Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Thank you, Jon and Sarah, for making us feel very special.

We popped up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30 am when the doorbell rang. It was our morning coffee, the thing that starts your heart every morning.  We both jumped in the shower and got ready for the expected 8:30 am knock at the door; we were having breakfast with the kids.

Well, we got to the restaurant, which was packed, with a line about 50 feet long.  Needless to say, we opted for the dreaded trough.  It was pretty good, and Jon only went for two helpings.

As the crew danced through the Windjammer, I joined in the parade for a while! My ham and eggs nearly slipped off the table!

From there, we went to the photo studio to select our pictures! That was quite an exercise!  Software designers ought to be made to use their products!

We had a delightful evening; the pictures will remind us!!

Then we went to the “Tribute To The Armed Forces” at the Grand Theater. It was pretty nice as they had the Navigator of the Seas Orchestra doing the honors. The entrance had a giant cake displaying our American Flag!

After last night’s lesson on snacking between meals, we opted to pass it by.

They recognized all the armed forces and played their fight songs.  I picked the US Marines as a tribute to Pete!

On the move again, we went to the Suite Lounge and sat just long enough to decide to split up before taking whiskey at 2:00 pm.

Mary went to our room and packed 90% of our belongings, making it easy tonight.  Yes, before you ask, we left something to wear when we woke in the morning.  Otherwise, we would be walking off the ship in our jammies, a sight no one would want to see and live to tell about it.

At 1:30 p.m., the doorbell went off, and the kids picked us up to head to the Bamboo room again for another round of tasting, this time MacCallum Scottish Whiskey! We will be tasting 12, 15, and 18-year-old products. Below is MacCallum Sixty (hint: add up all the numbers)!

Ookie ookie, Santa was here!

Feast your eyes!  After examining their color and sipping, we downed the shots to hear what everyone tasted.

Someone did not finish theirs!

We had a load of fun teasing the bartenders and making funny sounds as we forced down this foul-tasting stuff (I didn’t think it was foul, but the girl made faces that would scare Godzilla)

The four of them did well!

What time is it? It’s shopping time, and Mary is looking for a bargain sweatshirt outfit. It was funny to see Mary try it on, and both the saleslady and I had to assist her.

Mary needed a fleece-lined outfit, and there it was, 30% off.

We walked for a while and finally ended up in our stateroom, deciding we needed to visit the Bolero Bar before going to dinner at “Hooked,” the seafood restaurant.    I plan to order oysters in honor of Vicky!  Jon said he was going to attack the lobster!

The restaurant was small and very quiet!

We all got oysters in honor of Vicky, but first, we tried taking pictures using the booth mirrors.

Mirror mirror on the wall.

These suckers were huge!

Look at those babies.

Mary was a trooper and tried one, but she expressed her opinion with a ten-minute series of facial expressions that frightened the waitstaff, several of whom scampered out of the restaurant.

Mary expressed her opinion!

Then the lobster arrived; wow!

We ate lobster all evening long!

We wandered by the lounge to say goodbye to our favorite bartender before heading upstairs to crash!

Robin Was At Sea (Day Two)

Day 2: Feb 20 – Sea Day; the ship was a rockin’ and a rollin’ all day and it wasn’t because Maggie and I took an early line dance glass! we had a lot of fun and learned 4 dances and followed up the dance workout with a power walk around the ship. We cleaned up and had a wonderful filet mignon lunch at The Pinnacle restaurant where the attentive server had noticed my Disney jacket and brought me a surprise dessert, two scoops of lemon sorbet and between them on the dish was a not-so hidden Mickey made out of a strawberry slice and two blueberries for ears. Very cute! After lunch we decided to try out our Picasso skills and took a seat in the art studio.  We water-colored some kind of flowers; Maggie’s looked great, mine spoke to me and said “you need lots of practice!”. I needed a stiff drink after that art torture so we ventured to the many bars we like and made fast friends with the bartender serving Martini’s. Of course I had to have a few! Chocolate, Dry-3 olives, some concoction called Fashionista made with pineapple juice and I took a pass on the special of the day… a side-car Martini made with brandy (papa would have probably liked this one). Suddenly, Maggie got the roulette itch so off she went to the casino and I sat down in a nearby lounge to watch a trivia game being played.  It didn’t take Maggie long before she was back. We headed to the BBKings/Rolling Stone lounge and spent the next couple of hours listening to hits of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  Maggie and I are on the younger end of most of the passengers but we enjoyed watching them swinging and swaying while we finished off the night with a few glasses of an excellent Cillean red blend.  During our ship shinnagins of bar hopping at least 4 crew members recognized and called her by name and one even remembered both of us being together on the Koningsdam in 2023.  The bartenders are the best! I brought along something I found called a “Hangover Patch” …. it is actually a 12-vitamin patch that releases antioxidants, nutrients, and a host of A’s, B’s C’s and D’s.  All I know is I put that patch on at 11:30 p m. and woke up 5 hrs. later to get ready for an early departure off the ship and I felt great!
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> Love to all.