Firefly

Beautiful pictures as always. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.

The Royal Up offer for my 12/7 Brilliance cruise came on 10/11. I don’t expect to hear if it’s accepted or declined until a few days before we cruise. I am really not expecting an upgrade because my bid for a balcony was low, but I am totally happy with the location of our current cabin.

Another vote for Columbus Cove. There are plenty of loungers under the palm trees available, especially if you get there early. The water is much calmer than the other side where the beach beds are. Keep an eye open for the Beach Bungalows there too. We had one last year in June that we picked up on sale for $250 - best money we spent. There are only 8 available, so they can book up quickly.

The ferry ride definitely sounds like it would bother my son. He still gets sick just riding around on our mountain roads. I will definitely just stick to Cozumel and leave the mainland stuff for a future visit.

Wow, that sounds a lot longer than the 3 1/2 hours they list on the cruise planner. I don’t mind the early start, but my MIL cannot go that late for lunch. Might have to go without her since my son and I definitely want to do the ruins for homeschooling purposes. The beach isn’t a big deal this trip, so no big deal if there isn’t time for that. Guess we will play it by ear. Thanks for your feedback.

How long did the tour last and what time of day did the tour take place? I am pretty sure I will be booking this for myself, my 82 yr old MIL and my 11 yr old son. I am hoping we will still have time for my son and I to visit Discover Mexico or a maybe a beach near the port after the tour.

I just booked a 4 day cruise on Brilliance out of Tampa and am trying to plan our day in Cozumel. I will be traveling with my mother in law and my 11 year old son. My son is homeschooling this year and we want to make this day educational as well as fun. He loves history and is excited to see some Mayan ruins. I considered Tulum, but he suffers from pretty bad motion sickness and I am worried about the ferry ride to the mainland as well as the bus ride to the ruins. Is it really as bad as I have heard? (I have not ruled this excursion out completely yet because it looks amazing.) Because we are traveling without the rest of the family, I am leaning towards a ship sponsored excursion to San Gervasio. I also want to check out Discover Mexico afterwards. It looks like it is a short drive from port. I assume getting a taxi back to port isn’t difficult? Any tips or recommendations would be appreciated.

I’m over near Seneca

I agree 100%, and after watching how various cruise lines are handling the ships with delayed port returns, Royal seems to be offering some of the best communication and customer service.

Interesting considering the evacuation order in place and lane reversals on I26 that began a few hours ago. My friends daughter evacuated from Charleston this morning with other students. I’m way up in the corner of SC, so nothing to worry about here, but the coast has sure seen it’s share of storms in recent years.

Enjoying your review. I would love to sail Navigator one of the years, my kids would love those waterslides.

How did I miss the start of this thread? Gorgeous pictures as always. Looking forward to cruising vicariously through you again this week. Have a relaxing cruise!

Thank you for the wonderful live review- looks like you had a relaxing anniversary cruise. Safe travels back to reality...

I’m not a big drinker, but even I definitely break even with the drink package when we get a good sale price. On Oasis in December I got it for $44, and for our upcoming Symphony I got the $18 “deal.” In addition to previously mentioned tips my husband and I order a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert along with a shot of Chambord to pour on top. ?

Really enjoying following along - absolutely beautiful pictures!

Got it for my Symphony cruise in April 2020, but my Brilliance cruise in December is still $49. Interesting that the invoice showed up as DBP “Special Offer”. Fingers crossed they don’t cancel the deal on all of us that snagged it.

My first cruise was a 3 day Bahamas cruise in September 1998 on the brand new and largest cruise ship at the time, the Disney Magic. I remember it just towering over the other ships in Nassau. Funny how it looks so tiny compared to today’s modern cruise ships. My sister and brother in law got engaged on the top deck late at night in Nassau. My friend and I followed them as they walked around the deck so that we could capture it all on video. They are currently on a Mediterranean cruise celebrating their 20th anniversary.

Definitely a great first drink of the cruise, enjoy your cruise!

Another vote for Lava Flow with Kraken - yum!

We have been to St. Maarten twice in the past year and went out with https://coconut-reef.com/ both times and had a blast. Our full day tour in December included a stop at Pinel Island which my husband and I both agreed was our favorite stop. It was absolutely beautiful and we cannot wait to return in the future. I highly recommend a day out on the water with these guys. The pick up/drop off is a short 15 minute walk from port and they get you back with plenty of time to walk back to the ship before all aboard time. Lunch is included in the full day tour and was delicious. We actually ate on the boat while anchored a short “walk” from the beach at Pinel.

We were in St. Thomas this past December and did a private tour with https://www.stthomasadventures.com/snorkel It does run $119 pp but it’s just you and your guide and worth every penny. My husband and I enjoyed it so much we booked with them again for our cruise next April with our 2 boys. We purchased the photo package and received amazing underwater pictures from our tour including swimming with sea turtles. Highly recommend them.

Have a great cruise!

So sad to see Oasis like this. I certainly hope all the people working on her are accounted for. After watching the video Van Fleet posted on Twitter this morning I sure hope there weren’t a bunch of people working in those cofferdams when it all happened.

Thank you so much for your wonderful live review. I will miss checking in each day. We are just getting started on our cruise vacations so heaven only knows if we will ever even consider Star Class, maybe once the kids are done with college....I can dream, right. Until then at least my hubby has agreed that we get a cruise without the kids for each cruise we take as a family. It looks like you and your family had the most amazing vacation- I bet you splurge again after a week like that because how can you go back?

Tiramisu is my favorite dessert ever too, which is why I tried the Tiramisu Martini. I seriously skipped desserts in the MDR after discovering them and just went to the Champagne Bar on Oasis for dessert instead. Soooo good.