Calle Ocho: Little Havana - Miami, Florida

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) "Cuban food, I want to try Cuban food."

This was Tim's refrain when we ended up in Miami. Last year, we went to Little Havana on Calle Ocho (8th Street) in Miami - the heart of the Cuban American community. We made the mistake of going on a Sunday when this heavily Catholic neighborhood shuts down and almost everything is closed.

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We could find nothing but a bakery open that day but it was a good bakery and we got this box of delicious desserts.

Also, here in Los Angeles, we tried Cuban food (and tried another local Cuban place just before writing this to make sure our memory was correct) and it was pretty dry and tasteless. OK, Tim, we'll try it but I can't say I'm thrilled at the prospect.

We board a local bus near our hotel that will take us to the far end of Calle Ocho. From here, it's about another twenty minutes of walking in that Miami heat. Soon, we're at our destination.

Versailles is the most famous Cuban restaurant here and I think it can give us a good idea of what the Cuban food here in Miami is like as compared to back home. On arriving, we see the bakery next door to the main restaurant, then a take-out counter, and then the restaurant proper where we are seated promptly.

Perusing the extensive menu, Tim goes with a Cuban sandwich, I go with a corn chowder with pork (the day's special), and Letty had the sampler plate with such delicacies as fried plantains, pork chunks, ropa vieja, and cuban tamale.

Tim loves his Cuban sandwich. I take a taste, pressed like a panini with sweet ham, pork, mustard and pickles, it's a moist and juicy explosion of taste. Excellent, nothing like the Cuban sandwiches back home.

Letty is enjoying everything on her plate...

...and my stew is a hearty, tasty, and cheap lunch that, somehow, fails to leave even a drop left over.

We hit the bakery afterward...

...and pick up a few treats to finish off this delicious meal at Miami's landmark Cuban restaurant. We are all very satisfied when done.

The only bad thing about Versailles is that it's a ways from the center of the action in Little Havana proper. Luckily, there's a trolley stop where the Little Havana Trolley stops, across the street at the Woodlawn cemetery. One is pulling up now...

I point out Tim to the driver, he opens the door..."yes."

"We have a wheelchair, can you deploy the lift?"

"You need to wait for the next one."

"Why? Is the lift broken?"

"You need to wait for the next one."

"But we're here and need a ride now. It's hot and humid, please open up the ramp."

"Next trolley is five minutes," the driver finished as he closed the door and drove off.

Now, let me give you transit drivers a bit of advice...you don't want to deny boarding to someone in a wheelchair just because you don't want to deal with the hassle. Especially if they have a phone on them. Especially if there is a sign at the bus stop saying "Problems with access? Call..." with a number to call. 

Especially if that guy standing next to that sign holding a phone is me.

While we waited for the next trolley (which showed up 20 minutes later, not 5) I called the number, talked to a friendly rep and...thanks to the Trolley's mobile website with a live map...was able to give them the exact bus and driver who refused to pick us up.

The next trolley shows up, the driver hopping out and opening the ramp..."why didn't the other driver pick you up?" she asks without prompting.  I'm guessing the dispatcher broadcast the reprimand to all drivers over the radio.

"Don't know," my wife answers.

"He's in big trouble," the new driver says.  Hope so, I think.

The trolley drops us off in the heart of Little Havana at 17th Avenue. Today's a Tuesday, it's very lively. My wife checks out the souvenirs in the "visitor's center," actually a trinket shop, where's she's trying to get the clerk's attention to buy a coffee mug as about 60 passengers of a tour bus walk in. Finally, she's able to get her item bought and we can move on.

It's hot, muggy, crowded, and we could use a drink after our trolley follies so we check into the Ball and Chain, an old bar anchoring the avenue.  Mojitos are a cheap seven bucks in the midday sun, so we each have one. 

They're delicious and refreshing as we move on.

A walled mini park nearby hosts a few tables of domino playing locals. They don't seem to really enjoy that they've become a tourist attraction but they try to ignore the tourists snapping away.

After kicking around a few more shops, having a little ice cream to cool down, we wait for a trolley to come by to take us back to the hotel. Guess who the driver is?

