Well hey everyone!!
Here we are with yet another post chronicling mine and Nickie’s September 2025 trip. You know – the trip after both kids were off to college and we simultaneously drowned our sorrows AND celebrated being the awesome couple we are by going on a big boat.
Right. Remember now?
OK yeah, so this is Day 6. Which is the last full day on the ship. Also though? It’s only like the midpoint of the trip. Yeah, there’s still lots of trip coming your way. And if you’ve been keeping track, I am sure you figured out that probably means this blog series will wrap at some point mid-summer.
And on that note, I guess we should get this thing going…
Our 12-Day Empty Nest Extravaganza Trip: Day 6
OK yeah so it’s been a while since Day 6, but Day 6 was a…
…
It was a…
…
A….
Uh.
<turns head sideways>
Ah, right. Thursday. Day 6 was a Thursday.
And it was also a port day! So we were up and out of our cabin by like 7AM.
But before we get off the ship, it was time for a little brekky, yeah? You know wut I mean? Quick vibe check though, innit?
Sorry. I’m watching Love Island right now. But along those lines, today wasn’t only a port day. It was also a co-ord day. As you can see from my fit under that incredibly masculine backpack.
But right – breakfast. And today? We were gonna give the ol’ Windjammer buffet another try.
As I usually do at breakfast, I had ALL the drinks.
Coffee. Water. Chocolate milk. Orange juice. This must be what everyone means when they comment “thirsty” on my Instagram posts? You guys. I totally get it now.
And as you can see from my plate below, my “maybe I should have a little bit of everything”-ness continued with the food I grabbed from the buffet.
Up there, I have a Cheese Omelet, Chocolate Chip Pancake, Avocado Toast, Bacon, Sausage, Hash Brown, and Eggs Benedict. And as I was just looking at that plate while putting this post together, I showed Nickie and was like, “hm wait was Windjammer as bad as I remember? This looks pretty good.” And she was like…
Yeah eh. Windjammer continued to disappoint. It’s just not a great buffet, you guys. I think maybe I liked the bacon and sausage? Everything else was either cold, or flavorless, or overcooked, or hard. It’s so unfortunate because I honestly think the Oasis of the Seas hit food-wise at every other turn. But the buffet is just NOT good. And I usually like a good buffet. Being able to have spaghetti, fried chicken, shrimp cocktail, tacos, and chocolate pudding on like one plate is what makes life worth living.
But Windjammer is just really struggling on quality.
Ah well, let’s get off the ship you guys.
We were docked alongside Royal’s Adventure of the Seas today.
But of course, we were docked alongside another Royal Caribbean ship. On account of today we were docked at…
At
…
Perfect Day at Coco Cay.
…
…
Royal Caribbean’s private island. Perfect Day at Coco Cay.
As we walked onto the island, it was like instant partytime with dancers all dancing around and singers all singing around.
And what were they singing and dancing to? Perfect Day at Coco Cay’s official theme song:
Right? Coco Cay has like its own theme song. What other island do you know that has its own theme song?
I mean, “Blue Hawaii” by Elvis?
“Ibiza”? by Mike Posner?
“Montserrat” by Elvis Costello?
“Fire Island”? Fountains of Wayne?
OK fine. But still. Song’s a banger.
Anyway though – Coco Cay. Place is huge.
Our plan was to hit the pool first and our walk over there took us right by Harbor Beach. Lookit how pretty.
That walk also gave us another super nice view of the ships in port.
The Oasis Lagoon pool was a little bit longer of a walk, down this little path.
This pool, beeteedubz? Ginormo.
By the time we got in the pool, it was around 8:30AM. And like, I really hope you enjoyed those pictures of the pool. On account of I don’t have any others from this little visit. I think, given my phone was reacting to water like it was the Wicked Witch this trip, I was a little gun-shy to bring it into the pool.
It was SO nice though. I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: Having a pool by the beach feels all kinds of next-level. It’s like, yeah nature I see you made a beautiful beach over there but whatever, us humans can make water places too. Take THAT.
But right, no pictures but we spent about an hour there. I know this because by 9:40AM, we were heading to South Beach. This picture says so.
Which, like, was a beach. On the southern part of the island.
Which calls into question that dumb map I posted earlier. Because like, that map has South Beach on the top of the island. Which, like, top=north, no? I question that cartography entirely.
