All good things come to an end, and today was our last day in Florida. Our flight was at 9pm so we had a large portion is there day to explore.

We started our day at the Riviera Resort which is a short Skyliner flight from our hotel. Here we enjoyed breakfast at Topolino’s. The resort is inspired by the French Riviera and is Disney’s newest resort. The resort is gorgeous. Breakfast here is a set price for adults and children as is common for many of the Character Dinings at Disney. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Pluto made their rounds frequently. For optimal character viewing, you’ll want a table next to the window. We sat at the opposite side of the room and the bright sun from the window made it difficult to see the characters and impossible to grab a nice picture. The adult menu I felt was mostly kind of weird things, but the kids menu was pretty typical. I ordered the Quiche which was served with a salad and potatoes. Brian ordered the only traditional meal of eggs, potatoes, and bacon. The kid’s menu is where they shine. The Mickey Waffles is what you’ll want! The waffles are served with two sides. Colton chose fruit and bacon. The waffles come on sticks making them look like popsicles. The meal is served on an artist palette and three sauces fill the paint crevices on the palette. 🎨 It was so cute! The characters also do a little dance here and there too. Oh I forgot to mention one of my favorite parts! An assortment of pastries is given before your meal. These taste like authentic French pastries and are wonderful on their own. They also come with a few enhancements which were also really good: a chocolate/nuetella, strawberry jam, and honey butter were the options.

After breakfast, we headed to Disney Springs to explore. We popped into the World of Disney in hopes of finding a few 50th Anniversary items we wanted, but no such luck. The good stuff was already sold out. They did mention how it is an 18-month celebration so I’m sure there will be more to come. After shopping, we made our way to the mini splash park where Colton enjoyed the fountains and made some new friends. I popped into some other stores while Brian and Colton stayed outside. I also found a PhotoStudio that is included with MemoryMaker. It was neat! They have a green screen where they direct you to pose a certain way and then later you’re surprised with the magic they put into the pictures! There is also a more traditional area for family portraits. This is inside so the only downside is that masks are required…even for the pictures.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. There is a new cookie place called Giddeon’s and I’ve heard there is usually an hour wait. I popped over to join the virtual queue so we could enjoy the cookies after lunch. Turns out my intel was wrong. The wait time was 5 hours!!! So no cookies for us. We then went to Frontera which is a Mexican restaurant. The food was really good. Brian didn’t like the fact you had to assemble your own tacos though.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to pack. The night before we decided to extend our room another night so that we had our room until the time we left…6pm. I’m glad we did. It was so nice being able to shower before we left for our flight and also nice that we didn’t have to pack everything up before breakfast!

We took the Magical Express to the airport and then had a direct flight with Frontier Airlines back to Cleveland.

Overall it was an awesome trip! In terms of Covid-19 safety, it felt like we could have easily picked up something during the trip. There were numerous times we were packed in small places with other people. The past two months I’ve travelled to Mexico, Jamaica, been on a cruise, and been to Disney. Disney is the only one that felt risky. Mexico, Jamaica, and the cruise I felt more protected than being at home. I do think a lot of this has to do with the fact we were at Disney for the 50th anniversary. Friday was the only day that felt risky. The other days we had plenty of space and it didn’t feel much different than being at home. I picked up Covid-19 tests from the library before we left. I plan to take them tomorrow as a precaution and we decided to keep Colton home for school tomorrow. Partially because we got in late and partially to give us another day for the most accurate results for the test.

Thanks for reading about our journeys! Tomorrow (Monday) I’m hosting a virtual Royal Caribbean cruise night. I’d love it if you can join me. It is at 7pm EST. Comment below for the link to register.

I plan to host a Disney event sometime soon as well to answer any questions! Be on the lookout.

