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So how do you know when everything is open? I’ve yet to see the zipline running when we’ve walked by. One of the water slides was closed yesterday. The mini golf is closed today. I feel like every time we go to do something it’s closed…but I have no way of knowing when it opens…

We had no plans to go ashore today but when DD realized all her friends were off the ship, she decided she wanted to go into the port are. DS had zero interest and, since DD is under 18 it meant I had to go with her. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really nice port area but I hate the shopkeepers constantly hassling you, and it was super humid… We decided we would do the aviary again - it’s now $14 per person (it was $12 last time we were here) and worth every cent. It’s such a nice little walk through. I’m glad we got to spend the time together, since I’ve barely seen her most of the cruise!

Yes, there was a pool in there along with bars, food, and gift shops. It wasn’t as big as mahogany bay but looked nice!

I feel so bad for DD. She had curly (Afro) hair and is desperate for it to be straight. She spends hours trying to straighten it. She decided to treat herself and paid for a pack of 3 blow outs to have it straightened. They have done a great job and it’s really nice and very straight when she walks out of the salon. Unfortunately, she didn’t factor in the humidity- within seconds she is a ball of frizzy curls again! 🤣

Oh, the cruise itself was a “steal” but once I added in flights, hotel, drink package, wifi, specialty dining, excursions…none of which were mandatory but still added to overall cost.

It’s so humid today that as soon as I opened the balcony door, every mirror fogged up!

It’s a great ship!

Yeah. It’s gross. I’m not even sure what it is and people are still using them but not for me…

Yeah. I tried not to like it 🤣 There are one or two things I don’t love (bar service or lack of being top of the list). I don’t love the smoking area right at the pool - that seems weird to me, with all the kiddos around that area. I don’t like the silly charges for silly things - $2.50 for popcorn? That’s low. I would love a paper copy of the daily stuff (maybe you can get them somewhere but I haven’t found one yet) as I keep missing stuff when I’m not on my phone/app. But all of these are pretty minor and not a make or break for me. What I do love is the entertainment- very talented people at everything we have been to! The food has been consistently good - not knock your socks off outstanding, but really good. The drinks are strong. There are lots of things going on at all times so always something to do. Having said all this, I likely wouldn’t rush into booking RC again unless this class of ship came out west. For the cost of this trip, we could have easily done 2 weeks on princess or NCL from the west coast…

Ship views

Why do all the hot tubs on this ship look like this? I know it’s not actually dirt, but it still puts me off wanting to get in! This is the one in the Solarium but they all have that same brown nastiness…

Say hello to my little friend! If you guessed Enchantment you would be correct!

Good morning from Costa Maya. It’s cloudy and muggy today.

Remember how I said I loved the singing and dancing in Grease and wished they had a show where they just did musical numbers? Well, it seemed that they got my memo - tonight was a cabaret with the cast of Grease. It was in Dazzles and started right after the ice show, so by the time we made it over there it was a packed house with nowhere to sit. Standing room only. As we were debating whether to go or stay, a big group of 20 somethings invited to sit in their booth with them. DS was grinning from ear to ear and said “OMG we are groupies”. I was totally confused until he explained that these lovely people were, in fact, the Grease cast and this evening’s entertainment! Wow! They were just the sweetest and obviously so close as a cast and as friends. Each one chose a song from a musical to sing and introduced themselves while telling us why the song was meaningful to them. All of the songs were from lesser known musicals and these guys knocked it out of the park. Pure talent. Such an enjoyable evening and the perfect way to end the perfect day!

We had reservations for the ice skating show at 8pm - 1887! We headed over and got seats around 7:40pm. It was pretty full, but DD said her friends got in from the walk in line without issue. Once again, I didn’t totally follow the storyline but WOW the skaters were phenomenal! I was gasping out loud at some of the twirls and jumps. The guy in the hamster wheel thing really blew me away - even DS was mesmerized! I wish I had taken pictures of the actual show but was so transfixed that I forgot until the end!

After our carousel ride we came back to the room to shower and change - tonight is Caribbean night. DS wanted to go to Star Wars trivia, so we headed to The Attic. They had double scheduled an art seminar in there, so trivia folks were sent up to On Air. I felt bad for the guy doing the seminar as his audience (or what he thought was his audience) emptied out! I know zero about Star Wars- never watched it and no interest. DS was on his own for this one. There were some serious fans who got perfect scores, but I was pretty proud that my 13 year old only missed 2 questions! Next, we found out favourite spot at the pub and played some more card games until DD texted to find out what we were doing or dinner. We weren’t that hungry, so decided to go to Windjammer. Once again, there was a good selection of good (too much that I wanted to try). I opted for Indian again , DS had the burger of the day (do you notice a theme here?) and DD had a mish mash of foods that didn’t really go together. It was all tasty!

