Wonderful B2B on the Wonder from Galveston - 11/6/15 & 11/13/15 - COMPLETED

[ukintheus]

Day 5 - Falmouth

As I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now, Falmouth was a new port for us all and we were all excited to see what it had to offer. I had put an order for breakfast on our door the night before for a 7-7:30 am breakfast and had made a 7 am wake up call. I was awake at 6 am and of course couldn't go back to sleep wondering what time it was. We got up right as the wake up call went off. I just love that Mickey wakes you up for “big doings”, which makes we wonder if I can download that for my iphone, it sure would make mornings a bit happier!

Breakfast arrived at about 7:10 am. We had cereal and English muffins. We don’t care for the coffee creamer so we always order milk if we get coffee from room service, it’s the only creamer that tastes funny to us.



We were docked on time and the day looked like it was going to be beautiful.



Vendors at the market place at the port were already setting out their stuff.


The Jamaican flag was already up and flying at the port. I had to grin at that, because I remember reading someone's trip report where the port staff were scrambling to get it flying as they were docking.



Our friends came down to our room about 7:45 am and we were one of the first families walking off the ship at 7:50 am. I had booked a private tour with Courtney Taylor tours based upon another trip report I had read on the DIS, plus the great reviews on Trip Advisor. I was really getting chicken about it all though as the trip got closer and closer. I am NOT a dare devil by any stretch of the imagination, and I don’t jump into water, ever. I’m an ease-my-way-in kinda gal. Jumping? Heck no! But this excursion was all about jumping and I had decided that I would suck it up and do it, because I just knew everyone else would love it. Good intentions, right? LOL

So! Back to disembarking the ship. The port area in Falmouth is really nice, and we walked through it to the area where you meet the privately booked tours. Yet another person on the DIS had done a detailed post on how to find them and it was extremely useful.

I always think of Mandymouse and her hubby when I see one of these.


The kids were complaining about the sun in their eyes but we forced them to sit there anyway.



There didn’t seem to be anyone there when we got there, but a guy came walking across the parking lot and introduced himself as our tour guide “Crazy Dean”. We were all climbing into the minivan when he got a call from Courtney Taylor himself, asking him to pick up another 3 passengers and bring them outside the port area so that they could join Courtney Taylor for their tour. We waited, and waited, and waited..... There was a lady tour guide sitting in the minivan who was going with them, and we asked her how long we would have to wait. She said until 8:45 or 9:00 am – ugg…that was a full hour after we got off the ship! We tried our best to be patient, and tried being light hearted about it, but really it was a bit annoying as we had intentionally got ourselves off early to get our day going. Finally at about 8:45 am the other party arrived and we drove out of the port area to drop them off at their waiting minivan at a gas station nearby. We all breathed a sigh of relief (including Crazy Dean) and began our journey to Blue Hole and put the annoyance of the start behind us.

The scenery was beautiful and Dean gave us a good commentary on what we were seeing and what we’d be doing. There were lots of goats. Dean told us that they were for Christmas....awww. As in, dinner!



The highways there are surprisingly wide and in very good shape. This is out of the back, hence the defogger lines.



Dean stopped a couple of times along the way and pointed out some land marks. There was a monument to Queen Elizabeth II.





And then we stopped at the (supposed) landing site of Christopher Columbus, where there was a mural and some items placed around to depict how people lived at that time. Scott and Ashli got out and took photos, the rest of us just looked out the windows.







The Oasis of the Seas was also going to be in port today and we could see her approaching in the distance as we made our way along the coast.



We saw lots of these fruit and vegetable shops, people bring what they have harvested and trade for what they need, or just buy what they need.



We got to Ocho Rios and headed off the main highway up the mountain. The turn to Blue Hole was onto a dirt road, that was extremely bumpy but had beautiful scenery on both sides.



We passed some stalls selling water shoes, as they are mandatory for the falls. They had other stuff too of course, and they looked so colorful. We were prepared and all had our shoes already.

 

[ukintheus]

It didn't take too long to get to Blue Hole considering how slowly they have to drive along the road. Dean took our money to pay to get in and we met our tour guide Robert. We left all our belongings in the van with Dean and off we went! The first thing that you see is the biggest jump of all.



Chicken Licken (me) knew I wouldn't be able to do that and I began to get nervous that I would not be able to do any of them. As we stood and watched there was a lady that had made her way down and didn't want to jump, I knew I didn't want to be THAT person, so I decided I would either chicken out right away or just go for it.

