The Hardest Goodbye is the One you Say to the Buffet

 Friday, May 16th  

Back home at last. Sad but also nice. One does so like to be in one’s home, even if being home means no more endless buffets and constant lounging. Well, our day started at 7:30am. Hard yikes! But we did it, got ourselves up and dressed, packed up our phones and pajamas as the last items to get put in the suitcase and we were ready to go by 7:45am, just when the attendant stopped by the room to make sure we were, ya know, up and aware that we needed to get out by 8am. We did indeed know that and we were just on our way out! We were not on our way to the Schooners Bar where we’d been told our group number 10 would be allowed to wait until it was announced, but instead to the Windjammer for one last hurrah! As it was on the way, we stopped at the towel return station to return our towels only... no one was there. A guy who worked there did show up to speak to me and another guy trying to return his towels, but he didn’t seem to understand what we were saying about needing to have our return of the towels documented. He couldn’t log into the computer so he just wrote our room numbers down and said that would be fine. I had some doubts, so when I got to the Windjammer (I’d sent Jess ahead while I sorted the towel thing out) I asked someone there and they said towel stuff was being handled on 5. 

I found Jess, who had acquired 2 donuts and a pain au chocolate and found a small table for us to set up at. I wouldn’t set up there but instead dropped my luggage with her to hit 5 and tell them about the towel situation. I got an elevator for the way down but it was CRAZY packed by the time I arrived on 5 and I knew already I was gonna skip that for the return journey up. On 5 I went to guest services because I missed the giant Towel Return station set up RIGHT next to it, but I was directed there shortly after getting in line by a woman going up and down the guest services line directing people to where they needed to go, which was very useful because I was indeed in the wrong line and glad to know it before I waited! I talked to the woman at the towel stand and she marked me down for having returned the towels so life was good! I braved the stairs for 6 floors and emerged on 12 a little worn, but glad that was handled. That’s what I get for waiting until the last minute! 

Back at breakfast I got some coffee, using the last hot cocoa pack we’d brought, and Jess and I ate and chilled, enjoying our last moments in the Windjammer. Our number was called shortly after I got back up but we were in no hurry to get off the boat, having no connections to catch, so we lingered for a while after that, finishing our donuts and saying goodbye to our lovely cruise. Around 8:30am-ish we decided it was time to go, so we collected our meager luggage and headed out. We didn’t want to mess with the closest elevators, as they were jam packed, so we crossed the pool deck to the aft elevators which proved totally empty. On the way I found the list with my name on it by the towel stand and marked myself off, as I had sorted the matter downstairs and didn’t want to cause confusion. We made it to 4 in no time, with really no one else joining us on the elevator, and began deboarding. As we left the boat a woman went up to a staff member and was like “We still haven’t gotten our luggage” to which she was told the luggage was back at the terminal. Like, duh? Why would they return your luggage while you’re still on the ship? Why would they take it the night before just to give it back to you in the morning BEFORE you leave the boat? What did she think that was about? Fascinating logic. 

Off the ship we make it through the winding ramps to the terminal where there’s a fairly large line but it’s moving pretty quickly as people locate their luggage and head towards the ID stations. Now, there’s two lines, one for people with passports, one for people with birth certificates. The birth certificate line is technically shorter, but moving slower, as that process takes longer. Jess and I have passports, so no worries, we’re trucking along. As we approach the front there’s like 6 ID stations and the one just to the right of us is... empty? Like, no one has gone that way. A staff member tells people to fill in all the space, that all the lines are open, so I make a beeline around the people in front of me who are just standing there and hit the ID station. The people who were in front try, I think, to get in front of me again, but they have some HUGE luggage and a stroller so they can’t maneuver around. And like... you snooze you lose chief, you guys were literally holding up the line blocking people from moving but also not filling in the space like you were told to. 

Jess and I had our passports out but it turns out we didn’t need those as they just do some biometric face scan thing to confirm you have an ID (I guess that’s what some of all those passport check stops were when we were boarding) so we do the scan and our face dings as ok to pass through, but the line is held right then because people who have progressed past that point had all, for some reason, stopped before the exit door so there’s a giant bottleneck of people by the exit door blocking people from exiting as they, I dunno, try to figure out what to do next? We don’t mind waiting, we’re at the front of the line and we’re in no hurry, so we’re chill, but the ID attendant at our station notices the people behind us, giant suitcase and stroller crew, pulling out a birth certificate. She tells them birth certificates have a separate line, something which has been hollered and explained by staff then ENTIRE time we were in line! I mean people REGULARLY said that birth certificates need to go to the other line. They ASKED people if they had any. But these people behind us were like “No, we have passports, it’s just him”, and they pointed to the baby in the carriage. The staff member said if they had a birth certificate they needed to go to the other line, to which the guy behind us was like “But this is a baby??” Uh... ok? Your baby is a person. With a birth certificate. Which needs to be verified at the correct station by the correct personnel. As the baby can’t go on it’s own, one or both of it’s parents need to stand in line with him. How did they think this worked? Why do people assume their babies aren’t whole human beings too? How would the person at the passport only stand be able to verify the baby’s birth certificate when they’re not the person trained to verify birth certificates? People are. Wow. So dumb. 