We started the day similar to other days: breakfast. This time we didn’t need a taxi, we took the Disney Skyliner to EPCOT and then walked to the restaurant: Trattoria Al Forno. This restaurant is located on the Boardwalk near EPCOT. Traditionally, it’s a place where you can meet Ariel, but character dining hasn’t returned to this restaurant. I loved the decor. Classy and modern yet also reminiscent of The Little Mermaid. Brian ordered the breakfast pizza, I ordered the Tiramisu French Toast, and Colton had the fruit and yogurt platter. All the food was fabulous!

Oh I lied, the day started at 6:45am when I woke up to join the virtual queue for the new Remy ride. I logged into the app and hit join repeatedly for fifteen minutes. Someone told me that the queue had opened the day before at 6:50am and he was too late for a time. Today the queue opened up right at 7am. I literally had a world clock on my iPad so I could hit join the second it turned to 7am. We got a boarding number!

After breakfast, we headed over to Test Track. Colton is a hair over 40” which is pretty much the magic height for enjoying most of the rides. It was an hour wait so we checked into line with our DAS pass and went off exploring. We hopped in a PhotoPass line for pictures and rode Figment. Colton loved this ride a couple years ago, but he was lukewarm to it today. Before we knew it an hour had passed and we headed back. Colton loved everything about this ride. He loved building his car, he loved going fast to test drive it, and he loved racing it afterwards. In the past, I didn’t really notice all the little fun things after the ride. Colton opened my eyes to them.

Each day of this trip, we’ve played with a different mix of quick service meals and table service meals. Today we tested out three table service restaurants. Lunch was at Garden Grill which is a character dining restaurant located in The Land. We checked into our reservation and shortly afterwards the notification popped up that it was our turn to ride Remy. The window is only an hour so we were concerned about making it. We decided to chance it and ended up racing through lunch to make it in time. Service at this restaurant was incredibly fast because it was a set menu served family style. We usually avoid character dinings because one they are pricey and two I’ve heard they are overpriced for the food. I’m happy to report that this meal was amazing in my opinion. I really enjoyed the grilled meat, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was all cooked to perfection and melted in my mouth. I didn’t really care for the salad or dessert though, but I couldn’t have the normal salad due to my allergy. Brian’s favorite part was the salad. The dining area is circular and it slowly resolves. In the center of this circular dining area are the characters. They came by one by one and interacted really well with the kids. They were positioned so kids couldn’t touch them but they did a nice job making it fun. Mickey Mouse played patty cake with Colton. Chip gave Colton air high fives. Dale played rock, paper, scissors. Pluto also came by too. Colton really enjoyed the experience.

After lunch we raced over to Remy, but were ten minutes late. I was pretty sure we could still ride, but it was a gamble. We arrived there and the ride had broken down. We were told we could come later since it was down which was awesome because now we didn’t have to stress about the time.

My favorite part about Epcot is the world showcase. I love learning about new cultures and I find it a really cool experience to teach Colton about other cultures too. Epcot has KidCot stops at each country where they are given a postcard to color with a fact on it and a sticker. If you collect all eleven, you get a little prize. So off we went collecting postcards. The neat thing about this activity is that it brings you into the nooks and crannies of the world showcase. In doing this activity, I explored new areas too. I’ve been to this park more times than I can count and I was honestly shocked at the new places we found. The Chinese pavilion in particular was uncharted territory. I found a really cool museum about Disneyland Shanghai and now I really want to go. I didn’t really how different their park is compared to Disney World and Disneyland!

Right after we collected the card in Italy, a street performer came out. These seemingly spontaneous street shows are my favorite thing about the world showcase! This particular show was an Italian mime/comedian/juggler named Sergio. He didn’t speak, but used his whistle and expressions to communicate. At first he seemed like a clumsy wannabe performer that was funny. As the show progressed he showed his real juggling talent. He also did a really great job with audience participation and Colton was all about it. He targeted kids in particular with helping with the act.

As we further explored the sunny world showcase, Colton became thirsty. We stopped to get him a drink and Brian noticed the stand also had Dolewhip. I went from never having Dolewhip to having it three days in arrow and trying almost every flavor. (Yesterday we had strawberry and orange/vanilla swirl.) Today we had pineapple and watermelon/pineapple swirl.) My favorite is pineapple/vanilla swirl by the way but strawberry is a close second.

