Now, if you have ever seen a cruise ship before, you know they are huge. But the Oasis and Allure from Royal Caribbean are the largest ships ever built. Our previous crusie was on an average sized boat, which weighed 90,000 tons. This one was 220,000 tons. It carries 6,000 passengers and another 2,000 crew. Most ships have balcony rooms on the outside, and indoor staterooms on the inside. This one is so wide that it has balconies that face in to the center "park".
And we are honestly concerned we were spoiled for life. For me, the biggest difference was in the shows. They don't just put on song and dance skits - they do Broadway musicals. But only for starters. Hairspray ran for three nights, and then they switch it over to do more shows. There is an "aqua theater" so you can watch a performance in a pool.
That show was amazing - divers, acrobats, sycronized swimmers, the works. And they put the acrobats and dancers and singers together in another show indoors later that week.
But Christopher's favorite thing about the whole trip was the FlowRider.
FlowRiders are simulated surfing machines. Basically, water is zoomed up a ramp, and if you get on a boogie board or surf board in the middle you hover as though you are surfing. I thought the boogie board was loads of fun, but Christopher was literally addicted. He started on the boogie boarding side with me, and then worked his way over to the other side where you learn to stand up.
Some things, of course, are just standard no matter what cruise line you are on, it seems. Your room steward makes towel animals each night . . .
The Cruise Director comedian guy hosts shows like the Marriage game show . . .
And the Belly Flop competition, which was suprisingly won by the scrawny, pale kid.
We also climbed the rock wall,
worked out at the awesome gym, and Christopher played in a Dodge Ball competition.
Oh, and of course the cruise ship did stop places. However, that is the one thing about this cruise that wasn't impressive. The first stop was Haiti. Not real Haiti, fake Haiti. Royal Caribbean bought an area of Haiti and docks a lot of their cruises there, so it is basically just like being on the ship, but spread out on land. But you don't actually contact any real part of Haiti, minus the locals that are rather pushy trying to sell you stuff.
We did enjoy the beach, however, and we even played in the water park for a while.
Our next stop was Jamaica. There are two main, touristy ports in Jamaica. Ocho Rios boasted adventure parks where you could hike waterfalls, swim with dolphins, snorkel, or ride a zip line. Monetgo Bay is famous for beautiful beaches. Well, Royal Caribbean decided to build a port of their very own inbetween those two so that everyone could decide where to go. That meant there was nothing to do if you didn't want to pay a cab fare and ride for 1/2 an hour or a full hour. We did end up wandering around Montego Bay, and enjoyed a good authentic lunch, but overall it wasn't impressive.
The third stop was Cozumel. Since this is known as one of the best dive locations in the world, we booked ahead with the highest ranked dive shop on TripAdvisor so that Christopher could go Scuba diving and I could go snorkeling.
But unfortunately, it was a windy day when we landed in Cozumel. And it turned out that we were the only people that booked with them that day! So we ended up on a little boat that eventually contained 4 Mexicans and 4 tourists. One guy drove the boat, a friend of our guides was there with two divers that he was taking out, and Christopher and I each had our very own guide. Since the best diving in the area is at Palancar Reef, we headed down there. Christopher had a great time - Jose led him down on an 80 foot dive, and they even went through little caverns "just like the Little Mermaid!" They saw turtles, king crab, and some awesome fish.
But unfortunately for me, Palancar Reef is out where the wind could kick up 3-5 foot waves. And while the others could go under the water where the waves wouldn't bother them, I was stuck snorkeling on the surface. Up, and down, and up, and down. I did my best to enjoy it, and made it pretty close to when the divers were coming back up before I fed the fish. So we went to a local dock to let the divers decompress before their next dive, and I told them that I would rather just stay there then try my luck again. Ugh. Sea sickness is awful.
So that is how I ended up on my own "deserted island".
Okay, so it wasn't deserted. A lot of the divers go there to decompress. And my guide stayed with me, which made the whole thing quite enjoyable. He was fun to talk to. That, and the view was fantastic.
My guide actually said that the water color was rather filthy from the wind, but it looked amazing to me! We walked down to the restaurant, and it came complete with beach chairs, a massage tent, and a peacock.
And, of course, some cool native plants to take pictures of.
So in the end, I think we both had a great time on Cozumel. But honestly, this vacation was all about the ship. It is amazing what a true vacation like this can do to you - we both feel fully recharged and refreshed. (Being tan doesn't hurt.) And the kids reportedly had a wonderful time at Grandma's house. In fact, they didn't seem too eager to come home with me. Since they had all the cheese balls and donuts they could eat for a week, maybe that makes sense. But whatever the case, it's back to regular life for all of us.