In addition to being our guide, Robert was also our photographer.



We started off and worked our way from the big fall upwards. It was so amazingly beautiful, words can't even describe it.









The wierd thing was that the majority of it wasn't slippery at all, it looked like it would be slick as can be, but Robert always warned us when there were slick rocks and helped us avoid them.

The path got a little narrow the closer we got to the upper end.







We got to the first spot where we were going to get in.





Unfortunately, it was at this point that my underwater camera ran out of battery. Luckily, Ashli had brought a disposable water camera - yay! The rest of the photos were taken on that, and they are a little fuzzy, but you can figure it out.

Robert helped us sit in the water against a small water fall. The water was definitely refreshing (cold) but not so cold that you couldn't stand it. Scott sat first and I sat in front of him.



He thought it would be funny to tip me sideways so that I got my shoulders dunked under the water, unfortunately, the water current was pretty strong and so I had a Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction! Yikes!! Of course it was in front of everyone, including Robert who was taking photographs... Greeeeaaat. At least the photo he took had the bathing suit in place.

The Gelders took their turn with that and then it was on to our first jump. Robert was awesome in making sure that we all were safe and showed us where to put our feet when we were walking through the rocks, and of course for the jumps. We all did the first jump and I was super impressed with myself - LOL The rest of the way was a series of about 5 jumps total I think.

Glenn and Jacob were brave and went to the higher up jump on this one.


Photographic evidence that I did indeed jump, I still can't believe it!


Glenn going down to the jumping point on the biggest one. You walked down using the rope to the point where you could jump without splattering yourself all over the front of the waterfall.


Robert literally picked Jacob up and walked him down the front of that big waterfall. I thought Ashli was going to keel over with nerves watching him. Jacob was really brave - he just jumped right off.


June in mid jump with all of us cheering her on - such a cute photo.


I didn't do the big one, but I knew I wouldn't. There was a 2 foot jump down below that you could do to get in there. I did do the rest of them all, and even the rope swing at the end so I was very proud of myself.

Jacob on the rope swing, which he loved.


Scott, Glenn and Jacob did the super high jump from the top of the cliff, but we didn't get a photo of it. Everyone was very brave!! We all had a wonderful time and Robert was simply amazing. Even though I am a scaredy cat, he really was kind and kept telling me that I could do it. I do have to admit to standing on the rock on one of the jumps and my legs where shaking so hard I thought I would fall in before I actually jumped! They all said they could see my shaking from where they were down below in the water. I felt that we were always safe and Robert made sure we were all completely comfortable with what we did.

Robert and the kids. He made Jacob a crown out of a fern leaf.


We met back up with crazy Dean and got some dry clothes from the van and got changed. We said a sad goodbye to Robert. Seeing as we were all thrilled to bits with ourselves, the adults all drank a Red Stripe that Dean had in a cooler for us to purchase, to celebrate what a wonderful time we had had. I don't think any of us stopped talking about it the entire drive to Scotchies restaurant we had had such a great time.

 

[nrexxma44]

Loving your trip report...you have a wonderful writing style, and love the pics. We are headed to the Western Caribbean out of Port Canaveral Jan 9, so rethinking my choices based on your report. Can't wait to read more

 

[ukintheus]

Loving your trip report...you have a wonderful writing style, and love the pics. We are headed to the Western Caribbean out of Port Canaveral Jan 9, so rethinking my choices based on your report. Can't wait to read more

Thank you for following along. I hope you have a great time on your cruise!

 

[ukintheus]

On our way back down the mountain we ran into Brownie Man!!



The kids couldn't figure out why we didn't take the brownies. We just left it as the fact they were "adult" brownies, the same way there are "adult" beverages. This will be a great photo to tease the kids with when they get older.



We arrived at Scotchies at about 11:45 am. I had read about this restaurant online and it got great reviews for their authentic jerk. Then, top that off with AJohn from Cove giving me all his favorites that he likes to eat, and I was ready for some jerk!! It's in Ocho Rios, and right next to a busy gas station. It doesn't look like much from the outside at all.



Dean came with us and helped us out with ordering. The menu was pretty basic, but bonus for us, it was a Tuesday and so they had ribs in addition to their normal offerings.





The meat is cooked on open pit but over green wood and then covered with tin. It's a massive set up that they have.




