Review of Maryland Lottery's Fast Play Games

 I don't remember when the Maryland Lottery first came out with their Fast Play games. The games are a cross between the number games on paper tickets and scratch offs. They come on a paper ticket like the number games Example: Cash For Life but they offer the gambler the instant win feature that comes with scratch off tickets without the scratching.

The games start at $1 and go up to $20 with the prize amount increasing as the ticket price goes up. Some of the games offer a set prize while others offer the gambler a progressive jackpot that appears to go up $1 for every losing ticket; The most expensive games that cost $20, have progressive jackpots which start at $250,000. The jackpot steadily increases until someone wins it where upon it resets to $250,000 and starts its way back up again.

There are posted odds on each game but, these odds are irrelevant. The reason I say that is because the gambler is playing against all the other gamblers that are playing their game at the same time. So, if the stated overall odds are 1 in 3, 1 ticket could go to someone in Baltimore, a second ticket could go to someone in Hagerstown and a third ticket could go to someone in Cumberland and it's pure luck who gets the winner. The only time the odds might be relevant is if the gambler is playing when a lot of others aren't. In comparison, with scratch offs, you're playing against the book. It's just a matter of time and luck until a winner shows up. Conversely, the gambler playing the Fast Play games could potentially buy 10 tickets and not get a single winner as they could go to other players in the state who were playing at the same time.

One plus of this feature of the Fast Play games is that it is also possible to get back to back winners. I've had on a number of occasions where I paid for 2 tickets and, I happen to pay for them at the right time so both came up winners. Back to back winners are rare in scratch offs.

Overall, the games are more of gamble then scratch offs because you are playing against all the other players that are playing at the same time. Still, they can offer some jackpots that the scratch offs would be hard to match. The jackpot at the time of this post for the Fast Play Diamond Mine game is over $1,000,000 and unlike the scratch offs where you would get the $1 ($20 game) or $2 million ($30 game) over 20 years, in this case you'd get it ALL barring the taxes you'd have to pay.

Ultimately, it depends on how much of a gamble the gambler wants to take. Also, some of the games offer games the scratch off don't like Blackjack ($2 play) which I particularly enjoy. I wouldn't recommend you buy a lot of these tickets because if lady luck isn't with you, you could get your clock cleaned. However, the games are worth a play for the would be gambler. Out of 2 thumbs, I give them 1 because you are playing against everyone else in the state at that time which makes it more a gamble then the scratch offs. If you want a more likely chance of winning (relatively speaking), play scratch offs. 

Good luck to any gamblers out there and please remember to gamble responsibly.

Review of Super 24 Market

 A small but very nice Hispanic market has opened in Jessup, Maryland. The store's address is 8530 Washington Blvd and is called Super 24 Market. The store is aiming for different Hispanic groups like Peruvians with its Inca Cola. It has a small produce section as well as small butcher section. Yesterday, I bought some cooked shrimp from there for approximately $8.40 a pound. The shrimp were very good. It offers various baked goods, some dairy and some frozen items. It can send money transfers for various customers who wish to send money back to Mexico, Central America and South America. It has 2 checkout lines which is enough considering how busy it gets. Parking is ample though it is shared with other shops in the strip mall (don't know its name). Both cashiers can speak Spanish and 1 may not be able to speak any English.

Overall, I've been very pleased with this small store. I like going here to see what they have. I doubt they're the cheapest around but, they do offer a convenience of not having to go to a full blown supermarket. I think Hispanic customers would like the particular Hispanic products and, that the staff do speak Spanish. I give this quaint store 2 thumbs up. Happy Shopping all!

Review of Banquet's Chicken and Broccoli Pot Pie

Yesterday, while at the Silver Spring, Maryland Dollar Tree store, I decided to buy a Banquet Chicken and Broccoli Pot Pie. I like pot pies. They microwavable, healthy and tasty. In the case of Dollar Tree, they're cheap ($1) but small. This pie was just 7 ounces. Calorie wise, you're talking 330 calories for 1 pie. Cooking time was just 4 to 5 minutes (I split the difference and set my microwave for 4 and a half minutes). Banquet does recommend you use a cooking thermometer to make sure the pie reaches 165 degrees so, it's fully cooked.

Overall, I thought Banquet's pot pie was ok. I wasn't pleased with the size but, you get what you pay for. The pie is typical of the cheap and small portions you can get at Dollar Tree. I wouldn't go out of my way to get one of these but, I would buy a few for some cheap eats. Bon Appétit all!

