It’s our last day on Grandeur of the Seas so it is time to pack up and disembark.
This video shows the disembarkation process and give a quick wrap up of our last day.
We hope these videos have been very helpful. Please leave us a comment and let us know what you’ve thought of this series.
Live life to the fullest friends in Phase 2.
Mike and Nancy
Today is our last full day aboard Grandeur of the Seas and it’s a sea day.
We spent our day relaxing and enjoying the sun, pool and ship before heading home tomorrow. Our last dinner was in the main dinning room and then had some great laughs with comedian Phil Palisoul.
After that, at we joined in the battle of the sexes game show, and finally the perfect couple game show hosted by our cruise director Tilita. She’s been one of the best cruise directors we’ve ever had! All were very funny and we had a great time.
In our next video of this series we will show our disembarkation and have a wrap up. We hope this is very helpful so, come pack up for a cruise with us.
Enjoy life to the fullest Living Phase 2.
Mike and Nancy
Today we visit one of the most popular cruise destinations in the world on our Royal Caribbean cruise, Cozumel Mexico. We have been here many times before so in looking for something new to try we came across the Cozumel Bar Hop Tour. Here’s a link to the tour: Cozumel Bar Hop Tour
Unfortunately YouTube is giving me a little difficulty in uploading our video directly here so this is the direct LINK to the YouTube video.
This tour takes us to the remote Caribbean side of the island. Here’s there’s no electricity and pristine beaches. We visit 4 great beach bars where we relax and enjoy all the beauty Cozumel has to offer.
Come along with us as we see the far side of Cozumel!
Happy Phase 2 Living,
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends! Today we show our trip to Costa Maya as we rent a golf cart and zoom around the area stopping at Lunas and the Krazy Lobster. We show you exactly how to rent these carts to have your own adventure. It really is an easy process and a fun activity to do.
After exploring Costa Maya this we enjoy one of our favorite cruse activities, the Love and Marriage Show.
Come along to Costa Maya today with us and have a great Living Phase 2 day.
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends. Today we show you our day 2 on Grandeur of the Seas.
We spent the day relaxing in the all adult solarium and tonight is formal night.
In the video we talk about our dinner and the evening entertainment which included a wonderful dance presentation called Tango Buenos Aires.
Come along cruising with us and living a phase 2 life.
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends. Follow along with us as we board our cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas. We will show the boarding process, and what we do right when we get on the ship as well as some of our first day adventures, such as dining at the amazing Chef’s Table. The Chef’s Table was a treat for sure!
If you are new to cruising and getting ready to go, be sure to see our post and video on How to Pack for a Cruise so you can make the most of your adventure.
Thank you for joining us Friends and make it a great Living Phase 2 Day!
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends, in this video, we share how we pack for a cruise. We will cover how we do our best to not overpack, and yet have clothes for special nights like formal night. Not forgetting anything can be key to a great vacation.
Reminder, this is how we pack, we would love to hear comments on how you pack and your tips, tricks and suggestions.
Here is a link to our Amazon Store where you will find our packing cubes. Please note that may receive a small commission on any purchases made via our storefront. However, this in no way has biased our recommendations. We only recommend products where we’ve had good experiences and use ourselves. It also has no effect on the price you pay. Thank you for your support.
We have a previous video that shows some unusual items we pack that can make your cruise adventure more enjoyable and you may find it HERE.
Included below is our packing list for our 5 night cruise. Please feel free to download it and use it as a jumping off point for your next cruise adventure.
Hi Friends! Today we tour one of the most famous, or infamous, distilleries in the world, Buffalo Trace.
The Buffalo Trace Brands of bourbon are some of the most popular, and hard to get bourbons in the world. These include iconic bourbons such as Blantons, Weller, and Pappy Van Winkle, bourbon enthusiasts love Buffalo Trace. Although we have toured Buffalo Trace previously, today we are taking the Barrel Tour. This was one of the BEST distillery tours we have ever taken. This tour follows a bourbon barrel from its arrival at Buffalo Trace from their cooperage through filling, aging, dumping and bottling. We were right there on the production line and seeing the real process and people that make their excellent bourbons.
So follow along with us to see how these bourbons are made.
