Friday, January 31, 2025

Day 7 - Sea Day

Saturday - Today the ship is heading back to Galveston into a 35kt quartering headwind. The net result is an apparent wind of around 45kts according to the status screen. You can feel some movement but this ship is pretty stable due to its size. You can hear the empty hangers rattling in the closet as a reminder that the trip is almost over. It really has been a nice vacation. To me, the most enjoyable part have been the sea days. I could really take or leave the ports and excursions. We’ll arrive sometime tomorrow in the early morning and our departure window opens at 8:45am. The picture was actually taken at lunch but it was the only picture I took all day.

Breakfast was in the main dining room with Bill and Casey from the park. I don’t have much planned today besides packing. We need to vacate the room by 8am tomorrow and we opted out of the crew moving our luggage. This gives us more flexibility but we will need to carry our luggage off the ship. Hopefully we can get most of it into luggage with wheels. 


Mid-morning was spent in the solarium. Supposedly a quiet place but there are a few loud people but it’s generally pretty quiet. I heard that there is slow WiFi available in the card room. 


Later - Sigh, No WiFi on the card room. We had lunch in the main dining room. I think we both decided that we like someone bringing us the food instead of fighting the crowds at the buffet. On sea days, they serve lunch so we took advantage of it. 


It seems like I came down with a fever today. And an annoying cough. Bridget brought me dinner from the main dining room. It was a delicious lamb shank! Fabulous flavor with some mint jelly and pearl onions!


Since I’m feeling sick (tired, cough, aches) we opted for the crew to take all except our carry on bags.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Day 6 - Cozumel, Mexico

Friday - Today’s adventure started early. We met Gail, one other member from the park, for breakfast at Park Place. The toasted onion bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, onion, and capers was delicious. We had an excursion scheduled which started with a bus ride to some Mayan ruins followed by a couple more stops. After signing waivers we headed out. Travel on the road system here seemed much more controlled than Roatan. Traffic signals!

The Mayan ruins at San Gervasio were less impressive than expected. Then again, Cozumel is a small island. No pyramids. Several foundations for a temple, palace, and other limestone structures. The commoners lived in wooden structures. Many of the buildings had their stones taken by conquering Spaniards for their own buildings and churches. 


It was interesting and the guide did a fantastic job. One thing that surprised me was the lack of any writing but that could have been due to the site being picked over in the past. While we were there, I did pick up some more extra-strength Ibuprofen for less than we paid yesterday. $35 for 100 tablets versus $20 for 50. Still more than Los Algodones. But I now have enough to last for a while. 


We then stopped at a honey bee place to give us an opportunity to buy more stuff. I think it was associated with the tour company. The claimed reason was to allow a shaman to “bless” the obsidian pendants that people purchased at the previous stop. The next stop was scheduled and listed on the itinerary. A chocolate demonstration at the Mayan Cacao Company. They gave us the history including how it was used by the Mayans. They did a demonstration of grinding the cacao nibs and adding honey, allspice, cinnamon, and a few other things to make Mayan chocolate. Their traditional drink is mixed with water. Using milk was a European thing after the cacao was brought back to Europe by the Spaniards. 





We arrived back at the ship around 2:45 and we hit up the hot dog place again for a quick snack as we missed lunch. This excursion was fairly long time-wise and we ended up traversing the entire road system of the island. 







Tomorrow is a sea day as we head back to Galveston. 

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Day 5 - Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

Thursday - We arrived around 7am and were moving very slowly towards the dock. The picture is of the forward view on the TV. You could see also tell that it’s raining again. The port “town” looks pretty small and probably composed of the cruise owned shops and restaurants. There are also replica Mayan ruins not too far from the cruise terminal. Very touristy. After breakfast, we disembarked from the ship to wander around the port and, possibly, the town. 

Later - The port area was a zoo. There were two other ships docked so it was packed with people. I was looking for a drug store to pick up some ibuprofen. The closer you were to the ships the higher the price. I did get some but it was 4x the price as Los Algodones. The area around the port was much better economically than Roatan. 

There were a number of tourist oriented businesses that seemed to be doing well. We were told that the residents and businesses have been successful in keeping out the cartels. After a couple of hours I headed back to the ship. 


Lunch was at the main buffet as there isn’t a lot of choice on port days. On sea days, the main dining room is open for lunch. To me, a better food choice.


Dinner was in the main dining room and was Mexican themed. I ended up having the mac & cheese from the kids menu as an appetizer. It was good. The carne asada was alright but could’ve been marinated longer. The carne asada from Sprouts in Tucson is the one to beat. So far, nothing else has come close. Tonight’s event is a show in the aqua theater at the rear of the ship. 


Even later - The show in the aqua theatre was excellent. Lots of acrobatics and aerial work with water, dancing, and thumping music. And this was on a moving ship and a 45kt apparent wind. Though the theatre was partially shielded by the ship itself. The water in the pool was sloshing from side to side and by the end of the show, the rain picked up enough to drive some people to leave early. The person next to me had seen it multiple times and mentioned that they will modify the show based on how rough the seas are and the wind. A couple of nights ago, it was cancelled. On that day the wind was blowing from the stern which would be right into the theatre. 


Definitely one of the most nerve-wracking parts of the show was the tight rope walker. It was windy and the ship was moving from side to side. Granted, he was tied in but still, Im amazed that this part of the show wasn't cancelled.

Another port day tomorrow in Cozumel. 

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Day 4 - Roatan, Honduras

Wednesday - I think we arrived at Roatan, Honduras, very early this morning as at around 1:30 am or so, I couldn’t feel any movement or vibration from the engines. Roatan is on an island quite a way from the mainland. And, we are as far south as this cruise goes. We will head north after making two stops in Mexico before heading back to Galveston. 

It is warm and wet today with light rain in the forecast throughout the day. We had breakfast in the large buffet. It was less “zoo-like” than other times but still busy. Most people were focused on getting in and out in time for their shore excursions. 


We left the ship around 9:30 and I spent some time wandering around the port including about 1/4 mile in each direction from the cruise terminal. Not much outside of the terminal area and all of the shops and restaurants in the terminal area charged cruise prices. It was raining for most of my walk so I headed back to the ship and headed for the hot tub in the solarium. It was nice. A light breeze, some rain, and only a couple of other people. On my walk outside of the terminal area, it really felt third-world. No traffic signs of signals. Sidewalks were barely there and all of the sideroads were mud. 

I had stopped by the room earlier and they were cleaning it so I headed elsewhere. Lunch was a make-your-own salad (or more accurately you tell them what you want and they make your salad) and a tuna-provolone grilled panini from the Park Cafe. Sitting outside in the park was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the buffet. And the salad was just what I needed after too many multicourse dinners and buffets.

The dinner theme is Caribbean. So coconut shrimp and jerk seasoning are on tonight’s menu. The jerk pork chop was the star of the meal. No picture of the meal but it was very tasty.

Tonight, we saw an ice show. Yes, there is a small ice rink on the ship. The show was based in France in 1887. At least that’s was the start. There were several jumps back in time but since I don’t understand French, the story was hard to follow. But the skaters were fantastic with multiple spins, jumps, and lifts. And a variety of costumes. 

This post was done on the computer rather than the phone. So much easier...

Monday, January 27, 2025

Day 3 - Sea Day

Tuesday - Quite a change first thing in the morning. It was 75°F at 7am with scattered clouds. We were passing just to the east of Cancun in much shallower water. The TV reports water depth as well as location, speed, heading, temperature, humidity, and air pressure. At one point yesterday, the depth was almost 4,000 m as opposed to 30 m this morning. 


Breakfast was the complimentary continental breakfast delivered to the room again. Very convenient. My first activity of the day was a guacamole class offered at Sabor Taqueria and Tequila Bar. I was reluctant to sign up as it wasn’t free. But, last night while waiting for Grease to start up, I succumbed and signed up. My guacamole attempts have been inconsistent at best. 


The guacamole class was pretty good. I hadn’t realized that it included a margarita, an appetizer, and couple of tacos. The guacamole recipe was pretty standard though the quantities supplied for some of the ingredients were on the high side. Basically, ripe haas avocados, finely diced onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, salt, some pico, and lime juice. A pretty basic recipe. I got some good hints on quantities and what to avoid.


Lunch today was at Jamie’s Italian, a signature restaurant from Jamie Oliver. The lunch prefixed menu was less than half of the dinner price. All of the food was wonderful though the standout was the Aubergine Parmigiana aka eggplant Parmesan. The appetizer was a charcuterie board and the side dish was pasta carbonara.


If it sounds like all we are doing is eating, you’d be pretty close. There was a seminar scheduled on diabetes and Chinese herbs but it was canceled as the presenter was busy. There are a ton of other activities including trivia, sports, water slides, the FlowRider surf simulator, three pools, a splash pad, game shows, music, dancing, rock climbing, karaoke, soccer, ice skating, mini golf, and lots of bars. Oh yeah, almost half of one deck are casinos. You name it, it’s probably available. 


Next up, dinner in the main dining room. Seared beef carpaccio for the appetizer, New York strip steak with green peppercorn sauce with mushroom risotto on the side for the entree, and a lemon curd tartlet for dessert. A lot of food but, fortunately, there is no mandate to clean your plate. 

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Day 2 - Sea Day

Monday - We had coffee delivered to the room first thing in the morning. In addition we had breakfast in the main dining room. I guess I prefer food brought to me as opposed to a buffet. After breakfast, I tried out a couple of the hot tubs in the solarium on the front of the ship. The lower pool was kind of windy and cooler than the upper, more protected pool.

There is a quartering tail wind of 30kts so you can feel side to side movement of the ship. The ship is pretty stable even with 9 foot seas. 

Bridget signed up for a port shopping talk but the focus was on jewelry and other higher end items. They did hand out a free pendant to every attendee. 


Bridget wanted to locate one of the other couples on the cruise that weren’t using the app due to technology challenges. I got them on the free non-Internet WiFi that allows them to use the Royal Caribbean text function.  I found them in the buffet area trying to find a table. It was crowded.

It was “formal night” in the main dining room so that meant a suit coat. The menu was French inspired so French onion soup and escargot for appetizers, tenderloin with a green pepper sauce for the main, and a cheese plate for dessert. All wonderful and delicious. After dinner, it was a nice to sit out on our interior balcony. There was a talented guitarist performing in the park. Later in the evening, we went to see a mini-Broadway production of the musical Grease


Grease was performed in the Royal Theatre which is a 1,400+ seat theatre in the front of the ship. It’s huge with two levels of balconies. No pictures were allowed during the production. 


Later - The show was phenomenal! The singers and dancers were exceptional especially given the limited space on the stage. 


Real time update - The weird formatting is what you get when pasting from notepad. I wrote these posts during the cruise in notepad as we didn’t have Internet. The first one from the cruise was posted from Mexico where i think I had Internet from AT&T. But I never received a text like I normally did so I didn’t stay connected. 


It’s good to be back in Hondo. Though I’ve been sick the last couple of days. The Covid test came out negative but with so many people, catching something was almost inevitable. 





Friday, January 24, 2025

Day 1 - Leaving Galveston

Sunday - We boarded the ship a little before noon and just started walking around starting in the Grand Promenade on level 5. We ended up just above one of the theaters and checked in at our muster station on level 4. The staterooms weren’t going to be ready until 1pm. We had lunch in the main buffet on level 15 and it was crowded. There was a decent selection of food. Almost too much of a selection. To me, the standout was a handful of Indian dishes and the grilled veggies.


We left Galveston sometime after 5pm which was our seating time in the main dining room. They sat the eight of us together though it was a challenge to converse. For my appetizer, I had a shrimp cocktail and a Caesar salad. Both were fine, classic dishes. My entree was a New York strip steak with a baked potato and steamed veggies. The steak was served with an herb butter and was acceptable. The steak had some gristle but it was perfectly cooked. Dessert was a Boston cream pie. This may turn into a food blog while on the cruise. 

Sunday, January 19, 2025

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.

Saturday, January 18, 2025

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…

Friday, January 17, 2025

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. 

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

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. 

Jeep Software

Monday - I picked up a BT OBD2 reader and the security cable needed to save changes to the ECM on the Jeep. We were still occasionally getting the service transmission message on the dashboard display. Searches on the Jeep JL forums showed what needed to be done to eliminate the message and the potential issues that it can cause i.e. limp mode. It’s something that the dealer in Fairbanks should have done after performing the clutch replacement recall. Oh well, it’s done now. I now have software to read/reset codes and enable features if needed, such as changing the speedometer with tire size changes. 

It took a bit of digging to find the area within the software to do the reset. There are a ton of options. 

Tuesday - Today's high temperature is only in the mid-50s (°F) and it's overcast. At least it isn't windy. I had a couple of bananas that were getting old so I am making a couple of loaves of Hawaiian banana bread. Basically, it has pineapple and coconut added to the bread. It's pretty tasty and I am planning on tossing them into the freezer as we will be out of town for a bit. So it smells pretty nice in the RV right now. 

This afternoon’s project. Hawaiian banana bread with coconut and pineapple.


Thursday, January 9, 2025

A/C Repaired - Not

Tuesday - Last night, the temperature dropped to 30°F. There were no water issues, as it wasn't below freezing for very long. This cold spell is forecast to last for the rest of the week with areas just a little north of here are actually forecast to get freezing rain, sleet, and even snow. 

The air conditioning parts arrived yesterday. Essentially a new starting capacitor and the PTCR. I replaced both components but had very little faith that it would resolve the problem. It didn’t make any difference. I will order a replacement next month as we will definitely be needing A/C soon. 

Since it’s an electrical component, I’m not going to try and return it but just set it aside as a spare. The start capacitor is a common part to fail.

I had the RV propane tank filled today. It was down to 2% according to the SeeLevel gauge. The built in gauge had it below 0%. They put in 22.4 gallons for just under $100. Propane had gotten more expensive. It makes the small diesel heaters an attractive option. We have been running off of the bulk tank since arriving at the SKP park. The propane to fill that tank is much cheaper than the smaller RV tank.

