Responsibly Wed

Responsibly Wed

01.16.2026 Got out of town on a boat*

Hey Now! Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. Come inside, come inside. In this chapter, Sweet Ti, Stretch and I are traveling south once more to visit and bob around for a bit. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. We are officially Responsibly Wed. It's been quite seasonal back in Gloucester Co. VA . Last December it snowed twice which is highly unusual. It hasn't snowed enough to cover the ground once in the last 2 winters. But it lightened up a bit after the holidays. We had been having HVAC issues for some time and decided on just changing out the entire system. But the company we hired couldn't do the replacment until the 15th. The day before we leave. But everything went well and we made our way to RIC and parked Foxy at the Park n Go. Hopped a nonstop Jet Blue "Even More". Best seats ever y'all!

Boom! Into FLL and shuttle to Cypress garage and grab Midnight, the Sportage.

And off we go! Our plans are to see Sweet Ti's old Workmate Marie François (Maggie) today and see our dear old friends the Toczynski's tomorrow. Maggie lives over near Lake Okeechobee and Zig & Bo are in Boynton Beach. So I split the difference and booked us a room at a boutique hotel in Lake Worth Beach called the Palm Breeze. Got a killer rate thru AARP Expedia. They are currently doing reno on the rooms. Maybe we will get lucky. The traffic up I-95 wasn't too bad and Sue the GPS found our abode for the next couple of days in a rather charming residential area in Lake Worth. Kinda has an old school Florida feel to the neighborhood. I find the office and check in with a most pleasant lad. Being as it's around noon, our room isn't ours yet. We go to Plan 9 from Outer Space. We are planning on meeting Maggie for lunch and so Sweet Ti calls to tell her that we are on our way to The Original Mario the Baker. It's clos to her house so it's an easy drive for her. Turned out to be a good call. Great pie, friendly service and a very casual atmosphere. We visited for hours.

the girls

I'm sure that we will be back soon for yet another excursion and visit. Back at the ranch, we get the code for our room. Well the bad news is that it hasn't been renovated, but the good news is that it's clean.

Room 3

We crashed early. Long day, more fun and excitement lie ahead.

01.17.2026 Going to the Southern Islands*

Hey Now! I had given Sue the GPS a waypoint for the nearest Dunkin; which is indeed VERY close. Yet another reason for choosing the Palm Breeze. Middy obliged and I was back in a flash with the cash for the stash. Coffee Elizabeth? Rather. Later I took a shower and barely had enough hot water to finish. Did you notice that room picture of the closet??

world's smallest hot water heater...

I got a hold of our Ziggy an we make plans to meet up at their house later this afternoon. So that gives us several hours to ~~gamble~~ drive around the area. We went driving down the avenue that's called the A1A heading south.

First stop is Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park.

This is a really nice and clean park. On the south end of the beach there's still damage from a recent hurricane, but a lovely spot.

We went a few miles past Delray Beach admiring all the wealth. The landscaping is off the hook. Being as it's Friday afternoon in this particular area of Florida I figured it would be better to vacate the premises once the po-po start showing up at each intersection. We hit an Aldi's on the way back for a couple of bottles of their ~~best~~ Moscato for the cruise. We stop by the room and get gussied up for our evening double date. It's an easy 20 minute ride over to Hampton Lakes. Bo and Ziggy and Dusty are awaiting our arrival and we did our usual jawing. Such a nice place they have here.

I played the part of Chauffeur and we took the movable feast over to Santo's Buffet. Our favorite place to dine in Boca Rotan.

4 sporks!

Back at our friends place we talked all things Alaska as Sweet Ti and I are headed there in May and Ziggy and Bo in July. Always so nice to hang out with our old friends, even if it's just for a couple of hours. We say adios and head back to where the Palm Breezes blow.

