Cruising - the good, the bad and the ugly

Just a short post to recap our trip. More once I have time to download photos and Stu edits his Scuba videos.

The good (and fair):

• Nice ship, we sailed on the Legend out of Tampa. We liked the decor but for some reason the layout was tougher for me to learn.
• Good service in general.
• Not as much food variety as we've seen on other cruises, even compared to the Carnival cruise we took last winter.
• I got another Piranha Joe's shirt as well as a hat and a shirt for Stu (diving related).
• Stu had three great dives at three ports. So far Roatan is still his favorite.
• We both got in some good reading, relaxing naps and found a new beer we like (Thirsty Frog Red).
• Great dinner companions at our table for six. We really enjoyed our time with them.

The bad:

• As we were boarding we were handed papers letting us know that they had substituted Costa Maya for Belize - no explanation. That was okay for us, no excursions booked there.
• I forgot my good COMFORTABLE sandals. Guess who got new comfy flip-flops?
• I forgot my Kindle e-reader (thank goodness for my Kindle Fire although it ate up the battery quickly if I read all day).
• Stu brought MY sweatshirt and not his...guess who got a new Carnival sweatshirt. LOL!
• We couldn't get rid of the towel animals. Rather than taking the old one away, they kept adding. I even tore up two of them and tossed them on the bathroom floor. That night we ended up with THREE animals. Egad!
• Yes, I brought too many clothes. I am slowly learning what works best on cruises and promise to do better next time.
• Another seven day cruise, which we swore we wouldn't do, but there were far fewer kids. In fact, we doubt the ship was full.

The ugly:

• We couldn't dock at Costa Maya due to the rough seas, the sister ship 'Glory' had two aborted attempts. So we got an extra day at sea.
• The rough seas - the last four days were all rough. Not much you can do about that. At least it wasn't unbearably hot, we sat out on the Serenity Deck (21 and over only) or our balcony most days.
• Stu got a head cold and had to buy $16 Dristan Cold meds but they helped and before the cruise was done he was doing much better.
• I came home with a chest cold that is now trying to work it's way up to my head. UGH! So blogging, photos, and email catchup will be slow. Bear with us.
• One of my favorite pieces of luggage finally gave up the ghost (a sturdy rolling duffle). Will be looking for something new as well as something better than toting a heavy backpack as a carry-on.

I'm sure I'm missing something but I'll do another post before the week is out. We are back at Alliance Coach in Wildwood with our dryer misbehaving once again. We had arranged to arrive here for an appointment today...of course, now the dryer is working again. That's okay, they're letting us stay for a couple of days and I have about ten loads of laundry to do. We'll see if we can break it again before heading south of Tampa to the Wauchula Thousand Trails park.