January 14 - 16, 2026 At Sea - Fort Collins, CO

January 14, 2026 - Last night at Sea

We went to the show Wednesday evening. The singer had a great voice and we enjoyed the music of Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. From there we headed to Cagney's for a great steak dinner before calling it a day. Back in the cabin, I finished packing everything except what we needed for our trip home.

January 15, 2026 - Tampa, FL to Fort Collins, CO

We were up early - 6am - and off to the Versailles Restaurant for breakfast will Phil and Marcia. When we finished and left the restaurant, Christine gave us hugs and smiles and told us to come back soon. She was very sweet. We said our goodbyes to Phil and Marcia and headed back to our cabin. They drove to Florida and were meeting up with cousins before starting their journey home. We gathered our suitcases and headed to Deck 7 to exit the ship and clear US Customs. The line wrapped its way down and inside corridor then outside along the promenade deck to the exit. It actually went fairly quickly and customs was a piece of cake.

We found our shuttle van to the airport and arrived quite early for our 12:30pm flight. Then we received the text from United that our flight was delayed and we wouldn't be departing until 1:10pm. Ugh. Fortunately, the flight did depart on the delayed departure time and we arrived back in Denver with just enough time to gather our suitcases and get to our shuttle to Fort Collins. We grabbed an UBER and finally got home about 6pm. Needless to say, it was a long day.

We both managed to catch colds at the end of the trip, so it will be a few days before we are back to normal. Now it's time to do laundry, catch up on emails, and make a grocery list!

Until the next journey, we hope your 2026 is filled with fresh starts, second chances, and a year of beautiful surprises.

January 11 - 14, 2026 - Cruise

January 11, 2026 - At Sea

Today was another at sea day, so … eat, drink, walk around the ship, repeat! Tomorrow we arrive in Jamaica and have a shore excursion, so we will be fairly early. Good night!

January 12, 2026 - Falmouth, Jamaica

We arrived ashore about 8:15 for our 9:00 shore excursion and every one was early, so we were on our way by 8:30. It was supposed to be Montego Bay highlights and beach.
It was pretty disappointing – and not because of the damage from Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica on October 28, 2025. There were a few things we were supposed to go see, but they skipped them. Instead, we drove through neighborhoods and saw some of the big houses and stopped at a souvenir store. They did give us a traditional “patty“ (sandwich) for a snack. They were okay, but I would have preferred seeing the church and square we thought we signed up for!

I think this is the church we were supposed to tour.

In front of the museum:

We were dropped off at Doctor’s Cave Beach about 10:30am for three hours. Tobey and I walked the beach back and forth a few times (it was pretty short) before cooling off in the water.

This is some of the damage from Hurricane Melissa.


We were back to the ship by 2pm so we had a late lunch. We took some laps around the deck before showering and watching the ship pull out of port about 5pm.


We played cards before going to the 7pm show to see the magician again and then a late dinner. We did get treated to a beautiful sunset tonight – one of the first we have actually seen!

Tomorrow we arrive in Grand Cayman and have an early shore excursion. We need to get tickets for the tenders (shuttle boats from the ship to the docks) at 7am. The crew told us that people start lining up around 6:15, so it will be an early morning. Hopefully, we will be there early enough to get an early tender because that takes about 20 minutes, too, and we don’t want to be late for the tour.

January 13, 2025 – Grand Cayman – NOT

What a disappointment! First of all, I didn’t sleep well. Our neighbors had their TV on all night again and it woke me at 3:00am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I gave up at 5:45 and got up to get ready to head to Deck 12 to get in line for tender tickets to depart the ship. The waters around Grand Cayman are too shallow for a dock to accommodate cruise ships so you get into smaller boats (tenders) and they take you to the pier. There were three people ahead of me – Marcia was one of them. People began trickling in and when the ship representatives arrived, several people tried to cut in line in front of everyone. We all made a comment to let them know there was a queue and one woman was so rude, she just said, “get over it!” A few minutes later, the ship’s captain came on the intercom and announced that the seas were too rough causing swells at the docks making it unsafe to use the tenders, so the port was being cancelled! We did not stop in Grand Cayman. We did not get to snorkel. We did not go to Starfish Beach. We did not get to experience the stingrays swimming up to us at Stingray City. We did get to see our ship (and the other four cruise ships in the area) pivot and head back out to sea. Tomorrow was a day at sea, so now we have two.


