Wednesday Pirate Night
Cozumel
Ashore 8 a.m.
All aboard 5:30
We got up and went to Royal Court for sit down breakfast, as our excursion meeting group was not until 10:15 I think.
Breakfast was ok, a bit slow on the service and the food had cooled a bit. Disney does not do omelettes and toast very well and I found coffee service to be slow in the table service restaurants. Cabanas was a more consistent breakfast experience in my opinion, but seriously, if cold toast ruins your vacation, I don't know what to tell you. I imagine cooked to order food for 3k+ people is a bit tricky.
So we booked Disney's Dolphinaris Cozumel Experience. Again I think you can do this on your own for a bit less. But not knowing Cozumel transportation and such, and our first time, and with an infant, we did Disney's. I was fine with that. The website does now infact say if you are on a cruise line, you CAN'T book your own, so there you go.
So we met our group, walked through Cozumel's 'mall' and got a taxi bus to the facility about 4-5 minutes away, if that.
My wife and daughter both wanted to do the 'experience'. My parents, my son and I stayed behind as 'observers' and unofficial photographers.
Putting aside any Dolphin-based civil rights discussion, (by the way my wife has a Masters in Environmental Education) they both found this to be AMAZING.
Check in and orientation took quite a while, but the facility was nice, the staff and equipment was good, the dolphins seemed, to my untrained eye, happy and treated well. We didn't really learn much about Dolphins, there wasn't as much discussion or facility tour as I thought, observers got excluded from the discussion as it happened in the pool, so we just sat around and watched. there is a bar and a shaded area, along with a little sandy beach you could play in. But when the activity starts you have to watch pretty much from above on a very sunny deck area from pretty far away. So your pictures really probably won't be too good, and you'll get sunburn on your neck. So don't expect your observers to rate this as a must-do, but overall it was fine and my 1yr old slept much of the time. But for the people in the pool, they loved it. Seriously. they got a kiss, a dance, to pet the dolphin, and to get a belly ride. They were in groups of about 8 people and were in the water for at least 40 minutes, probably longer but I didn't time it.
After this, we took the taxi back to the 'mall', but instead of stopping we asked our driver to take us somewhere for a cheap lunch. he suggested 'La Mission', on the other side of the main street about 5-6 blocks from the port mall. down the main strip of shopping. It was an outdoor facility. it was good, basic menu, tacos, chicken mole, soups,etc. it was a fine experience, a little ways outside the beaten path, with a mix of locals and a few tourists, not really busy. It was what i wanted, i'm not a fan of Carlos 'n Charlies, or Señor Frogs. been there done that in my college days, not with my family.
We were pretty hot though, which tired us out. by then it was about 3 p.m. and we split up. my wife and I took our baby back to the ship, and the rest of the family shopped.
I don't really like the shopping in ports and tourist places, a lot of it is kitsch and tacky junk and campy Tshirts, but i suppose there are some good deals to be had on jewelry or stuff you know you really want.
So 1/2 of us shopped and 1/2 of us went back, showered and relaxed. My son got a bit overheated I think and was very tired and cranky, so I missed dinner at the Enchanted Garden for Pirate night and stayed in the room with him and he slept and I watched UP. perks of the room is the On Demand service, stocked with Disney and Pixar movies for free. I grabbed a delicious grilled ham and cheese and a turkey wrap at the quick service window on the Starboard side, Flo's cafe area.
The rest of the family brought me back my obligatory Pirate bandanna and we headed out to pirate night. We watched Mickey fend off Captain Hook and his crew. the kids enjoyed this. then we split up for a bit again, to do more EDGE and ship exploration, with the baby going to the nursery again.
Some of us stopped by the D lounge and played a group game of Pirate Trivia.
We met back up for the Buccaneer Blast party, with Jack Sparrow saving the day from Blackbeard and starting off the FIREWORKS. sweet.
Stopped by Shutters to review some photos then a few of us went up to the buffet after that and got a bedtime snack, if you call turkey legs, tacos, and desserts 'snacks'.
Saw all levels of pirate gear, some got really into it, and some didn't have anything, and again it seemed just about what you wanted to do, nobody cared if you were or weren't 'piratey'.
I especially enjoyed the excursion details, photo info, and infant tips. We will be taking our almost-3-year-old with us, which is not exactly an infant, but I still like knowing what is available since he won't technically be old enough for the Oceaneer Club. How did your son handle the characters? It sounds like you met them a lot... was the waiting time long? We are working on patience around here! 