Review of Jessup Maryland MOM's Organic Market

I don't know the exact time but, the MOM's Organic Market store at 7351 Assateague Drive in Jessup, Maryland underwent a major renovation. The renovation increased the space of the store, installed it's own bakery, created a break area as well as a small dining area. The store also has a new sandwich shop though I haven't tried that yet. The renovation did a great job of improving this store in my opinion. It's a big improvement from what it had been before. I particularly like the fresh baked items like their big cardamom oatmeal butterscotch cookies which sell for $2.99 each. Another plus is I believe they have more items for sale now including a bigger selection of Kettle Brand potato chips. I tried some Honey Mustard flavored ones for the first time since I like honey mustard. I felt the flavor of those were too faint.

Overall, I really like the improved store. It's definitely gotten me to shop there more. If you like their products and are in Jessup, Maryland, you should check out this store. I give it 2 thumbs up! Happy shopping all!

Review of The Frog and Onion Pub

This past October, I did a 5 night cruise to Bermuda on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. One of the things I was looking forward to was checking out the microbrewery in the Royal Naval Dockyard. It's the only one in Bermuda. As I remember, they offered 8 varieties of beers and ales. I ended up trying the Somers Amber Ale which I found pretty good. The ale came in 2 sizes - 9 ounce ($5.99) and 20 ounce ($10.99). For $5 more, they have a deal where you get to keep the glass. What they do in that case is you take your receipt to their gift shop and, they'll give you a new souvenir glass. I ended doing this option as I enjoyed the pub so much.

The pub does offer various food but as I was on a cruise where I had plenty of free good food already, I didn't try any of their food.

The pub also had entertainment the night I was there. It was a 1 man band who played various songs.

The pub is in a 150 year old warehouse and has a wonderful atmosphere.

Overall, I was very pleased with the pub and will definitely be back when I return to Bermuda Memorial Day weekend 2020 on Grandeur of the Seas. If you're in Bermuda, this place is worth checking out. I give it 2 thumbs up.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Gold Rush Family of Scratch Off Games

On May 20, 2019, the Maryland Lottery came out with a family of scratch off lottery games called Gold Rush. The tickets start from $1 and go up to $20. Below are the overall odds of winning for each game (Source: Maryland Lottery Website), the top prize and the number of top prizes remaining as of the day this blog entry was posted:

$1 - Overall Odds: 1 in 4.57 - Top Prize: $1,000 - Top Prizes Remaining 29 (started with 30)

$2 - Overall Odds: 1 in 4.24 - Top Prize: $10,000 - Top Prizes Remaining all 5

$5 - Overall Odds: 1 in 3.84 - Top Prize: $50,000 - Top Prizes Remaining 7 (started with 8)

$10 - Overall Odds: 1 in 3.44 - Top Prize: $100,000 - Top Prizes Remaining all 5

$20 - Overall Odds: 1 in 2.89 - Top Prize: $1,000,000* - Top Prizes Remaining all 7

* The $1,000,000 prize is paid out over 20 years. There is a cash option but the winner won't receive $1,000,000 if they take that option.

On the overall odds, these are the odds for the entire game meaning that OVERALL, there will be 1 winner in so many tickets. Players can do better at times and at times they can do worse. I saw that today when I played $2,000,000 Richer. The overall odds for that game are 1 in 2.82 BUT, the book I played was averaging 1 winner in 5 tickets. Conversely, I played the $20 Gold Rush game and hit 3 winners in 5 tickets!

All these games have 2 instant win features. The first is a wad of money symbol. When you uncover this symbol, you automatically win the prize below. The second is a gold bar symbol. If you uncover this symbol, you automatically win the prize times whatever the game multiplier is. Example: you uncover a gold bar symbol on the $1 game and the prize amount is $2. The multiplier for that game is 5 so, you've automatically $20. The more expensive the ticket the bigger the multiplier is with the top one being 100 times whatever the prize is ($20 game). Below are the different instant win multipliers for the different games:

$1 - X5 - 5 times the prize shown

$2 - X10 - 10 times the prize shown

$5 - X20 - 20 times the prize shown

$10 - X50 - 50 times the prize shown

$20 - X100 - 100 times the prize shown

Another interesting feature of this new family of scratch off games is that Maryland Lottery is promoting it for the month of June with their rewards program. Normally, you would need either $50 worth of losing tickets for each spin on the rewards wheel (up to 5 times) or $125 in losing tickets for each spin on the rewards wheel (no limit on spins as long as you have $125 worth of losing tickets for each spin). However, for the month of June, if you get one losing ticket for each game i.e. one $1 losing ticket, one $2 losing ticket, one $5 losing ticket, one $10 losing ticket and one $20 losing ticket, you get a spin on the rewards wheel (a maximum of 5 spins) where you can win either reward points or draw points. Also, please note, you must be a member of Maryland Lottery's Rewards Program to get the spins and, you must enter the losing tickets via the rewards website or via the app.

