Our Amazing 6 Night Royal Caribbean Cruise

We went on an amazing 6 Night Royal Caribbean Cruise, as a prize from Sher’s work.
It’s not everyday you get a cruise as a prize from your employer. I had actually never heard of it before, but I was happy for it.
This was my first, cruise but Sher’s 2nd. I can say without hesitation that this was an event that I won’t soon forget.

This as a Western Caribbean cruise. The ports included were Grand Caymon (7 Mile Island), Costa Maya, and Cozumel, with 2 or 3 sea days in between.

Day 1

Day 1 was a cruise day, since the ship departed in the early afternoon, around 2pm.
The first thing we did, while we waited for our rooms to be ready was hit the bar with our Unlimited drink package and spread out in a couple of lounge chairs and take in the view.

With all the waiting in lines, at the airport, at the cruise terminal and everywhere else, we were quit tired, so it was a much needed break.

At some point were told our room was ready so went up to check them out.
I should mention, the ship was the Adventure of the Seas.
Adventure of the Seas is part of Royal Caribbean’s Voyager Class, which introduced the first-ever ice‑skating rink at sea. Even older ships in this class still carry some surprisingly innovative features.
It was one of the first ships to introduce the Royal Promenade, a mall‑like indoor street with shops and cafés — a signature feature that changed cruise ship design.

This ship was around 18 yrs old when we boarded her. You could see a bit of aging, but it was in pretty good shape overall.

We had dinner at the Windjammer, a popular place to eat, if you like all you can eat, banquet style.
Windjammer Café is on nearly every Royal Caribbean ship, and it’s famous for being the first place most passengers eat after boarding.

The food was about as you would expect on cruise ship serving a few thousand people at once. That is to say, it wasn’t bad, but not great.

Day 2

Day 2 was also a cruise day, enroute to Grand Cayman.

We started it out with a sunset, then a quick workout in the gym, and ofcourse coffee.
We didn’t do much. Really only what you would expect on a cruise day. We had breakfast, went up to the top deck and roasted in the sun. Then we had lunch and really just hung around the side of the pool for a few hours. Then we had dinner at the Windjammer and sat on the top deck watching the sunset, and stars when it got really dark, then called it a night.

Day 3

Day 3 was an excursion day, at 7 Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.

For starters, Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman isn’t actually seven miles long. It’s closer to 5.5 miles, but the name stuck because it sounded better for tourism.

We met in a theatre prior to getting off the ship, then had to tender to the island. This was also a first for me. But it was pretty much uneventful.
Once we were on the island, it was pretty chaotic waiting for a van to get to the beach. But once we arrived there, it was pure magic.

The white sand, the turquiose water, and just relaxing in a beach chair with an umbrella (that we paid 20USD for) was everything.
I had a local beer that was very similar to Stella, called Caybrew. It was very good. It looks and tastes a lot like Stella. Though Stella isn’t my first choice when it comes to beers. It’s usually a last resort.

We had about 3 hours there, and sadly our time came to end, but not before witnessing what appears to be a Stingray jumping up and out of the water. It was a little unnerving, but not as unnerving as talking to the Trump supporter we conversed with while swimming. But we won’t get into that.

At the conclusion of this day, it was the norm, of dinner at the Windjammer and sunsets and stars.

Day 4

Day 4 started out similar to Day 3. A workout, a sunrise and coffee.

This was also an excursion day, since I guess Costa Maya was close to Grand Cayman, but don’t quote me on that.

Costa Maya is one of the newest cruise ports in the Western Caribbean. It was purpose‑built for cruise travelers in the early 2000s, which is why it feels more like a resort village than a traditional town. This town was quite dirty, once you ventured away from the port. There was trash all over the side of the road. It was really quite surprising, since it was a tourist area for cruises.

Our excursion here consisted of a horse back ride through Mayan ruins in Chacchoben, with a beach stop afterwards.
From what I read, this wasn’t an official Mayan ruins site. Apparently a lot of it was restored, or rebuilt. This made it a little bit less interesting for us, but it was more about the horseback riding. This was a first for both of us. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. You might be able to see the fear in my eyes from one of the photos below.

As a side note, I recently twisted my ankle, so locking it in a stirup was pretty bad idea. But I will say, most of my attention was on preventing the horse I was on from galloping away and throwing me in the ocean.
I will say though, that all the horses provided were a bit smaller than normal and trained for inexperienced riders. So this was a bit reasuring.

Upon returning to the ship, we did our usual. Dinner, sunset, drinks and stars on the upper deck.

Day 5

I hate to repeat myself, but Day 5 started out the same as the other days, minus the workout. Coffee and sunrises. How can you beat that.

This was our last full cruise day. We watched a belly flop contest at the pool, got some sun and had some drinks. Pretty uneventful, but I will say that cruise days were my favourite part of the trip. There’s just something about being on the ocean, in a ship that really appeals to me.

Day 6 – The Last Full Day

Day 6 was an excursion day, and our last full day on the ship.

The excursion consisted simply of a shopping trip to Cozumel and lunch at Margarittaville.
I have to say, I’ve never eaten so much over a 7 day span as I did on this cruise.
Cozumel is nice, but the vendors really harass you to try to get you to buy something. And we did, but not because were forced, we wanted to. We actually had some soveniers to get for our familes.

We weren’t off the ship for long. Just long enough to shop and get lunch and take a picture that I hate.
I didn’t include it here, for obvious reasons.

Dinner on our last night was at the Captains dinner.
This was interesting dinner. It seems they had extra meals and deserts, so they were giving them away.
It was cool to watch the staff do their traditional song and dance thing, you’ve probably seen videos online of them doing it. It’s pretty much just like that.

After dinner, we waddled back to our room and ate one of our desserts on the balcony.

I need to mention that I loved this balcony. We had our coffee every morning out there. Just watching the blue waters and taking it all in. This was one of my favourite parts of the cruise.

Would we do a cruise again, hell yeah. In heart beat. They’re pretty expensive, if you have to pay for it yourself. Especially of you want a balcony stateroom. A windowless stateroom or a room with just a portal doesn’t really appeal to me.

I do long for another cruise, we’ll see if we can make happen. Stay tuned!

Until next time…

🌴 Did you know…

The Western Caribbean is one of the most popular cruise regions because the ports are so close together, making the seas calmer and the travel days shorter?
Grand Cayman’s famous Seven Mile Beach isn’t actually seven miles long — it’s closer to 5.5?
Adventure of the Seas was once among the largest cruise ships in the world when it launched in 2001?
A typical Royal Caribbean ship serves over 100,000 meals per week across all its dining venues?
Embarkation day is statistically the busiest and most stressful part of any cruise, thanks to thousands of guests arriving between 11am and 2pm?

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