Do not pass GO, do not collect $200

Flying Penguin ?

 

I am not sure if I am supposed to be at sea or not. I think today was a scheduled a sea day but I’m not certain. There have been so many changes that we are getting daily updates. The passengers are getting restless. The latest is that the entire country of Costa Rica has been canceled. I am not sure if I whined abut it already or not. Rumor has it that the pier NCL uses is having some work done to it - or - that the tides were too low and there were sandbars that the ship could get grounded on. Either way we are not stopping in Costa Rica.

Mutiny is the word of the day. The fine dining restaurants have replaced their silverware with plastic utensils. The smokers have to have their cigarettes lit by a crew member. The knitters are supervised by a ship’s officer at all times they are out of their cabins. The customers are not happy.

Who wanted to stop at places on your cruise? I kinda did.

Missed Cabo, Acapulco, (all of Mexico) and now Costa Rica. Dude! Mr. NCL, like … you didn’t know the pier in Costa Rica was going to be worked on when we left Los Angeles? Them tide tables, I can buy a tide tables chart based on my location from the local fisheries supply for the next year right now. Probably find the tide tables for any location on earth for the foresee able future with a Google search. … and you notify us of the change mid cruise? Oh! And Gee, thanks for the $50 On Board Credit. That’s not costing you a dime, only losing you possible revenue.

One less black spot on the cruise is we are going directly to Panama Ct, instead of doing doughnuts in the ocean, like when we were supposed to be in the assigned port as we did for Cabo and Acapulco. We will have 36 hours’ish like we did in San Francisco. I’m not sure what Panama City holds of interest, maybe I’ll get to hug a sloth, my spirit animal. That’s not cultural misappropriation my woke friends, I have Native American heritage so am allowed to have a spirit animal, I just don’t know if there are many sloths in Oklahoma.

I have been able to cross stitch more these past days, that I did in a full decade home.

I could cry more, but I feel I’m losing my audience with my ‘First World Problems’.

Guatemala. I stepped off the ship into a palm covered gewgaw market. Within the first 15 feet my purse was $40 lighter and my checked luggage just cost me an additional $10 going home because of the increased. A bag for my cross stitch went from $55 to $30. A $20 pound of coffee was $10. Good bye, two Jackson's. The good side of that is the bag has parrots on it, and Andrew Jackson had a parrot. As a historical note: The parrot was removed from Jackson’s funeral, because it was disruptive with it’s swearing. Come on Dorothy, you can do it !! Make me proud !

Sorry that this about shopping and money. That was all I experienced in Guatemala.

I have a friend ‘N’ who loves rum. She even sent me off with picture of Rum bottles I should buy on the trip. I found one at a few places that was marked from $100 to $75 for the same product. Rum aged 2 years. I think she and I might enjoy it. I wonder what it costs in the states. BEVMO, $49 plus tax. even with my states puritanical taxes on sin, I’d still be money ahead, and I wouldn’t have to carry it home in my luggage. — but, I did buy an airplane sized bottle that we can sample.

A bag of chocolate nibs that how to use are a mystery. Maybe I should have paid more attention when in San Francisco at the big brick building.

That was my Guatemala experience. Except for getting shit on by a bird. I’m not certain if that was a good part or a bad part. I do live with two avians after all, but strangers bodily functions are different than family’s.

Back on the ship a crew member I have had no interaction with, said hello, using my name as they walked past. I really have had absolutely no contact with them before. It must be my dazzling Hazel eyes.

I ordered a drink and sat on the deck watching the port go about port business. There are cameras everywhere. If I had a modeling contract, they would be paying me to take this cruise. I counted six cameras in that particular location. Two men in black pants and white shirts, with gold ribbons on their shoulders were trying to replace a camera at the railing. Probably so that you’ll have a selfie of yourself when you leap into the sea. The fat guy was on deck offering advice, the skinny guy on the ladder was doing the installation. His pants were so tight that he couldn’t straddle the top of a 6 foot ladder like riding a horse to get the camera removed. Of course fat guy was offering to help as long as it didn’t involve the ladder. “Maybe if I put my right leg over first and then move my butt to the right …. No .. hmm .. let’s try the left leg. No, that makes me backwards to the camera. Uhh… “ and so it went for about 40 minutes. They did accomplish their chore, but the skinny guy may be singing Soprano for the next week.

I whispered to my server that a ten year old boy with a PlayStation would have had it done in 10 minutes, while playing Mario Kart.

Dinner was white napkin night. The only thing of note is that the waiter that took my order and the couple next to me as if we were a single group, even after I mentioned we were two different entities. The meal is complementary he’s not speed serving, trying to get the next paying customer seated. I don’t think he is getting paid by the head count, I don’t know why he was in such a rush.

After dinner I decided not to get my money’s worth of the drink package and went back to my room and took a shower and sat on my balcony. I watched the ship undock. Alas no drama. No last minute port runners. No one left behind.

A tug escorted us out of the harbor. When we approached the mouth of the harbor the tug started blasting music from their speakers and started spinning on it’s center as the crew waved their lighted cell phones in the air Good Bye. A dancing tug boat. That was frickin’cool !

Enough for now. Wine glass almost empty.