But yeah, a super duper pretty beach. And like, we obvs made it even prettier.
Rawr-Town. Population: Us.
We did have grand thoughts of maybe going out to the floating bar, but eh. I think it was one body away from being a sinking bar.
We definitely wanted to get in the water.
But when we spotted this bottle of vinegar on the lifeguard chair…
…we had to start asking some questions. And a girl on the beach told us it was to help with jellyfish stings.
Because there were so many jellyfish.
Like, huh? And all you are just out there in the water without a care?
FOOLS!
This is how far we made it in.
Yeah. I ain’t messin with no jellyfish.
But we did still want to dip more than just our toes in some actual salt water. Soooooo we headed back to Harbor Beach.
We grabbed a shaded seat on the beach where we could put our bags down.
And yeah, we swam. For about an hour or so. About an hour appears to be our sweet spot for swimming in places. When we finished, it was around 11:30AM, which in some circles is late enough for lunch. And those circles? I like those circles.
So let’s go get some lunch!
On our way, we passed some sand sculptures.
Today we were having lunch at Chill Island (I think?)
Full transparency here. I took like THE WORST food pictures for this lunch. I just wanted to let you know. But basically, this lunch spot (which is included in your base cruise fare), had a bunch of different serve-yourself stations with sandwiches, burgers, tacos, and erm….other things.
Nickie and I grabbed our food and we were gonna sit at this picnic table but it was apparently taken.
We did, however, end up finding a table and while it wasn’t taken, this joker was hovering the entire time waiting for us to finish.
I asked him, I said, “Why do you wanna sit here?” and he was all, “No reason. Just because I-guana.”
Like I said, I was a bad blogger today and did not do well with the whole food picture situation. This was the only picture I got of my food, a non-bitten-into cheeseburger and a very-bitten-into steak and cheese.
I know, mouth-watering right?
But whatevz, it was a pretty good lunch. I mean, we have been to Disney’s private island – Castaway Cay – and had their included lunch and I’d say this was probably better? Definitely from a variety standpoint, but I’d say the food was maybe a slight step above as well. I also think there was some sort of mozzarella stick / chicken sandwich hack people do here, but it would have required us to go to another location on top of this one.
Pfft, ain’t nobody got time for that.
After lunch, we found ourselves back at the Oasis Lagoon pool to take a quick dip and make use of some of the in-water chairs. I actually think I may have dozed off for a second there. I didn’t take any pictures of any of this but my memory is like a steel-trap. Ol’ “Steel Trap” Wayne they call me.
What I don’t remember is how long we spent in the pool though. Based on historical context, I’ll assume it was “about an hour.”
The pool was deffo a little more crowded than it was earlier in the day, though, so we had the idea that maybe it would be worthwhile making our back onto the ship to see what the crowds were like there. Maybe the pools would be kind of quiet since so many other people were off-ship.
Along the way, we passed some little shops and Nickie ended up buying these sunglasses.
Which served three purposes:
- They kept the sun from bothering her eyes.
- They made her look hella-rawr.
- They ended up as one of our souvenirs for Owen since he lost his white-framed sunglasses.
Let’s get back on the ship!
L
Well eh – before we do that – a quick review of Perfect Day at Coco Cay. It’s amazing. Seriously, I mean there were so many more things we could do have done there (especially if we wanted to pay a little extra) but even with us just sort of taking it easy and soaking it all in, it kind of blew Disney’s Castaway Cay away. Aside from missing Disney touches, which obviously we love, there was just so much MORE here. It didn’t hurt that despite hearing it may rain for most of the day, we did have great weather while we were on island.
When we got back onboard, we made straight for Deck 15, which gave us a pretty great view of the top deck area of the Adventure of the Seas.
Deck 15, in addition to housing the main pools, also was where you could get free soft-serve. So that’s what I did. On account of why wouldn’t I?
Nickie got herself a fancypants ginger ale with a cherry (la di da) at the Lime and the Coconut bar.
And yup – as expected, the pools were pretty empty.
I also took advantage of the short lines at the waterslides.
When I hopped off the waterslide, I met Nickie in the pool. She had already kind of made friends with another couple taking advantage of the low crowds. They were super nice and definitely big fans of cruising on Royal. We actually told them we heard about some deal where they were offering a discounted price if cruisers wanted to stay on the ship for an additional short 3-day cruise and I am pretty sure they took advantage of it.
