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We got up early today to avoid the horrendous breakfast buffet lines. There were still line, but only had to wait a few minutes to get our breakfast. Better, but still not good.
I attended a General Knowledge trivia session and did badly – 7 out of 20. It was a tough set of questions. The winner got 14 right.
We spent some time in the casino but it was in a “let me take your money” mood. I quickly lost $100. Then lost another $100 in the evening. But still up $2,270.
I read after lunch. Finished the book.
Dinner was formal. I had a filet mignon and short rib combo that was terrific. One of the best cruise meals I have ever had.
After dinner (and the trip to the casino) we danced to the Vista Rockband and met a few of our fellow passengers. A very good evening.
I really thought that I had been to Nassau before. But it didn’t seem familiar at all. Must have been Freeport.
Before disembarking in Nassau we had breakfast on the ship. We tried to have breakfast in the buffet, as we always do. But on the Vista the lines were staggeringly long – over 100 deep everywhere. Horrible. Unacceptable. My review of the cruise will reflect this. Whoever designed the Vista simply did not provide sufficient serving stations for the volume of passengers.
We went to the dining room instead and were annoyed to learn that we needed a reservation. We never needed reservations for a dining room breakfast on other ships. We dutifully requested one via the app and were immediately awarded a table. Why was a reservation necessary (the dining room was nearly empty)? Don’t know. Seemed like an unnecessary hurdle. That, too, will be mentioned in the review.
The service was pathetically slow – perhaps to not make the buffet look bad? But we were seated next to Rob and Pat, two seasoned cruisers who proved to be entertaining breakfast companions. So the time – nearly an hour for breakfast – passed quickly.
Nassau, like every other Caribbean cruise port, has a large cluster of souvenir shops near the dock. And restaurants, jewelry stores and pubs. I bought a coffee cup and had a beer (a nice pilsner at the Pirate Republic) while Marlene went in search of clothes. I went back to the ship but had to return when Marlene texted me that she had found something that I urgently needed to see. After a search to find her (she said she was “near the Barcardi Rum building” – a description that puzzled even the three policemen that I asked – she cleverly texted me a photo of the building. The police recognized the building and gave me directions.
The thing I “had to see” was a God-awful pair of Bermuda shorts that she liked. Fortunately they didn’t fit well. But she did get three very nice summer outfits.
After returning to the ship I napped and read. After dinner (in the buffet again) I lost $100 in the casino in about 20 minutes (but am still up $2,570). I then attended the show which was a revue of rock songs featuring the Vista Rockband. Not a bad show, but the Vista Rockband is a pale imitation of the Luminosa Rockband. I also went up to the pool rock party but didn’t stay long. Wasn’t in a dancing mood.
The day started early because we were out dancing on Saturday night and just couldn’t find the energy to pack. So we set the alarm for 5am, got up, did the usual morning ablutions, packed and got on the road for the 3-hour trek to Port Canaveral before 8am. We were still early – our appointment to park the car was for noon – so we stopped midway, in Okeechobee, to browse a flea market. I bought a 3-pack of underwear.
We parked the car at a remote lot, took the shuttle to the ship and then got in a very long line. Carnival issues boarding times which we have always ignored – they were always willing to let us check in whenever we arrived. Not this time. We had to cool our heels for an hour. I didn’t remember what time was given to me (it was a factoid to be ignored, right?) but I knew it wasn’t before 1pm, While waiting I downloaded the Carnival Hub – the smartphone app that we use on board to see the schedule of events and to text each other. But I couldn’t log in. I got some IT assistance from a fellow traveler but it, with the long wait to check in and the long wait for an elevator, was an annoying start to the trip.
But that was all about to change.
After unpacking, grabbing a bite to eat, doing the obligatory muster station check-in and exploring the ship a bit, the ship got underway. It didn’t take long to reach the 12-mile boundary and it didn’t take us long to settle into the casino. We both had some “free play” money – casino gift money to get the gaming started. I put $50 of the free play money into a machine, was up about $57, then hit a bonus on an 80 cent bet. The prizes available were a Mini (about $33), a Maxi (about $43), a Major (about $82), a Mega (about $292), an Ultra (about $2,100) and a Grand (over $20,000). I have never won more than $600 playing slots so I figured I was in line for the Mini or Maxi. But this was a bonus where I could pick coins and I had to match 3 to get the prize. I flipped 7 coins and had 2 Minis and 2 Maxis, a Mega, and Ultra and a Grand. The next coin I flipped was a special one that eliminated all of the Minis, which meant my prize would be Maxi or better. The next coin I flipped was another special one that eliminated all Maxis. I was now guaranteed at least a Major which I was certain would be the next coin. An $82 prize would be just fine, thank you. But the next coin was an Ultra. And the next coin… another Ultra! Yes, after 20 minutes in the casino, using the casino’s money to bet, I was suddenly up over $2,100!
And it didn’t end there. Another machine awarded me 132 free spins which resulted in another $500 in my pocket. After that I pretty much broke even but ended the day up $2,670. That is what I call a very good day at the casino.
