Today we are in Cozumel Mexico, and we did some barefoot cooking on our beach excursion. It was a great time! We had margaritas while prepping and then sharing a meal while barefoot on a beautiful Cozumel beach. We highly recommend this excursion if you are in Cozumel.
After our fun on the beach, we went to the wonderful restaurant on Allure of the Seas, “150”. It did NOT disappoint!
Then after our amazing dinner we had some drinks and competed in the game “The Prefect Couple”. It was some real ‘adult’ fun.
As mentioned, before the barefoot beach cookout was announced, we were originally going to go on the Cozumel Bar Hop which is an excursion to book on your own. It is not available through Royal Caribbean or other tour group. We had planned this until this special President’s Cruise Excursion came available. Here is the link to the Cozumel Bar Hop: https://cozumelbarhop.com/
Welcome to Day 5 of our Royal Caribbean President’s Cruise.
Today we are in Costa Maya Mexico on Allure of the Seas. Being on the President’s Cruise we got to swap cruise ships and tour our home for the world cruise, Serenade of the Seas.
There was even a Costa Maya Port takeover! Royal took control of the entire port, and we had a great time with free food, drinks and activities.
Upon returning to the ship, we enjoyed some great food at Chops grill and amazing entertainment from MO5AIC. They were incredible. Here’s a link to find where they are performing. http://www.mo5aic.com/
Continuing enjoying these adventures on the 2023 Allure of the Seas President’s Cruise.
Today we partied with Michael Bayley the President and CEO of Royal Caribbean as Royal Caribbean hosted a beach party in Roatan Honduras. It was an amazing day!!! There was delicious wide variety of food with open bar and a beautiful beach! We had such a fun time. After our day on the beach the delicious food didn’t end there as we ate at Chops, the steakhouse on board Allure of the Seas. This was followed by a great show in the ice rink, Blades. The skating performers were amazing! We hope you enjoy this overview of our day 4 on the Royal Caribbean President’s Cruise. Here is a link to Turquoise Bay Resort where the party was held: https://www.turquoisebayresort.com/Please leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.Have a beautiful day,Mike and Nancy
Today is day 3 of our Royal Caribbean Presidents Cruise. We enjoyed a fun and relaxing sea day on Allure of the Seas before our 3 port days in a row. Time was spent relaxing by the pool and we had NO issue getting a chair, even with a full cruise. Our day getting some exercise with aqua aerobics and fun in the pool. After that we enjoyed the excellent piano player at the Schooner Bar, followed by dinner at Sabor. After dinner and a little dancing we went to the Aqua Show which featured special guest Victor Kee from the Ukraine. Watch for more from Victor on Icon of the Seas in the near future as he will be involved with the entertainment on Royal Caribbean’s newest ship. We LOVE the aqua shows on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis Class Ships. They never disappoint. Here’s a link to Viktor Kee: https://viktorkee.com/If you enjoyed the video, please leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.Have a beautiful day!Mike and Nancy
Today we fought off a pirate attack on Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas! Well not really, we enjoyed a great parade down the promenade. It would rival anything Disney would do on their ships. It was a ton of fun for all ages. Today was day 2 of our amazing Royal Caribbean President’s Cruise our of Galveston Texas on Allure of the Seas. We enjoyed a relaxing day by the pool, some great food and excellent entertainment. Come along with us to see Day 2 on the 2023 Allure of the Seas Royal Caribbean President’s Cruise and all the fun activities.
Join us on our Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas President Cruise adventure. Today we cruise with Royal Caribbean’s President Michael Bayley on the Oasis Class Ship Allure of the Seas. We will show you our boarding and all the first day events and how we almost over did it with everything going on. Come tour with us and see our crazy first day on Allure of the Seas President Cruise 2023.
Highs and Lows. Grief and Loss. It is part of Phase 2.
We have recently experienced the terrible lows of life’s grief and loss followed in the same week by incredibly joy and highs of life. Recently, in the same week Nancy lost her mother, after a long struggle in hospice and then 7 days later, our youngest child got married. See the video above to hear our story.
That is Phase 2 of life in a nutshell. You have lots of highs and lows. You can have a new grandchild born, then your family can experience a tragedy. The most important thing is as life throws these highs and lows at you that you don’t get stuck in the lows. Understand these will pass and there will me good times ahead.
If you are feeling overwelled there are resources available. First talk to your doctor about how you are feeling. Don’t keep it to yourself. You can talk to your faith leader, spouse, friends, or anyone you trust.
