Christmas Has Come Early

[dolphingirl47]

We got back on the bus and our driver announced that our next stop would be Hell. I was rather excited by this announcement. We had stopped briefly at Hell on our way back from our excursion in 2009 and I had been fascinated by the black lime stone formations. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me that day. So I was glad that I got a second chance. Hell is a bit of a tourist trap with two viewing platforms, a picnic area and a hell-themed post office with a gift shop. Still, the lime stone formations are impressive and have a certain stark beauty. I had not realized that there are two viewing areas there. When we got off the bus and headed for the viewing platform closest to it, I thought that this did not look like I remembered it. I still liked what I saw though. When we were finished enjoying the view and I had taken as many photos as I had wanted, we walked towards the post office and spotted the viewing platform that we had visited in 2009 and the view from there was precisely how I remembered it. We spent a few minutes there to enjoy the view and I took more photos before we headed over to the gift shop. Neither of us bought anything and we soon headed back to the bus.

When everybody was back on the bus, our driver announced that we would make one last stop at Seven Mile Beach. On the way, he pointed out various plants including some Mahogany trees. We also passed a school and he explained that on Grand Cayman, every child has to do 1 hour P.E. a day. On one of the neighbouring islands, the kids go to school in two shifts. Half of the kids go to school from 7:00 to 12:00 and the other half from 12:00 to 17:00. Eventually we arrived at the beach. All the beaches on Grand Cayman are public. Our driver had pointed out beach access points a few times. There is a lot of expensive property on the beach front and by law, the owners have to provide an access point to the beach. The stretch of Seven Mile Beach that we were headed for was not hidden by buildings. There was just a small parking area between the road and the beach. It was beautiful though. The beach consisted of fine white sand and the water was a beautiful colour of turquoise. There were some loungers there, some bathrooms, outdoor showers and a play area for the kids. I wish that I had known that we would stop by a beach so that I had brought my swim stuff. We only had about 30 minutes at the beach, but this would have been plenty of time for a quick swim. Graham could not resist it and had a quick paddle. I just took a few photos and then I found some shade near the bus.

After this stop, we headed back to Georgetown. We must have hit what counts for rush hour on Grand Cayman and progress was quite slow. We still arrived back at the port earlier than anticipated. Better still, there was a tender just arriving. They had set up a waiting area with cool damp facecloths and drinks dispensers with water and lemonade. Both the face cloths and the water was heavenly. Once I had my water, we got on the tender. We had to wait about 5 minutes until the tender was full and then we were on our way back to the ship. Again there was a small delay as we had to wait for another tender to clear the ship. There was some backlog at the x-ray machines, but soon we were on our way. Luckily we had arrived at the aft of the ship so it was quick and easy to quickly go up to our cabin and then head for the Promenade Lounge.

 

[dolphingirl47]

One of our favourite activities on the ship is the Pirate Trivia. I managed to miss this on our Mexican Riviera cruise as my excursion got back very late and they did not offer it on our Hawaii cruise. It looked like that we would miss it this time, too, as this was due to start at 15:00 and we were not supposed to be back from our excursion until 15:15 to 15:30. Fortunately we had got back to the ship well head of time and we had time to settle own and order a couple of Virgin Piña Coladas before the Pirate Trivia started. The turn out or this was quite good. We had a bit of a shock coming. Essentially as long as we had been doing this, the questions were always the same. However, this time round, the questions were not only different, but also fiendishly difficult. We knew very few of the answers and for the rest we just had to guess. Well, they must have been very educated guesses as we got 20 out of 25 questions right and ended up winning the trivia. Graham and I looked at each other in utter bewilderment when we realised what had just happened. Once we got over the initial surprise we shared a quick high five and then we picked up our prize, a nice pair of DCL key rings.

