March 1-15, 2025 Cruise, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.

Time for another free cruise. We took an Uber to the port. The traffic in Fort Lauderdale was crazy. But once we got past security, it was fine. Our Uber driver dropped us off right by the escalators to go up. The whole process to get onto the ship was super smooth and quick. The opposite of what it was when we embarked from Tampa. The Tampa cruise terminal was a disaster but this Fort Lauderdale terminal was wonderful. We got on the ship and went straight to our room. Unpacked our backpacks and headed immediately to the Buffet for some lunch and MY GOD, what a grand buffet it was. This ship, the Celebrity Apex is magnificent. Very modern and clean and the buffet is set up so nicely with different stations so you don’t get caught up in lines. After lunch we went and explored the ship to try and get a handle on where everything is located. 

Dinner that night was back to the buffet. If you know us at all, you know that we really love buffets. So we loaded up our plates and headed to the back deck for the sunset. 

We went to the show that night in the main theater. It was a rock music show with great dancing. It was all songs that I love. It was a great show. We spent a little time in the casino afterwards and then to bed.

Next morning we arrived in Key West. It was a Sunday so I walked into town to go to Mass. a beautiful Basilica with a fun young priest. On the way we stopped at CVS and I found this cute blue hat.

Headed back to the ship for some lunch and that night, went to another show. Basically that’s what a cruise is all about. Eat, Tan, Watch Show, and go to bed. 

We woke up in Bimini, Bahamas. If I had to rate the islands, this would be my second favorite island. They had a public beach right off the pier with the bluest waters. They also have a Resorts World Casino in walking distance. Basically that’s the entire island with a few shops and restaurants. Most people get a golf cart to go exploring but we just walked around. It’s a really small island. So our first stop was the casino. After winning the Big Hand Pay in Mississippi, I’ve been feeling pretty lucky so we plunked a few at Resort World. Maybe 10 minutes into gambling on the Hot Tamales Machine, I hit 3 red sevens for $936 dollars!! Crazy!!! ON a buck35 bet!!

So I cash it out immediately and then move down the row to another machine. Another Hot Tamale machine and I hit three yellow sevens for $448 dollars. It was so surreal!!! 

I cashed out on that and went back to the ship for lunch. Cause no matter how much money I have in my pocket, I’m always gonna choose a free buffet over anything else. After lunch we headed to the beach. The water was bluer than blue but it was a little chilly. 

We stayed a bit then looked at a few shops and then headed back to the ship to enjoy the pool.

That night when the cruise casino opened we noticed that they had two Hot Tamale machines so we sat down and not ten spins into it, Greg hits on the three red sevens for $683 dollars!!! Unbelievable the luck we have been having!!

The next day we woke up in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a super windy day. So we walked around a little. Went to the Straw market, got harassed by the locals then came back to the ship. There were supposed to be six cruise ships on the Nassau port but four of them couldn’t dock because of the wind so it was just us and one Royal Caribbean ship. 

That night they had the most delicious rice pudding. It was right up there with my Aunt Theresa’s rice pudding. I’ve spent my life tasting rice pudding in the hopes that it will taste like Aunt Theresa’s but it always falls short. Somehow this cruise ship must have gotten Aunt Theresa recipe because it was really really good!!

Woke up the next day, March 5th. Somehow texting works on the ship with iPhone people, even though I am on airplane mode. Woke up to two birthday texts, one from my son and one from my Godson. Two of my favorite people in the world. Today, besides being my birthday is also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Today is normally a Day of fasting and what are the odds that Ash Wednesday falls on my birthday and that I’m on a cruise ship. The thought of fasting on my birthday while on a cruise ship would be really really difficult. Well as luck would have it, you only have to fast between the ages of 14 and 59. And today is the BIG 6-0!! 

So for today I will eat like it’s my birthday minus the meat. And so many options to choose from at the buffet. 