We told Dean to just order whatever he thought was good. He ordered chicken, pork and ribs, rice & peas and festival. Here we are patiently waited for our grub to show up.



I had been looking forward to it and it didn't disappoint us at all. It was all really good. Plus we each had another Red Stripe to wash it all down. We all also tried their scotch bonnet sauce which is really hot, but also sweet. Scott got addicted to it.





There was plenty of open air seating, and several different covered patios to choose from to sit at.


The parking lot had so much Bougainvillea in flower, it was really pretty.



Although we could have easily stayed and eaten even more, we eventually left Scotchies and Dean took us back in to the Ocho Rios town center to do a quick bit of shopping.





We wandered around a gift store/duty free place which also doubled as a currency exchange for locals trading in US dollars for Jamaican dollars. It was an interesting place! Dean gave us a hand in finding jerk seasoning and the hot sauce, although we later discovered after we got home that he obviously isn't the shopper in his family, as nothing he pointed out was the right stuff! Scott and I got a bottle of Appleton Rum and we bought some t-shirts for the kids.

When we went to get back into the van, this guy came up to us looking for a couple of dollars for his singing skills. We all forced Ashli to go back out and pose with him. Put him in some black clothes and he would look like he could be from a Pirate movie though, don't you think??



It was time for us to get going and get back to the port as we were beginning to get close on time and still had a decent drive from Ochos to Falmouth. Ashli sat up front and sang along to all the reggae songs.....maybe she snuck a brownie after all?

Back along the same highway - this time without the defogger lines.



It wasn't too long before we could see the Wonder and the Oasis of the Seas docked right next to her. Talk about little and large!



We said goodbye to Dean and thanked him for such a great day. It really was a fantastic experience and Courtney Taylor tours did a great job.



Still flush with our wonderful day, we meandered through the port. There were still tons of people milling about there and it was fairly busy.

(I'm working on trying to get this right side up)


We grabbed a fresh coconut that they opened for you and stuck a straw in to get the coconut milk.



And then when you had finished drinking you could take it back and he cut it open and cut all the meat out of it. It was really, really good.





Jacob had money burning a hole in his pocket but couldn't decide what fresh fruit he wanted to try. He wanted to get something he had never seen before. There was a lot of decision making and he took forever - LOL Even funnier was that he chose star fruit, and then didn't like it because it didn't have any real flavor.



So back to the fruit stand it was after the dud of the star fruit.

So, do you remember me mentioning earlier that we didn't have too much time left when we left Ocho Rios? Yeah, well, we forgot all about that!! While the kids were back looking at the fresh fruit stand for a second time, the horn went off on the ship! It was all aboard time and we hadn't even realized it! Never, ever have we EVER been that late...not even CLOSE to being that late. I told them all that we needed to hurry, and Scott and I walked quickly to get to security, all the while thinking that our friends were right behind us....NOT!!!

Right as we got through the security scanner June came running up to me and was by herself with a security lady chasing after her asking where her sea card was. Double Add into the mix of chaos the fact that there was a line to drop off your alcohol because of the new DCL alcohol policy. I told Scott to deal with the booze and I went back out with June and thankfully Ashli,Glenn and Jacob were just walking up. Apparently June just followed us, and we hadn't realized it. Ashli and Glenn had been in the line of people getting back on the Oasis of the Seas and not realized it. We all rushed through security and got on board without any problems and we weren't the last on by a long shot. It was something we laughed about later, but it was a closer call than we have ever had before and not something I would recommend if you value your heart continuing to beat for the remainder of your vacation! I guess we can say we used every minute of our day in Falmouth for sure.

We got back to our cabins and went out to watch us pull out of port. There were still people coming back to the ship. Normally I would have been shocked that people could leave it so late and questioning people's sanity. Today I was pretty quiet about it!

The Oasis is so big, the Wonder looked very small by comparison.





The port workers came out to wave goodbye.



One of the dock workers was very entertaining, and was shouting and getting everyone on the ship to shout back, lots of fun and he kept running further down the pier to keep shouting even as we were pulling away.



Tonight was Pirate night and we ran up to put pirate night stuff into the fish extender for the kids. I also had a Disney Visa rewards credit that I needed to apply to our stateroom, so we went down to guest services to get that done.