Graham decided to go for a swim and I went to get changed for all the Pirate Night photo opportunities. This endeavour was not under an auspicious star this time round. I had a mini tricorn made by a local milliner as I did not like the cheap fancy dress tricorn that I had bought for our Hawaii cruise. I figured I would get plenty of use out of it. I absolutely adore it and I could not wait to wear it as part of my costume. I hit the first snag at home, when I could not find my pirate sash anyway. I figured that I would make do without. Unfortunately, I had also packed the wrong dress, which I only realised when I was going to put it on. So I improvised. I had brought a simple burgundy evening gown to wear at Palo that night. So I figured I could get changed into this early and team it up with my tricorn and my pirate medallion for a Pirate Princess outfit.

That settled, I headed down the atrium. Pirate Night is my second favourite night for photo opportunities after formal night. I managed to catch Mickey, Chip and Dale and Minnie in quick succession. I then had a decision to make. Captain Jack Sparrow and Stitch were out at the same time. I still had a good 10 minutes until they were supposed to be out. So I figured I would head up to deck 4 first to see Captain Jack Sparrow and then would go and see Stitch. The line was not even that long. I have seen much worse. However, it did not seem to move at all. When I had my photo taken with Captain Jack Sparrow, I rushed down to the atrium, but Stitch's line was already closed. I had some photos taken against the Pirate Night backdrop and then I went back up to deck 4 to have my photo taken with Captain Hook and Mr Smee.

 

[dolphingirl47]

After this photo marathon, I headed back to our cabin. I switched the accessories to something a bit more understated and suitable for Palo. Graham arrived shortly afterwards and got ready. Once we were both done, we went upstairs to Palo. We got there a bit early. The restaurant manager welcomed us and checked if our table was ready. Our server was Susanna again. Palo was quite empty. We stuck with iced lemon water that evening. Once we had settled, Susanna made us up an antipasti plate consisting of Artichoke Hearts, Olives, Marinated Sweet Peppers, Tapenade, Prosciutto, Bresaola and Parmesan Cubes drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar. This was served with some gorgeous Garlic Pizza Bread, Bread Sticks and some kind of Crisp Bread. Once we had finished this, she asked what we had decided on for our dinner. Susanna talked Graham into trying the Signature Appetiser Sampler, which consisted of Deep-fried Calamari, Sicilian Pesto Marinated Grilled Shrimp on a Mussel, Crab and Cherry Tomato Ragu and Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Polenta with a Roasted Shallot Sauce and Parmesan Crisp. Graham loved the seafood part of the appetiser, but he tried a tiny bite of the Polenta, screwed up his face and quickly put the Polenta on my plate. I did not mind at all as I love this dish. The rest of the meal was a lot more to his liking. He tried the Tenderloin Palo for the first time, but he also had a small portion of the Lobster and Mascarpone Ravioli. I was determined to keep it light that evening. I had the Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Polenta with a Roasted Shallot Sauce and Parmesan Crisp followed by the Chianti Braised Beef Ravioli in a rich Red Wine Reduction with oven-roasted Carrots and Celery. For dessert, Graham had the Panna Cotta with Strawberry-Basil Sorbet and Macerated Berries. I went with the Zabaglione with Sangiovese-infused Berries and Biscotti Crisps. I also could not resist the Strawberry-Basil Sorbet and asked or a scoop of this. Graham loved his dessert. I really enjoyed the Sorbet. The Zabaglione had a lovely taste, but the texture was not right. On the Wonder this was light and fluffy, but this version was more like a dense mousse. We both passed on coffee.

When we had finished our dinner, we took a quick stroll across deck 10 and then headed down the atrium. Graham spotted Stitch and I was quite surprised to see him as he was not supposed to be out at that time. Still, I was not about to complain and quickly joined the line. Unfortunately the line for him was on the Shore Excursion Desk side of the ship and you cannot see what is happening until you are right at the front of the line. When I got to this point, they had switched to Chip and Dale. I could not believe that I had missed Stitch twice. I checked if Stitch would still be out at 20:30 as listed in the Navigator and as I had been told earlier. Initially I was told that he was done for the day, but then the person I was speaking to checked with somebody else and it was confirmed that Stitch was just having a break to have some Pineapple Juice and would be back. That sounded a lot more promising. I spotted Peter Pan out for photos up on deck 4 and decided to go for this. Graham and I then had our photos taken against the Pirates of the Caribbean backdrop and against the white backdrop. Once we were finished with this, I asked the photographer for a magic shot with me fighting Captain Hook. Shortly afterwards, Stitch came back from his break and this time I was near the front of the line. I got a couple of hugs and had my photos done and then we headed back to our cabin.