Anyway, after that little ha-ha the bottleneck cleared as police and security showed up to tell people to move it or lose it and Jess and I at last make it outside! Where we immediately overhear some guy on the phone going “They won’t let me back into the building!” I have to assume he left something behind, maybe his luggage if he was just plowing through the line without listening or looking at anything, or maybe he has someone’s ID stuff that they need and can’t reach them because he left before them. Whatever the case may be, uh, yeah my dude, they don’t let you back in? Sorry, but... again, more Wow at people. Having passed him and a slew of other people navigating the great outdoors, and after rescuing one persons fallen sunglasses and one families fallen rubber duck which had both fallen off their luggage, we were back at the parking garage! The line for the elevator was insane, so we hiked up our suitcases and up we went the 4 flights of stairs to the rooftop access to find our beloved car waiting for us! Packed up inside and ready to go it was only 8:50am. Incredible! 

The drive back was fairly easy, but only after we got past a section where our GPS kept telling us road names that were not, in fact, listed anywhere? We made one wrong turn because we didn’t see the road the GPS was telling us to turn at, but worked out that the road was just... not called what the GPS thought it was called and the next time that happened with a different road we worked out what road it meant and got ourselves back on track! After and hour or so we were finally home! Home for the speed unpack we take such pride in! We were done unpacking with the laundry on by 11am! Then it was time to relax, recuperate, and reflect on what fun we’d had and what were thinking about doing for our next vacation. Hey, can’t start planning too early! 

Final Day at Coco Cay

 Thursday, May 15th

Once more, I was up at 10:15am, my now usual time, to head up to the Windjammer and get some breakfast. Today I did NOT miss the frosted donuts! In fact, the first part of the buffet had been converted into a breakfast pastry table with a chocolate fountain so any pastry one selected could be doused in liquid chocolate! I didn’t go for that, but I did get three different kinds of frosted donuts, taking 2 chocolate, 1 vanilla, and one chocolate/vanilla drizzle! I also grabbed 4 hashbrowns and some tea and coffee! In the room we had our breakfast and got into our bathing suits which would be the only clothes we would need on Coco Cay, which we had already docked at! We weren’t in any real hurry to get out there, but we also were excited to see what exactly awaited us on this Perfect Day at Coco Cay! 

We got off the ship about 11:30am, our ship side by side with another Royal Caribbean cruise ship which made quite the ominous picture as we walked between them to cross the bridge from the docking area to the actual island. When we arrived there was a man standing in front of a large map who asked where we were trying to go, and we said we were looking for some kind of burger we’d been recommended. I’d been told before going on the cruise that there was some kind of burgers served at Coco Cay that were excellent because they could be grilled in a way they couldn’t do on the ship for safety reasons. The guy we were talking to had... no idea what we were talking about. And instead of directing us to any of the food places, he just started talking about the beaches they had on the island. Like, maybe cut the script for a second and just, like, listen to what we asked about? 

After that, uh, helpful aside, Jess and I took a turn about the island to see what we could see! We walked by Chill Beach, which looked like one of the largest beaches on the island, then we passed Harbor Beach, which was a kind of interior beach that was small but looked nice, so we kept that one in mind! We also walked through the Straw Market which was full of cabana stands of goods that were SO overpriced! We saw the SAME style of dress Jess bought on Jamaica being sold for $55! Crazy! And the sunscreen and snorkel gear and whatnot? Outrageous! But very fun to look at and walk by and wonder who on earth bought those things there. 

We followed signs towards South Beach, which was reached by a maybe 2 minute walk through this loved shaded path that reminded us of the walk up to Killruddery House in Ireland. Just a charming stroll through some trees and wildlife before you emerged out into the open at your destination. We decided to set up shop for a bit at South Beach and headed into the water near the floating bar! We didn’t order anything, but we did watch as the bartenders changed for their shifts by kayaking out to each other! How cool is that! We also watched as people emerged from the water to climb up to the bar, revealing an array of sunburns from days in the sunshine or even, perhaps, just from that day!  

We walked along the beach, halfway in the water, up to the far right end where there was this neat shallow land bridge so you could walk out further and deeper without it actually getting deep! There was a family having some kinda meltdown in there, but we had fun looking for fish and gazing out across the water! A guy there had to get told if he was snorkeling he had to be moving and he didn’t seem to understand why he couldn’t just float in the water. Like... because you look dead man and it’s a waste of their resources to keep checking on you? This isn’t complicated. Except to him, I guess! We walked back to the floating bar after a while and finally committed to doing some swimming, or really more floating, around the bar, just enjoying the water and the people watching. 

At 1pm I asked someone for the time and we both decided it was time for something to eat, as we knew the food stands closed at 3:30pm and we wanted to be sure we tried some of the food. At the South Beach Snack Shack we ordered the Shack Burger, chicken sandwich, and mozzo-sticks, also getting and ice cream and some mango juice from the drink stand in front of the shack. The Shack Burger was super good! The chicken sandwich and mozzo-sticks were also good, but we wondered if the Shack Burger was the one we’d been recommended because it was quite delicious! We decided we would have to try the offerings at Skipper’s Grill to compare when we circled back that way. After a little more padding about in the water we decided to rinse off and do some more exploring. 