Instead of pirate night, Scott and I were off to Palo for the evening, so we had plenty of time to get ready. Just to show off how cute they looked, here's some pics of the kids that night that Ashli took.

 

[bcwife76]

Wow, that looks like a fantastic day in Jamaica! a little hectic/heart stopping at the end, but it's all good The brownie thing was hilarious!!!

 

[cruisehopeful]

On our way back down the mountain we ran into Brownie Man!!

That is hilarious. When I was a young adult, a friend of mine went to Jamaica and she said the entire island was stoned the whole time. That made me not interested in going there, but I think it would be hilarious to see the brownie man.

The Oasis is so big, the Wonder looked very small by comparison.

Just looking at the size of the Oasis gives me anxiety. I think I'll stick with DCL

 

[bcwife76]

Apparently the Oasis holds up to 6300 passengers Yeah, I'm definitely sticking with DCL. That's just......crazy

 

[ukintheus]

Wow, that looks like a fantastic day in Jamaica! a little hectic/heart stopping at the end, but it's all good The brownie thing was hilarious!!!

Definitely being on land when the ship's horn is saying "you should be on board by now" is a one and done experience for me!

That is hilarious. When I was a young adult, a friend of mine went to Jamaica and she said the entire island was stoned the whole time. That made me not interested in going there, but I think it would be hilarious to see the brownie man.

Just looking at the size of the Oasis gives me anxiety. I think I'll stick with DCL

Apparently the Oasis holds up to 6300 passengers Yeah, I'm definitely sticking with DCL. That's just......crazy

It's a massive ship that's for sure. It did make us all happy that we were on our "little" ship rather than the gigantic one next to us! We found out a few days later that a passenger went overboard and was lost at sea off that ship a few days before. (Edited: We were told it had happened right before they docked in Falmouth but I can't find anything about a specific date, so I'll just leave it that it was right around this time)

 

[bcwife76]

Oh my gosh, that's awful Is this the same one where there was actually a video of him falling? If so I watched that video (kind of unintentional, I didn't know how graphic it was going to be). Terrifying.

 

[tennesseemo]

Great trip report Jen, makes me ready to go!! Love the brownie story, and proud of you for jumping!

 

[ukintheus]

Oh my gosh, that's awful Is this the same one where there was actually a video of him falling? If so I watched that video (kind of unintentional, I didn't know how graphic it was going to be). Terrifying.

Yes, I think so.

 

[mandymouse]

Loving your trip report Jenny What a great day in Falmouth, really not sure why you'd think of us at Margaritaville though

 

[ukintheus]

Loving your trip report Jenny What a great day in Falmouth, really not sure why you'd think of us at Margaritaville though

That and Hard Rock.

 

[ukintheus]

We got ready and went to Palo for our 7:30 pm reservation.



Susana was our server and we chatted with her about our day and what she had done in Falmouth. She was disappointed they no longer offered the bobsled run to CMs but went to Great Hope house and did zip lining and ATVs. She said it was fun, but, somehow in the process her iPhone had got wet and she was nervous about being able to get it working again so we told her about the rice trick and hoped that she would be able to get it working. We all know how lost we would be without our phones these days!

I had a glass of champagne to start and Scott had a Manhattan. The sommelier picked a Gewürztraminer for us to go with our food which was very good.



We started with the usual antipasto and breads. Cheese on the side of course so that Scott didn't have the remote chance of it getting anywhere near to his food.

Scott had tuna carpaccio, risotto fruitti di mare, sea bass and soufflé.


Scott and Susana always try to recreate the same photo on every trip of Susana adding pixie dust. These came out pretty well.







The sea bass got a LOT of pixie dust from the photo session.





I had calamari, a half portion of beef ravioli, chicken and marscapone. As you can see, my camera was back to not being focus again.









Susana also brought us a coffee gelato to try.


It was all delicious and we had a lovely evening. As we left Palo the fireworks were just going off. We hurried down to deck 3 and got a nightcap from the Promenade lounge and then headed back to our room. The pirate party was just ending and the stairs were starting to get busy but we beat the crowd. The smokers 2 doors down were out on their verandah again so we didn't stay out there long. Fingers crossed they aren't doing a back to back. (Spoiler alert - they didn't)

We were in bed by 11 pm and I forgot to take a photo of the towel animal tonight, which was the hanging monkey.

In other parts of the ship.....the pirates made their way back to their room having had a great time.

