The Cruise Junkie

Good morning as we approach Cozumel 

When we went for our "my time dining" at around 8:00, we discovered we actually had assigned seating at 5:30, which we never requested. They did accommodate us and although MTD was full, they agreed to split the difference and seat us at 6:30. 
Today has been punctuated by between meals with a view, bars with a view, and spa treatments,  with a view. I'd love to go to the silent disco tonight, if only it started at 8 instead of 10.
Three old gals walk into a bar ...

Yes you can get off as many times as you want. Just make sure your back onboard before the all aboard time.

My guess would be something similar to the beach club they are building in Antigua
 

I left Dallas about 7:30 Sunday morning, which was later than I wanted, but I decided coffee with my honey was more important than getting my money's worth on the surrey rental. 
My playlist gets me to just north of Texas City, so might have to add a few more songs. I decided to go straight to the Gumbo Diner.
It was so good. Country fried steak, eggs and hashbrowns. I sat at the bar around a food prep area and chatted with the very friendly waitstaff and an islander who appeared to be looking for wife number 3. I wasn't able to help him with that.
By the time I'd finished my brunch, it was almost 2:00 and I figured I'd better get the surrey.
 

Thanks everyone!

Thank You So Much For The Awesome Live Blog @Tiffeven! I Really Enjoyed It!

Wanted to share the first of our many videos so if you want to see the rest of the vacation please subscribe for free to our channel....I will upload them as soon as I can get them edited. Also we enjoyed the Mariner allot and got to go twice to Coco Cay! If you have any questions please ask away
Thanks
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGNWy0kf7FI

Debarkation and final thoughts:
We met Amit at 7:15am this morning, and he opened a side door that let us jump in front of a lot of people.  We carried our own luggage off, and it took about 30 minutes to get to our car even with priority debarkation.  I definitely prefer Port Everglades and Port Canaveral to Tampa for debarkation, but Tampa still beats Galveston.  I have cruised out of Tampa a few times now and will definitely do it again, since it's closer than many of Royal Caribbean's other ports.
Our cabin 1536 on Brilliance was better than we expected,  but you could definitely hear noise from chairs being moved above us.  We sleep with a white noise machine so that helped, but we could still hear the noise.  
The kid's waterslide hours and the Solarium pool hours were very restrictive.  We didn't spend any time in the Solarium pool as it closed around 8pm every night.  Adventure Ocean reopens after dinner at 7pm each night, so it did not give ample time to enjoy the Solarium even though Brilliance has a beautiful Solarium.  This was also an issue for the show.  We had hoped to see Center Stage, but it only played on Day 4 at 7pm.  To get the reserved suite seats, you have to arrive 15 minutes ahead of time, and it was impossible to arrive at 6:45pm since AO did not open until 7pm.
Other than the restricted hours, we had a great trip and would definitely sail on Brilliance again.  Thank you for following along on our trip.

After the battle.....

....shall the two never meet. 
Hoping there are other Master and Commander fans...lol

The Onion, about a year or two ago.  Since then, the defenses around Coco Cay have been upgraded substantially and surveillance cameras on the helium balloon allow for much earlier detection of encroaching vessels.

Satire... Somebody had  a lot of free time on their hands to come up with this one...
 
https://www.theonion.com/shelling-from-royal-caribbean-s-m-s-allure-sinks-car-1819580080?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=SF&utm_content=Main&fbclid=IwAR19Y5xcaFSHdyYXbB8Y4Iq6-gQOihm-_hpOYftzVtkbeV8W9wBX6u2p3yE

I agree with all of the aforementioned answers, but to try and narrow it down:
 
1)  The Solarium.  Ohmygosh, I love that place.  Especially on the big girls, with it being in the very front of the ship.
1A)  Central Park after dinner.  A nice drink and soothing music; always a nice breeze and so relaxing.
2)  Sitting in the chairs at the stern of the ship on deck 5.  Nothing but churning blue and white water.

Such A Great Blog @SpeedNoodles! I Really Did Enjoy It! 

