A Mother's Day Cruise on the Fantasy sandwiched between BCV (Complete 10/12, p.33)

[Pinkocto]

Beautiful pics of Cozumel!!! The water is absolutely gorgeous! And the ruins look quite interesting. I'm wondering if this is an excursion I should look into Not sure if my DD8 and DS7 would be interested though. Guess I should get researching

Looking forward to more!
Heather

We saw one of the DCL excursions while we were with our horrible guide. We longed to be over with them!

The DCL one also goes to a beach but only for 90 minutes, I think. Next year we're going to take a taxi to a place called Chankanaab. Beautiful place, beach, snorkeling, optional animal interactions. Those you need to book in advance. I don't know if Faith or Jesse would get bored at the ruins.

You're right, the water is gorgeous! One reason why next year needs to center around the water.

 

[Pinkocto]

Back to Cozumel:

After my photo session with the bull we continued our tour. One of my wishes for the day was to find some black coral jewelry. Black coral is a protected substance and only authorized people are supposed to sell it. You know unauthorized people do, but Pablo happened to have a friend that was an authorized dealer and that was our next stop.











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There was some kind of celebration here a couple weeks ago and they still hadn’t taken down all of the decorations.



A church





Some more ruins







We didn’t linger, we still had a few things we wanted to do and it was 1:15. The ship was due to leave at 3:45 and I wanted to be back onboard at 3:00.

The guy’s black coral shop was very impressive. He finds the coral and does all the workmanship. I didn’t feel comfortable taking any pictures of the shop but there were tons to choose from. I left with these beauties.





Then it was time to find the amazing Gloria candies. I knew they were at a certain shop and asked Pablo to take us there. There had to be some kind of miscommunication because instead of going straight to the shop I requested he stopped at a small convenience mart. They had them but only as singles, not in a gift container. Mom wanted them for a friend back home so we continued our search. We went to a big grocery store next, no luck. They suggested a candy store that Pablo knew about so we went there. No luck. Again I suggested that we go to Los Cincos Soles, I knew they were there. Instead of going there he said he wanted to stop at another convenient mart. They were there but only as singles again. We got them. Because of this wild goose chase we didn’t have time to go shopping at Los Cincos Soles which I was disappointed about. I knew mom would love that store.

At 2:45 we headed toward the port. But instead of going left to the ship Pablo took us right and showed us a little more of the area.

These pictures are all from the car, sorry there’s some obstructions in them.











And then we headed back to the ship



He got us back to the port at exactly 3:00 as requested. We hugged, thanked him for a fabulous day, and gave him a generous tip. I think this was a wonderful way for mom to see Cozumel on her first visit. Next time our plan is to go to Chankanaab, do a manatee swim, enjoy the beach/water, and take a taxi to Los Cincos Soles.

 

[Pinkocto]

Amazingly I didn’t take any pictures on the walk back up the pier. I was ready to be back on my ship. Mom kept looking longingly at the water and I regret that we didn’t get a chance to do some swimming. She was so close the edge I warned her that I wouldn’t jump in after her if she fell off, there’s no railings. She said not to worry, the gentleman in front of us would jump in and rescue her. He turned around with a smile and said if mom fell over he’d jump right in behind her. Big smiles all around.

Straight up to Flo’s to get some lunch, we were starving. I had the salad and pizza and mom had the veggie burger.




Then into the Cove Café for some treats





We both got the chocolate chip brownie bite. These were to die for!



We took our treats up to Satellite Falls. It was 4:00 and I figured we’d be leaving momentarily. But what would we see below, but a family just strolling down the pier. All aboard was 3:45 people! They would saunter for a while and then run for a little bit. Then continue sauntering. It was bizarre.





And then we saw an ambulance driving down the pier. At dinner we found out that they took someone out on a gurney and all their luggage was with them. It was only day 2 of the cruise, so sad






Around that point I decided a shower was in order. Mom came down to the room with me and we looked at the navigator. We wanted to see the hypnosis show at 6:15. It was only 4:15 so mom went up to SF while I got cleaned up.

Sam our fabulous room steward left us presents



After getting all cleaned up I went in search of mom. Have you seen enough hallway and carpet pictures yet? Sorry.





It was way too windy for me to stay up there with mom, but she was happy where she was so I went back down to the room and did some journaling. Our room’s position this trip was absolutely perfect, we were forward so it was just a quick elevator ride up to SF and back down to the room.


to be continued...

