Last Day - The Drive Home

Brian and Jenn make last minute flight changes to get a 10:30 AM departure. We have our last breakfast at Chops.

At 7:15 we head to the main deck to await our call for departure. There is no wait, we walk to the luggage area and within a few minutes are on the parking bus shuttle.

The other car is 20 minutes ahead of us, on the way to the airport.

Home and unpacked by 9:30. The laundry is done by noon, ready to go again, but not for 6 weeks.

Day 7 - Sea day

Except for a brief shower, it is a sunny delightful day. The solarium pool is busy, but not as packed as the main pool.

Kids continue to forage through the planters looking for ducks. I always thought the idea of ducks was fun for the kids, and I have hidden hundreds of them over the last year. My opinon is rapidly changing as I observe the damage done to the central park planters.

Q & A with the captain this morning elicits mostly good questions asked by children.

This afternoon it is packing time. Dinner in the coastal kitchen is good. I should have made a better attempt to dine there more often this week.  They were not full.

The alarm is set for 6:00 AM. We are ready to go home.

Day 6 - Cozumel, Mexico

There are varied plans for the day. 6 people are visiting ruins in Tulum, others a beach visit, and a few shopping. Lynn and I elect to remain on the ship.

The Enchantment of the Seas shares our pier. Being one of the smallest ships in the fleet, the difference in size is apparent. The only other ship here today is a Carnival ship.

Most passengers go ashore, leaving the ship nice and peaceful.

The usual stop in the lounge, followed by the ice show "365", then dinner.

I was unable to join several others in Wonderland, so I go to the main dining room for dinner....and another birthday cake from the staff, as today is my actual birthday.

The ship is late in departing as an ambulance was called to take a passenger to the hospital. I don't know if the demographics have changed, or it just larger ships, but I get the feeling that there are more medical emergencies than 10 years ago.

We will cruise at over 20 knots to get back to Port Canveral Sunday morning.

Day 5 Sea Day

The seas remain slight, we are well south of the reach of Milton. Florida is not so fortunate. Milton slams the gulf coast as a category 3 just south of Tampa and proceeds basically straight across the state dropping to a cat 1 as she moved into the Atlantic..

Everyone has concerns about friends in the storms path. Ultimately we determine all ours are safe. So far the worst damage is a couple of ridge cap shingles blown off Lynn's roof.

Eventually I figure out that I can use Alexa to determine if I have power. I do. Friends make a quick external house check to determine everything is OK. We are all lucky, the worst of the storm passed to our south. 

Early in the day we spend a few hours on the pool deck in the shade. Seating is scarce.

Lunch is at the dog house, after which we watch the performers rehearsing for the aqua show. Later we will learn that this is a new cast that will start on the next cruise.  This is one of the few shows where the full cast is changed out at the same time. For most shows only a few performers in the entire cast would be rotated out at the same time.

The "men" in the group have discovered the Mason Jar, a venue that has a very desireable super premium whiskey at a very low price. Low enough that it is covered by the free drink vouchers many of us have.

Since it is expected that I will nor be in the dining room tonight, our waitress presents me with a birthday cake a day early. A surprising nice thouht. The cake even came with a candle, which was carefully guarded by the staff. Candles are strictly prohibited on cruise ships.

After dinner some time in the Trellis Bar in Central Park, before the aqua show. One of the few areas where it is not apparent how many passengers are on the ship.

The high wire artist slipped, but caught herself without injury. Halfway thru the show the skies opened up with a downpour. The swimmers didn't mind, but many in the audience scurried for cover. We all remained dry.

Tomorrow we will be in Cozumel.

Day 4 Falmouth, Jamaica

Because of hurricane Milton our itinetary was changed, and we are making a stop at Falmouth, not a port usually called on by this ship.

The weather is sunny with a forecast of a small chance of showers in the afternoon.

Hurricane Milton is still poised to make landfall later today south of Tampa and then pass across the state just south of Orlando. Major damage is expected.

The younger members of our group have all booked various excursions. Adrienne, Steve, Alyssa and James are headed to Dunns River Falls, a long time favorite that I took my daughters to years ago.

Brian Petersen is having all the luck, maybe because this is his first time on Royal. He purchased a silk shirt in the shops only to discover one of the characters was misprinted the wrong color. Yesterday the shop tried to get it back from him and replace it.  He refused, and now he has a rare collectors item.

He booked a tour only to have it cancelled several hours later, but now too late to book the falls. He will try again for something.

The Disney Fantasy is docked here with us. The port area is busy. We ultimately decide to do the usual, just stay on the ship.

Actually, we are quite fortunate in getting rerouted to a different port. Most diverted ships are just spending more days at sea.

A Royal ship from New York is just spending 1 day at Coco Cay then returning to her home port. 

We will make a stop at Cozumel, just not on the date scheduled. An extra problem for those that book tours privately.

Today is Steve and Adrienne's 15th anniversary, one of many reasons why we all are on this cruise.

The dining room waiter makes a lovely napkin rose and vase.

Everyone enjoyed their excursions. The production show tonight is Voices. The theater is less than half full. I wasn't impressed, others felt better about the show.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we head to Cozumel, Mexico.

Day 3 Sea Day

The first task of the morning is to check on Milton. The findings are not good. Probably a category 4 or 5 when it hits land, probably just south of Tampa and it will head east across the center of the state.  Being hundreds of miles wide, our homes in central Florida will not escape.