It was early still when we got to our cabin. We decided to have a nightcap and opened our bottle of Moscato. It was very nice considering how cheap it was. I took a photo of our towel animal. I wondered if we could see the Pirate Night Fireworks from our cabin and left the curtain to our balcony open. In the end, we were asleep long before the fireworks started.

 

[PebblesMK]

I found your trip reports a while ago and have been trying to catch up as much as possible. I noticed you have a lot of pictures, do you get hard copies of each or are they all on a disk? I've been considering going on a cruise but heard pictures were expensive, so if there is a photopass deal out there, it may be worth it.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I found your trip reports a while ago and have been trying to catch up as much as possible. I noticed you have a lot of pictures, do you get hard copies of each or are they all on a disk? I've been considering going on a cruise but heard pictures were expensive, so if there is a photopass deal out there, it may be worth it.

Welcome on board. There is no Photopass deal on the ships as such as an outside company is providing the photography services. There have been rumours for a while that Disney would take this over, but so far this has not materialized. They do offer a CD with all the photos. It is not cheap, but as I usually have a ton of photos taken, it works out between $1 and $2 per photo. Ever since our Transatlantic cruise in 2010, I have got the CD. On our most recent cruise they did a deal that if you bought the CD, you could get all the prints, too for an extra $50. So I went for this, but I think in future I will just get the CD.

Corinna

 

[PebblesMK]

Welcome on board. There is no Photopass deal on the ships as such as an outside company is providing the photography services. There have been rumours for a while that Disney would take this over, but so far this has not materialized. They do offer a CD with all the photos. It is not cheap, but as I usually have a ton of photos taken, it works out between $1 and $2 per photo. Ever since our Transatlantic cruise in 2010, I have got the CD. On our most recent cruise they did a deal that if you bought the CD, you could get all the prints, too for an extra $50. So I went for this, but I think in future I will just get the CD.

Corinna

Thanks for the info. Now I'll sit back and wait for the rest of the trip to unveil. I love that you put in a lot of information that could come in handy someday!

 

[Pinkocto]

Your excursion sounded lovely, especially the mangrove portion and the beach.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Your excursion sounded lovely, especially the mangrove portion and the beach.

It was a fun excursion, but I have to admit my favourite part was the visit to Hell. The lime stone formations just fascinate me.

Corinna

 

[Chilly]

Who knew Hell would be so nice

 

[irongirlof12]

What a memorable day love your red gown

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a memorable day love your red gown

I love this one, too and it is even better as it was only £14.99 from Ebay.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 8

In a way this was the day that was the whole reason for this trip. This was my birthday and ever since we first got into cruising, I had dreamed that one year I would get to spend my birthday on a ship. This was also our day in Costa Maya, which would mean a childhood dream would come true: I would finally get to see some Mayan ruins. I was awake bright and early at 6:00, but as we had nowhere to be until much later, I snuggled down and went back to sleep. We both woke up at 8:30. We got up and got ready and headed out. We took a walk along deck 9 and 10 and I took a couple of photos. The ship was almost deserted even though it was not that early. I made good use of this and found myself a lounger with a view for a few minutes.

