Finally home after a long day

We left the Hotel at about 04.30 with the couple from Portland who dropped us off at our Terminal before they took their rented vehicle back. There were already many people waiting to check in but the Premier line queue was short and we were able to check in within 10 minutes.
The queue for Security was long and not very efficient compared to our last visit on Friday night where they went through, take out all Pc's notebooks, laptops etc , take off shoes and and belts but this time no such thing. We did not have to take shoes off or take out computer stuff from hand carry which seems very strange to me.
Being there early meant we had to hand around a bit but finally we started boarding a bit late as their was extra security at the airport apparently??, not that you could tell from the official security line, however finally we got on board and then we finally left about an hour late. This delay was due to the Handling Company double labeling some cases and they need to check??
The flight passed quite quickly for eight hours and we both agreed that Norwegian in Premier Class is excellent value for money compared to Virgin, BA etc and we will certainly fly with them again.
We arrived back at Gatwick and baggage was quite fast arriving and then home for about 22.45 hrs rather tired but pleased to be home due to the delays but not pleased to be home because of the weather.
We both enjoyed this holiday very much and the good weather meant that we could do lots of walking and of course swimming which was good for both of us and we are planning to go back again next year.
This update is being done a couple of days late due to many things to do when you get home but one interesting and stupid in my view is the reports in the papers that the Florida State Government had two bills to discuss earlier this week, one regarding the ability to purchase guns and the one about pornography affecting children. Well they spent about three minutes on debating guns and then taking no action, considering the mass shooting of school kids in Florida last week, whilst they decided they would take action with regard to pornography as it affected kids. I cannot believe this stupidity , guns will do more damage to kids lives than porn ever will. florida-house-refuses-to-debate-guns-but-declares-porn-dangerous/

And the day did not get any better

We passed the night in this not great Hotel and checked out at 11.00 and planning to spend several hours in the Lobby, then thinking what would happen if the flight does not go at 17.00 as planned. So looked in to Hotels again and there is not a room to spare anywhere for some reason. There is the Miami Boat Show, apparently motor racing nearby and also cruise ships eight, in fact, over two days. we also understand that many flights have been cancelled due to bad weather of the East Coast of USA so all in all its not great.

Looks good on the outside by RUBBISH inside with dirty floors and rooms

So we spent the morning in the Hotel Lobby waiting patiently for the time to go by when we received a text from the Airline saying that the 17.00 departure is not confirmed and they will advise later, Blast what does this mean. So we continued to wait and it was near lunch time and so we ordered a Pizza for delivery which was very tasty but then we thought it may have GARLIC and so we checked with the supplier and he said no but one hour later, where the Loo so it may have been the cheese or it was a bit fatty. Oh well where is the Loperamide.
A new text arrived and we though first of all we had misread it but the aircraft will now leave on Sunday Morning at 07.00 with check in starting quite early so that means a 04.00 start, which we just love. In the meantime we had befriended a American couple from Portland Oregon who had just come of their cruise and were the night in Fort Lauderdale before flying home tomorrow. Having check yet again Hotwire, Bookings.com, Hilton, Hyatt etc one more time the only room that appeared to be available was in the current hotel with the room rate again increasing. We had considered a renting a car and heading away from FLL and /or getting another airline back but the extra costs would be high so we decided to remain where we were and booked in. After we had confirmed the room in the Hotel the couple from Portland came back to say they been given a suite with two bedroom and it we wanted to stay in there it would be fine but unfortunately it was to late. However they said also later on as they were also looking to check in at 0500 would we like a lift to the Airport in their rented truck, they had this because there were no rental cars available.
So we planned a restful afternoon knowing that we would have an early start tomorrow morning. What is galling though is the way Hotels collude to increase prices during a room shortage, I will not forget this in a hurry.
We also had to cancel and change our taxi a couple of times as well, and all this costs extra money and lets see whether e can get it all back. Having seen the state of the Hotel capacity issues no wonder the airline could not find rooms and we feel again very sorry for anybody still stuck at the airport.
The rest of the day we rested and then went out to the Waffle House for a light snack, or at least that's our intention. Anyway early to bed for a 0400 call, not what we expected.

It was a lovely day until aircraft push back

We extended the hotel room till mid afternoon so that we could go out for a while and then have time for a shower before attending the airport for our flight back to London.
We left the Hotel around 10.00 and drove down to the dock where we boarded the ‘Jungle Queen’ tour boat which visits all around Fort Lauderdale looking at some really expensive and lovely houses and then on to the main Cruise Port where there were only two ships in Port at the time plus a large car carrier. It was a bright hot sunny day, yet again, and the trip was most enjoyable  and some of the houses were spectacular. The tour lasted 90 minutes and so when completed we went back to the Hotel via Publix to get some sandwiches made up  and then we were going to sit by the pool but they doing some building near there and so we moved to a quieter place. We left for the airport around 5.30 and dropped off the rental car and on to check in, in the departure lounge we enjoyed a very expensive glass of wine and some fries, and boarded the aircraft and the captain was giving us a run down of the flight during push back when he suddenly stopped and there was silence for five minutes. He came back on the speaker system to say that there was a problem with a tyre and we needed to go back to the terminal, Damn!!
We returned to the terminal and after some checking it would appear that during push back they had run the front wheels over some metal debris and damaged three of the four front tyres and there were not enough in stock to change them and so they would have to cancel the flight and everybody would get off and possible go to Hotel until tomorrow. So then chaos ensued as there ware families with babies and children and it was a completely full flight with about 400 people and they needed to find Hotel rooms. We had learnt on the river cruise that there would be about eleven cruise ships in port for changeover on Saturday which means that many Hotels would be full. Clearly they had problems finding Hotels for so many people and so we decided to try and fix something ourselves. There was also a problem with customs and immigration with regard to taking off the suitcases and so it was at least  2.5 hours after our supposed take off that we finally got our bags .So after about an hour on the phone , Hilton were all full (that's about ten Hotels) Hyatt the same it began to look like we would not succeed but the last shot was a phone call to Expedia who found a room in a Best Western at double the normal price.
The Best Western I-95 its called is a rubbish Hotel and for over £ 250.00 per night is a rip off either by the Hotel or Expedia, I will find out in due course but taking advantage of people ;like will not go forgotten and perhaps the last time we will use Expedia and Best Western
So what could have been a nice day and then an on time flight home turned in to a mess. We do not blame the airline as it was not there fault that the aircraft was pushed over metal debris and of course in the middle of the cruising season Hotels were full and if their full there is not much they can do about that. Oh well put it down to experience.
At the moment based on information received the flight will take off at 17.00 hours Saturday evening some 19 hours late
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A lovely day out ending with Road chaos

We left the Hotel around 10.30 and visited ACE Hardware for some baggage locks and then out to the coast with a view to heading South and ending up in Coral Gables South of Miami for dinner with an old business colleague that we have not seen for years..

