Dinner with Ogii's brother.
Chicken and rice.
He brought her some candy from Mongolia.
And some chocolate.
We need some cardboard for our Halloween costumes. Walmart has this cart completely filled with cardboard. But they'd probably yell at me if I tried to take some. We have some Amazon boxes we can use, anyway.
We're making ships.
Gotta keep spraying this area to cover up the Amazon logo. Although it does kind of look like an anchor.
We also made t-shirts to wear each night to poker.
They are iron-on ink-jet printer transfers.
First couple of coats are looking pretty good.
Ogii's brother cooking some Mongolian food.
Nice sunset.
We don't know if there are many trick-or-treaters in this neighborhood, so we bought a bunch of candy to leave out just in case. We gave it to our neighbor and she will put it out Halloween night.
We saw a commercial about a cruise the day before our cruise, just like last time.
Southwest put up lots of decorations.
Very cool art hanging from the ceiling of SFO.
Various trees around California in metal.
Some weird stuff on this ceiling.
Harvey Milk history.
I was checking my bank account at the airport ATM and it ate my card. Well, this is a problem; what if I have to get cash during the cruise?
This "out of order" sign had been set behind the ATM. Hmm, I wonder if someone is stealing cards. Thankfully the machine spit my card back out after a while, but it was a scary experience. Gonna watch my account carefully just in case.
All we really need for our cruises: passports and cash.
The plane was boarding and they called our section, so I went and stood in line. When I got there, the gate agent said this was a different plane; our plane was at the gate right beside it and wasn't boarding yet. I'm glad they didn't let me on.
Really? Who brings a backpack of that size, boards late, and thinks they'll be able to fit it in an overhead space?
Leaving San Francisco.
The poker group on the cruise has a few survivor tournanents, and I don't really know the strategy for those. Nobody has written a book on them, but a few have been written on satellite strategy, which is very close to survivor strategy, so I'll read that on the flight instead.
Then time for a nap with these neck pillows; they work pretty well.
We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. I paid with cash and I'm pretty sure the driver over-charged us. He said it was a flat fee from the airport, which was more than double what the meter read, but I didn't want to sit and argue about it, so I just gave him the cash. I'm using a credit card or taking an Uber or Lyft next time instead.
Almost room 411.
Inside.
The TV has all of these inputs.
We went and ate at Outback Steakhouse.
We walked out to the sidewalk, all the way around the block, and then back into the restaurant. When we came out, we noticed we could have just walked directly from the restaurant parking lot to the hotel parking lot.
A bunch of electric scooters at the hotel.
Breakfast.
This luggage tag is so cute.
Uh oh; it's raining.
Kat and Kendra coming back from a pharmacy. They had to buy an umbrella.
It's nice that the hotel has this little desk to put your cruise luggage tags together.
Waiting for the shuttle.
There's our ship.
Us in front of it.
The check-in line was really short.
And we're inside. No more worrying about missing the cruise.
First meal in the buffet.
Massive piece of meat.
Love the hamburgers.
Dessert station.
The port is protected by this piece of land.
Kat and Kendra are right next door to us.
The favorite part of a nerd's cruise: figuring out the day using the daily planner.
Nice artwork.
Some sea dioramas.
The library sign is books.
Not many people just sit around and read on a cruise, but I can sit here and work on my computer.
A view down the main hallway.
Another ship at the dock.
The pool area.
A waterslide and surfing pool in the back.
Minigolf course.
Sports area and climbing wall.
Arcade.
Neat artwork.
I like when they have these on each floor in the stairwells so you can know what floor you're on just by the art.
Our room.
The bathroom.
Central shopping area.
Some people can look down here from their rooms.
Nice staircase.
Lion sculpture.
We went with the Ante Up poker group, which had tournaments and cash games scheduled almost every day in a private room. We had a private reception once we got on board as well.
With free drinks.
Colorful drinks.
And a buffet.
The line for which filled up fast.
We just ate. We don't need to eat any more. But it's free! But we're on a cruise, most of the food is free; that's landlubber thinking.
A band.
Scott Long was the organizer of the cruise and the Ante Up company. Chris Cosenza is his partner but wasn't on this cruise.
The poker schedule for the cruise.
I can never remember where all of the different venues are on a cruise, so it's nice to have these maps scattered around.
These only dispense soda if you have the special glass sold with the drink package which turns them on.
The casino.
Movie memorabilia under the floor.
Sparkly statue.
A poker table, although we didn't play in the casino; we played in the conference room.
It's raining in spots outside.
People running on board as the staff is giving the safety lecture. It would really suck to miss the boat.
People decorated their doors for Halloween.
The elevator floors have the day of the week on them.
First dinner in the nicer restaurant.
We had a bunch of tables reserved for our group.
Sunset over Fort Lauderdale.
Zoomed in on the city.