 

[ukintheus]

Day 6 - At sea

I woke up early but managed to roll over and go back to sleep. It was about 8 am when we woke up and we got up a bit later. We went up to Cove Cafe for our usual morning coffees. We spoke to AJohn for a while and we all talked about our day in Falmouth. He and his wife, who worked in the Promenade lounge are from Falmouth and they went to see their 14 1/2 month daughter. I admit to feeling quite teary as he was quite emotional as told us about the highs and lows of seeing her and having to leave her again. The crew members sacrifice a lot to make a living to take care of their families. We sat chatting to him for about an hour and then went back to our room to get the tickets for the Gelders to go to their meet and greets.

Ashli had had a massage at 8 am and really enjoyed it. We were all signed up for the character breakfast this morning but it was schedule for 7:45 am and none of us wanted to be up and about that early and it was Disney Jr, which didn't appeal to Scott and I at all . After giving them their tickets we went to guest services to add gratuities to the standard amount and also check to see what the procedure was for getting back confiscated alcohol from yesterday as we had bought a bottle of rum. They told us that we would pick it up from the Port Adventures desk after our second week. We shall see! I had read on the internet that they didn't have the process ironed out yet, so I was prepared to track it down.


We went to Parrot Cay for breakfast, running into Jacob and Glenn just outside who were on their way out. After chatting briefly we went into breakfast. We were sat at a table with a couple from South Carolina and we all talked about our day in Falmouth passing time. I had some fruit and Muesli, Scott had a mix of stuff.





We then went to the gift shop to buy antibiotic ointment, band aids and sunglasses - all for me. I had got a spider bite on my calf a couple of weeks before we sailed and it was looking a bit grim. I was torn on whether to go to the doctor onboard, but was keeping my fingers crossed some antibiotic ointment would help it along.

As we left the gift shop it was 11:30 am and I knew the princess meet and greet was about to happen so we looked over from the 4th floor to the atrium and lo and behold June was first in line. We got some pictures of her as she met Cinderella, Rapunzle, Belle and Arial.











We chatted with Ashli and June for a few minutes before they went off for their Frozen meet and greet at noon. Scott and I came back to our cabin and were talking about what to do for the day when he switched on the TV and Pirates was on so we plonked ourselves down. After about 15 mins of watching TV we decided to get out and do something. There was trivia going on in the Promenade lounge so we got down there a little before 1 pm. First trivia was TV theme tunes.



Scott got a Stella Artois on draft and I got a Bahama Mama - first time for both of us this cruise not counting the nasty one I had the day we sailed.



We didn't do horribly at trivia but we didn't do great either. Some people obviously watch way more TV than us. There was another trivia session following so we stayed for that too. It was a Know It All quiz, basically a general knowledge. We weren't great at that either! We both got one more drink although the Bahama Mama wasn't as good second time around.

We were hungry by now and decided to grab some chicken strips and fries and share them. We took them back to the cabin as deck 9 was very busy with everyone enjoying their at sea day.



We finished them in time to make it back down to the Promenade Lounge for Feud which was men vs women and lots of fun.



The men won, I mean, who would have known that neither sprinkles or nuts would not be popular ice cream toppings? I think it was fixed. LOL. When we got back to our room At Worlds End was just starting so we watched it.



Our intention was to make the 6:15 comedy and music show but that didn't happen as there was a really pretty sunset tonight. So we poured a glass of Prosecco and watched the day slowly sink away on the horizon. It's one of the most magical things to watch and this was the first time we had seen the sunset this trip.



Still fuzzy....








We got ready for dinner but decided to go to the Disney Villians quotes trivia in Promenade lounge at 7:30 pm and had a drink in there while doing so. Our friends were going to see the hypnotist in Wavebands at the same time.



It was packed! Obviously a popular quiz and we were absolutely horrible at it!



Having done miserably with the villains quiz we headed off to meet our friends in Parrot Cay for Captains Gala night.

 

[ukintheus]

We passed Mickey in the lobby atrium on our way to Parrot Cay.



We were in Parrot Cay three times on this rotation.


Nenad was studying something while we waited.



Scott and I got to the table first. I ordered a Tuxedo as its one of my favorite cocktails off the menu at night. This one, like so many of the drinks this week, was just OK and not quite right tasting. I tried to give it to Ashli but she didn't like it either!