Following the coast road from Dania Beach down to Hollywood which is mile after mile of 50 story high expensive condos’ overlooking either the inland waterways or sea. Still lots of building going on and the traffic through Hollywood was really slow. We though about purchasing some sandwiches at a Publix which was shown on Google Maps only to get there it was no more and another Con do going up. Keeping with the road going South and being very slow due to traffic we espied a ‘European Deli’ ah! that should be ok but what they should have its Polish with a touch of Greek and some other Eastern European nationalities as they were also selling a Ukrainian cake. However we settled for turkey for Noel and Tuna for Jen and guy preparing the salads could not understand why we did not want chees on the baguettes. We explained to him that we are from the UK where you don not eat cheese on every single bit of food like the Americans seem to do, so ‘you want cheese with that’?? always goes unanswered.
The traffic got steadily worse as we neared  North Miami and then we came upon the reason for this slow driving due to the ‘Miami Boat Show’ which went on for it seems like miles and their must have been more than a billion dollars in boats lined up alongside. There were shuttle buses and road blocks and entertainment centres and literally hundreds of police adding to the chaos. So welcome to Miami. North Beach and South beach were packed with tourists and with the temperature around 28 Degrees Centigrade we decided it would be to warm to walk about and as we were going to a nice restaurant later in the evening in Coral Gables we did not want to arrive a little sweaty. Leaving Miami and the chaos we headed of to Key Biscayne which we thought would be a quieter place to be onto to find ‘part two’ of the Miami Boat Show and so so the Police were creating more chaos again.  Oh well somebody got some money.

We then headed early for Coral Gables because of the traffic and we arrived about an hour early and so decided to visit the Biltmore Hotel which we walked around for a while and took some photos. Must stay here sometime, if we can afford it but it is a minimum of $500.00 per night, phew not cheap, but if you have zee cash, well then….
We moved on to the restaurant where we had a great dinner with an ex business colleague of Noel and finally departed there at about 9.30 pm perhaps with a 45 minute drive back to the Hotel only things did not go to plan as the road we were heading for had road works and the entrance ramp had been closed and so we followed the diversion signs which sent us totally in the wrong direction and on to TOLL ROADS which was the last thing we wanted. What with the number plate readers flashing every few minutes and the SAT NAV saying go this way and the road signs, sometimes non excitant saying go this way we got a little lost and took to the side roads to start again. However what this has done is moved us further south where were able to join the road we wanted but they were resurfacing it and there were massive queues, oh boy just what we needed,
We finally made it back at about 2300 , later than we wanted but Hey Ho, what can you do.
And so to bed

PS this the last of the blog until we get home

Back on Solid Ground

Well the ship arrived  back in Fort Lauderdale Port at 0700 and we had received notification that our disembarkation time would be 09.20, so time enough to have breakfast on the balcony even though it was overlooking the port and not some beautiful Island.
We received a notice from the Bridge that we had travelled 2591 miles, the crew of 851 was made up of 44 Nationalities, and all together we consumed 25200 eggs, of which Jennifer and I claim we had about ten.
It would appear that on last nights dinner pre-ordered to avoid GARLIC something went wrong and their must have been garlic on either the salmon carpaccio or the Lamb Shank as later in the evening I started getting some problems. I will be taking this up most strongly with the Shipping Line when I return to the UK. This unfortunately impacted on my sleep patterns so I was not in the best condition first thing in the morning.
Anyhow they called our code at dead on 0920 and we left the ship down the gangplank (not quite) and in to the customs hall to find our bags. It was clear to us we would need some help as we had two large suitcases, two roller bags, a large NEW sports bag, and two backpacks and a camera bag, nothing like travelling light?? and we waived over a porter with his large trolley. I must add at this point that Noel was using his walking stick to aid movement and so we followed the baggage porter and he went direct to the US Customs Channel via the disabled route and so we did not have to join the 200 other people patiently waiting in line to pass through customs. So this was amazing, so from leaving the cabin and back in US outside the terminal loading a cab was not more than fifteen minutes, amazing, so I gave him an extra tip. From there we went to the Airport to collect our Thrifty Rental Car which again only took a few minutes and a very relaxed receptionist upgraded our car and we ended up with another Kia Sportage which was great as Noel did not have to learn all the knobs and levers again.

Hyatt Place Hotel Fort Lauderdale

We had originally planned to perhaps go shopping or a drive up the coast but we were both a bit tired and so we went to the Hotel to see if we could check in around 10.45 AM instead of after 15.00 which we could after a small additional payment for what turned out to be quite a large room. After a couple of hours rest and the all important cup of tea, yes we bring our own teabags and mini kettle with us, we were beginning to get a bit hungry but did not want a huge meal. Next to the Hotel was a nice and expensive Italian Restaurant (probably stuffed with Garlic) but a bit further, thirty paces away, was an ‘Outback’ Steak House which are not perfect but still we have used them several times and so in we went. We explained to our rather large male waiter my problem about garlic etc and he really took this on board and after discussing the menu he pointed all the dishes that had garlic or may have garlic in it and so I decided upon a house salad and a rib eye steak. The salad arrived via another waiter who deposited the salad with garlic croutons on it, I could live with that as I could remove them, and so started eating the salad. A few moments later our waiter appeared and said ‘Oh No’ that not right and whipped my salad away and returned moments later with anew one devoid of croutons.
The main course arrived and he said that he had instructed the Chef to get a new clean pan to do my steak and not use one that had garlic in it, most thoughtful this guy and so I gave him an extra tip for his interest in my issues, pity he was not our steward on board. To be frank we spent the afternoon relaxing and in the evening watching a couple of films on HBO. However Noel was also busy organising a meet with an ex colleague who live South of Miami in Coral Gables and fixing a taxi to meet us at Gatwick Airport on Saturday lunchtime. We had a ‘What's App’ call with Joanne and Katherine who were in Dunster.
Tomorrow will be a much busiier day as we have a little shopping to do and then head slowly down the coast to Miami where we will have a light lunch in the main drag overlooking the sea with all the old classical style buildings and then visit a few other places before meeting for dinner in Coral Gables.  Should be a nice day.

Of course there has been another shooting at a Florida School by an ex student armed with a fully automatic weapon on St Valentines Day (Massacre)
The USA must DO something to stop this happening.

NB Will next week update blog with additional photos.

Another day ‘All at sea’ Just like the EU without the UK

This morning when we awoke the moving map showed we are off the East Coast of Cuba heading North in the direction of the ‘The Keys’ Florida where we are due to arrive at 0700 tomorrow morning.

