Day 3 of Cruise on Carnival Triumph - Sailing in Gulf of Mexico

Aloha Everyone,

We have crossed another time zone and we are now one hour ahead.

This mornings breakfast party was a lovely and very diverse group of individuals.

Cathy is a K to 12 substitute teacher from Wichita, Kansas. Her sister, Lori is a home caregiver who works with Bruce who is from Denver, Colorado.

Cathy and Lori

Lori and Bruce

Bob is a cable company technician  and originally from France. His wife, Fanny is a hairdresser. She told us a great story of having the world famous opera singer Pavarotti as her client. I am sure if Pavarotti had a bad hair style, the critics would have been all over him. This lovely couple currently live in Orlando, Florida.

Eggs Benedict and fresh fruit - my breakfast choice

People we meet on cruise have one thing in common. We all have zest for life, passion for travel and love to meet new people. 

Here is our lunch selection.

Southern-style ribs for J.J.

Spinach ravioli for me

Peach mouse for me

German chocolate cake for J.J.

At about 6:00 pm, there was an on-board announcement about a disabled vessel. Since our cruise ship was the closest to the disabled vessel, the captain stated that we were turning around to offer assistance.

After two hours of on board anticipations and speculations, the disabled vessel incident turned out to be an abandoned raft.

We are back on course and without any compromise to our time of arrival at the Grand Cayman.

Here are our dinner selections.

J.J.'s pate

My mushroom potato soup

J.J.'s steak

My Norwegian salmon

Aloha -- Cathi

Day 2 of Cruise on Carnival Triumph - Don and Alma, Dave Drummond, and Meal Time Entertainment

Aloha Everyone,

Our second day of our cruise started with a nice relaxing breakfast.

Don and Alma are from San Antonio, Texas. They are both retired public school teachers. Don taught biology and communication, and coached girls basketball. Alma taught high school math. When they talked about their students, they became excited and very enthusiastic. Both enjoy cruising and this is their 42nd trip.

It was fortuitous that the host of the restaurant brought the 4 of us together. We had so many things to share that we stayed until the restaurant staff began preparing the tables for dinner.

Here is Alma's selection, JJ's choice, and my meal starting with tomato soup.

Dave Drummond lectures on a number of topics related to cruising as a guest of Carnival. Today's lecture was on The History of Cruise Ship in the morning and Story of Unique Ships in the afternoon. Don and his wife been on over 65 cruises including the Queen Mary and a super high-end cruise which cost $1,000 per day per person.

Our dinner table is assigned for the duration of our trip. We learned that Jack is a CPA whose business focused ion architects. Meal time entertainment was provided by the dining room staff.

Here is Jack getting into the spirit of things by waiving his napkin. To think that just yesterday, I thought that Jack was a very reticent and quiet individual.

J.J. and my menu selection.

JJ and I joined Jack and other passengers to watch the evening live entertainment themed "Around the World". Sorry no video or iPhone photos were permitted. However, here are some additional photographs of the ship for your viewing pleasure.

We close our first full day on sea with a selfie.

Aloha -- Cathi

Day 1 of Cruise on Carnival Triumph: Out to Sea

Aloha Everyone,

The first activity on board was to participate in the mandatory drill for all passengers and crew members.  

J.J. and I also started on our walking exercise program. Since the majority of the passengers appear to be seniors and they prefer to ride elevates just to go one floor up or down, we happily obliged them and taking stairs.

We dined at the Paris Restaurant. We had an assigned table and two of our table mates joined us.

Chuck is from Houston. He is an economist and he worked for a long time for IT companies. Here is Chuck about to enjoy his dinner.

Jack is from Dallas.  A very pleasant but reticent and quiet individual.

My healthy vegetarian tofu dinner.

Aloha -- Cathi

On Board the Carnival Triumph

Aloha Everyone,

Today, J.J. will be departing for a 12 day long cruise to Mexico on the Carnival Triumph!

It took us about an hour to get through all of the security checks and to get our keys. Here is a picture of the main atrium.

Our stateroom with a king-sized bed and window is significantly larger than the one we had in Norwegian. However, the latter was newer and better appointed.

We were surprise to see that the majority of passenger appear to be retirement age. This certainly is not a young-hip cruise which Carnival seem to have built a reputation serving. Then again, this is a couple of weeks before Spring Break, so that might explain the older clientele. 

Here is a picture of the pool deck.

Finally here is a picture of a couple of soft tacos that I had while waiting for the mandatory fire drill.

I plan to write my blog every day, but I might not be able to upload new posts while I am at sea. Whenever I have WiFi I will be sure to update everyone how we are doing.

Aloha -- Cathi

Foggy Galveston

Aloha Everyone,

Everything is shrouded in thick warm moist fog. Cries of sea birds sound like echoing fog horns we heard in Oregon.

J.J. and I spent the morning catching up with some of our email correspondences. Then we went out for a hot lunch of gumbo, fish and J.J.'s favorite oysters and shrimp dishes at the Shrimp N' Stuff. The small restaurant was again packed.

Seawall Blvd runs parallel to the Gulf of Mexico. Surfers are a hardy bunch and the thick fog certainly did not deter them from going into the water.

The Pleasure Pier where rides were not operating today because of the fog.

The historic beachfront Hotel Galvez & Spa has been welcoming international clientele with discriminating taste  for over 100 years. Known for its elegant decor and luxurious service, the majestic building appeared like a ghost in the fog. Restaurants offer spectacular views but with today's weather, we just circled the property with Honu to satisfy our curiosity/

The Bayou Shore RV Park is located on the Offatts Bayou between West Bay and Gulf of Mexico. When there was a little sunlight between heavy dark clouds, I walked around and took some photos. The colorful reddish-orange building used to be a restaurant.  A friendly biker who is also staying in this park told me that the same owner who owns this RV

park also owns the property. They are "in-between" restaurant operators who will make it a fine dining place.

Aloha -- Cathi