Live life fully in Phase 2 friends,
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends,
Today we continue our tour of the Bardstown Kentucky Area with a stop at one of the largest Distilleries in the world, the James B. Beam distillery. We had a great time, not just on the tour, but walking the grounds and having lunch at “The Kitchen” their onsite restaurant and bar.
So some have a drink with us as we show you behind the scenes of the making of some of the most popular bourbon brands in the world.
Have a wonderful Living Phase 2 day!
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends,
In this video, we continue our visit one of our favorite towns in the United States, Bardstown, Kentucky. While here we stayed at the Bourbon Manor Bed and Breakfast. We had an amazing time at this beautiful and historic B&B. It was one of the best B&Bs we’ve every visited. Come Join us for a tour of this great lodging option in one of our favorite towns, Bardstown, Kentucky. This is one place to stay where you won’t be disappointed.
Live life fully,
Mike and Nancy
In this video, we visit one of our favorite towns in the United States, Bardstown, Kentucky.
It’s not only incredibly charming, but it also sits right at the heart of the bourbon trail. If you have any interest in in bourbon this is the place to be, and frankly, even if bourbon is not your thing, the scenery, beauty, and friendly folk that live here make this worth a stop.
Bardstown is located about ½ hour south of Louisville, Kentucky. Its main draw is being an amazing home base for the bourbon trail. You can get to most of the major bourbon distilleries within ½ to 1 hour from here.
Come along with us on this video overview of Bardstown, Kentucky.
Mike and Nancy
While living in phase 2 we have more time for fun hobbies and activities and one of our favorite activities is judging competitive BBQ. Yes, we are competitive BBQ judges and when people hear that they immediately ask, how did you become BBQ judges???
In today’s Phase 2 video we will talk about what’s it’s like to be a BBQ judge and how you can become one yourself.
Here is the link to the KCBS website where you can sign up to become a judge or a team: https://kcbs.us/
Here are the charities we mentioned: Mission Zero Hundred Hours: https://mzhh.org Operation BBQ Relief: https://operationbbqrelief.org/
Please leave us a comment. Are you a BBQ judge? Have you ever heard of competitive BBQ judging? Other suggestions we have missed? If you are a judge, do you have a favorite competition? We love to hear from you. Let us know what you think and if you have any questions.
Cheers to having great hobies in the second phase of life. Make it a great day Friends!
Mike and Nancy
Hello Friends,
In this video we will talk about the many different adventures and activities you can experience onboard. This ship has a TON of things to do. We discuss everything from pools to bumper cars. We show our experience with Zone Zero virtual reality, the shows and many other activities. We also rate and review this with an eye to us living in Phase 2. We hope you enjoy this conclusion of our 3-part series.
In part 1 of our Live Phase 2 Odyssey of the Seas adventure we gave an overview of our planning preparation, travel and boarding for our recent trip on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship. In part 2 we discussed the ship layout, our cabin, the crew, food, and drinks on Odyssey. If you haven’t seen it here’s a link to part 1 and here’s a link to part 2
We strive to give you good, detailed information and options for life and leisure for those of us in phase 2 of life.
Thank you so much for watching friends,
Mike and Nancy
Hi Friends!
Today we have our Part 2 video review of Odyssey of the Seas cruise with Royal Caribbean.
In part 1 of our Live Phase 2 Odyssey of the Seas adventure we gave an overview of our planning preparation, travel and boarding for our recent trip on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship. If you haven’t seen it here’s a link to part 1: https://youtu.be/9xNNFL-m3N0
In this part 2 video we will talk about our experiences with the ship’s layout, cabin, the crew, food, and drinks. We try the unlimited specialty dining package for the first time and discuss our thoughts on the specialty restaurants along with the included dining options and the bars onboard.
Our hope is these videos give you good, detailed information on this great leisure opportunity for those of us in phase 2 of life. In part 3 of this video series, we will talk about all the amazing activities on the ship and give our final thoughts on this ship. Please leave us a comment. Have you cruised Odyssey? What places to you recommend? What’s your favorite cruise ship for a phase 2 get away?
Thank you for watching and we will be back soon with part 3.
Have a great day today Living in Phase 2!
Mike and Nancy
Mike and I enjoy cruising. We’ve been cruising since our honeymoon in 1988.
