Cruise

Sunday - Today, we boarded the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Harmony of the Seas. At 1,188 ft long, it is the 5th largest passenger ship in the world according to

 

Wikipedia. There are 16 passenger decks with 2,747 staterooms, 20 restaurants, and a 1,400 seat theater with multiple Broadway style shows. We will be stopping at Roatan, Honduras, Costa Maya, Mexico, and Cozumel, Mexico, before returning back to Galveston, TX. We are traveling in a group of eight from the RV park. We are not signed up for Internet on the ship so no posts for the next week or so. 

I hope I survive the bad weather forecast for the first couple of days. I tend to get seasick. The only shore excursion that I’m signed up for is for Mayan ruins at Cozumel.

On the Road to Galveston

Saturday - Road trip in the Jeep to just past Houston. Of course, we had to stop at Buc-ee’s for lunch  (and fuel) as there were several along the way. Lunch was chicken tenders w/barbecue sauce, fries, and a fried apple pie. All just fine. The only fail was the ranch dipping sauce for the chicken. I really dislike all bottled ranch dressing. The “homemade” version using mayonnaise, milk, and the bottled powder tastes so much better. 

We are stopping in Texas City which is near the bridge to Galveston with much cheaper hotels. Our boarding time is noon tomorrow. And the 20 mile trip will probably be take an hour. I suspect it’ll be crowded as the boat holds more than 7,000 passengers and crew. Hopefully, the ship isn’t full. 

There were several slowdowns on I-10 including one stretch where the Interstate was closed. All of the slowdowns were due to non-existent construction. I.e. nothing going on. Now that we arrived, it’s time to check my packing…

Still Getting Ready

Thursday - Today was just a few miscellaneous tasks getting ready for our trip. The Blackstone was disconnected from the RV and moved to the shed. The awning was put away as windy days are likely. Tomorrow, I’ll shut off the water and we’ll just use the water in our fresh water tank. Since the tree is now leaf-free, I’m cleaning up our yard and will make one more leaf-dumping trip for the season. 

I’m kind of tired today as I stayed up late last night to watch the first launch of New Glenn, Blue Origin’s first orbital rocket. There have been numerous delays including one last night due to a boat in the exclusion zone but it finally launched at ~1am CST. The landing of the first stage wasn’t successful and communications was lost during the engine restart. No word from Blue Origin as to what happened as the company is very private. The second stage made it to orbit and I’m assuming that its payload was launched.

Friday - More packing and re-packing. As the cruise has a dress code for certain times, more clothes are needed. Plus, with the winter weather headed for the Texas coast, cold weather items are needed. The first couple of days may be cold and raining. Hopefully, the seas will be relatively calm. 

Getting Ready for a Trip

Wednesday - I picked up a 95Wh battery to charge my phone when power isn’t available. I had a small battery that I’ve been using for almost 8 years. I had picked it up on one of my university trips before planes had USB ports at every seat. This one will charge my iPhone 13 mini almost ten times. Bridget decided that she needed one as well so I just ordered another. The first one was delivered in under 24 hours. Amazon Prime works well most of the time. 

I picked up a couple of electronic rodent repellers. Ultrasonic sounds, strobe lights, and flashing leds. All tied to a motion detector. We’ll see how well it works. 

I needed a couple of grocery items and it seemed like a good enough reason for a Ural ride. It had warmed up to mid-50s so it was warm enough. I still need exhaust manifold gaskets. Raceway in Salem, OR, sent me inline fuel filters by mistake. They sent the gaskets and I believe that they should arrive today. And, they told me to keep the filters. I’ll install the gaskets tomorrow. 

My task of the day was defrosting the refrigerator. I emptied the freezer and only partially emptied the refrigerator. Mostly meat and dairy. It’s taking the freezer a while to cool back down but the contents are in the portable freezer so no rush. The refrigerator is at 40°F and it is filled back up. 

On Saturday, we head out on a non-RV trip. A Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston. Hopefully no weather issues as the forecast is for winter weather next week.