Lastly, for those who are interested, here are the number of winning numbers you get that you could potentially match and the number of chances you get to hit for each game:

$1 - 2 numbers - 6 chances

$2 - 3 numbers - 10 chances

$5 - 4 numbers - 15 chances

$10 - 5 numbers - 25 chances

$20 - 5 numbers - 30 chances

Overall, I found this a nice family of scratch off games that was easy enough to understand and play. I was surprised that Maryland Lottery didn't extend it to the $30 games as well however $2,000,000 Richer hasn't been out that long and that may be why they didn't. As these games are the newest and latest games out, players may want to give them a try though please do gamble responsibly if you do. You aren't guaranteed to win your fortune playing. Good luck to you!

Disclaimer: I don't have ANY connection with the Maryland Lottery and all comments on this post are MY own. I didn't receive ANY remuneration of any kind for this post or any free tickets so, I could play each of the games. The source for the overall odds and prizes remaining is the Maryland Lottery website. I got the top prize amounts and the multiplier numbers from the tickets I bought with MY own money.

Review of Bell View Fancy Hot Pickled Cauliflower

While shopping at the Weis Supermarket at 9250 Washington Boulevard in Laurel, Maryland, I got lucky and was able to buy some Bell View Fancy Hot Pickled Cauliflower. The 16 ounce jars normally cost $4.69 but this Weis had them on clearance for $2.34 meaning half off. A great deal!

The cauliflower is correctly described as being hot though not outrageously so. Due to the fact it's pickled, it should have a good shelf life (I couldn't find a use by date on the jars I bought). After you open a jar of it, it must be refrigerated. Calorie wise, a 1 and 1/2 piece serving has zero calories according to one of the jars I bought. The product is kosher and has the kosher tag on the jar. The cauliflower has some crunch left in it which I particularly liked. I don't like soggy mushy vegetables. Sodium wise, that same serving has 420 milligrams of sodium or 18% of the daily amount recommended based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Overall, I was very pleased with this product. I think it would serve as a good appetizer or calorie free healthy snack. I look forward to having some more of it in the future. Bon Appetit all!

Review of Benton's Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies

One discovery I made at ALDI Supermarkets is Benton's Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies. The cookies remind me of cookies called Samosas by the Girl Scouts in the United States of America. They seem VERY similar. One way they're not similar however is the price. The last time I bought cookies from the Girl Scouts, they were $3 a box. They may have gone up since that time. ALDI's sells these cookies by Benton (whoever they are) for just $1.35 box in Maryland (I don't know if the price would be different in some other state). This is a great price for these cookies as you get 18 of them for that price. And these cookies are REALLY good. These were my favorite with the Girl Scouts and now they're my favorite at ALDI.

If your local ALDI supermarket has these in stock, I would definitely recommend you buy some. I give them 2 thumbs up. Happy cookie munching all!

Review of ALDI Supermarkets

A couple months ago, I decided to check out the new ALDI supermarket in Laurel, Maryland. I'd heard of them from a friend but, I'd never been in one. The supermarket was different from what we're used to in the United States of America (USA). For starters, they're smaller than most supermarkets here. Also, their selection is more limited (you would have 8 or 9 types of snack items vice an entire row of them. One surprising thing about them is their choices of genuine German items example: Moser Roth chocolate bars. I have a friend who is a Germanophile and really likes a lot of their German items. I've enjoyed some and handed off others to my friend when I haven't been thrilled with other trial choices. Also, I've heard the chain is German owned (don't know if this is true though it would explain the number of genuine German food items).

The chain has shown some real smarts in that they keep their shopping carts chained together and, you must insert a quarter coin (25 cents U.S.) to detach the chain so, you can use one of the carts. This is really smart as it gets people to return their cart instead of them ending up all over the parking lot and nearby neighborhood.

On shopping bags, you must pay 9 cents for one of their plastic shopping bags unless you bring one of your own.

The chain appears to be expanding in the USA as they've also opened a store in Columbia, Maryland which is bigger than the Laurel, Maryland store and consequently has a better selection including some baked goods.

Overall, I've been really pleased shopping at the Laurel and Columbia, Maryland ALDI supermarkets. I enjoy trying their various German items as well as their own brand items. They do have good prices on many items at their stores. I give this chain 2 thumbs up and will be a regular shopper at their stores. Happy shopping all!

