Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

Summary  Thank you if you've managed to read this far and I hope you found at least some of it helpful and interesting. As a quick summary, we booked Hilton hotels (primarily Hampton Inn & Suites) throughout all the time on the actual road, apart from Yellowstone where we chose an independent hotel. We were more than happy with Hilton; choosing the same hotel means you know what you're getting. We had a budget of £150 per night (apart from Yellowstone) so that should give you some idea of what we were getting for our money. Food has always been expensive in Vegas but it seems to have increased, even in the last twelve months. To put this into perspective, we had a Subway in Vegas and for two, foot-long subs it was $46. We had the same in Rexburg and it was $19.  That was just one example, it's easy to spend $50-$70 on breakfast/lunch in a restaurant and upwards of $100 for dinner. We went to Prime at Bellagio on our last night and there wasn't much change from $400....

Day 10 This morning we arrived in Ensenada, Mexico and had already decided we weren’t getting off the ship today. The cruise was always about relaxing, not going on an excursion with a million and one other people! We started off sitting in the solarium, but although it was sunny; it was windy, and the wind was cold. Dave went back downstairs first, and I followed soon after. Dave went back to bed to sleep off his hangover, and I went to Cafe Promenade and got myself a hot chocolate and some cookies and sat in the Schooner Bar with my book. After about an hour, Dave appeared, and we went upstairs to Windjammer for a spot of lunch. As we ate, we looked around at the port of Ensenada and decided that perhaps we would get off and go for a wander, just for an hour or so.  We walked from the ship, up to the marina (if you can call it that) and then just along the front. There were a few touristy shops, but we didn’t go into any and after an hour, we headed back. It was nice just to g...

Day 9 We arrived early at Catalina Island and if you wanted to go ashore; you had to get a tender. They weren’t very clear about how often the tenders would return to the ship and, as we didn’t want to be there all day, we missed it. We found out afterwards that they basically run backwards and forwards all day, so at least we know for any future cruises. We spent most of the day in the solarium (adults only) and soaked up a few rays. Since we booked this cruise, I had wanted to go on at least one of the water slides and Dave came with me on the two-person one. It was fun with many ups and downs, and round and abouts, and I’d recommend giving it a go. We had a couple of drinks each and some food from the Taco Bar for me and Windjammer for Dave and chilled out all day. After a shower, we decided on a bit of a bar crawl. We started in the pub, the Copper and Clover, and moved on to Schooner Bar where there was a lovely bartender called Merton from Jamaica but also a very miserable lad...

Day 8 We were awake at 7, Dave went down to get a coffee and I attached my labels to my ducks! Breakfast was in the Main Dining Room and was fine, even if the service was a little slow. As today is a sea day, the casino is open all day, so Dave disappeared to spend his daily budget and I went to hide some ducks. It’s fun hanging around to see if anyone finds them!  I spent the morning on the balcony, reading my book, writing this and just watching the world go by before wandering off for a walk to grab a drink. I hid some more ducks and found a couple more. Lunch was in Windjammer. Neither of us had much, just a hot dog and a few fries. In the afternoon we just wandered, had a few drinks and the day just passed us by. After dinner, we went to see a comedian/ventriloquist called Kevin Johnson, who apparently won America’s Got Talent. He was really good and I think I even got most of the jokes aimed at an American audience! Click Here For More Photos

Day 7 Woke up really early, probably because we had set an actual alarm so subconsciously our body was waking up before it went off. We had checked out and had hit the I15 before the sun had found its way over the mountains. With an 11.30 am boarding time booked for the cruise, we had plenty of spare time, even if we hit some traffic. We managed to navigate our way to Los Angeles World Cruise Center, found the car park, which we didn’t have to reserve and was $20 a day, and trundled our suitcases to the luggage drop-off area. Southampton has it much better organised, in my opinion. We have only done one other cruise and in Southampton, as we parked our car, a trailer drew up behind us and took the suitcases from the car. We didn’t see them again until they appeared outside our stateroom. This time we had to drop them off ourselves. We were on the ship (Navigator of the Seas) by about 11.30 am and as the staterooms weren’t going to be ready until 1 pm we went for a wander round to ge...

Check out some more of my cruise photos here...  Anthem of the Seas 2021 Photos Before the cruise……  I have always fancied at least trying a cruise, but never sure whether I’d actually enjoy it once we were onboard. My husband, Dave, has always categorically said no, not interested, not going, end of story! Then in March 2020, COVID hit the world and for more than a year, most of the world could not travel - not easily, anyway. We had to cancel two US trips, both of which would have encompassed Las Vegas - which those of you who know us, will know, it is our most favourite place in the world.  Now there are a few talented people out there who regularly bring Las Vegas vlogs to YouTube, and one of these is Nicky Furmage . Nicky and his wife Claire decided in July 2021 that they wanted a bit of Las Vegas and found it on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, which was currently cruising round the British Isles. After vlogging their cruise, Nicky uploaded their adventures ont...