We popped out at Mexico and realized it was nearing our dinner reservation. We were still full from lunch, but wanted to try the next restaurant. We headed to England to Rose & Crown. We had a nice table by the water. Brian ordered fish and chips and I ordered Shepherd’s pie. Both were really good. The Shepherd’s pie was the best I’ve ever had and I’m really picky about them. I think I liked it because it tasted more like the English version of “Cottage Pie” versus the American interpretation of the dish. (By the way, if you order a Shepherd’s Pie in the real England, your pie will include ground lamb. If you prefer ground beef, it’s the Cottage Pie you’ll want.) We also got pints to drink too. Strongbow for me and Guinness for Brian.

In my option, three sit down restaurants is way too much food. My favorite combination was sit down for breakfast, quick service for lunch, and sit down for dinner later in the evening. With this combination, you’re not as constrained while you’re in the park and can enjoy lunch as a bunch of snacks. There are so many good snacks at Disney!

After dinner, we headed to the Remy ride. The line was pretty long even with the virtual queue but with Colton’s DAS pass we didn’t wait long. The hard part about this ride was that I had never ridden it, and so I couldn’t adequately prepare Colton for what it was like. Right as we stepped onto it he started to freak out. It started with a little uneasiness and as our rat moved he lost it. Ugly screaming at the top of his lung began. We did everything we could to calm down and eventually he did but the ride was halfway through at this time. The ride seemed cool but we were focused on Colton so we pretty much missed most of it. I felt so bad for the couple who sat in front of us because there is no way they could enjoy it either. They rushed off the ride before we could say anything though.

After that experience, Brian took Colton back to the hotel and I stayed to see the fireworks. I had a couple hours to kill so I rode Spaceship Earth which is one of my favorites and then I set up camp for fireworks.

The show is called Harmonious and was so much better than the long-standing Illuminations. The general premise of the show was traveling across the world musically. The soundtrack was amazing with songs from Mulan (Japan), Brave (Ireland), Beauty and the Beast (France), The Lion King (Africa), Coco (Mexico), and Soul (United States.) Each song was a blend of the original songs with artfully enhanced performers native to the countries being represented. The lyrics also wove in and out of English with other languages. In addition to the music, video projections illuminated against an elaborate water fountain that acted as a screen. Fireworks and bright lights also enhanced the show. I really enjoyed it!

After the show, I battled the masses to get back to my hotel. The show ended at 10:05pm and I got back to my room around 11:30pm. A long line for the Disney Skyliner was the bulk of that time.

Visiting Magic Kingdom on its 50th anniversary date is for crazy people and we were those crazy people. More on the crazy stories later, but wait for it.

Our day started by taking a taxi over to The Polynesian Resort for breakfast. The bridge to the resort was already backed up, but lucky for us we had an awesome cab driver. Once he saw the traffic he veered right to enter Magic Kingdom and then we took lesser known back roads to the Polynesian. Breakfast was at Ohana. It’s a family style meal of ham, scrambled eggs, fruit, breakfast potatoes, and of course Disney waffles. The food was very good, but didn’t compete with my favorite breakfast place: Boma.

We then headed to Magic Kingdom by monorail. Upon entering the park, we were given special 50th anniversary park maps. The park was already pretty busy and I was worried about long waits. It turns out the long waits were reserved for shopping at the Emporium and all popcorn stands. Those 50th anniversary popcorn buckets are a hot commodity. Hot popcorn at 9:30am on a very sunny and hot day just seemed wrong. No popcorn or popcorn buckets for us. We made our way to the opposite side of the park from a couple days ago. Jungle Cruise was first up. We received our return time and then kept Colton moving through The Swiss Family Treehouse…twice. Then a quick detour to the flying carpets. I watched the behind the attractions documentary about the Jungle Cruise ride on the plane ride to Orlando. Knowing some history about it made it even more enjoyable. I asked Colton if he wanted to go on a log ride or on a fast train and he said log ride so off to Splash Mountain we went! There was essentially no wait and Colton rode it like a champ! He really enjoyed the ride. Disney is changing the theming of this ride soon so it was really nice to ride it one more time before it changes. We then headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There were a couple loud parts that I needed to cover Colton’s ears but overall he really enjoyed this one too.