Service and breakfast in Chops continues to be good.

The top tier event shares that we have 75 Pinnacle, 247 diamond plus and 386 diamonds on board. Still too many Pinnacles for me to have access to the coastal kitchen. The captain does a good job of explaining the differences in ship size of the newer ships. Well spoken, he lives in the Villages just north of me.

At noon we enjoy "Cheers with an Officer". Essentially a good lunch with a thank you from the hotel director and some of his staff. The filet of tenderloin and free flowing wine was good.

The weather remains mixed - cloudy, partly sunny, with some periods of rain. I don't know the passenger count, but it is substantial with many kids. The elevators are often crowded.

Tonight we forego formal night as we have reservations in the Solarium Bistro, a venue billed as offering more healthy dining options. Self serve buffet but with reserved tables. Probably I would rate a step up from the regular buffet just because it is not crowded, but not as good as the main dining room.

We all are staying away from any of the speciality restaurants based on very poor previous experiences.

After dinner a short stop at the schooner bar before the production show "Voices". Seating is scarce at the Schooner, Adrienne winds up sitting on the window sill. 

Voices is not one of the better production shows, and the theater is 25% empty.

I repair a corrupted file for the train club, a 2 minute task. I am surprised this is the first time it has happened.

The latest update has Milton possibly taking a path slightly south of the original prediction. If so that will be better news for me.

Royal has added the weather channel to the TV lineup so passengers can stay abreast of the latest storm conditions. Many passengers live in the direct path of the storm and have legitimate concerns as to what they will face when they return home next week. My personsl biggest concern is my neighbor's trees. He has neglected them and never had them trimmed or thinned. If his tree falls on my house, my problem. Florida law.

Many of us have cars parked at Port Canaveral. How safe they are from the coming storm surge is an unknown. We will know Sunday.

Tomorrow we will dock in Falmouth, Jamaica. A safe distance south of Milton.

Day 2 Coco Cay

The weather is rainy and windy. The sun in non- existant, well it is really there but we just can't see it.

The aqua show was ultimately cancelled last night. It will be rescheduled later in the week, again, weather permitting.

It is beginning to look like central Florida will be in the direct path of hurricane Milton. Despite the rainy weather this is a better place to be, how did I know a year ago?

Alyssa and Adrienne had an excellent dive. Some of the others enjoy the beach. Brian took the zip line. Lynn and I stayed dry on the ship. Surprisingly I would guess that 75% of the passengers went ashore despite the wind and rain. Thanks!

It is a very quiet day. A few hours in the solarium and a well deserved afternoon nap.

Despite the large numbers of guests, the crown lounge has not been crowded. A good place to type.

We have a different table for 11 in the main dining room. Italian night. Lasagna seems to be the most popular choice.

We head to "The Attic" for the comedy show. Our reservations are for an hour and a half later, but being Pinnacle gets us to the front of the standby line, and good seats. The comedians are average.

After the show it is time for sleep.

Tomorrow will be a sea day.

Sun Aug 6 First day on Wonder of the Seas.

Yesterday was a very long day. I was up before 5 to help with our train club's public show in DeLand, Fl.

A 70 mile drive, an hour and a half of setup, and then a full day of running trains.

We acquired at least one new member, making the day a success.

I originally booked this cruise to the Western Caribbean well over a year ago when my daughter and her husband Steve decided to book it. Since then many more are joining the party and we are up to 19 family and friends from Florida to Ohio and Oregon.

I think 5 cars of passengers.

I have a frequent parker reward for parking for 1 car, it only cost me $8.03 for port fees and taxes. What a bargain.

Just as we are leaving Clermont we get notice that the itinerary has been substantially altered because of a huricane in the gulf. So is life at sea.

Boarding is quick, but almost a zoo atmosphere. Kids running and screaming everywhere. The number of people larger than I have seen on a ship in years. The buffet is packed despite being on board before noon. A little bite for lunch while waiting for our cabins to be ready.

Jenn and Brian get to their cabin to find the keys missing.  The cabin steward insists she placed them outside the door in the designated slot. Knocks on the door elicit no response. A manager comes by, questions the cabin steward and then goes to get another set of keys.

The door is opened to find two people sitting on the bed, ignoring the multiple knocks on the door. They insist they are in the correct cabin and the names were printed incorrectly on the keys. I don't have the imagination to make up stories like this.

The manager got it straightened out, and Jenn and Brian are in their cabin, without 2 strangers.

Alyssa had 7 extra house guests just before the cruise. Two days ago there was a major water main break . A long period of no water followed by 3 days of boil water mandate. Not easy with a housefull of guests. We depart Port Canaveral on time in fog and rain. I thougjt I had left that weather in the North Atlantic, I guess I was wrong.

Rain comes and goes throughout the day. Adrienne made the proper reservations for 10 of us to be dining together. I never did verify if we were at the same table, be we were definitely scheduled for different dining times. She was told to come to the dining room at 7:30 and they would have our table. By 8:00 we were seated.  The fried chicken was excellent.

Using our reservations for the 10:45 aqua show seemed doubtful.  Rain continued to fall. At 10:00 I give up and call it a night. 

Tomorrow will be a day at Coco Cay. The Freedom of the seas will also be docked with us.