Who? Me (37), DH (40) and our twin DD's (9-nearly-10)
WEDNESDAY: Cozumel
This time we got the clock changing right. It was nice to have a relaxed morning after the hectic start in Grand Cayman. We'd chosen this morning for our REAS breakfast, and it was quite a treat. We ordered enough for the kids to eat as well. We had mimosas, coffee, omelet, eggs benedict, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, bagels, I can't even remember everything. It was definitely plenty for all four of us, and really relaxing to eat in the room.
We loved watching our arrival into Cozumel. It was simply a beautiful day, picture perfect, not a cloud in the sky. This time there were EIGHT other cruise ships in port. The Carinval Elation was docked right next to us --- I mean RIGHT outside our verandah -- it felt like we could reach across and touch it! Close the curtains, please! DH enjoyed watching the docking as well, as he works on ships. An NCL (Spirit maybe?) ship docked right in front of us.
We got off as soon as we docked and walked around in Cozumel a bit. I found it a bit overwhelming. We didn't attend any of the shopping presentations, and unless you know what you're shopping for (jewelry-wise) and how to price it, it's an effort in frustration. We looked at some diamond earrings at DI and Goodmark's, but dh just wasn't satisfied that it was a bargain. The girls bought some souveniers, but overall it was hot and crowded and we were happy to get back on the ship after only an hour.
We had lunch at Topsiders, and it was one of the best meals we had - they had a fajita bar and the most delicous hummus and black olive dip! Dh and one DD got chicken tenders and fries from Pluto's instead -- I do have to say that they are not to be missed. I don't know why they are so good! But they are definitely better than the ones in the restaurants, yum, yum, yum! We swam for a while, then had to get ready for our shore excursion.
We booked the dolphin encounter through Disney. We could only get a 2pm time when we'd called about a month before sailing. CALL FOR EXCURSION TIMES AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE! I'd hoped to change it when we were on the ship, but the lines at the excursion desk were always too long, or it was too late. Although we absoultely loved this excursion, it is pricey, and we felt we would have gotten more for our money if we had an earlier time and could stick around afterwards and enjoy the park.
Although our excursion time was 2pm, that is the meeting time. The actual excursion is much shorter. We didn't leave the ship til 2:15. Then we had to walk all the way out the pier, across the street, through the mall to the taxi stand. We were loaded into taxis and had about a 15 minute drive to Chanakab partk. Everything was very well organized. My dd had met a girl in the hot tub earlier in the day and it turned out that her family was on this same excursion. We were put in a taxi van together and enjoyed chatting with them along the way.
When you arrive at Chanakab Park, you're herded to a changing area. Everything goes into lockers and you get a key. You can't take anything in the water with you except underwater cameras; even then, you need your hands to hold on with. Leave everything in the lockers -- sunglasses, hats, etc. We had our Lands End water shoes, and they were great for this; those that were barefoot complained that the metal decking that you stand on hurt their feet.
We were given life vests and lined up to go in the water. You walk along a pier and then down some stairs onto a metal platform deck that is in the water. While the water is deep, standing on the platform it was about chest high on us (my dd's are tall). There were some gentle waves, so sometimes it was hard to stay on the platform, but there was fencing that you could hold on to. We probably had about 15 - 20 people in the group with an instructor and the dolphin. The dolphin swims around in front of the platform and you get to pet it and interact with it. Everyone gets to kiss the dolphin and shakes its fins and poses for a picture.
It was an incredible experience, we felt. There were also lots of colorful tiny fish swimming around -- wish I'd had a snorkel mask so I could have had a better look.
After that you file out of the water and into a room to watch the video. Then you're shuffled into the gift shop for the pictures. This is where I wished we'd had more time. We were rushing to try and get back to the ship for the 5:45 showing of The Pacifier. DH hit the line for pictures at it's absolute peak and did nothing but stand in line in the gift shop. The girls and I had a few moments to play on the beach and shower off, but we would have all loved more time to explore the park. It is beautiful. Next time!!!
Pictures in hand, we rushed back to the park entrance. They have taxis there to take you back to the ship -- we had wristbands from our excursion so there is no money changing hands. Overall, it was very well organized and easy excursion. Next time we'd be sure to get an earlier time slot to have more opportunity to play in the park.
We made it back to the ship just in time - missed a few opening moments of The Pacifier because I went back to the room to get our candy. I would have preferred to have time to change out of our wet/sandy clothes from the dolphin excursion, but the timing was not perfect. The girls thought it was very cool to see the movie (they hadn't seen it yet) in the big beautiful Walt Disney Theater ("for free" -- ummm, not really) and we all munched on the candy that I'd brought.
After the movie there was time to shower and clean up for dinner. Back in Parrot Cay for pirate night -- what a blast! It was a very fun dinner; we loved the bandanas and acting like pirates (ARRRRGH!). The sun-ripened pineapple appetizer is awesome. I had the crabcake as my dinner; they are not that great, but then I am spoiled, since we have such great crabcrakes here at home. The chilled melon soup was delicious, I actually liked it better than the one at Palo's. Calypso Ice Cream sundae was yummy.
The pirate party was one of the highlights of the cruise. Wear your dancing shoes!!! It was such fun -- and the fireworks were spectacular. We couldn't believe that there was an additional buffet set up -- who could even think about eating more food? We didn't even look. It was just too late at night to eat anything else.
Definitely one of the best days of the cruise!
