After a hectic day of finding alternate transportation when the Amtrak train decided to be more than 5 hours late, we decided to to try the Flixbus from Tampa to Miami for our 1st sailing, a 16-day transatlantic cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. It really wasn’t a bad ride, albeit a little cramped. Gave airline seats a good name, as hard as that is to believe! Good driver, calm people, even a newborn on the 5 hour trip. After seeing all the traffic, was very happy not to have drove.
We had Cuban food from a food truck that was amazing. Took awhile but that meant it was definitely freshly cooked!
We arrived at the port on time and checked in at the Royal Caribbean terminal. Smooth and quick this trip. Maybe they are finally getting their act together or hiring more staff. The Explorer of the Seas is the ship we were on when we met Tom and Jessica Lyman back in 2017. Their chance meeting opened our eyes to world travel and changed our life’s direction in a major way. Instead of settling down for retirement in Texas, we decided to sell everything we owned and travel the world. After starting this grand adventure in 2019, we all know what happened in 2020. Unfortunately we are not the patient type and decided to buy a home and make our home base in Florida. But that didn’t stop us. We love it here but still had the travel bug so started cruising. After cruising for a full year almost nonstop, Royal Caribbean decided to offer a 9 month ultimate world cruise beginning this December, 2023. This cruise will hit all our travel bucket lists except South Africa. We will try to make that destination before we permanently retire. Thank you Tom And Jess! We are eternally grateful for your friendship. Check out their amazing blog at http://www.worldwidewadtage.com
So, back to the ship. This is a midsize ship. Our favorite size. It has a promenade that has shops and restaurants and bars in the main floor. It’s like walking around town and window shopping. We found our way to the cabin, unpacked and we are now set for the next 29 days!
This trip will be a little cooler but the destination ports of call are wonderful. Many we haven’t seen before so very excited.
Our ports of call this trip.
- 6 days at sea
- Ponta Delgado Azores
- Malaga Spain
- Cartagena Spain
- Barcelona Spain
- Provence (Toulon) France
- Ajaccio Corsica
- Rome Italy
- Naples Italy
- Dubrovnik Croatia
- Split Croatia
- Koper Slovenia
- Venice Italy
- Kotor Montenegro
- Corfu Greece
- Athens Greece
- Mykonos Greece
- Argostoli Greece
By the end of the day, we were exhausted but happy. We had a great first day on the cruise, and cant wait to see what the rest of the trip will bring.
May God bless you always!
Lea Ann & Chuck
WorldTravelReynolds 
I’m going to be in Rome on May 19. Will you still be there? Let’s get together.
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Hi Chris! So good to hear from you. Dave and Marion have been keeping us updated and I heard you were going in a cruise! So excited for you. We just love the water. Glad you found my blog as well. By the time you are in Rome, we will be in Greece so sadly we will miss each other. That’s the one thing we miss about our other type of traveling, we were in one location about about a month and it was great. Cruise ship, we only get one day. Keep in touch. We will try to make it to the east coast some day and drop by for a visit! Lea Ann.
P.s. Chuck says hello!!
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My cruise is through the Greek Islands. We leave Rome May 22 and have 10 nights in Greece before returning to Barcelona. I may see you somewhere along the way. If not enjoy your travels.
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Let me know what ship you’re on and I’ll look for you! That would be exciting!
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