Tuesday Travels – Cruisin’ Away Part II

 

Last Tuesday I told you all about the fantastic excursions we did while on our Anniversary Cruise in the Western Caribbean. You can read all about them here, and while you read that keep in mind that there were a ton of other excursions that you could choose, such as diving in a submarine, or going to the Sting Ray Cove in Cayman, or even visiting a Rum Cake Factory in Jamaica. Since we only had enough time in each port for two dive we chose to dive.

In Part 2 of our cruise adventure I’d like to tell you a little bit more about what you can expect on the ship. It really was very different from what we had in mind, and exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds.

I never got a picture of our stateroom, but it looked something like this. We had a balcony room which I’d highly recommend if you have scuba gear with you that needs to be spread out to dry, otherwise an inside cabin (which are much cheaper) is fine since you end up spending very little time in the room.

Our room attended was also amazing and I wish I had brought along more cash to give him extra tips. Our room was always made and ready to go. I felt that if we stepped out of the room even for half an hour we’d come back to our clothes folded, the bed maid and anything extra removed from the room. Not to mention we kept coming back to these babies:

      

 

The only complaint I had about our room was that the shower was TINY, and if you tried to shave your legs you encountered a bit of a problem. But I can’t really complain since we were in the middle of an ocean and had the ability to have hot water to shower with.

The room service was also excellent and you could order food at almost any time of the day and night. Of course tips were always welcomed by the room staff, so again I wish our travel agent had told us to bring more in cash with us.

Speaking of room service and food… the food was AH-Mazing, way better then some of the expensive restaurants we had dined at. Every night we had a more formal dinner, with two nights of black-tie dinners. You also had your choice of several buffets you could go to for breakfast, lunch, dinner and anything in between.

At the first formal dinner, I wore my wedding dress

      

And this is what we had, lobster ravioli for me and pot roast for Donald. Both were fantastic, and we both wish we had some wine to go with it, but since we were diving the very next morning we strained ourselves from putting alcohol into our system.

 

The last formal dinner, with my parents.

At our last dinner with our server, Guro who was fantastic. We also got a Royal Caribbean cook book.  

 

The buffets had a tone of food, and always fun decorations with fruits and veggies to go along with it.

 

There was also a ton to do on the ship while out at sea. On our first full day at sea we explored the upper decks were you could find the pools, hot tubs, gym, spa, recreation room, several bars and lounges. There was also an ice skating rink, a theater, and a movie viewing room.

There was lots of drinking and some karaoke singing

 

     

There was also some laying out by the pool and enjoying the sunshine

Not only this, but the ship was HUGE!! And it was constantly being cleaned.

This is the Royal Promenade where you could shop, eat, hang out and so on.

Over all, this was one of the best vacations we’ve ever been on, and one that was very affordable, even with a balcony room. 

This picture pretty much sums it all up.

OH… and we got to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises in the world.