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This was a bummer of a day. Marlene woke up sick with a high fever – almost 104 degrees. I gave her some Tylenol and went to breakfast alone. She slept most of the day. Her stomach is upset too, so probably the flu. Glad I got that vaccination.
There was a luncheon party for returning guests. Wasn’t much of a party – had one drink and not the one I ordered (which never arrived). I did learn that Norwegian has many more loyalty levels than Carnival. There are 8 “ambassadors” on board – people who have booked over 750 nights on Norwegian. Carnival tops out at Diamond, which is 300 nights.
I watched the Patriots vs Bills game. Bummer of a game for Pats fans. Losing after being up 21-0? Terrible.
Marlene rallied enough so we could have dinner together in the buffet but she is still very sick.
Yes, folks, we are off on yet another cruise. This one is “only” 7 days, to Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman, on the Norwegian Encore. We booked this cruise because both Marlene and I were each given $800 credits from our trip to Alaska in April (NCL2). That credit could only be applied to a future cruise. This is that cruise. Because of the credits this is pretty close to a free cruise for us: total cost is $150 or $75 each.
The day started early. We rose at 5am with the intention of being on the road to Miami (via Coral Springs to drop Becky off with Marlene’s brother) by 7:30am. We had to get up early because we hadn’t packed. It was a rushed morning, but Marlene is pretty good at packing. We actually got off at 8am. We got to Coral Springs around 10:15am and were back on the road to Miami by 10:30am. We got to out parking lot (actually a parking garage) around 11:30am.
Then the fun began. This parking lot and cruise parking provider was new to us. Apparently it was new to them too. Total chaos. There were over 50 people congregated at the entrance to the parking garage, waiting for transportation to various ships. One guy was handling everything and not handling it well. After checking in we got in the queue for the ship. And waited. And waited. We saw one small van leaving. And a lot of taxis. We finally figured out that the taxis were Ubers – people were giving up on waiting for the free shuttle and were arranging for their own transportation. We teamed up with two guys who were going to the Encore and I arranged for an Uber. The Uber showed up about 15 minutes later and got us to the ship just about when we were expected to be there.
I think if we had waited for the “free shuttle” we would have missed the ship.
We had to check our large bags (too large for the X-ray machines they said) which made me a bit uncomfortable as my shaving kit and all my pills were in my bag (I usually put them in my backback but we brought only one backpack for this short trip). But the bags did show up at our cabin as we set sail.
The good news is that we were able to carry 10 cans of cola on board, in direct violation of Norwegian’s policies. We brought soda on board for the NCL2 so it must be a policy that they don’t enforce.
Boarding the Encore (on the left)Marlene on boardUs on board
Check-in went smoothly and we were on board by 1:30pm.
We had a late lunch in the buffet and didn’t have dinner. We spent some time in the casino, of course. It was spacious, large and generous. I won $200 and Marlene won about $100.
So far we have made money by taking this cruise. But it won’t last.
This is #15 (though I found a list in which it was #14) in the long (27) line of Cussler books featuring Dirk Pitt, Special Projects Director at the (fictional) National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) and globe-trotting superhero. His adventures – and Cussler’s plots – stretch credulity but are great fun to read. In this one Pitt saves the world from a cataclysm planned by descendants of Third Reich survivors, the intent being to destroy everything so the world can be recreated as the Fourth Reich. The mechanism for inducing the cataclysm is to detach the entire Ross Ice Shelf from Antarctica, thereby causing a tectonic shift, generating massive tidal waves and disrupting the world’s weather for decades while the Fourth Reich plotters ride out the havoc in four gargantuan ships – each a mile long.
As I said, the plots stretch credulity.
There are dangers and attempts on his life throughout the book but in the final battle he and his sidekick, Al Giordino, take on a crack security force of several hundred, while driving a huge vehicle built in 1940 for exploring the Antarctic, armed only with small arms. You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that they defeat the enemy force and save the world.
Each of the three segments of the ATW has its own wrapup (ATW-1, ATW-2 and ATW-3) so all I can add here are some observations about our epic around-the-world trip.
Traveling around the world can be done inexpensively. The two flights (Ft Myers to Seattle and Sydney to Rome) and the two cruises (Seattle to Sydney and Rome to Tampa) had a combined cost of under $1,500 for each of us. The car rental and the hotels in Europe added roughly $3,000 to my cost but it really wasn’t an expensive trip. The aborted cruise to Venice in 2018 cost Jett and me over $10,000 each for 30 days. This was nearly 70 days for half that.
The US may be the best country in the world in many ways, but Europe and Australia both do public transportation better. Their subways, trains and buses are cleaner, more comfortable and operate more efficiently (and on schedule) than what you will find anywhere in the US.
