Our last adventure was in January on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Brilliance of the Seas. There were six of us traveling together and it was quite stressful leading up to the trip. We needed a number of things to go our way for the trip to be a success. We needed six negative COVID tests two days before departure; the cruise couldn’t be cancelled like many others at the time; our flight down to Tampa needed to go despite the ever worsening weather forecast; and we needed to have all our papers in order to board. Things were looking good and all systems were go until our Monday morning flight was cancelled Saturday afternoon. We made a quick decision to go a day early on Sunday to ensure we beat the bad weather that was bearing down on us. Sunday afternoon, after an hour delay for de-icing we took off as the snow began to blow. It was touch and go whether we were going to take off, but once we were wheels up the flight to Tampa turned out to be uneventful. After a nice evening in Tampa we headed for the port Monday morning to begin our trip. Upon arriving dockside we were pleased to find out our Brilliance of the Seas was fully booked but only at 1/3 capacity to allow for social distancing.
Our smartest play was to get drink packages in advance for everyone. What a wise investment that was! The six packages for the five night cruise totaled $2,100, but we figured our bar tab would have easily been over $5,000! Because of the reduced capacity getting a drink was a breeze at the bar or from the attentive roving servers on the pool deck. Glasses were never empty and our fellow cruisers were never thirsty. The weather during the trip was awesome and masks were not needed when outside. We spent most of the days out on the pool deck which meant we became VERY familiar with the bartenders and roving servers…and they with us. With the reduced capacity there also was no waiting for a table in the dining rooms and plenty of space to spread out in the bars and casino. Masks were only needed below deck when going back and forth to our staterooms, and when moving about the ship.
During the cruise we had a couple of great day excursions which included a 09:30 AM tequila tasting on Cozumel and a guided tour of Mayan ruins in Costa Maya. Besides the land excursions we had loads of fun checking out the cantinas and sampling the local food and drink. Back on ship we had a terrific time drinking cocktails, eating whenever we wanted, listening to top notch musicians, and best of all…meeting great people from all over the country. We had the pleasure of getting to know families from Minnesota, couples from Philadelphia, Georgia, Orlando, and of course, Murr from upstate New York. Meeting and hanging out with our fellow cruisers was definitely the best part of the trip! We all had a great time despite it being at the height of Omicron. The many mitigations employed by Royal Caribbean did not deter us one bit from having a super time. Actually, the 1/3 capacity contributed to the fun time had by all. Pretty soon the cruise lines will be back to 100% capacity, but in the meantime if you get the opportunity to sail the high seas, then I say take it…and I beg of you…get the drink package! Bon voyage for now.
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