I love that this map shows where you are and where the closest bathroom is.
Picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.
A bar designed to look like a ship.
Our first poker shirts.
The room we were in. They already had three tables going when we got there.
Ogii won with 72, just like her shirt.
The theater.
Not too many people for this first show.
A comedian.
The piano player at the ship bar.
It was pretty full.
A pub.
A little deli.
With sandwiches and pizza.
What's waiting for me after waking up the next day? Ah yeah, the day's schedule.
Our second set of poker shirts.
The woman who tells you to clean your hands really wants to get your attention.
That's a lot of bacon.
Ogii is excited to eat.
Even though the buffet is busy, you can usually find a table pretty easily.
It's cold inside and hot outside.
The first poker tournament of the cruise is a $20 rebuy.
Four tables.
The gals practicing the Thriller dance for Halloween.
Sunset.
We were going to go to the art auction for free drinks, but the line was huge.
So we just went straight to lunch. A nice cake there.
At the buffet again with a nice view of the wake.
Maybe we should just wear these life jackets the entire time we're on the cruise?
The adults-only pool area.
With a bar.
The kid-friendly area.
An overlook up top.
They had the football game on a big screen.
The women weren't too interested in that.
A band.
Checking out the pool.
Drinks.
$25 per unreturned towel; that's quite steep.
We brought a bunch of these magnets to use on the metal cabin doors; Kat and Kendra stole some off our door, so Ogii stole some back.
Nice, someone is streaming the football game on their phone and figured out how to cast it to the TV in the poker room.
Four tables.
For the $50 survivor tournament.
Our last cruise had regular cruisers playing poker every night in the casino, but this one didn't have anyone there the entire time, even during the daily tournaments.
Artwork.
Ice skating show.
Looking up.
Bingo.
Playing games at the ship bar.
Kat survived in the poker tournament.
As did Ogii.
Since our cabins are side by side, we can just pound on the wall when we want to talk.
Dinner time in more formal attire.
And us.
Good food.
The servers dancing.
Full outfits.
And theirs.
The four of us.
Sunset.
A game show.
The game room.
With a fair number of games.
Musical act.
Looking down the elevator area.
Up early at 5am.
I like it at this time because it's basically deserted outside.
The slide sticking out over the edge of the ship.
Pools.
A lounge.
The chapel.
Alcoholics Anonymous and a Bible.
There is an actual MD at the spa, although it seems she just recommends facial creams and such.
Looking down the promenade.
The entrance to the theater at the back.
The Schooner Bar, empty.
The steakhouse menu. Although you have to pay for it, so we never went. I'm sure they're not nearly as good as the steak we can get on land.
Interesting artwork.
The casino has to follow the gambling laws of the country whose waters the ship is in.
The wake at night; kind of scary.
I wonder what this little area of wood chips is for?
A 50s Chevy and a palm tree; that's definitely Cuba.
A little lounge area.
Some neat artwork.
Not much of a schedule today.
People getting picture of the sunrise at 6am.
These guys were taking video.
There it is.
Entering the port.
These elevators are clear so you can see out.
Breakfast.
A bounty poker tournament at 10am.
Only Kat did well in this one.
Then time to check out the island.
Musicians on the dock.
In front of the ship.
First port: Labadee, Haiti.
Directions to everything.
Another band.
A zip line over the ocean.
Plenty of lounge chairs.
And hammocks.
A volleyball net and a wading pool.
Ogii with a baby palm tree.
A big beach.
We grabbed this area.
On the hammock.
Time to try out the Oasys Transitions contact lenses.
They get dark really fast.
And they look quite dark.
My regular contacts.
The Transitions ones, which are darker.
Some waves hitting the rocks.
Lunch.
Ogii on the beach.
Both of us.
The lady taking the picture said we had to be more entertaining for the photo.
In the water.
Swings.
Cabanas.
The ship. If you see it start to move, run.
The water was the perfect height.
To get to the floating bar.
A few different drinks.
Coming back.
Kendra floating.
Our sandy feet.
Finishing my coconut drink.
Kat and Kendra on the hammock.
And on another one.
There are coconuts above us; I hope they don't fall.
Us.
Our feet.
Kat napping.
Ogii napping.
With some marks from the hammock on her shoulder.
Ogii with another short palm tree.
This bar was empty; maybe they can hire Ogii to serve.
I don't think I can sneak this on board.
Back on the ship, people were playing volleyball.
A view of the island.
Thriller dance practice.
The gals.
Outside.
Seafood.
A watch sale.
An art seminar.
Sunset.
Kendra showing one of the dealer some videos on her phone.
Our next set of poker t-shirts.
Three tables and a football game.
Almost a straight flush vs aces.
Now I have aces, nice.
The football game isn't so interesting.
Aces again.
Someone made a straight flush.
Three people had the same hand.