National suicide hotline: Call 988 on your cell phone across the US.
Friends, enjoy your highs and work through your lows. We wish you all the best through these times of your life.
Today we go cave tubing on of the best Belize cruise excursions we’ve tried. After attaching our headgear with lighting and our life jackets, we headed intothe dark cave tunnel. It was a great time and an amazing experience which we highly recommend.
So come into the caves of belize with us and enjoy the natural beauty below the ground.
Today we are talking about what electrical items you can bring and plug into your cruse ship cabin electrical outlets. What is allowed and what is not? Many cruise ships ban certain electrical items. The biggest reason for banning items is a concern over causing a fire. We’ll not only help you to learn what you can and cannot bring, but WHY.
Lets help keep ourselves and everyone else safe on our cruise ships.
Today we travel to Franklin BBQ. This is said to be one of world’s best barbeque restaurants and we let you know if it truly is. Is travel to this BBQ restaurant and waiting in line for 3 hours worth it? Or is this just another Texas BBQ joint?
Come on our excursion to see the monkey and sloth sanctuary in Roatan, Honduras. The sloths and monkeys excursion was one of Nancy’s favorite, ever! Friends, we cannot stress how fun this was. We booked this tour through Shore Excursions Group, however you can get a similar tour through you cruise line or directly with Daniel Johnson’s Monkey & Sloth Hangout. Enjoy traveling virtually on this tour with us.
Yesterday I completed 3, 30 minute walks, plus walked several laps around a mega grocery store.
Stats:
Distance – 6 miles
Steps – 14,393
Active calories burned – 478
To acquire these statistics, I’m using the Health App on my iPhone. I find this app to be reliable and accurate. Another great app is Map My Walk.
I would use Map My Walk, as although the Health App is good, Map My Walk is great. However, I don’t want it running in the background all the time as it uses GPS tracking and that just runs the battery down too fast. So just dong the best I can.
I hope you have set a goal and are walking along with me.
I’ve set a walking goal of 590 miles before my 59th birthday in August. I am doing this both for my health as well as to help be physically prepared for our travel adventures this summer.
To reach my goal, I will need to walk almost four miles a day, every day. Somedays I may walk more and somedays less, but 590 miles is the goal.
So I have som accountability, I plan to share my journey with you. Perhaps you can set a walking goal for yourself and walk along with me.
Today is day 1. I’m using the health app on my phone to record the distance I walk. I have found it to be very accurate. Another option is the Map my Walk app on my phone.
Tomorrow I’ll check back in and let you know how I did.
We recently tried the Cozumel, Mexico Bar Hop excursion and it was GREAT!
We hopped between 4 bars on the back side of Cozumel where it is much more quiet and unspoiled. Our hopping guide was excellent, and we had an amazing time. You might think this was an all-out party, but it wasn’t. It was all people about our age, having a great time. We met some wonderful people from a Carnival Ship as well as some form our Royal Caribbean Ship.
Mike and I took a trip down to Texas as our daughter and son-in-law have given us our third grand baby. We have three grandsons now!
They live on a farm with 3 dogs, 3 cats, 2 cows, 9 sheep and too many chickens, turkeys and geese to count. They raise and sell both eggs and chicks. It is a fun and exciting place to be on the spring. Not only do we have an new grandson, there are many new babies on the farm.
Living the empty nest, phase 2 life is honestly the best. Even though Mike and I are not yet retired and still run our own business, it is running well with an amazing team which enables us to travel and enjoy our blessings.
Have a beautiful day friends and enjoy living in phase 2.
We are comparing Cruising on Carnival Cruise Lines with Royal Caribbean. Is Carnival the Walmart of the Seas? How does it compare to Royal Caribbean. We just got back from our first Carnival Cruise and (Spoiler Alert!) it was great! We will compare 10 areas between Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean to see how they stack up. You might be surprised!
Today we are sharing the latest on selecting reef safe sunscreens that are best for you and for the environment. Don’t get burned when going to your long-awaited tropical vacation destination with banned sunscreen! Did you know your sunscreens may now be illegal in many areas you may be visiting? More and more places around the world that are implementing more and more strict regulations on sunscreen. Banning certain ingredients and only allowing certain formulations.
Sun protection is absolutely critical for your health and safety. How do you navigate the changing rules while still protecting yourself? We have dug in and reviewed all the latest regulations and also investigated what sunscreens are safe, effective, won’t break the bank, and you can use at that tropical paradise you are visiting!
