I woke up seeing light streaming through the balcony door and realized that I had slept through the sunrise. Not only did I miss the sunrise but I also realized that I had slept nine hours. “What a great night’s sleep”, I thought to myself.
A few minutes after waking, a gentle knock broke the quiet. Our continental breakfast had arrived. Our lite breakfast included of a lovely plate of fresh fruit, a tasty plate of fresh pastries and orange juice from room service. Randy made a quick run up to the concierge lounge and brought back cups of café lattes.
We proceeded out to our wonderful balcony under a cloud filled sky and slight chilly breeze. By the time we finished our breakfast the sun’s rays had melted away the clouds promising a lovely, sunny day.
Today we dock in Key West, Florida. Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida and the southernmost city in the contiguous United States. Key West is 4 miles long and 1 mile wide and lies at the southernmost end of U.S. 1. Key West has a population of 24,171.
We were not going to reach our port until 2:00pm so we dressed and took a leisurely walk around the promenade deck, stopped in the shops to see what was new and then stopped to admire a beautiful Gingerbread Christmas Village display. We had seen the village on the first day but today we stopped and looked at all the different designs employed the various chef’s to create this lovely display. The village was really quite festive looking and, I am sure, deliciously inviting for some of the younger passengers on board.
The time had finally arrived for us to prepare for our short visit to the city. We boarded the shuttle into town and, once again, were given a wonderful and colorful history of the city. We have been here several times over the last several years and have always enjoyed walking around town. During other visits we have visited the southernmost point, Duval Street, Sloppy Joes, Caroline’s and Ernest Hemingway’s Home and Museum and enjoyed it all.
Today however, we had two missions to accomplish; one to find a gift for our wonderful diamond concierge, Alan and after dark to walk down Duval Street to the see the city lit up a decorated for the holidays.
We accomplished the first after popping into several shops along Duval Street. As we walked around I found myself a little disappointed because while on our visit here in 2017 the town was festooned with decorations everywhere. This visit there were not many decorations at all save the wreaths around the lampposts.
After we finished our shopping we decided to walk back to catch the shuttle and return to the ship. As we were walking along, we spotted the sign for the Hog’s Breath Saloon and decided to stop in for a cold beer. The bar and restaurant were very full. After waiting for a few minutes we managed to grab two stools at the bar and settled in. The atmosphere was lively, the bartender was very funny and best of all, the beer was very cold.
We returned to our cabin to find two lovely surprises. One was a bottle of Cabernet from the Hotel Director and the other was a lovely plate of chocolate covered strawberries from the Crown & Anchor Society. “Well“, I thought, “I know where we are going to have happy hour this afternoon“.
We sat on the balcony and enjoyed our private happy hour and then made preparations for dinner and the rest of our evening. Dinner was wonderful as always. After dinner we made our way to the Diamond Lounge to say, “Hello” to Alan and enjoy an after dinner cocktail.
We returned to the cabin and watched as the ship slowly pushed away from the pier and started its journey to our next port-of-call, Cozumel, Mexico.
Enjoy,
Mary
The Delicious Divas 
Ahh, I remember the aft cabin and the benefits of the extra large balcony and the wonderful view of the ship’s wake. I enjoyed our travels thru Key West trying to find a gift for Alan. I just love visiting Key West!!!