That's right, the same guy who refused us the first time but now, maybe with his tail between his legs after getting it chewed off by his boss, he is very helpful, friendly, and eagerly deploys the lift to take us back to our hotel.

Remember, my friends, don't let them push you around...push back when needed.

The air conditioning of our room feels good. We'll rest up, dry off, and get ready.  We've got a very big game to go to tonight which we'll cover in our next installment.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: South Florida Drinking Tour

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) You regulars might be a bit disappointed but we really didn't hit too many bars on our recent foray to the Keys but we did hit three you might be interested in checking out.

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We start off in the Conch Republic of Key West, home of the perpetual Spring Break. I had a goal here to try a true daiquiri in the land of Hemmingway.

My unscientific method of finding that...consisting of talking to the local coffee shop owner where I had breakfast...confirmed that I should skip Duval Street and the usual tourist joints like Sloppy Joes and head to a backwater bar.

Blue Heaven was the recommendation I got for Key West's most authentic version. Made from scratch using only local Key lime juice, rum, and simple syrup, these hit the spot on this very hot, southern Florida day.  The bar itself sits in the back courtyard of a few buildings, a tropical garden hidden from the street.

Great place to spend a few minute escaping from the maddening crowd of Duval Street.

But, we can't come to Key West and not take a stroll down the infamous Duval Street. When our whistles need wetting again, it's over to the Flying Monkeys Saloon. Here, a bank of frozen drink mixers sit behind the bar with a dozen or so alcoholic concoctions and one non-alcoholic blend to slake the heat and thirst that this city inspires.

Tim has their non-alcoholic drink, a glass filled with an extra sweet blue goo (which is where he gets that very blue tongue in the picture above) while Letty and I go with the Yuengling beer that is so prevalent in Florida.

Later in the week, it's mojitos at Mango's Tropical Bar in South Beach where we find a quiet spot to sip and watch the beautiful people walk by.

It's all in the video, above, come along and take a ride with us as we sip our way up from the Keys.

-Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserve

Back on Dry Land in Miami, Florida

We're back from our less than stellar Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas. Now, it's on to the longest segment of this trip, five nights in Miami before returning home. If you've been following along, you might remember way back at the beginning that we're paying for this trip mostly with points and rewards accumulated over the last few years. Hilton Hhonors members can get an extra free night if they cash in four nights so that's what we've done...cashed in four nights so we can stay five nights here at the Homewood Suites in the Brickell neighborhood of downtown Miami.

It seems like so long ago that we were landing in Atlanta to start this grand tour...either tied for the longest trip we've ever taken (according to Letty) or the second longest trip at one day shorter (according to me)...so five nights in one location seems like a luxury at this point.

So it's been four nights in Atlanta, four in St. Petersburg, three nights cruising in the Bahamas, and now five here in Miami for a total of 16. I think we we did 17 on our East Coast Adventure a few years ago but my wife thinks I'm off by a day. Either way, it's a long time...especially if you dealing with caring for someone in a wheelchair.

At the port, we've packed up. Actually, we packed last night because we had to have our luggage ready for the porter by 11pm. We're told to vacate our room by 8:30 and also pick up our duty free purchases (I'd purchased two bottles of rum) by the same time. 

We wait in a cocktail lounge at the front of the ship with my duty free box and carry on luggage until we're called to leave the ship. After processing through customs and immigration, we collect our bags at the carousel...actually just a big storeroom...and then we're outside.

Officially done with Royal Caribbean, as they are with us, a porter helps us with our luggage and let's the taxi stand manager know we need a wheelchair accessible vehicle. She's in a mood for some reason and takes it out on our poor porter but she does call an accessible cab and then promptly leaves as her replacement comes on duty.

A few minutes later, the ramped taxi van pulls up...and another group of passengers promptly cuts in front of us trying to steal it.  A few tense words and they back off. We're in and on our way...thankfully we didn't have to pay for that weekend or I would have been sorely disappointed. As it was, it was OK but not great in the way cruises used to be.

Our driver pulls into our hotel a few minutes later. The staff at Homewood Suites is very welcoming and our room is excellent.

Ah...let's just let the stress of the day melt away for awhile before we go out and try to find something to eat. 

We do find a very good pizza place, Mister 01 Pizza, where we have this star-shaped pizza while the rains poured outside. 

