Saturday, 1/5/19, Ate another great breakfast, Boarded our ship, had a great time

Panoramic view of where we waited to board our ship, The Carnival Glory

We could see our ship through the window

Ready to cruise out of Miami

Bill on the 9th floor deck, the Lido

Our friend Gayla entering the 9th floor two meet us

Wes, Joel and Gayla when we first saw them

Gayla, Joel and Wes

Joel, Wes, Bill and me

Selfie we took

A nice lady on the ship offered to take our picture

Nice comfy shade lounges, Bill in picture

Bill on the deck when we were leaving Miami

Bill at the other end of the ship

Basketball and Volleyball courts

Wes and Joel

Bill, Wes, Joel and me heading for dinner at our restaurant, The Platinum

Bill, Wes, Joel and Gayla at dinner.   

Ate another great breakfast at our hotel.  Left for our cruise ship and boarded pretty quickly.  Called each of the girls to get a last minute call in. So nice talking with them. I’ve got the sweetest daughters ever!  I sure am going to miss them.  We walked all over the top decks.  Nice water park, nice double hammocks, and round shaded seats, and nice walking track.  We met Wes, Gayla and Joel and ate lunch.  I couldn’t believe all the food places and varieties of delicious food and desserts.  We set sail and had fun watching other ships pass us and people waving.  We ate in our assigned restaurant for dinner.  Fancy and great food.  Amazing waters and waitresses too.  I had shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, and salmon, red potatoes, and carrots for dinner.  Bill had chicken.  We had fancy delicious desserts to.  We all got to eat together and will each night. We also had a nice family from India at our table.  Theres a different menu each night with lots of choices. We can have all the appetizers, meals, and desserts we want to ask for.  We went up by the pool and sat in lounge chairs to watch the outdoor movie on the big screen above the pool.  It was a PG13 comedy, but right away they used the Lord’s name in vain so that was it for us.  We all left and went to a name that tune and game show inside.  Decided to go play cards, but when Wes, Gayla and Joel came to look at our room, our steward came to meet us and talk.  We couldn’t find Wes and Gayla after that and didn’t know their room number.  We went to the library because they had mentioned playing there.  They never came and we couldn’t call each other.  Bill and I played and I won, -51 to 174.

Friday, 1/4/19...Ate a wonderful big breakfast, Read our Bibles by the pool,Went shopping at the Dolphin Mall,

The planes flew over every 3 to five minutes and flew very low over our hotel.  We could see the airplanes parked at the airport out our window

This is where we went down to eat breakfast.  There is a huge buffet in back of the fountain.  In the left corner there were two chefs making omelets.  There's a picture of them below.  They were fast and efficient.

They put beautiful flowers on the tables

We went outside to read our Bibles and relax

Beautiful place to read our Bibles

Bill and I relaxing by the pool

Bill at the Bass Store in the Dolphin Mall

Bill at the entrance to the Mall we went in

Entrance were we were all waiting for our shuttle to pick us up.  It was beautiful and great weather

Yay, Hailey's right sweatshirt came.  They sent the wrong one on Christmas Eve.  Melissa sent me a picture.

Ate an amazing free continental breakfast. They had a nice buffet with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, American fried potatoes, pancakes and waffles.  Then in another room they had two chefs making each person an omelette.  There were 10 items to choose from to have in yours.  They also had cold and hot cereals and fresh fruit, muffins, donuts and bagels.  Delicious!

We went out by the pool at 8:30 and read our Bibles by the pool.  Relaxed by the pool until 11:30.  Took a Hotel Dolphin Mall bus at 12:30 to go shopping at the Dolphin Mall which was14 miles away.  We didn’t know we would be stopping at lots of hotels to pick up other people.  It took an hour get there but was a nice ride,  The driver told us he would pick us up at 6:15.  We had fun shopping, and then ate ate Charlie’s.  We made sure we were out at our stop before 6:15 and others had been waiting for a half hour before we were supposed be picked up.  Our driver never came.  We waited an hour and someone from our group called. They sent another bus with the same driver.  He was very rude and told us we should have been there on time.  Ten of us knew we were on time and he never came.  Needless to say, it was a quiet ride back and he didn’t get any tips.  We bonded with the people on our bus though.  We played 3-13 when we got back. I won by only a few points.

