Up, Up, and Away or zip line divine . . .

Part 2 September 19, 2007

We arrived back aboard ship approximately 45 minutes prior to sailing to our next port, Georgetown on Grand Cayman. We were both exhausted as the time spent ashore was hot, humid, and with very little breeze except while we were on top of the mountain getting rigged up to make our way down the zip lines.

The first order of business when we returned was to order room service since we had not eaten anything except a light breakfast and drink the bottle of water both of us had taken. We did not think we could hold out any longer or even make our normal dinner tonight so we ordered plenty of food before taking our showers. Lucky for us today was laundry day so everything was gathered up and ready for Matthew. He had left us a bag for laundry with special pricing so we crammed as much as we could into the plastic bag and had it ready for his evening pick up.

Deb crashed as soon as she finished eating and I felt like a nap too but I’m now sitting here on the balcony after getting cleaned up, ate a late lunch from room service (which was great by the way) as I watched our departure from Jamaica. We slowly pushed away from the pier we had been moored all day and gently started a slow left turn to exit the harbor. The fueling tanker which had been loading fuel onboard since morning had departed and turned southeast to ports unknown to us. The Caribbean Princess had also left Jamaica just ahead of us heading toward the west which would mean the Freedom of the Seas would be following a mile or so behind all night.

Our turn out to the open sea and the gentle acceleration caused small waves to break across our bow and the sounds being made were so relaxing that I have been dozing off and on for the last 20 – 30 minutes. There are some clouds in the area as well as an isolated thunderwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

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I am so mellowed out right now I do not know if I will be up for another go on the Flow Rider or the climbing wall. Both of these activities will be late night along with a deck party and ‘surfing under the stars”. Hopefully by the end of this voyage I will have mastered this fun experience unique to Royal’s two newest ships. I can hear thunder in the background so there must be a late afternoon thunderstorm on the other side of the ship as I still see blue skies and few clouds from my vantage point on my balcony.

The winds have died and the ocean is almost completely flat now with just minor ripples in the surface of the water as far as I can see. There were two dolphins that were swimming alongside the ship for a few minutes just as we reached our cruising speed of 18 knots. The played in the small wake just below my cabin and just as suddenly as they appeared . . . in a whisper were gone back into the deep dark blue water. I can still see the Caribbean Princess ahead of us several miles as we both are sailing towards our next destination of the trip, Grand Cayman.

The sun is making its way toward the horizon in front of us so I’m heading to the upper bow deck to take a few pictures of the sun setting before I fall asleep while writing this. There is the ‘pool party’ on the main deck tonight with a late night ‘surfing under the stars’ on the Flow rider.

Our friend’s children swam the night away while their son spent his time in the arcade playing his favorite games. The pool party was rocking . . .

One girl jumped into the pool with her clothes and shoes on to which several hours later a horde of 20-30 people found their way in the pool, clothes, cell phones, and glasses.

Six buffets were being set up around two of the pools and another one was located next to the pool bar. Fruit sculptures were made as well as Ice carvings that were bring lit for everyone’s enjoyment.

The ice dolphin . . .

Fruit buffet table with ice sculpture

Swan and Friends

Plenty of great food!

Great Eats

The pool area transformed . . . from this . . .

to a magical party place . . .

Tree fruit

Piggin’ out

There was island music playing during the first two hours then changed to a DJ who livened things up a bit as we passed midnight.

On the aft decks the Flow Rider had ‘midnight surfing under the stars’ with the climbing wall and mini-golf giving everyone the opportunity to try something different.

We made our way back to the cabin around 2 am for a much needed great nights sleep. We continued keeping the balcony door open to hear the soft sounds of the wake waves rolling just underneath our stateroom. The weather through the night continued to be perfect as the two ships made their way into the night with lights shining for each passenger’s enjoyment.

Ice