It was very hot today and Colton was getting thirsty at this point. He wanted chocolate milk, but we weren’t near a place that sold any so we settled on a strawberry fruit popsicle. After devouring it he wanted to ride the buzz light year ride again so we made our way to Tomorrowland. That ride is a family favorite! We then went on a first for me ride, Astro Orbitors. The main appeal for this ride was the elevator ride up. Colton loves elevators.

The park was packed with people, but we weren’t experiencing anything that reflected the madness of the 50th anniversary celebration. That was about to change with lunch. We found a bench in the shade in Tomorrowland and we began browsing the options. Most quick-service restaurants had special meals and snacks for the anniversary. We settled on Casey’s Corner. It was 1:30pm and the next window was for 2:05pm. A little long, but not too bad…So I thought. After placing the order, we made our way to the restaurant and started to wait for our window. We stood around and eventually a couple sat down near us with a tray full of food. I asked them how long it took to get their food. They told us an hour after their pickup time. 🙊 No way Colton was going to make it that long so we ordered ice creams to hold us over. Lucky we did! Our order was finally ready at 3:30pm. Yikes! Next, finding a place to eat the food was whole other battle. I ordered one of the special hot dogs topped with strawberry jam and funnel cake pieces. It was nice! As much as I enjoyed the food, it was a reminder for why we normally make dining reservations. Sit down meals are 1000x better in my opinion.

We left Casey’s not really knowing what we’d do next. We headed towards the main spoke of Magic Kingdom and already 5.5 hours before the night show was to begin, several people had claimed their spots for fireworks so we claimed an area too.

The Disney App requires a lot of power, and my phone was pretty much dead. No worries, I thought. I packed my FuelRod to charge my phone. As I opened my bag, I realized I forgot the cable! Next was operation find a cable to buy. Well apparently Disney does not sell them anywhere in the park including Tomorrowland Power Company 🙉. I didn’t want to buy another fuel rod, but I knew they came with a small cable. There is a FuelRod station in Tomorrowland but it was out! I dreaded the next store: The Emporium. This store is the largest in Magic Kingdom and had been packed with a huge line to enter for hours. I got in line and eventually found the FuelRod station. Also empty. It was looking more and more like my phone was just going to be dead. I’m okay with not having a phone. I’m not okay with not being able to order dinner! I checked one last store and finally found a FuelRod station that worked in the theater on Main Street.

On my quest for a charger, Colton and Brian camped out at our spot in front of the castle. I returned to camp and collected Colton to ride more things. We headed to Fantasyland to ride the carousel and Little Mermaid ride then I got a text from Brian. He said it was starting to get crowded and he needed the stroller to establish our space. So we returned. We weren’t hungry, but based on our lunch order I knew we needed to plan for dinner. After the fireworks was going to be way too late to eat. We decided on pizza.

Ordering food was challenging because with so many people around the castle, cell service was getting dicey. It took several attempts, but I placed the order! We waited until our window opened but no cell service to check us in for food so Colton and I went on a quest for cell service. The plan was to head to The restaurant and tell them we couldn’t use the app. Eventually the app worked and we were checked in. Colton was growing tired of waiting so we rode it’s a small world while we waited. As we got off the ride, my phone dinged for our food order.

After packing up the food, Colton and I headed back to Brian. We got in front of the castle and it was madness. It was a sea of people and no paths were cleared. In one hand I held three pizzas and the other hand I held Colton’s hand. We nicely pushed our way through. It was incredible tough, but eventually we made it back! We ate and waited until 9pm for the show. The show was incredible although it did seem like a lot less fireworks then my all time favorite Wishes show. By this time we were exhausted but we lingered for an hour so we weren’t leaving with the masses. Tomorrow we head to Epcot!