We by the way – if I didn’t have to go to Walt Disney World for work, we totally would have taken advantage of this offer. Oh well, I mean – I was going to be working in Walt Disney World. I def wasn’t complaining.
I know at this point, it probably feels like I am making this up but yeah, we spent about an hour at the pool. I know this because we were back in our room at around 1:45ish. And this terrifying adorable towel animal had been hung from our ceiling.
I know it’s a monkey but every time I see a towel animal like this, all I see is…
This was our last full day on the ship by the way and there were still two things I REALLY wanted to do that I hadn’t – the zip line that takes you across the top of the ship and the Ultimate Abyss 10-story dry slide that takes you all the way down from Deck 16 to Deck 6.
I checked the app and it said that both were scheduled to open at 2PM. So I told Nicke I was going to try and get them both knocked out before we got ready for the rest of the day.
I went back up to Deck 16 and tried the Zip Line first, but the dude there said due to some winds, they were not running it today. Womp.
Ah well – let’s head over to the Ultimate Abyss. Wind wouldn’t close that situation down. Rain maybe? But not wind.
On the way, I was able to snap a couple nice pictures of the view off Deck 16.
And when I got to the slide, it was 1:57. And there were already some folks in line so things were looking good.
At 1:58, we started to feel some drops.
At 1:59, those drops turned into a downpour.
At 2:00, the operator walked out of the slide and let us know it was closed for the day.
Unreal. Back to the cabin I went.
I met back up with Nickie in the room. We showered, got dressed and, based on being intensely attractive people, we felt this would be a good opportunity to snap some balcony pictures.
Werk!!
Post-photo shoot, we went down to the Promenade on Deck 5. It showed on the app they were doing some movie quotes trivia at Spotlight Karaoke. Which felt like our kind of trivia. So we grabbed a couple drinks at the bar and settled in.
The trivia was so much fun, especially because it ended in a three-way tie and also especially because we were one of those teams actually in the three-way tie. So I had to get up on stage and answer some sort of tie-breaker question. Sort of a “closest to the answer wins” kind of thing.
I honestly don’t remember if I won or not, but I assume I didn’t since winning things really sticks with me. But regardless, we still won a keychain for coming in some sort of place.
After trivia had ended, we sat down at the bar for another drink and as I was sitting there, I noticed a guy at the bar wearing the same Hawaiian shirt as I was. I should mention it was Caribbean Night so I mean seeing other tropical shirts wasn’t all that surprising, but seeing my specific shirt on someone else was cool, especially given it was a new shirt Nickie bought me for this trip.
The dude and I definitely had a good laugh about it.
We grabbed our drinks and found a table out on the actual Promenade to do some people-watching and play some Rummy 500.
I also picked up a couple slices of pizza from Sorrento’s to enjoy while we played cards.
And it was wild, because while we were sitting there, I swear I saw two more guys wearing the SAME SHIRT. I was obviously at this point thinking Nickie got this one on some sort of sale.
Oh also – while we were playing cards, we heard an announcement over the loudspeaker letting us know that due to the inclement weather, they were doing a POP-UP KARAOKE situation at Spotlight Karaoke.
Extra karaoke?
But I mean, while WE were there? No one else seemed to be. Like literally NO ONE else. But do you think singing to an empty room would stop me?
Pfft, you obviously don’t know me.
After singing that one song though, I couldn’t bring myself to continue to sing to an empty room so we walked the Promenade a little bit and you know what? As we were walking, I literally saw like 4 or 5 more guys wearing this SAME EXACT SHIRT. As I walked by a few of them, we high-fived or pointed at each other and laughed.
What a coincidence, right?
Crazy stuff.
Annnnyway tho – at this point, Nickie had asked me to grab something-or-other (maybe her wrap or something) back in the cabin so I ran up to get you know…something-or-other. And then? As I was taking the elevator back down to Deck 5, the whole “everyone here seems to be wearing the same shirt as me” situation started to come into focus.
Ha. Yup.
So Nickie had made plans through one of the cruise Facebook groups with some of the other wives, partners, moms, etc. to all buy the same shirt and convince their husbands, significant others, sons, etc. to wear it on Caribbean Night, which again was tonight. And that group pictured there? That doesn’t even cover the amount of guys wearing this shirt tonight.
