4:29 p.m. - 2008-02-13
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I have been so fortunate during the last few years to do a lot more traveling when I ever thought I would do. I hesitated to blog about it because I didn't want people to think I was bragging. But some of my readers have asked about the latest trip we took. If you don't want to read about it, just skip to the bottom of this blog. Otherwise..you have been warned.
We left from Northern Indiana on 1/25/08 about 5 A.M. and the temp. was about 7 below zero. It didn't get any better for most of the day until we finally got further south. We made very good time and stopped for the night in Vickesburg, N.C. And yes, we found a new casino.
We had a really good situation there. We were told if we played $15 in the slot machines, we would get $30 instant credit and if we earned 10 points before 8 P.M, we would get a free buffet. We each put in a total of $50, each got $30 instant credit, plus a free meal. In all, we spent $100, got $60 in instant credit, $28 in free meals and I left with just over $50 in my pocket.
Oh Yeah!
I am always on the lookout for new themes in slot machines and I found one called HOT FLASHES..
IT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO PLAY!
The next morning we got up early and drove, arriving in Galveston on Saturday about 3:00 P.M.. We ran into a lot of construction on one of the final highways and actually got stopped in traffic for about 45 minutes until we got to an off-ramp and drove up the road to get back on the highway.
About 10 minutes after we were at the motel, our friends, who had taken an airplane from South Bend, arrived via the shuttle. The motel was not a real prize but it was clean and good enough for the night. What we didn't know was that Mardi Gras in Texas started that day so some of the streets were blocked off.
We found our way to Joe's Crab Shack by the port and took 2 other couples with us for dinner. We had great food and even got some Mardi Gras beads that went with our outfits.
Later that evening, there was a lot of yelling and carrying on by some of the other motel guests who were celebrating the Mardi Gras activities that night. We heard that some vehicles were broken into but fortunately we were not victims of any of that.
The next day we were to get onboard at NOON but the fog had rolled in. The two cruise ships (ours and a Carnival ship) could not dock at 7 A.M. They finally got into port at noon which meant all those previous passengers ending their cruise; all the luggage onboard and all the rooms had to be cleaned, all the garbage and trash had to be removed, all the food and fresh produce had to be brought onboard and all the vehicles parked in the lots had to be removed before the new passengers could go through Security. That would be......US!
Even our friends who had flown into Galveston couldn't get onboard any earlier than we could. They could put their luggage into the warehouse but it couldn't be put onboard because of all the luggage and passengers trying to get off.
We finally got through Security about 5 PM! It was a mess and very exhausting. Husband waited in line with the truck for almost 2 hours while I was sitting at the place where we would finally go through security and get our sea cards (ID cards). Royal Caribbean gave each passenger $20 credit on the final charges for the inconvenience.
We did have a nice room but had a couple of small glitches there too. Some lights by the vanity desk were flickering when we turned them on and the remote for the TV didn't work. We left a note for the room attendant and he fixed them the next day. This ship was an older one and we did notice that the upkeep wasn't quite as nice as the ships we have sailed on in the past. The food was good most of the time and our food attendants were very nice. On the last night, the hair dryer burned out half way through the drying of my hair! Not a good thing....
There was lots of free entertainment but we didn't go to many of those except for the ice show. One of the other couples picked up some tickets for us so we went. Husband seemed to enjoy it. He doesn't usually watch ice skating on TV so he was very impressed with the lifts and spins and jumps. I went to the art auction onboard....three times with the same auctioneer saying the same things was a bit wearing but seeing all the art was interesting.
Our dinner table was all of the couples from South Bend...there were 10 of us. We did enjoy spending our dinner time with them. We always had our dinner together with the other couples but hardly ever spent any other time with them. Everyone did their own thing and went their own way onboard.
The water was very smooth. I forgot at times that we were even on a ship. I think there was only one evening that I noticed any waves at all. The weather was hot and humid...in the high 80's. There were 3 ports that we stopped in.... Cozumel, Mexico Roatan, Honduras and Progreso, Mexico
Due to the hurricane damages; the ports were not very nice. Lots of souvenirs but not a lot of quality stuff to be seen. I didn't even get off at one of the ports because it was such a long walk in the hot and humid sun. Husband said there were a lot of very young children begging all along the way. We didn't take many pictures because with the damages; although the water was clear and blue, there wasn't a lot of picturesque scenery.
The casino was a big disappointment. There were only 10 penny slot machines...and the room was very crowded. Husband, however, did manage to win a couple of good bonuses during the first few days/evenings. He won $110 one time and over $40 another time. I didn't win much but I did enjoy playing. There were a few new themes that we never played before so that was fun.
Shake Your Booty was a new one for me. It was a pirate theme with the "booty" being the points earned in a bonus. One of the machines that Husband "shared" with a woman nearly every evening was a good paying machine for the first few nights. About 20 minutes after he cashed out and handed it over to her...she won $750... that machine was Hoot Loot
Towards the end of the cruise, the machines didn't seem to be paying off nearly as well. aND WE WERE REALLY SICK OF THE SAME FEW MACHINES TO PLAY WHENEVER WE WERE OUT AT SEA.
We arranged to get "early checkout" colored tags and were off the ship by 8 AM. It had docked at 6:30 A.M.. we got a shuttle with our luggage back to the parking lot and were in the truck and on the road before 9 AM. We drove to Diamond Jacks Casino (which used to be an Isle of Capri casino). that evening. We stayed in the casino hotel for $59. The next night we stayed in Evansville at a casino hotel which only cost us $39 because we got a casino card there..... Both rooms at both casinos were extremely nice too. I won a little bit and we played for several hours in both casinos. And Yes, it was probably as much about the casinos we played in as it was about the cruise for the fun factor of this trip.
Tuesday, Feb. 5th we heard thunderstorms before we got up, drove through heavy rainstorms, drizzle, overcast skies and heavy fog all the way home. Thankfully we got home safely before the tornadoes hit in the South.
As my husband often says; all cruises are nice and some are better than others. This one was....nice. I think our favorites out of 5 cruises are the two to the Caribbean (east and west sides) and the one to Mexico with our son and daughter in law. The one to Alaska was special because of the scenery, watching for the whales and eagles and our trip down the California coastline. So, I guess out of all 5, this one rated nice.
I hope you weren't completely bored with all the casino and cruise talk. I promise not to discuss vacations for a few more months. Unless something exciting comes along!