In the center of the island there was something called the Oasis Pool, and Jess had joked about “who would go to a pool when they’re on an island full of beaches?” when we first passed it, but of course we’re hypocrites so we took a dip in the pool when we passed it again on the way back. We just dipped our feet in really, sitting in the shallow end of the water, chit-chatting and people watching. We reapplied sunscreen then, as I had packed the spray on bottle so we would be prepared, and then we headed off towards Skipper’s Grill to see about the burgers there. On the way we passed the hot air balloon and those are always fun to see! At Skipper’s Grill it was basically buffet style, with different stands for salads, condiments, burgers, deserts, and fruit! We got one burger, some cookies, and some watermelon slices then parked ourselves at one of the picnic tables to eat. The Shack Burger was indeed the better of the burgers and we formally decided that was indeed what that person had been talking about. 

As we were right next to Harbor Beach, we hit that next, once more just walking up and down the waterfront, making in three or four times back and forth as it was a small beach area. In the water were these weird disc things that people could sit in to float in the water and it was fun to watch people try to use them and also get hollered at by the lifeguards for misusing them. Good stuff. We could see the zipliners going overhead as we walked, and there was a mermaid statue on one end that had certainly seen better days but maybe also it was supposed to look worn and old? Unsure, but either way it was fun to see everything, from the statues to the fish. 

We decided, again, because we’re hypocrites, that we would actually like to return to the Oasis Pool and do some actual swimming in it, so we packed up our stuff and returned to the pool. We reapplied sunscreen but the bottle ran out as we used it, so that was that until we were back on the ship! We got in the water and swam around the whole pool several times, passing around the little woodsy islands in the center and by the swim-up bar. It was fun to see and hear the kids in the water as they made up their little pool games of mermaids in danger and outswimming sharks. Nothing Jess and I love more than just going in circles, so we just did that for a while, swimming around and around the giant pool until someone near us asked a lifeguard for the time and it was 3:45pm. There was a funny game of telephone that happened where word of the time spread through the pool and we got to watch it happen, the person who asked initially passing it on to someone who was asked by someone near them what the time was who then told someone else and so on. 

With that it seemed like it was time to head back, as All Aboard for 4:30pm, so we grabbed our things, rinsed our sand feet off a little, and began the trek back to the ship with many others who had the same idea we did. As we approached the bridge we saw SO many trams going to and fro! The certainly had their work cut out for them with how many people didn’t want to walk all the way back to the boat! There was a line at the first port entry to get on the boat, but Jess and I kept walking all the way to the end of the ship where a 3rd and almost empty port door was open and we only stood in line for maybe a minute before we were checked in and headed back to our room, which was conveniently right above where we had gotten on! 

It was about 4:10pm when we got back to our room, so pretty close to the All Aboard, closer than we’d gotten on any other day! I showered then did some writing while Jess took hers. We both got a /little/ sun while on Coco Cay, but no burns which was nice! Just a little tanner than I wanted so I ended up with a bathing suit line tan on my back, a VERY obvious one as my suit is crisscrossed. Bummer. But, not a burn, so not the end of the world! Showered and clean we were glad we hit the FlowRider yesterday as neither of us were up for it today, and we spend the take-off eating snacks, watching Hotel Transylvania 3, and drinking our tea and coffee. 

We did, at 6pm, head up to see about some shuffleboard, which we had not gotten to yesterday! The court was indeed free and we played 3 rounds with Jess coming in as the winner with 2 out of 3 victories, despite routinely getting her puck into the 10 OFF section! As we played there was a guy in a chair who was there before we arrived who left when we did, so I think he just hung around for the free entertainment of watching us compete aha! After that it was off to the Windjammer! We got 4 chicken spring rolls, 5 veggie spring rolls, some sweet chili sauce which we put in a tiny bowl we acquired from the desert table after horking down the brownie in it, some kung pow chicken, and of course water. They also had, to my DELIGHT, hot chocolate! With meringue marshmallow! Incredible!! What a fun last-day treat!

As the pool deck was empty, we found one of the circular couch things in the Solarium to set up on, eating and drinking and just talking about what a fun time we had had, and how we were already missing what we were enjoying right that second. We took a turn around the deck after we ate, seeing if we missed anything on our other passes, and we found the cornhole available so we of course had to play that! I won both rounds of that, because I’m a cornhole queen, then we headed back to 5 for some tea. They were out of the peppermint tea, but we actually had a bag in our room already, so score! We headed back to have our tea and get dressed for our final dinner, this time wearing our new dresses from Jamaica! Worked out so perfectly we got them, as we ended up one dress short for our dinners and we so hate to repeat and outfit! 

For dinner Jess got the Caesar salad, the chicken chettinad, and the chocolate brownie, while I got the chilled shrimp, the vegetable moussaka, and the black cherry tart. Once again, I had ordered the vegetarian dish and once again the waiter recommended a fish dish to pair with it, and once again I said bring it on! I, for the first time, didn’t finish my entree(s), though I did /almost/ finish both of them, but I didn’t want to make myself sick for the sake of not wasting a little bit of food, so I did admit defeat with a little room left in my stomach for my desert. We thanked our waiter and assistant waiter for everything for the past few days and wished them well as we left our final dinner of the cruise. Sad, but true.

