@tessjette
Cuba January 2017
Jan 07 - Jan 13 2017
@tessjette
No entries have been mapped yet.
Jan 07 2017
A beautiful doe in Bob and Mary's driveway for the 4:15am pickup. The drive to the airport was uneventful. Pretty chilly at 19 degrees but we decided to stand outside and check our bags there since inside the terminal was packed! Turned out to be much longer than expected because of the original mixup with Pete's name. An issue at every airport.
Waiting for our luggage in Miami and everyone is on their phones.
Our first meal on the trip. And fabulous. Followed by a stroll around Miami and through the boardwalk mall. Rain and drizzle the whole day but we never got caught.
Bill enjoys their signature crab cake.
I think Mary is totally geared for Cuba and thinking rum. Can you say Captain Morgan?
The best salesman gets the best sales pitch ever. Uh, no, we did not buy the scalp massager, but everyone in the test group was definitely happier.
It's a bird, it's a plane......
That's one helluva tire shred Petey!
Concrete will never again seem so amazing as it did that night we were under the tramway lights together in Miami.
Bill makes a fashion statement at the Blue Martini.
Mary, Tess and Laurie after a Blue Martini.
@tessjette
1
100 Chopin Plaza, Miami, FL 33131, USA
Jan 08 2017
The morning of the cruise! High winds and rough seas expected. Everyone is checking their Dramamine levels. 40 This morning in Miami.
Breakfast at Ole in the hotel. Excellent service. Ordered off the menu. Bill comments on how good Miami tap water is. Pete says if I don't behave he's throwing me in the ...
Our driver said, "too blessed to be stressed." Our Adonia porter Corey.
Waiting in the hallway for the rest of our team.
Safety Orientation - No selfies please until the end of the orientation.
As we are sipping our first drinks on the boat, pulling away from the pier, watching the first dance class on the lido deck, Bob turns to Mary and said, "Beats sittin' in front of the TV." For The Pacific restaurant, Carmo as server, Table 31, and Madison as support. Be there for 6:00.
@tessjette
Jan 10 2017
Only Tess and Pete have water bottles in their fridge. No coffee, which Nora brought immediately. Everyone else has beach towels except Pete and Tess. Our twin beds were put together nicely while we were at dinner. Muster was successful. Cohort orientation for off boarding definitely needs work. Add signage to remark group location and show pictures of the difference between CUC and CUP. Only accept buildings, no faces. Greystone Merlot at dinner. Pete, Tess and Bill went to see the Havana Motor Club movie. Pete was the only one that could stay up for the whole thing. A great story to research at home when we're not so tired and indulged.
@tessjette
Jan 10 2017
Got up 6 times pre-dawn to fiddle with the door gasket that was providing us with a Klingon opera. We spent all morning preparing for our special paid off road tour. Very excited to on a special trip out without the huge crowds. Early breakfast, bags and tickets all organized. There was a power failure at the pier affecting the money exchange and security offices delaying our disembarkation by over an hour. We finally get called, get through security and immigration only to discover none of us have a ticket for the correct excursion. "That bus left ages ago!" We're all disappointed but have no options so must move along with the plan before us. We bus through a couple famous squares, a stop at San Juan Hill, then a famous fort with spectacular views, then lunch at the Tropicana, in Santiago (built in 1990), then a cultural dance exhibition. Pete thought they were getting ready to kill a chicken. Havanatur guide on our bus said the train system is run by the Pope. It may leave on time but only God knows when it'll get there.
Thomas
@tessjette
Jan 12 2017
"This is coffee made by me...." Carmo
@tessjette
Jan 13 2017
Day 1 in Havana. The tour guide told a joke that Cuba has wonderful doctors but they deliver children differently than in the US. In America when the baby is born the slap the baby's bottom to make it cry. It is very different in Cuba and the methods are much more advanced. The doctor simply leans down and whispers in the baby's ear, "You're Cuban."
@tessjette