We officially arrived in another continent today: we are in Cartagena, Columbia, which is in South America!
Founded in 1533, Cartagena served as an important trading port and was subject to attacks and invasions from early on. As a result, part of the city is well fortified, and known as “La Ciudad Amurallada”, the “walled city”. It reflects a turbulent history of conquistadores and pirates!
Today is a very easy temperature to remember: 28=82 (28Celsius = 82 Fahrenheit)
Starting the day with a long overdue pedicure – all those long winter shoe months didn’t call for it. But here we are: sandals and flipflop weather!
The whole day was very relaxing, late breakfast at the observation deck, reading, playing Romme, reading, eating and reading. The observation deck is a great place with comfortable lounge chairs, a small buffet with everything to keep you hydrated, healthy and happy.
We tried to hang out at the pool for a while, but Ted was just melting. I guess we are not used to 30 degree weather anymore. Now we hope we resolved our cabin temperature discrepancy (Ted likes to sleep with the a/c on, I like the balcony door open) by switching beds, so he will sleep underneath the a/c and I sleep near the balcony door. It just needed an extension cord and some rearranging of our stuff. We shall see if this does the trick and we are more happy tomorrow morning!
Sailing south of the Bahamas along Cuba’s north coast from the center towards the east, south around the eastern edge, then between Cuba and Haiti, straight south.
25.9 Celcius, 2.5 meter waves, 50 km/h wind
I love this weather! It is warm, windy, sunny and (that’s where Ted and I disagree) humid. 85% humidity and he is melting, he can’t sleep with the window open, air condition is a must. I’m more a fresh air fanatic, who rather hear the waves than the a/c.
We checked out “the Locals” for breakfast which had a welcoming small portion vegetarian omelet. Perfect size! But when I look around, I see people ordering multiple things from the menu, like an omelet + pancakes + a continental breakfast. No wonder, there are surprisingly many people on board who are overweight! Or am I used to European people by now and forgot how big many Americans are?
At noon we went to the go-cart track and had great fun! It is a 2-story track with many narrow curves – challenging! But I did end up in 6th place. Not bad considered that this is where the teenagers and young adults get their adrenalin dose. Older people like us are rare on the track. Most of them aren’t even allowed to drive – the maximum weight is 265lbs.
A leisurely afternoon with Harold, practicing “Let it Be” (Beatles) and “Riptide” (Van Steward). I’m glad that I downloaded this 10 day Ukelele class on YouTube. Unfortunately I’m on day 5 already…
Dinner was at the “Q Texas Steakhouse”. Live music with a country music band was entertaining and the food was good too. I ordered a honey glazed salmon with a mixed salad, Ted had a brisket with a big baked potato. You wonder why I eat salmon at a steakhouse? I’m staying away from meat and poultry this month. No ham and cheese omelets, no burgers, steaks, pork roasts and lamb chops. No pizza Peperoni, Pasta Bolognese or chicken noodle soup. Etc, etc, etc. It’s not easy, I’m an omnivore after all!
Our evening entertainment was the comedy club, where we laughed for a straight hour straight, watching Dylan (#dylancomic). We watched his show the first evening at 7pm, after boarding and really enjoyed the it, so we decided to see his adult only show at 9pm. It was very funny, this guy is hilarious!
Boarding a cruise ship is always an amazing process: seeing those endless carts with thousands of suitcases piled up high, it is a miracle that just a few hours later you have your luggage in your room!
Watching the logistics of food deliveries, truckloads full of everything a few thousand people eat and drink every day: there is only one day to get everything on board and stow it away so you remember where things are – amazing!
Deep clean a ship, bathrooms, bedrooms, think about towels, bed linens etc etc etc. How many people do you need for all this? And do you outsource those tasks or is everything cleaned on board? How many washing machines and dryers do you need?
And here we are, checking in is smooth and easy, like the Uber drive to the terminal. We officially board the ship, walk around, check the pool area, race tracks, the Casino, some restaurants, etc. It is a huge ship, and I’m sure we’re going to have fun here!
Our room is great! A nice size balcony will allow us to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine, read a book, play with Harold, …
We immediately make some reservations to a few restaurant visits and entertainment options. Everything is included in the price, but it is recommended to reserve seats for popular shows. So we sign up for a comedy show with Dylan at 7pm and he turns out to be so funny! Fortunately we have signed up for his adult show too, which will be the next day!
When we left the port in Miami we had a spectacular sunset! We sailed straight south towards Cuba!