We headed to breakfast before going back to our cabins for a while. Tobey and Phil did laps around the deck while I went to the cabin and went back to sleep until lunch time! This worker is tethered to the ship in case the ladder slips!

After lunch Tobey and I did some laps then went back to the cabin to read. We met up about 5pm and played cards before going to the theatre for the show. The show, a cabaret musical, was amazing tonight! The singers and dancers have so much energy it made us tired just watching them. At the end of the show, the cruise director brought several of the staff on stage from every aspect of the ship for recognition. The 900 crew members do a great job and it was nice they were acknowledged.

We had dinner reservations at Moderno, a Brazilian steakhouse at 8:30pm. It was a bit disappointing to us because it was so late and the restaurant closes at 9:30. We were some of the last people there and while the food was good, the service was SO SLOW and they were doing tear down and setting up for an event tomorrow! Not at all like everywhere else we have eaten on the ship. It was almost 10pm before we finished our dessert – not fun.

Today did not turn out at all like we had planned, but at least we get to sleep in tomorrow since it’s another day at sea!

January 14, 2026 - At Sea

Tobey and I slept in and had a late breakfast at the Versailles Restaurant. The hostess, Christine, is so sweet and she remembers us. They were very busy and were handing out buzzers to call when tables were ready. We had been asked if we would share and said okay. When our buzzer went off and we checked in with Christine, she asked if we would prefer a table for two and happily provided that for us! We met up with Phil and Marcia and did laps around the ship then read for a while before lunch. After lunch we did more laps and came back to the room. The show this evening is early – 5pm – and we have dinner reservations at 7pm. We will meet up with Phil and Marcia for cards around 3pm, then after the evening events, finish packing because we leave the ship in Tampa in the morning.

January 9-11, 2026 - Cruise

January 9, 2026 - Curacao

We arrived in port around noon today and were off the ship about 1:30 to catch our shore excursion, “Caves, City, and Beach.” WELL … It said to arrive 15 minutes early and departure at 2:00 pm. The meet up location was only about five minutes from the ship so we were definitely early. There were shops to look around in for a few minutes, then we found some shade because it was HOT! The guide arrived and informed us the departure was 2:30 … needless to say, I was not happy but it wasn’t his fault. Poor communication from the tour company. ANYWAY, the four of us hopped on the bus (along with 20 others) and were off to visit a cave. There were a bunch of trees outside the entrance where we waited for our guide. Needless to say, it was weird sitting under these trees!

It was the hottest cave I have ever visited! The guide told us the year-round temperature ranges from 30-39C! Fruit bats occupy the cave and we were only allowed to take pictures in a couple of the rooms. The formations were interesting – much different than many caves we have seen before.



After the cave, we went by an estuary where we spotted some flamingos. It’s a protected natural area and our guide said if you were caught in the water there, it could cost you up to five years in prison! Yikes!

The next stop was the Kocomo Beach. Tobey and I snorkeled while Phil and Marcia lounged on the beach. We saw a spotted eel, a huge pencil fish that was hanging out by the dock, and several other reef fish. It was refreshing after the heat of the day. Around 6pm we headed back into town. Tobey and I got off the bus and walked a little around the town area before the 10-minute walk back to the boat.

We saw the floating bridge and the colorful buildings.




It was an interesting stop, but too short to really explore the island. Maybe another trip … For today, everyone was to be back on board by 8:30pm and we were sailing away by 9:00pm.

Tonight’s dinner was great. Tobey and I both got some mini tostadas for appetizers then the cod for dinner. He also had a chocolate cake for dessert.

Tomorrow we arrive in Aruba at 7:00am and our tour is supposed to begin at 8:30, so it’s off to bed and an early morning.

January 10, 2026 - Aruba

I LOVE when things go on time! We arrived at 8:10 and were actually the LAST people to check in for our tour! As soon as we got checked in, we boarded our bus and departed early. WOOHOO! Our driver/guide, Ricardo, gave us some information about Aruba and we drove through many of the tourist areas. The population of Aruba is 120,000 and he said they have over 1 million tourists per year PLUS over 800,000 cruise ship visitors each year. We are in the peak of high season, so it was busy.


