Cast - me, hubby Vince, daughters Wendy (15), Michaela (6), Sierra (5) and Wendy's friend Brittany (14), my mom Donna and step dad Len.
Cozumel!
I think we all did the usual for breakfast, some room service some topsiders.
me, Vince, Wendy, Brittany, Michaela, and Sierra were doing the Dolphin Encounter at Chakanaab park today and we met at 10:30 to leave. Mom & Len were doing the Fury Cruise and it left at 12:30. I think they explored the ship and took pictures of Cozumel until they left.
Chakanaab - We had wanted to do the Dolphin Encounter when we went to Nassau last time but it was fully booked so we were so looking forward to this. I had prewarned the teens that they had better act like this was the best thing we had ever done since it cost around $600 for the 6 of us to do. We got to the meeting place and waited for the ship to clear and our vendor to come up to get us. He never did, Disney finally took us to him on the dock. Not off to a good start. So they take over and we go down the dock, up the escalators, over the road, and then down the escalators to get the cabs. We got a van with another couple and their toddler. I have to say that you have not lived until you have taken a cab in Cozumel. We have taken one in Jamaica and it was something but this is by far the scariest thing I have ever done. First we start going down all these streets and allies at full speed, and assumed we were on our way to Chakanaab, nope about 10 minutes later we realized you can't turn left out of the mall so you had to do all that just to turn around. Got to be an easier way. I have never seen so many vw bugs in my life. One was sticking out of the ally and our taxi driver kept going and I can tell you there was not more than 1/4 inch between us and them. Wendy and I were in hysterics, my husband was clueless and just jabbering with the lady in the seat next to him! I was waiting for the scraping sound but somehow he cleared him. So the drive to chakanaab was not too far and we were about to be with the dolphins! So we thought. We got the speech, changed clothes, put everything in the locker(they provide) and gather around. Well the ran out of children's lifejackets and we still had about 15 kids that needed them. They were bringing them over 2 at a time. Finally after atleast 20-30 minutes, they had enough for everyone. We go down and wait next to the dolphin tanks for another 30 minutes or more. Many of us were getting down right impatient. For all that money, you would think they would have their act together. Finally we move but in the wrong direction. they decide we were going to see the Sea Lion show first. We wait in line over by the sea lion show for about 10 minutes. We were next to last and everyone was getting mad. Finally the employee comes up from behind and says sorry, we are going to do the dolphins now, let's go. So we ended up being 1st in line! He said that some of the dolphins were not cooperating so it put them behind, I mentioned kids do the same thing! hint, hint. So as we pass by some of the dolphin areas, he says they have 2 dolphin babies and shows us Foxy and her baby and then we see the other one. Foxy and the other momma are still working so the ones that get in those areas, get up close and personal with the babies, unfortunately not us. All of the areas, have steps that go right to the platform that you stand on except one. Guess which one we got! Michaela and Sierra can't swim and this is really deep water. So Vince swims over with Michaela riding on him and I get Sierra, luckily she is tiny. I am huffing and puffing but we make it fine. The encounter is really cool and you are in the water for a very long time, 40 minutes or more I think. It more than makes up for all the waiting. We bought the video and lots of photo's and it came to about $123 Us. I know not to use my CC in Cozumel but since this park is so recognized, etc I decided to use it. When I got my cc slip to sign, I nearly had a heart attack. It said $1420!!! The clerk saw my face and said "No, that is peso's, peso's" and wrote the $123 US at the bottom. (Soon as we docked in Florida and I could get cell phone service, I called and sure enough I was charged $128, I can handle that). The girls shopped at the shops and we went to the little beach. Sierra fell in love with it. We all did. We didn't even see the snorkeling area, it looked very cool when we saw it. We missed the sea lion show too because we wanted to get back. We did not see hardly any of the park, really wished we had, maybe next time. We went down right before 3:30 to wait for our cab. We had to split into 2 because they didn't have any vans right then. So Vince took Michaela and Brittany and I took Wendy & Sierra. About half way back, they pass us and then a minute or two later, we come to a screeching halt behind another cab, with about 2 inches to spare which sends poor Sierra up to the front seat. Our driver is yelling at a car ahead of us saying "idioso" and I ask what happened. He said he did a "circle in the middle of the street", I ask "a u-turn" and he says "no! circle in middle of street", ok I don't know the difference but oh well. The teens were supposed to be getting info and pictures about cozumel but all the camera's were with Brittany and she wasn't getting our sign language until they passed us. After we got back to the mall, Vince took the teens shopping and gave them a lesson on bartering and I took the little ones back to the ship. We seemed to always miss the sit down lunch so we got room service. Vince & the teens returned shortly after and showed off all their purchases, mostly jewelry and bragging about talking down the price, Now that is a lesson on Mexico!
Mom & Len went on the Fury Catamaran excursion. They showed back up about 5:30 pm. They had a blast. They had unlimited margarita's and beer. They even taught them how to make minnie mouse ears out of towels and mom showed off her handy work to Samuel our room steward. She told him she would teach him but he has to drink 4 margaritas first! They were taken to Fury's beach and could snorkel, swim, kayak, etc and they said they had a wonderful lunch. Best $40 they have ever spent they said. I could say the same about our $100 a piece for chakanaab.
I thought they had returned just in time for dinner but they decided they loved cozumel and came back to change and go back to explore it. The teens were going on the teen fury cruise at 6pm and that just left Vince, I and the little girls for dinner. I think the teens liked the teen cruise but Wendy thought the Nassau one was better. Our server's seemed a little upset that it was just us 4 but most of the other tables were empty. There was a huge group that normally sits next to us and they were all gone, I would guess 25 or more people.
