Anthem of the Seas.

Then I  wandered around looking at things.

Sat down for a cuppa and saw a fitness class starting. Took 4 seconds to realise these super bodies in perfect time were in fact one of the dance troops rehearsing.  They were the group doing Spectre  – the Cirque Du Soleil show. The show is held in a space called 270 Degrees. It is at the back of the ship and has a ……..270 degree view. Pretty stunning. It has a performance space and heaps of seating and chairs for day use. More about that next week when I go to the show there.

I hopped on an island tour bus and off I went to explore the island. $25 for a three hour tour. This is another independent country – but a US territory. They drive on the left hand side of the road BUT they have no right hand drive vehicles. They are all left hand drive. So….the drivers are on the outside of the carriage way. Weird, and made for some very close passing of other vehicles. And it looks so weird.
The vehicle I went in was an open, covered bus. A bit like a safari vehicle. Much cooler then yesterdays bus that was air-conditioned but not for about 15 minutes after the doors were opened.

We stopped at a few look outs and then went up to “The famous Mountain Top”. The biggest souvenir shop …..and the home of the Banana Daiquiri.  But at $14US I didn’t bother trying one. Plus it was 11am.

But the view was pretty amazing.
Then another great look out. There was a guy making Mojitos. They were $6 and they were not light on the rum. The effect was not wasted.

Another guy was playing a Steel Drum and was so good. He gave me a lesson. Amazing instrument. Not sure if it was the great music, the lovely guy or the very strong Mojito – but I did buy not one…but two of his CDs.

We drove around the streets and the suburbs, then I got off at the shops to look around. A true cruise ship ports with al the usual souvenir shops, and Diamond International, which the cruise lines “recommends” (aka owners) and encourages you to buy from with on ship seminars about the quality of diamonds and how reputable some shops are. And how you must NOT, purchase from other shops who will rob you blind. Pretty funny to see how many people flock to them and purchase jewellery for ‘such good prices’. People spend $10,000 plus!

The place had Bantams everywhere! The parks through town were full of them. One park was full of Bantams and …..chicken bones.

The humidity was horrid – so I did pop into a few of the said recommended jewellery and souvenir shops….as they had great air conditioning. I them went back to the ship – but first spent a bit more time chatting to the locals – the Iguanas that is.

Sail away was lovely then a great dinner in a restaurant called Silk – all kinds of Asian food. Fantastic.
As was the concierge lounge.

15th November – St Kitts
Another lovely island! Today was hot. 35 degrees and so humid!

The port had all the usual tourist shops, people spruking for bus tours and the Monkeys men. People with young monkeys used for photos and tips. Pretty pushy – but the monkeys were soooo very cute. Their fur was so soft and fingers were so gentle.

I joined a group on an open sided bus.$25 for a three hour trip. We circled the island and saw lots of interesting things.

A 350 year old tree, the “famous” Bottle Tree (maybe), nesting Egrets, then stopped at Hawker selling scarves and bracelets, who was obviously his friend. But that is OK, better then the huge corporation souvenir shops.

The first view spot we stopped at was over Montego Bay. So I sang that song for a while. We went past suburbia, the huge Vet School where people come from all over the Caribbean and even the US.

A few more very attractive look outs. The millionaires and movie starts were all starting to arrive for the season on their mega yachts. Well, the yachts were arriving, they would arrive by Lear jet.

We then went to the old Rum Factory, set in a rain forest and with some great stone ruins.

That was followed by a Batik factory where we got to see a demo of making batik.

Next spot was a view of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea on either side of a peninsular.

Then to an attractive beach, with rows and rows of chairs and umbrellas for rent.

When I got back to the ship they were washing the back. As we walked up between the two ships, the spray was blown by the breeze and caused a great misting system.

When the captain came up to the lounge for his daily visit, I thanked him for planning this.

I came back to my room thinking “shower and lunch or lunch and shower”? I was so hot and couldn’t be bothered. But then I walked into my room and there was a tray of fat chocolate strawberries. So after a shower, I had my chocolate strawberries and my French bubble water for a lovely late lunch. Thanks Crown and Anchor! Then I got a sleep.