As we finish, the weather clears and we have a hot and humid walk back to the hotel where we will rest and recover from the weekend.  

It's time for Miami! Stay tuned for that, it'll be a blast.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Travel In The Age of Coronavirus - Should I Stay or Should I Go?

In a word, don't.

But this will pass, and when it does, you can be ready by taking advantage of deals and bargains being offered now. Travel companies like airlines, hotels, and cruise ships, are feeling great economic pain right now. To help keep a cash flow going during these lean times, many are offering great discounts that also come with the perk of being able to cancel with no penalty or (in the case of airlines) being able to change your low fare ticket for no charge.

If you think this might all pass by fall, go ahead and start making plans and bookings (always confirm the ability to cancel or change with no charge, though) and if this virus is still making travel ill advised when the time for your trip comes, go ahead and cancel or reschedule.

As long as you're not paying a penalty for it, you're out nothing but a little time that you spent researching and making the booking.

Again, we are strongly advising you do not travel...at all!...during the next few months but there is no harm in making plans for later.

Here are some examples for you...(these may changed, be extended, or cut off as time goes by. Click on the links for current information)

British Airways - All bookings made through March 31, 2020...and already booked flights through the end of May, 2020...will have the ability to change the date, destination, or both, at no charge.

Delta Airlines - All bookings made in March, 2020, can be changed as many times as you like for free for one year.

American Airlines - Bookings made through the end of March, 2020 can be changed for free until February 28, 2021

Hilton Hotels - Reservations made through the end of April, 2020 - including no change/non refundable (Advance Purchase) rates - will be able to be cancelled at no charge and refunded, if applicable, with at least a 24 hour notice.

Marriott Hotels - Reservations made through the end of April, 2020 - including no change/non refundable (Advance Purchase) rates - will be able to be cancelled at no charge and refunded, if applicable, with at least a 24 hour notice.

Many, if not most, major travel companies are offering similar policies right now that you can take advantage of. A little Googling will reveal more.

In short...don't travel now but do know this is a good time to save some money and plan for a trip later.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved

Ladies and Gentlemen!...Start Your Engines!...Visiting the NHRA Motorsports Museum

Before we decided to sell our house and move out of the L.A. area one of the last places that we wanted to go visit before we left was the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California. Since we had never been there before this would be the first and only time that we would go to see the museum. Until then, we had only gone to see the drag races there just once before that but we had to leave early because the sound of the cars was way too loud for my very sensitive ears.

The museum is located on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Fair Grounds in Pomona, California. All of the cars and other exhibits in the museum can be seen within a couple hours of time in a single day.

The collection of cars and other items inside the museum is definitely worth your time for both racing and non racing fans alike. The museum's collection includes cars from the beginning years of drag racing all the way to the more modern cars that are used today.

The first section of the museum that we took a look at once we were inside housed some of the older cars and artifacts that are on display including the first dragster that was ever built called "The Bug" and a Bill Bailey mobile embroidery uniform station. 

The next section of the museum that we saw was home to some more modern looking vehicles and artifacts including timing clock from the 1950's, a 900cc speed record bike and the world famous snake and mongoose funny cars that became a popular racing rivalry from the 1960's to the 1970's. These two cars were driven by Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen.

The part of the museum that I liked the most was our next step on the self guided tour where Don Garlits' "Swamp Rat" top fuel dragster and John Force's iconic Castrol GTX funny car were on display. The "Swamp Rat" race car is famous for being the first drag racing vehicle of its kind to have the car's engine be positioned behind the driver's seat and cockpit area instead of in front of it. 

As for the John Force race car, it was interesting to see that the driver's side door frame area had been removed so that visitors can sit in the driver's seat and experience what it is like to get behind the wheel of a very fast race car. 

This is exactly what my dad Darryl did when we were there on our visit. Seeing Mr. Force's car there reminded me of the time many years ago when we went to a meet and greet event before the big Winternationals race and he took off the Castrol GTX sponsorship hat that he was wearing, signed and gave it to me to have as a souvenir!

Looking back on our visit to the museum, I can tell you that it was definitely nicer for me to not have to hear the loud rumble of car engines racing down the drag strip this time around. Before we left we also took a stroll through the gift shop but I don't think we ended up buying anything.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved.

