A Black Woman Healing 🤎🍍 Glamazini
My Life In The Sunshine,  Travel

Day 7 ~ Royal Caribbean Intl. Mariner of the Seas ~ 7 Night Mexican Riviera

November 23, 2010 / 9 Comments

The end is here people

This is post number 7 in a week long series documenting hubby and my 4th anniversary cruise to the Mexican Riviera on Royal Caribbean Internationals Mariner of the Seas!

Note #19:
As mentioned at the end of the last (Day 5) post, my discounted internet cafe minutes had ran out so I gave up on typing up the posts on the ship.Today’s post is written now (on 11/22) from memory (and the Cruise Compass).

Read Post #1 ~ Sunday November 7th

Read Post #2 ~ Monday November 8th

Read Post #3 ~ Tuesday November 9th

Read Post #4 ~ Wednesday November 10th

Read Post #5 ~ Thursday November 11th (our actual anniversary)

Read Post #6 ~ Friday November 12th

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Saturday November 13th 2010

Day 7 was another day at sea AND the last day on the ship .  Unfortunately I did not take a bunch of photos .
Once again, I had great plans that were thwarted by my strong desire to bask in the abundance of nothing to do for one more day.
When you’re at sea all day Royal Caribbean genuinely does an awesome job of giving you a choice of activities and today was no exception.  My list of potential time-taker-uppers included a seminar on digestion, a few “enrichment” lectures, trivia, the spa, skating (hubby, not me), a dance party, a movie and so on and so on.  Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, I slept in as late as humanly possible and the 1st thing I was able to catch started at 1PM : the Backstage Q&A and Tour of the Savoy Theater.

To make matters worse I forgot to bring my camera . I will say this, I’ve missed this tour every other cruise and was so pleased I made it this time.  It started out with a Q&A with a couple of the dancers, the sound guy, lighting guy, and head of the theater.  After a lengthy session of great answers (and some rude questions  ) we were split into 2 groups and given a tour of the stage and back stage area.  It was super exciting for me because I’d been on a theater stage on an RCI Voyager class ship once before but never backstage and I never got to ask any questions.  I was shocked at how small the backstage area is (and how much you can feel the ship moving back there, one poor lady got so sick ).  At the end of the tour Adima and I hung around talking to the head of the theater for a while. His name was Rodney and he was from Jamaica. I asked how he’d gotten into this line of work and he explained he’d went to school for it, applied for a position with RCI once he graduated and had been traveling the world doing it for the past 10 years!  Then he told us this was his last cruise on Mariner of the Seas and he was going on his time off (4 months on a ship, 2 months off) then switching ships.  He was going to be in the Holy Land next. How exciting!

After our tour we hung out in the room for a second then went to the ice rink so Adima could see what it’s like to ice skate on a cruise ship.


image: glamazini

He did well but since he’s used to rollerskates (quads not blades) he said it was weird to have to balance on the middle of you feet.  He even went backwards a little. 


image: glamazini


image: glamazini

Honestly the rest of the day on board was a blur.  I know we walked around the ship and sat listening to music & watched a movie in our room (well I watched, dude fell asleep ).  We eventually got ready for the pre-dinner Farewell Variety Show which was cute and typical of RCI. There was a great juggler who was not only talented but he was funny!  Then the RCI singers and dancers closed out the show with the same song they always do:


image: glamazini

“We bid you farewell for now!
As our cruise comes to an end!
We know the magic and the memories
will stay with you my friend!

< div>Until we meet

Until we meet
Until we meet
Again!!!”
 
And also as usual, the captain, cruise director and a portion of the staff (waiters, stateroom attendants etc.) all come up on stage!


image: glamazini

After the show we went to dinner and pretty much shut the place down once again with our tablemates … Table 363 went hard!


image: glamazini

FYI: Two of our tablemates are missing from this picture.
Then we went right back to the Savoy for late night adult comedy with 2 of the couples from out table and it was great! We stood outside the theater talking to one of the couples for maybe an hour, decided to give up on DJ Kova and her jumping around in the Dragon’s Lair club, and head back to our room to finish packing.  Once we got back in our room we realized that our bags were supposed to be packed, tagged and outside the door at 11PM! .  We had started packing earlier while in the room but never got any instructions on what to do next. Since we’d cruised before we knew at some point our bags went outside the door to be picked up but since we got back to our room with no instruction we called the guest services desk and found out we’d missed the time. We ended up going down there to get the “As You Depart” instructional paper (that our room steward did not leave for us like he was supposed to …dude better be happy we’d already given him his tip earlier that night ).  Finally, after about another hour of packing, walking back and forth to the guest services desk and generally getting ready we finally got into our bed after 2AMish.

