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"What was your favorite part of the trip?", I asked my wife over a cup of coffee on deck 11 on Sunday morning before we departed the ship. She tried to answer but as she began to describe a scene from our horse back ride in Belize tears of joy halted her speech. Really...nothing more needed to be said!
We booked this, our third trip with Royal Caribbean, last year while cruising on the Voyager. Our previous two cruises had been such great experiences we honestly were just hoping this cruise would be their equal. Seems we set our expectations a little low!
The entire boarding process was exceptionally smooth. We left our house at noon on departure day, drove the 30 minutes to Galveston, parked across the street from the terminal (Galveston Park and Cruise, covered parking $65), and were eating lunch in the Windjammer by 2pm. Perfect!
One can't really "review" the weather but somewhere in this I need to say it was awesome! Warm days and relatively calm seas make for great sea days. Our room attendant, Johnson, was respectably attentive and made sure we had all we needed but was careful to adapt his schedule to ours. We really appreciate an attentive room attendant but we do wish he'd left us a few more towel animals! It's hard to single Johnson out, however. We found the overall service on this trip to be fantastic. Andres and Mohinder "Ben" in the MDR were more than happy to accommodate our multiple appetizer, entrees and dessert orders. The waiters we met on on the first day remembered our names and typical drink orders for the rest of the week which made us feel special. Our cruise director, Mitch, even found the time to have a nice conversation with me. The service was outstanding.
The ship was crowded and made seating in the theater for our group of eight a little difficult. The entertainment was great. We attended every show, including the ice show, and loved them all with the exception of the "Platters." The talent on the stage that night was not consistent with the level of talent the other nights. Our opinion, I am quite sure, puts us in the minority on this. The predominately older crowd (and we're mid to late 40's) LOVED the "Platters."
If you're considering booking a cruise during this time of year, the age of the crowd really needs to be considered. The number of elderly folks, complete with walkers, scooters and the other accouterments the come with the blessing of a long life, certainly affect the elevators lines, theater lines and Windjammer buffet lines.
Roatan, Belize and Cozumel is the perfect itinerary. Beautiful and friendly, more beautiful and friendly and then friendly and fun. Our choice of excursions are on the more active side of things. We Zip Lined in Roatan (Wow!), rode horses in Belize (Awesome!) and did a Jungle Buggy ATV for the third time in Cozumel (Fun and Awesome!).
We so enjoyed this trip we booked our next cruise while aboard...a 16 night Trans-Atlantic trip. We can hardly wait!
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