The Laziest Day at Sea..Ever

Our last two days of the cruise were sea days. I LOVE sea days.  The fist day I dubbed the laziest day at sea ever because it consisted of two things.....sleeping and eating!

We woke up to room service. It was a special order breakfast that I had placed earlier in the week from a package I had bought prior to sailing. (The one they messed up earlier in the week.)

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with caviar.

And French Toast.

The rest of the day went as followed.

Nap after breakfast
Lunch
Nap after lunch
snack
Nap after snack
Dinner
Nap after dinner.

At one point I did try to read on the balcony.

But I fell asleep.

So I moved to the couch.

And fell asleep.

The weather was rainy and dreary so it was the perfect day to nap and just be incredibly lazy. I loved it!!!


The next morning we woke to beautiful skies and the promise of a beautiful last day at sea.  So we headed outside to the upper decks.

Look at those refreshed travelers!!!

We walked around outside, enjoyed the weather and checked out the ship some more.

The climbing wall.

The Flow Rider

We decided to have lunch at Johnny Rockets.

Ahhh...Root Beer at Sea is so much better.

After lunch we headed to the theater to watch Gravity in 3D.

Tonight after dinner I splurged on Ben & Jerry's ice cream

We sat in the Promenade while I ate my ice cream and Tony enjoyed a Starbuck's coffee. Here Tony is reflecting on our past week.

Doesn't he look sad that our vacation is over? WELL WE WERE!!!!!!!! The past seven days went by way too fast. We had a wonderful time and loved every minute of it.  At this point we headed back to our room to pack since they were kicking us off the ship at 8am the next morning.

I loved this ship and can not wait to sail on her again. 

This was one of the best vacations we have had. Not only did we get to see and do a lot of new things but we got tons of needed rest! Thanks for sailing with us!!!!

                                                                                                    The Boss Lady

St Maartin! And So Much More!

Ok Boys and Girls. I am WAYYYY behind on this cruise review. But I am going to finish it up over the next couple of days because in one week I am going to New York City! YEAHHHH!!

Where were we? Oh yeah.St Maartin Day! I was very excited to visit this island because I heard so many stories about how beautiful it is. Since we were already docked when I woke up, I jumped out of bed through the curtains open so that I could take in all the beauty of this island.

This was my view.

The MSC Divinia was parked next to us blocking most of my view from my balcony! That meant I had to get out of room and go visit this island. Oh Darn.

From the ship port we grabbed the water taxi to Phillipsburg. It was a blast. I loved the water and couldn't get enough of it.

Here is a video I shot while riding the taxi.

Once there we walked the beach.

Isn't that beautiful? Turquoise water, white beaches and green mountains, what else do ya need?

We decided to eat lunch at this cute little place.

Our view while eating lunch.

After shopping for a while we headed back to the ship. Here is a video shot while walking back.

Once back on the ship, I headed to the upper decks to take some more pics of St Maartin.

It would really be hard to get tired of that view!!

I decided to enjoy sail away on my balcony.

There is no way to not feel completely calm and relaxed while watching this scenery slowly go by.


After dinner, we finally got to see the Ice Show...YEAH! We got there early which was good because it got crowded fast. The show? At first I was like eh..it's alright. But as the show went on the harder the jumps and moves got. I was extremely impressed that these skaters were doing this stuff. On a moving ship, nonetheless!

This couple amazed me! She "changed" her outfit about 15 times in the 5 minute dance.

After the ice show we headed back to the Promenade where dancin in the streets...70's night was getting ready to happen. It's always fun when the village people show up.

After the party we headed outside and ended up catching the Hobbit on the big screen by the pool.

I actually left Tony watching the movie and wondered around the upper decks getting pics of everything at night.

The Kids Zone

The solarium.

After my picture taking I figured it was time for a snack. So I headed to Sorrentos for a late night pizza run. Tony found me here and joined in on the pizza snacking.


We finally headed back to our cabin to let the gentle seas rock us to sleep. It had been a perfect day on a gorgeous island! I knew I would sleep well that night. And I did!


Next up....Two super relaxing days at sea before they kick us off the ship.

Day 4...San Juan, Puerto Rico and Dashed Expectations of an Ice Show.

I woke up as we were entering the channel to the port. So I watched as we sailed in for a little while. Instead of ordering anything from room service I thought I would just run down to the promenade cafe and see what kind of breakfast sandwiches they were offering. They weren't. They only had some donuts and a few pastries. So I went ahead and went up to the windjammer to grab us some thing to eat before we got off the ship.

When I walked through the door, Tony was sitting on the couch with a tray from room service in front of him. It was our special breakfast that was supposed to be delivered on Friday. So now I had a plate full of food from the Windjammer and all of this other food. I was pretty mad and decided to call them. They didn't seem happy but said they would put a note on the order saying it was Friday. I reminded them that they confirmed the day and time with me when I placed the order, that I just wasn't changing my mind or something.

