Yesterday morning our three-night cruise returned to Port Canaveral and Melissa and I embarked on our sometimes harrowing ride home to Gainesville on the long stretches of interstate and turnpike roads. Late morning today we're both recovering...from both the cruise and drive home. The cruise was on Royal Caribbean's big boat, Utopia of the Seas, and it was likewise packed with a big concentration of travelers, spanning generations. These cruises try to accommodate diverse interests, and they have a heavy emphasis on making alcohol available for adults...along with a casino and opportunities for night clubbing. The pools on this boat didn't fit the bill in my estimation, nearly always overcrowded to the point that when you're just standing in one spot (maximum depth 4 feet), you stand a good chance of others carelessly colliding with you...which is what happened to me. Our itinerary on this short trip had us stopping Saturday at Nassau, capital city of the Bahamas, and then on Sunday at Coco Cay, a little island owned by Royal Caribbean and transformed into a beach/pool/water park destination for its clients. When we docked at Nassau, we noticed that there were, in plain sight, four other cruise ships there. And the businesses we encountered after we left the shop that morning were nearly impossible to navigate, with so, so many people crowding around us and the shop owners/employees nearly always employing an aggressive sales strategy whereby they would approach one of us and feign interest in what we're doing but waste no time in switching over to what they wanted...which of course was our money. It got very old very quickly out there in this little tourist trap corner of Nassau and we were only too happy to return to the ship after just an hour or so ashore. For Coco Cay, we decided to avail ourselves of our ship's swimming pools...without all those people who we assumed went out. Still, it was hard to swim to any degree there because, well, kids being who they are, just don't look out for others and were constantly getting in the way. We did, though, enjoy some time in the pool and the whirlpool as well. Utopia of the Seas boasted several water slides, none of which I went down...but I did go down their dry slide "Abyss", which shot riders quickly in a twisted tube down ten levels...from 16 to 6 where I slid out of a chute, climbed out and slowly walked away. The above photo is of me at the entrance to the ride. There was also rock climbing, which I'd like to try out closer to home, but didn't this time around...although I observed how others were doing it. For Melissa and me, we enjoyed just hanging out on the ship, walking around together exploring the different levels dining at their nice restaurants and cafes, and sitting on our cabin's oceanfront balcony. I also used their fitness room once, walking a brisk 5K on one of their many treadmills that featured a nice virtual video to accompany my activity. We were a little disappointed in the ship's adults-only Solarium section after enjoying it on our previous cruise ship, the much smaller and older Enchantment of the Seas. Solarium's pool was basically very small and just for standing around in...why bother! I also liked Enchantment's little open snack bar, which I though would surely be available on the larger boat but wasn't. I did like the free ice cream cones served on Level 15, just outside the Windjammer (the large indoor buffet cafeteria). Upon returning to Gainesville, we've been adjusting back to our "regular" life...which is pretty doggone good as well. Speaking of "doggone", it was also very nice to see our own dog again, Daisy. I'm also interested in more travel opportunities with Melissa (facing me below at the Windjammer), including more cruises as well...
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