It’s still pretty windy on board. Today is a travel day. So the ship is a little crowded but Greg seems to have a knack for finding quiet spots tucked away that no one knows about. The sun is out so I’m happy. 

Our room Steward, Gede, (pronounced Good Day with an Australian accent,) wished us both a Happy Birthday and after breakfast, had two birthday cards from the ship on our bed.

Later on in the day Gede put a birthday poster on our wall. He’s the best! I also received 50 dollars in free play from the casino host because of a Red Bull mix up. 

That night we were thinking of maybe going to one of the restaurants for our birthday dinner but then we decided against it because we read that you’ll be in the restaurant for like 2 hours. I don’t have time for that. Haha. Plus if I was going to go to a fancy restaurant, I would order the biggest, fattest steak they have and being that today is a no meat day, I opted for the buffet. We have both been eating fairly healthy this trip. I know it seems like all we do is eat but for the most part I have cut out “The White Devil” (flour and sugar) from my diet but today is my birthday so all bets are off. I ate all of my favorite things. Loaded Nachos, Pizza and Icecream. It was a great birthday dinner!!

Next day we arrived in Porta Plata which is in the Dominican Republic. Hands down my favorite port thus far! We spent the entire day in the pools. They did an amazing job with this port area. It was huge with several pools, a lazy river, tons of bars and restaurants, plenty of lounge chairs and hammocks. It was awesome and the weather was perfect. I think it was 80°. Perfect pool weather.

The show that night was a magician from Dix Hills. He was unbelievable. I’m still wondering how the hell he did what he did. 

Today is another “at sea” day so a lot of lounging around.

That night I entered the finish this song competition. I did not win but did a hell of an impression of Chers song, “Do you believe in life after love?” We arrived the next day in Fort Lauderdale. It’s pretty chaotic getting off a cruise ship at that port. A zillion people on the taxi line and a zillion more waiting for Ubers. while we were in line we read all the other birthday wishes that came yhrough and we listened to some great singing birthday voiucemails. We did finally grab a taxi and were on our way to get the van. Next stop Nashville. We have about a week to drive the 14 hours which works out perfectly for us since our Sweet Spot is two hours of driving per day. Our first stop was the Worlds Biggest Peanut. Next door was a sausage place. They had a huge store with every kind of sausage you can imagine. Plus tons of spices and candy and honey and barbecue sauces. It was a pretty cool store and a great way to kill time. 

We stayed at a Cracker Barrel that night and got free birthday deserts. Next day we went to a puppet museum in Atlanta, Georgia. Not a big fan of driving through cities but this place was pretty good and had a big parking lot. Definitely worth the stop. Greg really LOVED IT!!

We hit the woods and went to a couple of state parks. The first one was in Georgia overlooking a beautiful lake. 

The next state park was in the mountains of Tennessee. Another beautiful part of the country. The trees are bare right now but the Daffodils are blooming. We found a great state park called Old Stone Fort. Tons of waterfalls and hiking galore. A lot of history here. We decided to stay two nights here since we are about an hour south of Nashville and don’t need to be there till Friday. Did a quick visit to the museum but will go back tomorrow to explore a little more. Made some dinner and then headed into the van. We lost an hour in the time zone change so I’ll probably go to bed even sooner than I normally do.

Next day we headed back and did the full hike around the 50 acre Stone Fort that turns out wasn’t really a fort. It was a gathering place that the Natives used for ceremonies and for trading.  The hike was awesome with tons of waterfalls and two foundations of old water Mills from the 1800’s.

Currently I am sitting in the Nashville Public Library about to send out the blog and also waiting for a plane to land. This weekend I am celebrating Rachel’s bachelorette party. Their plane should land in about an hour. We rented this huge 4 story condo for the festivities. Im about 4 minutes away from there. While Im at the bachelorette party, Greg will be visiting with an old cruise friend from his entertainer days. We will meet up again on Monday. Have a great St. Patty’s Day.