01.18.2026 Sailing a reach for a following sea*

Port Everglades

Hey Now! Yet another glorious day in southern FLA. Except for the fact that it's 47º! Brr. I hit DD for Coffee Elizabeth and we do our packing and whatnot. There's no major rush- although we are in a concierge cabin this trip so we have early boarding that's not until around 11 a.m. So we take our sweet time. The traffic headed south on I95 is basically non existent. Noice! We pull Middy into the Hertz rental return. The last trip upon the return of our rental we were personally escorted to our ship by a lovely Hertz employee of 35 years- Wes. Such an unexpected kindness. Could lightening strike twice?? I get out of the car and ask after wes. And there he is! We greet him and ask how his family is doing. And oh by the way how about a lift? This is doable except that our car hadn't been processed yet so we had to move everything to another car. That done we are on our way. Everything was looking good until I realized that I had left my phone in the dash of Midnight, Shit. the. bed. Wes is thoroughly nonplussed. He gets on the phone and starts barking orders while executing a textbook u turn. We blast back into the Cypress Garage and search Midnight to no avail. Wes takes off for the office. He's still trying to run down the dude who processed our car. Turns out the dude found my phone right away and turned it in. he just didn't bother to answer his phone. Wes shows up with my phone. We take off once again. In no time we are pulling into Terminal 25. Great job Wes! We lavish him with praise and greenbacks and promise not to forget anything next time. Thanks for the ride Wes!!

there's our room!!

smiling happy people holding hands!

Welcome to the Celebrity Eclipse! We find our muster station and checked off that one and went to our cabin- 9292. We dropped our parcels and loaded the safe, got our sea pass cards and left. Nice to be able to get rid of carry on stuff right away. The rooms are usually ready around 1:30 or so. Never saw Johnny our attendant. Since we are in Concierge we get to have lunch in the fancy eating parlor, Moonlight Sonata. This used to be a perk for Prime Access too- but not anymore. But it is nice to be able to avoid the crowds upstairs at the buffet. We passed by El Bacon (Cafe al Bacio) and grabbed a small table in that strange middle wall in the cafe. I call it the fireplace because that's what it's always looked like to me. The manager came by and asked if we had been waited on. We said no, and he took our order. He apologized for the service.

We immediately made friends. Bob and Jane from Boston. Today's cruise locals. They are on the 2nd leg of a b2b as the hipsters say. We start talking about casino comps and Jane says she had a streak of bad luck there last week. We can relate. At least they seem to be fair on the offers generated. Bob works part time for Delta. He retired from a real job but it didn't stick. Great people.

We found hopefully the right entrance. There are 4 in total. Ah! Right one. We are soon seated. Swanky joint.

Australia!

We met a lovely young couple at the next table. Jackie and Houston from Nevada. They are newlyweds. Kinda like us 25 years ago. We call them "the kids". I took a terrible picture of them-

photo by RB

photo by Jackie

The meal was fine. The service as thin and the plates came out painfully slow. Food was good. Time to wander. Passport Bar seemed likely.

there's that Peroni 0.0

Seems to me it's always a struggle to get on the WiFi once aboard the ship. They did have a podium with a photo/wifi tech available. We bought one premium unleaded package and I get one free for being Sapphire, the uppity blue card. They hooked me up. Then we met Chu Chu bartending at the Passport. She had her hands full with a rowdy guest. Really lady? Chu Chu also worked at the Buffet in the evenings. These guys are everywhere. The nice lady DJ finally came over the intercom to announce that the rooms are ready. Cool.

Perfect room location. Extra hallway width thanks to being on the center hump and right off the elevators.

the proverbial footstools!!

We did a bit of preliminary unpacking and met our room guy Johnny from India. He's by far the oldest crew member we have ever seen. It's his first cruise of a new contract along with his first time attending a concierge class room. We ask after our complimentary sparkling wine and afternoon canapés. I slip him a preliminary gratitude to grease the wheels a bit. We are also invited to the Helipad for the sailaway but demur. We both are wearing flip flops and the invite specifically says closed toed shoes. I don't plan on wearing anything but flip flops for the next 10 days. The captain comes on the blower and gives his spiel about safety and weather (3-4 meter seas!) and then spends quite a while talking about health and hand washing. There was a pretty substantial outbreak of stomach virus an a recent voyage on the Eclipse. Everywhere you go crew are cleaning and dispensing hand sanitizer. And we're off!

Take me to the Pilot please Jim!

