• Great snorkeling.  Grand Cayman was better than Jamaica but we saw beautiful stuff in both places. 
• Perfect cabin location.  We were on the main level, just down the hall from the lobby so embarkation/debarkation at Mobile was super easy since the gangway was on the other side of the lobby.  We were located mid-ship, right next to the stairs.  We stepped out our door and went up one flight and the dining room was right there.  If we went up two flights and turned a corner to take one more flight up some hidden stairs, we were right beside the buffet and pool.  On days that we were in port, we took four flights down from our room and the gangway to the docks/tenders was right there. 
• Alit.  Our cabin steward rocked.  Not a day went by that we didn’t have a wonderfully interesting conversation with him.  We learned a lot about his family and his culture and he was just thoroughly friendly.  The fabulous towel surprises were also great!
• Our dinner companions.  It wasn’t as big a table as we’re used to but Billy and Elaine were delightful company each night.  We talked about a little of everything and had many laughs.  I really felt bad the night that we didn’t make it to the dining room due to me being sick. 
• Lots of comedy.  It didn’t all hit home with me but I still appreciated that they are putting more comedy into the entertainment mix.  Who doesn’t like to laugh?
• We came this close to running into friends from home while in a foreign country.  When we got home, a friend asked if we had been in Cozumel that Thursday because he could have sworn he saw us.  It turns out he and his wife were on the Royal Caribbean Oasis ship that was docked there that day.  They drove by in a taxi while we were walking around and shouted out our names but we never heard them.  How fun it would have been to have met up with some friends and hang out in a foreign country together – completely unplanned?

There were a few disappointments as well:

• Entertainment scheduling.  I really didn’t appreciate having to choose between the comedy shows and the main shows.  Especially since it seemed biased against the late diners.  The scheduling was fine for those who were in the early dinner seating.  It was also inconsistent.  Every other cruise we’ve been on has had very consistent entertainment schedules.  For late diners, the main show is before dinner; for early diners, the main show is after dinner.  On this cruise, there were several nights when there was only one seating for the main show and the times were all over the place.
• Entertainment quality.  The first half of the cruise was great (aside from missing so many comedy shows).  Using the marriage game as the main show was pretty lame.  Like I said, the game is always good for laughs but it just seems lazy to make that the evening’s main entertainment.  The new show, Win, that they hyped so much… I truly have nothing good to say about it.  And the last two comedians were just not of the same caliber as the first two. 
• This was the first cruise we’ve been on that we didn’t meet someone to hang out with.  I guess we just didn’t put forth that let’s-be-friends vibe this time.  Not a big negative for the cruise, just strange to have not made that connection with anyone.

Of course, my biggest challenge this cruise was my first foray into motion sickness.  Thankfully, it wasn’t debilitating as I’m sure it had the potential to ruin my trip.  It did, however, mess up my head big time.  It has been two weeks since the day I got so sick and I still feel the world swaying under me.  When I lay down I feel like I’m in a hammock and when I stand or walk I feel like the ground tilts to the right.  This weekend was the first time in my life that I got sick from watching the motion in a movie.  I suspect that what actually happened was not seasickness but the result of some hopefully-not-permanent inner ear damage from free-diving during that first snorkel.  I recall going down once to try to get a closer look at some devil fish hiding in a little cave and having a sharp pain in my right ear when I tried to equalize.  If it lasts much longer, I expect hubby will force me to go to the doctor.

mirror pic

me and Alit

We made it back out for dinner and then went to the theatre for the only seating of the main show, which was both comedians doing a GA act. Mr Rimi’s promise to deliver better jokes tonight went unfulfilled, as far as I was concerned. He did put out some prepared material but it was mostly heckling the audience again. I guess that works for some but I’m just not a fan. The other comedian was Kenny Miller. He was decent. I laughed, but he still wasn’t really my thing. He did mostly prepared material but he picked a couple out of the audience that he kept revisiting as segues for his jokes. He also did an acoustic guitar bit with some folk singing which doesn’t much do it for me.

hubby and our dinner companion, Elaine

me with our dinner companion, Billy

me with our servers, Georgica and Christopher

By the end of the show, hubby and I agreed that we had no interest in seeing any more of these two comedians so we skipped and AO shows and came back to the room to watch TV instead.  

towel animal du jour: turle

staircase pic

towel managerie

too far apart for size perspective; the elation and the royal caribbean oasis

the carnival elation and inspiration

pretty red tree

mexican iguana

then there were two

keeping an eye on me

hubby cooling down after the hot walk

bluetiful! looking toward the dock we've parked at on previous cruises.

bluer than blue. looking at the new dock and shops.