Well yesterday I was on my high horse about certain politic al matters and today I thought I would give some views on Immigration on Europe which still appears out of control as the EU does not know what to do. I have nothing against genuine hard working immigrants but I am against those who choose to ignore their own country of birth and go anywhere where they can make a buck, legally or otherwise. Some people may remember the Second World War where the UK whilst trying to work with other European Countries to defeat the power of the Hitler regime which had overrun many countries in Europe and caused our major  and famous DUNKIRK withdrawal with the huge threat that the German forces attacking the UK. Under that threat, what did the British people do, they rallied around Churchill and made their determination to continue fighting irrespective of the tragic consequences.  Did we decide to pack our bags and run away to where ever we could go to safety to avoid getting hurt??, NO we sent our children as far away from possible conflict as we could and fought back. Many of the immigrants have deserted their own country in favour of safety without giving thought to being proud and helping their own country.

What helped to cause this issue was our combining with the USA in the Middle East War and was the biggest ‘screw up’ by Blair and Bush and cost the US Trillions of Dollars and a not an insignificant amount for the UK we end up creating a problem in a country where we have no need to be. Often the problems caused are through different political views and different religious views and so there is a local war and so we try to decide who will be the winner then take the opposite site,like trying to support the loser. History will tell you what's happens if u leave things alone, look at the great American Civil War and the England vs Scotland debacle’s.

Great but knowing all this we allow immigrants from both sides of the argument to meet and stay in UK where they continue the ongoing fighting, take a look at all the the problems in the Calais refugee camp over the past few years which is why France wanted to close the camp. The problems of sexual misconduct by Asian Gangs in UK has reached totally unacceptable proportion’s with the Police turning a blind eye rather than being accused of racialism which is ridiculous. It is easy to blame the Child Care units run by local government but the main reason the girls, and boys, are there in the first place is most probably the parents of same.  Thousands of girls have been molested by Asian men, they don't do this to their own people except perhaps the Indian’s and Pakistani’s at home where the attacks are even far worse.

I mentioned in yesterdays blog about the Rap Capital of the World being Sweden, but this problem exists in many other places in Europe where immigrants have arrived in great numbers. Germany has a big problem as you cannot allow a million and more  unemployed and, unemployable in most cases arrive, without having troubles. Somalian’s in particular have caused havoc in Scandinavian Countries just watch videos on U-Tube to understand the extent of the problem. Perhaps that's enough ranting for today as this is a holiday not a political boat trip but when catching up with the odd bit of news you worry what the world is coming to, mind you I bet our parents said that as well.

Our ‘brought on board’ wine stocks were just about right and we have one bottle left which we will take ashore tomorrow and possibly have tomorrow evening. On board this ship is a Microsoft Training Centre where you can learn to use Windows 10 and all related photo, security software etc and as today is the last day it covers what Microsoft Equipment should buy and by chance we happen to have a lot of Windows 10 Tablets on board which can sell to you. I am sure some people have learnt something from these presentations as most people on this ship are in their later years, like us, but non all are computer literate and so it must help people who wish to learn how to use SKYPE and other MS products. There is always a full programme on board,should you wish to join, on anything from how to cook a steak dinner for two, to mahjong, other card games plus talks on anything from Rum Runners of the Caribbean to future cruises with us and boy have we got a deal for you. I often wonder how much money could be saved fort a cruise line that has no entertainment only bigger cabins and more quiet areas, although this ship is good, but I am sure that costs could shrink by up to 30%???.

Jennifer is still on the Balcony reading whilst listening to the sea pass by but protected from the wind in a 28 C temp, not bad really.

Three ships passed us today going in the opposite way, Another Holland America Line called the Rotterdam, a Celebrity Ship and a barge towing something extremely large which we could not work out what it was. Oops another ship this time a tanker coming along but to far away to see clearly even with the excellent binoculars provided in the cabin. One fun thing the Cabin Stewards do each evening is to create animals using towels, will show picture of one they did of a monkey.

Well its 17.30 on Tuesday evening and we are packing suitcases for the early morning start. We will have dinner in the main restaurant tonight and then to the buffet for breakfast. Some travellers if able to carry own luggage can disembark by 07.30 but as we are ‘Independent’ travellers we have elected to be last off at 0920 ish as we then have to find a Taxi and go and collect the rental car.

So its goodnight from her and its goodnight from me and see you tomorrow.

All at sea-for the next 48 hours-subject to not hitting and iceberg

Well we departed Aruba yesterday evening and I was hoping for some nice sunset photo shots but unfortunately there were to many clouds so perhaps tonight will be better, we shall sea.

Room service breakfast arrived on time and we do recognise its a long way from the kitchen to our room and so for the food to be really hot then room service is not the way to go however it was at an acceptable temperature , Noel had the fried eggs and bacon and Jennifer scrambled and ham. They forgot to bring the tea though but as we always travel with a small electric kettle and tea bags it was not a problem.

So for today and tomorrow we travel to Fort Lauderdale where we arrive at 0700 in the morning but we don't get off until about 0920, everything is fully rostered, and you will be shot if you don't comply! . Tonight is what they call a Gala dinner where you can dress up in your finery but unlike Fred Olsen and P & O where they pretty much insist on a Black Tie the American Ships, although this is registered in Rotterdam, don't require the same formality which is quite nice and so a jacket and collard shirt is all that is required, it says. If I had the nerve I would go to the Dinner in my new white jacket and green shirt with collar and tie and nothing else and look upset when they don't let me in or arrest me. Ha. The sea has a few white caps this morning and so we are rocking a bit and it means that  occasionally miss the keys on the computer , well that's my excuse for typo’s but hopefully it will stay like this till we get back. Jennifer is wearing her wrist bands which really do work for her which is good.

I have mentioned before the ships communication and entertainment system which is first class and as for programmes on the TV its pretty much like a good airliner with over 100 films to choose from which we can watch from the comfort of our own suite on a Samsung 4K 55 inch screen. Really good. We can also watch four news programmes including the BBC Worldwide which frankly seems a waste of time as its mostly consisting of documentaries and discussions with some unknown African Leader who is clearly lying about the missing gold bars and dollars from his country whilst blaming the opposition for promoting such disgracefull comments. he then leaves with his 10 wives and other flunkies in 12 Rolls Royce cars to his Palace. I have been also watching the American TV News Channels, one for supporting President Trump whilst the other not. It looks to me that government is not about serving the people who elected you but to fight tooth and nail with the opposition not matter whether it does any good at at all to the population of America.