It was right around now that I realized we had both gotten quite burned, despite having factor 50 sunscreen…

DS and I got changed into swimsuits and spent the whole afternoon in the pool (this was when I witnessed the three people at the pool bar that each had issues getting service). This wasn’t a problem for me this afternoon as a waiter took my order while I was in the pool - yes, RC allows drinks in the pool! This waiter was fabulous as he timed his rounds perfectly. No sooner would I take my last sip than he would be there with another beer! I was in heaven! I made lots of friends just chilling in the pool and we had a great afternoon- DS cut me off after beer 6 and told me I should eat something, so we stopped by the dog house and also got shakes at Johnny Rockets. And rode the carousel.

We had lunch at Park Cafe and I got another of those delicious Kummelweck sandwiches. They are the bomb!

Roatan: I really wanted to see sloths and iguanas today, so checked out the tours offered through the ship. They were running at double the price of non ship tours, so I started researching. I believe it was @MeganGC1983 that did the tour through Tucan Adventures and had a positive experience. The sloths and iguanas , with a private car and driver was $45 per person, which was half the cost of the big group tour through the ship. We disembarked around 8:20am and made our way through the port area to the exit - super simple to follow the signs for Downtown. There were lots of tour companies and taxis there if you are looking for something last minute. One of the tour operators asked which company we were booked with and directed us to the area they were waiting. Cynthia (the leader) introduced us to our driver, Cecilia, and we were on our way! We had a nice, clean, air conditioned car all to ourselves. Cecilia was fantastic, mixing Roatan facts and history with her life story on the drive to Daniel Johnstons Sloth park. It only took about 20 minutes to arrive and she got us checked in. First stop was sloths, where we got to hold and cuddle with them. It was hard to give that bundle of cuteness back! Next up was the monkeys - those critters are so cute and fast. They sat on our heads and shoulders and tried to steal anything within reach. We also got the chance to go into the cage with the macaws, but both kids opted out as last time they held the macaws they got quite badly scratched. After Daniel Johnston, we went 5 minutes up the road to the iguana park. I had thought they wove in cages, so was utterly delighted to. Ind they were just wandering around. So. Many. Iguanas. We got a guide who took us around and told us so much about iguanas, encouraged us to touch them and feed them, and took pictures for us. He then took us down to the water to show us huge tarpons and gave us fish to feed them with. After we were done, Cecilia offered to take us anywhere else we might want to go. However, it was so hot by this point and we had such a perfect morning that I didn’t want to risk things going south if we got too hot and tired. The kids agreed and we came back to the ship around 12pm. I would 100% recommend this tour company for Roatan! They have a few different port and the price beats the ship - plus you get a private vehicle and driver and can customize it!

There are so many components that go together to make today a perfect day! I told DS that when David Lee Roth sang “This must be just like livin’ in paradise,” he was singing about today. I’ ll begin with the only bad part of the day - room service breakfast. I rarely order room service but since we had an early start, I figured it would be nice to have coffee and bagels for getting ready. (As an aside, the lady sitting next to us at Hibachi the other day told us about her disastrous room service- first they forgot the food, then when they finally got it to her the bagels were completely burnt). I had put the card out on the door and requested 6:30-7:00 delivery. I had set an alarm for 6:30 but it evidently didn’t go off (or maybe one too many drinks meant I didn’t set it correctly) because at 6:40am I heard a knock at the door. Room service. Everything I ordered was there, but the bagels were beyond burnt. Not only burnt but cold and rock hard, I’m not sure what they did to them but we certainly couldn’t eat them! Luckily, this was the only downside to our day.

Before I tell you all about our day in Roatan (which might just rank as a be of the best days EVER) I have to tell you about something witnessed at the pool bar that makes me feel a little better about myself… I’ve spoken about the feeling of being ignored and just having no acknowledgement or service at almost all bars. I was taking it personally- I’m new to RC and felt like maybe that was the reason. Today, I was sat near (not at) the pool bar and watched THREE people have the exact same experience. Two walked away in disgust after standing there at least 15 minutes. One went full psycho crazy (I don’t do this. Life is way too short to sweat the small stuff, but I did feel for him). I literally watched as he stood there, card in hand, and both bartenders completely ignored him.

OMG I 💯 need to see these!