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: A Bahamian Pub Crawl in Nassau

Well, we landed in Nassau with little to do and really nothing planned. The one, good wheelchair accessible shore excursion...a glass bottom boat tour...was cancelled due to lack of interest. We were offered a tour of Atlantis, the giant resort and waterpark nearby, but that would have cost us almost $500.

But, when the world gives us lemons, we make lemonade. Nassau is a wonderful place for a pub crawl.

Watch the Video!

Our first stop was a hot, uphill hike to John Watling's Rum Distillery.

This old plantation sits on parklike grounds up above the town. A great house commands the land, with the distillery in a barn out back.

We take a little self-guided tour before going into the bar to sip the very tasty and expensive rums.


The rum is good and gives us the inspiration to hike back down the hill to the water where we find the Bamboo Beach Bar and Tiki Bikini Hut.

We're hot and hungry from the long walk so we split an order of fries. Tim has a lemonade, a local Kalik Radler beer for Letty, and a Kalik Gold for me. I'm not one for the super sweet tasting radlers (like a lemon shandy in the States) but the cold Gold really hit the spot on that hot day.

Next, we walked down to a better part of the beach and had delicious Bahama mamas at Gloria's on the Beach, a little bar shack on the sand that had a wooden deck I could get Tim's chair on.

They also had a drink called the bitch slap, which was advertised as the "strongest drink on the beach." Letty strongly suggested I should skip that one.

Our last stop was the Pirate Republic Brewery and pub back by the cruise ship dock. Here, we had a very good mug of cold kolsch beer, brewed on premises.

The server, seeing that my wife wasn't really having a great day, treated us to several shots of John Watling's rum on the house.

Nicely liquored up from our day in Nassau, we wobbled back on the ship to rest off the buzz before our nighttime activities.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Mayday! Stuck on a Bahamian Island: Nassau

Last night, Tim and I went to the excursion counter on board Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas to see if we could find a wheelchair excursion for today's port visit in Nassau. We were waiting to talk to our new friend from Chile but he was stuck trying to explain to a woman why her 16 and 14 year old kids could not be turned loose on an excursion in a foreign country without an adult chaperone.

She was having none of it and the conversation was growing more heated...on her end...by the minute. Another crew member came out to help us.

Watch the Video!

Four Days of Cruise in Ten Minutes

As we'd suspected, out of the dozens of excursions available, none were wheelchair accessible. Except...! Yes, a tour of Atlantis and it's waterpark could be arranged at $45 per person. We were about to go ahead and sign on the dotted line when he added "we just have to arrange for a wheelchair accessible van. That will be an extra $199."

We'll just have to see what kind of trouble we can get to by ourselves.

After yesterday's pandemonium at the breakfast buffet, we decide to take our morning meal in the main dining room. There's also a buffet here, a much quieter one, plus you can order from the menu.

It's good, not outstanding, but will get us a good start to the day...whatever shape that will take. We don't know, yet, what we'll be doing in the Bahamian capital of Nassau.

Nassau is a docking port so the tender issue is not an issue here. We roll off the boat and are soon walking out of the terminal into the heart of Nassau. There's a park nearby, across from the legislature building, where we find a shady bench to check out our map of the are.

There are a lot of shops, restaurants, and bars here. I see an ad for an historic rum distillery so we strike out in that direction, which at least gives us a destination to reach, while seeing what lies along the way. The answer to that question is not much. We do browse a couple of shops but quickly lose interest in that.

It's Sunday morning May 13th, though, and the distillery is about a half mile away, up a hill. The Bahamians are a friendly bunch, I'll give 'em that...many cars would go by, see us walking up the hill, and yell out a hearty "Happy Mother's Day" to my wife.

The first time, she didn't understand what was being said through the thick Bahamian accent and you could see the look on her face that she was about to take offense. I explained to her what the gentleman said and she quickly corrected to give him a sincere thanks.

As we walk up the hill, a couple of churches have just finished their Sunday services and the parishioners are heading down the hill. Choruses of "Happy Mother's Day" are showered on my wife as they walk by.