Pretty funny stuff, love. I kind of loved she did that.
Since Nickie was still avoiding pizza due to her diverticulitis situation, she didn’t have any Sorrento’s and was looking for a little something to eat before dinner. So yeah – let’s go back to the Boardwalk!
And of COURSE we ended up back at Johnny Rocket’s!
And doubly of course – she ended up getting her usual chicken sandwich.
Which worked out well for me, since I was able to eat most of those onion rings and fries. And I distinctly remember a woman walking in and telling me she just saw someone wearing the same shirt I was wearing.
It really was the gift that kept on giving.
It continued to pour while we were in Johnny Rocket’s but by the time we finished, it started to clear up.
And tonight was the actually the first night of the 2025 NFL season, with the Eagles playing the Cowboys so we did sit down for a bit inside Playmakers, the sports bar across the way. And when we sat down, we ended up right next to an Eagles fan getting ready to watch the game. I tried to spark up a conversation to let him know I was rooting for the Eagles tonight to which he responded, “yeah all of a sudden everyone is on the Eagles bandwagon.”
He’s the main reason I was glad the Eagles were knocked out in the Wild Card round.
He was also the main reason why we didn’t stick around at Playmakers. We instead decided to go up to Deck 16 for a pre-dinner walk around to get our last nighttime look off the top deck since, sad face, this was our last night on the ship.
It ended up being basically a tour of a bunch of stuff we never did on the ship. Like, again, the Ultimate Abyss slide…
…the Portside BBQ restaurant…
…and the miniature golf course.
I mean, guys, this is a big ship. Jussayin.
Soon enough, it was time to head down with our gratuities in hand for our servers at our last dinner in the main dining room. Tip your waitstaff you guys. Come on.
So right, though – the meal.
Like I said, tonight was Caribbean Night so the menu was “A Taste of the Caribbean.” As per usual, our meal started with some of that incredible Cheese Bread.
And a Dirty Grey Goose Martini.
Each night’s menu, at the top, carried some Chef’s Recommendations for Appetizer, Entrée, and Dessert. Tonight, I went with the chef on all three.
For my appetizer, I ordered the Crispy Coconut Jumbo Shrimp (Breaded Coconut Shrimp with a Tangy Pineapple Slaw and Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce).
SO good…the shrimp was fresh, the coating was flavorful and offered a nice crunch, and that sweet chili dipping sauce was incredible).
For my main, I went with the Jerk-Seasoned Pork Chop (served with Rice and Beans, Sweet Plaintains, and Jamaican Fried Dumplings).
Also very very good. Pork chops can go so bad sometimes since pork can dry out so easily but this one was cooked perfectly and it carried a good but not overwhelming amount of spice.
Nickie, meanwhile, ordered some plain pasta alongside her usual Grilled Chicken.
Which, yeah, she continued to enjoy.
Since it was our last night, we went all out and ordered three desserts. First up was the Chef-Recommended Pineapple Sunshine Cake (Light and Fluffy Pineapple Cake with a Sweet Whipped Cream Frosting).
And we also ordered the Royal Chocolate Cake (Layers of Dark Chocolate Cake and Decadent Chocolate Mousse, paired with Vanilla Ice Cream).
Alongside the Warm Blueberry Cobbler (Sweet Oatmeal Crumble baked over Plump Blueberries, also paired with Vanilla Ice Cream).
All were honestly good, but if I were to rank from best to worst of the three, I would probably go Pineapple Cake, Chocolate Cake, Blueberry Crumble. But eh, you can’t go wrong with any of ‘em.
A great last dinner for sure. We ended it saying goodbye to our amazing waitstaff – Satish and Kausal – and the group that sat at the table across from us the entire trip. Such good people.
After dinner, given we ate three desserts, we went for another walk around the ship. This time, we took our walk on the track on Deck 5.
And that was kind of it for Day 6. Our last full day on the ship. Which is kind of womp-town for sure. But don’t you all fret because the trip is def far from over. We still have two vacation phases left and both of them? They’re Disney-riffic you guys. So yeah. Stop. With the fretting.
So hey – see you all on Day 7!
Last post – Day 5!
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