Dolby1000

A bit of a catch up. After eating at Giovanni’s mid-afternoon, we weren’t hungry enough to eat at the CK and we ended up at Playmakers later to watch the playoff hockey and listen to Knick fans bemoan their team’s efforts. We split the namesake burger and fries and whoa, was that a good idea. Delicious, as good of a burger as advertised. Picking up on things, we left Roatan and had dinner at the CK. Mooring Lines ready to be cast away! Hazy sunshine. The Mariner will follow us to Costa Maya. CK dinner, octopus appetizer. I had salad, first time my wife had octopus and she liked it. Not rubbery at all. We each had the poached lobster, very enjoyable. Pineapple cake for dessert. Another enjoyable meal at the CK. That night we didn’t have any entertainment scheduled and I ended up suffering yet another disappointing night at the casino, not sure why I even try! I was about even, and I had my first pocket pair of the trip and that hand stood, hooray! And then they changed dealers and I didn’t win another hand. She gave me look like “why are you leaving” and I’m like did you even noticed the last 5 hands where you beat me every single time, including your 6-3 beating my Ace-King. The pattern under her hand was not player friendly, 2 others left shortly after I did after getting burned by the dealer turning ridiculous hands. Our final port, Costa Maya. We had room service breakfast on the patio. Welcome to Costa Maya. Oh look, we found the SS Minnow!!!! After the ship docketed, we could feel it rocking. Up until this morning, we’ve had calm seas and very smooth sailing. Today, when docked, the ship was not steady. When we excited the ship and saw the waves pounding the front of the ship, and noticed we were parked perpendicular to the pier, those those waves were bounding off the side of the ship, we could see it literally rocking back and forth. Later, Norman, one of the Concierge, mentioned that the rough seas were common for Costa Maya and that the port is skipped quite often and has the nickname Costa Misa due to the rough conditions. We also had the Mariner again with us today. IMG_8916.mov The welcome wagon at Costa Maya We had canceled our Beach Break due to the seaweed and were we ever glad as it was so rough we never would have gone swimming. We wander the shops but didn’t buy anything and returned to the ship. We hung out by the pools and had lunch at El Loco Fresh. DW made herself a couple of tacos and I had a chicken quesadilla and we split some chips and cheese. It was a nice change of pace. Back at the pool we shared the signature drink of the Line & Coconut and was that ever terrific. The flavors of Coconut, Lime and Guava were perfectly balanced and we could have drank 10 of them. We didn’t. We then when on a taking pictures tour of decks 5 and 6. I love the carnival pictures at the entrance to the Boardwalk. The Mustang It has scratches! The glass pictures at the Boardwalk DW on the Carousel. The Abyss Dinner tonight was Izumi, the Habachi grill. We had a great cook and wonderful people. One of the tricks is the chef will toss cooked eggs for you to catch with your mouth. I even caught one from about 10 feet! Not only was the show awesome, the food was super good. DW had shrimp and I had the steak and they were super flavorful. We saw The Effectors II - Crash and Burn and loved it. The cast (same one from Voices) is having so much fun and the effects are indescribable, including many drones. You didn’t need to see Effectors I to enjoy this. We’ve many great shows this week (except the juggler, the cook at Izumi easily was more impressive that guy). Effectors was one of the best. The entertainment on the ship has been top notch. The cast comes out for pictures. We returned to the cabin to be treated by this tiny guy. Tomorrow is our last day, a sea day, as Diamond members, we get a backstage tour of the theater and we are so looking forward to that. That is all for now, trip is nearly over! Leftovers:

