Cozumel

We awoke to a beautiful day in Cozumel! The boat was docked at pier so it was very nice just to be able to walk off.







We wandered the Puerta Maya port for a few minutes (everything Carnival approved) and headed out to the city to see what we could find. Literally right outside the port area, a man asked us if we wanted to rent a Jeep for 50 dollars for the whole day and we agreed. 50 of course turned into 85 as you have to purchase the insurance as well, even though I think since we used our AmEx we could have skipped it, but who wants to get stuck in Cozumel over 35 dollars? We set out on our adventure using the map that the rental place gave us. It had 2 roads on it, one being the route around the perimeter of the island and the main road that cuts across.



I've been to Mexico a few times, mainly the Cancun area, so I was expecting something similar, but this was much poorer than that area.



After some difficulty finding some place that we felt comfortable leaving the car (and having to use my "spanglish" to do it!), we wandered around the shops in the downtown area of San Miguel for about 30 minutes searching for a pewter cross for our house (found one at a store called Viva Mexico but it was 50 dollars, so we passed) and bought some Vanilla, which my parents had brought us back before and is way better than the US version, and cheaper! There were lots of places selling Tequila and tons of places selling silver jewelry. We got some offers to buy some Cuban cigars and some weed but we passed. LOL! Here is a Mariachi band we saw in front of some shops.



We hit the road and quickly got lost. Luckily, some nice Mexican school children helped us figure out where we were. The bonus to getting lost was I got to take this stellar photo of a family on their scooter. Imagine that in the US you can get a ticket for no seat belt and here they can drive around like this.



Finally heading out of town, we decided to stop at the Mayan ruins of San Gervasio. They are very small compared to Chitzen Itza or Tulum, but it was interesting to wander around through the area.





Next door (of course) is the Hacienda Antigua tequila tour. We started the tour with a blue agave margarita (according to our guide, Beto, it is "Lady Viagra"), and got to walk among the agave plants as they explained how to make true tequila (Patron, which is very popular in the US is not even considered tequila in Mexico!).







Beto was very funny and he entertained us through the 10 minutes tour of the distillery process. We ended the tour with (JUST) me tasting shots of tequila as everyone else in our group opted out. They all enjoyed my reaction of the warm shots with no chaser, though. We bought some tequila and some of the blue agave margarita mix and headed out to drive the coastline.



There are a lot of beautiful beaches along this stretch of Cozumel but not much else. Only one road snakes around the island to the south and it took us awhile to get all the way around the bottom of the island to the port. We stopped at a beach bar called Coconuts, which seemed very tourist trap-ish but everything you would want our of a beach bar, tiki hut bar, tables in the sand overlooking the water, fun signs with quirky sayings all over, scrapbooks of naked ladies, cold beer, fried food, loud Jimmy Buffet music, etc.!







It was too crowded so we headed back to the port area to eat lunch, at Panchos on the Pier. After an argument with the rental car company over how much gas we used (full in Mexico has to be exactly on full, not just pointing at the "F" like in the US...always fill up completely before taking the car back or they will fine you! And conveniently for them, they have some scam going with the gas station across the street. There was also an Alamo rental there and I would probably suggest using them instead). Once he finally got to Panchos, Brad had huge margarita, a sampler of fajita and burrito, and I had a shrimp quesadilla. It was all very good and we headed back to the ship full and happy.

Too much tequila and Mexican food equals a sleepy hubby so we ended up in the room for the night. Brad took this sunset picture right before he passed out.



I went down to the desk to cash some traveler's checks and buy tickets for the "behind the fun" tour and then grabbed some food from the buffet to take back to the room for dinner. Brad continued sleeping and I watched one of the movies that was available that day. If you are curious, Carnival offers several channels (CNN, FOX, CBS, NBC (out of Denver, CO), TBS, etc. and three different movies every day. They also have onDemand movies at a cost too. When we were in our room, we were normally asleep but it was nice to know we could keep touch with the outside world if we wanted too!

Grand Cayman

It was muggy the day of our visit here, but it felt great compared to the snow we had up north! We had to "tender" in Grand Cayman, which means the boat can't dock so they sit in the harbor and send little ferries out to get the passengers. There was no line for the tender, but a lot of confusion through the crowd regarding sail and sign cards vs. photo id's. For the record, you should always have both! They don't check your photo id on the way off the boat but the customs officials in the countries want to see it before they let you back on. We didn't have anything planned in this port, but the ship had made sure to inform us several times that it was a shopping mecca. We wandered around and decided to get out of the overcrowded/overpriced downtown area (there were 5 other boats in that day!).