The current crisis of a stupid memo or two is disgraceful with one side blaming the other and this takes a lot of time and does not enable any President to go ahead with his policies as promoted prior to election and so in the end virtually nothing gets done. This is clearly the case for when Obama was in power and the people I asked what did Obama do find it difficult to answer with any sincerity. The current argument is over the illegal immigrants with the children of same being labelled’ The Dreamers’ and Obama policy was to allow them to stay. There are  apparently 1.8 million of them in the country, about half are registered the rest not. These people arrive across the US/ Mexican border and even other migrants come to Canada and then cross the Canadian/US border illegally and yet certain US politician's say lets forget how they got here and let them stay. I say NO, If I want to visit the USA, in the OLD days one would go to the USA Embassy with loads of documents to obtain a VISA, now its easier by internet but you still have to fill in a detailed form online, pays your money, then when you check in at your departure airport they check you again against the computer and when you arrive in the USA you wait in in line for hours, it seems, to have all your fingerprints taken and also a photo, and I am a UK visitor to a country where we are supposed to be friends!!!. We have the same arguments in the UK with BREXIT vote. I don't think anybody in the UK has ever voted to join the EU, we voted to join EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement) and we did not join EFTA to allow thousands of people to flood our shores whether from EU Countries or even those from deepest Middle East & Africa who arrive by boat in Italy from Egypt or somewhere where the Italian give them a bus map on how to get to the UK where they will give you a nice free house and pocket money and free healthcare without even contributing to the economy, Its Bloody Nuts!!

All the bullshit from the EU about the UK making grave mistakes about leaving is nothing to do we the reasons they give because it means heavy job losses in Belgium and Luxembourg and Strasbourg, and as UK is the second largest contributor to the EU after Germany somebody will have to pay more, such as Germany, France etc whilst the Italians and Spanish are pretty much bankrupt due to the EU and cant afford to pay anymore. The sooner the UK Government pulls the plug on this Titanic disaster the better. This is not to mention the Swiss who get on very well without the EU and Holland and Sweden and many countries who would like to vote  against the EU and this includes a lot of people in Germany.

Sweden has now become the rape capital of the world on a per capita basis mostly due to Migrant influx and in Stockholm and other major cities there are many NO-GO areas where the police and emergency services will not attend incidents so as to protect their own life.. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s I visited Sweden many times and it was a quiet haven in the world with lovely people and I made many good business friends there but now they have to put up with this, all because to the EU Immigration policy.

We ll that's enough politics for today and I will continue tomorrow with a ship update and other strong views I hold on certain immigrants.

Well it is GALA Evening which means dressing up in your finest, well for the minor few, most people had open necked collard shirt and I only saw a few Black Ties. The dinner was nice with the main course being filet mignon with a lobster tail which was most tasty. Jennifer's steak was immersed in Garlic whilst mine was naked but tasted much better said Jennifer after tasting mine. After dinner we went to the BB KING BLUES BAR for some music and a little dance in a slightly swaying boat was not to easy.

And so to bed. Got to pack the bags tomorrow Boo Hoo.

Oranjestad- Aruba. That Deja Vu feeling

By the time we had awoken we had already up at the dock in Oranjestad and town on the coast of Aruba. We did visit here in January 2015 on our P & O cruise from Southampton via the Panama Canal to San Francisco and so we new a little about the island before we landed..
The previous evening our table steward mentioned that there was going to be a parade today and most shops will shut by lunchtime to allow the Parade to take place and we thought that would be a fun thing to watch but of course we had no information on it. We were both bity slow this morning for different reasons and in Noels case it looks like there was Garlic in the César salad mix which produced some unexpected  overnight, Damn.. Anyway Jen was a little slow as we had both had a hard walking couple of days in the heat which we are not used to, so we decided to take it a little easier today. For a change we went to the buffet for breakfast which is fast and efficient and the toast is not soggy like when it arrives nicely wrapped via room service.
Anyway we left the Ship around 11.15 and walked in to town and many of the bigger shops had already closed but our plan was to go to Iguana Joe’s restaurant just across the road for the cruise port entrance and as it is on the first level we could watch the parade from there only to find it also was closed for some reason. Well that's great we thought but its  it is not a problem as the parade was due to start just after midday they said on the ships announcement just before we disembarked and walking down the road we found a comfortable wood chair under an umbrella and we thought ,that  great, and so we sat there waiting for the parade to begin. In the meantime more and more people were beginning to arrive and setting up gazebo’s to protect them for the sun and carrying large Igloos of beer, it looked like. One large industrious family arrived with scaffolding and a large sheet of tarpaulin and together with chairs and tables there were well prepared until we realised they were also building a small room in which to house a toilet, gosh that is organisation.
It was getting warmer and warmer and the sun was beginning  to burn our legs and the time went by and we kept thinking it must start soon until we asked somebody who said it could be 2.30 or 3.30 or even later??? So at about 13.30 after sitting since 11.30 we said this is B stupid and Jennifer needed the little girls room and then we found the Hotel had been boarded up and so had the casino and all the shop fronts were down with metal grating ort solid steel shutters and also two large trucks of armed soldiers turned up, Uhmmm, Time to leave. This is a you tube video of last years parade
So we were back on board the ship around 14.00 and went to the Lido and had one of their excellent burger and chips and came back down to the room to sit on the balcony to see if we can see the parade from there. Well to cut a long story short the ship left at 17.00 hrs and still no parade although further along the road was a large group of gazebos with a cacophonous emanating from it and we assumed this was the parade getting warmed up, or drunk, before they head on down the main road. Now we understand the reasons for the boarded up shops and Hotels etc.
So we sailed off in to the sunset heading back towards Fort Lauderdale and it will be full steam ahead for two days uninterrupted by Islands until we reach the home Port at 07.00.
‘Orajestad’ is an eclectic smallish town with many colourful buildings and some large Hotels and again is a Dutch territory and so it works unlike some of the other islands we have visited, This Island like the previous one yesterday appear to haver a large oil production business and perhaps live off the oil fields which Venezuela is famous for as we are not far away from there.
Tonight I will stay away from the Cesar salad as the mix is containing garlic, as mentioned earlier, will have to see what they have and remind them that NO Garlic means exactly that.
It has been a warm day again today of around 31 C but with a strong wind and so perhaps we got a little burnt. Tonight's food was fine and we got to meet one of the Chef’s as I complained about the garlic in the Cesar salad dressing, and why does every dish have to have garlic built in rather than on the side as its very annoying for somebody like me who has to avoid it like the plague, he apologised and took my complaint on board, I think.
We retruned the cabin after a short while sitting in the empty lounge so that we could put on Jami’s and relax.

Willemstad- Curacao A very attractive town run by the Dutch

We arrived in the Port of Willemstad in the early hours of the morning and the announcement said at 08.00 its ok to leave the ship , so we turned over in bed and awaited the breakfast to be delivered and checked the email.