1/3/19...flew out of Detroit to Miami....almost a three hour flight. Landed in Miami, Stayed at Beautiful Embassy Hotel

Bill at the Detroit Airport 

Me waiting in the line at the Detroit Airport

Bill at our gate 

Me at our gate 

Our plane

Me and Bill on our plane flying to Miami

Beautiful view out our window

The Embassy Hotel where we stayed in Miami

Entrance to our hotel

View of the pool from our room on the 4th floor

Me and Bill lounging by the pool

Bill enjoying a swim

Me and my Billy

Our dinner in our hotel.  Bill had a big burger and I had a turkey club sandwich

Bill and I enjoying our dinner

My big sandwich and big fries

Got up at 6 a.m.  Got ready and went down to the little restaurant for our continental breakfast.  There was lots of food and it was very good. Took the shuttle to the airport and talked to a very nice couple from Porto Rico.  They told us what to go see when we are there.  Got to the airport and check our luggage in.  We did the pre check in on their computer so got to skip their long line and got in a really short one. Only two people ahead of us.  I got right through.  Bill had to gone checked because of his metal in his knee replacements.  Didn’t take very long though.  We went and found our gate and then went to some shops in the airport.  Our flight was very nice with great weather.  We arrived in Miami early, at 1:49 pm.  Took the hotel shuttle to our hotel.  Stayed at the Embassy Suites which is beautiful.  Went swimming after we got there.  So nice.  Ate in the hotel restaurant in the evening.

1/2/19...Went to see Melissa, Drove to Detroit to our hotel.

Went and visited Melissa and family and delivered suitcase Jack and Evan brought when they stayed with us.  Had a fun time trying to play bop it with Hailey and Melissa.  I was terrible.  Kept giving me all the new things to do. I came home, filled the bird feeders, did all the last minute stuff and we headed to our hotel by the Detroit airport.  Passed Kenzie’s Walled Lake Exit, but didn’t get a hold of her in time to meet up.  She texted me when she woke up and said she was bummed that she missed us. Nice Comfort Inn hotel with a cute restaurant in it. We decided to go to Bob Evans for soup and a half sandwich..  it was super good.  Went back to the hotel and walked around.  No pool! Bummer.  Bill didn’t think to check for that.  Went to bed at 8:30.  

1/1/19...Slept in, Watched the Tournament of Roses Parade, Packed our luggage

Bill and I....only picture I took all day!

We slept in this morning until 8:30.  Ate oatmeal for breakfast and drank our coffee.  Watched the Tournament of Roses Parade.  It was beautiful!  Packed our luggage and carry on bags.  Just have to put the last minute stuff in tomorrow.  Vikki came over to see us before we go on our trip.  Peyton and Isaac said they had sore throats so she came by herself. Watched Hallmark movies and ate popcorn.

12/31/18...Relaxed during the day. Went to Olive Garden with Wes and Gayla, Went to their house to bring in the New Year

A beautiful woodpecker was on our new feeder

Bill, Wes, Gayla and I at their house for New Year's Eve

We relaxed and looked up some stuff for our cruise online.  Got all of our papers in order.  It was very rainy out.  At 6:30 we met Wes and Gayla at Olive Garden for dinner.  I had chicken fettuccini and Bill had Spaghetti (his usual).  We had a nice dinner and visit.  Afterward, we went to Wes and Gayla's and played Skip Bo.  We ate some pineapple upside down cake that Wes made.  It was very delicious.  It started sleeting a little, and then stopped.  No more rain either.  We played Rumicube after that.  We had lots of fun.  We watched the ball come down at Midnight.  It was raining in NY.

Sure would be miserable to be there in that.  Nice having been there, to see everything on tv.  We called all the girls at Midnight and wished each family Happy New Year.  All the kids made it staying up to watch the ball fall.  Bill and I stayed up until 1 a.m.