Our day started with a short taxi ride to Disney’s Old Key West Resort for breakfast. I had one of my favorite meals here on our last trip so I was excited to try it for breakfast. I ordered the Banana Bread French Toast, Brian ordered the Sombrero Omelette, and Colton went for the Mickey Waffles. Colton’s waffles came out and he was loudly disappointed that sprinkles didn’t adorn his waffles like they did at The Grand Floridian. Note to self, book the fancier meals for later in the trip. Lol. Our food overall was very good, but yesterday breakfast was a lot better. After breakfast we boarded a bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The security guard here was hooked up with a microphone directing traffic and he was very entertaining! In the past, this park has had entertainment at the park gates and I think they took one of the entertainers from the past show and put a security costume on him. He was so funny!

We walked a ton today! Overall the sensory experience at this park was a little too much for Colton. We spent a decent part of our day seeking the quieter nooks and crannies of the park which meant lots of walking. Our first ride was Smuggler’s Run which is a simulation ride where you’re flying Millenium Falcon on a mission. Colton and I were gunners on the mission and Brian was the engineer. We were also with another family and they were the pilots. Colton really liked pressing all the buttons!

We then headed to Toy Story Land. I was expecting Colton to fall in love with this area. He loved the decor but overall he was a little intimidated. We asked him if he wanted to go on Slinky Dog and he said no because he is afraid of roller coasters. Granted yesterday he absolutely loved the roller coaster yesterday, but I was pretty clear it was a train ride. 😆 Slinky Dog is all out in the open so it was a little harder to convince him to try that one. We opted for Toy Story Mania instead. This ride is a series of carnival type games and is one of my favorite rides. Colton on the other hand is probably the only person who prefers the Buzz ride in Magic Kingdom over this one! We also rode the alien saucers which was short and sweet.

Next up was Colton’s Droid building appointment where he got to build a toy. He was given the choice of building BB-8 or R2D2 which he didn’t understand what that meant. I asked him ball or garbage can? He said ball. We picked a personality chip and then headed to the area where we scavenged for parts. Colton wanted every part that was for R2D2 and not BB-8. 🙉 It was challenging having him surrender parts that wouldn’t fit his one! Eventually we grabbed the necessary parts and headed to the assembly area. We were guided through putting our robot together and eventually activated it! Colton tested it out in the store and then we headed back to the hotel for safe keeping.

Colton loves swimming and it was hot so we headed to the pool after a small snack. We headed to the main pool which has a small splash park. Colton loved it! We spent a little time here then continued to the next pool in the Cars section of the resort. The theming in the Cars area is my favorite at the resort! We walked through the lobby of the Cozy Cone Motel and then found a nice pool in the middle of Ornament Valley. The afternoon flew by and we needed to head back to the park for our dinner reservation.

We hopped onto the Disney Skyliner back to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We were in a hurry to get to our reservation on time, but we’re stopped briefly while characters rolled through the area. Colton loved seeing Mickey and Minnie! Once the not-a-parade passed, we joined behind and followed along. We then broke away from the pack to The Brown Derby.

The food at the Brown Derby was a hit, but the restaurant itself was kind of loud and not the sensory break we were hoping for. Colton ended up watching his iPad through the meal. Colton devoured the food here by eating rolls, steak, fruit, and green beans. I ordered the chicken and it was cooked to perfection!

Dinner took a little longer than we expected so after dinner we headed straight to Oga’s Cantina for some cocktails and mock tails. Disney is the only place I know with tall high chairs for the bar! Colton loved this and absolutely loved how his drink bubbles!

Our last ride of the day was going to be Rise of the Resistance. We entered the line and when we got on the transport Colton started crying. It was too loud and too dark for him. We were escorted backstage off the ride which was a big relief for Colton. We then hopped onto the Skyliner back to our resort where Brian and Colton promptly fell asleep. We are headed to Magic Kingdom again tomorrow!