OCSC Thanks for sharing those pictures. We drove and parked at the port, not the cheapest of options, but the easiest for us. A couple of random thoughts: There is no where, other than the front of the Solarium, to view the direction the ship is sailing. There are no upper deck areas that face the front of the ship. The side wings which are placed over the bridge are closed when the ship is at sea. The helicopter pad is reserved for staff only. The TV has a camera shot that looks forward and that is about it. Okay, my generation talking. As I said previously, we are sailing with gratitude towards my aunt who had passed away. We would always buy many postcards and send them to her over the next few weeks and she always told us how much she enjoyed receiving them. I really want a postcard of the ship lit up at night, like something from a drone. We asked in the shop about finding some postcards and she looked at us like we had grown horns. She then gave me a bit of a dirty look and said “no postcards” but her eyes said, “no postcard you baby boomer idiot.” So shoot me, we come from the postcard generation! Only a few shops on Costa Maya had postcards. The have the backdrop of the ship from the rear, but no side view. I miss postcards! Still working on downloading pictures, hold on.

Another long, or rather short night of the dealers being devilishly evil. Finally, a full table of 7 players. For one hand, there were 4 clubs showing. 5 of us had a club in our hand leaving only four left so we were pretty confident of our flushes easily wining. There was also a pair of 4s, (the one four being the only non-club) and one of the clubs was a 2. The dealer turned over a pair of 2s for a full house, taking down all of our flushes. I have watched the dealers continuously hit 1,2, or 3 outs to take down the table at one would think are ridiculous odds. If I was a conspiracy theorist, one would be highly suspicious that those card shufflers are on the up and up. Today, Thursday, is Roatan day. We have a friend in port with us today, the Mariner of the Seas. We did the 4 hour Roatan tour, the one without the Beach break. It was a hazy hot and humid day. The haze coming from forest burns on Honduras. First up, the oldest Methodist church on Roatan, I forget how old they said it was, but it was in the 17th Century, I believe. And the inside. The sun peeking our from behind the cross was a happy accident. A couple of fruits native to Roatan include the noni, which is the white one and yellow or red cashews, yes, the nuts. The nuts are the seeds which must be roasted as raw they are very acidic and will burn your mouth, lips and skin. The fruit is very, very juicy and can be eaten, or more commonly, made into wine. More random Roatan pictures. . . . . A large cashew tree. How the fruits are converted to the nuts we know. As I recall, these are mountain apples, very sweet. Below, forest flame tree, I think this is where Outback got the idea for the Onion Blossom. We stopped at the chocolate factory, yes, I brought some. Making chocolate. We went to the Eco Park which is where my flower and fruit pictures came from. There was also a nice Macaw. Finally, here are assorted pictures from around the ship looking over Roatan. They are adding a major extension to the port shopping area. Pool with swim up bar, wish I had known about that before we got here. Finally, that is the airport in the distance. Look carefully and you will see the control tower is located on the hill, on the airport grounds.

So, as you can see, I’m not so good at editing these pictures in any particular order. Random Cozumel pictures, including pictures of the port, our lunch at Giovanni’s table and our latest tiny towel animal. Shrimp Risotto from CK, the rice was not fluffy and had no resemblance to what risotto is supposed to be. Good flavors though and it needed to be warmer, it had been sitting under a warmer before coming out to my DW. Steak and Frites, this was super good. Vanilla cream and meringue in a vanilla sauce, devilishly good. Chocolate Pot o Cream. That cookie was super wonderful, but otherwise, too similar to pudding. Quite chocolatey though. DW walked the lap track on deck 5, one of the life boats was lowered and she grabbed a picture of what it looks like inside. The swimming area extends from Senior Frog’s (the thatched roof) to the black and white stripped area on the pier. Pretty deep and difficult to get in or out as the stairs really don’t extend low enough. Good night from Spike, our towel rhino.