We took a talk around the 4th floor deck after dinner, just because we hadn’t been around that deck really since our arrival, and we found 3 shuffleboard courts we had completely missed! Of course they had more than one, how silly we were! We played a little on each of them, adding up our points as we went with the result that I was the winner, so we were technically tied for shuffleboard wins for the day! After that we headed up to 13 to finally do that game of minigolf we’d attempted by given up on so many days ago! It was a calm, quiet evening, so we had the court to ourselves and no distracting wind as we played. After our official game, which Jess won, we decided to horse around, trying out the trick holes of the boat (which was impossible to get the ball into because the ramp wasn’t lined up right), the lighthouse, and the seashell. 

As we were goofing around at the lighthouse a kid with his parents passed us and we heard him go “No pool, no putt-putt, what are we supposed to do?” and Jess and I worked out that the clubs had, apparently, been put away by someone on staff and ours had just not been taken or even noticed. We called the family over and told them we were just goofing around but we were done playing if they wanted our clubs and balls to play a round. The kid was so excited and the parent so grateful, and we even found one more club, child sized, to offer, though we only had the two balls, and they were so happy and we felt so good and we left the course hoping they had a super fun final game on their last night of the cruise! 

We returned to 5 to get some lemon ginger tea to sustain us as we went back to our room to start packing up, as we had an early start waiting the next day. It only took maybe 20 minutes to get everything packed up so we were done by 10:45pm. We did make a point that we HAD to return our blue towels in the morning, as it was a $25 fee for every one not returned and we’d forgotten to do it that day, but otherwise we were set! Our chocolate liqueur that we purchased in Jamaica was dropped off (I guess they give it to you the night before arrival?) so with that added to our luggage, everything was packed up and we were ready to just get up and go in the morning! With Hotel Transylvania 3 once again on the DVD player we made our plan to be up at 7am so we could be up in the Windjammer by 7:30am for our final breakfast before we departed the ship at our estimated window of 8:15am, then we went to bed for our last sleep on the cruise. 

A Kind of Fun Everyone Else Isn't Having

 Wednesday, May 14th  

Ah, a whole day of zen! Today was our second full day at sea and after two days of islands and merriment it was time for some well-earned loafing about! The day started, as usual, at 10:15am for me (actual 10:15am now as we had turned time back one hour as we reentered our original time zone). The Windjammer was, as expected, pretty wild as everyone was on the ship and had apparently decided to sleep in as well after 2 days of island-hopping. This would have been fine except I missed the frosted donuts? Only cinnamon dusted awaited me at my beloved pastry stand! How dare these low lives take all my frosted donuts. For shame. Back at the room Jess told me it was my own fault because I had, over the past few days, alerted several people to where the donuts could be found in the Windjammer as people spotted them on my plate on my way to the room. It’s possible she’s right. I shared the Donut Wisdom with too many and cost myself. The price we pay for generosity. 

I ended up getting 4 cinnamon donuts, 1 frosted cinnamon roll, and 1 pain au chocolate, just some light fare as I figured we were just gonna get something in us real quick then head up to the pool and hit the Windjammer for some lunch fare to enjoy while we basked! And that’s basically exactly what we did! Bathing suits on, sunscreen lathered, pool bag packed, and we were off! It was, of course, total madness at the Solarium! The pool was full and every chair in the place was taken! We ended up stashing our stuff in one of the cubbies and Jess left me to continue the hunt for chairs while she hit the Windjammer to get some sandwiches for us. I looked around a bit for chairs, and dipped my feet in the pool a little, but I’m awkward and lame and felt super out of place just... hanging at the pool by myself, so I ended up just circling the place like a vulture for a while until Jess got back with the ham sandwiches. 

When Jess got back she decided to do a sweep herself and lo and behold, she came across two people who were just leaving and she asked for their chairs! They were facing the pool AND in the shade! Score! She waved me over and I carried our towels, bag, food, and the last of the peach bellini we’d brought with us over to the chairs and we set up shop! Jess had her Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories Not for the Nervous to read while I’d brought Mothman: Sightings and Investigations of the Iconic Flying Cryptid. I brought this book because it was compact and small, and also because it provides an interesting pro-cryptid, pro-supernatural counter balance to The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained which I’d been reading at home, which is more about the psychology of why people believe in the fantastic and how often those ideas come to exist in our minds and culture. As we read, ate, and drank, Jess got up at one time to take a spin in the pool, and I of course had to go get some ice cream! As we lounged we periodically would ask each other for updates in each other’s books, Jess asking me for fun facts about Mothman, me asking her for summaries of her short stories, and it was all great fun! 

Around 2:20pm we’d been debating doing the FlowRider again and had kind of leaned more towards not doing it because we figured we’d hit it again tomorrow, but I was nervous we’d been too tired after our day at Coco Cay, or we just might not want to rush back to make the 3pm time, so I decided I would indeed be going back to the FlowRider and Jess decided that was a good plan so off we went! We go re-wristbanded, cheered for those who went before us in line, and then it was our turn! I went first this time, and I managed to pop up onto my knees! I didn’t manage to do that 360 spin, but I did pop up twice without falling! Jess went after me and she did the ‘jump into the wave from the top’ thing that she hadn’t done last time, but she jumped too far and didn’t keep her feet together so she ended up all the way up on the dry part of the FlowRider where the instructor stands! He was like “Where you going? The water’s back there!” But she made it work and also managed to pop up onto her knees! She didn’t make the spin either, but we both felt quite proud of our achievements! 

