Carnival Dream - Return to Galveston

- Fri/Sat/Sun, 10-12 June 2022

Woke to potty about 5:30am & took a peek out the balcony door.  Gorgeous sunrise!!!!  

Rearranged my menagerie & admired our cabin steward's adorable handiwork!!!

Spent the day relaxing.  Ate burritos for lunch.  That was pretty good & not much of a line.  Went to talk to guest services to get envelopes for tips & find out how they would handle our excursion refunds.  Found out they will mail us a check.  Okay.  That's better than fighting the line for a refund on the ship.  Back to the cabin to put away the snorkle gear & while the day away.  Read a lot & worked on computer.  Kept an eye out for anything to see from the balcony.  Can't believe how smooth the ocean is.  And so so very blue.

Down to our favorite bar at the non smoking casino annex.  Got a Carnival Cosmos in a rock glass.  Believe this is my favorite drink of this cruise.  

Went to Sam's Piano bar to meet Frank Anis & listen to his classic guitar.  He's quite talented.    Terry showed up about 5:45pm.  We chatted a few minutes then went for another drink & head to dinner.

Enjoyed the dancing again tonight.  It was just the 6 of us.  Very pleasant meal.

Went to the show about 80's music.  Fun evening & very lively.

Back to the cabin & watched I Care A Lot.  Creepy movie!!  Need to tell Bill & Carol that we finally watched it!  Loved my hanging monkey!!!

Beautiful day at sea!  Packed & read & relaxed.  Got burgers again for lunch.  They are probably the best thing to eat on the ship!  George skipped the bun & I had a beer too.  His back had been hurting & he was taking Motrin, so skipping the beer.  

Went to listen to Frank again.  Got a picture of him & Terry.  He enjoyed giving us a history lesson about guitars also.  Very interesting.  Nice addition to this cruise.

Our last meal was quite nice.  Bret & Denise joined us again.  They had all left when they did the parade with the Baked Alaska.  Shame they missed it.  Got a chance to clap for them.  Retvik showed up as we were leaving the dining room, so we could give him his tip & I got a picture of him with George.  He was the highlight of the trip.

On to the Theater for the last show.  High energy Hollywood show case.  The Rock band performed.  They were very good.  The South African singer was the best.   

Combined our complete menagerie!  Great fun!  George had to hold up the monkey - no place to hang him there in the corner.

Picked up our picture.  It turned out pretty good!  So completed our Carnival Dream Cruise.  It was an easy debarkation.  Had to be out of the cabin by 8:30am, so up planned to be up at 6:30am.  Unfortunately the ship started to shudder about 5am, so up a few minutes later.  But upstairs for a leisurely breakfast.  Even managed omelets.  Great way to end up!  We went down the hall & waited in front of the forward elevators until they called for Muster Station C3, then started trying to go down.  Ended up going up to go down, but got off the elevator just as they called for Station E.  Perfect.  Walked straight off the ship, in the terminal, they were using visual face id if you had a passport, so we were just walked straight through.  No other stop.  Huge Huge line for the shuttles, so George left me at the hotel pick up spot.  That was a bad decision, when he tried to get back to me, they wouldn't let him turn in that row.  He had to circle back around.  Took about an hour +, but I was in the shade, so not too bad.  Soon we were on our way.  Made a quick stop at the Costco in Humble.  Bought new electric tooth brushes.  They were on sale - saved $100!!!  Also filled up our wine cabinet.  Then on home with no problems.  Great little mini vacation!!!!

 Carnival Dream - Nassau, The Bahamas

- Thursday, 9 June 2022

Up at 6:10am when the ship started shuddering as we backed into the dock.  George went upstairs & brought back coffee & an assortment of bagels & danish.  Off the ship at 7:30am for our 8am excursion.  Our excursion reps were right beside the stairs.  Had to wait about a half hour while folks showed up & we filled out our liability forms.  The 2 reps were funny & very helpful.