Review of Blake's Specialty Meats Smoked Hunter's Sausage

While visiting the Jessup, Maryland Ollie's Discount Store, I stumbled upon some bags of Blake's Specialty Meats Smoked Hunters Sausage. As I got to try some Kowalski Hunter Sausage when I was visiting my Dad in Michigan, I decided to try this.

According to Ollie's, it normally sells for $2.99 though Ollie's was selling it for $1.99 and, it comes in a 5 ounce pack. Taste wise, I found it somewhat bland. However, it would be handy for hunters and others who want a meat snack that doesn't require refrigeration (unless you don't use it up within 3 days).

Overall, I though the sausage sticks were ok though not great. I did feel I got a pretty good deal on this at Ollie's though it would be highly iffy if you'll find it at an Ollie's close to you. I don't know what store chains might sell the brand. The product would be useful if you want a meat snack you can easily carry with you. Bon Appetit all!

Please note: these sausages are made out of pork with some sugar, garlic and seasoning thrown in. Those who have issues with pork should avoid this product.

Photos of Baltimore, Maryland Cruise Ship Terminal

Once you past security at the entrance, this may be your first stop i.e. parking your car at the terminal. There are lots on either side of the terminal and, you pay before you drop off your luggage and enter the terminal. The area is locked up when there aren't any ships at the terminal.

This will be either your first or second stop depending on whether your leaving your car at the terminal. If you're not, you should get whoever is driving you to bring you over to this part of the terminal so, you can easily drop off your luggage. I believe they later transfer the luggage from these containers to the ones the ship uses.

This part is pretty obvious i.e. you go in through the front entrance. When you disembark the ship, you'll come out the side of the building.

This picture shows the security scanners you'll have to pass through. I found security tough and no nonsense.

This picture shows the different lines boarding passengers will go through depending on their level of membership with Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society (frequent cruiser program) or lack of. Also, it shows some of the seating in the waiting area. Depending on when you arrive (I arrived earlier than expected), you may not have a wait.

This picture shows the entrance to a special lounge for those who are staying in suites and or are Pinnacle level members with Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society. Presumably, they got to board first once boarding started. There is a separate seating area in this area for Diamond and Diamond Plus members who are the second ones to board. They did offer water and maybe something else here. I don't remember seeing any soda or snack machines.

This last picture is of the standard mobile gangway you'll take to get on the ship. You'll walk out of the terminal building and zig zag up the gangway to where it connects to Grandeur of the Seas.

Overall, I feel Baltimore does a good job of getting you on and off the boat during your cruise. They claim they'll have you on the boat within an hour of arrival though this depends on when you arrive. I arrived around 10 a.m. and, they were still busy getting people off the boat so, I had to wait. I forget when they finished getting all the departing passengers off. For those who didn't bring their car or arranged to have someone pick them up, there are taxis outside the front of the terminal though I wasn't wowed by the one I took. I'd recommend you take Uber or Lyft as I think you'll get a better vehicle and maybe a better price. If nothing else, you should be able to get a decent quote from them on what it'll cost you.

I hope you find this post useful. I'll be cruising again out of Baltimore on Grandeur in January 2019 on a slightly different itinerary i.e. 1 day in Nassau, Bahamas and 1 day at Coco Cay, Bahamas. Royal Caribbean does offer cruises out of Baltimore on Grandeur of the Seas to Maine/Canada, Bermuda, Southern United States of America & the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I hope to do a Caribbean cruise in 2020 with my favorite aunt and uncle. One big down side to the ship's Caribbean cruises (in my opinion) is how much time you'll spend at sea getting down there and back (3 days each way).

The other major (in my opinion) cruise line that cruises out of Baltimore regularly is Carnival (Royal Caribbean's great rival). Their ship is called Pride and does 7 day cruises that leave and arrive every Sunday (as far as I know). As I've only cruised with Royal Caribbean, I don't know how that ship's cruises stack up. I have heard Carnival is the party line where Royal Caribbean tries to offer something for everyone.

That's all for now. Happy Travels and Happy Cruising!

Update: November 9, 2020 The Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal is closed due to the coronavirus at the time of this update and, I don't have any idea when it'll reopen and cruising will start back up again. As I understand, cases of the virus in Maryland are going back up making it very unlikely they'll start offering cruises out of the terminal again any time soon.