We decided, since they were open and we were there anyway, to do the slides again, this time racing against each other both times! I won both times and Jess said it’s cause I’m fatter but I argued it’s just the weight of my hair. After that it was back to the Solarium, which had cleared out somewhat as people started going to get lunch, or nap, or get ready for dinner. We found two chairs this time facing the windows overlooking the water and got set up there to do more resting and reading and people watching. Jess hit the hot tub for a little while but I was watered-out, so I stayed in the chairs and when she came back I decided I was hungry and ready for more food. The Windjammer wouldn’t be open for another half-hour so I decided to hit the cafe for pizza and water. They were out of the coffee cake that looked good, but c’est la vie, can’t have everything we want, so I took the pizza and water back to the pool for us to eat while we lounged. Around 5:45pm we decided to head back to the room, I went first while Jess got some ice cream and strolled around a bit, getting some tea and 2 oatmeal cookies from the cafe on her way back. 

While she showered I did some writing, Pollyworld playing in the background, and I decided to try out the cinnamon bun I hadn’t had earlier and WOW it was AMAZING! So soft, so flavorful, just perfect! I was also super hungry at the time so that might have something to do with how good it tasted, but it might also just be an amazing cinnamon bun! While we were in the room the Cruise Compass and some information about disembarking was dropped off and I tried to explain some stuff about that to Jess and she looked at me like I was a crazy person babbling nonsense, so I figured I’d just handle all of that and she could just trust me and follow my lead aha! It was only 6:30pm so we debated doing some shuffleboard but we ended up snacking and chatting until 7:50pm when it was time to get ready for dinner! It was another Dress Your Best Night and we had our second best dresses ready to go, though we took longer than expected getting ready and didn’t get to the dinning room until 8:20pm. Oops.  

But, it was no matter! We were seated at a table that was ALREADY set this time and had a wonderful meal, as always! Jess got the Caesar salad, the lasagna, and the coffee creme desert, while I ordered the beef carpaccio, the mushroom risotto, and the tiramisu. The waiter, once again, recommended adding a fish dish to the entre, as it was, once again, a vegetarian dish I’d ordered. I, once again, ceded to his knowledge and he brought me a seasoned salmon to do with the risotto, and it was, indeed, perfect! He said the staff like to have that specifically, the risotto and salmon, that it’s a favorite combination dish of the cruise crew and I believe it! I’m not really a fish person, but it was very well seasoned and went so good with the mushroom risotto! There was another dance parade from the staff, but this time it ended with a choreographed dance from the cooks and chefs and these girls could MOVE it was great! And because we were in the center of the room they were dancing right around us, it was super fun! 

As always after dinner Jess and I hit the cafe to get some tea and coffee. Jess went to the bathroom while we were there and as I waited for her I ended up sitting on the floor by a statue in the corner, playing on the Nintendo DS we’d brought in case we wanted something to do and I felt, for a few moments, very young and small again, there on the floor, playing a game as grownups wandered to and fro around me. One of those little ‘out of space and time’ moments that aren’t sad or happy, just... something. But Jess emerged and the moment past and we went back to our room, though Jess forgot we had to go down one more floor and tried to start walking down the hall on 3 aha! It was 9:30pm, terribly early all things considered, but this was our vacation, and we got to spend it however we wanted. C.S. Lewis once said "Have fun, even if it's not the same kind of fun everyone else is having." And the kind of fun we wanted to have was to get into our pajamas, watch Pollyworld, drink tea and coffee with cocoa in our room, and talk about how much fun we’ve had on this trip before we headed off to bed! Just a soft, easy, comfortable day of waking up late, going to bed early, and just eating and lounging in-between. Perfection!

Jammin' in Jamaica

Tuesday, May 14th  

Jamaica! We made it! We booked this trip specifically to have our Jammin’ in Jamaica experience, but we know that cruises are subject to all kinds of changes, stuff happens, so we told ourselves when we booked the trip that whatever happens, happens. If we didn’t make it to Jamaica this time, we’d just book another trip in the future and make it happen then! But we won’t need to do that because we made it! Ya! 

We docked at 8am and had the All Clear at 8:30am and as Jess and I wanted to make the most of our day on the island, I did set my alarm for 7:30am so I could get up, get some breakfast, and we would be ready to go around 8:30am-ish, though, of course, we ended up heading our around 9am. Jess and I don’t usually eat that early, but I got us 3 strawberry frosted donuts, 6 hashbrowns, 1 chocolate croissant, and some tea and coffee. While at the Windjammer the Washy-Washy attendant was playing “Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be All Right” on the ukelele and people had started singing along with him and I was so excited for our day of fun waiting for us in Jamaica that I actually started crying while getting food. I pulled myself together enough to not make a scene, but I was SO excited!  

Back in the room Jess had put on the Jammin’ in Jamaica DVD for us to have playing in the background as we got dressed and ready for all the fun we were going to have! We could see the Welcome to Falmouth, Jamaica sign from our window and saw when people first started exiting the ship! As I said, we were ready about 9am-ish and headed to deck 1 to step off the ship (no tendering for this stop!) and walk out into Jamaica! Ah! We took a few pictures right at the port, then walked through a little open-air building to arrive in the totally cute port town that had been erected around the cruise stop! It’s gimmicky, of course, but so fun too!  

