Joshua and Bevin

I’ve gathered up some remaining pictures from the cruise, taken by both Bevin and Brian.

Apparently they both took the same picture from different angles while we were departing. We were standing on the highest available outdoor deck of the ship, available only to suite guests. Has a great view, but a bit windy.

Also very similar pictures looking back at Miami from the top of the stairs up to the suite bar deck.

We didn’t really take a lot of pictures while we were out and about in St. Maarten or St. Thomas. We were having fun poking around and we weren’t really thinking about blogging at the time. Sorry about that. Bevin did manage to capture this shot though, which is actually pretty emblematic of the general state of things.

Bevin took a couple of panorama shots! Click to enlarge for the full experience.

I took this video at the ice show, you can see the projection mapping moving. It was actually pretty cool how they used the effects on the floor as part of the show, and the skaters were able to do some impressive tricks on such a small rink!

I also took a video of the ship rotating while we were docking at Coco Cay. Look at the island in the background to get an idea of how quickly we were spinning. Truly impressive how fast and how smooth such an enormous ship can maneuver.

A slightly longer view of our rotation, showcasing the speed.

Some have been curious about where our room is. Follow the red arrows. (Click to enlarge)

We actually didn’t take pictures of most of the places we ate. One place I sort of wish we’d done so at was the Wonderland restaurant. Themed after Alice in Wonderland, it’s designed to be an experience of imagination, and there were some pretty creative dishes, however we were having more fun just enjoying it, so unfortunately we don’t have any pictures for you. If you’re curious, the web is full of pictures. They weren’t ours, but they’ll be close. (I found this one as a top result)

I will say that the deviled eggs served on a birds nest, under a glass cover filled with smoke was probably my favorite.

Despite the TSA’s best efforts we managed to get home with our luggage.

So of all the things about cruising we expected to blog about, urinals was NOT one of them.

However…

The hamster judges you.

So, it turns out this is a bit of a theme. This lead to one of the strangest scavenger hunts ever…

Turns out it’s not just animals either…

It was nice to find one wasn’t overtly hurtful..

We actually actively avoided this one… Especially since everyone who used in failed to see the black blob as a dog on first look…

At the airport we found an entirely different sort of animals/bathrooms relationship.

So there’s your tour of the urinals of Symphony of the Sea. Betcha didn’t see that coming.

Let’s end this on a happier note. Towel animals!

Still hanging out in the airport awaiting our flights, which are tragically late in the day due to cancelations several months ago as airlines re-planned their routes…

We finally got let off the ship! We think they held us onboard until there was no lightning risk.

It was nice because the passing storm had created cloud cover so we got a couple hours of not getting totally blasted by the sun.

There are fish in the lagoon, of several varieties. Also baby crabs. And we saw a jellyfish, as well as a rather large stingray!

We actually ended up floating out past the lifeguard on the far side of the floating cabanas. No pictures exist, because water, but there are some artificial reefs they’ve made out of concrete blocks. Bunches of fish!

It was really fun to see actual tropical fish in actual tropical water.

We went back to the steakhouse on board because it was so good the first time. All the food we had was amazing, and the staff are fantastic.

And now we’re at the airport. Due to flight changes and such all of us had our flights moved back from our original times, so now we have about 6 hours at the airport. Wheee?

Spent yesterday transiting from St. Thomas to the Bahamas and Royal Caribbean private island Coco Cay.

It’s actually really impressive how precise this GIANT ship can control itself. Watching them parallel park is a thing of beauty. Not a tugboat in sight.

They should let us off the ship any time now!

Really it’s not that adventurous… We haven’t encountered any pirates, and our ship detoured to avoid a tropical storm, so we haven’t even had any weather other than heat and humidity. And a nice 20kt breeze as the ship sails along, all but imperceptibly motionless from the inside.

There are advantages to being on the world’s largest cruise ship.

After a few days at sea we arrived at St. Maarten. Our room is on the 17th floor. That dock is waaaaay down there.

The view of the ship from the dock is impressive though.

We walked all the way around the bay to “downtown”. Unfortunately it’s really been devastated by weather damage from years back and the economic downturn more recently. Lots of closed shops and hotels, not very much rebuilding going on. Beautiful beach though, and a great view back to the ship.

We didn’t explore beyond the local city. On the way back though we stopped at the cheese shop, this being the Dutch half of the island, and bought some amazing Brie and Stroopwafles.

Arriving back to the ship we found our towel animal collection had grown.

Went to the steakhouse for dinner, which was amazingly good. Bevin got a steak the size of her head, or perhaps larger.

A quick night’s sailing brought to St. Thomas. Back in the US!

Walked the mile or so to downtown and poked around. Very Pirates of the Caribbean in it’s architecture, and definitely in better shape that St. Maarten was, but lots of shops closed up as well. Hard when tourism is such a big part of your economy and it’s been gone so long.

Everything has been great. Great food and entertainment on the ship, great weather, and a ship that’s just under 1/3rd full means everything is very comfortable and not crowded feeling.

We’re hanging out in the lounge drinking iced tea and rehydrating. Boat should be departing in an hour or so. Another day at sea tomorrow!

The art seems indicative of something… I wonder if we’re there…

Sweet Suite!

Allegedly we’re on a boat… It really doesn’t feel like a boat…

It’s a boat! With a central park!

It’s a really BIG boat!

Goodbye Miami! To the sea!

Bevin and Brian were lounging in the chairs behind us.

Bevin has ruined a lobster. RUINED. She got every last bit of meat on that poor thing.

Something is afoot, Bevin’s not looking dressed for work!

Precautionary tests completed!

Fancy drink and airport chairs in background…

Looks like it’s vacation time!