Pat and I really enjoy our winters in Florida. It is like 3-4 months in a tropical paradise with very few daily chores to do. Like being on vacation! Well, when you are in this mode for a few months it becomes time for something different. What to do when getting bored with paradise? Book a cruise, of course! Off we go for a 5-day cruise out of Tampa!
Boarding Day
This is our second time to cruise out of Tampa. The first time was way back in 1999 and was our very first cruise. The Tampa port is about an hour away from our RV resort in New Port Richey Florida and is very easy to get to the cruise parking, although there is always traffic around Tampa, so we gave ourselves some extra time.
Our cruise ship will be the Enchantment of the Seas by Royal Caribbean. This is a smaller and older ship in the fleet (1997) and has been updated in 2017. We actually enjoy the smaller ships as they are much easier to get around, but may not have all the latest attractions. Capacity is 2,200 people.
Our family has a tradition of taking a selfie as we are crossing the gangway to board. There is always the good feeling that we made it on time and much anticipation for the time onboard. Sometimes we have driven from long distances or flown in for the cruise. When traveling you just never know what may create a delay. And with a cruise, if delayed, you literally miss the boat.
We also used to take a photo when taking a life jacket from the room and going to our muster spot by the lifeboats. But we have progressed from that process to simply stopping by the muster station and scanning our phone app. Very simple.
Dining
We enjoy eating in the formal dining room for most meals instead of the Windjammer buffet. The food is mostly the same, but the ambiance is quite different. A relaxed and fine dining experience in the dining room versus a large noisy crowd of folks bumping through the lines. It all depends on how much time we have until the next event.
Leaving Tampa Bay
We had heard from Monica (at our RV park) that the crossing under the Tampa Skyway bridge while leaving the Bay is a highlight. It was quite remarkable to see this massive suspension bridge from the water. The bridge tower of the ship seemed to barely clear.
In my crude map below, the red line is our path out of the bay and the blue line is the Skyway. The bridge is 4 miles long and has a height of 430 feet and a clearance of 181 feet. Will we make it?
Here is a video I took for you of the close call at bridge!
Activities
We did lots of walking every day and not to just get a Starbucks either. Deck 5 I think had a walking track all around as well as deck 11. We also watched the very good shows every evening.
After a day at sea, we were off the ship at Costa Maya, Mexico. We have been here several times and did not do any excursion this time but walked around watching the pole flyers and then bought tickets to the bird sanctuary.
This bird sanctuary was immersive. You walked right through their cages. Pat loves birds and could have spent hours in the twenty or so habitats that were connected with elevated swinging bridges. It was pretty cool!
Then we were on to Cozumel the next day. We have been here maybe 10 times or so and like to taxi into the main town (about 2 miles) and walk around until lunch at Panchos Backyard. Thanks to Sam and Carol about the Panchos tip.
The last day was at sea and highlighted with a parade of nations.
Debark Day
The cruise lines have perfected this process as it is now quick and easy. It used to take a couple of hours waiting in lines, trying to find your luggage in a sea of suitcases, waiting again in long lines at customs, then dragging luggage out of the terminal.
The good news is most of the process above has been completely streamlined. No lines to get off the ship due to time phasing each group. Luggage was all separated and well-marked resulting in an easy pick up. And then customs check-in is completely automated. You simply walk up to a camera on a post and through facial recognition it says welcome back to the USA!
Wrap Up
After that it was the hour back to the RV park and on to our winter snow-bird vacation! We enjoyed this quick little cruise even though we had both thought that the Caribbean cruises were over for us since we are enjoying the longer Mediterranean and transatlantic cruises. You just never know…
Next up will be a final review of Florida activities before heading back to Virginia. Please leave a comment, thanks for following along and God Bless!
Looks like a nice cruise to break up the vacation.
Robert