2015-10-31 Halloween

I brought a Jack O Lantern necklace to wear on Halloween. I wore it to a special dinner at the Pinnacle Grill that was given to us by our travel vendor, CruCon. We have never been to any special dining areas. It costs extra and we just couldn’t see how it would be different than the fabulous fare we get in the Lido or the main dining area. However, it was different. Bill had a rib steak and I had lamb chops. It was more meat than we usually eat in a month.

Dinner was fantastic unlike the rest of our day which we spent in the cabin trying to repair the scooter. It stopped working for unknown reasons. Bill couldn’t even take it apart without a Phillips screwdriver. He was majorly unhappy about that. He told our room steward, Deo, who called the handyman for the ship. So, the four of them (another steward came to help) took it apart and fixed it. I wanted to take a picture of them but the camera was in the closet so I stayed out of the way.

Our room is wonderful. It’s about 400 square feet and we have four small portholes that we can cover to block all the light. It’s is far forward but very quiet. I would like to post some pictures but the internet is really slow unless I get up at 4 am to post.

2015-10-30 Ripped!

We had some adventures traveling to Florida. For the first time, we both brought scooters on a cruise. We got to airport early thanks to our daughter.  We breezed right through security until they checked Bill’s hands for traces of explosives. He tested positive for some odd reason. So, our luggage had to be swabbed and run through a computer. It kept coming up positive. They finally let us go. But, when we got our bags on the ship, they had also been examined. Somehow, Bill’s tools came up missing.

The tools Bill lost had sentimental value. He bought them 50 years ago to repair him motorcycle. Worse than that, we really need them to repair the scooters when they go bad. So, he is not happy.

The plane was great. Southwest employees were more than kind. Our plane was late because of a system wide mess in Ft Lauderdale where a plane caught on fire. The steward on the second flight saved the bulkhead seats for us. I need to write something nice about both flights. Southwest assigned a person (Lesley) to help us get into the terminal. He got our luggage off the carousel and led us out to where we waited for the hotel shuttle bus. In fact, people have been very attentive to our needs all the way through.

The only problem on the flight was that the seats are too close together for giant people. Bill’s wallet caught on the chair arm and he ripped out the seat of his pants. We need to look for a place to buy another pair.

2015-10-24 Sailing to Europe

This is the trip we plan to take on Friday, October 30, 2015.

ITINERARY

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE   DEPART Fri Oct 30 Fort Lauderdale, FL 4:00pm Sat Oct 31 At Sea Sun Nov 1 At Sea Mon Nov 2 San Juan, Puerto Rico 8:00am 5:00pm Tue Nov 3 St. Maarten 8:00am 3:00pm Wed Nov 4 At Sea Thu Nov 5 At Sea Fri Nov 6 At Sea Sat Nov 7 At Sea Sun Nov 8 At Sea Mon Nov 9 At Sea Tue Nov 10 Tenerife, Canary Islands Noon 11:00pm Wed Nov 11 Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island, Canary Islands 8:00am 10:00pm Thu Nov 12 Fuerteventura, Canary Islands (Puerto Del Rosario) 8:00am 5:00pm Fri Nov 13 At Sea Sat Nov 14 Tangier, Morocco 8:00am 5:00pm Sun Nov 15 Almeria, Spain 8:00am 6:00pm Mon Nov 16 Valencia, Spain 11:00am 6:00pm Tue Nov 17 Barcelona, Spain 8:00am Wed Nov 18 Barcelona, Spain 6:00pm Thu Nov 19 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 8:00am 6:00pm Fri Nov 20 At Sea Sat Nov 21 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 6:00am 9:00pm Sun Nov 22 Naples (Capri), Italy 10:00am Mon Nov 23 Naples (Capri), Italy 5:00pm Tue Nov 24 Messina, Sicily, Italy 8:00am 5:00pm Wed Nov 25 At Sea Thu Nov 26 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 8:00am 6:00pm Fri Nov 27 Olympia (Katakolon), Greece 10:00am 6:00pm Sat Nov 28 Corfu, Greece 8:00am 5:00pm Sun Nov 29 At Sea Mon Nov 30 Valletta, Malta 8:00am Tue Dec 1 Valletta, Malta 6:00am Tue Dec 1 Mgarr (Victoria), Malta 8:00am 5:00pm Wed Dec 2 Palermo, Sicily, Italy 8:00am 5:00pm Thu Dec 3 Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy 8:00am 5:00pm Fri Dec 4 At Sea Sat Dec 5 Cartagena, Spain 8:00am 5:00pm Sun Dec 6 Gibraltar, UK Territory Noon 11:00pm Mon Dec 7 Cadiz, Spain 8:00am 6:00pm Tue Dec 8 Casablanca, Morocco 7:00am 9:00pm Wed Dec 9 At Sea Thu Dec 10 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 8:00am 4:00pm Fri Dec 11 At Sea Sat Dec 12 At Sea Sun Dec 13 At Sea Mon Dec 14 At Sea Tue Dec 15 At Sea Wed Dec 16 At Sea Thu Dec 17 At Sea Fri Dec 18 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00am 3:00pm Sat Dec 19 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am

2015-10-24 The Food Challenge

I have some bad news. I gained weight since I had back surgery in April, 2015. I wasn't light before that but my weight was reasonable. Now I am up to 209, the heaviest I have ever been (except for the time we lived on the Navajo Nation and it was too dangerous to walk).

So, I plan lose some weight on the cruise. It sounds crazy but neither of us gained on our last two month cruise in 2013. We refused desserts and exercised quite a bit during that cruise. We both swam almost every day. I walked around the deck and took the stairs instead of the elevator. 

Exercise will be more difficult this time. I have a persistent problem with my right knee.  I hurt it when I fell on the steps in the garage. I was wearing those stupid  huarache sandals that were popular then. They were slick on the bottom and I slipped. My right leg flew out and hit the tire on the car. I tore the meniscus and that cascaded into four surgeries on my knee.

It was replaced in 2005 and it never stopped hurting. That didn't stop me from walking but I need to stop now. The doctor said my kneecap is being pulled down by scar tissue so it's out of place below my knee. Every time I take a step, the tendon rubs on the kneecap and then my knee swells up. I have to ice it until it calms down which takes a day or two. He said the only way to keep it from swelling is to stop walking. There is no surgery that will repair the scar tissue as more will form. 

Because the tendon in my knee shrunk, it actually has made my right leg shorter. So, I walk with a limp. The constant flexing caused stress on my back which, in turn, probably caused the vertebrae to break in spine. That, an old age. 

That's why I have gained weight. Walking was my go-to means of keeping my weight down. I used to walk two miles a day at home and on the ship.

I can do some upper body work with weights in the gym but the treadmill is out as an option. The other thing I can do is swim. The pool is usually pretty cold but I plan to swim whenever it's tolerable. 

Bill weighs 238 and is not happy about it. He plans to swim, too. He orders oatmeal for breakfast. At lunch, he asks the stir fry person to make him pasta and vegetables. He orders special dinners without salt. He asks for whatever meat or fish is available along with a potato and vegetables. He has amazing will power. 

I think we can do it. We have eaten almost everything that is served on a cruise already. I made sure to try anything new every time so now we been there and done that.