Before I get into the details of my day I want to tell you a little bit about why this was my first cruise. The main reason was that I didn’t think cruising was for me. I was worried about sea sickness. I thought it would be too stuffy. I thought it would be too schedule oriented. I thought the cabins would be so small that I’d feel trapped. I thought it would be too crowded. I thought there were too many hidden fees. I thought a lot of things about cruising and I was worried about spending money on a trip and being miserable and sick the whole time. I thought wrong.

Seasickness was my main concern. I easily get motion sick and the thought of not being able to stop the motion to feel better really concerned me. Before going on the cruise I had heard about so many different ways that people prevent sickness. I didn’t know which way to go and what would work best. I asked my neurologist thinking he would prescribe me a patch or some sort of prescription. He simply said the an over-the-counter medicine like Dramamine. I had taken Dramamine in the past, but didn’t like that it made me drowsy. I had also taken Bonine which made me less drowsy compared to Dramamine so I decided to go the Bonine route. I took my first pill an hour before going on the ship. While I could feel the movement, the medicine worked! The first night I woke up at around 4am because the medicine wore off and I had started to feel ill from the motion. I took another chewable tablet and about 20 minutes later I felt fine. I then tried acupuncture and in the session I was also given these seeds that were placed on certain points on my ears. It worked! I didn’t need to take any more Bonine and I don’t have even the slightest bit of seasickness! For the record, I can totally feel the ship moving at most times. It’s just that now the movement doesn’t bother me. So I found out, the seasickness is preventable. Hooray!

My next concern was the small cabin. I think I prepared myself for something more smaller and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the cabin. It also helped that I had the cabin to myself. I’m in an ocean view balcony cabin and it’s bigger than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still small but not as small as I thought. Two adults would be comfortable. I think two adults and two children is feasible but it would be pretty tight.

One by one I learned the truth about each concern and in the end, none of them were an issue!

Okay so now back to what happened today! I started the morning with a continental breakfast that was delivered to my room. I received a call first…we’ll actually two because the first one woke me up and then the second one I was awake enough to answer. Shortly after the call, my yogurt, fruit, English muffin, and coffee were delivered. Everything was delicious and it was very convenient! Continental breakfast room service is complimentary!

After breakfast I headed to the fitness center for a cycle class! The bikes were setup facing mirrors which allowed you to kind of have a panoramic view of ocean. It was beautiful! The class was awesome. It seems not too many people workout on the ship. It was just me and the instructor for class. This class did have an extra fee as did the yoga the days before.

Once the class was finished, I headed upstairs to the spa for one last acupuncture session. By this time, I didn’t really notice the needles being inserted. I felt very calm and zen after the session.

I then met up with other travel advisors from the same host agency. We chatted for a bit then took some group pictures. It was hot at this point of the day so the pool was next! The pools are very chilly but it feels so good when it’s so hot outside. Due to Covid restrictions, only 6 people are allowed in the pool at once. I know it doesn’t sound like much but it wasn’t really a problem. Most people sit in the shallow end with their feet in the water and few people were actually in the pool. It was king of a weird experience. I spent some time floating on my back looking up at the sky. The sky looks kind of funny because the clouds are moving one way and then you are moving another way because of course the ship is moving.

During the week there were pieces of artwork on the promenade and there was a game to guess the price. This was buildup to attend the art auction because the winners would be announced there! So I attended my first art auction. It was a neat experience and nice just to hear them talk about each piece. I won one of the guess the price things so I got a piece of artwork to take home! They also give you prints for each art thing you attend which is really nice too!

For lunch we headed to Johnny Rocket’s. This particular restaurant is a surcharge. It’s normally $9.99 but for the simulation most things are 50% off. You can order as much food as you want and I was incredibly full after this meal. They brought giant plates of French fries and onion rings to the table.

Since today was the last day, it meant it was time to start packing. I spent some time in the afternoon packing my bags. I really thought I overpacked but it turns out I packed the perfect amount of clothes. I have two clean outfits left. One I’ll wear for my morning on the ship and then a second warmer outfit for my flight home. I did so much on the ship so I went through a decent amount of clothes.