The streets are narrowing, the heat oppressing, the hill steepening, and...just when my family is thinking I've completely lost my mind...the sign to the John Watling Rum Distillery.

We walk into this old plantation with it's great house fronting the distillery barn. There's a 75 foot deep well, dug by slaves hundreds of years ago, that provided the company with fresh water.

A staff member comes out and gives us a little shot of frozen pina colada which really helps to cool us down. We head into the bar to do some tasting but the rum itself is way too expensive to take home.  You can read and watch all that in our Nassau Pub Crawl post and video (coming this Sunday).

One of the staffers told us of a quieter street to go down since the one coming up was getting pretty busy. We file out of the distillery just in time...four large tour buses are now disgorging their passengers as we leave.

As we head back downhill towards the water, we come across an old cemetery.

We wander around, it's seen better days, and take in some of the tombstones while a lone gardener takes on the unruly vegetation with a weed whacker.

Some potholes, a few stray dogs, and some piles of rubbish later, my wife is getting that look on her face, "this place is not what I expected." True. Central Nassau has a pretty run down quality about it like some of the border towns in Baja.

We have a light lunch on the beach and I'm hoping our little pub crawl will brighten her spirits. She soldiers on but is not really enjoying this port of call.

Later, back on the ship, she dives into packing the bags to get off this boat..we've taken to jokingly calling it the 'rust bucket' because of maintenance issues this ship does have...and won't consider the evening's entertainment.

Tim and I let her be and we head to the ship's atrium where, on this final night of the cruise, the crew has a parade of flags honoring the many, many countries the staff here hail from.

It's quite a sight and you can tell the crew really puts their heart into it and are proud of their homelands. A real celebration of the human diversity that we all share.

It was a wonderful way to end what would really end up being a fairly mediocre cruise.

As we wait the next morning with our duty free rum box (an order the duty free store screwed up, causing me to work to get a refund with the line when I got home) in the forward lounge for our call to disembark, Tim is eager to exit his first and probably last cruise.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

The Castaways of Coco Cay - A Private Island Day in the Bahamas

Thankfully, after the hassles and fiascoes of the first day of this trip, we got a good night's sleep. Morning found us still at sea. Soon, an island came into view along our side of the ship. This must be Coco Cay, one of the Bahamas' Berry Islands, Royal Caribbean's private island. We are to spend the day here.

First, we must eat breakfast and the buffet is at the bow of the ship. We're eating there because the dress code is more relaxed. Tim and I are dressed in swim trunks (I want to change his clothes as few times as possible) so we're skipping the main dining room for today and hitting the buffet instead.

The buffet is a zoo, with everybody cutting in line, butting their way in to grab some bacon, being wide to scoop up some scrambled eggs. There's no rhyme or reason to how people should line up or what direction to go in.

I finally grab some food for Tim and I...Letty's on her own for this one.

The announcement comes over the PA that the boats to the island are now in operation and to make our way down to the bottom deck to go to the island.

This is the great unknown for us. Coco Cay is a tender port, meaning that there is no pier for the ship to dock at. Smaller boats...tenders...shuttle passengers back and forth to shore all day long.  Tenders mean that there is no guarantee that wheelchairs will be able to disembark, it's strictly at the crew's discretion.

I had tried to ascertain with Royal Caribbean before we left on if a wheelchair would be able to go on the tender. All I could get was "we can't guarantee it," but browsing through people's reviews and trip reports online before we left suggested that it could be done so this will be a gamble for us.

(NOTE: Royal Caribbean is in the middle of a massive construction project on the island. A new pier has opened for the ships to dock at, making the tender transfer obsolete. There is also now a large water park on the island)

No need to worry, though, there's a ramp to the tender (after going through security to get off the boat) and a flat area up front where wheelchairs are allowed to sit during the short journey. The crew graciously lets me stand there with Tim, although Letty is told she must sit in the seats inside with the rest of the passengers.

A shore excursion specialist is standing next to me for the trip. He tells me he's from Chile and we talk about all the things to see and do there, also telling me what destinations I should see, where to fly to, and more. A font of information for a future trip...I'm putting his suggestions into the memory bank for that distant vacation.