In part 1 of our Living Phase 2 Odyssey of the Seas adventure we will give an overview of our planning preparation, travel and boarding for our recent trip on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship. In this video we will discuss how we planned this trip, our arrival, our overnight in our port city of Ft. Lauderdale, getting to the ship and the first things to do on the ship such as booking your restaurant reservations and entertainment. We hope these videos give you good, detailed information on this great leisure opportunity for those of us in phase 2 of life.
Enjoy the show,
Nancy
Doctor’s Inn Bed and Breakfast, in West College Corner, IN is located at the Indiana/Ohio border.
We had a beautiful weekend stay at the historic Doctor’s Inn near Oxford, Ohio. It happened we were scheduled to judge a steak competition as well as a barbeque competition in Liberty Indiana at the Smoke on the Water Festival and needed a place to stay.
Sometimes when you are in smaller communities, finding good lodging can be challenging. The Doctor’s Inn met our needs with a delightful stay.
Jay and Charlotte, the owners, were kind and welcoming with tips on what to do and where to eat. The inn was an absolutely charming old Victorian home.
The Doctor’s Inn was built in 1871 for a local physician. You can see the original sign here. Take a look at those office hours! It is because the doctor made house calls in between his times at the office.
The Inn was remodeled in 2017. Jay and Charlotte have owned it since 2021. There are 5 guest rooms with private baths. Having a private bath is a must for us. Do note that four of the guest rooms are up a steep set of stairs. There is one guest room on the main floor, so if stairs are a challenge, be sure to discuss this with Jay and Charlotte.
We stayed upstairs in the Nautical room and it was a spacious room with queen sized bed and large bathroom with a shower. Let us say, we’re not kidding when we tell you the sheets were the softest sheets we’d ever slept on. The towels were nice and fluffy and the shower water was “hot”. A must for us. Nothing can be more disappointing than a lukewarm shower but this didn’t disappoint.
Breakfast was delicious with several homemade goodies such as breakfast casserole, muffins and great coffee. Fresh fruit and yogurt were also available.
Our favorite place to spend time was the enclosed front porch. We would have our morning coffee here as well as play games of cribbage in the evening.
The living room was stocked with reading material although we didn’t have the time to enjoy this room of the house.
We give this bed and breakfast a 10/10 and have plans to return here for next year’s barbeque competition.
If you are in the area and needing a place to stay, this is definitely it.
Be sure to visit the Doctor’s Inn website for pricing and more information.
Happy Living Phase 2 travels everyone. Make it a great day!
Mike and Nancy
This is part three of a three-part series of videos where we give an overview and review of the Excellence El Carmen all-inclusive resort in the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic.
In this video we will give our final overall ratings of all areas of the resort. We also discuss a BIG issue we encountered that almost ruined our vacation, and how you can avoid this near tragedy. We hope these videos give you good, detailed information on this great leisure opportunity for those of us in phase 2 of life.
In the video we discussed airport transfers. We have used DAT, Dominican Airport Transfers. Per the video, here’s their website: https://dominicanairporttransfers.com/
You can find Part 1 HERE
Please leave us a comment. Did you like the resort? Are you going? What have been your experiences? By the way, we just noticed the spelling error in the video. Did you find it? If so laugh with us. 🙂
This is part two of a three-part series of videos where we give an overview and review of the Excellence El Carmen all-inclusive resort. The resort is in the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic. In this video we will give an overview of our room, the amenities, shows, and the food at the resort.
You may find part 1 here where we discussed the grounds, the beach and the main building.
Coming up in part 3 we will give our overall impressions, our review rankings, as well as highlight a MAJOR issue that almost ruined our vacation! We hope these give a good Phase 2 of life overview as we discuss if this is a good leisure opportunity for those if us in phase 2 of life.
Enjoy!
Mike and Nancy
The resort is in the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic. In the video we will show an overview of the main building, the grounds, and the beach. In part 2 we will discuss the food, amenities, and activities. And in part 3 we will give our overall impressions, our review rankings, as well as highlight a MAJOR issue that almost ruined our vacation!
Travel time is a blessing we can enjoy more of during phase 2 of life. As we discuss our travel locations and experiences, we hope this gives you a good overview so you may make a decision if this type of travel or destination is for you.
Enjoy life in phase 2.
Mike and Nancy