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Loving the update oh my that black coral jewellery is beautiful Pam! The way they have fashioned that wonderful coral is just amazing. I bet you were proud as punch to own that.

Shame about your candies! I am sure the guides get kick backs from certain stores. They seem to favour some.

Be great to do Chankanaab next time with Mom. Got to love that H20 gear!

Oh my that poor family having the person removed! That must have been quite a shock.

I am obsessed by carpet. I love looking at it. I try and look for the nautical flags in the carpet of the stateroom hallways that spell out the name of the ship on The Dream ( I read it's the same on The Fantasy )

 

[rentayenta]

The jewelry is beautiful. I haven't seen back coral.

I'm never sick of ship and carpet and hallway pics.

Pizza. Seriously what is with the pizza? It's simply amazing!

I'm going to have to try the Cove Cafe next cruise. I don't think I hardly stepped foot inside last time.

So sad for the people who were gurneyed off. Did you find out why? That would be such a huge bummer. Hope they ended up ok.

 

[MEK]

That black coral jewelry looks so pretty. So glad you were able to find what you were looking for!

And the scenery pictures are lovely. I am still so impressed you had your own personal guide!

Oh No to the poor person who had to leave on the ambulance. I bet that happens all the time. I watched a documentary done by a ship's doctor and they get some pretty interesting cases on board. And there are people who travel who just shouldn't.

Nice lunch!

 

[franandaj]

That was some wonderful jewelry that you got! I'm glad he knew someone licensed in the trade. Too bad he didn't listen to you on the candies. Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. But it sounds like you got a really nice local tour and not just the "Disney inspired" island tour. How fun is that.

So sad for the person who had to be ambulanced out of the ship. That's terrible. Or were you experienced from that on your previous cruise. We don't know.

 

[hstrickland]

Ok...weird. People are crazy to just meander along like they have all the time in the world. Didn't they realize they were the ONLY ones on the dock

Sad about the ambulance. Hope all was ok for that person.


And your jewelry is really pretty! I'll have to remember that for next year, and see if I can find some. I've never heard of it. Thanks for the info

 

[Pinkocto]

Loving the update oh my that black coral jewellery is beautiful Pam! The way they have fashioned that wonderful coral is just amazing. I bet you were proud as punch to own that.

I had bought a necklace on my first visit to Cozumel but I wanted some more. I think it's absolutely gorgeous.

Shame about your candies! I am sure the guides get kick backs from certain stores. They seem to favour some.

Well, he isn't an official guide, he's actually a scuba dive master, usually takes people out diving. He was basically just hanging out with us and showing us around. I'm sure he felt that the candies were easily found.

Be great to do Chankanaab next time with Mom. Got to love that H20 gear!

Our room steward was great with the H2O goodies!

Oh my that poor family having the person removed! That must have been quite a shock.

Very sad business, never really learned what happened but it was on a kayaking excursion.

I am obsessed by carpet. I love looking at it. I try and look for the nautical flags in the carpet of the stateroom hallways that spell out the name of the ship on The Dream ( I read it's the same on The Fantasy )

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I can't get enough of those carpets I completely forgot about the flags spelling out the name. I'll have to remember that next time.

 

[Pinkocto]

The jewelry is beautiful. I haven't seen back coral.

I had thought it only grew in the Caribbean but it actually grows all over the world and is the official 'gemstone' of Hawaii. They have to polish it to be smooth, and with the bigger pieces can make figurines. Very pretty things, I always wish I have more money in shops like that.

I'm never sick of ship and carpet and hallway pics.

Excellent! I'm sure I took more pictures

Pizza. Seriously what is with the pizza? It's simply amazing!

There is just something about that pizza!

I'm going to have to try the Cove Cafe next cruise. I don't think I hardly stepped foot inside last time.

You'll be able to get some tasty coffee in there, and the desserts in the case are free. I think they changed the coffee at the beverage stations to Joffreys, I don't know if that's better though.

So sad for the people who were gurneyed off. Did you find out why? That would be such a huge bummer. Hope they ended up ok.

All we found out was that the person was somehow injured on a kayak excursion. No idea what kind of injury.

 

[Pinkocto]

That black coral jewelry looks so pretty. So glad you were able to find what you were looking for!

