Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: Western Caribbean – Cozumel & Costa Maya

To celebrate our 18th Wedding Anniversary, my husband, Donnie, and I went on a 5 night Western Caribbean Cruise on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. The ship was called “Independence of the Seas”. We visited the ports of Cozumel and & Costa Maya. We stayed in a Concierge Suite. There are many great perks when you stay in a suite. One of which is you get priority entrance. Woohoo! If it’s V.I.P., it’s for me!

You also get a reserved area out on the pool deck if you are in a concierge suite.

We were in the Sardinia Suite cabin #1320. It was huge! Here is a short video of our suite:

Being that it was my first time on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, I was pleased to see that it was a very nice ship.

Here is one of the pools…

Here is the adults only pool…

Even though we didn’t have kids with us on this trip, I checked out the very nice kids’ clubs…

In addition to the rock climbing wall, basketball court, mini golf course, they also had their signature “Flow Rider” surfing simulator. And no, I did not attempt it for fear of what the high speed water would do to my swim suit!

The ship had everything you would need such as a nice gym, a library, a chapel for weddings, and of course delicious restaurants like Chops Grill.

Since we were in a concierge suite, every night we would have fresh fruit, cheese, or a sweet treat waiting on us when we returned to the cabin.

I enjoyed watching the ice skating show. It was the first time I’ve seen one on a cruise ship. The skaters were very talented and entertaining.

Another perk of being in a suite, is that you get to have access to the Concierge Lounge where they serve snacks, finger foods, as well as cocktails, etc.

Our first port was Cozumel. The ferry ride over was very rocky that it actually made some people sick. Just a warning to bring medication for motion sickness. We got to snorkel in a cenote. A cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. It was like swimming in a cave with cool, clear water. It was beautiful. You also had the option to scuba dive and go deeper into the caves with a guide. I highly recommend the cenote excursion. I only had a disposable underwater camera but the pictures came out too dark but here is what a cenote looks like:

After we snorkeled, we went to eat at a restaurant on the beach (Playa del Carmen) called Inti Beach. The food was good and the view was amazing.

After lunch, we walked around and shopped a little bit. Then we headed back to the ferry and then the ship to wash up and eat dinner. We had a lovely view from our dinner table.

The port for the next day was Costa Maya. Our excursion was to the Mayan Ruins. We waited in the “village” area for our bus to take us to the site.

It was really neat to see the ruins and hear about the history of the Mayans.

We had a lunch buffet at a small beach resort and then headed back to the ship.

This was my first Royal Caribbean cruise. We really enjoyed how clean the ship was and the friendly service. We even booked our Alaska cruise for June 2018 while on board the ship to take advantage of the great prices and low deposit. Have you been on a Royal Caribbean cruise? What did you think about it? Comment below.