Day 4: Final Sea Day
I woke up this morning before everyone else, so I enjoyed some time on the balcony before everyone woke up.  We had breakfast delivered and then grabbed a latte from the concierge lounge.  We booked a cruise on Rhapsody through Next Cruise and took the kids to the arcade.  We played a few minutes of mini golf, but it was incredibly windy, so we didn't stay long.  We ordered dinner to the room as usual, but ordered less this time since Steven and I had dinner reservations at Izumi tonight.  The brownie on the MDR dessert menu tonight was delicious with vanilla ice cream.  We dropped the kids off at the nursery and AO and headed to the concierge lounge for a drink before dinner. 
Even though we have had Izumi many times, tonight was a new experience for us.  We usually have hibachi or sushi, but tonight we decided to try the hot rock since Brilliance does not offer hibachi.  Steven had the beef tenderloin, and I had the surf and turf.  We also had miso soup and the spicy shrimp tempura roll (with cream cheese added).  It was very tasty.
After dinner, we decided to try our luck in the casino and lost $15 in about 30 seconds so decided to not push our luck.  We embarrassed ourselves in pool and then I crushed Steven in a game of checkers.  We headed to our room to pack, and then picked up the kids.  We are currently waiting for room service to be delivered.  I will update tomorrow about the debarkation process.

Final thoughts and things I learned:
Mr. SpeedNoodles has declared Symphony of the Seas as his favorite ship, and wants to book more Oasis-class cruises.  We don't have one booked until Allure in Jan 2022 and I don't know where we'll fit one in between now and then.  But I've been informed.  Also he wants an AquaTheatre suite.  So if anyone runs across a fantastic deal, please clue me in. While we were able to do a lot on the ship, there was so much more that we weren't able to do.  We never even stepped into Jazz on 4 or The Attic. I had reservations for the comedy shows, but something always interfered. There's just SO much to do! We made it to a hot tub once - we really never got to spend any time on the pool deck.   As usual with me, no matter what I was doing I felt like I was missing out on something else. The staff was exceptional.  There wasn't one place on the ship where we didn't encounter helpful, friendly crew members.  If we dined in a specialty restaurant once, and ran into our waiter somewhere else a day or two later somewhere else on the ship, they remembered our names (WHAT WITCHERY IS THIS?????). I figured out a handy packing tip on this trip.  While I use packing cubes, and typically try to pack things together so they are easy to unpack on the ship (like items together that will be placed into the same drawer or closet), when I packed to come home I packed things in the cubes that would be washed together.  All I had to do was open up cubes that contained things washed together and dump them in the wash instead of sorting them at home.  It really didn't take much extra time at all but made laundry much easier. 30 SPF sunscreen doesn't do a damn thing to protect skin that hasn't seen the sun for 5 years. We got really good at using Lyft.  From the time we left the house to the time we returned home we used Lyft 11 times. I learned at the Quest that I cannot twerk, but the 70+ year old woman in front of me could. I saw my very first Booby.  As in Brown Booby - the bird.  A flock of them followed alongside the ship as we left St. Maarten, constantly diving after fish that must have been disturbed in our wake.  I took photos.  Not a Booby can be seen in any of them. You'll simply have to take my word. #birdlifelist We're pretty bummed that we have to wait until October for our next cruise!!! (But it's going to be a SUPER FUN cruise!) 
Thanks for following along. (Now I need to go catch up on all of YOUR blogs that I've fallen behind on!)

Thanks For The Awesome Live Blog @betatke1480! I Really Did Enjoy It.

Have a great cruise everyone!!

Yesterday was our last sea day, and as I type this I'm looking at Terminal A in Miami, which is gorgeous, but not what you want to see when you've been on a cruise.  
Breakfast was in our room, and then Abby and I just loafed around the ship while Virginia was in Adventure Ocean.  It was very cold and windy on the pool deck, so we mostly stayed inside.  For lunch we went to Johnny Rockets and enjoyed the Family Carnival.  There's something about that #12 from JRs that gets me every time.  After lunch we went on the Bridge Tour.  It was fascinating to me how different the Oasis bridge was from the Anthem bridge.  We did finally meet Allan on the bridge tour.  We also had a new watch-woman take charge, so luckily we made it home.  


