Port Canaveral, Florida

I am starting a 7 day cruise on Wonder of the Seas. This is one of the newest and biggest ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

In contrast to the Vision of the Seas that I was just on, Wonder is HUGE!

Wonder if the Seas

Wonder was recently dethroned as the biggest cruise ship in the world by Icon of the Seas, but even though it is the second biggest there are no words for how amazing this ship really is. You have to sail on her to understand this floating city on the ocean.

Balcony Cabin

Bathroom

The Theater

Inside the Royal Theater

Looking down into Central Park

The Crown and Anchor Society

After my last cruise, and many many other cruises, I finally earned enough points in the Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor loyalty program to reach the Diamond 💎 Level. This is the level where the best perks kick in when you cruise. The best perk is the four free drinks per day and some free internet access and reduced costs on other amenities. To get to this level takes 80 points. Each day cruising = 1 point so 80 points is 80 days. There are two higher levels with the top one being Pinnacle Club. People at that level has 700 nights at sea. That is A LOT of cruises. 700 points = 100 cruises 7 nights long. WOW 🤯

Coco Cay

I am back at Perfect Day at Coco Cay today. It should be illegal to have so many perfect days in a week. Oh well I guess I will just have to have another one.

A breakfast stop at the buffet

Had breakfast at the Windjammer buffet this morning.

Alcohol 🍷 🍺 and Coffee ☕️

The Windjammer is huge!

Docked next to us this morning at Coco Cay

Side by side Wonder and Freedom

Oasis Lagoon was crowded today

The Perfect Day at Coco Cay 😎🏝️☀️🕶️ started off nice. About eight thousand people were enjoying the food, the drinks🍹 the weather, the pools and the beaches.

Then it happened

Then out of nowhere came an ocean squall determined to ruin the perfection. ⛈️ ⛈️ ⛈️

A huge downpour with lightning and winds sent thousands of people scrambling to get back to their ships. By the time I was able to reboard the ship, I was soaked to the bone!

The storm was headed right for us

Thousands of passengers head for the ships 🛳️

A constant stream of people getting soaked in the squall

The towels were very important at this point. It was like taking a shower with your clothes on!

People were well behaved as they waited in line to re-board their ship

I didn’t take a towel with me 💦 😔 💧💧💦💧💦💧💦💧💧💦💧

Took a while to get back on the ship and get dried off. \240The last time I was this wet outside of a shower, I went behind a waterfall.

I want this magnet on my cabin door

Comedy Club

Dry slide on the back of the ship - Ultimate Abyss

Lookin down from deck 15 to Central Park on deck 8

One of many pools on the upper decks

This crab 🦀 won’t give me the remote back!

Lasagna Again

Classic Car on the Promenade

Mustang Convertible

80’s Dance Party

Big Hair Music 🎵

Headed for St.Thomas

US Virgin Islands

Sea day with a lot of activities on the ship as we head south to the US Virgin Islands and St. Thomas.

Loyalty Member Event

Royal Caribbean always has a special event to recognize it’s frequent cruisers. This one was held in the ice skating area.

Captain Rob

Cruiser with the most cruise points

8249 points earned in 24 years of cruising

Party Animal

The Solarium is at the front of the ship and is a quiet peaceful place for adults (18+) with a swimming pool, hot tubs and restful places.

More Party Animals

I really like the solarium as opposed to the crowded open pools.

The Solarium (18+ Area)

Solarium (18+ Area)

The Mason Jar

Specialty Dining

Jalapeño Cornbread

Peach 🍑 Tea

Biscuits, Eggs & Gravy

Brunch in a specialty restaurant new to me. The Mason Jar has southern food and it is great!

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Miday Coffee ☕️ Break at Starbucks

Astronauts all over the ship!

Anchors Aweigh Parade

The ship is so big it has a full-fledged parade. The anchors away parade took place in the Royal promenade this morning. It was quite the spectacular with over 100 singers and dancers stretched out over the entire deck from end end with floats amazing costumes.

Security really needs to watch for swords.

The parade featured all types of seafarers from pirates to Vikings

Anchors Aweigh Parade

The Admiral

Anchors Aweigh Parade

Anchors Aweigh Parade

Anchors Aweigh Parade

Anchors Aweigh Parade

Anchors Aweigh Parade

Anchors Aweigh Parade

Pool Deck

Nighttime Entertainment

Ronn Lucas

Best Ventricalist Ever!