Update: August 4, 2021 The Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal has reopened HOWEVER no cruise ships are sailing as far as I know. I am keeping an eye on when Royal Caribbean plans to start cruising out of Baltimore again but, I haven't seen a date so far. I suspect Royal Caribbean is going to go with the bigger ships first as they would make more money for them. Also, there is the issue of having to do a trial cruise first on the ship to test their virus procedures.

Update: September 3, 2021 Royal Caribbean announced Enchantment of the Seas will start sailing out of Baltimore on December 23, 2021. Before it does that cruise, I believe it has to do a trial cruise to show the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that the ship has its procedures in place to their satisfaction. I haven't heard when the the trial cruise will be.

Update: October 31, 2021 Carnival started sailing again out of Baltimore on September 12, 2021 with a 7 night cruise to the Bahamas.

Review of Wai Lana's Cassava Pops

While visiting Dollar Tree's Jessup, Maryland store, I stumbled upon 3 different types of Wai Lana's Cassava Pops. They're like potato chips but, they're made with cassava (yuca root) which is native to Central and South America. Wai Lana turns the root into a paste and then applies a little heat and pressure to make the chip like pops. The advantage of doing this is there aren't any added calories from frying or baking.

The pops come in 3 flavors: sea salt (125 calories per serving). luau bar-b-que (120 calories per serving) and volcano (110 calories per serving). Volcano is the hot and spicy flavor though I didn't find it that hot. The luau bar-b-que is supposed to sweet & tangy. As I haven't tried this flavor yet, I don't know if that's true or not. On the sea salt flavor, I found the chips tasty.

Each flavor comes in 3 ounce (3 servings) bags at Dollar Tree and cost $1 (of course).

Wai Lana states the pops don't have any gluten (certainly true as they're not made with wheat), are GMO and trans fats free, don't have anything artificial, are suitable for vegetarians and are kosher.

Allergy wise, Wai Lana warns that the pops are made in a factory that may contain soy, wheat and dairy though no peanuts or tree nuts.

The pops are made in the United States of America which is a little plus to me and are distributed by Wai Lana Snacks out of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Overall, I was very pleased with this product. I thought the 2 flavors I tried were tasty and, I look forward to having some more of this product. This product gets a thumbs up from me. Happy munching all!

Source of information on the product: the 3 bags I bought from the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree store with my own money. I'm not in any way affiliated with Wai Lana Snacks and all opinions stated in this review are my own.

Review of Royal Caribbean's Scratch Off Games

I fancy myself something of an expert on lottery scratch off games as I've played a number of them in Maryland and a few in Virginia. I knew Royal Caribbean offered scratch off lottery tickets in their ship's casinos. While on my April 2018 cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas, I visited the ship's casino and proceeded to play each of their scratch off games.

I wrote a review previously on Royal Caribbean's scratch off games and, this review is a bit of an update. The biggest change I found with Royal Caribbean in this way was they added $10 and $20 games. The $10 game offers a top prize of $50,000 and, the $20 game offers a top prize of $100,000. In comparison to Maryland Lottery's scratch offs, these prizes are low. Maryland Lottery offers a top prize of $100,000 for $10 games and, $1,000,000 (paid over 20 years) for $20 games.

Another downside I found to the Royal Caribbean games is the odds get worse! as they get more expensive. According to one of the tickets I bought, the overall odds of winning something in their $20 game called Glittering Gold are 1 in 5.09. In Maryland, the normal odds for a $20 game are 1 in 3 or slightly less. This confounded me a bit.

Overall odds for the $5 and $10 games are the same at 1 in 4.48 which in my opinion is also poor. These odds are more in line with Maryland Lottery's $1 games which offer the worst overall odds of all their games.

Their $10 game called 20X THE CASH offered the most instant winner chances. This game is very similar to Maryland Lottery's 100X game except the instant win symbols go from 2X to 20X whereas in the Maryland game, they go up to 100X. The instant win symbols are 2X, 5X, 10X and 20X where you win the prize instantly times the instant win symbol example: if you hit a 5X symbol, you win 5 times the prize shown below the symbol so, if it was a $20 prize, you would win $100 in this case.

The $20 game does have a one instant win chance on this game. At the top of the ticket is a round covered chance which you scratch off and if you scratch off a coin with a dollar symbol on it, you instantly win $100. Otherwise, this game is like ALL the other games in that you try to match 1 or more of the 5 numbers at the top of the ticket to win some prize.

Another gripe I have with Royal Caribbean is they don't show the various prize amounts in their games except for the top prize. Presumably, you have a chance of winning at least what the ticket cost you but, it's anyone's guess what prize amounts are in between that and the top prize.