We walked around there for just a little bit before deciding to see if anything was worth seeing outside the manufactured touristy port area. It’s likely there was cool stuff to see and explore, but in the one block we walked around the town it was just non-stop approaches by people trying to sell tours and taxi rides to places. I don’t mind being sold stuff, but it was literally like we’d tell one “no thank you, we’re just looking around, still deciding what we wanna do” 3 or so times before he finally moved on, only for him to be followed up by another guy like 2 feet later! We found a cool micro-cemetery in the middle of the road that we stopped to look at but we couldn’t enjoy it because, of course, some guy came up to sell us his tours. I get it, they wanna make money, I hear that, and if we went a little further out from there we likely would have gotten away from a majority of that, but my goodness I can’t imagine any of those guys make many sales with that tactic, unless a lot of tourists really have absolutely no spine. 

But with that walkaround concluded we decided to head back into the port town area to see about the ‘cruise approved’ taxis to see about getting one to Good Hope Estate. We’d hoped to find something worth seeing closer to the port town, but that wasn’t likely with an interruption happening every 5 feet, so back to our original plan of Good Hope Estate! Or, not. We go to see the taxi stuff and they only go to select stops and none of those stops are Good Hope Estate. We look at their options and they’re quite expensive, which I totally understand, get that good tourism money, but nothing looked particularly interesting to us. We decided to think on some things and take another walk around the port town area. We saw signs advertising Red Stripe everywhere and we know that drink from ‘Swamp Thing’ where it was featured heavily in the show but I guess the advertising deal didn’t work out or got pulled because when they put it on CW they blurred out the name and every mention of it was censored? It wasn’t until we watched a version on a different site that we found out what the drink was and just had to guess at why it was censored out! Anyway, as we walked around one of the craft stall areas I saw some people selling carved wooden bottles of Red Stripe and thought it was funny and topical, so I bought one as our first souvenir in Jamaica! 

As we had bought a fake bottle, it felt right to buy a real bottle of Red Stripe to try, so we found a bar called the Clubhouse Brewery where they sold cold Red Stripe and had wifi for guests, though the bartender was pretty smart about the password and he didn’t tell you the password, but instead put it directly into your phone so you couldn’t share it with non-customers. Smart! The Red Stripe was great and the wifi was good so we could send some pics to people and catch up once again on what was happening in the outside world, once again mostly looking for conversation topics for the rest of the trip, as we would have no more wifi again until we returned to Florida. After we’d had our fill of beer, wifi, and A/C we circled back to a coconut water stand I wanted to hit where they cut a hole in a coconut and just have you drink from that because that’s what the MyScene girls get in Jammin’ in Jamaica, so of course we had to get one too! It was very refreshing, it must be said, and we certainly weren’t gonna pay for bottled water anywhere so it was for the best we had some water to put in us as we strolled about and had literally such a good time! It takes very little to make Jess and I happy, and strolling around Jamaica with a coconut water in our hand, enjoying all the sounds and sights, was so much fun! 

We perused a few things, found some good photo spots and whatnot, but eventually Jess said she remembered seeing a sign that said ‘Historic Walk’ somewhere that she wanted to find again. We found the sign and followed it towards an ocean front path that was quite lovely looking, but we ended up detouring from it when we saw a sign that said “Chukka Station: From Good Hope Estate” and were like... hey, that’s what we were looking for! We asked a woman at the outdoor desk about getting to Good Hope Estate and she said we’ve come to the right place! $49 per person all access pass to Good Hope Estate with the first bus of the day leaving in 15 minutes! Score! We were prepared to pay in cash but the lady there went “We use your SeaPass and charge it to the account. Save your cash for tips, sweeties” so extra score! I didn’t want to use our credit cards anywhere if I could help it, but I didn’t really wanna give up $100 of our $200 spending cash on one thing, but I didn’t have to do either! Turns out Chukka has a partnership or something with Royal Caribbean and the bus ride and access pass to Good Hope Estate counts as one of their excursions. Which is great, but also makes it weirder that the woman at guest services didn’t have any information about this for us the day before? Like, it’s one of your excursions? But whatever, we happened to find what we were looking for right when we were looking for it because a magical day of fun really was waiting for us in Jamaica!

The bus arrived and a woman called for everyone with a red wristband (the Good Hope Estate All Access Pass wristband) to follow her. Jess and I did so but everyone else just, like, stood around confused? Like they weren’t sure who she was talking to. Eventually people figured it out and followed us but Jess and I really were the last people to show up to the excursion but the first ones on the bus purely because we know how to follow directions aha! So, onto the bus we went, right in the front seat! On the bus the driver and the woman who loaded us on acted as tour and information guides, sharing some information about Jamaica and the things we were seeing as well as some history of Good Hope Estate. Jess particularly liked the fact about how houses permanently under construction in other parts of the world signals a kind of poverty, whereas in Jamaica having a house that’s permanently under construction is considered a status symbol, because it means the owner can afford to keep making additions to their home. I liked the joke about how bumpy the ride is where the driver went “Remember, it’s no my fault, it’s not the bus fault. It’s the asphalt.” It’s a cheesy joke but boy it gets a laugh! We both liked the joke where he asked if anyone knows anything about the wild life on the island, and when guesses were made he went “No, none of that. The wildlife is the women!” 