So we slowly got our selves together and and about 10.30 ish we left the ship and walked down the gangway on to Curacao’n soil, actually a solid piece of concrete quay more like it. The walk to the town takes you along the quay where there are significant works taking place until we reached a large Hotel which had been built together with a shopping mall in and around the old Rif Castle and there was a courtyard with bars and shops and also a very nice large Casino if you fancied a wager, which we did not. In the middle of the town there is a very large river which leads to a Port and to cross the river is a floating pontoon type bridge for pedestrians only but just as we got there the alarm sounded and the bridge moved completely out of the way by lining alongside the river bank, oh we thought that will be a while before we can get across but then we noticed that there was a free ferry that went back and forth across the river when the bridge was not available. So we waited in line as we watched this large tanker being pushed by a couple of tugs up the river and then the ferry left for the other side of the town.
This area is very nice and mostly shops and cafes but all the buildings had been painted in complementary colours and the whole affect was really quite attractive. This is clearly an affluent town compared the some of the other West Indies Islands we have seen although we did not ice that the bridge had been restored some years ago courtesy of the European Taxpayer via the EU. As Curacao is owned and governed by the Dutch they seem to be able to get EU Development funds,  not sure how this happens but this is a another scenario. Alongside the river were many bars and restaurant and reminiscent of  the River Plate in Buenos Aires only this one is more colourful. So it was about one o'clock and to get back to the ship could take us another ninety minutes or so therefore we decided to have a light snack of a typical Dutch dish called the Ham Toastie with a plate of chips whilst Jennifer had the Hawaiian Toastie which was the same toast but with a filling of ham, cheese and pineapple which she enjoyed very much. This was washed down with a couple of small Amstel beers for Noel and Jennifer had her Mint Tea. Just as we  were leaving the café the bridge decided to open again and so back again to the ferry  for the return trip.
We are not ones for looking in tourist type shops with bags, and T-shirts etc with the word Curacao on it in bright colours when we don't need any more bags thank you. We got back to the ship around 14.45 and dived in to the shower as it had been quite Hot, we guessed around 31 C ‘is and a little bit humid and then catch up with some water before having a quick zizz before we go off  for dinner in the main restaurant tonight where out table will be ready at 20.00.Might have a glass of wine on the balcony before leaving for the restaurant me thinks.
Briefly watching the Fox news this morning and the fun and games between the two political parties, that if you issue a memo like the ‘Nunes’ memo than we want to issue one two. The  DNC (Democratic Nut Case) party have issued there memo with a content they have put knowing that it will be redacted as perhaps being to sensitive so that they can say the President is not a fair man. This whole this is stupid and what with ex wives of politician’s also playing the feminist game with allegations causing two more Government senior bods making allegations against their ex husband's.  One ex wife said her husband ran over her foot with the car, and stubbed out a cigarette in her hand which if true is not acceptable but the allegations are not confirmed as no visits to Doctors or Hospitals have allegedly been recorded. ‘A woman scorned etc etc….
If the reader feels that i do not write much about the places we visit there is a reason for this as when we get back to UK I will update this Blog with links to the town tourist site of if important enough to Wikipedia for more information as I don't think all my reader are interested in the when the Castle was rebuilt and by whom and on what day of the week at 09.30.
Well the dinner was nice again tonight and following which we went on the top deck to see the lights of the city and then back to our balcony for some peace and quiet as they were laying music, pleasant, but also the sound of the engines running through the stacks and our balcony is a lot quieter.
We did 2.7 miles walking yesterday and 3.2 miles today according to our Garmin reporters and no wonder we feel a little tired tonight and Noels knees are struggling a bit. Tomorrow we arrive in Oranjestad in Aruba which we last visited on our P & O trip in 2015 en-route to San Francisco. We remember it as a great place to visit and we were informed by our dinner steward that there is a parade tomorrow in the  main town which sound like it could be interesting.
Tonight Noel has pre-ordered his dinner with a New York strip steak being chosen lets hope they have not marinated it again in garlic, we shall see,

We are in Bonaire- The Dutch Antilles or Krallendijk, Bonaire Saint Eustatis and Saba to be accurate

We arrived early this morning in the port of Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles and following the slight mess-up of breakfast yesterday and the bore of sitting people you don't know we reverted to the cabin, actually the balcony, for breakfast. We eat lightly with fruits juice and bread and bagels. Its actually very nice sitting on the balcony watching the sea and clouds and this time with no ship up alongside.

Bonaire is a Dutch owned Island and you can tell immediately that its well managed and clean and the roads and patch and well cared for  and most importantly they sell Dutch beer and not this unknown Island stuff we have tried elsewhere. Oh yeas I forgot to mention that noel is able to drink beer again in small quantities and that is great as it does not seem to have caused any issues down below as we say. So following our breakfast on board we departed the ship and walked along to the very end of this part of the Island and found a scuba diving and snorkelling joint, where we had an Amstel beer overlooking the bay with clear water, really great. Its is really quite warm this morning and around 28 Centigrade and it the direct sun it seems much hotter.
We took a number of photos of this place which appears to be the nicer of the Islands visited so far on this trip and these photos will be added to the Photo Album and this Blog when we get back to Florida and if not then when we get home to the very cold wet and windy Weybridge

It was a fantastic day as Jennifer went snorkelling and Noel went Scuba diving, and in the afternoon Jennifer went paragliding and Noel shark fishing, IN YOUR DREAMS!!!, but it would have been nice under other circumstances. However after the beer we walked slowly back to the ship and we walked about two and half miles in the hot sun and rather than pay USD 15.00 for a Hamburger in a restaurant and where you can have one for free on the ship we headed back to the cabin and a cooling/cleaning shower before visiting the takeaway buffet for Jennifer to get them to mix up a salad of her choosing and Noel picked up a couple of  plain white rolls with prawns and crab. The lunch times dishes of the day were Asian but somehow curry, garlic and onions which were there in copious amount would have put the old bugger down again for a few weeks. It was bad enough on Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday  suffering from the garlic but to try this would be suicidal.
Sitting on the balcony watching the the tourist boats go by was very pleasant until the sun started shining directly in to the balcony and it was getting rather warm and so we retreated to the cabin where it is air-conditioned cool and very pleasant for a brief afternoon snooze.. Tonight we rerun to the main dining room and hopefully the new approach to handling Noel anti garlic, onion family etc. has been overcome which would be great.
Well I think after about six days on this vessel its fair to give a brief review. Although it does not feel it the ship is full but there are so many empty places on the ship and thy do not have the very annoying music everywhere and even the other night when in the front bar there was no music and this suits us down to the ground. If you you try to compare this vessel to the Fred Olsen Line ship we used late last year for Norwegian Fjords to be frank there is not comparison. The food is better on this ship, there is much m,ore space and you don't ever have to wait anywhere for assistance of even food queue and the on boars information systems are really great therefore not requiring the yards of paper that other carriers dish out on a daily basis. There is not the constant pressure to go on this tour and purchase this gift and how about a massage which is most refreshing and although we perhaps have only one more cruise in the planning stage for September 2018 this Holland America Line may figure in those plans.
We are due to leave this port at around 1730 tonight  for Curacao to a Port called Willemstadt but hopefully not before we can get photos of a nice sundown, we shall see.
Unfortunately the ship turned around and went West and so we missed our Sunset opportunity however we sat on the balcony until almost 7.30 pm(Noel with a glass of Chardonnay) and it was warm and dark but yet most enjoyable to see the lights of the town receding in to the distance as the stars began to shine in the sky, really nice. Lets hope they get the dinner right tonight and they did. As we did not fancy a show we tretrurned to the room to watch a film

All day at sea on the Garlic ship

Well after discussions last night with the Maître ‘D in the Main Dining room that when I ordered my Garlic free steak ,it was not Garlic free as it had been marinated in Garlic before being served as Garlic free hence my problems for the last few days and still ongoing with severe flatulence. After having sorted this out I asked for the Chicken which had no mention of Garlic only to find out from them that it had also been marinated in Garlic.