We still had plenty of time as breakfast at Parrot Cay was served between 9:30 and 12:30 that day. We decided to check out the photos from the previous night on one of the photo kiosks near Shutters. I also needed to get some bug spray. Graham had suggested that rather than buying some in the UK, we should get something that is more effective in the USA, but we never had got around to this in Galveston. Bug spray was listed on the excursion description as something that everybody should bring and other people who had visited various Mayan ruins had warned me that they had been eaten alive. As I am allergic to insect bites, this seemed to be a sensible precaution. We were just heading in the general direction of the shops when we saw Pluto heading in the same direction. He was heading for a meet and greet outside the Walt Disney Theater. I am not sure how I had missed this on the Navigator. So I decided that the bug spray could wait another 10 minutes or so and followed Pluto. There were not many people out and about that early in the morning so I got to spend some quality time with Pluto. I had put on the birthday button that Graham had been given on his official birthday and Pluto got rather excited about this. I was in heaven. When I had finished with Pluto, I quickly went into Treasure Ketch and got our bug spray. The price for this was very fair, too. I was back in time to witness something really funny. Graham had settled down in one of the chairs that had been set up in a semi-circle around the area where the meet and greet was taking place. He has never been overly keen on characters and for the most part, he just avoids them. When Pluto left to get his breakfast, he went right past Graham. However, rather than keep going, he stopped and licked the top of Graham's head. Graham was not impressed. I had found out that Goofy would be out shortly afterwards and we decided to hang around. We were soon joined by some of the people that we had sat with at lunch the first day. Graham stayed put, but the rest of us got in line for Goofy and carried on chatting. Goofy arrived a couple of minutes later. Again he headed towards Graham, stopped and licked the top of his head. I could not stop laughing. I think Pluto and Goofy must have a common very good friend. The line moved very quickly and there were only three or four families in front of me. Again, Goofy made a bit of a fuss of me when he saw my birthday button.

Once I had finished with Goofy, it was time to get some breakfast. Because of the opening times, I had hoped that it would be Brunch at Parrot Cay. On the Wonder they sometimes offered breakfast items on one side of the buffet and lunch items on the other. Unfortunately that day, only breakfast items were on offer. Still, I got Hash Browns, Sausages, Omelette and Biscuits with Gravy so I was happy. The biscuits were even nice and fluffy and not rock hard like they usually are on the ships. Graham had some fruit and yoghurt followed by Bacon, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs and French Toast.

 

[dolphingirl47]

After breakfast, we went back to the cabin and then we both went to do separate things. Graham wanted to have a swim and I opted for heading for the Rainforest Room to relax in a heated tile lounger reading my book. I essentially had the Rainforest Room to myself that morning. Every now and again somebody briefly came in, but all left again very quickly. Once I was suitably chilled out, I had a quick shower, got changed and headed back to the cabin to drop off my stuff and get my camera.

I headed back up to deck 9 to watch our approach into Costa Maya. I mad heard a lot about this port and I have to admit not much of it was positive. Some people claim that it is a total dump and many people complain that there is really nothing there. I always approach a new port in the safe knowledge that nothing can be quite as bad as Nassau and so far I have not been proven wrong. As we got closer, it became very obvious just how remote Costa Maya is. I could see the port facilities, some beaches and a lot of jungle. I actually thought that this looked very pretty with colourful buildings peaking out in between the jungle. At some point Graham had joined me. We carried on watching until we were docked and then headed back to the cabin to get ready for our excursion.

I quickly checked out the view from our balcony, put on the bug spray and sunscreen, grabbed my stuff and I was ready. Graham did not take long either and we went down to our meeting point Rockin Bar D in plenty of time. For me it was always clear that I would visit Mayan ruins on our stop in Costa Maya. This was the main motivation behind taking this cruise. Graham does not quite share my passion for this and initially he had booked a cycling and kayaking excursion. At some point he came around to the idea that he can go cycling and kayaking in a lot of places, but that he may not have such easy access to Mayan ruins again. So we cancelled his original excursion and booked him on this one. The check in process was quite smooth. They were not quite ready yet when we got to Rockin Bar D. We took a seat and shortly afterwards they asked one person from each party to come forward to check in. About another 5 minutes after this our group and one other group was escorted to deck 1. I think we were a little earlier than the tour operator had expected us. Our escort looked around as soon as we got off the ship, but there was nobody waiting for us. She walked us to the end of the dock and there we were handed over to the representative from the tour operator. The walk from the dock itself to the port facilities was a bit of a hike. They run a tram that goes up and down, but as we were in a group, we walked. We then had to walk through the area where all the shops and bars are and the buses waited for us on the other side of that. Once we got to the buses, the two groups were split again and we got on the bus. Our tour guide introduced himself and our driver and then we were off.

Chacchoben is about an hours drive from the port. We realised once again how far away from everything the port is. We drove for ages along a very long and straight road and there was nothing either side of the road apart from plants. At one point, we encountered a military check point, but they were not interested in buses. Soon after we joined one of the federal highways, we encountered a village. Our guide explained that a large proportion of the people living in that village are of Maya origin. I had always assumed that the Maya were an ancient civilization that had long since disappeared. This is not so. There are very few people left that are 100% Maya, but there are still plenty of people in Mexico and especially on the Yucatan peninsula that have Mayan ancestry. Our guide himself was 25% Maya.

Shortly after we passed through the village, we arrived at Chacchoben. Chacchoben is a little unusual as far as Mayan sites are concerned. The settlement there is much older than the bigger and better known sites like Tulum or Chichen Itza, but Chacchoben has only been excavated fairly recently. The presence of ruins there was reported to the Mexican government in 1972, but excavation did not start until 1994 and it was only opened to the public in 2002. The buildings are probably as pristine as any Mayan ruins you will find and there seems to have been very little erosion. Our guide told us that only about 8% of the site has been excavated so far, which is truly mind blowing as they have three huge pyramids plus some staircases, walls and archways there. I could not see any evidence of any current excavation work.

When we arrived at Chacchoben, we were given 10 minutes to use the restrooms and to have a look around the little market area near the buses. In the ned this became 15 minutes as the restrooms were so busy. I did not need the restroom so I just had a wander around. Once everybody was back, our guide gathered us around and laid down some ground rules. He do tell us that we would likely to encounter various wildlife and that snakes are known to be present at the site, including the very venomous Coral Snake. He explained that snakes very rarely show up in the public areas and he would maybe see one once a year or so, but if today was the day for a snake sighting, we would give it a respectful distance, not stop for photos and move away quickly. He also made sure that we knew the bus number in case that we got separated from the group. Just before we entered the site proper, he introduced us to our second guide. We then moved off. I had visions about a major hiked own jungle paths of dubious quality. However, what we did encounter was a nice wide gravel path that could have been in any park in the world and after only a couple of minutes, the first pyramid was right in front of us. This literally took my breath away. I had quite high expectations, but what I saw completely exceeded my expectations. The building was both beautiful and awe-inspiring. Unfortunately at this stage, we walked straight past it. There had been 5 buses at the front and it looked like that all the people that had come on those buses were congregated in front of this first pyramid. Our guide told us we would stop there on the way back when everybody else had moved on and we would actually be able to enjoy it. This of course made perfect sense. We moved on until we came to an ancient village square facing a pyramid. This was actually the back of the same pyramid we had just passed. Our guide pointed out a tree with a criss-cross design in the bark. He explained that people would cut the design in the bark and then put a bowl underneath the tree to collect the sap. The sap is then boiled and flavourings are added and this is actually natural chewing gum. There are still families producing this today and the chewing gum is sold in the little market near the buses. He explained a bit about Mayan society. Essentially, the village square was used for trade, socialising and also for court. On religious holidays, the people also watched from the square what was going on in the temple. The Maya also had a novel approach to architecture. When they wanted to expand their temple pyramid, they build the new pyramid around the all pyramid. The pyramid that we were looking at actually consisted of three pyramids. Once our guide had explained all of that, he let us loose to take photos and to explore. A lot of people climbed the pyramid, but I preferred to explore on ground level. We had about 15 minutes to explore and then we were called back.

