For the past two weeks, My mother and I went on a beautiful 13-night Spanish Transatlantic Cruise. A large group of our friends went with us as we flew on American Airlines from sweet home Chicago to Rome, Italy. We explored some of the sights, sounds, and smells of this big, busy city including the Coliseum at night, the delicious pizza with fresh mozzarella, and a very popular tourist attraction called the Trevi Fountain.
Rome was a very busy, hectic city filled with street peddlers selling us scarves, phone chargers, and selfie sticks. Some of us did buy a nice amount of them, too. The sidewalks were made out of cobblestones and were like high hills. You need to have some good shoes to walk their streets. The ambiance and feel of Rome reminded me a lot of New York. A lot of people bombard the streets during the day and night.
We stayed two nights in “Roma” in a seemingly old cute hotel called Hotel Raffaello. Their breakfast was really good. I love how they served their coffee, tea, and cappuccino in small porcelain cups. Rome was truly a beautiful place for all of us to visit, shop, and eat.
It’s Cruise Time
October 31st has finally arrived and it was time for us to hop on our Royal Caribbean Cruise ship. We were transported to our Odyssey of the Seas ship at Civitavecchia, Italy after going through COVID-19 tests and passport checking. It was finally time for us to settle in our staterooms, enjoy our balconies, navigate around the ship, and eat a smorgasbord of food lol.
During our 2-week cruise journey, we stopped at 4 ports. The first stop was at 3 beautiful villas near Florence, Italy- Portofino, Rapallo, and Santa Margherita. We had a tour guide take us around these gorgeous towns where we did some shopping and ate some amazing gelato. I even got the chance to try a seafood risotto at a restaurant for the first time when we took a boat ride from Rapallo to Portofino.
Our adventure continued on the boat with interesting menu choices from the main dining room-some good, some not-so-good, and a live music performance almost every night. I’ve never viewed or sung so much karaoke in all of my life. It seemed like most of us got our little moments in the spotlight as we sang our favorite tunes. Early in the first week, I got the chance to sing the first song that popped up in the Royal Caribbean karaoke book for me- New Edition’s “Mr. Telephone Man” lol. It was a lot of fun singing that song. I learned some new lyrics to it that I didn’t know were in the song. That’s kinda the cool thing about karaoke.
Crossing over to Spain
We sailed away from Italy and arrived in our second port Valencia, Spain a couple of days later. I liked Valencia. I liked that the streets didn’t seem to be as high as it was in Rome. The weather was just as beautiful there as it was in Italy though. My mother and I took some cool photos, bought a few souvenirs, and even saw a mechanical dinosaur in a park.
We briefly got a little lost on our way back to the tour bus. But we figured it out with a little help from some locals who can speak English and going past some familiar places. Needless to say, we didn’t get lost in Valencia, Spain lol. The bus brought us back to our ship where we enjoyed some more dining, live musical performances, and you guessed it, karaoke.
Malaga Fashions
We crossed another city in Spain where we did most of our clothes shopping- Malaga. I bought a couple of beautiful blouses and a dress in Primark for only 3 euros. My mother bought a few nice things, too. But eventually, all this shopping and site seeing had to come to an end, and back on our tour bus we go. Better make it to the tour bus on time because it will take us back to our ship. From what I’ve heard, the ship doesn’t wait on anyone.
4th and Last Port- Madeira, Portugal
The beginning of our second week at sea brought us to Madeira, Portugal. What a beautiful city with many houses on high hills! I was down to a few Euros and bought a few souvenirs, a rum mixed with honey, lemon, and passion fruit, a churro, and some really nice boots. I like the fact that these were blue boots. My mother bought some nice gray boots at this cute little shoe store we encountered in Madeira. Along the way, we met some local Portugal brothers and sisters doing some public witnessing and took some photos with them. After some more photo-snapping, site-seeing, and retail-buying, it was time for us to be on our way back to the ship. Fortunately, the bus didn’t take us too far from it and we were back on the boat in no time.
Away at Sea during the Second Week
During the second week, we were mainly sailing away at sea and didn’t make any stops. But there were still plenty of activities, events, food, and theme nights being held to keep us busy. My mom got a real kick out of some of the movies being shown in our stateroom. I enjoyed breakfast in the buffet area called the Windjammer and got some exercise around the running track on deck 15. I also attended some really interesting seminars on this cruise such as how the way you walk has an impact on your back health or posture. I discovered I was flat-footed by the way. There were even free massage demonstrations and a sampling of skin products. But it wasn’t until Wednesday that I got the chance to attend their “Fun Dance Classes” which turned out to be some Zumba-esque exercise classes. This was cool, but it sort of misled some people in the Royal Caribbean app into thinking it was a line-dancing class lol.
Friday evening was very interesting because it was the night when we got the chance to eat at one of the specialty restaurants on the ship for free. Me, my mother, and a friend of ours chose to eat at Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar where we ate some healthy Italian portions including a leading tower of lasagna, which I was crazy enough to ask for (see the picture below). All in all, it was a lot of food for us to handle.
Giving a Witness Wherever We Go
Despite the fact it was a fun-filled, incredible European cruise, we still never forgot who we represent. At some point, I gave a witness to one of our waiters, who happens to speak another type of Creole language from what I speak called Mauritian Creole. My mother even had a nice conversation about the Bible with a fellow cruiser while relaxing on one of the higher decks. We even made friends with some fellow Witnesses’ from Maryland, Colorado, California & Memphis. It just goes to show that we are truly a united brotherhood all over the world.
As I write this blog post, my mind is still on vacation from this two-week journey although I’m physically back in cold Chicago. I feel so refreshed after coming from this vacation. I understand why people become so depressed about the last day of a cruise because they know they have to go back to their regular lives. No more being waited on hand in foot or being served drinks or food! I felt like a queen for the past two weeks. Now I feel just like regular ol’ humble Brandi. Well, at least until the next cruise vacation lol!
Have you ever been on a cruise ship vacation? How was it? Who did you go with? Was it as long as mine? Feel free to share your cruise ship experiences in the comments section below- the good, the bad & the ugly. As usual, be sure to share or like this post with the next cruise vacationer you know.
