Day 9 - Home

As is usually the case, I am awake long before the alarm would awake me.

We are secure to the dock and the workers are busy preparing to load provisions for the next cruise while they are unloading thousands of pieces of luggage. Passengers leave in a steady stream.

My back has been hurting for several weeks, so I take no chances and will have wheelchair assistance to leave the ship.

I arrive in the designated lounge a few minutes early, and I am immediately assigned an escort to leave.

Adrienne and Steve are going to help Scott and his sick children, and we will all meet at the cars at the Park N Go lot.

We have to wait a few minutes for our luggage, and as soon as we can get our bags there is a porter ready to help.

A brief pause for verification by facial recognition that I can enter the country, and we are on our way to the car.

Adrienne and Steve arrive about 20 minutes later.  The lot is very congested, but we make it to the turnpike and head North.

We will stop at our usual truck stop and McDonalds for breakfast in Ft Pierce.

We all order from our phone apps. The savings make it worth the hassle. 

Adrienne gets her food and then it happens. All the employees except the cashier walk out. About 15 orders are left in limbo. The gal apologizes many times, but she does not know how to prepare food. All she can do is call her magic helpline.

We ponder just leaving, but are too frugal just to ignore the orders we have paid for.

Within about 30 minutes backup staff arrives and they begin to untangle the mess they were thrown into.

45 minutes later than it should have been, we are back on the road. 

Everyone makes it home safely, the bags are unpacked and the clothes washed.

Ready for another adventure, but not until mid January.

Day 8 - Coco Cay

Coco Cay, Royal's private island in the Bahamas has been very successful for them and they have several others in the works around the world. I elect to stay on the ship, as does everyone else in the family. Scott and his two kids are sick. The temperature is in the low 70's and the wind is blowing at about 20 MPH. Not a very nice day at Coco Cay.

The Allure of the Seas is docked beside us. 12,000 passengers on shore is another reason to remain on board.

Despite the 78 pinnacle and 900 diamond and diamond plus passengers, the lounge was never crowded and we often gathered there after dinner. My son in law, Steve, managed to hide the 100 ducks I brought. He also had brought a special duck from Kevin's son that he gave to Dan our head waiter.

Everything is packed before dinner. I have a 7:30 am departure time usually one of the first passengers to disembark after those that carry all their own luggage.

Despite the cool weather here, it has been much cooler in Florida this past week, with freeze warnings issued for the northern counties.

The alarm is set to ensure an early awakening. Tomorrow it is back to reality.

Day 6 and 7 - Sea Days

The skies remain rain free during the day. A few showers pass during the night. The further north we go, the lower the air temp. Highs will likely be in the mid 70's, low for the Caribbean this time of year.

The little kids swim, slide, and spends time in adventure ocean playing with other's.

We take in a few concerts and lots of quiet time on the balcony or the adults only Solarium. While there are quite a few kids on the ship, in all they have remained well behaved.

The ice show, one of my favorites, came to an abrupt halt about halfway through. After about 15 minutes, the glitch was fixed and the skaters resumed.

It has taken me years to learn and remember, but removing my glasses improves the ships photography substantially. They took some good photos of the entire group. Especially good since it's free.

Tomorrow we will be in Coco Cay, Royal's private island.