We Are Home

La Quinta, California: We disembarked about 8:30a Sunday morning and drove Kris & Steve to the 4L's house where they would spend the day before their late evening flight back to Denver. (They are also home.) Dave and I only stayed a few minutes as the grandchildren were off to Hebrew school. We thought it best to head out to the desert as the largest outlet mall in America sits between Lisa's house and our house and it was the weekend after Thanksgiving. Traffic. But we sailed home in time for brunch at our clubhouse!

Here is a quick recap of our last two days on the ship - both days spent at sea, pointed north to Los Angeles:

Friday: We again woke to sunny skies, and were at the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula. Anyway, this was our port side view much of the day, with the occasional turtle or dolphin sighting:

The four of us had planned to go to the Savory dining room for lunch, but decided outdoor dining would be better due to the great weather, so went to the American Diner on Deck 17. It’s a burgers and shakes kinda place and we had another good meal on the Bliss. While enjoying our burgers, we were able to watch fellow cruisers going down the water tube slide... further cementing my plan to never go inside a water tube slide.

I stitched much of the afternoon, while DT read. So nice to be so lazy! No wifi. No phone. We had all the basic news channels on the TV if we ever wanted to know what was happening, but we really didn't. I found this silly silver bendy-wire thingy with clamps on either end and, dang, if it doesn't hold my needlepoint canvas frame well. (I like to stitch using a frame and a stand, so this simple device works very well in the RV/hotel/ship and takes up very little room/weight in my suitcase.) This canvas is the backside of a glasses case. The front side has a pink background and a white leopard/cat-of-some-sort with spots. I will stitch the spots in a black/silver metallic fiber. It is on 18 mesh and I am using silk fiber. Don't faint, but I am stitching this for myself.

We had a late dinner reservation at the fancy steakhouse Friday evening. Again, great food, but it was pretty dark and my photos didn't turn out well.

Saturday: Our last day at sea, and we were getting closer to Los Angeles and would occasionally sail through a fog bank and the Captain would blow the fog horn every minute. But most of the day, our view west from our balcony was this:

We didn't see whales the last two days, but you could barely look out for more than a minute and not see dolphins - sometimes a really large group of them. Often they were floating on top of the water, sleeping. For the first time we went to the dining room for breakfast. (Usually we just have coffee and croissants brought to our cabin.)

The ship did not air college football (soccer is king), so we watched the Duck score on the ship's terrible wifi. Dave checked his phone every few minutes, and when it became clear the Ducks would beat the Dawgs, the four of us went to the Asian-fusion restaurant on Deck 8, Food Republic, for dinner. (Dave and I remembered we had first dined at this restaurant on the last night of our Panama Canal cruise and thought it was one of the best meals. Again, tonight, the food was very good and it is much more fun to try different appetizer-sized plates with four people than two people. We had sushi, salads, Korean chicken, Japanese chicken and all sorts of other things.

One last nightcap in the Observation Lounge and we all went back to our staterooms to pack. It really was a good cruise and nice to be able to be with family and celebrate a birthday on a cruise.

Dave and I did notice a few things had changed on the Bliss since our last sail in December of 2022. The carpets are looking a bit worn and the upholstery on some of the dining chairs need a refresh. We no longer had turn-down service in the evening and our cabin steward disappeared every day at 4p, never to be seen again until the next morning. Very odd. The food was still good, the staff are ridiculously helpful, charming, and never laughed at my Tagalog. The ship will go into dry dock for several weeks for a touchup, so that is a good thing.

Thanksgiving Note: Steve heard a lecture from the galley chefs. Seems the ship served 3,400 pounds of turkey on Thursday. The same meal was served in all dining rooms, the speciality restaurants, and to the crew (if they desired).

Until my next update, I remain, your home again correspondent.

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