We arrive at the Good Hope Estate after about 20 minutes and it is GORGEOUS! Jess and I really didn’t know what to expect, we just wanted to see somewhere pretty and historic, but it was so cool! The place is a former sugar plantation that’s been changed into basically a day-resort. There’s historic features to look at, like the inside of the old mill and the waterwheel, and information to read around the place about the history and process of making sugar, but there’s also a pool with a waterslide, a river for tubing, a cross swing bridge, dirt paths for ATV riding, and a zipline! Crazy cool! It was literally JUST what Jess and I were looking for, somewhere beautiful with activities to do but also just places to hang out and enjoy! Could not have been more perfect! 

First thing we did was sit on a swing overlooking the river while enjoying our coconut water and the view, talking about how excited we were to find a way to this place which was so exactly what we were looking for! After some time basking in that we visited the waterwheel, crossing over the bridge after giving the people before us time and space to get some pictures of themselves on it. As we crossed one of the Chukka photographers walked behind us and jokingly shook the bridge but was quite impressed and Jess and I didn’t start when it shook cause we really are ‘just roll with it’ kinda people! Bridge starts shaking? Whatever, we make it across or we go in the river, we’ll figure it out one way or another! Across the bridge we walked through this lovely little grotto that was nice and cool because of the shade and runoff water from the river, then we arrived at the waterwheel! Lots of informational placards everywhere about the process of using the wheel for making sugar and who worked where and about the abolition of slavery on the island and how that effected the plantation (it shut down, obviously). We saw the ATV riders from there getting loaded onto their bikes and heading out for some fun, and on the way back we saw the zipliners going overhear, which we figured out is why the photographer crossed the bridge: to get in place to get pictures of everyone ziplining overhead! 

Back over the bridge we took a lap around, seeing what we could see, dipping our feet in the shallow end of the pool to see how it felt, and eventually ended up back at the bar to get a drink! There was a sign over the bar advertising drinks and Jess asked the bartender about what was in two of them and he told her that they were not in fact serving either of those drinks at the moment aha! Circling round to the front of the bar we saw a smaller sign advertising the drinks they were currently serving, along with $6 Jamaican beef patties, and while it did feel silly to pay for food when we had a whole boat of all-included food waiting for us on the ship, we figured it was best to have something to eat with hard alcohol, and also eating a Jamaican meat patty in Jamaica felt correct and proper! So, one Blue Lagoon and one Jamaican Meat Patty for us to split, and both were excellent! The people in front of us in line, however, discovered that American Express cards are, well, mostly just for American use as the bar’s machine couldn’t process it and they had to find an alternative way to pay for their food and drinks, much to their chagrin. We had no such problems as we paid in cash! We sat at a seat in the little bar area overlooking the river and enjoyed the shade, the breeze, and the sight of rafters going down the river, their guides doing funny Cab Calloway-style call and repeats with their charges! 

When we finished our drink we headed back to the pool to sit and dip our feet in, watching the other people in the water. Two families joined forces to host Baby Chicken Fights in the water, which was very funny to watch and everyone really was having a great time all around! After relaxing for a while, and taking some photos in front of the man-made waterfall, Jess and I decide we wanna see the view from the top of the waterslide area, so we meander that way, finding another pool halfway up the walk that eventually turns into the man-made waterfall. At the top we took some photos, and some other people’s photos, and enjoyed the view, but Jess decided she was determined to ride the waterslide even though she didn’t have a bathing suit, so she went for it! She thought the slide was great, said it had INSANE views when it opened up because you’re do high up on the hill, and she was deposited in the pool at the bottom where I walked down to meet her, not wanting to get myself wet for the journey back. I get grumpy when my clothes are wet, so better not to risk it. 

Jess rung her wet things out a little in the restrooms before we headed back to the bus stop to catch the 1pm return bus, having had our fun in our island paradise and deciding it was time to do some shopping in the port town! On the bus there was a small kerfuffle of it being too full and no one wanting to get off to wait until the next bus at 2pm, but some kids sat on their adults laps and room was made for the journey back, where we ended up with the same tour guide and driver as last time! More interesting information and trivia about the island was told, this time over a mic so everyone could hear, and at one point the driver actually stopped the bus to climb a tree and steal a branch from it, which he had us pass down the bus to each take a leaf from to smell and taste. It was All Spice, which no one correctly guessed, which is used in a number of things but when chewed can be used as a kind of Novocain, which we all learned as we munched a little and felt our tongue go a little numb! Very fun return journey with lots of laughs and information!

Back at the port town we walk a little by the water then rest in the sun on a bench, enjoying the warmth and wind! After we’d had our fill of resting we were up again to refresh our frazzled looks a little in the restroom then hit the shops! In the craft area Jess found what she was looking for: Two pretty anklets! She had decided that’s what she wanted to buy, some anklets, while we were in Jamaica as souvenirs and she found two matching pink and blue ones for us to buy and wear! One of the charms fell off as we put them on, but it was an easy fix to repair them, and that’s what one expects sometimes with handmade stuff! So, those on we went poking into some more stores where we found some Blue Mountain ground coffee and chocolate coffee liquor to buy! Before you purchase it the shop attendant directs you to jewelry store behind the gift shop to “look around” which she packages your things, and we did look around but, of course, we didn’t buy anything despite attempts to sell us some very expensive jewelry. Jess and I simply cannot be parted from our money if we don’t want to be! 