Cozumel!
I think we all did the usual for breakfast, some room service some topsiders.
me, Vince, Wendy, Brittany, Michaela, and Sierra were doing the Dolphin Encounter at Chakanaab park today and we met at 10:30 to leave. Mom & Len were doing the Fury Cruise and it left at 12:30. I think they explored the ship and took pictures of Cozumel until they left.
Chakanaab - We had wanted to do the Dolphin Encounter when we went to Nassau last time but it was fully booked so we were so looking forward to this. I had prewarned the teens that they had better act like this was the best thing we had ever done since it cost around $600 for the 6 of us to do. We got to the meeting place and waited for the ship to clear and our vendor to come up to get us. He never did, Disney finally took us to him on the dock. Not off to a good start. So they take over and we go down the dock, up the escalators, over the road, and then down the escalators to get the cabs. We got a van with another couple and their toddler. I have to say that you have not lived until you have taken a cab in Cozumel. We have taken one in Jamaica and it was something but this is by far the scariest thing I have ever done. First we start going down all these streets and allies at full speed, and assumed we were on our way to Chakanaab, nope about 10 minutes later we realized you can't turn left out of the mall so you had to do all that just to turn around. Got to be an easier way. I have never seen so many vw bugs in my life. One was sticking out of the ally and our taxi driver kept going and I can tell you there was not more than 1/4 inch between us and them. Wendy and I were in hysterics, my husband was clueless and just jabbering with the lady in the seat next to him! I was waiting for the scraping sound but somehow he cleared him. So the drive to chakanaab was not too far and we were about to be with the dolphins! So we thought. We got the speech, changed clothes, put everything in the locker(they provide) and gather around. Well the ran out of children's lifejackets and we still had about 15 kids that needed them. They were bringing them over 2 at a time. Finally after atleast 20-30 minutes, they had enough for everyone. We go down and wait next to the dolphin tanks for another 30 minutes or more. Many of us were getting down right impatient. For all that money, you would think they would have their act together. Finally we move but in the wrong direction. they decide we were going to see the Sea Lion show first. We wait in line over by the sea lion show for about 10 minutes. We were next to last and everyone was getting mad. Finally the employee comes up from behind and says sorry, we are going to do the dolphins now, let's go. So we ended up being 1st in line! He said that some of the dolphins were not cooperating so it put them behind, I mentioned kids do the same thing! hint, hint. So as we pass by some of the dolphin areas, he says they have 2 dolphin babies and shows us Foxy and her baby and then we see the other one. Foxy and the other momma are still working so the ones that get in those areas, get up close and personal with the babies, unfortunately not us. All of the areas, have steps that go right to the platform that you stand on except one. Guess which one we got! Michaela and Sierra can't swim and this is really deep water. So Vince swims over with Michaela riding on him and I get Sierra, luckily she is tiny. I am huffing and puffing but we make it fine. The encounter is really cool and you are in the water for a very long time, 40 minutes or more I think. It more than makes up for all the waiting. We bought the video and lots of photo's and it came to about $123 Us. I know not to use my CC in Cozumel but since this park is so recognized, etc I decided to use it. When I got my cc slip to sign, I nearly had a heart attack. It said $1420!!! The clerk saw my face and said "No, that is peso's, peso's" and wrote the $123 US at the bottom. (Soon as we docked in Florida and I could get cell phone service, I called and sure enough I was charged $128, I can handle that). The girls shopped at the shops and we went to the little beach. Sierra fell in love with it. We all did. We didn't even see the snorkeling area, it looked very cool when we saw it. We missed the sea lion show too because we wanted to get back. We did not see hardly any of the park, really wished we had, maybe next time. We went down right before 3:30 to wait for our cab. We had to split into 2 because they didn't have any vans right then. So Vince took Michaela and Brittany and I took Wendy & Sierra. About half way back, they pass us and then a minute or two later, we come to a screeching halt behind another cab, with about 2 inches to spare which sends poor Sierra up to the front seat. Our driver is yelling at a car ahead of us saying "idioso" and I ask what happened. He said he did a "circle in the middle of the street", I ask "a u-turn" and he says "no! circle in middle of street", ok I don't know the difference but oh well. The teens were supposed to be getting info and pictures about cozumel but all the camera's were with Brittany and she wasn't getting our sign language until they passed us. After we got back to the mall, Vince took the teens shopping and gave them a lesson on bartering and I took the little ones back to the ship. We seemed to always miss the sit down lunch so we got room service. Vince & the teens returned shortly after and showed off all their purchases, mostly jewelry and bragging about talking down the price, Now that is a lesson on Mexico!
Mom & Len went on the Fury Catamaran excursion. They showed back up about 5:30 pm. They had a blast. They had unlimited margarita's and beer. They even taught them how to make minnie mouse ears out of towels and mom showed off her handy work to Samuel our room steward. She told him she would teach him but he has to drink 4 margaritas first! They were taken to Fury's beach and could snorkel, swim, kayak, etc and they said they had a wonderful lunch. Best $40 they have ever spent they said. I could say the same about our $100 a piece for chakanaab.
I thought they had returned just in time for dinner but they decided they loved cozumel and came back to change and go back to explore it. The teens were going on the teen fury cruise at 6pm and that just left Vince, I and the little girls for dinner. I think the teens liked the teen cruise but Wendy thought the Nassau one was better. Our server's seemed a little upset that it was just us 4 but most of the other tables were empty. There was a huge group that normally sits next to us and they were all gone, I would guess 25 or more people.
