DAY 40---KEY WEST, FLORIDA

NOW TO VIEW MY JANUARY POSTS YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK ON "JANUARY" SO THOSE POSTS WILL BE DISPLAYED.

TO VIEW PREVIOUS POSTINGS USE THE "BLOG ARCHIVE" UNDER OUR PHOTO ON THE RIGHT.  THEN CLICK ON THE DAY OR DAYS YOU MISSED.  ALSO CLICKING ON THE PHOTOS WILL ENLARGE THEM.  I RECOMMEND THAT.

                                                   HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

LAST NIGHT:

                                                 Sailing out of Miami yesterday at 5pm.

This is the harbor pilot boat picking up the harbor pilot.  Every ship entering and leaving every port has a harbor pilot to advise the Captains about local regulations and hazards to navigation, ie, currents, winds, channel depths to name some.  The pilot climbs down a rope ladder and jumps to the little boat while our ship is still underway.

SUPER BOWL

                                               Entrance to the theater for the Super Bowl.

                                                              Ice sculpture of SB trophy

Several of the crew were dressed like referees.  This is Shane who takes care of us every day for lunch in La Veranda.

                            Our Executive Chef, Ronald, with some of the great crew.

                      Super Bowl buffet in the back of the theater.  Salad bar, fruits, and pizza.

                                                                  Pizza and potato skins

Here were hamburgers, hot dogs, Buffalo chicken, potato chips, tortilla chips, chili, mac & cheese, and burger sliders. 

                                                  Pretzels, cookies, cake, and other desserts

                                             Balloons surrounding the stage and big screen.

We sat in the back of the theater where it is raised some with Susanne Peters who is from Cincinnati.  Rebecca wore her Zeke Elliott jersey and I wore my Cowboys sweatshirt.

Not a big a crowd as I thought there would be.  All but 2 or 3 were Bengals fans.

Some crew lead by the maitre 'd of La Veranda and Sette Mari lead a cheer down the aisle at half time.

        Another interesting thing happened during the playing of our National Anthem.  Of course most      Americans stood for it but I was back by the buffet and noticed many of the crew were standing at attention quietly and watching the screen during it.  What a GREAT crew we have!!!!

        It was another great game as were all the playoff games were.  Kudos to the Rams but wish Bengals had won.  BTW, as I put on FaceBook--The half time show sucked!!

TODAY:

                                               We're in Key West.  60 degrees for our arrival.

We were docked in Key West before 8am.  This check point and way off the pier to town was just outside our balcony.

                                                     View from our balcony today.

                                                This ambulance showed up after our arrival.

     They picked up someone and left with siren blazing through town.  Hope they will be ok.

        I saw Douglas, Food & Beverage Mgr, this morning in Coffee Connection so asked him how many dozen eggs they got yesterday.  Would you believe 4200 dozen.  Folks that's a lot of eggs!! 

Katja, our excursions manager, is talking with one of the local tour guides with a strange head wear on.

        At 9:30 I met Marcia in the atrium as we both blew off our tours so as to go shopping.  I had Google Map to search for a Walmart.  No Walmart here but did find a Kmart.  So we got a taxi and negotiated a $15 rate to take us to Kmart.  There were also Ross Dress for Less and a Winn Dixie close by which we hit.  Well, the Kmart was going out of business so most of the shelves were bare.  Most everything left was 25% to 30% off.  

        Marcia did find what she was wanting and I found the candy I wanted.  The bags of candy was 25% off so I got plenty.  We got a couple bags of these mini candy bars when at Sams Club in Miami on January 23rd but needed more to last until May 5th.  At lunch and dinner and in lounges we usually give our waitress/waiter a candy bar.  The crew LOVE this.  Their service is always great but now they make sure we are happy!!

        It was a 10 minute walk from Kmart around to the Ross and Winn Dixie.  I found some socks I needed as forgot to pack some blue ones.  Found a package with blue, black, and grey.  Next door was a Winn Dixie grocery store so went in to get Rebecca some almonds for our suite.  When I got back she said, "I wish I had you get me some almonds".  So I opened the bag with them and said, "Happy Valentine's Day".  She was really happy then!!!

        On the way back to the ship as we passed through town (right off the pier so easy walk into town) the driver asked if we wanted out in town.  Marcia did but I continued to the pier.

   This Coast Guard boat went by while in La Veranda at lunch.  There is a Coast Guard base here.

        After lunch I mentioned walking into town to go to the Coach outlet as I bought a nice belt there MANY years ago.  Rebecca said she would go with me.  So we had a nice walk.  The sidewalks were packed with tourists.  I think every crew member went to town today.  That made them so happy.

                                                                  Walked past my bar!!

            This is to show the location of our suite.  It is the first one to the left of the life boat.

I mentioned this before but the structure in the water is called a "dolphin".  It is where the ship's lines are tied up to when docked.

        I mentioned yesterday that we had 198 passengers on board this segment.  I was corrected this morning as that number includes entertainers and the about 40 technicians that came on board.  So basically there is around 160 passengers.  We ran into our two suite stewardesses in town this afternoon so asked who our new next door neighbor is.  It is a new crew member who will be isolated there for the next 10 days.  It is part of Regent's covid protocols to isolate new boarding crew for 10 days before allowed to work.

        Our Valentine's Day plan for this evening is for cocktails in the Mariner Lounge (our usual hangout for cocktail hour).  We have 7pm reservations for dinner in Prime 7.  They are having a pre-dinner Valentine's dance in the Horizon Lounge but I don't dance.  Tonight's headline entertainer in the theater is Chris Richie.  He is another entertainer from Europe, the UK specifically.  Sorry, but they are just not the quality of US performers.  Apparently Chris is a singer so we will go give his show a try (from back row for quick escape if need be).

        We will be at sea tomorrow on our way to Progresso, Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula.  We will be arriving there on Wednesday.