The first stop was at Aruba Aloe. This is the oldest continuous business operating in Aruba. It was interesting to learn about the benefits of aloe and the products available.

Next stop was the Casibari Rock formation. Tobey and I did a quick scramble up to get some nice views over Aruba. It is not tropical as you would expect – it is actually more desert with only 16-18” of rainfall per year. Early settlers used cactus as fences and some folks still do!



We continued on to the Bushiribana Gold Mine. In the 1800s, gold was discovered on Aruba and this fortress was built and gold was extracted with the use of cyanide. They built the building to look like a fort to discourage the pirates in the area!

Next stop was Alto Vista Chapel. This building was built in the 1900s on the site of the original chapel which had been abandoned and fell into ruins.

Catholicism is the largest religion in Aruba – over 90% of the people are Catholics, however, the people are very tolerant of ALL religions.
 

We stopped to see the California Lighthouse at the very northwest tip of Aruba. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the East and the Caribbean to the west. Next stop was an hour at the beach. Tobey and I walked the beach and enjoyed watching the kite surfers on the hoverboards.
We didn’t have our camera or phones with us as we walked, but there was the most unusual sight – a car in the water. It was actually a speed boat that looked like a convertible zipping along. What a hoot!!

We arrived back at the ship for a late lunch, then we all walked back into the old part of the city that caters to tourists. We could have dropped several thousand dollars at Tiffany’s or the Rolex store, but opted to just save our money.

We set sail around 6:45 – 15 minutes ahead of schedule. We had planned to see the show, but the singer was not able to perform and we decided we didn’t need to see the juggler again. We had dinner at the Aqua Restaurant then Marcia, Tobey and I had a soak in the hot tub before calling it a night.

January 11, 2026 – At Sea

We slept in this morning since we didn’t have anything scheduled. Tobey and I went to the Versailles Restaurant and when asked if we minded sharing a table, we said okay. It was okay, at best. We’re not real big talkers in the morning, but felt like we had to carry the conversation. The three others never asked a question, very seldom answered with more than a brief response. Next time, my answer will be no! We met up later with Phil and Marcia and went to the magician’s “how-to” mini seminar. It was fun and we enjoyed seeing how he does some of his tricks. Who knows, Tobey may be doing magic tricks in the near future!! 😊

After lunch, Tobey, Phil and I did four laps around the ship – 1.4 miles, while Marcia went back to read. Phil went back to their cabin while Tobey and I sat in the sun, then the shade before heading back to the cabin. We watched a little football before showers and meeting Phil and Marcia. We played cards then went to the 7pm show to see the comedian. None of us really cared for his show and were happy when it ended. We were off to dinner at Aqua and it was great. We’re calling it an early night because we arrive in Jamaica tomorrow and have an early excursion.

January 5-8, 2026 Caribbean Cruise

Monday, January 5, 2026

Tampa, Florida - Out to sea!

Morning came too early, but we were both much more rested today. After breakfast at the hotel, we took a shuttle to the port. They said it was 20 minutes … HA! After loading passengers at our hotel, we stopped at another then two cruise terminals before arriving at ours … almost an hour later! Phil and Marcia were awaiting our arrival so we all boarded the ship at the same time.

It was time for lunch so we made our way to the Versailles Restaurant for a pretty tasty lunch before exploring the ship. Around 3pm our rooms were ready so we dropped off our backpacks and changed into swimsuits. We enjoyed a drink by the pool and the sail-away crew entertainment as we departed Tampa about 4pm. We spotted a few dolphins and looked back at the Carnival Paradise ship and the Margaritaville ship behind us.




Our dinner reservations were at La Cucina, an Italian restaurant. I had the pork marsala and Tobey had the shrimp. Mine was very tender and good but Tobey’s shrimp were overcooked, so I shared! We went to the Broadway Cabaret show in the theater. It was a nice way to round out the evening. Phil called it a night and headed back their room while Tobey, Marcia, and I grabbed another drink before turning in.

So far, the seas are calm and we are working on the relaxation mode! The moon isn’t full, but it definitely beautiful to see from our balcony. My phone tends to make the nighttime photos look more like day, but this was it!

Good night for now!