Next I found a dress I really liked at a little outdoor stand for $20, leaving us with $20 cash left which I told Jess she should use to find and buy a dress of her own! Looking around, Jess found a red dress she liked, but it was $35, and later other dresses she looked at were all $35 or more, but I told one shop keeper that we only had $20 and she directed us to her $20 dresses, or at least dresses she was willing to part with for $20 cash, and Jess found the exact cut of the red dress she’d been looking at before, but in pink! Perfect! More magic on Jamaica! With out purchases in hand we took our final strolls around the area, taking some photos at the fountain as well as some other people’s photos for them, both of them laughing about how good Jess and I are at posing for our pictures compared to them! We took one final walk around after that, actual tears in our eyes because we’d had such a fun day that had been everything we’d wanted it to be! It really was perfect! 

It was, however, getting close to the All Aboard time and Jess and I always like to be back on the boat early, so we began the journey back through security. Because we had alcohol we had to wait in a separate line to get the alcohol checked and stowed for the rest of the trip. The line was only about 15 minutes, but goodness the people in it were all suck whiners, especially for people who weren’t prepared when it was their turn to give their information. They had one person from each party stand in the line for the sake of space, and at one point a man came in to speak to the woman in line for him to tell her “It’s starting to rain! If it gets any worse-” to which she said “It’s ok, you can go back to the ship, you don’t have to wait for me.” But he was like “I don’t have any cell service, how do I contact you?” to which she, of course, went “I’ll just meet you back in the room.” Like, duh my dude? But also, it never even started raining! It misted for like 5 seconds which Jess, who was waiting outside for me, said was very refreshing. Chill m’dude. 

When it was my turn at the front of the line I was so efficient, ready with all the info I’d heard the woman ask the people in front of me for, pen in hand to sign the two things I needed to sign, baffled by how the people before and after me weren’t as ready. Embarrassing for them. After that it was back to the ship for showers and snacking on what we hadn’t eaten during breakfast or what we’d kept as snacks in the room! We also, of course, tried on our new dresses, though we would be wearing them for dinner another night as it was Caribbean Night on the cruise and we already had outfits prepared for that in advance! We chilled out in the room for a while then, watching people rush, or in some cases saunter slowly, back to the cruise as the All Aboard time of 4:30pm creeped up. We could hear above us what sounded like groups of people on deck 12 doing exactly what we were doing, hollering at people approaching the ship, cheering or jeering as they made their way back! 

As 5pm, departure time, approached we decided it was time to pop open the Sparkling Brute we’d brought and toast goodbye to Jamaica. And POP it did, blasting open with a gunshot-like noise literally JUST as the boat started moving! Magic magic magic all day in Jamaica! We drank and ate and napped, with Jammin’ in Jamiaca playing in the background of course, and finished all our snacks except one hashbrown and the apple cobbler, so we needed to restock at some point. I went up to get more water from the cafe at onepoint, and then Jess hit the Windjammer to get 4 beef and 2 chicken patties, 2 pieces of banana bread, and 1 moondough... thing. At some point in all of this the next days Cruise Compass was dropped off and then it was time to get ready for dinner! 

Dinner was a hoot and a half! Nothing was set at our table when we arrived, and the host hurriedly dropped off the silverware, so Jess and I made a game of trying to get the silverware all set up right. Our waiter played along, obviously glad we were good humored about the whole thing, and approached the table going “Nothing is set right, who is the waiter?” then showed us what we’d gotten right and wrong. In doing that he discovered that one of Jess’s knives was actually still dirty, going “and this is dirty, oh my god!” He disappeared and returned with a new knife to go “And no menus, somebody’s going to kill me!” and we all had a good time! 

For food Jess got the coconut battered shrimp, a curry dish (as usual), and a brownie with ice cream, while I got the pork bao, pesto pasta, and pineapple cake. The waiter offered to add some shrimp to my pesto pasta to add a protein to it, and who am I to turn down more food, so I said sure and it was perfect in the pesto sauce! Jess totally demolished her food, ashamed of leaving anything on her plate the previous night, and there was a little show put on by the wait staff where they did a parade then the macarena with everyone which was cute! We talked to the waiter a little before we left about being in hospitality and the performance you always have to give, all of us agreeing that we understand as customers why it’s required, but that on the service provider side it takes a toll. 

We walked back to our room, as was becoming our custom, passing a woman on 4 hollering to someone on 3 “You’re bellow me now, you have to go up one floor!” which I assume meant something to everyone involved in that situation. We hit the room for a little while before the 10:30pm 80’s Party! We were pretty tired, but we dragged ourselves off the bed and couch and headed to the Promenade for a party much like the 70’s one from before, so just as fun! They were throwing beads to the crowd from the bridge that time and boy did people get into catching them! No one likes free stuff more than cruise guests aha! At the end there was a balloon drop from above and it was so wild! ‘Celebration’ and ‘PYT’ playing in succession as people bobbed balloons, trying to keep the in the air, the sound of bursting balloons as people hit them too hard or stepped on them filling the air along with lots of singing and laughter!

A great end to a fabulous day! We really did have SUCH a good time, exactly the time we’d hoped to have, and that meant the rest of the trip had no expectations! We had a day at sea awaiting us tomorrow and we were ready to just kick back and relax the whole day, with no other plan than eating and chilling as reward for a job well done in Jamaica! So, to bed we went at 11pm, with Hotel Transylvania 3 playing in the background this time as our Jammin’ in Jamaica time came to a close.