It was an enjoyable stroll together but it was very hot and we were happy to get back to the ship and hit up the frozen yogurt machines. That, naturally, led to an ice cream coma that lasted the rest of the afternoon. It was nearly 18:00 when we finally got out to grab a small snack for lunch and then passed the next two hours until dinner. Happily, Meclizine is a miracle drug and for the first time in two days my head is no longer swimming to the point of nausea. Tonight’s main show was a single seating of their newest show, which they’ve been hyping all week, “Win”. I… didn’t get it. It was a vaudeville compilation of game show and sports skits with singing and dancing. The singing, even from the female vocalist, was terrible. The whole thing was just a mess and I really wished that we had chosen to go to the first AO comedy act from the new comedians instead (again, with the having to choose, Carnival). Hubby and I both agreed that it was the worst show we’ve seen on a cruise ship. When that was finally over, we headed up to catch the second AO comedy show. The comedian was Carl Rimi and, again, I didn’t get it. His character is the cool-tough guy, swaggering around stage. If he had any prepared material, we didn’t hear it. His whole act consisted of standing up there and heckling the crowd. He kept saying that he was tired from a long day of travel and that he would tell jokes tomorrow. We’ll see, I guess, but tonight I was not impressed.  

mirror pic

towel animal du jour: monkey

pirate ship in the harbor

mini-dinosaur

We walked around the port of Grand Cayman for a short while and then met up with the group for the Barrier Reef Snorkel. They loaded us on a school bus and took us to some neighborhood canal about ten minutes away. There, we loaded onto a boat for a fifteen minute ride out to the reef. I was pleased to find what was probably the healthiest looking reef we’ve seen outside Hawaii. There were a few times we ended up in areas that were far too shallow for my comfort and hubby got a small bite by a piece of coral but it was still a great snorkel.  

under the sea

We suddenly found ourselves right smack in the middle of school of 500 or so fish.  It was pretty cool to be among such a dense population.

hubby goin' deep

We were in the water for at least an hour and I was actually very surprised because we were the only two out there for the last twenty minutes. I guess the others weren’t quite the snorkeling enthusiasts that we are but I was afraid that the captain of the boat was going to call us back since everyone else was obviously ready to go. When we did finally get called in, I was ready. The motion of the water had started to get into my head again and I certainly didn’t want a repeat of yesterday. The boat ride back didn’t feel great but I didn’t feel like I was going to be sick either. The bus ride back to the ship was a debacle all its own. The school bus that had brought us to the boat was replaced with an extended van when we returned. Hubby and I got in with several people still behind us and it was already full. There were three seats on the left and one seat on the right. We kind of looked around like “where the heck are we all supposed to fit?” The driver looked in and showed us the little “seat” the folded down in the aisle of each row. I put down mine, sat down, and sank to the left. Even with the jump seats, there was barely enough room for our group. Two people huddled together on the seat next to the driver. The whole way back, I did my best to keep my feet out from under my “seat” with its obviously over-extended hinge. I joked with the guy behind me that he might want to do the same because he would surely lose his feet at the ankles if the hinge gave up. Seriously, we were tighter than a can of sardines and our little jump seats had us sitting inches off the floor with our knees tucked under our necks.  And because of my over-extended hinge, I was practically laying in the lap of the guy to my left the whole way.  We all got some serious laughter out of the situation. But enough about that… Back on the ship, we took a long shower and ate a satisfying lunch before relaxing the afternoon away. The evening began with a reception for past guests, which we followed with a stop at the Salvador Dali exhibit. I adore Dali. There was no real show tonight. Instead, they made the marriage show – a typical cruise ship version of the Newlywed Show where they bring up a newlywed, middlywed (25yrs), and oldlywed (50yrs) couple to play – the main show of the evening as a single seating event after our dinner. Granted, I always love seeing this game but it’s generally more of a day-at-sea, afternoon entertainment thing, not a replacement for the nightly main show.  When we got back to our cabin to call it a night, we were shocked to find a strange man in our bed!!!