At breakfast we were pout on a table for eight people and of course you cannot site there and ignore everybody and so we started a conversation to get things going. If you this every days you are bound to end up with a lot of different people each morning where you have to introduce yourselves and it reminded me of some the Japanese Hostess bars I visited when working with clients in Tokyo where they change the hostess every thirty minutes and each time a new girl arrives her opening words are ‘ where you from’ and originally I would say Hong Kong or I live in Tokyo but I got fed up with that and so I started saying ‘Heaven’ to which they normally replied , that's nice but where is that???
Its exactly one year ago today that Noel had his Ileostomy reversal and its been a very tough year indeed what with getting back to fitness, trying to get used to a new bowel routine which changes every few weeks ort months whilst planning every trip out with  military precision to ensure he knows where all the toilets so as not to get caught out but also always travelling with a back pack with a complete of underwire and trousers plus a number of items which won't talk about. The last year has been the most mentally and emotionally challenging of the last three years. I wont say getting over a colon operation plus two liver ops was easy alongside all the other issues. The year prior when he had a bag to empty 10/15 times per day was also difficult as that should have been on only for about two to three months which in you mind is manageable but then finding out about the spread to the liver meant I had the bag for fourteen months, so the next year on top has been difficult at times but perhaps another few months the body will have finally adjusted, we shall see. At least he can begin to try and regain his normal travelling lifestyle as confirmed by the Florida visit and Caribbean Cruise , and so having bloody garlic when they say there was no garlic and taking almost five days to recover is a pain to say the least.
We decided to not have breakfast in the room for a change and went to the Main Dining room at 0830 and finally left there just before ten am, rather slow service and mix up on my order oh well that's the last time we shall probably go there except perhaps for the last MORNING on board. We spent most of the day on the cabin balcony watching the sea birds taking advantage of the ships wind draft and then hurling down to collect a flying fish for lunch. Jennifer went for a walk around the walking zone and picked up some sandwiches for lunch and then a peaceful afternoon reading and listening to music.
In the evening we had booked to go in the Pinnacle special restaurant where you pay extra for better food it says and we were not disappointed in any way and the food was really good. Jennifer had the Crab cakes to start and the Lamb Chops for mains whilst his majesty had the Large gulf bay prawns followed by a 10oz Filet Mignon steak which was really great and washed down with a bottle of Kirkland Malbec which the wine waiter who had to serve it sneered at it!!! until Jennifer told him that I can only drink certain wines due to a medical problem. Needless to say in this environment they went out of their way to avoid any Garlic or onion and so the meal was really good and perhaps we ate a bit to much so its good that we arrive in Port tomorrow and can get some serious walking done to walk off the nights food.
We returned to the cabin, (stateroom they call them) presumably because we are heads of state of Surrey?, and decided to watch a film called La La Land which won a number of awards at the Oscars last year, its quite nice and original in many ways but we cannot say it was a great film.

Grand Turk- The Island is not so GRAND and can’t see a Turkish man with a FEZ anywhere!!

First of all I have been able to find a cheap way of publishing the Blog by not uploading photos which I will do once we get back to Fort Lauderdale in about a weeks time and then all will be updated but in the meantime, should anybody be following our adventures you would have something to see.#
After an overnight cruise from Half Moon Bay to Grand Turk and Caicos Islands the island was a bit of a disappointment really and not at all attractive. It could be that the recent Hurricanes has devastated it a bit and we did see several houses with part of the roof missing. I have taken a number of photos to demonstrate but cannot publish them for a moment, as per above comments earlier. The clocks changed overnight and so we had to add one hour and that meant we should have to get up one hour earlier, that's not good and s we ordered breakfast for the latest delivery time and he arrived at about 0930 and we sat on the balcony to enjoy same. We considered going ashore but all the paperwork from the ship suggested that most shops were selling jewellery and apart from a few Hotel there was little to see apart from feeding the sting rays, but we have seen that before in the Maldives. The ship berthed alongside a very small pier opposite two Hotels where the beaches had been loaded with deck chairs and umbrellas to try and lure the cruise passengers ashore and of course you would have to pay for the facility, as it happens we are not great sand hogs or sea swimmers and could not see the point of taking a bus or taxi ride around a flat island with slightly dilapidated buildings so we stayed on board and went to the pool and Jennifer had swim whilst Noel took personal care of a Stella beer, well somebody’s got to do it.
We decided to try the burger and fries bard and I must say the burger was very good and quite tasty and knocks McDonalds and similar in to a cocked hat. The rest of the afternoon was spent on the cabin balcony reading and listening to music.
Noel has been watching the Political news on the US TV channels and all the fun and games about the famous ‘Nunes’ memo about the political spying from the DNC and Hilary Clinton party on some Trump people it is alleged. The memo was released last Friday and so now the DNC want to publish their own memo which the President has to approve and so we have to wait will it be published complete or with redactions, time will tell. As I have said before the Clintons and DNC are bad losers and although perhaps Trump was not the best guy to be made president, the Democrats appear to have no one at all ??. I also seem to remember shortly after the election in November 2016 that the pro Democratic newspapers were talking about Trump not lasting six month and absolutely no chance to last a year and he would be impeached, well so far he is now in to his second year of Presidency and although his popularity started to drop after six months it now appears to be returning. All the famous film starts and pop singers who came out campaigning for the Democrats are getting quieter and not so visible. Even at the recent Grammy awards the viewing figures dropped dramatically as one star after another came on stage and had a go at Trump and so even the general public is getting peeved with all the bitching going on. If it carries on like this Trump will have another four years unless the FBI accidently knock him down with his own motorcade.
Oh well back to travel., We ll the sun is shining and we are due to leave this little desert island quite soon and with a full day at seas tomorrow before we reach our next port of call at Kralendijk in Bonaire, a Dutch West Indian Country.
Lets hope the dinner is Ok for Noel tonight, more reporting to follow. Good dinner tonight and we have resolved the garlic problem as the restaurant will give me the following days menu 24hours early so that I can chose what I want and they will ensure that there is no garlic or onion on board, lets wait and see.
After dinner we went to the forward bar and and tested some whisky, the first time for two of us for the last almost three years, and it was alright perhaps but perhaps so many years away from this drink Noel did not find it good as he remembered.
In the bar we sat next to a Canadian Couple on their first cruise it would seem and she commented on the previous nights time change which she said was due to us travelling SOUTH!!!!, dont they teach people at school about world time zones as even Canada has time zones. Oh well…… Tomorrow's another day

