Days 9 - 11, 21-22April. California to Tampa Florida & Cape Canaveral

Days 9 & 10

Day 9-
Flight was 4 ½ hrs from LAX to Tampa Florida last night, landed at 8.15pm and we were picked up by our old friends Linda & Bob who we met in 2007 on a Trafalgar Italy & Greek Island tour. Linda and I have stayed in touch over the last 10 years on FB and it was so lovely to see their faces again - we just picked up where we had last left off from. They have not changed at all – living in Florida must keep you young!!

Into bed and adjusting to the 3 hr time difference. Moving around the States, we are changing time zones a lot by the time we do a circle of the country!

Day 10-
We got up today and sat around and chewed the fat, catching up on the last 10 years, then out to lunch at a Greek area called Tarpon Springs. Took us all back to the greek cruise we enjoyed together- although this time, not with hundreds of american 18 yr olds getting drunk as skunks after graduation, thank god haha. Then on to look for Walmartians!! I loved Walmart, similar to Kmart but a bit more trendy and SO cheap – bought skinny jeans that were better quality than the ones at home, on sale for $5!!!!!! The girls will be happy :) Then we went to a couple of other dept stores, including another Walmart- they are in abundance here lol. That took up most of the afternoon then we meandered back after a look around the area. It is so incredibly neat and tidy here, the houses, the streets, even the letterboxes!

Did some washing – so good to use a washing machine instead of washing clothes in the shower!  Then sorted yesterdays blog as it seems to have thrown a hissy fit when I try to add photos.

Then we went out again for dinner in the evening to a steakhouse called Cody’s… Linda and Bob have their retirement lifestyle balance so right. They live in a community where things are taken care of like the front yards are mowed, the roof kept painted, community swimming pool and tennis court, a cleaner and it is cheaper to eat out every day than cook! Food is SO much cheaper here than at home or in NZ, even with tipping. California wasn’t cheaper, but Florida definitely.

Codys roadhouse waiting area (note the barrel beside Bob has peanuts in it)

We enjoyed our meal in the fair dinkum Roadhouse, where they have fresh peanuts in the shell in big barrels and you help yourself then drop the shells on the floors (never chucked food on the restaurant floor before haha!) We have steaks and drinks in this madly busy, happy noise place, was great. They do a chicken fried steak, where they coat the beef in a coating like KFC and fry it. Graeme really loved it and they also served hot sweet, soft buns with cinnamon butter- another first! They were very yummy and like hot cross buns.

Went home and packed up for our West Caribbean cruise we are all going on tomorrow. We are being picked up at 4:45am for the coach transfer to Cape Canaveral where the ship leaves from. We are sailing on Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas which is a big ship and I’ve been told it has heaps of activities and even a zip line lol.


Day 11
Up at 3:45am *groan! Got ready and the taxi picked us up at 4:30, which took us the the pick up point in town. We were lucky that the driver and another couple were really early so we got to leave 45mins early. Drove to the next point for a cuppa at Macca’s and a toilet stop. It was starting to get light by then, so got to see some of the surrounding countryside as we drove towards Cape Canaveral where the ship is in port. We passed Orlando disney and they have some pylons and power poles nearby that they have connected with Mickey Mouse metal ears!!

Onto the final stop to pick people up and on to the port canaveral dop off. We waited for a bit then checked in pretty quickly as we were before the hoards. Waited an hour or so in the nice big terminal then were able to board. Nice stateroom on deck 11, so we have a good height view.

Wedding onboard

In the gardens

Open glass lifts & atrium

Settled in and unpacked then went to the obligatory safety drill - didnt have to take the life jackets for the first time! We went back and lay down on the oh-so-comfy bed and - goneski for an hour! We are feeling the time difference, so it was lovely to lay down. Went down to dinner with Bob and Linda and have a lovely little nook right next to a massive round window. Enjoyed lovely food as always on cruises- how to they achieve fine dining for so many? Our waiters are from St Vincents & Jamaica and they say they are brothers from another mother haha! They are funny :-)

After dinner we wandered around the ship and had a look at the decks as our 1st night aqua show was cancelled for some reason. We have pre-booked our shows and activities and glad we did with 5900 passengers on board! There are also 2100 staff, so a big ship, although I read the capacity is 7100 passengerss and 2300 staff.  There is an outdoor 'central park' in the middle of the ship which is amazing, you can walk through garden areas and there are cafes and benches, then on another deck there is a zipline and a merrry-go-round, they have it all.

Back to the cabin & showers then into bed - crashed!

In the outdoor park onboard

Love the humour!