towel animal du jour: strange man in our bed!

this totally cracked me up. i've never seen one like this.

the harbor at montego bay

and went back to gather our snorkel gear and head for the gangway to catch our Catamaran Sail and Snorkel excursion.  

setting sail

enjoying the wind in my hair

windy hubby

First, that description is somewhat of an exaggeration. While it is true that we boarded a catamaran and they raised the sail, I would hardly call it sailing. We ended up going just about spitting distance from the ship. The snorkeling wasn’t great but it was pretty good, certainly better than some other places we’ve been. And hubby’s underwater photography skills are getting better all the time.  

this would be the boat that nearly ran me over because i had my head down and wasn't paying attention

Unfortunately, the actual snorkeling time was very limited. Honestly, I don’t think we were in the water thirty minutes. After calling us back to the boat, we pulled over to Margaritaville where we were given another thirty minutes to play on the slide and water trampolines and such. And then we took the five minute “sail” back to the ship.

margaritaville slide

spitting distance from the ship

The slide was fun but not necessarily worth giving up so much snorkeling time. Hubby took the following video going down it and waiting at the bottom for me to fly out of it.

on our way back to the ship

hubby and the elation

Since we were already wet and in our swimwear, we dropped off the snorkel gear and headed up to the pool. We played on the slide a bit and soaked in the hot tub for a while before eating lunch.  

hubby approaching the ship's slide

slide, hubby, slide

wheeeeeee!!!

the good life

And that’s when the sickness started. This is our sixth cruise and I’ve never been sick. Today I spent eleven straight hours hugging the commode. Hubby only left me a couple times to grab me some bread, see the “sail away,” and to get a bite of dinner at the buffet since I wasn’t going to make it to the dining room. Good thing we had a good time this morning… at least I can’t say it was a totally not fun day.  

pulling away from montego bay

pumping iron

We then did the bike for a half hour and headed up to the sports deck to put in a mile on the jogging track.

ready, set, pedal!

view from the bike

The spongy track was nice but the small loops got very tedious very quickly. It took eleven laps around to make a mile. Any chance of doing a nice little 5k workout was quickly dissipated. Not only would I be bored out of my mind running thirty-four of those tiny circles but I’m sure my knees/ankles wouldn’t have appreciated all those corners either. That, and it was insanely hot. We found some shade by the pool and lounged around for a bit to cool down before grabbing some breakfast. Such a productive morning earned us a good long shower and an entire afternoon of laying in bed dozing and watching movies. It was 16:00 before we finally dragged ourselves out for a small lunch, followed by a few rounds of putt-putt.  

putt-putt

I certainly do not excel at putt-putt but hubby’s ball rolling back down to him a dozen or so times on this hole just may have put me ahead.  

hubby got stuck on this hole for quite some time

it keeps coming back!

This evening’s main show was a singer – Ron Joseph, The Soul Man of Bourbon Street. Once again, we had to choose between the main show and dinner or the GA comedy shows. Truly poor scheduling, Carnival; in my opinion. Mr Joseph has a great voice and is a good performer, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m just not that into soul music. I was, however, very entertained when he kicked a volunteer offstage when he was acting like a fool and trying to steel the show. Still, I would have preferred the comedian, personally, but that is no fault of the performer. Happily, we had two more chances for laughter after dinner when both comedians put on new AO shows again. Tomorrow they get off the ship so we won’t be seeing any more of them this trip. We’ll be getting two new comedians in a couple days so hopefully they’ll be as entertaining as misters Sibley and Hawkins.  

when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie... that's amore!

the moon's magic had me making eyes at my hubby

mirror pic

towel animal du jour: koala!

hubby's favorite part of a cruise ship is the ice cream machines. especially when they have strawberry frozen yogurt!

main lobby/atrium

main lobby/atrium

We finally made our way back to our cabin and ran into Alit, who called us by name, in the hall. We had a long conversation with him and learned that he had a wife who was working on the ship as well and a three year old son back at home with his parents in Indonesia. I really enjoy talking to him and I hope that he does not grow weary of us throughout the week. Between the breakfast and the sun from walking around, we passed out! We made it back out of the room for a late afternoon lunch and then lounged by the pool for a while before heading back to the room to get dressed up for elegant night.

