British Isles Cruise 2026 - Falmouth / Cornwall (08/27/26)

 

Yesterday, I felt comfortable walking around much of the day.  By the time I started my morning ritual today, I could barely walk to the bathroom without the support of my cane.  And taking a shower, well, don't get me started about the pain I endured to do that.

But first....

I've been noticing that the pain in my lower body tends to ease off the later in the day it gets.  Laying down on the bed may set my spine off kilter, and cause the problems I've been having as of late.  So, when I got up, I needed to lean on things to move anywhere.  Getting dressed has been difficult for me lately, as I don't have the leg flexibility to put on a pair of trousers the way I'm accustomed to doing.  

Walking to the back of the ship for a served breakfast was a little painful.  When I sat down at the table, I accidentally pulled the table cloth and pulled my plate and flatware off the table.  And this was the least of issues.  Even though we got to the restaurant 30 minutes before closing, they should have been ready to serve us throughout the meal.  Instead, it felt like they forgot about us until I used my "New York Voice" that always commands attention (by surprise).  Then, a few minutes later, our main breakfast course arrived.

Once done with breakfast, it was off to the stern of the ship for a few pictures, and then to our cabin to rest again.  On the way back, we found the laundromat we'd be using several times during the cruise.  And this made our morning complete.

- - - - - -

After a long nap, we found ourselves strangely not hungry.  Although we missed the chance to explore this port, we both were grateful not to have attempted to walk far when our legs (for different reasons) were bothering us.  Yet, we made it upstairs to the buffet for a small snack before going to the steakhouse for dinner.

One thing I can say about the ship's specialty restaurants is that the food is both plentiful and good.  And tonight's steakhouse dinner was no exception.  We both ordered rib-eye steaks and were unable to finish them!  (The appetizers were just as good and just as plentiful.) 

When we were done with dinner, we went to see a comedian perform.  Although most of the audience was laughing, I found his act to be dull and predictable.  There was no magic that would make me go out of my way to see him again.  Yet, it was a serviceable 1/2 hour of entertainment. 

 

 

 

 

Florida/Bahamas Cruise 2025 - Sea Day #1 (01/05/26)

 

This would be the first full sea day of our cruise.  Nothing to do, and we're doing it well.  If the alarm wasn't set, we'd have stayed asleep until lunch.  But the alarm was set, and we were up a little after 8:00 am, so that we could have breakfast in the main dining room.

We had to wait 10 minutes to get a seat at a shared table, and we got lucky - our table mate was a nice lady from Buffalo about to have her medical residency in Queens.  Most of our chat involved cruising and places to visit, with the cruise lines best for specific routes.

After breakfast, we went back to our room and it hadn't yet been made up.  We left the room around 1:00 pm, so that the room steward could make it up.  We went to the buffet to kill time, and he hadn't taken care of this by the time we got back.  (Several years ago, NCL cut the number of room stewards in half and doubled the number of rooms they service, leaving cruisers with once-daily room servicing.)  So we knew he was running late, servicing rooms as they freed up.  We simply vacated our cabin at the wrong time for him.  So again, we left the cabin for an hour, giving him time to do his job. 

Later, we went to Cagney's, the ship's steakhouse, for dinner.  Sadly for those who liked the Brazilian BBQ restaurant, Moderno, it is now gone with the 2025 retrofit of the ship, with Cagney's doubling the real estate used for the restaurant. With that out of the way, the food is as good as we remembered it, with beef portions that do more than fill you up - they satisfy a craving for a steak perfectly done.

Once done with dinner, we decamped to a "quiet" area on the ship before going back to our cabin.  It was a nice day, a chance to rest without anyone bothering us.