Hi everyone, when I tried to access CC Boards yesterday, it would not load. Everything else worked fine, so I’m thinking it was a CC issue. I am back today to talk about Cozumel and Roatan. But first, I have something very important to say. There was a thread here a while back asking if the “ping” when entering or leaving the ship had stopped. I can honestly say that on the Wonder, coming and going is accompanied by that wonderful little Ping! Please have your ship cards ready. Coming back from my afternoon swim at Cozumel, the line to get through the entrance to security was backing up as a lady in front was digging through her beach bag and having no success I finding her card. At least 30 people stacked up behind her and there were several sarcastic comments. Finally, the security man at the employee entrance started checking our cards. I do not know if that poor lady ever found her card. The Cruise Compass (read it daily) had a very severe warning about smoking in Cozumel as it is not permitted and anyone caught smoking could be detained for 36 hours. As I was walking to the faux beach, I passed a lady smoking and saw 3 security guys scurrying in her direction. I did not stick around to find out what happened. Talking to someone later they said that a 36 hour detaining was unlikely, as the person likely would just be charged a fine and escorted off the island. What was cool, and I mean very, very cool, in a mall across the street from the port area, there were 6 men from Veracruz who were about to perform the Rain Ceremony. This was featured on a recent leg of The Amazing Race and it was super cool to see the whole ceremony. These 5 men climbed to the top of the tower and while one played a fife and a small drum, the other 4. . . . . Wait for it. . . . . . This pic is out of order, this is the men circling the pole before they climb. And they’re off!! Slowly circling as the ropes unfurl and they make their way back to the ground. Almost done. Just us at the pyramid at the mall. Good morning Cozumel.

Finally for today, it was formal night. Don’t we clean up great! We also saw Voices, the theater production show. I do not have pictures but we loved the show. Think Pentatonix only with 15-20 performers. Tomorrow is Cozumel. Other than shopping for vanilla, we expect a quiet day.

Forgot to mention, there was a sparesly attended Top Tier

Our second show of the night was professional juggler David DiMuzio. Unless you have never seen juggling before, this is a must skip. I generally don’t enjoy entertainers who think they are being amusing when they beg for applause. News flash, it is not funny nor entertaining. He juggled 7 balls telling us it was a world record. Not true, we saw someone juggle 8. And while we went from 3 to 7, he had 6 drops. Wow, what a professional. His volunteer from the audience was a clear plant. We didn’t leave out of politeness. Tried the casino again, no success there, session was even shorter then last night. Today was a sea day, so it was pretty quiet. Had lunch at Giovanni’s. Meat & Cheese anti-pasta plate. Cannoli, which had a weird taste and texture. The person at the table next to us had the very same description. The consistency and taste of the Ricotta was off and not creamy. Go Bananas. Nutella and banana Stromboli. This was good. Chicken Parm, very good, not the best ever, Steak Muffuletta, wife was not a big fan.

So, where were we? Oh yes, we had just returned from Cococay. Personal pet peeve. If the elevator is full and you are waiting for the next one. Please, for the love of God, do not press the appropriate up or down button again until the elevator has left. To keep pushing it while the doors are closing just causes the doors to open again and there we all stay. To do it 4, yes I say 4, times in row becomes downright annoying. No one is getting off, you are delaying the next elevator for everyone. What is surprising is that this happens 2-3 times a day! Instead of the safety briefing, can we have elevator lessons? After a nice dinner in CK, sorry, no food pics, we went to the ice show, Seasons365. Wasn’t sure what to expect here. Of all the ice shows we have seen, Seasons365 puts it together the best. Lots of great skating, yes, but the staging effects are just as impressive. My favorite number was the first winter one, that was awesome. A few random pics below:

Captain Tyrm, he is very personal able.

The 6 was hers and not the river, thus she had the higher straight:

Day 2. Breakfast in the CK and again, it was so good, it was basic scrambled eggs, bacon and toast but done well. It was also quiet. We had rented a Cabana on Chill Beach and were assigned #1, which is right at the check in desk. Less sand to trudge through, so we were good with that. Mother nature supplied us with wonderful, if not a bit breezy, weather. The water had not yet reached it’s summer warmth, which is good, if it stays a bit cool, that will delay Hurricane Season. For the 4th time, we also had reserved the balloon ride and for the 4th straight time, it wasn’t flying. We had a quiet day at the Cabana, it was wonderful. Next up, dinner at CK, the Ice show and if we have the energy, the Headliner show in the Royal Theater. Below, pictures from our day in Cococay. For those who like to see the mooring lines.

