The Beginning- 2018 Sisters Cruise

This is a trip going back to Bermuda with my recently widowed sister Barbara. It has very few photos as I was having trouble with my camera

Lynde came and packed me up on Friday, and cleaned the upstairs on Monday. She cleaned the downstairs on Tuesday. Barbara called and said she had sprained her wrist and she wouldn't be able to do anything with her left hand. This will make managing my scooter difficult

Wednesday we left to go pick her up at the BWI train station. We left at 9 - her train was to get in at 11:01. I texted her and found that the train was 10 minutes late. We got to BWI station 15 minutes early. They allow you 15 minutes free waiting but we knew it was going to be more than that and so we went into the parking garage. All the empty spaces were blocked off with cones that said No Parking including all the handicapped spaces with no car parked in them. We got up to the 4th level before we found a place to park.

Train schedule in the trailer

BWI train station is under construction. The waiting room is in a trailer. It was fairly chilly and windy, so after Bob used the bathroom trailer, we went into the waiting room trailer. At about the time the train was to arrive, we went out on the platform - of course the train was coming in on the far platform. Bob went up the stairs and went over to meet her. I stayed on the northbound side. There was a policeman with a dog (the vest the dog had on said "Do Not Pet") and the dog was very interested in the scooter. I said "Do you smell my cats" and the policeman said he probably did. Then the dog looked up at my face, and the policeman said "No kisses" and they moved away.

We tried to pay for parking at the kiosks, (like the signs said we should) but none of them worked, so we had to pay at the exit. It was $2.00

We stopped at Chik-fil-A for lunch and Bob had a chicken sandwich, Barbara had a wrap and I had tortilla soup. We got home about 3:45. Bob made Barbara put together and take apart the scooter several times, stressing her sprained hand. Barbara saw Crunch (our oldest feral cat) when she came in and later she saw Gertie who was ambushed in the dining room (They saw it was our car and so they didn't hide)

Sisters

I showed her the old family letters and the reprints of our dad's research. She found a letter from our grandfather to our grandmother in 1908 where Grandmummy was apparently suffering from morning sickness with our mother although she did not know it. Granddaddy used her tickets and went to the opera and got Caruso's autograph. It's on a little piece of paper.

Bob decided that the red bag we had the charger in was too little so he repacked things in the red duffel bag.

We went to Kevin's for dinner and it was quite noisy and Bob had problems with the food. I got oyster stew which was Ok but the cup was really a cup and not a bowl.

Oyster stew

Then I got rockfish bites. The best part of those was the cooked apples as a side.

Cooked apples and rockfish bites

Barbara got a rockfish sandwich and Bob got steamed shrimp which he took most of them home. The cats were so spooked that they did not come out to eat dinner. Barbara did see the peacock that sometimes hangs around in our yard

October 25- Thursday morning. I ate a dry stale bagel for breakfast. Bob and Barbara had oatmeal and a half grapefruit and tea. They ate in the dining room and had a nice conversation.

I packed my computer up and got dressed and we left about 9:30 for early voting. It was pretty cold. We went in the truck and took the old red scooter.

We got there at 9:46 and they don't open until 10 so we all stood in line shivering in our various inadequate clothing (I was OK and so was Bob, but there was a lady there with just a sweatshirt on) until they opened the door and let us come in the lobby. Voting was very quick - one of the ladies giving out the ballots (they are scantron ones now instead of electronic) was Bert from my swim exercise class. I got an early voting sticker and two pieces of candy which I put in my pocket.

We got back to the house about 10:15 and left about 10:30 Barbara got to see Orange as she was upstairs when we got home and they thought she had left.

Cruise Maryland terminal

We drove straight up to the Cruise Maryland terminal and got there about 12:30. They gave Bob a big orange window sign that said Drop Off and we dropped the two bags. Barbara gave the baggage guys $5.00. I had $5.00 too but I thought that would be overkill. Then Bob put together the scooter

and put the duffle underneath and the computer bag on the back and I put my pocketbook under the seat and he bungie corded the cane to the front of the scooter, and we got in line.

First we went through security. Barbara had to put the red bag, my pocketbook and the computer bag, plus my camera and my cell phone through the scanner and then they were going to pat me down. She started to load stuff back on the scooter before they got to me to pat me down, and they reprimanded us for that and made the red bag go through again.

Then we got to where we gave them our passports and our set-sail passes. The lady had a problem that my passport says my name is Rosalie Ann (with a space) and my registration says RosalieAnn without a space. She had to get that changed, and the confusion of her doing that, she forgot to photograph us. She gave us our internet cards. Barbara had one and I had two. Confusing.

