Key West

 Our 2nd stop was supposed to be CoCo Cay, the private island, but it was too windy to dock---Must have been very disappointing for the bride and groom who were to be married there.  They'd booked 27 rooms including one for the priest.  But, the water pipe break left the groom's family behind. After an overnight in Mississippi, they were flown to the Bahamas to join the rest of the party (their rooms had been fixed) only to have the "destination wedding" now ruined by high winds.  Not sure what the outcome was, but we went to Key West next.

 We had to be transported to Key West via the Conch Train due to docking on a Naval Station. (we were definitely not on the schedule that we originally had).  We had gone through customs on boards, so when we departed, I just took our ship pass.  There was no problem until we tried to get back on the Navy base---we didn't have official ID's.  They checked the ship manifest and we were allowed to travel across the base again.

This was my first trip to Key West.  I think we saw the Southern most portion as we were leaving, but I'm not sure.  Will need to make a point of it in December.

Nassau

 After a day at sea, our first port was Nassau where we docked along side Disney Dream.  Sitting on our balcony, we saw Elsa and Anna scurry by!  We docked at 1:00 PM.

 We got off the ship for a glass bottom boat excursion billed as "handicap accessible".  OK, they had a place for wheel chairs, but Dave couldn't go down the very steep steps (AKA broad ladders) to view underseas.  Oh well, we got off the boat and tried the excursion.  We did get a boat ride out to the viewing site although Dave's view was a little obstructed.

 It still was better than back home:  big storm in Northeast with 58 million in the path of nor'easter. 7000 flights cancelled.

Mississippi River to Gulf,

Last year while on the Serenade of the Seas cruising down the Mississippi River, I said, "I'd love to do this during the day" since most of the journey was after the sunset until midnight. Click here for last year's journey.  I got my wish this year---not quite how I'd thought it would happen.

We got a text message to delay boarding since a pipe had broken on the ship damaging the electrical panels in the front of the ship (cabins, health center, theater, on board television).  We arrived at 11:30 expecting to board shortly after noon, but we didn't board until 4 PM.  We were among the fortunate ones because we were allowed to wait inside out of the chilling rain.  We also had hotdogs, pizza and lemonade in our waiting area.  Some spent the whole time outside and didn't board until 7 PM.  Part of the problem was 1/4 of the passengers had to stay behind because their rooms were in the front of the ship.

Around 3 AM, I could feel the ship moving, but the next morning showed we hadn't gone far---about a mile down the river to allow other ships at the dock.  The Coast Guard gave us the go ahead to leave at noon.  We sat on our balcony as we sailed down the Mississippi for 8 hours.

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Where we were docked----across from Navy Yards but still on Government property.  On our way. . .most of the trip was industrial and river traffic, but we did pass a few houses and at least one school.

Eventually, the sun went down, but we could see that we had reached the delta---wonderful experience, although not many other passengers agreed.

What I loved about the cruise. . .

 I loved the elegance of the ship with its beautiful art like the mural in the dining room above and the stage curtain below.

 

 I love this new port in Jamaica---Falmouth.  It was warm, sunny and I definitely feel more safe here than in other parts of Jamaica (Click here for our last trip here)

 I loved sitting in the sun and watching things like the life boat drills or the thrill of going up and down the Mississippi (Click here).  It was such a nice sized ship with so much going on right outside our door---concerts, aerial acts, cooking demonstrations and dance classes

 I loved our over-sized handicapped accessible room and balcony

But what made this a very special trip were the people we met and shared meals with.  Mike (originally from CT) and Fay (originally from MO) felt like family by the end of the trip (or maybe it was that CT and MO combo!)

 Then our breakfasts and lunches were often with two other wonderful couples.  Marilee and Bill from Iowa who had been English as Second Language teachers and Pat and Allen from England.  We genuinely had a great time with all of our new acquaintances.  Each of us had one spouse in a wheel chair.  Dave said he felt like a real slacker when we heard of the travels and adventures they had been on.