teddy

We’re staying in Dallas tonight. All flights in and out of DFW are delayed. There is no way we’re gonna make our connecting flight in DC tonight. I will get this write up finished in the next day or two. I’m pretty exhausted after the being in airports all day and seeing the delay alerts pop up over and over and over. We rebooked on a nonstop flight to PWM tomorrow at 1 pm. Fingers crossed that it goes without any hitches

Reserved

Reserved

Updated September 7 Alright. Finally some time to get back this. Sorry everything is now written after the fact. The real world came at us pretty fast when we got home Monday night. Day Four, Georgetown Grand Cayman: We booked the Best of West Bay excursion through the Cruise Planner before we sailed. It was a 3-4 hour sightseeing tour. Originally we had planned on all four of us going, however our son and daughter-in-law opted out. They wanted to stay on the ship and learn their way around when it wasn't so crowded. As many know, Grand Cayman is a tender port. Our Shore Excursion tickets were all we needed to board the tender, so we didn't need to go get tickets ahead of time. The meeting time was 1145 and we went down to the tender at 1100. We walked right on the tender then had a 5 minute wait while it filled up. It was a very easy process. We had some time to kill before going to the meeting place, so we poked around in some of the shops. I had been to Georgetown before but it was my wife's first visit. At 1145, we checked in with the shore excursion person, lined up with everyone else, and played follow the leader outside the fence to the bus. The bus was a small Toyota bus that seated 18 or so people. I'm 6'4" and it was tight. The air conditioner worked well, so that was good. We drove around the Georgetown area seeing such sights as the government building, police station/jail, airport, etc. The driver/guide was very soft spoken and difficult to hear. Our first stop was at the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory for 15-20 minutes. We sampled some rum cake then sat outside people watching until it was time to go. We really didn't explore the area, however there was an aviary there as well as a gift shop. Our second stop was in Hell. We had never heard of it before...the tourist location on Grand Cayman, not the fire and brimstone place...my wife's father was a minister...she knows all about that Hell. Hell, Grand Cayman is an area of really rugged looking limestone formations. It's interesting and worth a few pictures. There are also a couple gift shops and a post office there. The post office will stamp your passport if you desire (we didn't take them up on it). After leaving Hell, we went to Seven Mile Beach. We had 20-30 minutes there. It really is a nice beach, and the next time we go to Georgetown, we are just going to take a taxi there and make a day of it. We accessed it at "Public Beach" where there are bathrooms, cabanas, and playgrounds. We did learn that all of Seven Mile Beach is open to the public, and land owners must allow beach access across their property. We went to the early aerial show in the theater this evening. This show is a cannot miss as far as we are concerned. The athleticism and strength of the performers was unbelievable. Again, we were in bed by 930ish Please forgive the tip of my finger in the picture of the ship from the tender.

I really enjoy the package with the Freestyle machines because of the options….So many different flavors of soda, Powerade, Minute Maid, etc. The bars certainly have soda, but there isn’t much variety. Over the past week without the package, I only bought two Sprites. It’s probably healthier for me anyway.

I have researched this in anticipation of our October sailing on Voyager, and I have not found that Freestyle machines have been added. The ship we’re currently on, Liberty, doesn’t have them either The lack of Freestyle machines definitely keeps me from getting the soda package.

Ok. Internet seems to be fairly reliable right now even though it’s the middle of the afternoon. I guess I should have splurged for Voom Stream rather than just Surf Anyway, back to our cruise. Evening Two: We went to the Headliner Show starring Mark Preston. He was a member of the group The Lettermen. While we weren’t familiar with The Lettermen, we did recognize some songs when he sang them. He sang other recognizable songs as well as had some playful banter and storytelling. While not giving off the same high energy of, say an ice show, he was enjoyable. After the show, we grabbed a couple slices of pizza from Sorrentos and went back to our cabin for the evening. You’ll find a recurring theme of early nights. Our daily lives have us going to bed by 830 pm nightly. It’s hard to change that pattern, nor do we really want to with 3 and 4 am wake-ups coming back soon. Day three in Cozumel: Allure and two Carnival ships were in port with us We went to Mr Sanchos today. We walked off at 930, walked to the taxi stand, then realized we forgot the credit card we reserved the day with in our cabin. It was 1030 by the time we stepped out of the taxi at Mr Sanchos. The taxi ride was $17 US for four adults. No hassles or hiccups getting there. The taxi line was long but moved quickly. Follow the signs through the port shopping area to get to the taxi stand. We did the all-inclusive option at Mr Sanchos. Between the four of us we had nachos and enchiladas. All of us enjoyed the food. I had lemonade and my wife had a virgin strawberry daiquiri. They were fine. Our son and daughter in law had a couple Long Island Ice Teas and a couple Margaritas. They both enjoyed their drinks, however they don’t drink much, so I’m not sure how much experience they have with those drinks. All drinks were served in medium-sized plastic cups. Bottled water was also available…in 500 ml bottles I think. I drank three bottles and it tasted, well, like water. Now about the resort itself. It was crowded. Tables are very close to each other, and lounge chairs are placed right to the water’s edge. There was no where to walk in front of the lounge chairs other than in the water. All of the beach loungers were occupied when we got there. We sat at a covered “tiki” table close to the back edge of the beach. My wife and I bought massages there online before the cruise through the Mr Sanchos website. There were no issues with getting our massages, and they were pleasant…if you’ve had a massage on the beach in Mexico before, then you know exactly what to expect. They offered couples massages for $220 and individual massages for $70 each. We did two individual massages and ended up next to each other just like if it had been a couples massage. ymmv Getting a taxi back to the port was as simple as going out to the front and getting in one. $17 for four adults, just like the ride from the port. We were dropped off at the same place we left from that morning. After spending our time there, we will try a different place next time. There was nothing wrong with Mr Sanchos, however the party atmosphere and crowds are not what we enjoy at the point in our lives. 25-30 years ago, we would have been all about it. After our 5 pm dinner seating , we crashed pretty early after some people watching on the promenade. The one picture shows our view of the water from our table at Mr Sanchos. The other is the obligatory picture of our ship (Liberty) and Allure at the pier in Cozumel.

Forgot to say we are seeing this price on this week’s sailing on Liberty.

We have seen water being sold for $2 a bottle.

Well, I have more to say, but consistent WiFi and a browser window that randomly closes have been a challenge. I’ll see if I can stay awake past my normal bedtime if 9-930 tonight and get some things on here.

Our daughter in law’s pregnancy question was answered incorrectly. We panicked and called immediately. We spoke to the Resolutions Department and they said it could be taken care of at the port. We had zero issues checking in at the port….it went very smoothly.

Voom had issues today. It just came back a little bit ago, so I’ll share our 2nd night and day 3/Mr. Sanchos experiences tomorrow. We’re getting to Grand Cayman around 10-1030 tomorrow morning.

At our first dinner this cruise, the head waiter told us that they strive for 10 out of 10 and asked us to immediately let him know if anything didn’t meet that standard so it could be corrected on the spot. it will be interesting to see if/how the post cruise survey is brought up on our last night.

We just stayed at Springhill Suites on Galveston Island. It was a good, clean hotel with a good breakfast included, however it is most definitely not within walking distance of much, especially if you have kids. There is a Target on the other side of I-45, but my wife said she wouldn’t feel comfortable walking there and back alone. Taxi to the ship was $16 before tip.

This was posted in a Facebook group my wife is in.

Curative is still doing testing at our local airport (PWM). No out of pocket expenses for us last Thursday

Pretty calm here.

The closet in a Junior Suite on Voyager Class ships is great, too.

When Royal restarted cruising, there were signs on the elevator doors asking everyone to limit the number of people entering at one time for social distancing purposes. As I recall, we saw signs saying 4 people, 5 people, and 6 people, depending on the date we were cruising. Based on that, I thought it was humorous that the weight limit says 24 persons.

Some thoughts after our first night onboard: Once the rooms were open yesterday, the crowds thinned out and things seemed less crowded. I was worried that we had been spoiled by doing a few cruises at reduced capacity, but last night and this morning things don’t feel congested. I wonder if it’s because the ship is completely open…both sides of the Windjammer, all three Main Dining room decks, no closed off seating, etc. There aren’t even many pool chairs “saved”. We walked into the Solarium right now and were able to find some of the cushy seats on the side by the windows. The only shows that appear to need reservations are the ice shows. Last night’s early comedian show had plenty of seating even though we walked in exactly at 7:00. The comedian, Heath Harmison, was good and teased his 18+ show coming on the last night. Something we’ve not seen before was a kind of “preview” of upcoming shows before the comedian came out….the cruise directer introduced a dance couple who did one routine and a couple who did an aerial routine (both were amazing). We did 80s music trivia last night in the Schooner Bar and came in second with 18/20 correct. It took a couple songs before my wife stopped saying the titles loud enough for the tables around us to hear The cruise director is Kate and the activities director is Kat, and our initial impression is they are high energy and fun. By the way, I’m taking liberties with the spelling of their names…they may use Cs. Sea day today and Cozumel tomorrow. We are booked at Mr. Sanchos, so I’ll let everyone know what it was like for us. Have a great day!!!

While I’m not sure how many pounds 1800 kg are, I guess the days of four people per elevator are long gone In addition, after three cruises that required masks, I still feel like I’m forgetting something when I walk out of our cabin maskless. It is nice though

The taxi from hotel to the terminal was $16 before tip. We used Yellow Cab. Liberty is the only ship here today, so there wasn’t much traffic as we got to the terminal. We arrived at 1010 for our 1030 check in time, so there was a little confusion in the area where the line for people waiting for check in mingled with the people who had just disembarked. Things were sorted out by a couple Royal reps quickly though. There were separate lines for the various check in times. Once we started moving, a bit before 1030, we were onboard in 40 minutes or so. It’s nice to be back onboard a ship. Six months is way too long between sailings.

This is what we had waiting for us on Liberty today.

Update: Accidentally answering one of the health questions incorrectly didn’t slow down the check in process at all. However, the apostrophe in my wife’s and my last name in our passports did require a supervisor override because Royals software (along with most others) doesn’t recognize special characters.

Hope you have an easy departure day and an uneventful trip home.