I had bean soup and then lobster. I didn't want dessert but Alvito brought me a lava cake. I took a couple of bites, I mean, it would have been rude not to.







June enjoyed the strawberry icecream all week, it was her favorite dessert.



Scott had two of the shrimp appetizers, a salad, and then lobster AND venison. He had the creme brûlée sundae for dessert.











After dinner Ashli and Glenn took the kids back to their room, we went back to our cabin, and we all got changed to go to 80s flashback night. This was waiting for us.



More importantly, THIS was waiting for us. Our paperwork telling us about what we needed to do for the back-to back.



Scott and I got down to Wavebands first and grabbed a table.







It was fairly packed by 10:30 pm and Anthony kicked off the evening dressed as George Michael.



It was a blast, and one of the most competitive 80s nights we have ever been too, the crowd in there were all crazy! We had a lot of laughs and shouted and screamed and behaved inappropriately. Team 1 won it because Elaine, from our online group, got the entire group to leave and take a selfie with the Christmas tree, and then a couple of songs later they stole our host/leader Tony and carried him off. Kudos to them for coming up with some really unusual moves. We stayed to listen to the DJ, Ashli was dancing queen of our group although we all got up and danced to at least one song.



We did have a laugh that Glenn provided the drugs for the night....Tums.



We came back to the room at just gone 1 am. Scott sat out on the verandah for a bit while I read my book. Just before 2 am I let him know the time to go to bed! Luckily the clocks went back an hour but it was still really late and I was pooped!

 

[ukintheus]

Day 7 - At Sea

Despite the super late night I didn't get a good night of sleep at all and was wide awake by 6:30 am. I read for a little bit and then went out on the veranda to catch up with my trip report.



It was now almost 9 am and I was in dire need of coffee and/or food so I went back inside to wake Scott up. That didn't work very well so I ended up putting on my bathing suit and heading to Cove Cafe by myself. AJohn got me my usual skinny vanilla latte and we chatted for a bit before I headed down to the pool and found myself a lounger in the sun.



I was ready to top up my tan a little bit and it wasn't too busy there yet. I caught up my trip report a bit more and read my book. I soon wished I had brought some sunblock for my face.



After about 30 minutes I moved into a chair in the shade. It was beginning to fill up and get busier. I sent Scott a message to say where I was and read and relaxed. There was a light breeze and it was a beautiful day! You couldn't see a cloud in the sky. Just before 10:30 Scott sent me a message to say he was feeling lazy and was still in the room. I stayed at the pool for another 20 minutes but it was getting more crowded and trying to listen to the conversation next to me was disturbing my concentration to read. I texted Scott to see if he wanted a bite to eat and stopped at Plutos and Goofys on the way back to pick up a grilled chicken sandwich for him and a beef sandwich for me. After chilling out in the room for a while we went down to the gift shop to exchange a shirt we had bought earlier in the week.



I need these ornaments....I couldn't find them in the gift shop this time around, of course, I didn't ask either.



We walked around deck 4 and enjoyed the breeze in the shaded side and tried to get down the sunny side quickly.







This little guy looked a bit bumped around.


We went up to deck 9 and ran into Nenad and Alvito who were working up there. We chatted to them for a bit and then went into Beach Blanket for lunch.

Scott got mostly seafood.



I got a little bit of everything. They had BBQ short ribs, similar to those on Castaway Cay.



While we were in there we ran into Margaret/Maggie from Trinidad who was our server on our cruise in September 2012. She recognized us, which is always amazing to me that they can remember people, but she said she always thinks of us at Halloween because of the costumes we wore for the Halloween party.

After lunch we came back to the room for a little while and then went down to see Inside Out at 2 pm. It was a cute movie, not the best I've seen from Pixar, but cute all the same. I ran a FE gift up to deck 8 and we ordered Mickey Bars and cake of the day from room service. Mickey bars just make me smile every time I see the wrapper. They cake of the day was key lime pie, but it didn't have any flavor. The topping was the only limey part of it.



We watched Mary Poppins and I got caught up on my trip report (again). Glenn came down and brought us some of the things we had purchased in Jamaica. They had our jerk seasoning and hot sauce and we had their BBQ sauce. They had spent the last couple of hours packing and it was really nice that we didn't have to pack as we were in the same stateroom again next week. He stayed for a glass and wine and we caught up with what they had done that day. It was about 7:55 pm when he left and we all got ready for dinner. Tonight we were back in Tritons for the Til We Meet again menu.