Dinner in Coastal Kitchen, the private dinning room for Suites and Pinnacles. And since my booking is attached to Dee Dee and Mark’s – I can go there too. Awesome. What an amazing restaurant. Nothing is too much trouble. All ships should have it.

16th November  – Saint Martin and Sint Martin.
Today I visited two countries. Dutch Sint-Maarten (to the north)  and then French Saint-Martin (to the south). The whole place is only 87 sq ks.

The island of Saint Martin,in the Leeward Islands group, in the middle of the Antilles Archipelago, and is divided in two seperate countries. We docked at Philipsburg in Saint Marteen on the Dutch side of the island.

They have found indications that the island was inhabited by American Indians as early as 2000BC. Between 800 and 300 BC it was inhabited by South American Awarks, then the Carib people also from South America. 1993 Columbus came and changed all that. During the 16th-century corsairs and buccaneers, the Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, English and Flemish coveted the island for its protected waters and salt deposits, earning it the name of Soualiga, Land of Salt.

The Dutch side is the party side with busy nightlife and a party atmosphere. The French side is much quieter – literally. The French side uses Euros – but will accept US dollars – and makes a fortune as they exchange the is very in their favour. Both sides are very Caribbean. The Dutch side is more American, the French side more European. The Dutch side has the high rise buildings. The dutch side is really friendly. Read between the lines! English is the offical language on the Dutch side. Of course the French side prefers French.
Philipsburg’s main industry is tourism. Today there were six ships. Over 20,000 passengers. And crew. Traffic was very busy. And the streets were very crowded. We were parked next to Harmony of the Seas. She must have missed me and wanted to say Hi.
I walked off the ship, in the seperate country of Sint Marteen (in the Dutch Kingdom), locals are called Sint Maartiners, to hit the wave of thick humidity. Within 10 steps from the ship my big camera had droplets of water on it and the lens fogged up. So blurry photos of steel drum bands. Steel drums are amazing. They are now one of my favourite instruments. Up there with bagpipes.

After walking past all of the shops – you know the ones….Diamonds International, souvenirs etc I found the taxi place. The area was stunning but I would look at that later. I got a taxi -$25 but of course had to wait for them to find 12 more people. At least I got a front seat…with a tiny bit of air conditioning and a view. And off we headed on our trop that was nearly four hours. Through the city with the 20,000 tourists walking along and as many cars. They say there are more cars then people in the two countries.

Both places are the playground of the rich and famous with many holiday houses and berths for movies stars and others. 
To the west of the island is a huge lagoon. This is full on multi million dollar yachts – and after Thanksgiving next week, many celebrities. There are three giant bridges crossing the lagoon – all with “draw bridges” that open four times a day for the yachts. 
And what a stunning area it is.
There was also an ugly oil refinery and power plant, but I suppose it has to go somewhere. Us tourists like air conditioning and petrol.
One of the things I noticed was that there was heaps of solar all through all the places I have been. Large Solar arrays, many small wind turbines. Tiny one on private place….What have we not got these yet?
We saw the Brown Pelican, the national bird. The brown looks so wierd.

The houses are brightly coloured and many are small on a decent sized block. Most are two story and these guys love their Balustrades. They absolutely love them. Big heavy concrete ones. If they can possibly use them …..they will.

Maho beach  – the famous airport beach to watch planes. Like all the beaches it was standing room only. I saw a few planes come in and take off. They have changed the fences, cause tourists are dumb, to stop people standing right behind the large planes as their have been a few deaths. One was blown back and smashed her head on the big gutter, another was blown under an oncoming taxi!

Then to the French side.

Great food and slow and relaxed. No high rise. Most of the business is Dutch side.
This guy was cooking ribs out in the park. Talk about how to get people to your restaurant.

And they were great. As was the cocktail with it.

Off to another pretty beach. This is where all the action happens – para sailing, jet skiing, snorkelling, bach cabanas, chairs and umbrellas, nude section, hair braiding, haps of music, more bars etc. The beach was a bit like human soup.

More rich and famous places and the scene of many movies including Speed 2.

Then back to Phillipsburg. Stunning place. Even with the tourist shops.

Caribbean is very cool. Fun and hot – hot – hot.