We left the ship a little before noon. We stopped and took the “life preserver” picture. I try to get at least one of these a cruise, in a new port. It's kinda a thing now.

My plans were to at this point to grab one of the free trolleys and head to the forts. I couldn't see trolley stop #1 that was supposed to be right outside of the cruise terminal. So we walked down the street some trying to see if we could find the trolley or any of the stops. I did read that it was good to walk down the street some and grab it at #14 to avoid all the people trying to get on at #1. We found #14 and a trolley pulled in seconds later. It was a nice open air trolley that took us around the city. By the way did I mention they were free? So it was nice open air transportation that pretty well allowed you to see the city as you were going...for free. We decided to go straight to EL Morro.

A video of our trolley ride.

After El Morro, we jumped back on the trolley and headed back into the “city”. I had researched restaurants and decided I wanted to eat at Barrachina's. I told my husband that we needed to get off at trolley stop #9. We passed #3, then drove awhile. Next thing we see is #12. I was like what happened to all the other numbers? So we jumped there and went on our own. Much to my husband embarrassment I pulled out my trolley map do see where we ended up and how far away the restaurant was. He HATES this. For some reason my map reading in public drives him crazy. He says that it puts a lost tourist target on my head..lol. At this point I was a little frustrated because THERE WERE NO STREET SIGNS!!! If they did, they were placed where I wasnt looking. I kinda just went by the trolley stops to find my around the map..lol. But we found Barachinna pretty quickly, considering everything. The host said it would be a 30 minute wait or longer. But people must have left because we were seated within 15 minutes.

The bar area of Barachinna's

We ordered the Puerto Rican favorites platter. It was delicious!

From there we grabbed some souvenirs and walked back to the ship. It really wasnt a bad walk at all. The weather was nice with a constant breeze, so it really was a pleasant day to walk around.

Back in the room we decided to hang out on our balcony, read some and just enjoy the nice weather. Both of us fell asleep and ended up napping for an hour! It was 5:25. Back onboard was at 5:30. So I stayed out there to watch and see if we had any pier runners. We did. It was only about 5:35 when the last few showed up. But the captain sounded the horn right at 5:30. I told Tony that I bet those guys crapped themselves a little when they heard that horn.

We sailed away at around 6. We just stayed out on the balcony, took pictures and filmed going by the fort.

We ate in the Jade area again tonight. I actually loved the causal atmosphere yet it was totally different than lunch. The lights are turned down and they serve green tea. Someone is always around to get you drinks or take away plates.

From there we decided to stroll down to the promenade to take some time before we headed to the ice show. I ran into THE SALE. It was the Micheal Kors sale and it was set to start in 10 minutes. So I got in the middle of it all and grabbed me a new purse at 25% off. Poor ole hubby could only stand there and let me go for it.

That little shopping spree only took about 15 minutes of my time total, and we continued on to the ice show from there. When we arrived at the Studio B doors, they were shut with a sign that said closed for rehearsals. We stood there for awhile even tho we felt that being so close to show time something wasnt right. But since Studio B is right beside of On Air we decided to listen to some karoke for a bit while we waited to see what was going on.

Speaking of Karoke, which by the way, we don't go to a lot or really any, isnt it funny that its about the only place you can get away with singing badly? Some people were good, some just horrible...lol. This one poor guy missed the whole first line to Summer of '69. But somehow squeezed it in there anyhow.

But lets get back to the Ice show. About 10 or more had come up to the doors, looked then turned around and left. I finally asked someone and they told me that the Ice Show was the next night,Thursday night. I told Tony that I wasn't sure which night it said when I reserved it online before we left because I had forgot to print it off. But I knew it was either the day we were in San Juan or the next day when we were in St Maartin. Either way I knew it was 9:00, and that I would just watch the cruise compass and just go then. I told Tony that I knew I had read somewhere on the cruise compass that the ice shows were on Tuesday and Wednesday, but maybe I was going crazy.

  So we just left deciding I would figure out where I went wrong later. We headed back to the Promenade and spent some time at the Bull & Bear.

We left there and headed to the room, deciding it was going to be another early night for us. I did take the time to look back over the Cruise Compasses to see where I went wrong with the Ice Show. I looked all through that days and I could not find a word about the Ice Show. So I was really starting to question myself. But then I looked back at Tuesday's and it said this...

So I am not as crazy I thought!

Next up will be St Maarten!

                                                                                                     The Boss Lady

Day 3, A Very Relaxing Day at Sea.

The phone rang about 9:30 am on the third day of our cruise. It was room service saying that they would be delivering my breakfast soon. I then started getting ready to go to the meet and mingle.