We talk about shore excursions and I tell him that in Nassau, we plan to take the glass bottom boat because that's the only one that was listed as accessible.

"Oh, that excursion's been cancelled to to lack of bookings," he tells me, "but we have one on the island today."

Once on the island, I follow him to the excursion office to sign us up, "be back here at 1:15 this afternoon."

I should also mention that when we left the tender, Tim's power wheelchair was traded for a beach wheelchair with fat tires for the sand. We'll exchange them back when we leave (NOTE: although special needs passengers are advised to get on the island early because beach wheelchairs are first-come, first-served, we noticed that there were a lot of beach wheelchairs, much more than the demand for them).

With that taken care of, the three of us head to the sand where we have an easy time finding some lounge chairs to relax on.

The Bahamas, while usually uttered with the word "Caribbean," are not part of that tropical sea. Rather, it lies just outside of the warm Caribbean east of Florida. This is readily apparent when I go for a swim and there is a definite chill in the water.

It's clear. I can see the coral, some fish swimming around, and not a trace of cloudiness. It's just not warm. I do my best to get used to it but a half hour in that chilly ocean water is really all I need. It actually feels warmer when I get out and back into the air.

I go to get some snacks. I went healthy for Tim and I, mostly because the more 'junk' food stands at the Island buffet were overrun just like the breakfast buffet. The salad and cold cut bars were mostly untouched.

Letty went to get a bucket 'o pina colada from one of the bars. I had a beer and filled up two of our soda glasses. Then is was time to go on our glass bottom boat ride.

Arriving at the counter, we're given the bad news...the weather's not good enough to go out so it's been cancelled.  We've pretty much done all we wanted to do so we trade back for our power chair, go through security, and get back on the tender to the ship.

About halfway back, cool drops of rain fall on Tim and I...exposed on the bow of the tender...while we wait to get back on the ship.

Since Tim won't go in the ocean, I take him up to the pool deck. There are a couple of lifts for handicapped people. He usually floats around in an inner tube we bring along, The ship also has a variety of swim vests, intended for children but some of the larger sizes looked like they'd fit. We ask the lifeguard...who's Russian...what we should do for Tim.  He says to go with our inner tube.

After we get it inflated, the lifeguard along with a pool attendant comes over to operate the lift. We get Tim in the chair and I jump in to get him out and ease him into the inner tube. That's when I found out that the ship's pool is not heated.

Tim is eased down and is also a bit shocked at how cold the water is but he's still game and in he goes.  I figure we'll get used to it...which we do for the most part...and float around for an hour before moving on to something else.

About 20 minutes later, the lifeguard comes back up..."you done with swim?"

"Well, no, I figured we'd stay in for awhile longer to make it worthwhile," I tell him.

"That okay but you know rain coming. Lightning."

"Oh, I understand, let's get out then."

We get out, drops start falling so we move under shelter near the side of the ship. Then, a deluge hits. Lightning, thunder, and buckets of water. We're fine under the roof but many out in the pool and lounge chairs are caught out. I also think of the hundreds of passengers that are still on the island and have to make their way back.

I see that we're next to the Windjammer buffet's side door, which I can get to without getting too wet so I go in to grab some hot dogs, fries, and fruit for Tim and I.  I also take our soda cups to their machines...which are out of everything except Diet Fanta.

That's when I find the only other soda machine onboard is in the middle atrium, on the 6th deck. So, get cups good for unlimited soda on the ship. There are only three machines...two in the buffet and one in the center...for 2,400 passengers.  You can see where the math gets dicey. You can also get soda from the bars and main dining room, but the cups are specifically for the three machines on board. To fill 'at your leisure.'

Well, the food's still good so we relax here until the storm passes then we go to our cabin until dinnertime.

Dinnertime comes and, true to their word, we have a more accessible and appropriately-sized table assigned.  The food is good, the waiter is very good if a bit on the talkative side, and it all goes off without a hitch.

We do a little shopping in the duty-free mall onboard but Letty and Tim aren't onboard on with seeing any of the ship's entertainment that night.

All in all, this was a much better day than the first day. Still a few issues here and there but even Tim said he had fun today. After a couple of cocktails in the quiet mid-ship bar, we call it a night and head back to our cabin to relax until bedtime.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved