Our Royal Vacation!!! Day 7, Our last full day at sea!!!
About This Page:

**chezp** · 04-19-2004, 03:19 PM

Wow - Tara, your installments just get better and better! You are so right - every photo of you guys, you look so happy.

The sea is beautiful as well - I can just imagine the temperatures from the pictures.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to write this, as it's helping to put me in the mood for our Disney cruise in a couple of weeks time!

GoofyMom · 04-19-2004, 07:04 PM

Wow, 2-for-1 drinks? I'm there!

Once again, it sounds like you had such a great day!

Those are such cool photos. DD was just standing over my shoulder reading and when she saw the parasailing photos, she asked me why don't we do something cool like that?!! (uh, cuz I'm a chicken and scared to death of heights!

)

mac · 04-19-2004, 08:21 PM

Tara, my in DH's family (everyone but us

) went on this same cruise at the end of February. They also did the tubing in Belize, and the sting rays. They absolutely loved the cruise. It sounds like you guys had a great time!

Tara O'Hara · 04-20-2004, 08:51 AM

Friday, April 9th-Costa Maya!!!

Good morning, you guys! I can't believe that I am up to my last excursion day!

Where the heck did this week go?!?! Anyway, we would wake up very early again today, as we were docking in beautiful Costa Maya at 7AM!!

This was my absolute favorite port!! Don't get me wrong-I loved Grand Cayman and Cozumel, but Costa Maya is a fairly new cruise port and while still gorgeous in the way that only Caribbean destinations can be, it is rather unspoiled and a lot less built up!

We ate a quick breakfast and, again, we were docked today, so no tenders!

When we were done eating, we just walked right off of the ship and down a pier and there we were! You walk right into a little village that is all outdoor markets and stands. After getting hokey pictures with some kind of a Mayan God

, we took some of our own:

Mike, Chris, John and Katie!

A shot of the village

Chris and some 'cruise friends'

Mike in his Senor Frog hat!

I'll tell you guys about this one in a sec!

Okay. This wild parrot is the port mascot. He was found here as a baby, injured, and was nursed back to health. He is now four years old and absolutely loves people. There was no charge, which was refreshing, to hold him or take these pictures! Katie loves animals and stayed a bit to learn about caring for this beautiful bird, whose name escapes me just now

! I think these photos are very touching and my darling daughter looks very charming here, HOWEVER!, the next thing she tried to do was purchase a Corona!!

They would have sold it to her too, except that Muffin came up behind her and said, " Katie! What are you doing?!?! " The boys, of course, fell out and wouldn't let her live it down for the rest of the day!!

It was time for our excursion, so we found our tour guide and got on a bus to go to the beach. I have heard many complaints about finding shore excursions on land, but I am telling you guys, we didn't have trouble once! The excursions all leave from somewhere on the dock and you just have to look for your guide. They all hold up signs that are very clearly marked and it honestly was no trouble at all!! Anyway, today we were doing something called the Boat Blast Adventure. It obviously involved boats of some kind and the description also said snorkeling and drinks. After our other snorkel adventure, we were a little skeptical about what exactly this meant. We arrived at the beach, where there was an open bar, lots of food, a wonderful shaded area with little tables and chairs, and a volleyball set up right on the beach!!

This, you guys, was my idea of a fun, totally Caribbean excursion!! We had about an hour to play volleyball and relax on the beach before our two man snorkel boats left for a reef. We had an absolute blast!!

Chris snacking anddrinking in the shaded area!

Katie-still mad about the Corona!

Mike eating of course!

Chris on the beach.

My hunk o' man on the beach!!

This is a shot of the beautiful Caribbean Sea and the little watercraft that we take out to the barrier reef.

Now, it was time to go on our snorkeling adventure!! We walked over to a small guard shack on the beach and were given safety instructions on how to operate the speedboats. I went with Katie, which was a huge mistake!! She was a crazy boat driver and enjoyed chopping waves and making sharp turns!!

I don't know how we made it out to the reef in one piece!! We did some awesome snorkeling and, unfortunately, my scanner is not working, so I can't show you the pictures. You will just have to trust me that I saw some of the most beautiful and brightly colored fish ever!! It was lots of fun and very peaceful and we stayed in the water for about 45 minutes. You guys, I would highly reccommend this excursion!!

Continued in next post!

Tara O'Hara · 04-20-2004, 09:09 AM

Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Don't EVER let this girl drive a boat for you!

This was way cool! We pulled our boats up onto a little dock and just jumped off to snorkel!

Mike and Muffin!

Me and Kate in the boat of doom!

We then went back to the beach and relaxed. There were busses leaving every hour to go back to the dock. I had to get my hair done again for our second formal night, so I went back before everyone else. They were just having too good of a time to leave!!

Mike relaxing in a beach hammock.

They all made it back in time for dinner, but we didn't make the kids go to the second formal night. This turned out to be their loss because we had lobster, shrimp and creme brulee!

