Places
CV1 Day 8: Charleston SC
We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out. But we didn’t go directly into the city. It was chilly and Marlene did not have a jacket to wear, so we went first to the Goodwill a couple of miles from us. Anyone who knows Marlene will not be surprised to hear that the … Continue reading
CV1 Day 7: Hop 2, Tampa FL to Charleston SC
The disembarkation process was more difficult than it should have been, but not as bad as it was on the Vista. We gathered in the theater, without luggage, and waited about 30 minutes before being allowed to leave the ship. But the exit, rather than being on that level or the level below, was 5 … Continue reading
CV1 Day 6: At sea
This was our last full day at sea and most of it was spent in the casino. We could have saved a lot of money if we had done other things. I had my worst casino experience ever: I lost $320 and ended the cruise down an even $600. It won’t break the bank, but … Continue reading
CV1 Day 5: Cozumel, Mexico
The day began with breakfast in the buffet and some blogging (through Day 4). Then we went ashore with the intent of going into downtown San Miguel which is pretty much the only city of any size on the island of Cozumel. But we never got there. Marlene and I had some kind of silly … Continue reading
CV1 Day 4: Belize
As you can see from the photo, it was rather hazy when we docked in Belize, near Belize City. The haze eventually wore off, but it was a hot and very humid day. Belize City is not a deep water port. Large ships need to dock about 2 miles from the city. The trip, via … Continue reading
CV1 Day 3: Roatan, Honduras
I have always liked Roatan. Jett and I visited here at least twice and were even considering buying a vacation home here. That never happened, but the fond memories remain. On those earlier cruises we docked in town. This time we docked at Mahogany Bay, a new port on the south side of the island. … Continue reading
CV1 Day 2: At sea
This was mostly a casino day but it also included an elegant dinner and a show on the ship. We spent a LOT of time in the casino. I lost $55 (down 175). But that loss was in spite of three separate slot machine bonuses of over $200 each. So on three spins I won … Continue reading
CV1 Day 1: Hop 1, Lehigh Acres FL to Tampa FL
We had to drive to Tampa to get on the Carnival Paradise for the first 6 days of this short vacation. We had to be on board by 3pm and we had to park the car and take a shuttle to the ship. But we couldn’t drive there directly from Lehigh Acres FL; we had … Continue reading
Four nights in Kissimmee
In case you don’t know Kissimmee is a town very close to Orlando. You might consider it a suburb of Orlando. And it is very close to Disney World and Universal Studios. We spent four nights there. Why? Because we got a “free” stay in a timeshare resort. Yes, we had to sit through a … Continue reading
Three festivals
There are two big annual festivals in south central Florida: the Swamp Cabbage Festival in Labelle in February and the Sugar Festival in Clewiston in March. They are similar in that they have a lot of food trucks and vendors of a variety of goods and trinkets and they both have some really fine live … Continue reading