Day 12 ~ Alicante Spain

Hope Hurricane Irene did not leave a big impression on Long Island and that everyone had minimal damage.

Mark is at it again!!!! We are at port in Alicante…we stop at a pastry shop to use the WiFi… Mark plugs in the lap top and when we were finished he goes to pull out the plug and one prong remains in the wall! I think we are being given a message here…we are on our honey moon and should not be doing work! Mark decided to stick his finger in the wall to try to pull it out and gets {{{shocked}}}!!!! We only have a few hours left at port so we are going to go explore…tomorrow is a day at sea and we will see the Murder Mystery Dinner Show in the Portifino’s Restaurant aboard the ship. Next stop is Portugal!

Day 10 & 11 Palma de Mallorca

We were overnight in Mallorca we took a Red Bus Tour, ate Spanish food, and swam in the mediterranean ocean! We hope everyone back home is handling hurricane Irene, we hear that more than 400,000 people are with out power (thanks news day for all the updates).

Day 9 ~ Barcelona; Spain

This morning I took Mark on a 3 hour bike tour of Barcelona. Our tour guide David, was from Florida! We saw the Spanish steps, many churches, the Jewish quarter (which was pretty much hidden under a giant stone building, shops, schools, and the seaside.

We learned that the Eiffel Tower was supposed to be built in Spain but they Spanish turned it down not really knowing what they were doing, that Antonio Gaudi made plans to build an extravagant church but died while it was being constructed because he was hit by a bus and they project he church to finish being built in 2026 100 years after his death (he had worked on it for 47 years of his life), and Barcelona only became a thriving city because it hosted the Olympic games in the 80's when they knocked down all the industrial buildings and created the beautiful port.

At night I took Mark to see a Flamenco Show, he really enjoyed it.

Day 8 The French Riviera

Mark and I got off the ship about an hour ago and stopped at good old McDonnalds for free wifi so we can read our e-mail and post our blog...we will write more at the next port.

Day 7 At Sea Again

Second formal night, just a relaxing day for the most part. Our air conditioner broke and maintenance had to come twice to fix it, finally they resolved the issue!!! At 3:15 we went to Jewelry making and then eating again!!!

Day 6 Gibraltar

This is Gibraltar!

Mark and I took a tour from the ship...we took a cable car up and walked down the rock. We saw the monkeys, stood on the rock, toured inside the rock, and had fun! Enjoy the pictures.

Day 5 At Sea Again

From our balcony we can see far and wide to nowhere just the empty ocean. It looks like it will be a beautiful day at sea. The weather is cool but not too cold. We lost an hour of sleep last night, but I still managed to get up at 8:30 to get tickets to see the two ice shows on board. Afterwards I went directly to the gym for an hour then back to the room for a shower. Mark still has not woken up….they stop serving breakfast in 15 minutes!

Day 4 At Sea

I can’t believe mark got up at 9:00 am to eat breakfast in the dining room, but he went back to bed right after and did not get up until 1:30 pm!!!! I used all this time to watch the channel that described all the ports and excursions, begin to write thank you cards (14/109), organize some files, take a shower in the worlds smallest round shower ever built (but surprised that I got no water on the bathroom floor) and write this blog! Guess that is what relaxing is all about!

We finally made it to lunch at 2:45 (they stop serving at 3:00 pm), walked the ship, sat in on Rock-n-Roll Trivia…knew nothing from the 50’s and back to the room for a nap before cocktails with the captain before our first formal night!

Happy Honeymoon Cake!!!

First Formal Night!

Day 3 Boarding the Big Ship

After a 2 hour rainy taxi ride we finally made it to the sunny ship! Check in did not take nearly as long as expected the cue was about 30 minutes. Once on board Mark and I checked out our state room with balcony and American outlets. Realizing that we would not be able to use our new family air loom we quickly left the boat in pursuit of a European extension chord and European to American converter. We hit Staples (Yes, the office supply store) but no luck there, Boots the local drug store who sold us a European to American converter, and IKEA (Yes, the Swedish Furniture store we have at the Broadway Mall) where we bought an European extension chord! Mark rigged the room to accommodate all our electronics and even duck taped the wires to the floor so neither of us trip and fall over them!