 

 

 

 
Then of course we had to do the Ultimate Abyss one last time:

The Ultimate Abyss this time was the one time I felt like I would have to raise a "Star Class" flag.  We went to get in line, and they had special time for The Key guests.  I went to that line, at which there was nobody waiting, and she asked if we had The Key.  I told her no, but that we were Star Class and showed her the card.  She thought for a minute, then went to ask her supervisor before coming back and allowing us to go ahead.  
After taking Virginia back to Adventure Ocean at 2, we went back to the room to get stuff packed, and then start drinking all of the alcohol that had been brought to our room.  By 5 pm we were in the Pub, and by 5:45pm my FIL was having to put my MIL to bed.  She's going to need to practice more before the Unofficial GC in Alaska.  
Dinner took us to Portside BBQ again, where I got the turkey leg.  I think turkey leg, bbq beans, cornbread, and banana dream is the perfect order at Portside.  All of these items are sooooo good.  

 

After dinner we went to Sugar Beach and got ice cream, then it was back to the room where we had a small surprise from Smitha.  Virginia got a couple of new toys and there were a couple of items for Abby.  Around 11:30 it was finally time for bed.

Today we were in Cozumel. There were 4 other ships with us at the International Pier, and I believe 2 more downtown. Empress was docked next to us and I wish I would have gotten a good picture, because that is quite the size disparity. It was very windy today and fairly chilly for Cozumel. All of the locals were wearing sweatshirts. 
 
First we went downtown to make a few must stops: COZ Coffee, Choclateria Isla Bella, and Sucré/Salé. All are in the same block, and are fabulous local places to frequent. After that we went to El Cozumeleño. 
 
Typically we would have gone to Nachi, but we thought we’d give Cozumeleño for Virginia since the pools are bigger. We got there a little later than we wanted, at around 10:45, but we were in port until 6:30 so we still had plenty of time. At check in, there was some confusion as to how many people we booked, even though it was clear on the paperwork I had, per instructions. All of us had to have our passports scanned, then they asked for the balance in cash or card, even though the paperwork clearly states no cash accepted. Then they kept one of our Drivers Licenses. There was very little information given, just a “pools are that way”. 
 
We went out to the pools and could not find any loungers. We finally found a couple of regular chairs over in a shaded area and snagged them. Soon the sun was covered by clouds, so there wasn’t a concern of sun or shade. The Gulf was very choppy, so no going into the ocean. Pool was cold, but that’s standard here. The facilities were clean, although there was a lack of a smoking area and it seemed like a RJ Reynolds convention must have been there as 70% were smoking all over the entire area. 
 
We sat for over an hour before we ever had a waiter come by and see if we wanted drinks, and any time we ordered, it took 20-30 minutes to get our drinks. The food at lunch was mostly “edible”. The American food looked very unappetizing. The Mexican food was not very good, the only decent items were the tacos, and the meat was well seasoned, but just a mix of chicken, beef, and pork all in one. The chips were stale and very thick. The guac was very bland and flavorless. The three of us went and ate first while my in-laws watched the table, and then we switched. When they went, they couldn’t find the guacamole and asked where it was and they were told that they shouldn’t be in the lunch area that they should have asked for guacamole from there waiter. All in all it was a pretty poor experience, and quite strange at that. Next time in Coz we will definitely be back at Nachi. 
 
We left the resort around 2:45 and headed back to the port to shop where Virginia got her hair braided. She’d been dying to have it done since she saw a couple of the girls do it on the Freedom GC. 
 
Back on board we relaxed for a bit and had Playmakers brought to the rooms for dinner so we could just relax. We had planned on eating it outside on the balcony, but it was too damn windy, so it was inside for us, and then watching the Aqua show from inside. (By the way, I think I’m at 4 buffalo chicken crunch rolls on the week. Probably my favorite item that I’ve eaten all week.)
After dinner since we were still on the room, our state room attendant completed turndown service while we were in the living room, and then she had Virginia help her with the evening’s towel animals, which was very sweet. 
 
Tomorrow is a sea day as we steam back towards Miami way too quickly. No big plans for the day except a bridge tour after lunch. 
 
 

Mine Is On The Flowrider With A Set Of My Close Friends' With Me! 

Mine Is On The Flowrider With A Set Of My Close Friends' With Me! 

Looking out the aft windows of Two70 Lounge and watching the wake while eating breakfast
Sitting on my balcony or the deck 5 promenade walk and watching the cobalt blue ocean go by, with hardly a sound besides the waves lapping against the ship.

Mine Is On The Flowrider With A Set Of My Close Friends' With Me! 

Have a great cruise everyone!!