January 6, 2026

Another day in the books! One of the great things about a day at sea on a cruise is you really don’t have to hurry for anything! We had arranged to meet up with Marcia and Phil at 10, so we slept in a bit then headed out for breakfast. We ended up at the Versailles Restaurant and shared a table with a couple from Tennessee. It was pleasant and we enjoyed their company. Afterwards, Marcia, Tobey, and I strolled around the ship and stopped to get a drink by the pool when it started to sprinkle! We headed inside to walk around and fortunately, it stopped soon. Phil joined us and we found a spot that wasn’t windy (because it has been VERY windy) and played a game of Phase 10 Flip. Phil was the winner! Lunch was next up on the agenda so we checked out O’Sheehan’s. The food was okay, but none of us said we had to go back! They were going to take naps and we put our swimsuits on and found some sheltered lounge chairs where we could get a little sun and read.

We got together around 6 and grabbed a drink before heading to the Stardust Theater for the magic/contortionist show. Before going into the theater, we took a quick look outside and could see lights in the distance. We were supposed to be passing by Cuba, so I am hoping this is a picture of Cuban lights in the distance!

The magician/illusionist was good and his wife who is a contortionist was amazing. An unusual combination for a show, but very entertaining. We followed the show with a late dinner at the Aqua Restaurant. Tobey and I both had the Boston Blue fish which was delicious.
Marcia's steak:
Afterwards we all headed to the Bliss Lounge to listen to some music before calling it a night. I’m sitting on the sofa with our balcony door open enjoying the sound of the waves. Tomorrow is another day at sea so we are hoping for sunny skies and warmer temperatures!
Night sky:


January 7, 2026 - STILL at sea

We had a better view of Cuba this morning.

Tobey and I had breakfast at the Garden Café Buffet this morning – nothing exciting, but the fruit was good and my omelet was hot and made with my choice of ingredients, so life is good! We met up with Phil and Marcia and walked a lap and a half around the ship before heading to the Bliss Lounge to watch NCL’s version of “Deal or No Deal.” It was entertaining and a few people won money. (Of course, you had to buy your cards to participate. Maybe we will do it next time! Lunch was at the Aqua Restaurant. Tobey is a “Pepsi” guy and they have Coke products on the ship. He tries to order a Pepsi at every restaurant and they inform his, “Sorry, sir, but we have Coke.” Today he told our waiter that would be okay, but when he brings it to tell him it is Pepsi. He did, so Tobey gave him a 5-Star rating! We also had an announcement from the Captain during lunch that he was going to be speeding up the ship to arrive in the Dominican Republic at 2:00am, instead of 7:00am because of a medical emergency. We hoped whatever it is, the person isn’t in too much distress! After lunch we headed to Deck 13 for some sun-time. After an hour, we split up and I found a shady spot to read after about an hour and Tobey wandered back to the cabin to rest. View from our cabin:
We met up with Phil and Marcia for dinner at the Ginza Restaurant. Tobey and Marcia were happy having sushi! The food was pretty good and we had an enjoyable dinner before heading to the theater for tonight’s show, “Women of Rock.” WOW! It was great - and we cleaned up pretty good!

Tomorrow we arrive in the Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic and can depart the ship after 7:00am. It’s a short port stop, back on the ship by 2pm. Hopefully, we’ll be able to connect to internet and I can post!

January 8, 2026 – Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic

We had breakfast with Phil and Marcia then gathered our things and got of the ship at Cabo Rojo in the Dominican Republic. It’s an unusual port. It’s about a 20-minute bus ride to get into to the town of Pedernales, which is a very small town. At the port they have built a small “town” where there are shops, bars, a Ferris wheel and a “beach” area with a lazy river.


This picture was taken from the Ferris wheel.

We looked around a little then took the free shuttle bus into town. At the town square we saw some school children dancing for the tourists and local vendors selling their wares.
After talking with a young woman (17) who was a senior in high school we headed to a small café so Phil could use their internet. From there we walked about 8 blocks to the beach.

Tobey made friends with the local police and they posed for a picture with him, then it was back to the shuttle bus. Back on board about 1pm - sail away at 2pm.

We had lunch then played cards and took a lap around the ship and spotted this island.

We are going to the Versailles Restaurant tonight and the show is a juggler. We’ll see how it is!

Tomorrow we arrive in Curacao around 1pm. We have a shore excursion scheduled, so we’ll let you know how it goes later! That’s all for now.