Memories
Monday, Jan 17th. Brother did it rain. . all the way from Palm Coast to Tampa! Here (pix on right) is the Tampa skyline just as the sun was breaking through! We boarded the Royal Caribbean
Radiance of the Seas ( a mid-class - 90 tons) ship registered in the Bahamas.
This was our second cruise after our 2010 trip on the
Carnival Dream to the Eastern Caribbean (St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Nassau).
Getting on the ship (embarkation) in the rain was not great cuz we had to stand unprotected waiting for passports to be checked and it seemed like everyone arrived exactly as we did! Carnival calls you ahead of time and "suggests" a time to arrive so that the arrivals are staggered -- didn't realized the importance of that until this cruise.
Inside of atrium lobby featured here! Never quite figured out what it was, but it was beautiful!! The ship itself was very stylish. The floors were inlaid wood, the features and amenities throughout the ship were very, very nice. It was modern but not overdone. We liked Carnival as well. Both have libraries, many bars, special restaurants, etc. Hard to decide, from a physical sense, which ship we prefer. Both are really very nice.
Because we booked a suite we had access to the concierge retreat area on our deck which provided a Happy hour each evening & continental breakfast each day.
Anyway, earlier in the day we had to go to St. Augustine to have blood drawn (every other Monday I have to go to Mayo at St. Auggie.) Both of us were pretty hungry when we got to the ship, so we scurried to the buffet. We would rate the buffet as a C -- nothing stellar and nothing horrible. Patrick was ready to eat the flowers so kindly sent to us by Linda & Jim Palmer!
Our room was spectacular. We had a huge balcony, couch, two arm chairs, flat screen TV, full bath with bathtub and two sinks, and a small fruit plate each day. Beautiful orchids and roses awaited our arrival as well (from our friends the Palmer's). However, there should have been another arrangement in the room from Patrick to me. This started the slide into non-service by Royal Caribbean. Four different times they told him they were working on it and the flowers never came. When we got home he got an email saying her ordered them too late -- you have order 3 days in advance. No one ever told him about that on board. In fact, they said, yes there was an order on the computer screen. Such confusion.
We used the binoculars Patrick got for Christmas and saw some million homes at the tip of Tampa.
Next stop was dining. We had a mix up on the table we were to occupy. We requested (but they said they could not confirm) a two-person table YET we were seated with 6 others people. Prior to dinner, we spoke to the matre'd who said he would fix it for the next evening. Well, after dinner, we liked our table mates and wanted to stay there. So, while Patrick was telling the concierge man to move us back to the large table I was back in our room and got a hand-delivered letter from the matre'd telling us we were all set with the table for two so we decided to just do that. The first night my food was tepid. Thee wild mushroom and pasta dish was good in flavor but not hot. . I should have sent it back, but chose to whine about it now! By 9 p.m. I was exhausted, so Patrick explored and won a little at the casino tables.
Tuesday, January 18 (Day at Sea) I slept for 9 hours. The ship is very stable. I won $100 at the casino but had invested about $35 so with the "profits" I bought Patrick one of those gem globes. He likes it very much!. We ordered breakfast via the hang-tag on the door the night before but by 9 a.m. the next morning, it had not arrived, so we called. They claimed that kids come around all the time and remove them thinking it's funny. They had no order! So we headed off to the buffet. No lack of food there, let me tell you! We did, however, have to wait an hour on Tuesday evening for our entree to arrive at 7:05. Dinner that night was at a table for two -- next to a table for two occupied by an older couple who were part of folks at our original table.
They have taken 65 cruises! All on Royal Caribbean, so some people really like this line!
The best new of the day was
We Won the Trivia Contest (a team of 6) on the first day of a progressive challenge. plus I won $103.00 at slots!!! Patrick won as well! Things were getting better!
The staff director of this ship was at the captain's reception and he was great. He answered all of our questions (and more) in a 15 minute private conversation and we met a lovely nice couple who were brand new to cruising plus met others who had been on 30 cruises or more! I am sure Carnival has a loyalty program as well, but RCL just seems to have many more!
Wednesday January 19th (Costa Maya: Yucatan Peninsula). Well, it was 85 degrees.. . how wonderful. A bit humid I must say --but bring it on. We left early to catch our tour. Patrick's son and wife, Ryan and Sarah, had recommended this tour director and he was fabulous. Very knowledgeable, funny and knew his "stuff." We spent the entire day with him and a small group discovering all kinds of things -- from the history of the Mayan civilization to the foods they eat (mainly vegetarian) and actually made a tortilla over an open flame using a huge fire pit (it was very hot!). A very nice day! Also won more at the casino!
Thursday, January 20th. (Cozumel). Our main adventure was the Atlantis submarine. It was OK, but the windows were difficult to see through. We did not think it was worth the money but it certainly was something different.
We came in second on the Trivia Contest but "progressively" ahead of the other groups. Both of us won, yet again at the Casino. By Friday night, Patrick ended the cruise with some nice "profits," enough to pay for the majority of our tours!
Another highlight of this day was the dinner at Portofino - the upscale restaurant. The food and ambiance were great . The tirmausu (sp?) was well. . . judge for yourself!! After dinner we went to the Young Elvis show and this impersonator is excellent and really played to the audience (Patrick saw The King in 1969 in Vegas and was a good judge of this!)
Patrick was awake until 1 a.m. this night due to the rock music coming from the pool area. He called the desk and they only offered to bring up some ear plugs. Yikes. Not happy campers were we! We continued to have major communications problem with the concierge staff, our suite attendant and others. Fine to employ such nice people but do not place them in jobs where they are one-on-one with guests. They simply cannot communicate well and it takes twice as long to get a message across to them.
We did win the big trivia contest. Got another medal (we got one on Carnival as well) plus other "logo" items . We had a blast. Never laughed so hard!
Friday, January 21, At Sea I awoke not feeling too well so we just relaxed on the ship and ambled along and of course, room service for dinner tonight was not delivered correctly. . so what is new? Overall, the quality of service on this ship was a one (1) and we are not picky people when it comes to this.
Anyway, we had a good (not great) cruise and look forward to another one next year on a different cruise line.