We got on the ship at deck 1 instead of going up the ramp, but when we handed our cards to the lady at the entrance, there were no photos on them !!! So she took our photos there. God knows what they look like. I took off my hat and my hair is probably all on end. I guess it is fortunate that no one sees them except the ship company

We got the elevator up to deck 2 and found our room. The door does not need a chock - unlike regular cabin doors, it stays open when you open it until you close it. This is good. We have twin beds. One is against the outside wall of the ship, and on the other side is a night table.

My bed and nightstand

Then there is a space and there is a night table next to the other bed. The scooter fits perfectly between the night tables and the cord to charge it reaches across behind my pillows with the charger on the night table. So we haven't needed the extension cord.

Parked scooter

We have a window (which Barbara really appreciates, even if it is dirty) and since we are on deck 2, it is pretty close to the water.

Ship window

There is also a couch,

Couch

an oval coffee table, and another chair. There is a lot of room in this cabin. there is a table beside the couch with two long drawers, and under the TV is another long wooden storage unit which has three drawers and some shelves.

Seating area in the cabin

Next to my bed is the dresser which has two side mirrored tiny triangular shelves behind the mirror, two plugs, the phone and a drawer with ship information.

Dresser

Next to my bed is the refrigerator (which was too small to put the plate of strawberries in it and almost too small for the bottle of cranberry juice.)

The bathroom is large enough for a roll-in shower but there is no place next to the toilet for me to put stuff. I will have to stand at the sink to brush my teeth. Barbara could not figure out how to turn the temperature of the shower down so she had a really HOT shower

There is a safe in the closet along with two stepladders. I think there are bunk beds in the ceiling. Barbara tried to figure out how to work the safe and could not do it, so we just shoved stuff into drawers and went up to the Lido to eat. The main dining room was not open - just the Lido. Barbara said she would get me something so I went and sat at a table. She came back with spinach and pasta and lemonade. Then she went and got herself something. I took the scooter and went to get dessert. I saw bread pudding, but it was way over my head. I was feeling around with the spoon trying to figure out where the pudding was to get some and another lady passenger scooped some out for me.

Bread pudding and chocolate chip cookie

After lunch, we went back to the room and found George Leppla my travel agent had sent us a dozen chocolate covered strawberries. We figured out the safe and put stuff in it, and also plugged in the scooter

Lining up for the Cruise ship lifeboat drill

About 3 o'clock we took the scooter off charge and went up to do the lifeboat drill. This was a fairly long process - took half an hour. Barbara was tired of standing, and the seat of the scooter is not that well padded.

Ship transporting sailboats in the harbor

After that I went and waited at the excursion desk because they changed our BAMZ excursion from Sunday to Monday and we have hired a guide for Monday. So she agreed to give us a refund on that excursion. The ship information says we will be in Bermuda by 1:00 on Saturday although the original schedule says 4 pm

Line dancing in the atrium

Then I went down to the computer lab and waited for the guy to come and tell me which one of the computer cards I had was the correct one. He took one and said he would cancel it. But when I went to log on tonight, I couldn't -it would not accept the password I had and Barbara has lost her card so I could not use that one. I had to buy a more expensive package to get on line. I'll have to straighten that out tomorrow.

Key Bridge

When we got back to the cabin, our bags had come so we started unpacking. Barbara asked the room steward for ice for her hand (she had an ice bag), and I took the tray that the ice came on for the computer.

Elevator selfie

We went up to My Time dining a little later than I had thought we would and were put at a table for 10. There was a couple from Iowa, a couple from Texas who flew in this morning, a couple from Virginia, and a woman from Australia married to Steve from Virginia. When we went under the Bay Bridge, Barbara got up and ran to the window to see if she could see Bay Head (where they have a family house). But she went to the wrong side of the ship - she was looking at the Eastern Shore, and Bay Head is on the western shore

I had three appetizers - Escargot which were OK, Shrimp Cocktail - ditto (four shrimp), and Chicken Waldorf Salad, which I didn't care for the chicken part. It had some funny yellow dressing on it.

Chicken waldorf salad

Barbara had a salad and prime rib. Everyone's prime rib was pretty rare.

Rare prime rib

Then she had apple pie a la mode and I had Royal chocolate cake, which was dry.

Royal chocolate cake

She left and went to the show and I came back to the room. I tried to set up the computer and found that the trackball and been on all day and had run down the batteries and there was some stuff inside that kept the new batteries (thank you Bob) from working. So I got the flashlight to see and it would not work either and new batteries did not help it. I did fix the trackball.

Cruise Critics meeting is tomorrow, and it is formal night. We only have one formal night - I don't know if that means that we have costumes on Halloween or not. People are decorating their doors.