Radiance of the Seas Cruise

I'm back!!!  I had an absolutely wonderful vacation with my family on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas 5-day cruise to Mexico!  It was a much-needed vacation!  Here's a little recap of our trip:

Tampa, Florida--Friday (January 7th)
We flew into Tampa the day before our cruise left, so we weren't too rushed getting to the ship.  We just hung out at the hotel and went to the local mall.  Nothing too exciting.


Boarding the Ship--Saturday (January 8th)
About an hour before we were supposed to leave to board the ship, we got a call from the transportation service saying our ship's departure time had been delayed because the last cruise had a flu outbreak.  186 people out of 2200 people on board got the flu...yuck!  So, they implemented an intense cleaning and sanitation process delaying our boarding time.  It ended up working out okay because then we had time to go back to the mall and get a few things that my dad and brother realized that morning they forgot to pack...my mom and I gave them a hard time for forgetting things since we remembered everything we needed. ;-)

Eventually we boarded the ship around 7 pm and departed at 10 pm.  Now this is my third cruise and every time there seems to be something that happens.  It's just the nature of cruising.  Our first cruise we couldn't go to the private beach in Haiti that Royal Caribbean owns because there was violence inland in Haiti.  Our second cruise there was an H1N1 scare.  No one on our cruise had it, but two of the islands freaked and wouldn't let us in, so we missed those ports and they had to substitute in St. Thomas, USVI because they would let us in.  Always an adventure, but it's worth it!!!  :-)

My brother and me right before we boarded in Tampa

The whole trip we felt the effects of the sanitation and health requirements.  We were required to use hand sanitizer before boarding the ship at every port and any time before we ate.  We also couldn't hold our menus or serve ourselves at the buffet breakfast and lunch.  I was thankful they did these things to keep us healthy in flu season and we made it off without getting the flu!  Only 25 people on our trip got it.  Plus they gave each person a $50 on-board credit.  I thought that was very generous!  I have nothing but good things to say about Royal Caribbean!!!

At Sea--Sunday (January 9th)

Me standing at the back of the ship as we were sailing

This was our first full day on the ship.  We were sailing the ocean all day.  It got much warmer throughout the day as we progressed towards Mexico.  During the day we relaxed and watched the Kansas City Chiefs play the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs.  Sadly my Chiefs lost, but it was pretty fun to be watching the game from the middle of the ocean with everyone in the ship's sports bar.  Another one of the highlights was watching the Belly Flop competition by the pool...always funny (and painful) to watch!

Crew at the 70's Dance Party

That night the ship also hosted a 70's Dance Party.  The music was great and people-watching was even more fun! ;-)  There were a lot of old people on our ship because of school being back in session I'm guessing, BUT let me tell you they are hilarious and still got the 70's moves!  So much fun!

Cozumel--Monday (January 10th)
Cozumel, Mexico was our first port of call.  I had been there once before on our first cruise.  The weather was gorgeous!  87 degrees and sunny IN JANUARY!!!  I had to keep reminding myself that it was January!

Me in Downtown Cozumel

In Cozumel, we took a cab downtown to all the shops and walked around.  I bought a couple pieces of jewelry and a dress.  Funny story--I tried on this ring at a jewelry store thinking it wasn't too expensive because he told me these were the cheap, not as nice pieces.  It ended up that it was $4500!  I was not expecting that!  I quickly removed the ring and left the store...a little out of my price range right now...haha.

My brother and I in Cozumel

The Caribbean water is just beautiful.  I could look at it all day long!  Look how clear it is!

Caribbean water

Costa Maya--Tuesday (January 11th)
Our other port of call was Costa Maya, Mexico.  I had never been there before, but it was beautiful!  It was another 85 + degree day with sun!!!

Costa Maya

Me in Costa Maya

We walked around the shops and along the beach, but most of the day there you could find me by the dolphin area watching them swim and play.  I have always loved dolphins!  When I was little I wanted to be a dolphin trainer after my first trip to Sea World.  Here's my favorite picture of the whole trip--a dolphin jumping with our ship in the background:

Eventually we boarded the ship and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool.  I watched the Men's Sexy Leg Competition!  A 90-year old man entered the competition even...and won!

Every night our state room attendant left a towel animal in our rooms when he came to turn down our beds.  Here's my favorite one:

That night we played the craziest game you will ever see called The Quest.  If you've gone on a Royal Caribbean cruise, you know what I'm talking about.  I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't ever gone because it's more fun to be surprised! :-)  It's one of our favorite things on the cruise!  It's hilarious to see what people will do for a prize!

At Sea--Wednesday (January 12th)
This was our last day on the cruise and we were sailing back to Tampa all day from Mexico.  The waters were quite rough.  Nothing like I'd ever experienced on a cruise.  Normal calm waters have 1-3 foot waves...this day they were 12 feet.  It was ROCKY!  My whole family felt nauseous most of the day as did a lot of people.  We spent the afternoon in bed because that's where you felt the ship the least.  It wasn't fun, but it didn't keep me from doing the things I really wanted to do around the ship.  I got to go on a backstage tour in the theater where they do all the shows every night on board.  I also went to the Love and Marriage Game Show...their version of the Newlywed Game, but they take 3 couples of different length marriages.  It was pretty funny!  Here was the end of the final show of the cruise:

Returning to Tampa and Home--Thursday (January 13th)
We got off the ship around 9 am that morning and boy was it COLD!  Florida was the only state without snow on the ground, but it was still freezing!  We had a great trip!  The crew on-board is what really makes cruising an incredible experience!  They are so polite and so helpful!  You end of making friends with them and are sad to leave at the end.  Our assistant waiter, Frank (from Jamaica), at dinner was our favorite!  I remembered him from being a greeter at lunch on our last cruise.  He's great...I'll post a picture of him later.  My mom has it on her camera that I haven't gotten the pictures off of yet.  There were 888 crew member on board!  Isn't that crazy?!?

We spent the rest of the day at the airport in Tampa waiting for our 4:15 pm flight...that ended up being delayed 2 hours.  We finally made it back home safely to the frigid single digit temperatures and snow on the ground.  Then...when we walked in our new house we moved into in November...we heard water running...not a good sign.  One of our water pipes had busted and flooded part of our lower level...ugh!  Thankfully nothing valuable damaged, but the carpet and walls are damaged.  Nothing like ending a vacation like that!  But, it could have been worse, and I'm not going to complain as the people of Australia are dealing with a much worse flooding situation.  What devastation...praying for them!