Lastly, I went to the casino around 11:30. This was my first real surprise. I enjoy playing Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em. I enjoy it most when there are several people at the table. The 2 tables in the “smoking” casino were empty, as was the Texas Hold’Em table, the 3 Card Poker table, most of the BlackJack tables and 90% of the slots. There were only 2 people in the no-smoking casino, and they were at a couple of not paying much of anything slots. So, I sat down at the empty Ultimate table and went one on one with the dealer. Who promptly dealt me Aces! Then followed those with 2-3-4-5 on the board. First hand, straight! Woo Hoo, I win. NOT. She turned over a 6. Really, are you kidding me???? Before I left, she had 3 straights, a full house, trips twice. I had had the one straight and once I had trip 4s, lost to her trip 6s. The session didn’t last long. Even more entertaining, when I took a bathroom break, as I was washing my hands, in rushed a woman who promptly threw up in the sink. Wow, what a great first night for her, drink so much you get sick and then you do in the wrong room! And I know I had it right as there were urinals in my bathroom, so I didn’t get it wrong. Coming up, Perfect Day at Cococay!!!

Dinner at the CK was very good. We met a wonderful couple to have lively conversation and the food was pretty great too. Although my wife wasn’t all the enraptured of the smoked tomato soup (sorry, no food port, I just don’t take good food port pictures), I loved the hearts of palm with lobster salad. Big chunks of lobster! She had the duck breast and I had the filet, both were excellent. For dessert she had the peanut butter caramel bar (which had no taste of maple as described) and I had the Boston cream pie. Both were satisfying ends to the dinner. We had reservations for Intense, which it was, and we were among the crowd that was wowed. A not to miss show.

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, about 24 hours ago we were sailing away. Port Orlando isn’t really an exciting place to depart from, as evidenced from the below pictures. Pulling away, excitement abounds. We are at the front end of the suite area, we can easily hear the festivities from the wild pool sail away party. Oooh, exciting Jetty Campground, where we watched Saturday’s sail away. And of course, the Wonder passes the excitement of Port Canaveral and Cocoa Beaches.

Yes, the Boardwalk gets in the way.

I was interrupted by Sail Away and by the time I returned to this thread, it wouldn’t let me edit the post to describe the pictures. The food porn was the Short Ribs which were delicious. Sailing out of Canaveral is not very scenic but I’ll try to post something later.

We are on board the Wonder of the Seas and so far, we are very impressed. Our check in time was 10:30 (although in. A suite, we could check-in any time we wanted). We arrived at the port at 10:2o, dropped off the luggage and were parked by 10:30 and by 10:45 we were on board the ship. Very smooth and easy process. Took a bit of a tour of the upper deck and checked out the Coastal Kitchen/Suite lounge. We had decided to eat at the Hibachi part of Izumi and the staff at the Coastal Kitchen were able to handle that reservation for Friday and all the other nights at the Coastal Kitchen. We do not plan to step foot in the main dining room. While DW took a break, I went out and tried to take pictures of a rapidly filling up ship. Tonight dinner at Coastal, Intense at Aqua Theater, maybe the headliner at 9:45 and balloon drop at 12:00. Pictures of the day posted below.

Then, this afternoon we went to Port Canaveral Jetty Park to watch a few ships leave the port area. We watched the Carnival Vista, The Adventure of the Seas and the Disney Fantasy. Not pictured, Carnival Mardi Gras. While we were watching, I received an email from Royal saying they look forward to seeing us in Orlando tomorrow. Really, how does that work? There is no waterway from Port Canaveral to Orlando, I know if we went to Orlando tomorrow, the Wonder would leave without us. That would be a bad thing. You will see us in Port Canaveral tomorrow.

