Eastern Caribbean Cruise May 2026

May 3 Port Canaveral Port

We cruised on a new ship for us on this cruise. 

The Norwegian Bliss

It was pretty modern and there were some beautiful spaces, but this was not our favorite ship experience. It felt like the designers were more interested in modern design than for the comfort of the passengers. All chairs in the restaurants and in the lounge areas were low back and big round basket style seat. It was really hard to scoot into the chair at a table and they just were not comfortable. 

Main complaint.

I did love these chandeliers. 

This was dessert at our first meal onboard.

Very pretty and I remember it was good.

   This is our cabin. It was big and very comfortable and we liked 

having a simple portal window.

                                                                               May 4

     Our first day was at sea. Fred and I walked around the ship to check out spaces.

                    This is a replica of the Bliss cruise ship.                               We went to a comedy show the first night. The guy was funny.

So that is another vote in the positive.

Again, the space is too small to accommodate all the people who want to attend and the chairs were the low back big basket seat. Not comfortable. 

                                                                                       

                                   We found a mini golf area to play a game. I was horrible at it. 

                                                            This sign shows our final results.
                                                                                    

              May 5 Loma Isabel de Torres

                 This is their Christus 

                                                                                   

We went on an excursion this day and the transportation was an open air truck. It was so hot and humid. I felt sick at times because I do not handle heat and sun glaring down on me for very long. The excursion included a visit to a botanical garden and these are some of the unusual flowers we saw there.                                          

                                                                                      

This is the building where they have a small gift shop and a cafe' for excursion folks 

and probably locals.

A local band. They were very good and they appreciated those of us to did a little boogie.

                                                                                

                                    This is where we were served lunch. The usual chicken, rice, plantains.

                                                    May 6 St Thomas - this was my favorite port.   

We got smart and got out our battery operated mist fans. Fred was doing a little maintenance on mine.            

We took a cable car up the mountain and this was the view.

This is another view off to the left of the previous view.

                                Here are the cable cars. It was certainly a beautiful view from up there.                                                                  

                                                          We found someone to take a picture or two.                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  For some reason, Fred did not pack any shorts. We finally took one day ashore to look for shorts for him. This is the only pair we found that weren't $50. We aren't big spenders on clothes.

  

                                                                                    May 8

We spent another day at sea so there was more onboard lounging for us. 

                                                                                       

                                             They have a portion of walkway that was glass bottom. 

                                                                                    May 9 

                               Now we are in port at Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian's private island.  

 

A street marketplace. We did a little shopping here.

                                                                                       

This is the only photo we purchased this trip. It was good enough. We have so many photos together from all our cruises and we have yet to hang any in our home.

We did enjoy this cruise, but the weather was especially hot and muggy for both of us. We made a few "friends" while on board. We kept meeting up with the same few people. I always love that.

Orlando Epcot and Animal Kingdom prior to Cruise 2027

We made arrangements to fly into Orlando three days early before boarding the cruise ship.

We bought tickets to go to Epcot Center for one day.

It started out pretty nice. Not too hot yet. We rode on the first ride inside this big ball.

Spaceship Earth - it was a good ride.

After we left the ride, we just started walking. During this season they are showcasing 

The International Flower & Garden Festival

which is Disney-themed topiaries throughout the park.

They were all amazing. We took pictures of several.

We are entering the China area attractions.

              Inside this building is the Reflections of China. 

                                                   It was a 360 video of ancient and modern China.                                                                                  

                                           I think this might have been in the Italy area.

I don't remember where this topiary was found.

It's here that we finally had to sit down and sit in the shade. 

Everywhere was in the sun. We aren't into the food so we basically just walked by and through shops and a few attractions. I was almost sick from the heat. 

We left after this area. Earlier than we had planned, but we were both exhaused from the heat.

                   That night we went to a local Walmart and bought these battery operated misting fans.

                                We knew we had some at home, but we didn't think to bring them. 

They really helped the next day.

Today was Animal Kingdom. Shannon recommended going straight to the back of the park to get on the Kilimanjaro Safari Bus, so that's what we did.

This is the entrance.

The line was not too long yet.

These are our open air safari buses.

We came face to face with animals that just took their time meandering by.

    

The surrounding area did look very authentic.                                

Beautiful Warthogs.....

The Lion King

After the safari, we wandered about including a Botanical Garden with birds.

Fred took a lot of pictures of the Tree of Life.

It is beautiful and the carvings so intricate.

The last day was Saturday so we did some souvenir shopping at a Disney Discount Store.

