Sunday, October 22, 2023

A Little R & R - Our December Cruise

 Thursday December 1, 2022

Early in the morning I finished an Advent Calendar that I made and hung it up for the Grandchildren to count down to Christmas.


Then around 11:30 Darryl and I met up with Cody at the jobsite and he took us to the cruise terminal so we could board the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas cruise out of

Tampa, Florida


This is our Christmas presents to ourselves for a few days of R&R away from work. It is a lovely ship! 

As we cruised out of the Port the ship goes right by the painted tanks


and before we knew it - 


Darryl's new construction project came into view! 


I am sure the other passengers wondered what was wrong with us as we took pictures of his project and...


Whistled and waved at Cody, taking pictures and video as he took a video of our ship cruising past! 
Cody is in the little circle at the tip of the arrow!





We had a very nice and spacious room with a view of the outside world!


I loved the solarium too!



And rest and relax we did! reading in the deck chairs, swimming, sunning and


Some really good dining! Oh look, it's dress up night!




Love the lights on these ships!


This was a short cruise with only one port of call in Cozumel. We docked beside another Royal Caribbean sister ship, the Mariner of the Seas. 
Darryl and I booked a local island Mayan Ruins and Chocolate tour.


Senior Frog has a friend!




I loved the tour of the ruins. It would have been such a beautiful place to visit or live, even back in the ancient times!




Some of the preserved original cement work.


You could imagine what the town must have looked like too.



So much natural beauty!

And a well.




What you are looking at in the photo below is a road that was built from the town several miles to the sea.

You entered the town through the arch.





The Plaza.


I think this site gets overshadowed by places like Tuluum and Kahunlich, but it is still amazing!


After leaving the ruins we visited a Mayan Bee Sanctuary where they demonstrated an ancient Mayan purification ritual. Quite fun!

And sold some delicious Honey! 


After the Bees the bus took us to the Mayan Cacao Company where we enjoyed a nice Chocolate tour.

Isn't he pretty?

This was a small tour and the best part was the demonstrations!

He was very informative and entertaining!

This was the third Chocolate tour Darryl and I have been on, toured factories in Bariloche, Argentina and York, England.

Our tour ws finished by 1:00 which gave us time for a delicious lunch before heading back to the ship.


That is a third Royal Caribbean ship that was docked at a different area.

Darryl and I both tried our skill at the climbing wall. And believe it or not, we both made it to the top and rang the bell. Although I will admit, I did climb on the easier side, but still... I did it!

Darryl was so busy cheering me on and taking a Marco Polo video of my climb that he didn't take any still photos! 
Oh well, we did have a lovely sunset!

SEA DAY!! You know what that means? Lot's of miniature Golf!



And we even went to an art auction and bought a lovely lithograph!
But not any of these paintings. I just liked the looks of these, but they were out of my price range.




We docked early Monday morning. Cody picked us up in my minivan. I dropped the guys off at work and went home to my quiet little apartment to start thinking about Christmas. 
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As I finally get this post finished and on my blog it is October 22, 2023.

In three weeks I will be going to Cartagena, Colombia to meet up with Darryl as we will live there for the next year on his new Dome Technology project. I will do my best to catch up the last several months before Christmas of 2023. Until then, .....





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