Rewind

Overall review - Before when we had cruised on Rhapsody, we felt like the ship was too small and we would never want to cruise on that size of ship again. This time while we did feel like there weren't quite places to walk around, it didn't feel as small. Probably made a big difference that we had a Balcony this time instead of an interior like we had on Rhapsody. Also, having a cabin on deck 7 was really convenient as we only had to walk up two decks and across to the Windjammer, or down one deck to the Schooner bar, shops, and theater. There were some spots where the carpet did need to be replaced, but overall the ship is in great shape. We did go to the captain's corner on Thursday and he did mention that Royal is considering a new "smaller" class of cruise ship. Project Discovery is being targeted for a new class of ship around 130k tons - just slightly smaller than the Voyager class. The Captain said Royal is known for the big new ships so they won't ever go small again, but other lines like Celebrity or Azamara would have the small ships. It was my impression that Royal knows if they ONLY make mega ships, they will only be able to sail into a handful of ports so they will need some moderate sized ships that can get into the ports that can't handle the mega ships. While they are pre-designing now, they won't start building until 2029/2030. Overall we had a great trip. We will have to see what reimbursements Royal will give us for our modifications to our travel arrangements, but that's a worry for later. But now it's time to start planning for our next cruise.... Our final payment for Galapagos is next month.

I wanted to finish up the trip report but the last day was a bit hectic with moving around and travelling and then it was back to work. Now that I have some time, here is our last day: We stayed in the Waterside Marriott again for our post cruise night as it was within walking distance from the port as well as being extremely close to the parade and festivities that were happening this Saturday. We are early risers and went across the street to D'Egg and had a very nice breakfast just after they opened. Probably good that we did as by the time we left, it was packed. Back to the hotel to checkout and drop our bags at the front desk so we could wander around. We headed straight for the parade route a little after 9:30am and picked a spot near the beginning of the parade. The parade started a little after 10:00am and while it was mostly NATO nations being represented, there were also the local high school bands, Shriners, and some car clubs. The parade did last a little over two hours. If you do want to collect small flags from the nations, being at the start of the parade is a good idea. We then went to the international village which we had to wait a bit for them to open (those in the end of the parade had to get to the village first before they would open the gates). Each nation had a booth that was mostly geared towards tourism - a basic "come and see the beauty of our country". We did have one complaint about the village in that there wasn't enough space. Almost every booth was giving out some small trinket so there was a massive line at each booth and as the booths were in a circular pattern, the lines seemed to merge at some places so you couldn't tell where a line started. It would be much better if the booths were spaced out better. We left to get lunch at Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint. Small place and we got a couple seats at the bar. Apparently our timing on this day was great as just after we got in, they had to start a waitlist. The burgers were delicious and not overly priced. We then went back to the international village to see if the crowd had thinned out at all (it hadn't). After walking around a bit, we decided it was time we should head to the airport. Norfolk airport is small but pretty nice with decent seating. We connected through Atlanta, changed concourses, got dinner at the Sam Adams Atlanta Brew House in concourse B - food was ok but service was slow. We were sat by the window and I think we would have been served faster if we were at the bar itself. Then it was off to our gate to wait where we found that Atlanta does not have even half the amount of seating needed in each gate area. We were lucky that there was an empty gate just a bit across from ours. Then a quick-ish flight and we arrived in Columbus just before Midnight.

Our trip isn't quite over yet. We just went to the Virginia International Tattoo that had 800 performers from 8 countries. It was a very good show but highly recommend bringing ear plugs so your ears don't ring for hours afterwards. Tomorrow we are going to watch the NATO Parade and check out the international village.

We were in the self carry group. We got called and got in line about 7:30am and we're out on the street at 8:30am. We did go over to the Chrysler Art Museum and saw the glass blowing demo (a must see) and then went over to the Nauticus and the Battleship Wisconsin (we have ASTC membership with our local science museum). Vision is still there loading supplies before they head back to Freeport and the drydock.

It is currently 4:55am and we are pulling up to the pier in Norfolk.

They weren't kicking anyone out, but they were not letting people in between 10:30 and 11:30. We could have gotten something from Cafe Latitudes or Solarium Cafe.

Fog horn lasted until about 6:50pm (every two-ish minutes). The temperature outside has dropped significantly. Fog has cleared but now it is just cloudy.

Sitting in the Solarium as 6pm and for the first time in our 20 cruises, the ship is blowing the fog horn.

Captain's Corner this morning. Ship holds 2300 and we are sailing with 1709 passengers.

Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, we just bummed around a lot. There was the Sexiest Man contest followed by the Belly Flop contest, and we did see the Boogie Wonderland show in the evening. We did head to bed before the 70s night party.

Today and tomorrow are sea days. Tomorrow will be the captain's corner and a behind the scenes entertainment tour. Other than that, it should be a quiet couple of days.

Morning all. After our late start yesterday, it was kind of a "go go go" day. Seeing as how our meeting time for our tour got pushed to 11:45am and the Windjammer didn't open for lunch until 11:30am, we had a quick second breakfast at 10:20am before they closed. We then went back to cabin to change and head down to the theater to meet our tour. Being the longest tour of the day, they let us out first and it was my first time in 20 cruises that I have been the first passenger off the ship in a port. We walked under a tent in the port to meet up with our guide, hopped on the small tour bus, and headed to the Lucayan National Park. Do take their advice to use the restrooms before getting on the shuttle because it will be hours before another is available. Our driver Sam was very informative about the area, economy, and history. After about 45 minutes, we pulled off I to the park to meet up at the area where the kayaks were waiting for us. After a quick paddling demonstration, we were off in the water. The areas we were paddling through were brackish and tidal creeks and we happened to be there while the water was flowing inland and it made paddling very easy. It does get narrow at a few points through the mangroves and you switch from kayaking to canoeing. I think we were on the water for a bit over an hour and we pulled up to a small dock where they could pull the kayaks out. From there it was a small walk over a bridge to the soft sand beach. We only had about 50 minutes here to make up for our shorter time, but it was a nice dip in the ocean and the water was moderately warm. After our beach stop, park.we drove to Garden of the Groves. Due to our late start, we were the only people at the Garden when we arrived. We again only had a out 50 minutes but it was enough to walk around and see the park. Then another drive and we made it back to the port around 5:20pm. Most shops were already closing up but we were able to grab a couple souvenirs before getting back on the ship to clean up. Went went to Caribbean night in the Windjammer. I will admit other ships do it slightly better (if you ever see Coco Bread, don't pass it up) and then saw Mark Preston from The Letterman. He is a great performer and while a bit before our time, we did recognize many of his songs. Then it was time to go back to the room and pass out.

The announcement this morning is we will be arriving into Freeport four hours late at Noon and we will depart Freeport two hours late at 7:00pm. I'm thinking our 6.5 hour Kayaking excursion might get cut down a bit.

11:35pm - just woke up to hear the captain on an announcement over the PA. Didn't open the cabin door to hear what it was, but we are heading back to Canaveral at a very quick pace.

We aren't doing much today in Canaveral, just hanging out on the ship. We are not huge beach people, we have done Orlando in the past on its own, and we did Kennedy just a couple years ago. However we passed by a cool little tug today and now we are watching an unloading process at the port (we are a bit sciency nerds).