Then three lovely sea days back to New York.
Best thing is that the weather is cooling down. Yay.

17th November
Wandering around the ship.

And then a bridge tour. The Captain comes up and greets every bridge tour.

1,200 cameras on this ship.

18th November

And then down to the Bumper cars. Fantastic.  At one time the controller said, “If you think this is Driver Education’ you are wrong. It’s Bumper Cars”. And it is awesome.

We had so much fun smashing into each other.

Then Wonderland for dinner. Another night of amazing food.

19th November
Not too much today. More trivia. More fun. More great food.
Captain Corner – with some more interesting question.

It is turnaround day tomorrow. Everyone is packing…but not me. I get to stay of for one more week. And there is still lots more to be done.

We were getting closer to New York, and the temperature was dropping. I went out side and it was cold. Beautiful. A gale. Icy. There was a big snow storm in the central west…and it had blown over this way, was a bit lovely.

20th November
Turn Around day.
End of cruise 4, start of cruise 5. Everyone got off the ship and seven of us got to stay. AT 10am we all marched out and back onto the ship. There was no where to go. The traffic into Bayonne Port is terrible and New York City is close to $200 each way in a taxi. So It was back onto the ship. By 10.30 I had gone to my new room – an obstructed balcony on deck 6, unpacked and gone up to the Solarium to stare at NYC. I snuggled up in one of the pods and enjoyed.

The back to back people got to go to the “Coastal Kitchen” (suites restaurant) for lunch. No time for a sleep as sail away was at 3pm.
Sail away out of Bayonne – across from New York City was pretty amazing.

It was good to see the Bayonne Bridge – used in the movie “The War of the Worlds”.  I’ve always called it “The Fake Harbour Bridge” but apparently it is called Bayonne Bridge.

Going under the Verrazano Narrows bridge the ship had a few metres clearance.

Just.

Past the end of Staten Island – where New Yorkers like in the suburbs in grand old houses then off down the Jersey Shore…so I did get my trip to the Jersey Shore after all.

Amazing. It is the longest suspension bridge in the Americas.
I had a lovely quiet night and didn’t even go to dinner. Just took Concierge Lounge food and off I went.

My room is an “Obstructed Balcony”. I knew there was a life boat right outside my room…but you an be lucky. I am between two life boats and beside the superstructure and cranes, is a huge gap…with a perfect view to sea. And it is straight in line with me head on the pillow! Nice. 

21st November – At Sea.
A fun day at sea. Lots of trivia. We one the Movie quotes trivia. 100%.

Had the C&A do. I was given my glass block. And was the third top cruiser in this voyage! I got to catch up with Captain Wendy from Radiance. She asked how Sarah’s head had recovered from Tahiti.

I ate at The Grande.  The formal restaurant. Lovely. Very Grande indeed.

Then went to see The Gift. I don’t know why I continue to be blown away….. but the quality of the shows on these big ships is mind blowing. So very good. The sets and costumes are amazing and the athleticism is stunning. Truly Broadway quality. Fantastic. The story was a bit of a fantasy about redemption. So many people whined and bitched as it wasn’t a smack in your face linear story. “Just go and look at the pretty things people!”

22nd November – Port Canaveral, Florida.

We didn’t arrive in Port Canaveral until after 12 noon – so it was off the ship and onto an adventure. So many things to do here – Go to Universal Studios to Harry Potter World……go on a boat trip to see Manatee and Dolphin or go to Port Canaveral. I decided on Port Canaveral and the NASA JF Kennedy Space Centre.
Into a taxi shuttle and off I went. It was about 30 minutes from the dock and was an interesting drive. Florida is very flat and water. Channels and swamps everywhere. But sadly no Manatees today.

Near NASA there were a stack of new palm trees – too replace the ones torn down by the hurricane a few weeks ago.  A a cost of many thousands of dollars each.

The driver pointed out the lack of street lights. We were in the middle of nowhere…but street lights must be a thing out of town. There had been lights…but when they had to move one of the shuttles to a new building, they took all the light poles down and never hooked tham back up. But the wires were there under the orange cones.
He also pointed out how dangerous driving was here. There were no shoulders on the roads!!! He best not come to drive in Australia.