Hi everyone! Yes, we are only taking 3 suitcases on the ship, the 4th one if just for our 2 nights in Cocoa Beach. I love vacation mode, so now we come out 2 nights early to have some fun. What did we do today? Morning pictures from the Brevard County Zoo.

We have arrived at the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach. Drive wasn’t too bad, we took a few back roads to avoid I4. Very nice day. Pictures of the loaded car, thinking we could bring a whole lot more. NOT says the DW. Picture of the room and the scenery outside our door and balcony. That is the Allure in the distance.

Today is the DAY, we leave for port Canaveral later this morning. I need to get all of this into the car!

Although I have entered reviews before here on Cruise Critic, this is the first time I’m going to try a live report, with pictures if I can figure out things between my iPhone and this new iPad. It will be easier taking pictures on the phone and sending them to the iPad, but I’m not sure if we will be able to have 2 devices on the internet. We are in suite, so having one is included, not sure if being in a suite means each one of us (there are 2) can hook up a device. About us: Dinks, 65 (DW) and 62 (me), married 38 years. Our anniversary was earlier in April but since it was around Easter, we delayed the cruise for a month as the prices were much less in May. This trip is in celebration of my late Aunt Betty, we will be remembering her all week. She died last year at the age of 91 and the world is a little less bright, and yes, less cranky, than it was. We loved her a lot. We live in Lakeland, Florida, so sailing out of Port Canaveral is very convenient for us, and we love the Oasis class ships. This is our 12th RCCL cruise, having sailed before on the Allure (3 times), Serenade (2 times), Mariner, Adventure, Brilliance, Rhapsody, and the Grandeur during her very first year, let me tell you, since that wonderful trip on the Grandeur back in 1997, things sure have changed! And not all for the better either. No subsequent cruise on any line (including Disney, HAL and NCL) has the food approached what we had back in 1997! We are staying at the Hampton Inn, Cocoa Beach for 2 nights before the cruise. We’ve stayed here many times before. Nothing fancy but we can park once and the beach and restaurants and other entertainments are within walking distance. We hope on Saturday to hang out at the beach by the port exit and picture the four ships leaving port that day. We splurged for a Grand Suite. Since we were not impressed with the Main Dining experience on our last Allure cruise, we plan on taking most dinners in the Coastal Kitchen. We do have a lunch planned on the first sea day at Giovanni’s. Otherwise, we might check out Playmakers, Hooked and The Mason Jar. One day, we’ll have the beef sandwich at the Park Cafe. I have reserved a Chill Island Cabana on Cocacay as they are much closer than the ones on the Southern Beach. We have found the shoreline and the water too rocky on that end of the island. This will be our first time hanging out at Chill Beach. The Wonder is the only ship at Cococay so things should be pretty roomy. Nothing planned on Cozumel, for Roatan we’re taking a standard island tour, and we’re thinking of doing the Beach Break on Costa Maya. The pyramids are just too far of a busy ride for us. I hope to post pictures along the way, here are a few in advance. Our anniversary dinner 4 weeks ago, members of the cast of Mama Mia on the Allure, they were working our Muster Station and being return cruises, we were the first to check in. The tall one on our right was one of the male leads. And the Bay Bridge from our Serenade cruise from 2023.

I'm so enjoying your reports! Mostly, I lurk about here on Cruise Critic but then I saw Ronn Lucas on your entertainment guide and I had to comment. We saw Ronn in Las Vegas years ago and loved every minute (i enjoy ventriloquists). Quite envious for your show. If you stayed, can you tell me if Scorch (a green dragon) is still part of his show? Thank you Keep posting, I almost feel as if we are all with you. I take inspiration from your travels. Dolby1000

Taking a tour of the entire Alaska Rail system is a definite bucket list item, such a trip is very pricey though.