The Mega winThe second big win
Meanwhile Marlene, who has been winning consistently every time she has entered a casino over the past two months, continued her winning ways. The big one for her was a game which gave her almost $1,200. That is actually the perfect amount as she did not have to fill out a W-9, as I did, to report her winnings to the IRS.
Between the two of us we took the casino for over $4,000. Amazing. What a great way to start a cruise!
But we never got to the dance floor. Too busy winning in the casino, I guess. We will dance tomorrow.
I just spent over $700 to replace the “power steering gear box”. I don’t know what that is but I know it can leak power steering fluid – I have spots on my pavers to prove it. Now I am told I need about $1,000 in extensive work on the front brakes (and I know that isn’t a bad estimate – that is the lower of the two that I got). And on my way over to get the second estimate, the A/C went out. Another $300. So over $1,200 (and nearly $2,000 if you include the power steering gear box) for a truck that has barely been used in 3 years. But as long as I have the fifth wheel I need the truck.
Every time I put money into it I think “that should fix it for a while.”
But I am beginning to think that “for a while” means “for a few days.”
This is a short one – just 6 days, Nov 26 to Dec 2 on the Carnival Vista. I really didn’t need another cruise on the heels of the 30-night TP1 but Marlene’s best friend, Dottie, is unable to accompany her on this one due to health issues. So I am filling in. It is cheap (if I stay away from the casino) – just $250 – and I no longer have to worry about care for a dog, so it is feasible to leave on short notice. It goes to the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic, all of which I have either never visited or haven’t visited recently. So it should be fun.
Andrew Child (born Andrew Grant) is the younger brother of Lee Child and is reportedly being groomed by Lee Child to take over the Jack Reacher franchise. This is the second book (of 3) resulting from this new collaboration and the 27th book in the Reacher series.
I usually avoid collaboration books. They are almost always the product of the lesser author with the more famous one providing his name to boost sales. In this case the “lesser author,” Andrew, is a successful author in his own right. But every author has his own style so the question is: how does collaboration change the series? In this case the style remains more-or-less intact. But not quite the same. And not quite as good. I normally can’t put down a Reacher book. I could put this one down. It seemed disjointed. Perhaps it was due to the collaboration. Or perhaps it was due to the plot.
This book is four separate stories that come together in the end. But only at the very end. The main story line has Reacher in Gerrardsville CO, to visit a museum. But he witnesses a murder – a woman being shoved in front of a bus. No one else saw the shove. He not only saw the shove but saw the shover steal the woman’s purse. He followed the murderer, confronted him in an alley, whipped his ass and was going through the purse when reinforcements arrived. Reacher never loses a battle, even when greatly outnumbered, but in this case a fire escape fell on him and he was knocked unconscious. When he regains consciousness the murderer and his accomplices have disappeared and so has the purse. But Reacher had seen enough in the purse – most importantly a note referencing a meeting to occur on the Friday following – that he resolved to figure out what was going on. And why the woman was murdered.
The second story involves the management of a for-profit prison corporation. It is clear that they are up to no good. And are concerned about Reacher sticking his nose into their business. They are determined to stop Reacher from attending the meeting. But it is unclear what they are up to or why Reacher poses a threat to them.
The third story is a 16-year-old orphan and runaway who is on a journey from L.A. to find his birth father. How does this relate to the Reacher plots? It is revealed with about 50 pages left in the book.
The fourth story is that of two men – an arsonist/assassin and his sidekick – who are on a vendetta to track down the people responsible for his son’s death on a ship off the North Carolina coast. How does this story connect to the others? It becomes clear only in the final two chapters.
The four stories are interwoven like a deck of cards being shuffled. I felt whiplashed, going from a runaway to an assassin to a prison management meeting. Keeping track of the varied characters was a challenge.
The body count in this book is relatively low for a Reacher book – about 10. The usual larger-than-life Reacher heroics (and vigilantism) are present and the plot is deep and twisted, as always. But it all seems a bit disjointed.
#3 of 4 books by Baldacci featuring FBI agent Atlee Pine. John Puller – one of Baldacci’s biggest heroes – is also featured.
This is a book with two interwoven and interrelated plots – Atlee’s search for her twin sister who was violently abducted 30 years before and a mystery involving a fake cop, a young black man who was set up to take a murder rap and, eventually, blackmail involving powerful people. The nexus between Pine and Puller is a combination of the two – Pine thinks a drug dealer (or, more accurately, the drug dealer’s father) is involved in her sister’s abduction and Puller thinks that same drug dealer is involved in the big mystery. They team up. The book ends with resolution of the mystery but only a partial resolution of what happened to Pine’s missing sister.
The intertwined plotlines were often confusing. And keeping track of characters was sometimes daunting. The plots bordered on the absurd.
Not very satisfying. 5 out of 10. Probably the worse Baldacci book I have read.
This 35-day journey was epic, made more epic because it directly followed a month in Massachusetts. I packed for 12 weeks on the road. I repacked a bit in the two days at home between those two journeys, but it certainly felt like 12 weeks of continuous travel.
Highlights:
Marlene and I pretty much enjoyed each other the entire time. We had some rough patches but worked through them.
We met some fun folks aboard the Carnival Luminosa.