The boat was not wonderful, it was rather small & was actually a dive boat, so the seating was on narrow benches where the tanks would be held.  But it was a beautiful cruise out about an hour to Rose Island.  The excursion was called 2 Reef Snorkel by Boat.  They said since it was calm, we could go out to the best spot.

By far the most enjoyable snorkle we've had in a while (the thrill of the Galapagos not withstanding!!).  The water was cool, clear, calm, & absolutely gorgeous!!!  The fish were plentiful & brightly colored.  The coral was also bright & colorful.  Really wish I had had my underwater camera.  It would have been the best place ever for pictures.  It was like looking in an aquarium.  The first stop was Thunderball Reef where one of the James Bond films was made.  We had about 45 minutes there.  Then back on the boat for a short cruise a little closer for the island.  They said we could go to the beautiful white sandy beach if we wanted, but George & I preferred staying in the water for an additional 45 minutes of snorkeling.  They was called 3 Sisters Reef & was divided up to Little Sister & Big Sister.  We had anchored the boat at Little Sister & swam a short distance to Big Sister.  The very best part was seeing the Elkhorn Coral.  I've included the excursion company's advertisement picture of it.  It was incredible.  

The cruise back was very pleasant.  They didn't provide refreshments - you could purchase chips & sodas, for $2 each, but we didn't need anything.

Kendra provided a narrative of who owns what as we passed by Paradise Island on our way back to the Dream.  Unfortunately we could not understand much of it since she didn't really have a microphone that worked, but we heard some of the stuff - like Donald Trump's private residence that he had purchased to be a resort, but never completed the paperwork for the license, so the Bahaman government wouldn't let him open it.  And a home owned by Chuck Norris, others by Ophra Winfree, Mick Jager, etc.  Amazing.  There were condos for sale too for 2.8 million or more.  We're in the market for that for sure!  Chattered with the folks we were sitting next to, Frank & Terry Anis.  He is a classical guitarist & will be performing in front of Sam's Piano bar on the evenings of the 2 remaining sea days.  We'll have to go have a listen.

It was all in all a lovely morning.  Would do it again if we ever make it back here.  

We headed back on board to clean up a little & then straight up to eat.  We were starving!  Had burgers.  They were marvelous!!!  And the french fries too!  While we were up there, a dark cloud came up.  It started pouring!!!  A complete deluge!!!  We were thinking of all the folks that went on into town from snorkeling.  They would be getting soaked!

Back to the cabin & it was still raining.  We both got in bed & took a nice long nap.  I got up & showered & cleaned all the snorkeling gear & put it out on the balcony to dry.  George kept sleeping!!!

We pulled out about 3:45pm. It was really pretty sailing out. We went past the tip of Paradise Island & there was a light house (I think that is Mick Jagger's property). I was watching it & kept seeing a dark bird with white on it's wings that was dipping & soaring. Looked it up on Merlin & sure enough it was a Caribbean version of a Night Hawk - called Antillian Nighthawk! Another first for my Life List!!!

Passed by a ferry that appeared to be dead in the water.  Had 2 tugs with it as we passed by & one left after we were far enough away not to rock it.  Had it's ramp open, so could have swamped it, I think.  

Good memories of Nassau.  This was the best day of the cruise!  Very enjoyable & lovely destination.

Fun evening in the dining room.  James joined us again.  Patty & Joe had gotten caught in the downpour.  Ritvik came to entertain us again.  He's such a cutie.  Tried karaoke again.  Yuck.  Only made it a half hour.  James was there, but didn't perform while we were there, thank goodness.

No show in the theater & no good music, so just up to watch a movie.  I picked out Against the Ice & it was very interesting.  True story about Greenland explorers in 1904.  Amazing what they lived through!  Made a couple of trips for more wine.  The young man at the bar recognizes us.  Too sad!!!  Watched a House.  Almost finished with Season 5.  Bed about 1am.