Go to Day Six
WEDNESDAY: Cozumel
This time we got the clock changing right. It was nice to have a relaxed morning after the hectic start in Grand Cayman. We'd chosen this morning for our REAS breakfast, and it was quite a treat. We ordered enough for the kids to eat as well. We had mimosas, coffee, omelet, eggs benedict, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, bagels, I can't even remember everything. It was definitely plenty for all four of us, and really relaxing to eat in the room.
We loved watching our arrival into Cozumel. It was simply a beautiful day, picture perfect, not a cloud in the sky. This time there were EIGHT other cruise ships in port. The Carinval Elation was docked right next to us --- I mean RIGHT outside our verandah -- it felt like we could reach across and touch it! Close the curtains, please! DH enjoyed watching the docking as well, as he works on ships. An NCL (Spirit maybe?) ship docked right in front of us.
We got off as soon as we docked and walked around in Cozumel a bit. I found it a bit overwhelming. We didn't attend any of the shopping presentations, and unless you know what you're shopping for (jewelry-wise) and how to price it, it's an effort in frustration. We looked at some diamond earrings at DI and Goodmark's, but dh just wasn't satisfied that it was a bargain. The girls bought some souveniers, but overall it was hot and crowded and we were happy to get back on the ship after only an hour.
We had lunch at Topsiders, and it was one of the best meals we had - they had a fajita bar and the most delicous hummus and black olive dip! Dh and one DD got chicken tenders and fries from Pluto's instead -- I do have to say that they are not to be missed. I don't know why they are so good! But they are definitely better than the ones in the restaurants, yum, yum, yum! We swam for a while, then had to get ready for our shore excursion.
We booked the dolphin encounter through Disney. We could only get a 2pm time when we'd called about a month before sailing. CALL FOR EXCURSION TIMES AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE! I'd hoped to change it when we were on the ship, but the lines at the excursion desk were always too long, or it was too late. Although we absoultely loved this excursion, it is pricey, and we felt we would have gotten more for our money if we had an earlier time and could stick around afterwards and enjoy the park.
Although our excursion time was 2pm, that is the meeting time. The actual excursion is much shorter. We didn't leave the ship til 2:15. Then we had to walk all the way out the pier, across the street, through the mall to the taxi stand. We were loaded into taxis and had about a 15 minute drive to Chanakab partk. Everything was very well organized. My dd had met a girl in the hot tub earlier in the day and it turned out that her family was on this same excursion. We were put in a taxi van together and enjoyed chatting with them along the way.
When you arrive at Chanakab Park, you're herded to a changing area. Everything goes into lockers and you get a key. You can't take anything in the water with you except underwater cameras; even then, you need your hands to hold on with. Leave everything in the lockers -- sunglasses, hats, etc. We had our Lands End water shoes, and they were great for this; those that were barefoot complained that the metal decking that you stand on hurt their feet.
We were given life vests and lined up to go in the water. You walk along a pier and then down some stairs onto a metal platform deck that is in the water. While the water is deep, standing on the platform it was about chest high on us (my dd's are tall). There were some gentle waves, so sometimes it was hard to stay on the platform, but there was fencing that you could hold on to. We probably had about 15 - 20 people in the group with an instructor and the dolphin. The dolphin swims around in front of the platform and you get to pet it and interact with it. Everyone gets to kiss the dolphin and shakes its fins and poses for a picture.
It was an incredible experience, we felt. There were also lots of colorful tiny fish swimming around -- wish I'd had a snorkel mask so I could have had a better look.
After that you file out of the water and into a room to watch the video. Then you're shuffled into the gift shop for the pictures. This is where I wished we'd had more time. We were rushing to try and get back to the ship for the 5:45 showing of The Pacifier. DH hit the line for pictures at it's absolute peak and did nothing but stand in line in the gift shop. The girls and I had a few moments to play on the beach and shower off, but we would have all loved more time to explore the park. It is beautiful. Next time!!!
Pictures in hand, we rushed back to the park entrance. They have taxis there to take you back to the ship -- we had wristbands from our excursion so there is no money changing hands. Overall, it was very well organized and easy excursion. Next time we'd be sure to get an earlier time slot to have more opportunity to play in the park.
We made it back to the ship just in time - missed a few opening moments of The Pacifier because I went back to the room to get our candy. I would have preferred to have time to change out of our wet/sandy clothes from the dolphin excursion, but the timing was not perfect. The girls thought it was very cool to see the movie (they hadn't seen it yet) in the big beautiful Walt Disney Theater ("for free" -- ummm, not really) and we all munched on the candy that I'd brought.
After the movie there was time to shower and clean up for dinner. Back in Parrot Cay for pirate night -- what a blast! It was a very fun dinner; we loved the bandanas and acting like pirates (ARRRRGH!). The sun-ripened pineapple appetizer is awesome. I had the crabcake as my dinner; they are not that great, but then I am spoiled, since we have such great crabcrakes here at home. The chilled melon soup was delicious, I actually liked it better than the one at Palo's. Calypso Ice Cream sundae was yummy.
The pirate party was one of the highlights of the cruise. Wear your dancing shoes!!! It was such fun -- and the fireworks were spectacular. We couldn't believe that there was an additional buffet set up -- who could even think about eating more food? We didn't even look. It was just too late at night to eat anything else.
Definitely one of the best days of the cruise!
Go to Day Six