And during that exciting event the rest of our bags showed up. So we spent a bit more time moving in and then it was time for the main event. Gambling. It's not too busy in there. The layout of the joint changed quite a bit since we were on the Eclipse on our Bermuda Daydreaming trip. There are now fewer slots crammed on top of each other which is a good thing. And the 6 VP machines have been pried out of the cul de sac they were shoehorned in and placed out in the open. Beautiful. We stopped by the Host desk and Sophia the assistant host said she remembered me from that cruise. I appreciate that. Franky is star server along with Saleh. Pretty much kept us well served. 7 drops of rum at a time. Starting off at 7733 tears on our way to 15k to maintain Sapphire.

Insert coin

We make our first appearance at the buffet and meet Pradeep from El Bacon II. And Chu Chu too! The time share (specialty Restaurant) sales force makes you run the gambit from the elevators to the buffet each way each time. We got snagged. We make reservations for Murano for lunch tomorrow for our big day. Great first day- the ship is in great shape, our room is so easy to get to and yet quite. The crew are very attentive too. Nice start.

01.19.2026 She was making for the trades on the outside*

Sea Day

Hey Now! Happy 25th Anniversary to us! Hard to believe sometimes but I wouldn't change any of it for the world. We start out the day the same way virtually for the whole trip. We ordered the continental (complimentary) breakfast each day. And as an added bonus I fetched us fancy coffees from El Bacon along with some of their killer pastries. I did upgrade our carrier to Gen III.

We do have time for a morning session before our lunch date. Imagine that!

Robots must Pay!

Murano

Dewa is our server for our lovely lunch. Pictured above are interesting breads, crab salad, scallops, filet and lamb chops. Delicious. As we are awaiting our deserts, Dewa shows up with a surprise.

They certainly made us feel very special

fancy yogurt soufflé

Happy Anniversary Sweet Ti!

And it gets better!

I guess there are some hidden concierge perks available after all. Chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of their Peruvian Red. We hung out for a bit in the room. I needed to finish the stage lights anyhow.

It's rougher than it looks out there. Right decent swells fetching too. Being on the 9th deck is telling.

Still kinda on the fence about these afternoon canapés . They lack instruction manuals.

Insert coin

The video poker machines here are very popular and few so that tends to make procuring 2 machines side by side is challenging. Us regulars always end up as friends rooting for each other. I meet Bob and Edie. Edie got a 2x royal playing Ult X for quarters. We love it when there's a VP handy! Takes 'em forever to pay though. Nice crowd and great service. Right up till it wasn't. Once the casino hits the saturation point I call it. You can't get around the overflow from the pit. We cash and hit the buffet for a light dinner and Rum Raisin ice cream. A stroll back to the room.....

Seems like Our Johnny is trying to outdo everyone in our anniversary celebration. Cheers Johnny!

Solo evening session

1640 tier pointers so far

01.19 2026 And the downhill run to Papeete*

Sea Day

Hey Now! Time change this morning. In our favor too! As if traveling over the ocean completely out of sight of land wasn't disorienting enough. The seas are once again feeling agitated. The Bovine does the trick for the most part. We enjoy Continental Coffee Elizabeth.

stock photo by flysrb

Then it's off to see the Solarium. I love the way each ship kind of tweeks the layout just enough to keep things interesting. The Eclipse has a nice Spa Cafe with a fine array of exotic offerings. Both of the hot tubs actually work too.

enjoy!

Insert coin

We eventually reunited- (and it felt....so good) in the room and decided on an early dinner in the main dining room. Once we actually found the right floor. We were quickly seated. Nothing really stood out about the entire meal. The service was once again adequate. Way too long a wait for each course. The food was alright. All told we prefer to eat at the buffet. Or Murano. We hit El Bacon for some après dessert dessert. "I'll take a pistachio latte and a double double Carmel Macciatto". At home I only drink one medium Cafe Bustelo in the morning and have never been in a Starbucks. But give me El Bacon and I go apeshit. Otherwise I only drink water. We hit the casino but the VP machines were heavily occupied. So we went on a slot machine tour of the casino. Nothing but naught. We hung around for the 10 pm snowball drawing. I didn't win again. But we are up to 2964 tier pointies too.

01.20.2026 Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas*

Antigua

Hey Now! Oh look, LAND!

I'm swilling my patented Frozen virgin mojito, extra mint leaves. Sweet Ti is guzzling a Virgin Piña Colada.