Me too, I was glad Pablo knew somebody. I found a necklace at a little shop at the ruins on my first trip to Cozumel but nobody wanted to stick around the ruins after the horrible tour

And the scenery pictures are lovely. I am still so impressed you had your own personal guide!

He was great. I had spent quite a bit of time with him on my other trip, and knew mom would love him. He did not disappoint.

Oh No to the poor person who had to leave on the ambulance. I bet that happens all the time. I watched a documentary done by a ship's doctor and they get some pretty interesting cases on board. And there are people who travel who just shouldn't.

It was so sad, especially only being the second day of the cruise. I can't imagine the disappointment of cutting your trip short.

Nice lunch!

Very yummy

 

[Pinkocto]

That was some wonderful jewelry that you got! I'm glad he knew someone licensed in the trade.

I'm so pleased with my purchases. We probably should have stopped at the little shop at the ruins but we were all ready to get out of there!

Too bad he didn't listen to you on the candies. Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. But it sounds like you got a really nice local tour and not just the "Disney inspired" island tour. How fun is that.

We know what to do next time, go right to Los Cincos Soles. It was a fabulous day, and I'm so glad he was available to chauffeur us around.

So sad for the person who had to be ambulanced out of the ship. That's terrible. Or were you experienced from that on your previous cruise. We don't know.

Are you fishing for tidbits? Mums the word

 

[Pinkocto]

Ok...weird. People are crazy to just meander along like they have all the time in the world. Didn't they realize they were the ONLY ones on the dock

All of us on deck 13 couldn't believe it. It was totally bizarre, like they didn't have a care in the world

Sad about the ambulance. Hope all was ok for that person.

I know, so sad I would be devastated if I had to cut a vacation short. Hopefully that doesn't sound petty but you look forward to it for so long and then an emergency happens. Terrible timing.

And your jewelry is really pretty! I'll have to remember that for next year, and see if I can find some. I've never heard of it. Thanks for the info

They do all sorts of styles, it's really beautiful. We also saw some at the pier on Grand Cayman.

 

[Pinkocto]

Day 4 continued:


I left off with mom enjoying the sun up at Satellite Falls and me journaling in the room. Mom came and found me at 6:00 and we went to the Walt Disney Theater to see the hypnosis show.





Ray our fabulous cruise director came out and introduced the show



And this is the amazing hypnotist



These are the final group of susceptible people to be hypnotized



This show was absolutely hilarious. If any of you have not seen a hypnosis show and have the opportunity, please see it. Every time I ask if it is even possible, but even if it’s not and they are all actors the show is always fabulous.

This lady was hypnotized to think she was Queen Elsa from Frozen and every time her cue was said she’d belt out ‘Let it go’.



Another highlight was he had them all think they were One Direction, and they should show the audience their best dance moves and stupendous singing abilities.





This guy in the Hawaiian shirt really got into it, we were laughing so hard it hurt.







After the hypnotist had everybody go back to their seats he did this lady’s cue one more time. She ran back up on the stage and did ‘Let it go’ one last time. HILARIOUS!!!!



It was a great show and I’m so glad we went. I don’t think we went to a single one of Disney’s shows this cruise, but we did most of the variety shows.

After the show we stopped by the DVC podium for our evening’s gift. They were giving out more of the backpacks they had given out at the meeting. We really didn’t need any more but the CM sort of insisted. I guess they have tons of them. We talked a little bit about the Poly villas but they didn’t have any info about when they’d be opening or even going on sale. No, I am not waiting to buy any more points.

Then up to the room where we got ready for dinner. I turned on the Disney channel where there was actually a movie playing, Toy Story. Every other time I had turned on that channel a very weird Mickey Mouse show was on. Mickey looks almost evil and runs around acting weird. Whatever it was I didn’t like it. Oh how I missed the movie channel.

Then down to dinner and I did a double take in the atrium. I saw two very familiar faces. We had seen/heard Ray so knew he was onboard, but I saw another familiar face. It was Clayton! I was a bit confused so went up to them and asked ‘don’t you both have the same job?’ Why yes we do. Come to find out there are only ever two cruise directors on the same cruise if one is about to go on vacation. Clayton quickly said to get a photo, it’s a rare treat to see two of them together. Ray would be going back to South Africa to see family a few days after our cruise ended. I thanked them both for their hard work and headed to dinner.