 

[dolphingirl47]

As we moved on, the jungle grew denser. Suddenly some ruins started peaking out of the jungle. In this area, only the foundations and some low walls and stairs survived. Our guide explained that this would have been the residential area and the foundations that we could see used to be houses. He also pointed out a palm tree that was very common around this area. It seemed to have fruit hanging from it and Graham and I had wondered if this was a Date Palm. It was something completely different. The palm tree was a Cohun Palm. What looked like dates are actually nuts that are mainly used to make oil. The Cohun Palm was very important to the Maya. The leaves were used for roofs on the houses, the park was fed to livestock and the palm heart is also edible. Our guide explained that essentially if you an archeologist and are looking for Mayan ruins, all you need to do is look for Cohun Palms. Where they are found, the Mayan ruins will not be far away. While our guide was explaining this to us, our attention got distracted by some movement in the trees just ahead. We had been told that monkeys, parrots and toucans are quite common around Chacchoben, but so far we had not seen any evidence of them. Suddenly there was a monkey right in front of us. We spent a while watching him until he lost interest in us and moved on. We moved on shortly afterwards.

We had one more stop to make and our guide had hinted that this was the highlight of the site: twin pyramids that also still display some of the original red colouring that had given Chacchoben its name. What he had forgotten to mention is that those pyramids cannot actually be seen from ground level. All we saw when we got there was a never ending staircase with very uneven stairs. That left me with a bit of a problem. I have never been very good with heights, I have a few issues with my balance and the Maya obviously had not believed in banisters. For a minute or two I considered to not bother and to keep my feet on solid ground. Then both curiousity and the realisation that it would be a crying shame to miss essentially two thirds of what there is to be seen at Chacchoben. So I started mountaineering. Going up was not too bad and what I saw up top was truly breath-taking even though I did not spot any red colouration. I wandered around the plateau taking plenty of pictures. Considering the size of those pyramids, it is amazing that you would have no indication from ground level that they are there. Soon we had to head back down and this was a prospect that completely freaked me out. Still I got down in one piece.

 

[dolphingirl47]

When everybody had their feet firmly back on the ground, our guide told us that we had 30 minutes until we needed to be back on the bus. A staggering amount of people headed straight back to the little market near the bus. I suppose they were the same people who I overheard later on the ship saying that this excursion had been a waste of time and that they could not understand why anybody would want to spend their day looking at a pile of rubble! We chatted with our guide for a bit about other Mayan ruin sites while we were walking back and then we had a good look around the front part of the first Mayan ruin. There was only about a dozen people around and it was sheer bliss being able to take photos and take it all in without having to dodge people.

When we got back to where we started, we had just enough time to visit the restroom and I had a very quick look at the market. When we got back to the bus, we were offered water or Mexican Coke. I went with the Coke as I had heard so much about this. Actually, it tasted precisely like the Coke over here, but it did taste quite different from the American version. We did not have a great deal of time when we got back to the port, but we still had a few minutes to take some photos. What we saw looked actually pretty nice, but I still could not imagine spending the whole day there. When we got to the pier, the tram was sitting there do we decided to take this back to the ship. We had done quite enough walking in a day.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Unfortunately by the time we were back on the ship and had cleared security, we had again missed the sunset. We still went to sit on our balcony. I was hoping that we would get to hear the horn, but that unfortunately did not happen. Once we were well under way, I went to have a quick shower to get the bug spray off and got changed. We still had a bit of time until our Palo reservation so we headed down to the atrium to check out the photo opportunities. They had a backdrop with the ship and tropical fish that I had never seen before.