Ronn Lucas was the entertainment tonight and he was amazing. Very talented and funny 😆. \240I am going to see when he is in Vegas and go and see him again.

St. Thomas

St. Thomas is an island in the US Virgin Islands. It was home to Eduard Teach more famously known as Blackbeard 🏴‍☠️ the pirate.

Eduard Teach (Blackbeard)

St. Thomas Tour Today

USVI - Bought by the United States 🇺🇸 from the Dutch in 1917. Seven Islands for $25 million in gold. Then the US built a naval station here to control the Caribbean. What a bargain!

In Port

Tour boat to go to the downtown area

Charlotte Amalie - A nice port city with not much to see or do other than about 100 stores selling diamonds 💎 and jewelry

St. Thomas did not have much to see or do today. Almost all of the stores had the same souvenirs or sold diamonds 💍 or jewelry. One right next to another all over the downtown area.

I did go into a grocery store to check the prices of everyday things and saw how expensive it can be living on an island. Everything here has to be shipped in, nothing is made here and their only industry is tourism. By the way, \240a can of Progresso soup was $7 and a small frozen lasagna was $35. No thanks!

Alleyways to the water

Yes that is a pool hanging over the edge of the ship

A closer look 👀

I would not want to be in the cabins below the pool. For that matter, I wouldn’t want to be in that pool either. 👁️ 👁️ 🌊

Testing the giant fire 🔥 door in the promenade area

They are always doing safety drills and tests on the ship when we are in port. Here they tested the HUGE fire door to section off the Royal Promenade in case of fire. They are extremely safety conscious. With over ten thousand people onboard things can and do go wrong sometimes. The other night we had an ALPHA, ALPHA, ALPHA emergency 🚨 code over the PA system for a medical team to respond to a sick passenger. There are full service medical 🏥 facilities on board if necessary with doctors and nurses.

All the way down🔥

Limoncello and Seltzer

Not quite a lemon 🍋 drop but I think Shar Shar would approve!

Dinner Appetizer

Sweet Corn 🌽 Cakes??? \240👎

Dry and tough to chew 🤐 don’t say anything about it.

Pulled Pork Enchilada? \240The taste of Mexico is a tough one for Indian 🇮🇳 chefs to pull off. Nope 👎

I don’t like to tell the staff in the main dining room that the food is subpar, but dinner was not the best and…… I said something…………

That set their hair on fire 🔥. \240They respond as though it’s a disaster. Every staff member in the dining room seems to take umbrage with the situation and begs me for forgiveness while promising to do better in the future. It is quite the experience.

My advice to anyone reading this, that goes on a cruise and eats in the main dining room. \240If the food is bad, never say anything. Just pretend to spill your plate on the floor and leave immediately or they will bring you a replacement dish and then you are on your own.

Side note - I have seen two very loud arguments between wait staff during my cruising this summer. Just now a headwaiter is going off on a waiter in the middle of the dining room about “disrespect”. They are standing right behind me yelling at each other. \240There seems to be A LOT of tension amongst the wait staff. 🦀. Thank God the dessert was 👍 good.

Crown Lounge

I am really enjoying the new loyalty perks on this cruise. \240The crown lounge is open only for the loyalty members at the diamond level or higher. Evening drinks rubbing elbows over drinks and hors d’oeuvres is very interesting. 🤔

The 🐇 rabbit is 🐇 🐇 back 🐇 🐇

Tonight I am going to watch the Ventriloquist again. (He was that good).

Ronn Lucas and Billy

I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this guy before. I’ve seen quite a few of the very best ventriloquist in Las Vegas, but Ronn is wonderful. I highly recommend his show.

St Maarten

Flag of St Marten

We are in St. Marten today. This is an interesting place. One island that is governed by two countries. One side of the island is a part of the French 🇫🇷 Republic and the other is an autonomous nation and part of \240the Netherlands 🇳🇱.

Border marker between the Dutch side and the French side of Saint Maarten. Flags of St. Maarten and the Netherlands on the left. Flags of \240France and the EU on the right.

Everything is in English on one side and French on the other.

Welcome to the Dutch side

Just think 🤔 Depending on which side of the island you are born on determines your passport for life. One side you have a Dutch passport a mile down the road you get a French passport.