mirror pic

On our way to the early show (for the late diners), we stopped to have our photo taken at a couple of booths and then did our own on the stairs.

obligatory "elegant night" staircase photo

The main show tonight was called Just Rock and was a singing/dancing compilation of 50s-80s era light-rock. Overall, it was an enjoyable show. The dancers were all very good, as they were last night, but there was one guy that stood out to me and I wish I had found out his name. There are two singers, Lizzie and Troy. After two shows now, I would say that the female vocalist is definitely the stronger of the two. The male was all over the place and I am finding his voice grating at times. I think there’s only going to be one other show this week with the singers/dancers so he’ll have one more chance to redeem himself or seal my opinion.  Before dinner, we stopped back by the room to pour a couple glasses of the wine we had brought from home as an anniversary treat – a yummy semi-sweet blueberry wine from Panama City Beach Winery. It paired very well with my pasta carbonara and hubby’s lobster.

our anniversary toast was blueberry wine from home. yummy!

When we entered the room, we found that Alit had left us a special anniversary surprise.

towel animal du jour: love swans! our anniversary gift from Alit

He also must have called the dining room and told our waiters, Georgica (Romania) and Christopher (Philippines), because they brought a piece of cake and sang happy anniversary to us after dinner. It was a lovely celebration of seven years of marriage.

hubby's apple-something-or-other-dessert. i thought it was pretty. he thought chocolate melting cake would have been better.

When we had eaten and finished our wine, we made our way up to the comedy lounge for the last two performances of the night – adult comedy from both Mr Hawkins and Mr Sibley. Here is where I must make my first complaint… there were five comedy shows this evening, two GA and three AO. The GA shows were at 19:30, during the main show for the late diners, and 20:30, during the late dinner. So we missed both of those. Early diners, however were able to catch both those shows and still see their main show as well. I just felt that the scheduling was pretty crappy and wish that we didn’t have to choose which show to go to just because we were part of the late diners. We left the dining room as soon as we were through with dessert and made it about half-way through the first AO show, which was Mr Sibley. We arrived just in time for a hilarious bit about Bin Laden and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of his act. Happily, the last show of the night was a repeat so we got to see the whole thing after all and got to see the differences in his delivery the first time around versus the second time. Sandwiched between those was Mr Hawkins’ AO performance which was completely different material from last night’s and still laugh-worthy.  

i was playing around with the "color swap" mode on the camera, making his blue shirt red. we had time to kill between comedians.

i appreciate that they are bringing more comedy to the cruises

exploring the pool deck

Sail away was supposed to be at 16:00 but, for whatever reason, we didn’t actually pull out of port until about an hour later.  We then undertook a full exploration of the ship to get a feel for what all was there and where to find it.

carnival's whale tail as we leave mobile in the distance

who needs bunny ears when you can have whale tails?

cool wake pattern

hubby enjoying the view

Since one of us had been awake since 04:00, a quick nap before dinner seemed like a good idea but, sadly, my body was still fighting sleep.  Such is my life.  We always do the late seating for dinner.  It just seems to fit better not only with our regular routine but also with activities on the cruise.  We went to our 20:15 dinner and found that we were placed at a small, four-top table.  Generally, we prefer the eight- or ten-tops so that we can socialize with a variety of people but the couple we were seated with, Billy and Elaine from Tupelo, were very nice so we weren’t going to abandon them to be moved to a bigger table.  They were both former casino dealers so the conversation was interesting.  After dinner was the Welcome Aboard Show, one seating only, in the main theatre.  It included song, dance, and comedy.  There were two comedians who are promised to be performing for the next two nights.  Mark Hawkins has a very high energy, verging on caffeine-overdose, comedic style that I appreciated.  John Sibley is much more country-boy and laid back in his presentation – sitting down and talking slow.  Both made us laugh but hubby definitely preferred the “redneck” feel of Mr Sibley.  After the general audience (GA) show, we made our way up to the comedy club lounge for an adult-only (AO) set by Mr Hawkins.  I found this show to be much funnier than his brief GA bit.  It was a full day and I’m just relieved that we actually made it on our cruise.  It’s going to be a great week!

towel animal du jour: seal

mirror pic