WorldTravelReynolds

Aruba is always beautiful!

We survived Covid and spent a few weeks at home before we took a 7 day cruise on the Mariner of the Seas with our favorite cruise line Royal Caribbean. This trip took us to the ABC islands. Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. We have been to all except Bonaire so we had a side trip planned with a 4×4 truck to see the desert side of the island.We are on a ship we haven’t sailed before so excited to explore it a little more. We got up early for the trip in Bonaire.

How many tourists does it take to fix an old truck?

Our broken down Mercedes and new friends in Bonaire!

It was probably beautiful and fun, however our 1970 Mercedes 4×4 Arawak off road vehicle broke down about 15 minutes into the ride. They just don’t make them like they used to! The tour guides’ phone card was empty so Chuck used his phone for him to call their office. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Milkweed but such a beautiful flower

We were a little disappointed but understand stuff like this happens. As we always say, it’s part of the adventure. There were some teenage kids that were more disappointed. It was early enough that I’m sure they were able to get another one. Caribbean is still pretty no matter what you do. Once we finally made it back to the area near the ship, we stopped for some light shopping and I had to get a new toothbrush.

I knocked over the glass in the bathroom and my toothbrush went with it. Glass shattered into a million pieces. Had to call the attendant to help vacuum it up. The glass flew all the way threw to the carpet in the cabin! If you’ve ever seen a bathroom on a cruise ships, you’ll know it didn’t have far to go! The cruise was nice. We weren’t as excited about this trip as we have been on others. It is highly geared towards preteens and teens. They had a great time! All 600 of them.

Aruba trolley ride to cool off!

Seriously! Total passengers on this ship was around 4000. Things are getting back to normal for sure. You can always tell when school is out on the ship. More kids and higher costs during the summer. Went to an ice show on the ship. The ice rinks are so small and scary to think about how well they are skating on this small sheet of ice. One of the dancers did a back flip on the ice and didn’t land perfectly. He didn’t fall but he did something that caused him a lot of pain. To his credit, he finished his performance, but he didn’t come back to the show and you could see the pain in his face. We heard he didn’t break anything but will be resting a few days.

The Stage was phenomenal on this ship. The shows were great!

Chuck always enjoys getting to know the dancers, singers and performers on the ship. They love talking about what they do and he always raves over how impressed he is with their performance, hard work and dedication to Royal Caribbean.  Our next trip is August 21st out of Galveston, Texas.

A silhouette of dancers located in the Main dining room

Cute little dune buggy sitting in the Promenade of the ship.

We will be gone for two weeks this time. Same ship, same itinerary but we will enjoy it. Its a mid-size ship named Liberty of the Seas and has the interior promenade that you can walk up and down, shop, people watch, eat, etc. We like the mid-size ships. Just right for us but some itineraries, like up in Northern Baltic sea, we have to use a small ship so we can get into the ports. Of course we missed a good portion of that trip due to Covid putting us in isolation. 

Beautiful choreography for the skaters

Well, all for now. We will take a break for the 4 weeks we are on land and get back to the gym and bike riding, assuming the heat isn’t too bad.

Ciao for now! 

May God bless and keep you safe!

Lea Ann & Chuck