Found a Marco's Pizza for lunch. Packed up that evening and relaxed.

I don't need to go back to Epcot or Animal Kingdom again. If it wasn't so dang hot and humid.

I'm not cut out to be hot and sweaty. I am glad we went and had another adventure. I do love being with Fred wherever we go. He takes good care of me.

Branson Vacation April 2026

Fred and I have heard friends talk about their trips to Branson for years. 

We decided it was time. We choose to drive. We stopped about 1/2 way and spent the night in Joplin Missouri. We took this detour because we wanted to drive to the Bentonville, AR 

to see the new temple there. 

 

It was a bit of a rainy day when we got to the temple. We had to quickly take a selfie.

We stayed at Westgate in Branson. It was a very nice room and located very 

conveniently to everywhere we wanted to go. Our room was on the third floor.

This is was the creek/stream/river behind the resort.

One of my desires was to drive to Clarksville, AR and find my uncle Easton's gravesite.

He was my Mom's oldest brother born August 20, 1920. He died 7 days later on August 27, 1920.

I was born exactly 37 years later on that exact date. August 27, 1957

Fred and I walked through the headstones at least two times and we could not find it.

We had a picture from Find a Grave. No luck.

I emailed the woman  who posted the pictures and asked if she could give us more specific directions. We still couldn't find it.

We drove away pretty disappointed, but I was glad I could at least say I was there.

It just so happened that this woman lived nearby the cemetery. The next day she drove to the cemetery and took these two pictures and we instantly remembered walking by the headstone.

It's that little white square at the low left of the cemetery.

Here is a close up. The headstone is the first one you see on the edge of the rows of headstones. 

At one time, the headstone was probably above ground like the Jacob's headstone right next to it.

Through the years, it broke in half and one half fell to the ground. 

I was so disappointed that I didn't think to call her from the cemetery and she could have run by.

                        Our first excursion was The Redneck Comedy Bus Tour.

It was fantastic. It lasted at least an hour and we saw many tourist highlights. 

The bus tour guide was a professional comedian there in Branson.

He was hilarious and so good at his job and very knowledgeable. 

                               

The tour guide had several costume changes. This one was worth taking a picture of. 

This was a look out on the tour. Looking over the ritzy part of town I suppose. 

Beautiful green everywhere.

The main strip of Branson is a miniature replication of the Las Vegas Strip.

Lots of interesting tourist attractions. Lots of activities for families.

This is Denver's mascot the Blue Devil Horse.

You see it as you drive to the Denver Airport.

It is crazy looking and somewhat of a joke around here. 

Well, it looks like Branson has it's own mascot. A big Pink Bull.

One day Fred and I parked in the Historic Downtown area. We simply walked up and down the street to see the store fronts and restaurants. Very cute little place.

This is the downtown waterfront park. 

We tried to eat at local places. 

This restaurant was Jackie B. Goode's Uptown Cafe. It's a 50s/60s style diner.

This was basically a BBQ place we ate at while driving around the streets.

The platter was not at all what we expected, but it was delicious!

We went here to Cakes and Cream Fifties Diner twice. First for this delicious Strawberry Funnel Cake.

It's a very cute place.

We went back a second time just for ice cream.

While walking around the Downtown Outdoor Mall, we choose this place for lunch.

I don't remember what we ordered. We did share whatever it was because this place was pricey.

I have to say I wouldn't mind living in Missouri. 

It is a very conservative state.

Actual Trump stores, patriotic merchandise everywhere as well as billboards inviting everyone to attend church. Not specifying any church specifically. A spirit of patriotism and love of God in this part of our country. Very refreshing!

This is where we attended a rodeo that included dinner. 

The stands were in a U shape and the rodeo was in the center. 

The servers basically walk in front of your dinner plate and splat the food on your plate. 

A rustic dinner for sure, but the food was very good and the entertainment too!

Cute pig races.

This is the Sight and Sound Theater.

So beautiful inside too. They put on biblical music productions throughout the year. 

We saw David. Inside the theater the stage area covers not only front stage, but side stages where a lot of action takes place too. As well as live animals during the productions. They walk down the aisles from the back up to the stage. I'm talking big animals. Lots of sheep. 

We have never seen such a thing. Worth the price of the tickets!

A few of the previous productions have been Noah, Daniel & the Lion's Den, 

Ruth, Joseph, Samson, Queen Ester. 

Here you can see how the stage wraps along the side.

We had such a good time. We want to go again and maybe bring some family along.