It's our last day onboard Quantum of the Seas and so it's time to squeeze in as much fun as Royal Caribbean can throw at us!
I woke up at about 9am this morning. The ship was definitely feeling the motion still and continued to feel the motion all morning long. It wasn't enough to make you sick, but it made walking a little more involved an activity.
I went up to the Windjammer for breakfast and as I got to deck 14, I could feel the cold wind blowing in from the pool deck. We're not in the Caribbean anymore! The high today is around 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
I had a quick bite to eat and went on my way down to the Royal Esplanade for the last day t-shirt sale. Every Royal Caribbean cruise, Royal Caribbean has a selection of t-shirts for $10 each. I picked up one for me, my wife and my daughter. We will be able to wear it in July when we go on Freedom of the Seas!
I then headed back up to the pool deck to see how warm (or not so warm) it was in the indoor pool. I was wearing jeans a t-shirt and it was warm enough to be comfortable in there but there was barely anyone in the pool or around it.
With the motion of the ocean, the pools became wave pools and everyone inside them did not seem to mind.
Next up was a Q&A session in Two70 with entertainers from the ship's shows, like Starwater, Sonic Odyssey and Mamma Mia!. Guests asked all sorts of questions about work, time off and life on a cruise ship. Pretty interesting stuff!
For lunch, I wanted to try the burger from Devinly Decadence so I went back up to deck 14 to eat there.
For lunch, Devninly Decadence is served buffet style but I was disappointed nearly all the food from last night's dinner was what was being offered for lunch.
I did manage to get my burger, although it was create it yourself, which I'm quite terrible at. The burger tasted good enough but I was hoping for it be different than the burgers from the Windjammer (if they are different, I cannot tell).
I wanted to see if any brave souls were trying the FlowRider but the high winds forced Royal Caribbean to close off the top pool deck and the sports decks around it.
Given the cold weather, there were limited things to do so I went back to my stateroom to pack. It's the least fun thing you will do at any point on your cruise but it has to be done and I figured if I had a little time now to do it, then may as well get it taken care of.
After packing, I decided to take it easy and I turned on the TV for perhaps the first time to actually watch TV on this cruise. I managed to catch Guardians of the Galaxy and I enjoyed watching this movie again.
At 4pm, I went down to the Royal Esplanade to meet up with the folks from the group cruise one last time. We had drinks at Michael's and then wandered over to Boleros for mojitos.
I have to mention again what a great group we had for this cruise and I can't wait for our next group cruise adventure (details on that forthcoming)!
I had lofty aspirations for dinner at a restaurant but between having to pack and just feeling like I was in a mood to take it easy, I ended up eating in the Windjammer for dinner. They had a great Mongolian stir fry that I really enjoyed.
After dinner, it was over to the Royal Theater for Sonic Odyssey.
Sonic Odyssey is a mix of percussions, string instruments and singing with each element infused with a ton of energy. Someone described it as being similar to the show Stomp.
I enjoyed it and felt Sonic Odyssey was a good change of pace. Certainly not something I've ever seen before and the earth harp is really impressive.
And so, my live blog for this Royal Caribbean cruise comes to an end. I had so much fun sharing my adventures with all of you.
I tip my hat to the wonderful crew on Quantum of the Seas. I know so many people had a great time and the crew clearly worked hard to make our vacations so much fun.
Thank you for all the wonderful comments, tweets, messages and questions. It made writing the blog all worth it!
Stray Observations
- A friend mentioned the gym got progressively less and less crowded as the crew went on. Her flywheel class for the last day had next to no one in it. Seems folks lose interest/motivation to continue as the cruise goes on.
- The chopiness never really subsided much. I think we all got used to the motion but the Captain did a wonderful job and the ship can handle these seas quite well.
- We have heard all guests, including back to back cruisers, will be forced to leave the ship for a ship-wide sanitzing before next sailing's guests are let on.
- If anyone wants a very quiet inside stateroom, 12231 is a keeper!
- Speaking of staterooms, I liked being on deck 12 for access to Windjammer and pool deck but I think I'd prefer a lower deck stateroom because I felt like going down to decks 3, 4 or 5 was a hike.
- Will someone make me dinner tomorrow? Or pick up my towels from the ground at home? I can't go back to real life "cold turkey"!