We were just on Antigua a few months back and there's not much else to see right around the port area. Maybe I can come up with a mascot for Stretch. I guess I need to hit the Boardwalk Casino to see if they are dealing. Plus try to retrace my steps from a previous trip and find that dirt cheap souvenir shop. Sweet Ti is set at her Solarium. I set off.

Off to see the lizard. I swiftly make my way thru the crush of shops and touri a couple of blocks in. "Braid your beard?". No thanks.

As I was passing one of these numerous entrances to King's Casino I was approached by a shill for the joint. He offered me a dollar gaming token. Yepper, just what I collect. Seeing that I was pleased, he handed me another. These are really nice tokens. 1987 and 1991 vintage. I thanked him profusely and walked into the casino.

Chill atmosphere. I've already got a regular table chip from here. So I make for another of the multitude of exits. I'm looking for that souvenir shop I found last trip. Oh, there it is just down the street from the Western Union office.

The proprietor sort of remembered me and I asked after a companion for Stretch. He's got about 90% clothes. I did find a sweet fridge magnet. And he gifted me a factory 2nd. piece of porcelain. Still no mascot. Onward to a line of small kiosks leading down an alleyway.

I found a lost kitty that was somewhat the worse for wear hidden amongst a family owned shop. Lady and her teenaged daughter. We started bartering over the price. I pointed out the various flaws and she countered that it was carved on the island. I show her the missing claw. When she reached her limit I gave in. We named her Spot.

Stretch and his Spot

well used tokens

Life on a boat.

Insert coin

01.21.2026 We got 80 ft. of the waterline*

St. Marten

Hey Now! A bit of a changeup today. We are going on a rare shore excursion. I ordered this tour from the cruise line. It was on sale for some cheap price. Maybe 28.00 pp. 3 hour tour to the other side of the island and back. So we went. It's a fairly long walk to where the tour busses park. Pretty humid and steamy too. We are herded and routed to an awaiting coach.

With our ~~Proctor~~ Driver and part Catholic school nun- Denis.

Denis let us know in no uncertain terms that he was in charge. There will be no talking in the ranks when it's Denis time. And it's almost always Denis time. Denis likes iguanas. Especially orange ones. He is from the island and has been driving this bus too damned long.

We finally finished our circumnavigation of the island. As far as we know, Denis is still talking. And singing.

I kinda get the feeling that most of these islands look the same once you leave the main towns. Whatever breaks down pretty much sits there and rots. There was a tour bus on the side of a fairly busy road that was obviously abandoned. If it's not too much in the way they just go around it. Then there's also the leftover damage from various storms. Although the shrewd Danish have been reclaiming land here at quite a pace. Just like they do at home in Europe.

Insert coin please Jimmy....

Remember this one Jim???

So every evening they have a so called Snowball Raffle. One lucky player has 10 minutes to respond to their name being called. One entry per 100 points earned in the casino. Nobody won it last night. I'm playing with Bob and Eddie and boom! they call my name. So I jump up and head for the cage. I'm standing there in line and get up to the counter and the tller says that I've got to go to the host desk. That's on the other side of the casino. "You have 2 minutes!!!" I made it.

So then I went back to my machine and there's some dude sitting there. I explained the situation. Oh well. Time to move on.

5102 pts.

01.22.2026 Nicely makin' way*

San Juan

Hew Now! Good Morning from San Juan. Beautiful day here in Puerto Rico. We slept in. Since we were just here a little over a year ago on our Leeward Ho saga. We probably won't even leave the ship today. But we lucked out with our berth for today. The whole of the eastern side of the harbor is within our pervue. And the pop up thunderstorms provided an all day matinee.

We enjoyed lunch at the Spa Cafe and since they only have a hand full of tables here we noticed two ladies searching for a seat. Our table was a four top so we invited them to join us. They are Sue and Judy. Sue has on a t-shirt that says "Woman with Altitude" . She lives at 9,000 ft above sea level. Damn near off of the grid. She's 83. Her long time friend Judy lives in Denver- a mile high. She's 81. We are at 12 ft. A random lady at the next table sez 0 ft. - Va. Beatcheey. Sue and Judy always get the hell out of Colorado for a couple of weeks each winter. Quite on their own. We had a jolly old time hanging out.

Sailaway