Half Moon Bay- The Bahamas and Caribbean Island with rain

We don't get up early any more unless we have to and prefer to wait for everybody else to leave the boat before we do however today we are not going to bother getting of for a lump of sand and trees with very little facilities unless you like being on a sandy beach and want to go swimming in the sea, neither of these appeal to us however.
So we had our breakfast on the balcony which was quite nice and watched as people got on the tenders to the island and shortly after they left the heavens opened and it bucketed down for about 20 minutes. About 20 minutes later one of the tender returned with a load of very wet looking passengers wrapped in towels and so for them it was not a pleasant experience. There are the usual expensive tours on a horse, maximum weight per horse is 250 pounds ?? and finally the weather improved but its not a sunny day but rather cloudy and not that warm really, Jennifer has a blanket around her knees, and sitting out of the wind. We had decided to hang around the ship as the last tender back is anyway at 2.30 pm and as mentioned earlier unless you like sea swimming and the sand there is not much point of visiting the Island. Now if it was the Maldives with lovely weather and beautiful coloured fish and a nice warm 35 Degrees C that would be a different matter.

Unfortunately is still feeling some of the effects of whatever chemical was his dinner last night and so is a bit uncomfortable today so its a good thing we had nothing planned however tomorrow we are in the Turks and Cacos Islands and a walk around and perhaps some internet stuff would be goo, we shall see what happens. We have signed up for the minimum internet connection on board just for checking emails but of course its slow and not worth trying to upload the blog, that will have to wait until we get a proper fast connection so we can do photos as well and that most likely will be when we get back to Fort Lauderdale, we shall see.
There is a large PC presentation room for you to improve your learning skills with lectures on Windows 10 and about using digital cameras etc, Noel had thought of attending but actually he has been using windows 10 since it came out and his photos skills seem acceptable so will probably take a miss on this one. Besides certain flatulence matters might get in the way.
The captain weighed anchor or three at about 15.00 as as the ship turned there had been another Holland American Line ship also parked up, the ship was called the MV Vollendam and its quite a bit smaller, and older, than the Eurodam. So it might have been a bit more busier on the beach than we thought. So now we are off to Grand Turk Island where we should arrive tomorrow morning and we hope we can find some free Wi-Fi somewhere, we shall see.
The menu for the main restaurant tonight looked a bit difficult for Noel as there appeared to be an awful lot of Garlic or onions on everything and so we decided to go the the buffet instead where we  thought the food may be a different choice except No, the nine or so main courses available were pretty much the same as in the main restaurant, and only one dish did not have Garlic and that one had onions instead. Oh this was looking difficult until we spied the pasta counter with a choice of four sauces, three of which had Garlic and only one a white sauce did not so that's what he had.
A quick walk around the ship was followed by watching the film ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ with many familiar faces. And so to bed.

Nassau- Its a bit crowded with three big ships in town

We decided to have breakfast in the cabin, actually on the balcony overlooking Nassau Harbor which was great for about half and hour and the up turned the Carnival; Liberty and parked right across our view of the town, oh well nothing we can do.
Following breakfast and generally relaxing for about an hour we packed our backpack and left the ship, by this time all the organised tours had gone. Why would anybody go on a tour for 2.5 hours leaving at 0815 when the ship does not sail until 8 pm this evening is anybody’s guess. Much to early for us. Anyway we walked in to town the temperature was around 27 C so quite warm if n not a little humid and long the shopping streets filled with Gucci, etc. and lots of watch and jewelry stores. There were of course plenty of stores selling t-shirts and bags and all sorts of tourist things. We took quite a few photos on the walk around town and then stopped in a little square to have refreshing beer. Two beers fort 11 USD, perhaps a little steep. As previously mentioned we were not the only ship in town there was the Carnival and also the Royal Caribbean cruise ships so I guess about 5/7000 people descending on a small town but nobody seemed to be in the expensive shops only bags containing t[-shirts. Across the other side of the Harbor you could see the huge Atlantis Hotel and you could visit there by either boat or taxi, not for us. We had our beer in the only bar where the Wi-fi did not work, great but we didn't need another beer and so we said forget it, we are on holiday.
After about a couple of hours we returned to the ship for a latish lunch, Noel had Sushi and Jennifer tried some other Asian food, which we both enjoyed. Then back to the room to put one’s feet up, as they say, for a couple of hours and then we sat outside with a cuppa and watched the Carnival Liberty slowly getting ready to leave which included some of the crew bringing on to the dockside and large music box where they played pop music and then started dancing, well I say dancing more of a work-out really.  On U-Tube you can find videos of people who arrived back at the ship but minutes late and then they are stranded and so we watched to see if would happen. Well it did to a degree, a youngish woman with an older female in an electric invalid chair came along the quayside and saw the ship leaving and she cried out OH NO’ it can’t be??and then realized

 she was on our ship and not the one just leaving.
In the early evening around 6.30 pm Jennifer went to check out the swimming pool as out visit there lunchtime it was pretty packed and would not be good so Jennifer went off and Noel caught up with some blogging and importing photos from the new camera. The camera is a lot lighter and smaller ( its a Sony a6000) and seems to operate much quicker than the other one and has lots of extra features like uploading via Wi-Fi which I can’t use on this cruise as internet connection via Wi-Fi is hugely expensive on cruise ships. For example the packages range from 100 minutes for $55.00 or 25 minutes from $ 100.00 and the most expensive being 1000 minutes for     $ 250.00 so we shall have to think about what to do. I am not really worried if I don't upload the blog on a regular basis but it would be nice to check emails from time to time.
Anyway we had another nice dinner in the main restaurant although I think there was a small amount of garlic on the steak based on the effects later that evening, Oh well just hang in there.
After dinner we wandered around the ship and their was apparently a comedian on that night but we both preferred to listen to music and read which is what we did..
I forgot to mention that we haver about a 50 inch LCD TV in the room with a very good system, somebody has given this a lot of thought.

We are Cruise’in today

Following a expensive continental breakfast we finished repacking and then waited in the lobby for the 12.00 shuttle to take us over to the Port. There were about six or seven people on the shuttle all going to different cruise lines and out drop was the last. The first drop there appeared to be chaos everywhere with hundred’s or people all queuing in the sun whilst cars and taxis and buses were buzzing everywhere and so we were a little worried about how our ship reception would be. The second drop looked a little more organised and then we got to our Holland America Line ship called the MV Eurodam and it was so efficient, we dropped of suitcases, went thro security and within about 25 minutes were in our suite.