Let me explain a little about what a meet and mingle is. I belong to a forum called Cruise Critic. I found it while researching my very first cruise. I instantly fell in love with the site. It answered so many of my questions and taught me things that I didn't even realize I needed to ask. Royal Caribbean sets aside a time on cruises seven days or longer for members of that site to....well.... meet and mingle. You do have to preregister on the cruise critic site and a note will be in your stateroom letting you know the time and place of the meeting.

Breakfast arrived around 9:45. 

I ate for about 15 minutes then headed out the door for the Olive or Twist lounge where the event was being held. That was when I discovered that the elevators on my side of the ship only went to deck 12 and not all the way to 14 where the lounge was. No big deal I just walked the last two flights but I did look funny trying to find 14 on a elevator panel that only went to 12.

Royal Caribbean had juice, water and some pastries set out for us CCer's.  

 As we came in they collected our raffle tickets and gave us each a gift. It was this neat little notebook, card holder thing.

  

They started by having us talk to someone we had not talked to before then went into giving away the raffle ticket prizes. I am sorry to say that I walked away a loser. I stuck around for just a few minutes and talked to a couple of people. That was about it for the meet and mingle.

I left there and collected Tony so that we could get something to eat and also give Supri time to clean the room. Tony complained a little about this saying he was super comfortable on our balcony so why did  we need to leave. I understood where he was coming from and told him on the last two sea days that I would just tell Supri that we didn't need anything if we decide not to leave the room early.

From our room we headed to the windjammer. It was right at 11 so they had breakfast still available on one side as they were preparing the other side for lunch. I really only nibbled since I did have a little bit of breakfast before I went to the meet and mingle. I did try a English banger for the first time. I don't know how true to tasted Royal Caribbean’s version is but it was just a larger piece of sausage to me. Although it was good, it didn't seem to be anything all that different to me.

From there we headed out to explore the ship some. One of Tony's most favorite spots on a ship is all the forward. He loves all the wind. When we headed out of the windjammer we just walked out into the pool area, then up one deck. We stopped to take a photo with one of the Royal Caribbean's staff, then proceeded as far forward as we good go on that deck. We took this time to take our first windy, front of the ship selfie.

We then headed up one deck to the Tropez deck area. They had some bright blue carpet in that area I tell ya. But it is a good place to grab a lounger to enjoy the sun and the wind.

From there we decided we wanted to hang out on the helipad. To get to the helipad you must go to deck 4, head towards the forward part of the ship. You will come across a set of steps that will take you up to the helipad. And man was it windy up there! Tony was in heaven.

  After we decided we were wind lblown enough we headed inside to the Promenade cafe for some coffee. And since it had been over an hour I decided I needed a sandwich also. I grabbed one of the prosciutto parma's with red peppers on an olive bun.

 It was very good, and decided that more of these little sandwiches needed to be in my current cruise future. We sat at the Promenade Cafe and people watched for a while. It was a nice way to spend some time on a sea day.

Our Starbucks barista behind the sandwich counter.

After our little sandwich snack, we decided we wanted to hang out in the cabin for awhile before Tony's massage. I had prebooked his massage before we left because I wanted it to be on our first sea day a little later in the afternoon.

While Tony was gone I recieved some chocolate covered strawberries from room service as a gift because they had messed up something I had ordered pre-cruise.

I took them with a book out to our balcony and spent some quality time with the sea.

That's where Tony found me when he returned from his massage. We then starting discussing dinner. We both decided we just weren't in the mood for the MDR. We decided we wanted to do the windjammer and see what it was like for dinner. So it was another cruise first for us tonight! I actually at that point jumped in the shower with total plans being at the windjammer at 6 when they started serving dinner and then be at the Drew Thomas magic show at 7.

We actually ended up eating at Jade. Jade is an area right before you walk into the Windjammer that serves Asian food. We love Asian food and it looked really good so we stayed here.

Tony went for the Sushi.

 I went for the sweet and sour chicken with noodles and prawn crisps.

It was 5 til 7 when we finished eating, so we decided to b-line it to the magic show to see if we could make it in time. Considering the Arcadia was on the opposite end of the ship and 7 floors down, we did pretty good. It had started so obviously we didn't get the best seats in the house. Looking back we should have just waited. The show was just OK in our books. I think Tony actually like the magic show on the Enchantment back in August better than this one. Mr Thomas had incorporated a lot of dancing and singing into this show, which was good but it only really left time for just a couple of tricks.

See how crappy our seats were.

After the magic show we hit the Starbucks again. I am so happy they have this on the ship to take care of coffee needs..lol.

I decided to check out the Cupcake Cubbard.

It was pretty late at night so a lot of the selections were sold out. But I decided on this beauty.

 The "Manly Breakfast". It was a spice cupcake with maple frosting and bacon on top. It was very yummy!!

Here I am enjoying sitting in the promenade while eating my cupcake.

And that ends day 3, our first true day at sea. When I come back I will tell you about our day in San Juan!

                                                                                                                         The Boss Lady