And then we arrived at NASA.  How exciting.  Sadly (for me), they did a launch of Saturday night….so I wont get to see one tonight!  How exciting.  Cape Canaveral launch site. The place of so many amazing achievements – and a few sad ones.

And I now know how they fund the Space Program. Tens of thousands of tourists a day at $50 each. But WOW.  I was walking around looking at Space Shuttles, Rockets, Command Centres, and many other pieces of equipment. 
First thing was a bus ride out to Apollo Saturn V Centre – the first of many many queues! It was like Disneyland for geeks. Queues and waiting  – the vast majority of time went it these two activities. 
Past the Vehicle Assembly Building – the biggest single story building in the world. And one of the biggest buildings in the world by volume. This was used for final processing for the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. It has now been redesigned for the latest.

That US flag is 21 stories high!  Yes 21 stories.

We passed the Launch Control Centre and onto the Apollo Saturn V Centre.  WOW – Rockets are huge.

Here we got to see the command centre that was used for the Apollo missions. Not a mock up – the real things. A movie played telling the story. When actual audio was used, a spotlight would illuminate the desk that had been talking. Cool. And not terribly high tech at first.
Past launch pads.

After that I went back to the main centre – with amazing stuff every where. 
The best part – for me – was the space shuttle gear. So many of my favourite movies feature them…especially Armageddon.

To see the famous or infamous tiles up close was amazing.

But the best part was the Shuttle Simulation! When they launched it, a number of astronauts rode in it and said it was very realistic. 
You walk in and sit in a ‘chair’ like a roller coaster. We had to strap in and each seat belt was tested by staff. There was lots of warning about the noise, the shuddering, the jolting etc. And even before starting they gave us a chance to bale out again. Yes I did say a number of Armageddon quotes – “………Helga’s house of pain” and  “……..to the lowest bidder”.
Then into count down we went. The engine started and everything shuddered and wobbled.  Then lift off and it really shook and bounced. A crash as we lost the fuel boosters and then we went up. Our ‘seat pod” went up and up until we were lying on our backs. I tried lifting my arms and sitting forward but it was very hard. We shook, rattles and the engines screamed. We went up to 3 G’s. I had a necklace on with a big ball that was sitting on my throat. I had to push my arms forward and move it as it was pushing so hard on my throat. Then we cut the engines and were just floating in silence. The roof opened up and we had a view of space. We then rolled and had a view of floating over Italy. Amazing. Then the mean people ended the ride. In 8 minutes we went from sitting upright to taking off and hitting space. What a sensational ride. No cameras…but here is a google image.  
And then more looking around.

And then the day was over and it was time to go back to the ship. In my 5 hours I barely saw anything. The people I came out in the shuttle with booked there return trip after 90 min. Guess they will be able to say “Yes, Been there”.

Back on board I raced to dinner then the lounge. Great day. 
Limited parking space outside the dinning room.  Hahaha.

TA 52 – Coco Cay, Bahamas.
RCI owned a few private island in the Caribbean. Coco Cay is one of them. They own the island and all the infrastructure. Its a lovely little flat island. They have made a small harbour and had a number of tender boats – large ones that load really fast. When they pull up to the ship, they are level. Not even one stop. Same on the island.

They have sand wheelchairs People come across in their own wheel chairs then transfer into the sand chairs. (They can also go into the water!) Fantastic service. 
All the normal bar services work on the island. If you have a drinks package, it works. Everything else you pay for on your sea pass card.

They have a life guard on the tower and have another out on a jet ski patrolling. 
A mini Windjammer is set up with salads, burgers, BBQ, …….  And then deserts.  Fruit and water, iced tea etc available all day.

And rows and rows of hire chairs.

But the best part…..is the Cabana Area. A fenced off area with cabanas – beach shacks! Each cabana has an enclosed area and a deck. The inside part has a lovely lounge with the best air flow. The deck has two lounges with thick mattresses. Then there are four sun lounges on the sand. Private toilet block, bar and food place with al the normal food plus more. Prawns on sticks, huge fruit platters, bottles of water – delivered in an esky to your cabana. They also get the floating mats, snorkel gear and towels.
Pretty fine deal for 4 or 6 people ($280).