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Sunday November 14th 2010

The last morning on the ship went as well as can be expected for the end of a 7-night cruise followed by eventual return to Missouri coupled with little sleep.   IT WAS THE WORST PAIN EVER!!!
Ok seriously, it went as well as could be expected.  We got up and went to eat at the Windjammer Cafe one last time to the backdrop of San Pedro, CA (cranes in a shipping yard = great view). We had priority de-boarding because of that platinum Crown & Anchor deal so we were off the ship in no time (after another frightening walk down the glass gangway).  The cruise terminal was packed but we found our bag quickly and were shocked at how “brief” the passport screening was. Honestly we could not believe how leisurely we strolled out of there and the agent looked like she barely glanced at our documents, not cool! .
Our driver from Payless Airport Shuttle was there waiting to take us right back to LAX airport where we started.  We waited for longer than we wanted to (4 or 5 hours ), finally got on our flight that afternoon, and we were safely back in St. Louis, MO by 9PM CST.

I will admit, my body clock has yet to get regulated because we left on the Sunday of daylight savings and traveled west then south so I still don’t know what time it is  .  All in all Adima and I had a GREAT 4th anniversary and appreciate you guys coming along with us this past week.  I wouldn’t say we’d do that particular cruise again of the Mexican Riviera because we learned we prefer the Atlantic/Caribben beaches & weather but it was great for what it was & we are blessed that we could do it!

Thanks again for “traveling” with me. Bye ya’ll!    

Roshini Cope, aka Glamazini, is a life coach and video creator who gained a following for her natural hair tutorials, which evolved into authentic personal stories of healing with a consistent dash of humor. She is a black woman healing helping other black women heal, expand their self-awareness, reclaim their joy, and create the life they want. Work with Roshini 🤎✨🤎

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9 Comments

  • Abiba
    November 23, 2010 at 11:46 AM Reply

    Hello Ini,
    I call myself a stalker cos i have been following you (in a nice way though) on your blog. I am mighty proud of all your accomplishment thus far and for the rest that is yet to come. Happy 4th Anniversary to you and hubby. I really thank the Lord for that special bond you two have. As i read day in and day out your cruise activities it felt as though i tagged along. i had fun. thanks

  • Sue
    November 23, 2010 at 2:45 PM Reply

    I’m sorry the cruise is over! I was really enjoying coming along virtually! I was surprised at some of the activities–seminar on digestion?

  • Ms-gg
    November 23, 2010 at 3:45 PM Reply

    What a great adventure Ini! Thank you for sharing! I missed all your wonderful adventurous stories like you use to do back in the day. I’m glad you did one again.

    I wish you all many more glorious anniversaries in the future <3

    Ms-gg

  • Mikimu
    November 24, 2010 at 10:05 AM Reply

    Wow, that was FUN!! I am so glad you and the hubs had a wonderful 4th anniversary. Thanks for allowing us to “come along for the ride”…LOL! Tomorrow, my hunny and I will celebrate 9 years of marital bliss. We will be on a date at our favorite spot in Coronado. Here’s to anniversaries…woot woot!!!

  • Racquel
    November 29, 2010 at 5:29 AM Reply

    That was so enjoyable and fun to read! I felt like I was there! tehehe =) I’m glad I read this too, because my sister is trying to drag me on a cruise to Mexico and I’m partial to almost perfect, beautiful Caribbean beaches. I guess I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to beaches as well. lol! Thanks for sharing!

    -Oh and I wanted to recommend (if you haven’t been already) Barbados. Went there on my last cruise, and I would say it is one of the most beautiful islands I’ve toured. Looking forward to your next cruise!

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