Let’s go over each ingredient and are they reef safe or not:
Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA): This was an effective UV blocker, however there are some people that have allergic reactions to PABA, so most sunscreens have gone away from this ingredient.
Oxybenzone: Again, this was a safe and effective UV blocker, however this is the first ingredient identified in some reports to have possible reef issues. Therefore, it’s the first ingredient been banned by some locations. Most “Reef Safe” sunscreens label themselves that way by not using oxybenzone.
Octinoxate: This was the next chemical UV blocker used, but again, there were concerns raised this may also impact reefs, so this was the next ingredient banned by some locations.
Now most “Reef Safe” labeled sunscreens will not have these three ingredients: parabens, oxybenzone, or octinoxate. Most will now use octocrylene.
Here is a list where certain sunscreens are banned, so you can prepare and purchase them in advance, where you can get the best price and availability.
Hawaii: Hawaii enacted a sunscreen ban on the over-the-counter sale of those containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. The state also has more legislation pending to broaden the list of banned sunscreen ingredients. So check before you go to see the latest regulations.
S. Virgin Islands: has outright banned sunscreens containing oxybenzone, octoerylene, and octinoxate. The island chain does not permit the sale or use of sunscreens containing any of those three ingredients. This basically dictates mineral sunscreens.
Aruba: Aruba has outlawed sunscreens containing oxybenzone since July 2020 and are contiplanting additional bans.
Bonaire: The island, which already charges steep environmental fees to divers in an effort to conserve its colorful reefs, now allows only reef-friendly sunscreen to be sold on the island. However, this is poorly defined and the guidance is that tourists only bring biodegradable sunscreens, which is best translated to mineral sunscreens.
Ecoparks in Mexico: Natural water parks like Xcaret, Xel-Ha and Cozumel’s Chankanaab Beach Adventure Park, require visitors to use only “biodegradable” sunscreens. Unfortunately, “biodegradable” is not well defined, however mineral sunscreens are approved. When entering these parks they will check and if you have any chemical sunscreens they will be confiscated.
Palau: The sunscreen banapplies to the sale and use of sunscreens containing 10 chemicals, including oxybenzone, octinoxate, octocrylene, and certain parabens (or preservatives). Again, only mineral sunscreens.
Key West: banned the sale and purchase of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. However, being a local jurisdiction, this has currently been blocked by the state of FL.
Australia, When you visit Australia it’s a whole different world when it comes to sunscreen. The short version is: In Australia any sunscreen listed with an SPF over 15 is considered a medical product and regulated as such. Therefore, all you find are SPF 15 or lower on the shelves. Since no manufacture wants have it regulated as medicine. It would be WAY to costly. Therefore, you have to actually compare ingredient concentrations to get an idea of what would be an SPF 50 everywhere else. Our recommendation here is bring a good mineral sunscreen from home, so know what you are using.
Our #1 pick for a chemical sunscreen that don’t contain Oxybenzone and Octinoxate
Walmart Equate Ultra Sunscreens. These are very affordable, highly available and are considered reef safe in most places
$5 for 5.5 oz. this is the best buy out there for spray sunscreen
NOTE: the Equate SPF 70 Ultra has Oxybenzone, so it wouldn’t be considered reef friendly, so stick with the other 2 that are SPF 50
We also recommend
Alba Botanica Hawaiian
Trader Joe’s Spray SPF 50+
These have the same formulations as the Walmart Equate Ultra products but are more expensive.
It’s important to note all these all still have Octocrylene which is soon being banned in many places. That brings us to mineral sunscreens.
Our pick for mineral safe sunscreens
If you are looking to go the mineral route, which is considered the most reef safe and are not currently banned anywhere. Here are our recommendations:
Coppertone Pure & Simple SPF 50 mineral sunscreen
This is nanoparticle zinc oxide based product that is water resistant to 80 minutes and goes on almost clear.
This is currently legal around the world
You can get this on amazon and some retailers
Here’s a link to the lotion which was about $10 for the 6 oz.
This is microparticle, not nanoparticle, zinc oxide product which is water resistant for 80 minutes. This is one of the latest and greatest meeting all the new theories on being a healthy and reef safe sunscreen.
We found on this was on Costco.com for about $10 at tube, in a 2 pack. This makes it about the same cost as the Coppertone Free & Simple
Here is your Coco Cay Beach Club review. Today we show you around Royal Caribbean’s Beach Club at their private island Perfect Day at Coco Cay. Is it worth the extra cost? How’s the food and the atmosphere and is it a perfect day? Come with us and see if this makes for the perfect shore excursion.