One last note: if you win a prize of $100 or higher on ANY of the games, you will have to provide the following information on the ticket: sign your name, print your name, the prize amount, your cabin number and the date. Also, the cashier will have to sign the ticket.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with Royal Caribbean's scratch off games. Like all scratch off games in general, they're easy to play and probably the easiest games in the ship's casino. Still, the poor overall odds and smaller prizes are a real downer for me. I can't recommend them. I think players in the United States of America at least could find better games in their home states. Best of luck to any gamblers among my readers. Cheers!

Update February 3, 2019: I did another Royal Caribbean cruise last month on their Grandeur of the Seas. While on-board, I played some of their scratch off games again. I found another annoying thing about their games. They don't have a system where you can check the ticket electronically i.e. have a box figure you can scan where it'll tell you if you have a winner or not. This is standard in Maryland and helps prevent the player from mistakenly throwing away a winning ticket. Also, it helps the cashier as they have to check each number on the ticket to see if it matches vice just scanning the ticket. I mentioned this to the cashier and, they recommended I mention it in my end of cruise feedback which I subsequently did. Hopefully, Royal Caribbean will come out with such a system which will help both players and the casino cashiers with the games.

Feedback On Cruising Out of Baltimore, Maryland

As I mentioned previously on my blog, I was going to do a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore, Maryland. I did the cruise and thought I'd offer a little feedback/information on it.

The cruise started April 5, 2018 and finished April 14, 2018. It lasted 9 nights and visited the following ports:

Charleston, South Carolina,
Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida
Miami, Florida
Nassau, Bahamas (2 days)

The cruise was supposed to make port at King Bahama, Bahamas but, Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary to 2 days in Nassau citing necessary small repairs on the ship (don't know if this was true or not).

As far as in-processing at the Cruise Ship Terminal, people directing the traffic were mixed. Some were helpful and some definitely weren't. One guy told my driver and me to get off the crosswalk BUT didn't tell us where to drop my bags. Security was tough though not as tough as at any airport. The person who checked me in did a fine job and was very courteous. Once you've checked in, there is a waiting area if they haven't started boarding yet. Pinnacle Crown & Anchor members as well as those staying in suites on the ship have a separate waiting area.

The cruise itself went fine and, I'll be doing the same cruise again on Grandeur of the Seas in January 2019.

Upon the ship's return to Baltimore, disembarking went very smoothly and, I believe they stayed on schedule with getting the various groups off. Customs was a breeze to my surprise and, I didn't have to fill out a customs form stating what I'd bought in the Bahamas (the only foreign country the ship visited). I think I was through Customs in 5 minutes to my delight. When I exited Customs, the baggage handlers were on their mark and all my bags were in their assigned area waiting for me.

Some plusses I want to mention about cruising out of Baltimore providing you don't fly into Baltimore to catch the cruise like me. First, no baggage fees. Second, you don't have to worry about the weight of your bags. Third, no long travel time to catch the cruise (providing you live some where in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area). It took me only 30 minutes to travel from Jessup, Maryland to the terminal.

One potential negative is if you have to drive your own car to the terminal and park it there. I believe they charge $15 a day to park it there while you're off on the cruise. Another potential negative is if you have to use a taxi. Due to a friend dropping the ball on me at the last minute, I had to use a taxi (I didn't have the Uber or Lyft apps). I asked the taxi driver for an estimate and, he was very vague on it. The fare ended up being a steep $67! I wasn't pleased about this and will have either Uber or Lyft's app next time. One last negative is you will have at least 1 day at sea to get any where with as many as 3 (Royal Caribbean has that many coming back from their Caribbean cruise). I know some folks enjoy days at sea but, I don't.

Overall, I was very pleased with how things went at the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I'm looking forward to my January 2019 cruise on Grandeur of the Seas and feel my next visit there will go even smoother. I'd definitely recommend cruising out of Baltimore for those who live in the area.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Scratch Off Game

One of the newest games to come out of the Maryland Lottery is their Willy Wonka Golden Ticket scratch off game. The game costs $10 and offers a top prize of $100,000 (common among $10 games). The game was launched on April 23, 2018 and has all 8 $100,000 prizes as well as all 12 $10,000 prizes at the time of this post. Four lucky winners have won the third tier prize of $1,000 though 48 of those remain at the time of this post.

The overall odds of this game are 1 in 3.44. The game has 3 instant win symbols: a top hat which causes the winner to instantly win 5 times the prize shown (minimum $50 prize), a lollipop which causes the winner to instantly win 10 times the prize shown (minimum $100 prize) and a ticket which causes the winner to win ALL 25 prizes shown on the ticket (figuring on $10 per prize, that means if you hit this symbol, you've won at least $250!). Barring these instant win symbols, you have to match 1 or more of 5 numbers to win a minimum prize of $10.