Nenad took a photo for us. It was still sad that it was the last night, even though we were on a B2B our travel buddies were leaving the next morning.



I had soup, tandoori chicken and vanilla ice cream.







Scott had ahi tuna, salad, beef wellington and apple pie.









We all had a lovely meal and passed out the tip envelopes to our servers and took some photos of our fantastic serving team.





They did the parade of nations and we all sang It's a Small World and clapped and cheered and made a lot of noise.







I am putting this photo in here because I had bought June hair crayons as part of her FE gift. Here she is with the pinkish tinge. Ashli was just soooooo grateful.



Unfortunately, our last dinner together was over all too soon. As we passed by the lobby atrium there were a couple of quick stops for photos.



Cruise director, Peter, and Scott (I have no clue what he does, but we have seen him on several cruises).



Scott, Glenn and Ashli went to see the adult show in Wavebands, John Charles. I was really tired and decided to head to bed. This was on the bed waiting for me, along with the comment card. I wish they left them a little earlier in the day, or the night before.



Scott got back to the cabin at about 11:15 pm, and I think I fell asleep at 11:15:01.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

I really enjoyed reading your updates! We are headed to Falmouth next December on the Fantasy and I was looking at the exact same excursion so I thoroughly enjoyed the pics and reading about it. It looks great and I think my kids would really love it!

 

[ukintheus]

Day 8 - Galveston

We didn't have a great night of sleep for some reason and it was barely daylight when we started to get into position to tie up. The ship has to turn in the ship channel and the vibration woke me up to the point where I got out of bed to see what was going on. It was about 6:30 am.





I decided to go back to bed as it was pretty chilly outside. I turned on my phone and checked my email. I also had to take this photo as it was one of the highlights of doing a B2B. Our clothes are already unpacked!!!



We got up and got ourselves moving to go to see Susana who was working in BBB. We stopped at Cove Cafe first for a coffee. Christine, AJohn's wife was working this morning and we got a bonus of coffee being free for back to back cruisers. We went to see Susana and arranged to meet her outside of the terminal at 9:30ish.

After that, we went down to Tritons to have breakfast with our travel buddies. The week had just flown by and it was hard to believe it was over already.





June's hair is still pinkish....



I had an omelet and Scott had eggs for the road (I think that's what they are called.)



Nenad managed to sneak a mickey ear plate shot in of Scott.



We said goodbye to our servers and started to make our way off the ship. It was almost 9:15 and they called for everyone to disembark. We were at the Carnival terminal, terminal 1, instead of the usual terminal 2 as the Royal Caribbean ship was at Terminal 2.

Edited to add: While we were in the atrium I decided to just go and check with the desk set up there with the confiscated alcohol for the week. Sure enough, our bottle of rum was sitting there despite us being told repeatedly we would pick it up after the second week. The CMs looked a bit lost, obviously didn't know what to do about it, and so the guy in charge just told us to take it and take it back to our room real quick. Off Scott went with contraband in hand.

We waited for the our friends to get their luggage and then all headed to customs and immigration. It was here that we all said our goodbyes and they went off to go through and pick up their car and we went on outside and met Susana.

It was busy outside and it took us a while to find each other. She had beat us off the ship and had already walked down to Starbucks to see if we were there as it had taken us so long to get off the ship. We walked to find a coffee shop and ended up at Mod Cafe where we chatted and caught up on what we all had been doing. From there we walked back to the Strand and found a shop with some sun glasses for Scott. They offered a discount for crew members so we were able to put Susana's ship card to good use. We wanted to find a vegetarian place for lunch and ended up at Mediterranean Cafe. It was just OK, their vegetarian selection for Susana wasn't very large but she found a couple of things that she could try. Scott and I shared some hummus and I had a gyro but only ate the meat out of it. It had only been a couple of hours since we had eaten breakfast. We walked across the street to a store that sold just about everything as Scott felt like he was coming down with a cold and we picked up some Robitussin. After that we made our way back towards the ship and decided to stop at Fisherman's Wharf to get a margarita.





You got a good view of the ship from the deck outside, plus we could see the crewmembers entrance, so Susana could make sure that she wasn't late back.



At about 2 pm we needed to get back to the ship as we all had to be onboard before 2:30 pm. Scott and I got through quickly as the terminal was fairly empty and we were onboard within 15 minutes.