Cruising Thru Postcards # 12

BLOG # 1442

It's time for the next Cruising Thru Postcards installment. This is number 12. It's long delayed but only because some postcards arrived quite late.
This little saga began back in August of 2019. My Lovely Teena and I booked a short cruise for early September. We were to depart from Fort Lauderdale on September 2nd for 5 nights , with stops in Key West and Nassau before arriving back in Fort Lauderdale on September 7th. That didn't happen. Our cruise was cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian which clobbered the Bahamas among other places.
Well we rebooked our cruise for a new departure of October 28th. Same cruise, same ports , etc.

We flew out of Calgary on Oct 26th and overnighted in Toronto. Then on the 27th we flew on to Fort Lauderdale and overnighted again.
On Monday October 28 we boarded our ship, Majesty Of the Seas around midday . She entered service with Royal Caribbean in 1992. She carries 2,676 passengers and 833 crew.

We pulled out of Fort Lauderdale around 5 pm on the 28th , sailed all evening and all the next day , arriving in Key West around 8:00 am on Wednesday Oct 30th. One might ask where we were for 39 hours. The distance by road is 304 km. There is even the Key West Ferry and that only takes 3.5 hours. So we spent a lot of time cruising, no doubt in a zigzag formation or some other long , long roundabout way getting from here to there. But we're having fun so all's well.

I didn't post anything in Fort Lauderdale, as they say - been there, done that. Teena and I spent an enjoyable day in Key West, toured around, walked around , did all the tourist things, even bought some postcards.
Here the first one.It's a look at Sloppy Joe's Bar, a popular meeting place in Key West.  A tradition since 1933.

I used 2 stamps on this card. On the right a 5 cent Grapes from 2017. The stamp on the left is the more  beautiful one . It's the one dollar value of the set of 3 Statue of Freedom definitives issued in 2018. The set features the head of the statue that tops the U S Capital dome. This $1.00 Emerald Green and the other 2 - the $2.00 Indigo and the $5.00 Brick Red  engraved stamps are a joy to behold. It's rare to see an engraved stamp these days, I think stamp designers take the easy, quick way.

Posted in Key West but as you can see, it received a Miami Cancellation. Whatever works I guess.

 I just want to show the set of 3 , so you can see what I was talking about above. Hope you like them .

While we were walking about in Key West , we ended up at Mile 0. The marker there designates the southern most point in the continental U.S.A.

Along with a Pear stamp from 2016, I used the 2 1969 First Moon Landing stamps from 2019. They commemorate the 50th anniversary of Man first landing on the moon.

 I couldn't believe how many people were lining up to have a picture taken in front of the sign. Not me - I just walked to the side and snapped away.

Here's the marker and My Lovely Teena.

We sailed from Key West at 7:00 pm that evening. The next day was a sea day, cruising enroute to Nassau, Bahamas. 

We docked  in Nassau at 8:00 am on Friday Nov 1st. 

I managed to find a few postcards and stamps here, so was happy about that. You can never be sure of success when you go ashore. I posted 1 card to myself and Teena posted 1 to me also. Teena's card shows the Atlantis Bahamas Resort on Paradise Island. You also see the Paradise Island Lighthouse. It was constructed in 1817.

The stamp is from 2019 and celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organization. A set of 4 was issued. 

The second Nassau card shows an underwater sculpture at the Coral Reef Garden. It's called Virtuoso Man and was sculpted by Willicey Tynes. 

I used the same stamp as above. 

Now here's the interesting thing about the cards from Nassau. I posted them on November 1, 2019 - they got postmarked at the Nassau Post Office on December 11, 2019 - and arrived here in my mailbox on January 3, 2020. 

What can I say other than the mail does go through - you might just have to wait on it . 

We pulled out of Nassau at 6:00 pm on Nov 1st and set sail for Fort Lauderdale, arriving at 7:00 am on Nov 2nd. 

Then it was an early disembark , a taxi to the airport and a flight to Toronto and then another to Calgary. Home safe . Cruise # 12 was done.

That's  all for this time. Thanks to My Lovely Teena for her card and for putting up with me , buying postcards, visiting post offices and everything else on the cruise. 

Take care.