Even the license plates are different depending on what side of the island you live on.

St. Maarten License Plate

French License Plate

Not only are the license plates French, but also the architecture, design and other aspects of the infrastructure.

Island 🏝️ Rats Everywhere

They say they taste like chicken 🐔

Fort of some sort 🏰

Cactus 🌵

Famous Maho Beach

This beach is at the end of the runway from the international airport. It is famous for the planes that land and take off very close to the people on the beach.

There are fences to keep people back but the blast is very strong

This airport on the Caribbean island of St. \240Maarten and sits right next to a public beach and flies so low that sunbathers get a good blast of wind and sand whenever a plane arrives. The runway is short at 7,100 feet, with the beach on one side and mountains on the other. Aviation geeks flock to the beach to get selfies of the dramatic take-offs and landings. However, there are numerous signs that warn people to stay back as jet blast from planes can topple them over and cause injuries. And it did in 2017 when a woman died due to head injuries after getting knocked over while she was standing by the fence of the airport.

Some people are just drawn to risky fun!

Maho beachgoers waiting for jets to take off or land

JetBlue coming in at Maho Beach over the heads of the people on the beach

Wonder of the Seas in Grande Bay in St. Maarten

Went back to the ship 🛳️ to take advantage of all the great amenities it has to offer. \240Here are some pictures of just a few things you could do if you were onboard.

Specialty Hot Dog 🌭 Stand

Unlimited Free Hot Dogs and Sausages 😛

Carousel 🎠 on the Boardwalk

The carousel is very popular with the little kids. Free rides all day if they want!

Aqua Theater

Aqua theater is a multipurpose location. \240Aqua shows, movies, music and special events are held here.

Johnny Rockets 🚀 for lunch today!

I had the Double Rocket with fries. Lots of fast food choices on the Boardwalk. \240

Returning to Orlando

The ship is currently in a Saharan Dust Intrusion. \240It’s not actually a bad thing. The dust cloud inhibits the formation of tropical storms that lead to hurricanes.

Looks like fog but it’s dust from the Sahara Desert

Current dust layer keeping the storms away and the seas calm

New Visitor

Blackberry Moonshine

Warning ⚠️

Went back to the Mason Jar for dinner tonight. Macy was my server and provided great service.

Charred Watermelon 🍉 Salad

Fried Green Tomatoes

They weren’t really green. I guess it is hard to get green tomatoes in the last week of July on a ship 🛳️

Smoked Ribs and sides. Excellent!

Bananas 🍌 Gone Wild 😝

I went back to my cabin after dinner. That moonshine was some strong stuff. I had to take a nap! Off to the ice show later on.

Great Show

Entirely iced dancing, set to music

Day 7 Headed back to Orlando

Last full day aboard the ship. \240Haven’t done much today. Spent most of the morning recovering from last night. I stayed up way to late having fun. 🤩

Lunch today at Playmakers Sports Bar on the ship. This is an extra pay restaurant onboard. Burgers, nachos and other fast food. Just like on land this place has TVs with all of the sports happing live.

Chicken Sandwich

It’s Showtime! \240Back to the theater to see Effectors ll. The Effectors was a very popular live action super hero stage show developed by Royal Caribbean.

The Effectors ll

4 Superheros

Amazing Costumes and Special Effects

Lasers Everywhere

Drones fly overhead

The Effectors ll was the best stage show I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship by far. Even though it was a superhero show, the outstanding special effects and music made it a very enjoyable show. You can tell that Royal Carribean has put a lot of time and effort and money into the show. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Behind-the-scenes tour

I got to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the theater. They showed us the sound, light and backstage operations.

Up on the theater stage

We looked at some of the set pieces used in performances. One of The Effector set pieces cost over a half million dollars just for that one set decoration.

Looking out the seats from the stage

They also showed us the operation of the stage. Multiple sections go up into the air and down to the deck below. Even the deck was high tech!

British pub on board

This ship is so big it is hard to share it immense size even with many photos. Even after a week on board, there are still venues and areas of the ship I never got to. It is surprisingly difficult to do all of the things that they offer.

Last pizza and a look at next year‘s Alaska cruises.

After two back-to-back cruises and 16 days out in the ocean, this part of my summer vacation comes to a close. Few more days I’ll be headed home and back to work where I can dream future cruises. \240Thank you for coming along with me.