One very unique feature of this game is its second chance drawing. There will be 6 drawings on:

May 28, 2018
July 2, 2018
August 6, 2018
September 10, 2018
October 15, 2018
November 19, 2018

The winner of each drawing will be flown to Las Vegas, Nevada with a guest for a Billion Dollar Challenge contest where they will compete against their other winners as well as other winners from other states that participate in this contest. The winner will have a chance to win from $1,000 to $1 Billion dollars.

Besides getting flown out to Las Vegas for the contest, the winner and their guest gets free airport transport, free hotel accommodations for 3 nights and $1,000 spending money.

Overall, I think this is one of the more interesting scratch off games that Maryland Lottery has come up with. I think the second chance drawing will attract a lot of interest too as who wouldn't like to win a BILLION dollars. Personally, I've played this game twice using my own money and had a little bit of luck with it. I do like the Willy Wonka theme. The tickets feature a Willy Wonka character on the ticket that to me looks like Gene Wilder who played the character in the first Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory movie. I very much liked that movie and feel Wilder was excellent in it. This is one game I'd recommend to would be players though do remember to play responsibly please.

Sources: 1 of the scratch off tickets I bought with my own money and the Maryland Lottery website. I haven't received any compensation for writing this review and all opinions expressed in this review are my own and not reflective of the Maryland Lottery nor do I have ANY association with them.

Update November 12, 2018: If you haven't done so already, you should enter any remaining losing tickets in this game so, you can get in on the last second chance drawing their having which happens November 19th. Also, this game is wrapping up. The last time I checked, all but 1 of the $100,000 prizes were gone and all the $10,000 prizes were gone. Now, you'd be playing for $1,000 and, you can do that for a lot less than $10.

Review of Arizona's Sweet Tea

While at the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree about a month ago, I wanted a cheap caffeine fix. I decided to try their Arizona Sweet Tea. It costs only a $1, comes in a 42 ounce plastic bottle and, they had it in the refrigerated section so, it was already cold.

In my opinion, the tea turned out to be pretty lacklustre i.e. it wasn't terribly good. For starters, it didn't seem very sweet. This may be because they used high fructose corn syrup instead of real sugar to sweeten it. Sweet tea is supposed to be so sweet that you would get a huge sugar high from drinking it. I didn't get that from this product.

One slight plus to the product is they add ascorbic acid so you get 100% of the vitamin C you need in an 8 ounce glass of the tea.

Arizona claims the tea is real brewed. Maybe but, the tea itself isn't noteworthy either. Some teas have particularly nice flavors depending on what you like example: Russian Caravan tea has a nice smoky taste to it. This tea didn't have any noteworthy flavor to it. I would guess they used plain black tea.

Overall, the best thing I can say about this tea is it's cheap. As I mentioned previously, a 42 ounce bottle cost just a $1 at Dollar Tree. I don't know how caffeine it has in it so, I can't say how much of a charge you'll get from drinking some of this tea. As far as thumb scores go, I give this tea 2 thumbs down. I'd recommend you drink some other kind of tea. Happy drinking all!

Review of Maryland Lottery's Triple 333's Game

On February 26, 2018, the Maryland Lottery came out with a new $2 scratch off game called Triple 333's. The game features 8 top prizes of $10,000. Other prize amounts start from $2 and go up to $5,000. At the time of this post, no one has claimed any of the top $10,000 prizes.

The game gives you 10 chances to win. In order to win, you must reveal either a single "3" which means you have instantly whatever the prize amount is to the right of the number OR get three 3's i.e. "333". If you get a triple 3, you win triple the prize amount shown.

Overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 4.04 which is normal for the cheaper games.

The game is incredibly easy to play as all you have to do is scratch straight down on the left side that has the numbers and see if you have either one 3 or three 3's.

Losing tickets do qualify for lottery reward points.

Overall, this is a very easy and quick game to play. For those who can't afford the higher priced games, this is a more affordable way to play for some reasonably big money. I think it's an ok game.

One final note: if you need to find the ticket numbers in order to enter ticket for lottery reward points, you'll find them along the right side of the ticket just past the prize amounts. I was wondering where these numbers were and had to search for them.

Review of Jack Links A.M. Breakfast Sausage

You never know what you'll find at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Recently, I discovered their Jessup, Maryland store received a shipment of Jack Links A.M. Breakfast Sausage. As I like their beef jerky, I decided to try their breakfast sausage.