So, originally I was going to go across, have a look, swim then come back. But after the concierge slapped my VIP arm band on….I changed my plans. I sat all day, listening to music and staring at the ocean. I did get up and go for a walk around the area, but then returned to my cabana!

Maybe the beach isn’t that bad after all!  Lovely. When I decided to go back, I saw how long the line was for the tenders, so set my alarm and had a snooze instead.

The temp was in the 30’s, but the shade and the strong breeze was glorious. I ended up spending six hours there.

Sensational.
53. Nassau, Bahamas
24th November. Today was Nassau, home of Royal Caribbean. After morning trivia I headed off. Took a small bus trip again on a tour of Nassau. $25. The driver had a script to follow and don’t you dare ask a question out of order.

He was a huge guy with no PA system and a booming voice. And since I was sitting in the front I copped the whole of his voice. Was more of a shopping tour. All the places we went were shops. hahahaha but still had a lovely time.

The Rum Cake shop. Rum cakes are the local delicacy and are exported world wide. A lovely soft cake absolutely soaked in rum.

‘Atlantis’, the gigantic resort. It looked just like the one in Dubai – and is owned by the same person.
We drove across the ‘Sidney Poitier” bridge. Did you know he was a Bahamian?

This is one of ‘those’ resorts with everything. He dropped us at the shopping part, but wow, what shops. Everything was super expensive – like a movie.

I went outside and looked at the Marina. Oh My God! You see it in the movies all the time, but to be standing there next to there super yachts was amazing. They all had two or three ‘boat boys’, polishing, setting up cushions, serving food and drinks to groups on board.

I looked one of the boats up on the internet…….. “Skyfall”. 58 metres long. M/V Sea Spirit – my Antarctic ship was only 90 metres long. Skyfall ……”14 guests are accommodated in seven well appointed cabins. The split-level master suite is located on the main deck and is full beam, with a king size bed, private study, private lounge and his and hers baths. Two double VIP suites below have king size beds while two further doubles have queen size beds and there is a twin cabin with a Pullman berth. All cabins have 42 inch television screens and en suite bathroom facilities.

The upper deck of this yacht features a panoramic sky lounge and an aft deck perfect for al fresco entertaining, while the sun deck is vast and offers a bar, hot tub, and a plunge pool.
Skyfall also features touch-and-go helicopter capability, a tender garage and a passenger elevator through three decks with wheelchair access. ABS classed and MCA compliant, she was designed for a transatlantic range, but also has a draft suitable for cruising the Bahamas and US East Coast. She has a maximum speed of 20 knots and a range of 4,000 nautical miles at 10 knots, and is fitted with zero speed stabilisers.”
$35 Million US dollars.

And there were plenty more. One had it’s ‘run about’ tied up nest to it….with 700HP on the back. Most had a few jet skis. I had fun.
We drove through the ‘hood’ – as the guide kept calling it, telling us how safe and lovely it was, and to tell our friends.

I climbed The Queens Stairs – 66 horrid narrow, steep rock stairs. They were carved as a thank you to Queen Victoria. When she took the thrown she came to the Bahamas and abolished slavery.
 

And Fort Fincastle – built in 1793.

Then more looking around.

The Old Rum Factory…when we could buy rum.

I met a pirate. I was in the Caribbean after all.

Saw some lovely beaches and the famous fish shacks. I bought a local delicacy….Conch Fritters. Made from Conch shells. They were …not horrid, but were basically balls of dough with a tiny bit of conch meat and a few tiny prawns, fried up. I did have fun feeding the seagulls though.

Then back to the ship.
Super dinner, Thanksgiving. Turkey, pumpkin pie and all. Then a 3D movie.
Another fun day.

TA 54 –  At sea.  Busy
10.00 General Trivia – We won. Yay for us.
11.30 Theatre Tour was great. The theatres on these big ships are amazing. So big, with such fancy back stage areas. One of the shows  – The Gift- had a giant Dragon puppet. $200,000 worth.

‘We Will Rock You’ had nearly 100 wigs. And the detail of the props! One scene had a few of the Bohemians standing on some 44 gallon drums. The drums are all welded together and the cuts and holes in them all have rolled edges.