Soon it was time to head up to Palo. We were welcomed by the restaurant manager and my Susanna and taken to our table. We had decided to have a bottle of wine to celebrate my birthday and I had my heart set on the Enchanted Rose, but unfortunately they were out of this so we went with some Rosa Regale. Susanna brought as and Antipasti plate and I stuck pretty much to the Parmesan Cheese and the Garlic Pizza Bread. Graham had a little of everything. Graham went with the Cioppino, which was Italian Tomato Fish Stew with Calamari, Clams, Shrimp, and Halibut, scented with Garlic and Basil followed by Oregano and Parmesan Crusted Rack of Lamb with Sangiovese Roasted Shallots, Olive Oil baked Roma Tomatoes, Potato Pave, and Herb Jus. For dessert he had some Vanilla and Pistachio Gelato. I of course went with the Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Polenta with a Roasted Shallot Sauce and a Parmesan Crisp again, but also decided to try the Tuscan White Bean Soup with Prosciutto and Parmesan Cheese, which was delicious. For my main course, I went with the Beef Tenderloin "Palo" topped with melted Gorgonzola Cheese and the Palo signature Barolo Red Wine Sauce. I had asked to have this without the Spinach. For my dessert, I went with the Pistachio Gelato, which was heavenly. We both had some coffee and of course the Scropino. They had changed the recipe and apart from Lemon Sorbet, Vodka and Sparkling Wine, they also add a drop of Apple Brandy now. I was not too sure about this, but it was actually absolutely delicious. When Susanna came out with the bill, she also brought a square plate that had Happy Birthday written on it with chocolate. We headed back to our cabin and got ready for bed. I took a quick photo of our towel animal and the plate and then we went to sleep as we had an early start the next morning.

 

[franandaj]

I was way behind on your TR! and just got caught up today!

I love the Lobster Ravioli with Mascarpone and plan to have that again, I'm glad Graham like it. I can't believe you did dinner twice at Palo! That's awesome!

I loved the red dress and what you did to make it Piratey.

I can't believe what people said about the Mayan ruins. I wonder if that is something that Fran and I can even consider? She wouldn't go up the steps, but I'm not sure if she could even get ON the bus, much less get to it without her scooter.

That looked like an awesome excursion, I would really love to do it, but we'll have to see how her mobility is. Maybe I will book it and then cancel at the last minute if she is not up to it.

Thanks for showing me about both ports and giving me ideas. Oh yeah, the boats in Grand Cayman looked a lot more sturdy than the boats in Cabo!

 

[Chilly]

Birthday on a Disney cruise, sounds perfect.

 

[Pinkocto]

What a fabulous birthday! I'm so glad Graham decided to go with you on the excursion. Amazing ruins. I can't believe some people were complaining. Dud they not read the description of the excursion?

The next time you're in Cozumel you might want to check out the ones there. Not as big as these but still very fascinating.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I was way behind on your TR! and just got caught up today!

I love the Lobster Ravioli with Mascarpone and plan to have that again, I'm glad Graham like it. I can't believe you did dinner twice at Palo! That's awesome!

I loved the red dress and what you did to make it Piratey.

I can't believe what people said about the Mayan ruins. I wonder if that is something that Fran and I can even consider? She wouldn't go up the steps, but I'm not sure if she could even get ON the bus, much less get to it without her scooter.

That looked like an awesome excursion, I would really love to do it, but we'll have to see how her mobility is. Maybe I will book it and then cancel at the last minute if she is not up to it.

Thanks for showing me about both ports and giving me ideas. Oh yeah, the boats in Grand Cayman looked a lot more sturdy than the boats in Cabo!

I would not recommend Chacchoben with a scooter. The paths would be accessible, but you would only be able to see one of the pyramids.

The tenders on Grand Cayman are possibly luxurious now.

Birthday on a Disney cruise, sounds perfect.

I cannot imagine anywhere I rather be for my birthday.

What a fabulous birthday! I'm so glad Graham decided to go with you on the excursion. Amazing ruins. I can't believe some people were complaining. Dud they not read the description of the excursion?

The next time you're in Cozumel you might want to check out the ones there. Not as big as these but still very fascinating.

We may have to check this out the next time we are there, although Chankanaab may prove to be too tempting.

Corinna