We went to the Lido buffet style restaurant for a light lunch, Noel a beef sandwich and Jennifer a Turkey sandwich whilst all around us people were loading their plates to the gunnels. At least the ship staff does the serving and not allowing passengers to help themselves for health reasons, or is it because it stops food wastage, this is the most likely explanation. we waited in the cabin for the ‘muster’ call for us to learn the emergency drill and down to the deck 3 where we had to check in and be given instruction by the crew how to let go the lifeboats and steer it away from the ship, sorry just kidding, and a demonstration on how to use life jackets and then back to the room to await the arrival of the suitcases which they did about 3.15 and so b y about 1615 we were petty much unpacked and watched the ship leave the harbour.
Lots of people on the side of the port exit and in the blocks of apartments took great pleasure in waving and cheering the hip leaving, but of course it is Super Bowl today and they were probably gathering to watch the match.

We had requested a table for two and so we went to the restaurant to check and found we are on a table for four, Umm lets wait and see before we do some foot stamping and crying to see if we can get our own table. Tonight we shall eat in the main restaurant and it looks quite nice and lets hope the food is suitable for Noel delicate pallet but we will of course have a pre-dinner drink in the bar first, we shall see.
Yes we did have a pre-dinner drink in the oceans bar, and it was quiet for about ten minutes and then a small group turned up and started playing not what we would call relaxing music however after about half an hour they packed up and moved on to somewhere else. We then headed for the restaurant expecting to see another couple but thankfully we woz wrong, in fact there was a line of tables for four people but only filled by two so we were happy. The first nights food was really quite good with roast pork from Berkshire, we presumed UK unless there is a Berkshire somewhere else, as the main dish and that was very tasty.

After dinner we both decided that we were tired and returned to the room fort some reading and music and then off to sleep.

Clearwater to Fort Lauderdale

An early start and we finished a light breakfast and left the Hotel at about 0900 and collected some ‘gas’ for the car. Paying for petrol in USA has often been a problem in the past and mentioned in these blogs, that the card reader on the pump does not recognise the UK post code as a zip code which is only 5 numbers rather than letters and numbers mixed up. We have now found that if you use say and AMEX card and only user the numbers from our address, in our case KT13 8HN, we use therefore 138 then add two zeros making 13800 Zip Code and for some reason the card is accepted and it saves a lot of hassle going inside to leave a card, fill the car up, then return for your card etc, so this was good news.
There were three routes offered by Google to get to our destination, one was via Highway (motorway) going south via Fort Myers and then crossing to FL, or go straight west near Lakeland and then South using the Florida Turnpike which is what we did and we were glad we did this as it was more interesting than using motorway all the way. We missed our junction which delayed us by about ten minutes whilst a lady pulled up behind us at a traffic light and got out of her card to there is something wrong with your rear wheel? was this a trick to catch and rob us , but No she was a single lady in a car. We stopped a few minutes later to check and believe she may have been deceived by some dried mud on the tire and with the shape of the rear of the car over the tires, this mud could give the wrong impression. Anyway the car was performing well and not vibrations which would suggest a problem.
We stopped at a Pub-lix store for some sandwiches and then carried and stopped in a PLAZA (Motorway Service Station) and ate our sandwiches and then departed again this time on the Toll road which is a lot cheaper than the toll roads in France until we reached our Hotel Gallery One by Double tree ( a Hilton Brand) , and it was a nice Hotel but we then dumped all the suitcases and all the other stuff in the car, had a cup of tea in the room and then took the car back to the rental company finally getting back to the Hotel by Taxi at around 17.45. I think we had driven about 289 miles that day and the car had covered over 1200 miles during our stay.

We were considering where to go for dinner but had not realized the Hotel had a restaurant and room service so we availed our self of the room service and glugged down some Kirkland Malbec for an enjoyable relaxing evening whilst watching some TV.
Outside the hotel there is a main road going over a lift bridge , the bridge part was made in metal and so when the cars went over the bridge it was quite noisy and the windows were not double  glazed and we were worried we would not sleep  because of the noise but perhaps we were so tired after the journey it was not problem. Tomorrow we have to repack our bags to accommodate some wine we want to take on the ship and then we are booked on the 12.00 shuttle to the cruise port.

Currently travelling

We are currently travelling from Clearwater to Fort Lauderdale and then on to Cruise on Sunday. This is the last published blog for a while unless I find cheap internet on a Caribbean Island somewhere, however will be documenting trip for later publishing.
We took the BLUE route
See you soon

So no camera- its the end of the world

So we have to solve the camera problem soon, and so we decided to leaver the Hotel early and forego breakfast and head of to St Petersburg to find the Camera repair shop and see what they can do.
We arrived at the shop, not easy to find, just after ten AM believing that arriving with a camera might help resolve the issue rather than a phone call where we can get the old’ push off’ treatment .Finally we found the office and went in and explained the matter the best we could and he asked about the age of the camera, eight years we said, and he looked and said basically NO it could not be fixed and your choice is to get another one, which is not what we wanted to here but on the other hand expected this response. So time was required for thinking this matter through and so we departed for a late breakfast in a café nearby where Jennifer said she enjoyed the best Eggs Benedict she had ever encountered, so could not have been that bad then.. Then on to Macy’s Department store where we have been looking for an additional case as we are running short of luggage space and wanted something to resolve the problem. We found a nice bag in the sale and then they said do we have a Macy;s card and of course we said No and then you could have another ten per cent but alternately is you donate   3 US to a Macy’s Charity we can also give you another ten per cent and so having saved about 65 Dollars we left satisfied with our purchase. Then on to Best Buy to look at cameras.

Camera Problem and only half a photo and colour all wrong

Of course the sales are on, and after looking at a number of alternatives and what camera to by, a Canon or Nikon we ended up with another Sony which had an offer if you traded up one level you got included a extra long lens and saving overall about 180 Dollars and so we did this but spending this sort of money because of a broken camera was not planned and left a hole in out wallet. It was now time to head back to Clearwater and look for our Hotel and hope that we could check in early which we succeeded in doing and spent the first part of the afternoon sorting out our suitcases from the rushed packing in the house and then Jen took a trip to the lower levels of the Hotel to explore whilst Noel started trying to work out how the new camera worked. Playing with the old camera Noel got a shock when it sprang to life and surely three fully charged batteries cannot be empty but suddenly it started to work again so did we buy the new expensive camera for nothing??. Although later in the evening when Noel started looking at the old Micro SD disc se he find that all the photos taken when traversing the Skyline bridge and another movies did not appear on the disc and so something is seriously wrong . Oh well lets just move on.
So no photos today only the bad ones from yesterday evening when the camera was playing up and so where to go for dinner, there was a good Pizza joint across the road but first we checked out the Hotel which had a nice area with a bar and limited menu overlooking the harbour with gas heating the air and so it was very nice and we sat a table with a couple from Nebraska, I think that's what they said, who were in town for a family get together. We enjoyed the gulf shrimps and the flatbread, basically its a thin based pizza and very good but with a few glasses of Chardonnay was not so cheap, the place across the road would have been cheaper.
Then back to the room for Noel to do some blogging and Jennifer to sort out her suitcase and catch up with some reading.