I'm telling you guys, it was out of this world!! It was actually kind of romantic without them anyway and we ordered a bottle of wine with dinner. Afterwards, we went to the photo shop and picked out our pictures that we wanted from the week and then we went to the piano bar. Barry from Boston was the in house piano man and boy was he good!! He did lots of Elton John and Billy Joel and had the whole audience singing along and stamping their feet!! We decided to go for a walk on the deck after this and then we finally went to the disco and had an awesome time!! The disco is called The Vault and that is exactly what it looks like!! It is a HUGE vault, with seperate areas for dancing and sitting and it even has two floors! After this, we were once again, exhausted and headed straight to bed. We did, of course, hear the kids come in before falling really asleep!

**chezp** · 04-20-2004, 09:18 AM

I can't believe you're up to your last excursion day already - where did the time go?

I love the photo of Katie just before your boat ride, boy does she still look mad about the Corona!

I think you were one brave woman to go out with her!

GoofyMom · 04-20-2004, 09:28 AM

And it sounds like another great day! Katie's quite a handful, eh?

A Corona!!!

But I love the way she was looking at the parrot. And I'm glad this snorkeling excursion was much better than the stingray one.

Tara O'Hara · 04-20-2004, 12:07 PM

Saturday April 10th, Our Last Day at Sea!!

So, you guys!! This would be our last full day at Sea!! We spent breakfast reviewing our wonderful week and going over the highlights of our cruise!! Everyone voted to do this again next summer!!

We are planning on taking Sean and my Dad as well! There were still plenty of goings on today and we were ready to tackle as much as we could!!

We all went for a swim at the pool and then split up with the kids. John and I went to play Bingo, of course, and here is where I won my 600 bucks!! It was on the last game played and you had to have a full card to win!! Muffin was just two numbers away and then all of a sudden they called three of my numbers in a row!!

I only needed one number to win!! The first number called after that was an O number, which I knew I didn't need!

Then Hamisch said "N" and I just knew it would be my number!!! Sure enough, he called "N42"!! I jumped up and screamed BINGO and then realized that I was the only one!!

I didn't even have to share the 600 bucks with anyone!! Muffin and I both decided that this would go into my Disney fund and I just positively glowed for the rest of the day!!

After Bingo, we ate lunch in the dining room and then went a little last minute shopping. Everything was discounted, too! I picked up a few trinkets for various people and then we went to watch an ice carving demonstration. It was way cool!! Get it?!?!

Then, guess what?!?! It was time for final bingo!!!! Some guy from Minnesota won 9,400 bucks-all by himself!! Holy cow!!

Dinner tonight was A feast of Nations theme. It was delicious and you got to try different dishes from all over the place! Dessert was some kind of gooey warm brownie thing and boy was it yummy!! Here are a few pics of the kids on our last dinner night:

You know who they are by now!

The kids, our waiter-DD2 and our bread girl-Jillian!

Katie, our barmaid-Shirley, and Mike!

Our Headwaiter, Roberto

The waiters and chefs, again, did an elaborate presentation!

All three decks of waiters!

I'm telling you guys, even the kids were kind of melancholy. They truly did not want to leave! After dinner, John and I went to the pool decl to take some last minute pics of the pool area:

John by the hot tub.

The indoor pool area.

Muffin again!

A late night shot of the outdoor pool.

We then went down to the Royal Promenade for some pics there:

The entrance.

The shopping area!

A final shot of Muffin in front of the Sports Bar!

We then went to the Farewell Variety Show and, needless to say, it was fabulous!! We went back to our stateroom to pack our stuff up and we all turned in around midnight tonight for our long day tomorrow.

It was Easter morning before we knew it and we got up for breakfast at 6AM and were in line to depart the ship by 8:30AM. This takes a while and we actually didn't get off of the ship until around 10:30AM. We went through immigration and customs without a hitch, went to lunch at TGI Friday's and were at the Miami airport by 2PM. Our flight left on time, with a brief stopover in Atlanta and we were home in our own beds by 10PM.

You guys, this was a vacation that I know the five of us will always treasure!!

CRUISING IS FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!

luvnwdwgal · 04-20-2004, 12:25 PM

Thanks for sharing your awesome cruise with us Tara! I loved all the pictures!!

**chezp** · 04-20-2004, 12:33 PM

Thanks for this wonderful trip report Tara - and congratulations on your bingo win!

GoofyMom · 04-20-2004, 12:58 PM

Wow, that was such a good TR, Tara! Even I'm sad your cruise is over! I'm glad your whole family had such a great time, and it's so nice that you're already planning another one - with Sean & your Dad too this time.

I'm kind of wondering, will your kids be keeping in touch with the friends they made on the ship? I'll bet your 'Babe Magnet' got lots of email addresses!!!

**Colexis Mom** · 04-20-2004, 01:46 PM

Fantastic report Tara

So glad you all had a great time

Thanks for sharing

wheatenwalker · 04-20-2004, 06:44 PM

Tara, Looks and sounds like you guys had a blast! The pictures were so great, thanks for sharing your trip! Sheila

maryjane · 04-20-2004, 07:04 PM

Tara
Your trip report was incredible I almost feel as if i went with you! I've said it before and I'll say it again Thank you Tara for being so thoughtful in sharing your trip with us. I'm sure that I can speak for so many others when I say that I thoroughly enjpyed every bit of it. I'm even sad that you're home. Every day I looked forward to your report! Thanks again Tara for letting us all cruise with you and your family and we didn't cost a bit!
Have a good nite Tara
MaryJane