We both stayed relatively healthy throughout. I had a brief cold at the start and Marlene had a cold when it ended, but we were able to enjoy the ports completely.
We got a complete tour of Japan, from Otaru in the north to Okinawa in the south. The highlight for me was Hiroshima where I felt immersed in one of the most dramatic events of the past century.
The people of Betung, Indonesia. They made us feel like rock stars.
The beautiful city of Brisbane and the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
The music on the ship. Both the Luminosa Rockband and Take Two were terrific.
The Luminosa crew. Always pleasant, always helpful
The dining room food. We had some terrific dinners – prime rib, filet mignon, lobster tail.
My losses in the ship’s casino. I expect to lose and didn’t lose much, considering the length of time on board. But the last week was brutal – over $400 in losses with only one minor bonus in that span. Not fun. Casinos are supposed to be fun.
Lowlights:
Skipping Alaska. This is the only state I have never set foot in and I have always been interested in an Alaska cruise. I expected to get the Alaska experience on this cruise and was very disappointed when bad weather forced the ship to skip it.
Skipping the Philippines. This was less painful than the loss of Alaska, but also disappointing.
The ship. The Carnival Luminosa is a mediocre vessel. Is is bland. The artwork is dreary and the facilities are barely adequate. It was built by Costa and purchased by Carnival and as a result feels more like a Costa ship than a Carnival ship.
The sightseeing. This may have been partly our fault because we booked no excursions. But we did not hear any stories from other passengers who took the excursions that left is feeling like we missed something. We enjoyed both Japan and Indonesia but didn’t see anything that made us say “Wow!” The sightseeing was mostly in the “that’s nice” category.
The buffet food on the Luminosa. The breakfast menu was always the same and the lunch and dinner menus were uninspired. The pizza was inferior to the Pride’s.
The weather. Besides forcing us to skip both Alaska and the Philippines, the storms produced some very rough seas that made me queasy.
But, overall, a success. I would do in again, in a heartbeat.
Another day of air travel. This one was less grueling than Day 34 – only(?) 8 hours. But we were already dog tired so it seemed longer.
Marlene in the San Francisco terminal
We arrived in San Francisco around 11am and our flight – to New York – did not leave until 9:30pm. That gave us nearly a full day in San Francisco, a city Marlene had never been to and a city that I had not visited in over 10 years. I wanted to hop on a cable car. But we had to overcome weariness and find a place to store our carry-on luggage for a few hours.
The weariness was a problem, but one that we probably could have overcome. The luggage was the big problem. The facility for short-term storage was outrageously expensive – $20 for each bag. It would have cost us $80 to visit the city, not counting subway and cable car fares. Dottie and Maureen did not want to go and perhaps we could have enlisted them to watch the bags. But they had already gone through security when we learned that they were our only option. Going through security one extra time was onerous. And by the time we considered that option our window had shrunk to about 6 hours. We decided to just hang out in the terminal and play some cards.
The layover in New York (JFK) was blessedly brief – just an hour. The flight to Fort Myers was on time and smooth. We arrived at 10:30am and were driven home by Maureen’s daughter and granddaughter.
And then we slept. We needed it after 28 hours in the air over 2 days.
This was a travel day. By air. 20 hours on two flights: Brisbane, Australia, to Hong Kong, China, then to San Francisco CA with a 6-hour layover in Hong Kong. Both flights on Cathay Pacific, an airline that I had never used before. Did I enjoy being on a plane for 20 hours? No. Did we survive and, after 35 days, did we get back into the US? Yes. So call it a success.
But if I have to fly back from Australia ever again I will look for ways to enjoy it more. Maybe a couple of days in Bali or Hawaii?
The flights were fine. Both were on large Boeing 777 craft. I read a bit and both Marlene and I watched several movies. The food on the first flight was horrible; better on the second. The most significant event was the near-loss of Marlene’s passport – she couldn’t find it as we were approaching Hong Kong. But the passenger behind us, seeing the cabin attendants helping us look, noticed it lying under my seat, It must have fallen out of her bag and slid back as we flew. Disaster averted with no damage other than a few missed heartbeats. Getting to China without a passport would have been… interesting.
Big bright terminal and designer shops in Hong Kong
The Hong Kong airport was a surprise. Very large, Very modern, Very clean. And very western – most signs were in English and the shops were nearly 100% American or European. One entire floor of high-end designer labels such as Breitling and Tiffany. We did a bit of shopping – on the other floor. The one for normal people.
Because the food on the first leg had been awful we decided to have lunch in the terminal before boarding our second flight. Marlene found some good Chinese food. I found some good coffee.
The security was annoying. We went through security in Brisbane, of course, but had to go through security again in Hong Kong to get to the gate for our second flight. And then a third time before boarding the flight (just a passport check, really). I can only assume that different countries had different security protocols and we had to satisfy them all.
The weather in Hong Kong was dreary. Which is too bad as we could see hints that the surrounding landscape was pretty dramatic. But we got only a glimpse of the ragged mountains through the fog.
Hong Kong food courtTerminal artHong Kong tarmacPedestrian bridge to satellite terminal