And the scaffold piece was huge. And Solid. At times it has about 20 people climbing on it so has to be incredibly strong, but also has to move backwards and forwards, and then into storage.

12.30 Escape the Rubicon – A Puzzle Room.

I raced up and joined a group of random’s for this activity. The group is locked into a room and had 60 minutes to get out. This one was a space theme.
It is really hard to explain – but we walked in and there were lots of star charts, moon calendars, and various object like pieces of angle iron with little lugs on them.
After a few minutes of bumbling around we started to see bits of rhyme and reason. By solving one clue, we could open a chest with the next clue.

One example was we worked out the pieces of angle fitted into holes. I found a torch and worked out it created a shadow word.  Some was maths, some deduction etc. But nothing could be done alone. It all took team work.

We solved it in 34 minutes. A record for this trip. Yay – we survived.
1.30 Lunch with others. Ships always to a ‘Solo’ travellers lunch. This voyage had some great people and we had fun together – including lots of the trivia matches.
2.00 Progressive Trivia – another round of progressive.
3.00 And yet another Bridge Tour. Cannot help myself. I love going up there.

3.30 I then had to rush down to the Bumper Cars. There were only a few sessions and the queue was huge – Well over one hour long.

After about 15 minutes, they had an odd number ad walked along looking for a single person. So in I went. And again it was great fun. Slamming into people you don’t know. Everyone laughs hysterically and had a ball. So much fun.

4.00 Musicals Trivia. So much fun. Lots of yelling and fun. ‘The gay Guys’ sat near us and everyone knows that they are Broadway and show tune geniuses. Before the quiz we kept telling them that the answer was “Evita”. All answers were Evita. Of course the first question was what musical features the song ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’.  Yay Evita. So much yelling out of Evita, Evita the whole game.
We beat them in a sudden death and got the prize. Yay – a highlighter!

I woke up at about 3 am and went outside for a look. I was sure we were not moving. Next day someone said – did I hear the helicopter flying around at 3am and why did they announce for no one to go near deck 14. Ahhh. I had not gone made. It was a medivac – no helipad on this ship – a winch operation so someone must have been very ill. 
In 56 nights on ships we only had a few medivacs and one call for “males blood donors with O neg blood”. (Women cannot give O blood in case pregnancy has triggered the rhesus factor – so they just don’t take O whole blood from women anymore). Quiet a few ambulances doing the early morning transfers as well. 

TA 55 –  At sea.  Busy
10.00 Galley Tour. Not the best galley tour I have done – but interesting to see the four separate kitchens for the Dynamic Dining set up. There were 30 people in the group. 6 or 8 kids who complained about “the heat”, “the noise’, being “bored”. And the lady with the pram was not fun. But the cook who lead the tour had very little English and did not project his voice at all. So the four people at the front heard things. Oh well, I was lucky to get to see the kitchen.
12.00 was the Meal with the Officers. This is one of my favourite perks and i sat with two lovely guys. Leland, the head of Guest Services Desk. I made sure he was invited as I gave him a hard time over my ‘New York Tour and air port drop off” and wanted to show him I was not really a dragon lady.  
I had booked a tour that got me through the hideous lines off the ship, then a three hour New York Tour and a drop off at JFK airport at around 1pm. BUT they cancelled the tour as not enough people booked it. So I had a few discussions with his re the manner I was told and the failure to put me in contact with the others (as promised) to try to organize a shuttle.
And Bogdan, the Head of Hotel Maintenance was so funny. We came up with a new plan for Royal. We are going to enhance the Virtual Balconies. He will rig up the air conditioning and the sprinkler systems to the live cameras. If it is cold the temperature will drop. And when we hit waves, the sprinklers will splash you. We thought it was a great idea.