On board we had stopped at the "shopping desk" (located before you walk in the casino) and gotten a packet for Grand Cayman and Cozumel. These packets are basically coupons for different jewelry stores and maps to Carnival approved shops. We looked in some of the stores on the list (the infamous Diamond's International, of course...LOL! Take a cruise and you will see how much they push this place), found a watch we liked for Brad but decided to hold off on purchasing anything this early in the trip. The prices seemed comparable to the states, but at least in the states you know if something is not up to par you can return it! Some of the shops were very pushy (EFFY). We saw a place that looked like Starbucks (that wasn't) and stopped in to get a coffee. I thought the price was very high (5 dollars US for a small latte), especially because the prices looked normal in Cayman dollars but when converted to US were more. After that, we found a taxi and negotiated (what we thought was) a good fare and headed out on a 2 hour island tour. The cab driver, Eric, took us to all the tourist spots on the island, the turtle farm, tortuga rum cake store, stingray city docks (huge tarpon), and of course Hell. We mailed some postcards from Hell post office, and took some photos of the dead coral that forms this attraction.











I decided to buy a coconut from a man cutting them open with a machete and ended up making Brad drink it. It was not what I expected...basically luke warm water with a hint of sweetness and some other weird flavor. Least to say I would not last long on a desert island!



We had the cab driver drop us somewhere for lunch, at which point he told us the tour was 80 dollars, not the 40 we had thought. I thought I had clarified with him enough times but those accents and con men will get you every time. The tour through the boat would have cost us 104 so I guess we still made out but not with the bargain we thought we were going to get. Feeling gouged, we decided to head back to the boat for our free lunch. We had no problem getting an early tender and got back in time to hang out by the pool for a few hours.



Brad wanted me to write at this point that he thinks the chairs by the pool "suck". They are fine once you get in them, but if you try to adjust them to any height other than straight up they automatically pop back that way every time you sit down. You basically have to sit on the middle to the end and gradually ease your way into them. However, once you are situated, they are quite comfortable. I didn't notice a shortage of chairs like I have read about on other sites, but we mainly stuck to the back pool. The middle pool (where all the activities went on) seemed like it had more people but there always seemed to be chairs open here and there, and the back Unicorn deck that was adults only seemed to be only half full as well. There were a lot of older people on this cruise (my dad says cruising is for newlyweds and nearly deads-LOL), and unfortunately if I had to have one complaint it would be how rude some of them were. It's interesting how some of them think they should not have to wait in line and that they can (loudly) comment on people all around them. This is a very small complaint, however, because that only happened a few times. Also, Carnival is known as a family cruise line and although I am sure there were kids on board, because of Camp Carnival and our late seating at dinner, we rarely saw any of them.

After naptime, we headed down to the lobby bar to listen to the excellent entertainment (a guitar player from Alaska named Scott) and then headed to Truffles Lounge for our 8:15 seating. Here is a picture of Brad with his girl drink and a sideways video he took...it's the sound that counts! LOL





At dinner, Brad had French Onion Soup, A Study in Sushi appetizer, and Jerk Pork Roast, and I had a Flat Iron Steak with baked potato. All the food was great and we finished with dessert that we didn't need, warm date cake with rum raisin ice cream for Brad, and of course the chocolate melting cake for me.













Full of food and two martinis down at this point, I was ready to head to bed. The way back to our cabin of course lead us through the casino, where they were having a black jack tournament. Brad and I both entered and he ended up getting in the finals. I forced my eyes open with toothpicks and waited until the final game to cheer him on. He ended up coming in 3rd and got a lovely 150 dollar (that's how much we ended up losing this week after the first night being up 75) Carnival t-shirt. LOL.

At Sea

I hardly took any pictures this day but we did do a variety of things. In the morning, after a long, peaceful sleep, I stumbled out on our (salt covered) balcony to see nothing but water all around us. The boat seemed to be moving along at a quick pace, but we were no longer feeling the huge waves and rocking sensation. We headed upstairs to the Lido Deck for breakfast which is like any other breakfast buffet; toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, fruit, etc. Ours also included a Bloody Mary for me, smuggled in from the room. After breakfast we decided to hit the pool. It was still windy but had warmed up considerably. When the sun was out it was amazing! We hung out there through lunch and decided to go to the art auction at 2:30, mostly for the free champagne (of which you only get one glass). I marked a few things I liked to be entered into the auction, mainly to find out the cost. Some featured artists were Scott Jacobs, Peter Max, and Krasnyansky. Most of the prints went for 2,500 or above, with some going for 29,000. A little out of our price range but it was fun to look.