The sausage comes in 4.4 ounce resealable bags, is dried, fully cooked and ready to eat. Ollie's was selling it for $1.99 and claims it normally sells for $3.29. I counted the number of sausages in 1 bag and found a total of 10 which breaks out to nearly 20 cents a sausage. If I had to pay the full price, that would break out to around 32 cents a sausage which isn't cheap though I don't know what is a good price for sausage.

Jack Links claims the sausage is hot and spicy. I didn't find it hot though I did find it had some spice in it. They use chipotle pepper, red pepper and black pepper to season it. I feel it wasn't overly spicy.

You can heat the sausage up in a microwave for 10 seconds though do take it out of the bag first as they recommend.

I feel one plus of this sausage is you don't have to refrigerate it until you open the bag unlike regular sausage. This sausage might be handy on a camping trip.

Overall, I feel this is decent sausage that could be handy in certain circumstances like camping or hiking. Also, I thought I got a good deal on it at Ollie's. Do remember if you find it at an Ollie's where you live that you should buy it right then because you may not find it there when you come back. Ollie's doesn't joke when they say when it's gone, it's gone. It really is in their case. Bon Appetit all!

An Update on My Blogging

To any readers I have, no I haven't stopped blogging. I didn't realize I haven't posted anything since October 2017. I will post some new stuff soon. I just finished a mini-adventure where I stayed at 2 different Holiday Inn Expresses 2 different days (Springfield, Virginia and Prince Frederick, Maryland) made more memorable by the fact that due to some freakish Maryland weather I caught some kind of virus I'm now trying to kick.

Another issue I had was trying to get back into my blogger account. It took me over a very frustrating hour before I finally was able to figure out how to call it back up. To Google's credit, their blogger troubleshooting list did help me eventually solve the problem.

So, stay tuned for some new stuff. I have more interesting adventures coming this year with 3 cruises booked with Royal Caribbean. And thank you for reading my blog. Cheers.

Update February 27, 2018: I managed to kick the virus I caught and have started taking Vitamin Shoppe's Sambucus Black Elderberry extract to stay healthy. I'm not crazy about the taste of the stuff as it tastes like licorice but, if it keeps me healthy, I'll take a dose every day.

On new blog topics, I'll be blogging about some more products I've tried like Pringle's Extra Hot Chili & Lime chips and the new Maryland Lottery $30 game they came out with this week. It looks like it'll be an improvement over the first $30 game they came out with so stay tuned.

Update March 29, 2018: I know I haven't posted a review on Maryland's new Megabucks $30 scratch off game. It is an improvement over their first $30 game called $2,000,000 Fortune. It has 3 different possible instant win chances in the main part of the ticket and four bonus instant win chances at the top of the ticket - $30, $50, $200 and $500. I still plan to write a review on this game.

Another thing to watch for are some posts on my upcoming cruise with Royal Caribbean. I'll be cruising out of Baltimore, Maryland on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. It'll be my 3rd cruise on this ship BUT, the first time I'll in-process through the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I've read the people are rude there. I'm curious to see if it's true. We'll see. I'll try to post some pictures too. Stay tuned.

Jot Ballpoint Pen Review

Among the good size selection of pens you'll find at Dollar Tree stores, the cheapest are the Jot Ballpoint Pens. The pens come in packs of 10 (at a $1 a pack, this breaks out to 10 cents a pen) with a choice of 2 different type of pen bodies (white and clear) and 3 choices of ink color (Black, Blue and, I think Red). All pens as far as I know have a .7 millimeter nib.

I bought 2 packs of the pens myself to test them and, I found they write well especially for such cheap pens. One down side to them is their stick pens meaning they don't retract and, you have to use a pen cap each pen comes with to keep the ink on the pen from drying out. I suspect the pens use a standard oil based ink which doesn't dry out for a long time though they will eventually.

Of the 2 pen bodies, I'd recommend the clear body pens as you can see how much ink the cartridge has left. With the white bodies, you'd have to pull the ink cartridge out of the pen to see how much there is.

Overall, these are decent cheap pens that write well enough. At 10 cents each, I don't think it's worth going through all the hassle of replacing the ink cartridge when you've used it up. Also, I'm not wiped out by the extremely basic ink color selection. However, for most business writing, I think you're supposed to use black or blue ink any way so, this shouldn't matter to most folks. As with many things at Dollar Tree stores, the selection of these pens may vary from store to store. If you want to get a specific pack of them, you might want to see about ordering them on their website.

That's all for this post. Happy writing all!