The 4-year-old Tianfu airport in Chengdu China was fascinating. The place is HUGE and there were very few passengers when we were there. I assume it was overbuilt in anticipation of future growth. But that is something you never see in the US. Who spends billions for future passenger volume?
The bread in Europe is delicious. I was looking forward to tasting some good bread and I got it. Why can’t the US make good, inexpensive bread?
Gas is more expensive in Europe than in the US but it seems that food is considerably cheaper. Besides bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables seemed relatively inexpensive.
We loved Sydney. My sister says it is her second-favorite place after Paris. I might agree (though Barcelona is still a candidate). We were disappointed in the iconic Sydney Opera House but the public library blew us away. And the public spaces are beautiful and well-maintained. This is a city that does things right.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Marlene’s brother, who cared for Marlene’s dog for nearly 10 weeks, said “Never again.” He is right… we will never do it again. But we are glad we were able to do it once.
The ATW-3, the third and final leg of the ATW, was a 14-day cruise on the Carnival Miracle and little more. The “little more” included the trip from Rome to the port in Civitavecchia and the auto trip (via rented auto) from the port in Tampa to home in Lehigh Acres FL, with a detour to Coral Springs FL to retrieve Marlene’s dog, Becky. Those trips by land were described in “ATW-3 Day 1: Embarkation” and “ATW-3 Day 15: Disembarkation in Tampa FL” so this is almost exclusively a review of the cruise.
By the numbers:
15 days, 14 nights
3 ports en route: Cartagena Spain, Ponta Delgada Azores and Nassau Bahamas
The ship:
The Miracle is a sister ship of the Pride which we took back in 2023 from Tampa to Barcelona (TC2). That was our first cruise together and we liked the ship. We liked the Miracle too.
Our cabin was, for an interior cabin, spacious with lots of closet space.
The food was good, but not as good as the food we had on the Luminosa in ATW-1. We and everyone else on board were mystified by the “syrup” that was provided for the pancakes, waffles and french toast. It tasted like sweetened molasses. Disgusting. But, overall, the food was good.
There were only 3 full-scale theatrical productions in the 14 days, but the quality of the productions was good.
The casino was large and spacious with a nice mix of machines and table games. It wasn’t kind to us, ultimately (though Marlene was up for most of the journey) but was better than the casino on the Norwegian Jade.
The weather was too cool for using the pools and hot tubs for most of the journey, but were fine the few times we used them.
The cruise director, Gary Blair, was very good.
The crew, including our cabin attendant, Nataria, were pleasant and helpful.
The musical acts were not as good as those on the Luminosa but were okay. We didn’t dance much, but that was mostly due to Marlene’s leg injury in Ponta Delgada.
The decor was tasteful.
We ate most of our dinners with strangers and met some interesting people that way.
CasinoDining room
Highlights:
Cartagena. This city, where Jett spent days in the hospital in 2018 (TC1) is a nice place. It was good to see it again, without having my wife in the hospital.
Ponta Delgada. We enjoyed this city, right up to the moment Marlene fell down the stairs.
Lowlights:
Falling down the stairs. I thought for sure Marlene would be seriously injured when I saw her tumble, face first, down 4 or 5 stone steps. She banged up her knee pretty good but was very fortunate to escape with no broken bones.
Marlene’s all-nighter in the casino. She was winning until that night but lost a lot of money then. I guess I should have realized sooner that she wasn’t in bed and gone to fetch her, but I slept right through.
The syrup. Worst syrup I have ever had anywhere. Someone needs to talk to the chef.
The rough seas. The weather before and after the Azores was bad enough to kick up the seas. We had 4 days where the ship was rocking pretty severely. I actually wore my anti-nausea wrist bands for 2 of those days.
Our big bags were taken to the terminal by the crew, so we had only our small bags (backpacks, laptop, handbag) to pack in the morning. We had breakfast in the buffet (and said goodbye to a few more friends), then vacated the room and disembarked. The disembarkation took a while – nearly an hour – but we finally got out of the terminal. Then I had to walk 15 minutes to the Budget office to rent a car.
I was worried about being able to rent a car as I had no driver’s license on me (it was still somewhere in Paris). But with my international driving permit, my passport and a PDF of my license status from the DMV they let me have a vehicle – a Mazda SUV.
The plan was to drive straight to Coral Springs to retrieve Becky, but the shortest route there ran through Lehigh Acres, so we stopped at Marlene’s house to unload (with a shopping stop at Goodwill along the way) and to have some dinner (ramen noodles – our favorite). We were VERY pleased to find the house in excellent shape. The air conditioning, which had been misbehaving before we left, was performing flawlessly. The freezers were very cold (and obviously had not gone through a major defrosting as our pennies on the ice were still on the top of the ice). Even the clock on the stove was operating, meaning that there had been no power outage. And the toilets were not dry, thanks to the oil that we had put in each. Perfect.