There was a problem with my C&A gifts. I selected the bottles of Perignol Sparkling Water. But they have recently changes the bottles to crown seals. On the older ship there is a bottle opener on the wall of the bathroom. The newer ships don’t have it. I asked the room steward – “No, ring room service”. Room service said “No, but they will come and open it when every I want”.  “So I could pay the $5 nighttime room service fee if I wanted a bottle at night”.  I ended up giving them to Francisco the concierge, along with my left over bottles of wine.
But I did mention the problem to Bogdan – since he looks after the hotel part. We laughed about my first world problems.
2.00 Progressive Trivia. Final round. We have a fun team. An older couple that I see in the Concierge Lounge. She was very enthusiastic and was more than happy to make a guess if she had no idea…but then got a bit cross if we didn’t use that answer. She didn’t want to the prizes, but really wanted to win.  hahaah.  And was not happy when we came third out of about 35 teams.
2.30  I then dashed late, down to see We Will Rock You again. A new cast boarded the ship three weeks ago – and today was their first performance. And it was great again. Such a cool story. I think a few of the principal actors were better than last week.

As I’ve said many times….the productions are of such a high standard.

As this was set a few hundred years into the future, The Bohemians had found ‘relics’ and based their lives around them.  One of the incredibly repetitive lines was the video tape.  One was the “Vid –ehhhh –ohhhhh  Tap Eyyyy”.  The more they said it the funnier it became.
They had all based themselves on rock n roll posters that were found so were usually the wrong sex. The lead man was Brittany Spears. Another was called Blink 182.
Fantastic show.

6.00 Dinner was with one of my Trivia buddies and another couple. They had made a permanent booking at “The Grande”, the formal restaurant – so I often joined them. I didn’t have lobster this night I had had enough. Hahah.

Then goodbyes and tips. People can be such pigs. The Concierge Lounge was never terribly full, but over only 30ish people there at any time. The bar people were very attentive and lovely. The Concierge was great. But when I got up there at 7.30….there were two other people there. I asked Francisco if it had been like it all night. “Yes”. Was it because it was tipping night? “Yes”.
If people choose not to tip they should still go to the lounge and say thank you!

It was then luggage out and to bed on the final night of this amazing journey.

Hong Kong, England, Canary Islands, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, France, US, Puerto Rico, St Thomas, St Kitts, St Matreen, St Martin, Orlando, Bahamas. 
My SEVENTH continent on a cruise ship.
My SEVENTH continent in 2016. 
MY SIXTH CONTINENT WITH ROYAL CARIBBEAN  -THEY ONLY DO 6!
The worlds Biggest cruise ship – Harmony. And newest, widest, heaviest and largest capacity.
The worlds Greenest cruise ship – Anthem. And the second largest class of cruise ships 

TA 56 – The Journey Begins
We arrived in New York at about 5.30 am and they were taking people off before 7.

As I was leaving the ship this morning there was a present at my door. From Bodgen. A shiny new bottle opener. How lovely.
I had organised with Fransisco to go off with the suite people. They get taken to the front of the line to get off. Thanks goodness as last week they were queued up until 10.20am. Huge long lines snaking along the ship. Getting off took a few minutes. My bag with is’t suites tag was right at the front. Lovely. Straight through immigration through the short queue.
And then only 15 minutes for a Uber car to arrive. Oh dear. Much too early.  He didn’t realise how far it was so me had to stop for petrol.
Out drive to the airport was a southern route – not through New York.  Sad. But we did cross the Bayonne Bridge (the War of the Worlds one), the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (the one I sailed under). We went across Stratton Island. Not a small island in the harbour, as I always thought. But a huge chunk of land seperate from the mainland. It is one of the big suburb areas of NYC. Then though Brooklyn and into Queens. Good to see so many of the se places you hear about all the time. 
The taxi price, when I asked at the peir, was $110 plus tolls – about $22.

I was at the airport at to to nine at a grand total of $70 and some cents. I love Uber. And my driver was funny. Not quiet the sharpest tool. I don’t think he had been over to this side of the bay before. He asked where I had been – St Kitts, St Thomas, San Juan, and Orlando. “Gee, you have done almost all the states.” And in Queens – which to my surprise had lots of open land – we passed a

The Qantas counter didn’t open until 1.30 and there was no coffee shop in terminal 7 – so I hoped on the Skytrain and went to another terminal – – for 4 hours.
Then did a bit more Skytrain riding.

I finally check in. And went to the lounge. And then onto the flight. Another points flight so another business class seat!. Yah.
Six hours to LAX, then straight onto the flight to Melbourne.  Then a flight to Canberra and home.

AMAZING TRIP.