The next debacle was with the television set, a Samsung. It came equipped with a VGA port and HDMI port, of course Mark brought those cables with us so we could connect the lap top to the TV and watch Movies or Television Shows, but apparently the TV is set up in hotel mode so while it connects we can not set it to display! Mark has spoken to almost everyone on board and we can’t get them to change this for us. Royal Caribbean claims it is a safety feature so they can alert us through the TV if something is going on. Mark is more than pissed. If anyone can tell us how to take the TV out of Hotel mode we would be grateful…maybe call Samsung directly and ask them or do a Google search and send us the link. At least they offered us 3 free TV rental movies worth $12.95 each!

Our first dinner was OK we both had Chilean Sea Bass, but we were still hungry a few hours later. The only options on board to eat again at 11:30 pm were cookies, tea sandwiches, pizza, and room service. We ordered room service. Johnny Rockets and Ben & Jerry’s closes at 11:30 and both have a nominal charge as does room service between Midnight and 5 AM. Before dinner we did see a glimpse of the onboard show, the comedian was not all that funny but the on board orchestra was decent. We also saw the ship parade with the costumes and light show.

Day 2 London

Today we took The Big Bus Tour of London. We made stops at The London Dungeon and The London Eye. The London Dungeon was a much longer tour than expected and took you through the horrors of London from 1666 through the early 1800, highlighting serial killers such as Jack the Ripper. It was much scarier than Scare Park and a recommendation for those who are not faint of heart. The cue for the London Eye was pretty long, so Mark and I opted for the fast pass. We were up in sky in no time! The view was tremendous. We could see all of London. Afterwards we walked around, we hit a hardware store, homegoods store, and an electronic store. Mark bought our first family heirloom….a 6” fan with a European plug!

Dinner was at Guerilla Burgers where the veggie burger was too spicy to eat, but the sweet potato fries were just like back at home. At least they played American rock music!!!

Mark's interpretation of London: "London is just a backwards version of New York City!"

Marble Arch

Mark & The London Eye

From The London Eye

My Car....What did they do to the steering wheel????

First Night in London

OK...so Mark is brilliant! He tried to run a fan, sleep apnea machine, phone charger, and 2 lap tops off one European adapter, an extension chord and a strip chord.....he blew the fuse and Eddie came to the rescue... explaining that we needed a voltage converter to run all this!!! Eddie could not fix our electric because the fuse was in the room next door and at midnight our neighbors were sleeping....so we were moved to the Presidential Sweet!!!! It has a bedroom, sitting area, 2 TV, and 2 DVD players, a bathtub and shower stall!!! Now we can watch all the movies and TV shows Mark brought with him.....NCIS Seasons 2-5! BTW the hotel also lent us a voltage converter! But that did not stop Mark from blowing the fuse again!!!! Eddie back up to the rescue!

Day 1 London

I should have thought about starting this from the moment we hit the airport, but I did not. We left JFK to Fly to London. Our flight was delayed almost 2 hours. We boarded the aircraft just after midnight and 6 hours later....we were in Heathrow airport. Customs was a long line, but it moved fairly quickly. When we got our luggage we found our driver (http://www.british-airport-transfers.co.uk/) who took us to our hotel The Hyatt Churchill (http://london.churchill.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp?null). Our room is small compared to home, but very nice. I'm not sure why the shower only has one door but the water had pressure and was warm! We have VIP accommodations that includes continental breakfast, evening cocktails and canapes. Really what this means is all the soda, tea, beer and wine you want! We are jet lagged and debating on weather we should take a walk around or order in and watch a movie on the lap top!!!!