It's over. It's really over.
After several days aboard Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas, the vacation has officially ended. The suitcase is back on dry land, the SeaPass card is retired, and it's time to return to reality. Well, almost.
The trip home actually went pretty smoothly. My American Airlines flight was super efficient, and I arrived in Charlotte earlier than scheduled. That's always a nice surprise!
Once I landed, I requested wheelchair assistance. I was handed off to this tiny young woman who was responsible for getting me from the wheelchair staging area to valet parking. Of course, there was one little complication: we had to retrieve my suitcase first.
And let me remind you, this suitcase was overweight. Heavy is probably an understatement.
I managed to get it off the baggage carousel, and she had to roll that beast along with us. We even got a little lost trying to find the valet. Eventually, we made it, and then we had to wait a bit for my car to be retrieved.
No big deal. I had time to reorganize my backpack and tackle the overweight luggage situation.
I pulled out a few things for Airica and a few others, which made the suitcase a little more manageable. It also gave me a chance to get everything sorted before continuing my journey.
A 1.5-hour detour for someone special
Rather than heading straight home, I made the approximately 1.5-hour drive from Charlotte to see Airica.
I delivered her stash of goodies. What did I get her? Well, you'll have to follow her on the social medias and see if she decides to post it. I'm not giving away the surprise here!
We went out to eat, talked about life, caught up, and enjoyed spending time together.
And really, isn't that what it's all about? Spending time with people who matter, sharing a meal, laughing, talking, and enjoying each other's company.
After all the travel, the cruise activities, the food, and the adventures, it was a pretty nice way to wrap things up.
The SeaPass card is officially retired
I took a look at my SeaPass card, and I'm sharing the picture here.
So, you mofos, don't even think about charging anything to my account. It's closed! 😂
There's something a little bittersweet about looking at that card. It's a reminder of the trip, the places I visited, the food I ate, the people I met, and all the little experiences that made the cruise memorable.
I should now have reached Royal Caribbean's Platinum loyalty status. The only problem is that Royal Caribbean's loyalty information seems to take forever to update.
For comparison, I think American Airlines had already updated my flight information by the time I checked, and I had only landed about eight hours earlier. Come on, Royal Caribbean! Surely we can do a little better with the technology.
A little technology appreciation
One thing I forgot to photograph during the cruise was the QR code in the stateroom that let us request commonly needed items from our cabin steward.
Need an extra bar of soap? An extension cord for your CPAP machine? Extra towels or blankets? Scan the code, make the request, and let the crew take care of it.
I think that's awesome.
It's a simple way to make the experience easier for guests and probably cuts down on the back-and-forth communication for the crew.
Now, if Royal Caribbean could take that same idea and apply it to room service, we'd really be getting somewhere!
What's next?
I'll be putting together a more detailed review of Radiance of the Seas, including the ship itself, the service, and the itinerary. There are plenty of things worth discussing, both good and not-so-good, and I want to give those topics the attention they deserve.
And if you think this is the end of my cruise adventures, think again.
There's already another cruise planned for January 2027.
You know the drill, peeps!
Stay tuned. There's more coming!