Dinner tonight was in the Royal Court. I have terribly few photos of the restaurant this evening. I tried to fix that later.






The missing mom was finally well enough to join us for dinner. She had skipped Cozumel and her daughter went on a jeep tour alone. She seemed to have had a good time. Our other tablemates did the ruins and tequila tasting tour. We all shared our separate adventures which is the main reason we like sitting with people at dinner. The world was set right when one of them said they found the movie channel. What!? How?! She had finally asked guest services. Mom piped in that she had told me to do that the first night. For reasons unknown I had not called them. Apparently you have to hit a certain button on the remote which takes you to a different screen on the TV… I was so pleased and couldn’t wait to check it out for myself, but we still had food to eat.

Mom started with the French onion soup



I had the fried brie



We both had a Market Salad



I had the lobster mac and cheese without lobster. It was a huge serving and didn't have that much flavor. It also didn't have enough cheese.



And mom had the mushroom ravioli. She said it was good but too many of them.



For dessert I had the strawberry shortcake sundae, it was delicious as usual. This is probably one of my favorite desserts on the ship.



Mom had her usual Mickey bar. I did get a photo of it but also in the photo is one of our tablemates and I don’t know if she’d like her photo online. You all know what a Mickey bar looks like by now.

After dinner I had wanted to see the adult only magic show at 11:00 but now that I knew how to find the movies I felt less of a pull to go to the show. We ended up just going to the room and winding down.





Our friends were tucked in and ready for sleeping






I was so happy to have found out the secret of finding the movies. We turned on Bolt, I think mom lasted 5 minutes and me about 20. It had been a long action filled day.


Next: Grand Cayman

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a nice mellow end to an otherwise action packed day. I'm glad everything all worked out for you.

 

[rentayenta]

Fun update!

Michael's FD hired a hypnotist once for their Christmas party and it was by far the best entertainment they've had. I'm skeptical but I swear people had to have been hypnotized. They'd click like chickens and all kinds of stuff without cracking a smile. SO funny.

That strawberry dessert looks delicious!

Sounds like dinner was enjoyable and it's nice that mom finally made it.

Lobster Mac and cheese? I thought it would be better without the lobster; too bad it wasn't. It can't be that hard. The buffet Mac n cheese is delicious, right? Sometimes simple is better.

 

[MEK]

This is so cute! I've never seen a towel animal like this before! Love it!

The hypnosis show sounds really fun. It's good to laugh until you hurt. I didn't even know there was such a show. Good to know!

Dinner looks yummy, as usual. I am glad your table mates were all calm and chill that night. No drama!

Very cool that you got to see both cruise directors together!

 

[Pinkocto]

Sounds like a nice mellow end to an otherwise action packed day. I'm glad everything all worked out for you.

It was a really nice evening. I was especially happy to find out about the movie channel

 

[Pinkocto]

Fun update!

Michael's FD hired a hypnotist once for their Christmas party and it was by far the best entertainment they've had. I'm skeptical but I swear people had to have been hypnotized. They'd click like chickens and all kinds of stuff without cracking a smile. SO funny.

It was so funny! I don't know how its possible but they almost HAVE to be hypnotized to do the things they do and react the way they do.

That strawberry dessert looks delicious!

It really is. You'll have to try it next time

Sounds like dinner was enjoyable and it's nice that mom finally made it.

I hate to be rude but it wasn't nice the mom finally joined us. She was not a pleasant person.

Lobster Mac and cheese? I thought it would be better without the lobster; too bad it wasn't. It can't be that hard. The buffet Mac n cheese is delicious, right? Sometimes simple is better.

That mac and cheese on the buffet is super scrumptious. Very cheesy. Not sure what was going on with this dish.

 

[Pinkocto]

This is so cute! I've never seen a towel animal like this before! Love it!

Our room steward was amazing with the towel animals. I never took them apart, but he would the next day.

The hypnosis show sounds really fun. It's good to laugh until you hurt. I didn't even know there was such a show. Good to know!

Yes indeed, a good laugh like that can be hard to come by! If you ever have the opportunity please see one. The others I've seen have been at the renaissance festival. Each one I've seen has been great.

Dinner looks yummy, as usual. I am glad your table mates were all calm and chill that night. No drama!

The dramatic tablemates are on Jenny's TR. This group was great.

Very cool that you got to see both cruise directors together!

That was really cool, and I'm glad Clayton suggested a photo.