Yesterday, I had raced up the easiest route one the rock wall so today I went to a harder one. Wow, there was a huge difference in difficulty. It took me quite a few tries to get up the first part of this other route. I ended up having to jump since I’m too short to reach the grips. I made it pretty high but my arms were too tired from all the earlier failed attempts. This time I also was beat up a little by the wall. I have some bruises and scrapes from climbing.

I went back to my room to rest and finish packing and then I got ready for the evening. We had one final dinner at the main dining hall. Our servers were amazing and we had the same ones each evening. They made a point to get to know us and our food and drink preferences. It was really nice!

After dinner I had to pop over to the art gallery to claim my prize. We then watched the athletes for the ice skating show. They were previewing the show they are working on. I think the finished show is going to be awesome.

The headliner for tonight was a comedian. He was hysterical and he started with jokes about planes and traveling. I found these jokes incredibly entertaining. He then moved to jokes about Texas and dogs which the crowd seemed to love but as a non-Texan non-dog owner I think most of the punchlines went over my head.

We finished the evening at the pub and then I headed back to my room. Each night I’ve been staying up later and later. It’s going to be hard to adjust back. It’s currently 2am central time which would be 3am eastern time. 🙀

That’s all folks! If you have any questions about cruising or the new cruising health protocols please ask away!

Goodnight! 😴

We made it from Galveston, Texas to Cozumel!

It was another full day of activities. I started my morning with yoga and room service for breakfast. There is something so special about sitting on your balcony, sipping coffee, and watching the sun come up.

Our ship pulled into port at 9am so at around 9:15am I headed out to Cozumel. It was a relatively short walk from the ship to the port. Our Sea Cards were scanned as we left and we were instructed to keep all food and drinks onboard. There were a couple dogs to keep us all honest with the rules. We were offered basically two excursion options from the cruise line. One was a catamaran, snorkel, and beach experience and the other was a chocolate, tequila, honey, and Mayan culture experience. I chose the latter.

We began our excursion at port by signing some liability waivers digitally. We then headed through the port elementary school style in two lines. Next, we went to an air conditioned bus. Our first stop was the chocolate place. We learned the history behind chocolate and how it was traditional made during the Mayan times. We then sampled some mole on a fresh corn tortilla and then a little later sampled a freshly-ground chocolate mixture with a few different ingredients. There was a giant banner about food allergies behind the guy handing out the samples, but who pays attention to that when someone’s handing out chocolate. I sat down and ate my sample. Literally seconds later the guy starts talking about what’s in it and I hear “Allspice!” Ahh! (I’m allergic to allspice.) I then think, they really should have a sign for allergies. Then I see two giant signs that clearly state what’s in the mixture we got. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Now I’m uneasy because I’m not sure how sick I’m going to get. I think…well there’s nothing I can do now and continue onwards. (Don’t worry I’m not deathly allergic to it.) The tour continues with some tequila tasting. We had a coffee infused tequila which was my personal favorite. We then get back into the bus and head to see the bees. Normally, I’m not thrilled to be around bees and would never pick an excursion that involved bees BUT these bees don’t have stingers!! Before we see the bees they show us this Mayan ritual and we crowd around in this tent-like structure. I’m all the way in the corner next to some log hanging from rope. As the Mayan ritual begins, I notice a buzzing noise. That hanging log is a bee hive! 😧 I start to panic but then remember they can’t sting so calmly stand there admiring these little bees up close. Next stop is an explanation of the bees. The guy starts out by giving us a warning about not getting too close to the hive. He says while they don’t string they will swarm and fly around you if they feel the nest is threatened. I think, well that piece of advice would been nice to know five minutes ago while my face was literally inches away from the opening of the hive. 🐝 I guess I wasn’t threatening 🤷🏻‍♀️. We end the tour by driving through the town in Cozumel and our guide gives us a tour of it. The tour ends at the port and most people head back to the ship.