Wednesday - While I was up on the roof, I noticed that one of the vent pipes seemed to be sticking up higher than before. So the Dicor around the base was pulled up from the roof. Dicor needs to be applied when the air temperature is in the 70s (°F) and it's barely 40°F today. So I will use some Eternabond tape for now until things warm up. It's supposed to rain today or tomorrow so I need to seal up the opening. This will work for now. I heated up the tape with the heat gun after applying it to the roof.

I'm not sure why the vent pipe pushed up. I did fill up the water tank and the grey tank sits on top of the fresh water tank. Maybe the fresh water tank expanded and pushed up the empty grey tank...

Thursday - It feels colder today probably due to the humidity. It has already sprinkled and rain is in the forecast for the rest of the day into tomorrow morning. Lots of concern here in TX due to all of the snow forecasted for northern TX. I suspect that Dallas is going to be a mess.

Monday, January 6, 2025

RV A/C & Maintenance Fees

Sunday - After talking with some people in the park about our A/C problem, I did a little more digging. I pulled out the start and run capacitors and checked them. No shorts and they are within specs. I did not realize until today that my new multimeter will measure capacitance. There is another component called a PTCR aka Positive Temperature Coefficient Resistor. This component has a very low resistance at room temperature but as it heats up, the resistance increases. It is in series with the start capacitor giving an extra current boost to the compressor when it starts up. 

Monday - This qualifies as winter in this part of Texas. The lows for the next week are in the low 30s (°F), and there will be some rain. I went for a short walk and the temperature was fine but there is still a north wind that makes if feel colder. Needless to say, I'm participating in the morning test session from inside the RV. 

I just paid the annual maintenance fee for this lot which covers all of the fees and utilities except electricity and propane. It comes out to $137 per month. I'm going into town to pay our property taxes for the year. It's around $26. Pretty cheap living. 

There’s no significance to the water tower except it was near the downtown area when I paid the tax. It’s pretty nice as long as you aren’t in the wind. I was thinking about taking the Ural into town but it would have been a 25mph crosswind. I’ll pass on that. I drove the Jeep towards San Antonio yesterday to drop off an Amazon return and you could feel the crosswind while on the highway. Especially the gusts.


Saturday, January 4, 2025

RV Issues

Thursday - It sounds like our front A/C didn't like the new year as it no longer works. The compressor tries to start but it just buzzes. This is when it is running as a heat pump. The next time it warms up, I'll try out the air conditioner side. This is the same unit that we had replaced a few years ago but it has been getting a lot of use. In some cases, running almost continuously.

The forecast is for lows around freezing next week so I went ahead and “winterized” our water pedestal. I moved the pressure regulator and filter to inside the wet bay and switched to the heated water hose. The water softener is not inline at the moment. I am thinking of drilling a hole between the wet bay and the storage bay and having the water softener in the storage bay. I think that I can just use a 1½” or 2” abs pipe with glued fittings. And run either hose or Pex between the two bays. I wrapped the pedestal with fiberglass insulation and covered it with a 50gal Rubbermaid trash can.

Saturday - I led an early morning test session. By early, I mean 7:30am. Afterwards, I went up on the roof to look at the front A/C unit. Nothing obvious. The compressor is getting power and tries to start but is unsuccessful. The current draw is sufficient to slow down the blower motor. I think the unit needs to be replaced as the compressor is not replaceable. It is only 2½ years old but has been used a lot. There have been many days when it ran almost 24 hours/day such as when we stayed in Tucson. 

I finished with our water pedestal. I added a 40watt incandescent bulb in a drop light for a heat source and plugged the drop light into a thermostat outlet that turns on at 32°F and turns off at 38°F. The thermostat is inside the insulated area. I put pipe wrap on the line running to the pedestal. I also put another thermostat outlet on the small electric heater inside the wet bay. 

As a further precaution, I filled up the water tank in case there are water outages due to frozen pipes within the park.

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

New Year

Wednesday - Happy New Year! I was up early this morning going to coffee at around 5:15am. There were about six of us there. At 11am, there was a New Year's meal at the park and it was exceptional. Lots of variety with both breakfast dishes and lunch. 

I did not mention it on the blog before, but I picked up a Yaesy FT-710 HF radio back in November while we were near Dallas. There is an HRO (Ham Radio Outlet) in Plano, TX, on the north side of Dallas. I also picked up a Yaesu screwdriver antenna. I initially mounted the antenna to the RV ladder but I then mounted the StarLink antenna there. So I needed to find another location for the HF antenna. My son had left this tripod in Fairbanks and I had brought it down in the Jeep last summer. I mounted the antenna to the tripod head and it seems stable. There is a hook on the tripod to either stake down the center or hang a weight to stabilize the tripod. Initially, I added four radials. I need to add more but I need to purchase some more wire.