We drove to Coral Springs and Becky was overjoyed to see us. We stopped at the Immokolee casino on the way home. I slept while Marlene played. She broke even. Then back home, arriving around 2:30am.
In the morning we returned the car to Budget at the Ft Myers airport.
This was the “say goodbye to new friends” day. On these long trips it is inevitable that we make new friends. Regina, DeDe and Kim to name a few. And a few crew members too.
Marlene posingWith serverA final look at the atrium
We started with brunch – our only breakfast in the dining room in the 2 weeks. The “skillet cake” had been highly recommended by one of our dinner companions so we both ordered it. I expected something different than pancakes but what we got was a stack of not-very-tasty pancakes. And some of the ship’s molasses-flavored syrup. Awful. Terrible. Disgusting. We went straight from brunch to the buffet to get some decent food for lunch.
We visited the casino one last time and I lost for one last time – down $420 for the cruise. Marlene also ended down, thanks to some big losses in her all-nighter.
We had dinner in the buffet and played some cards (I lost, 3 games to 1). Then we packed as we decided to have the bags taken down to the terminal by the crew (we had been informed that the elevators in the Tampa terminal were not working).
We have been to Nassau many times before, so we didn’t expect to do anything we hadn’t done before. But we did.
We, accompanied by Regina, walked around town shopping. But 6 ships were in port and everyone had their “gouge the tourists” prices on display. We bought nothing in town. But then Marlene discovered a thrift shop about 2 miles out of town. So we all walked there.
It was a long walk, but a nice one along the beach. The thrift shop was run by the humane society of Nassau so Regina and I sat and listened to barking dogs while Marlene shopped. She bought a couple of things, then we walked back. Over 18,000 steps in Nassau.
Marlene napped while I blogged, then we had dinner at a lively table of 7. We visited the casino, of course, and I continued to lose. But not much. Down $350 with one day to go.
Three more days at sea. Day 10 started with me waking with no Marlene in the room – she had spent all night in the casino, losing lots of money. That early pool of nearly $2,000 in winnings is a distant memory. When she finally appeared, around 8am, we went to breakfast and let the cabin attendant clean the room. The rest of the day was spent eating (lunch and dinner both in the buffet), playing cards (I won 1 game to Marlene’s 5) and the casino. No show. And no dancing – she is still walking very gingerly.
Day 11 featured a “Diamond luncheon” to which Marlene was invited and I went as her guest. A good meal, but not as good as the one on the Luminosa. The rest of the day was good for me, both in the casino where I won nearly $200 and at cards where I won 3 games to Marlene’s 1.
The cards turnaround continued on Day 12 when I won all 4 games (which really upset Marlene – she had become accustomed to winning). I held my own in the casino and am down just $270 after 12 days. We both attended the Diamond and Platinum party (I boast Platinum status which barely gets me in the top 50% of all passengers on the Miracle) which is just an invitation to free drinks in the theater. We had a lively dinner with 5 others and we all took turns griping about politics in America. Then we attended the last full theater production, “80s to the Max.” We have seen this show before but the production quality this time seemed much improved. A very nice show by a cast with very good voices.
80s to the Max80s to the MaxLead femaleSecond lead maleLead male
Tomorrow Nassau Bahamas. Then on to Tampa and home.
These were the first three of six continuous days at sea as we cross the Atlantic. As is typical with days at sea, they were low-key, do nothing (or not much) days.
The “highlights” of Day 7 were some trivia contests where I did moderately well, plus time spent reading and losing money in the casino. The good news (VERY good news) is that Marlene, after her nasty fall on Day 6, was up and walking. Painfully, but walking. Nothing broken or seriously injured, I think. We were able to attend the Captain’s Party which featured free drinks and great music by the Miracle Rockband. We were introduced to the senior officers too.
Cruise Director Gary Blair and the RockbandSenior officers
Day 8 was the same except that I lost at cards too. I also spent time blogging (through Day 6) because I purchased a day of internet access. We also attended the second full-scale show of the cruise: “88 Keys,” a musical revue of piano tunes.
88 Keys88 Keys88 Keys
The highlight of Day 9 was shopping. OK, I never view shopping as a highlight of any day but on this day Marlene purchased a ring for herself.
ATW wrapup
Each of the three segments of the ATW has its own wrapup (ATW-1, ATW-2 and ATW-3) so all I can add here are some observations about our epic around-the-world trip.