I’m not normally a large group guided tour kind of traveler and we have a couple hours before we need to be on the ship. I ask the other travel agent if she wants to explore a little and she says yes. We walk down the street and enter the hotel next to the port. From there, we walk to the beach and admire the beauty of the many shades of the Caribbean Sea. After snapping some pictures, we head back to port.

This was my first time going to another country by cruise. I was blown away about how easy it was to get off the ship and back onto the ship. We literally only needed our SeaCard although they did ask us to bring a photo ID as well. No customs. No immigration. It was wonderful!

Back onboard it was back to ship life and still a lot more to explore. I grabbed a quick lunch at the pizza place onboard and then dessert was Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. After lunch I did some more accupuncture. Next, I watched as the ship pulled away from the dock and we began our journey back to Texas. We played a quick 9 holes of mini-golf which I really enjoyed and then headed to the back of the ship for rock climbing. I successfully rang the bell!

Dinner was back at the main dining hall which has been my favorite place to eat! We have the same servers each night and they’ve been truly remarkable. Dinner is delicious as always. I had a peach salad, lamb with baked potato and broccoli, and tiramisu. We then caught the tale end of a little preview of the ice skating show. Can you believe it’s like 90 degrees out and they have ice skating on the ship?!? We then head to the Guacho show which was the headliner for tonight. He was entertaining and funny.

We end the night exploring some lesser known areas of the ship. We head to Olive and Twist on deck 14 and also to the chapel! Olive and Twist looks like a place we need to visit during the day. Some really good views!

Now it’s time for bed. Tomorrow is another day at sea. 🙂

I woke up at around 5:30am this morning because my motion-sickness medicine started to wear off. The good news, it’s working! I took some more meds and felt better relatively quickly but now I was wide awake.

I headed up to the sun deck to catch the sunrise. Gorgeous. Then, I headed to the treadmill because I thought running with the sun rising would be pretty neat. I ran a little but soon realized I was too short to see over the treadmill/TV so the view wasn’t spectacular like I had imagined. I began to get parched so I went searching for water. Not as easy as you might think in the fitness center. It involved going down six decks and heading towards the middle of the ship to the coffee shop. I asked for water and received a glass of it. I soon realized taking this glass back to the treadmill wasn’t going to work so I sat down and drank it then headed back to the fitness center. It was time for yoga! 45 minutes of light stretching and bliss although balancing poses are a bit trickier on a moving ship.

After working out, I headed to Windjammer for breakfast. We sat next to the window where we could see the ship churn up the gulf in the most beautiful shades of blue. It is absolutely beautiful.

After breakfast, I tried something I NEVER thought I would ever do…acupuncture. I started with just the free trial to see how thin these needles really were. The doctor placed one in my arm and I didn’t feel a thing so I thought I’d give it a shot. 12 needles were placed…mostly in my face/head. I could definitely feel them going in this time but overall not too bad.

The pool was next up for the day! I tried the drink of the day and enjoyed it poolside. It was incredibly windy so I didn’t last too long outside.

A scavenger hunt was starting so we decided to join in. We were given a list of 16 items. Some involved knowledge about the ship while others involved gathering items from around the ship. Our team of three was not the first ones back BUT the only team to complete the scavenger in full so we won! Our winning…bragging rights and highlighters.

Tonight was formal night so out came my black dress and makeup. I enjoyed a delicious meal which I ordered yesterday. They’ve been very accommodating to my allergies. I order my dinner a night ahead of time so the chefs can specially prepare it without my allergens. Yesterday I choose zucchini fritters as my appetizer, duck as my entree, and creme brûlée as my dessert. The appetizer and entree were absolutely incredible. The dessert was a bit of a disappointment but still decent.

Last night I crashed early so this night I wanted to catch a show. The headliner tonight was called Oh What A Night Tribute Band and they were incredible. Funny, entertaining, and amazing singers. To top off the night I headed to the pub for a Strongbow and then headed back to my cabin.

Our at sea day was packed full of activity and quite enjoyable!