Our steward was named Olvin ("Big O") and he was from Honduras. We ran into him in the hallway on the way back to the room, but that was not the last we saw of him! He brought us ice twice a day, replaced our beach towels and shower towels every time we used one, left us adorable little towel animals and chocolates on our pillows at night and when I wasn't feeling good the day I got seasick, he even brought me a tray of bread and some water to the room. He was the best!

Before dinner, we decided to try our luck in the casino. You can gamble in there with your sail and sign card for no extra fee, but ONLY on slots. I don't really like slots, but Brad and I gave it a shot. I quickly lost 20 dollars and Brad came up +4. I went up to the room for some cash and headed over to the table games. When I play Blackjack, our system is that Brad stands behind me. Anything I win, I hand back to him and I keep playing with the 50 dollars I started with. After a winning streak, then losing a few hands in a row, I decided I was done. Brad handed me 50 dollars in chips and I tossed a 5 to the dealer....at least we broke even. As I was headed to the exit, Brad asked me if I wanted to cash out. I looked at him and he pulled out a bunch of chips out of his pocket! I was up 75 dollars! Awesome!



Tonight was "Elegant Night" so we headed back to the cabin to get cleaned up for dinner. It was fun dressing up and everyone looked very nice. We got to the dining room and discovered we still did not have any table mates (In fact, we ended up dining alone all week). I had the pear carppacio and Brad had stuffed white mushrooms, he then moved onto shrimp cocktail and we then had lobster tail with tiger ship and prime rib, which we shared. Our waiter (Raymundo from the Philippines) was sweet and brought Brad an extra lobster tail which we also split so least to say we were stuffed. We had a variety of desserts for tasting; apple turnover, cherries jubliee (both brad), and a cheese plate. After all that eating, we took a walk on the deck and headed to bed.

I'm posting the food pictures because I know when people decide to take a cruise one thing they worry about is the food. It's good and there are a lot of choices for everyone; always a chicken, beef, fish, or vegetarian choice plus many more!

Bon Voyage!

We woke up in Tampa the first day of our trip to a very chilly 59 degrees. At the suggestion of our concierge, we had breakfast at Samaria Cafe which was a short walk from the hotel. It was typical diner fare, so of course Brad loved it! After breakfast and getting our stuff together we hailed a cab outside the hotel and headed to the port. The cab was 3 dollars per person because we were only about a mile away. We pulled into the terminal and were amazed how many people were getting on the boat. Four lanes of taxis and cars dropping people off. We tipped the porter 10 dollars in hopes that our bags (and our smuggled liquor) would make it to the ship safe and sound.

The check in process was relatively painless. We showed our passports and fun pass paperwork and got in line. The line snaked around the terminal and up a escalator where we continued to wait while they x-rayed the carry-on bags. Then we moved onto customs. They checked our passports again and gave us our sail and sign cards. Mine was gold because I am return guest, and Brad's was blue (we found out later that the gold card sometimes gives you extra discounts for raffles and bingo). All in all, I would say the process took about 45 minutes to an hour.





Once we got on the Carnival Legend, Brad was impressed with the sheer size of the lobby. The closest thing I can describe the decor is that it looked like a Vegas hotel. We wandered around and checked out the ship, got into our balcony cabin (#8111-much smaller and older-looking than I expected), and headed to the Lido for lunch. The food at the buffet was "OK". There are a lot of choices and everything looked good but it was just kind of standard ho hum lunch fare. Brad had a few drinks of the day and I had a Malibu and Pineapple juice (a change from the usual martini but I was feeling tropical). We were summoned for muster at around 3:30. Basically you gather at your muster area and stand there crammed in like sardines for about 10 minutes as they test the sirens and go over lifeboat and jacket procedures.









At sail-away, we went to the back unicorn deck bar to meet some people from cruisecritic.com, a message board I am a member of. It was nice to finally put faces with names and everyone was SO nice. Here is a short panorama video as we leave Tampa.



We waited on deck until the boat passed under the Tampa Bay Bridge, which the boat just clears by about 10 feet.



The Super Bowl was on, so we headed to Follies Lounge to watch it on the big screen. The visibility is not great in there, especially on the ground floor, lots of pillars and the balcony jutting out on either side. Brad watched the game and I read a book, they had some tailgating snacks out like hot dogs and chicken fingers. At 8:15 we headed to the main dining room for our late seating dinner. