Off to Disney

When I get back, I will continue with my series, "How to Walt Disney World" with freshly verified material.

In the meantime, here is a picture of one of my plans:

Watching the Giraffes while Drinking my Morning Coffee.

Freedom of the Seas - Part II

Grand Cayman is a wonderful place, and I wouldn't mind retiring there. The water is probably my favourite -- the colour is beautiful, and it's always warm and lovely. And they have lots of lizards. I am very fond of lizards.

Grand Cayman Water

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Our excursion for Grand Cayman was the Deluxe excursion to Stingray City. I think it was worth it. Instead of a crowded bus, we were on a charming old-fashioned trolley. We got to see a lovely bit of the island before we arrived at the marina. The catamaran was nice, and had a cash bar, so we could relax with a libation while our captain expertly piloted us to the sandbar. Once there, the stingrays were plentiful. The crew gathered some for us, so that we could feed and hold them. The stingrays don't seem to mind this and keep coming back. Presumably for the free squid. I am not quite sure if this is a good thing from an environmental standpoint, but I think the educational opportunities are worthwhile, and at least it's an open area where the animals come of their own accord, and no one is cutting off their stings.

On the Trolley

Stingray City

Sunset at Sea

Our last port of call was Cozumel. I am always a little leery of Cozumel, having had some negative experiences there, but the last several visits have been blissfully uneventful. This trip, we chose the Twister to Isla Pasion. The Twister is a speed boat that does high speed doughnuts, so it's kind of a fun ride on the way to and from our beautiful all inclusive beach.

Twister

Hermit Crab

Lovely Beach

Lollygagging at Isla Pasion

All inclusive is a slight misnomer, however, since the delicious buffet, and every single bar all have tip boxes prominently displayed. The beach is beautiful however, and I never find that the sand here gets hot enough to burn your feet. The water is nicely warm, especially in summer, and there are a bunch of floating toys and other water equipment to keep you entertained for hours.

It was almost a private beach at this point

In honour of it being Mexico, we made an appointment at the new upcharge restaurant Sabor. They start by making guacamole at your table - your choice of mild or spicy. And then they continue to try to kill you with food. We ended up taking half our desserts back to the room, but were still pretty much in a food coma for the rest of the night. One of the highlights was the Aztec Martini, which is a delicious, fairly spicy, chocolate martini.

Making Guac Tableside

Aztec Martini

The following day was a day at sea. It was the standard final sea day, except for the assembly(?) after main dining (sort of, we had to request they rush us through service so we could get there). The reason we rushed to the theatre was because they were going to introduce the firefighting team that had so handily put out the fire and saved our lives and vacation. Many heartfelt applause and standing ovations went their way. It was a high note to end the cruise on.

Heroes - The Freedom of the Seas Firefighting Team

Obligatory Stateroom Shot

Freedom of the Seas 2015 - Part I

In July, a friend and I did the Western Caribbean itinerary of Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. Since I have posted the Freedom before, this will mostly cover the shore excursions.

Labadee from the Pier

The first stop was Labadee on Tuesday. This was a really nice day. We went to Columbus Cove which  I have never been to before. It turns out, I have been doing Labadee wrong. This is, in my humble opinion, the nicest Labadee beach I have seen, and the water is lovely.

Columbus Cove

We had a very pleasant morning, and enjoyed a few drinks at the convenient bar, before getting the tram back to the boat.

Lavender Vodka Tonic (well, Soda)

We chose this night to go to Chop's Grill. I am very fond of this upcharge restaurant. On each ship, I find the service here to be excellent and the food delicious. I am especially fond of the Caesar salad with caviar, and the staggeringly delicious red velvet cake.

Pirate Night at the Casino

 I don't gamble, but I did like the fact that the casino had a pirate themed night.

I don't have any pictures of the next part because I had left my camera in the cabin, and had just taken my friend to the helipad to watch our arrival in Jamaica. It was then that we heard the Bravo code announcement, and discovered that the ship was on fire. We were preparing to go back to the cabin to get everything we might need when the assembly alarm sounded, putting paid to that notion.

It was a long muster, and for those unlucky enough to have outside muster stations it was especially uncomfortable standing in the Jamaican heat, but it was reassuring that the Captain had the ship pull up to the pier so we would not have to evacuate onto life boats should it come to that.

After an hour or so we were moved into the theatre, which was as cold as the deck was hot. But, they began serving food and water. Occasionally, there would be updated from the cabin as to the situation. We would have been released a lot earlier, apparently, but some passengers had gone missing, and they couldn't dismiss us until everyone was accounted for.

After that, some excursions were cancelled, and some were rescheduled. We were fortunate that ours was rescheduled, and we got to enjoy a somewhat delayed day in beautiful Jamaica.

Waiting for our Catamaran 

Our excursion was a snorkelling excursion in the national park in Montego Bay. I can't begin to say what a great trip this is. First off, the service was excellent and the crew were very laid back. The soundtrack was terrific, and they didn't make me wear swim fins to go snorkelling (I swim much better without them).

Catamaran

There were lots of fish in the water, and my friend even saw a shark (probably a nurse shark). The snorkelling experience was great and I was rather sad when we had to get back on the boat.

Fish

Lots of Fish

But we weren't done yet, and the catamaran sailed us to a protected area, so we could see an amazing variety of birds and...

Jellyfish (look carefully)

Sanctuary

Jellyfish

hold a jellyfish in our hands. I doubt this is cruel, since I don't think jellyfish have feelings (although, part of me hopes they do, after all the times the little buggers have stung me).

Once we returned to the ship, we discovered that Royal Caribbean had gifted each cabin with an on board credit as compensation for the day's inconvenience. They had also deemed that the ship was sea-worthy and our cruise would not be cut short. Bonus and extra bonus!