so I was looking forward to seeing it again.

Okay, I’m taking this one day at a time.

We woke up fairly early on Saturday, and again we “hit” the gym followed by the Doubletree Breakfast Buffet.  The day before we had gone straight to breakfast in our workout clothes and today was the same.  We also had the same server, Jesus, who teased us about this, but seriously, it didn’t make sense to shower and change before eating.  Now, for the record:  since January I have been working with a personal trainer and have been on a very strict diet.  For this trip I had decided that I was going to eat basically what I wanted.  Oddly, it has been a real challenge, full of guilt and self-loathing!  I decided to stick to the basic diet for breakfast and lunch and really only “splurge” at dinner, but they did offer bacon on the breakfast buffet, so I might have taken a small piece of it.  Other added bonus:  unlimited coffee, plus Jesus brought us “to-go” cups so we could take it along, which was great.  In fact, we were really starting to get in the mood for cruising with his fantastic service.

After breakfast we drove across the bridge to St. Petersburg again.  This time a HUGE thunderstorm came through just as we started out, and the visibility was rotten.  The Kia doesn’t handle that well in bad weather either, so it was a little scary for a few minutes.  Our goal today:  visit the Salvador Dali Museum, then meet up with Ginny again.  Several years ago Chris and I spent a whole week on vacation in St. Petersburg, and our favorite place had been the museum, so we were looking forward to returning!

It took awhile for the rain to calm down enough to get to the museum, and we were a bit soaked by the time we walked in.  The museum was great!  Dali is such an interesting and crazy man.  We weren’t as impressed by the museum as we had been last time though–I think there must have been a more interesting traveling exhibit at that time.  This time it was about Dali’s work with the theatre.  All in all though, the museum is still fantastic.  They are in the process of constructing a new building which will be both larger and more hurricane proof, so it will only be better!  Evidently they have many more works of arts in storage at any given time, and with the new building will be able to have a larger exhibit.  We’ll have to return in a few years to check it out.

Afterwards we had a quick lunch at a place downtown called the Lucky Dill Deli.  They served gigantic sandwiches.  We then met up with Ginny.  Since the weather was still a bit ominous we decided to go to a movie.  We saw “Salt” with Angelina Jolie.  It was entertaining enough (the others liked it much better than I did) and then we went to dinner.  Ginny drove us out to St. Petersburg Beach to a seafood restaurant–Hurricane Seafood Restaurant (technically in Pass-a-Grille).  I had a stuffed flounder and it was delicious.  The pina coladas weren’t as good (in my opinion) as the previous night.  After dinner it was dark and we debated going to walk on the beach, but we decided we would have lots of beach time ahead, and frankly we were exhausted at this point.  We hung out with Ginny at her house a bit longer, then back to the hotel.  Tomorrow would be the big day!!!!

Okay, I will start my trip review!

Chris and I decided to cruise the Carnival Legend out of Tampa, Florida on August 22.  The easiest and cheapest way to get to Tampa was to fly Southwest, and we decided to go a few days early to sightsee and visit our friend Ginny who lives in St. Petersburg.

We used priceline to rent a car and get a hotel near the airport.  We got in Thursday night and were exhausted, so we just checked in and ate a nice dinner at the hotel (Doubletree Westshore).

The next day we worked out in the hotel gym (gotta keep it up!), ate at the hotel restaurant (really nice breakfast buffet)and went over the bridge to St. Petersburg, about a 20 minute drive.  We drove to “The Pier” and ate lunch at the Columbia restaurant there, a cuban restaurant.  It was tasty, and the views were very nice.  We met up with my friend after that and she showed us around a few other places.  We then drove out to Madeira Island and ate dinner at a seafood restaurant by the water.  I had the she-crab soup, which I had heard of but never eaten.  I had assumed that it was made from female crabs, but evidently the “she-” is simply an abbreviation for sherry.  The soup was creamy and delicious!  We also had a couple of excellent pina coladas, wanting to get the week off to a delightful tropical start.

I was thinking yesterday how lucky I am that I am able to go on a fun vacation every year.  Not everybody is able to get away for a week or two and do something different, and I am really appreciative that I can.  Sometimes I get a bit jealous of other people’s travels, but I am glad to be able to experience what I can.   It’s always good to put things in perspective in your mind, and be sure to appreciate what you have!

When I was a child, we traveled quite a bit in the summer as well–I have been to many of the 50 states and visited many National Parks, along with lots of SC and FL beaches.  I have many journals and scrapbooks from my childhood travels.  These days I blog instead of journaling 😉 and take pictures.

Additionally, I have friends and family who travel and bring me back nice souvenirs.  I was given a beautiful (yet a bit overwhelming!) blouse from China for my birthday.  I took a picture of it yesterday as I wanted to share this picture with the person who gave it to me.

I have been working hard the last week, both preparing for my upcoming cruise, and getting ready for the beginning of school.  I am gone until after school starts, which is fine as it’s nice for the kids to get accustomed to their new school schedule and then start violin lessons or classes.  It just means I will need to basically hit the ground running, or at least at a brisk jog.

I have mentioned my upcoming cruise several times in my blog.  Let me tell you more about the plans!  We are going out of Tampa on an “Exotic Western Caribbean” itinerary.  We will be visiting Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; Belize City, Belize; and Isla Roatan, Honduras.  In the Caymans (where I have been before!) we are planning to do a jet ski excursion where we will jet ski around the island, visit “Stingray City” where we will be able to pick up stingrays and “pet” them, and probably hit up a beach as well.  We should also have time to get lunch where I really want to get some conch fritters.  In Cozumel we are going to a beautiful beach resort for the day and might also do parasailing!  Belize we are going to Xunantunich Mayan Ruins, and in Roatan we have a private island tour booked.  Roatan seems to be the least built up of all the ports (though Carnival just built a gigantic complex on the beach there) so I am particularly looking forward to it!  We have several “excursions” that I booked through private companies versus paying a premium for the ship tours.  I haven’t done this before, but I read many many reviews online of various activities and feel pretty secure in my choices.

While in Tampa we will be visiting a good friend from when I lived in Cleveland, and spending a few days there as well.  Several years ago Chris and I spent a week in St. Petersburg, Florida, and one of our favorite places was the Salvador Dali Museum.  I think we might go back there!  On that previous visit we also went to several Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now just the Rays) games and the Holocaust Museum.  The Rays are out of town, and while I remember the Holocaust Museum being very good, it was of course very sad and depressing.  We’ll also see what our friend recommends to do, as she now lives there year round.

We got a great deal on the cruise since we are going after school starts up (it seemed the rates dropped then).  I used priceline to get a hotel and a rental car, and felt good about those rates as well.  Can you tell how excited I am?

I hope to be able to continue my half marathon training while on vacation.  I will get a little behind on the long runs, I think, but should hopefully be able to run 4 or 5 miles every day or two.  I plan to eat as much as possible though 🙂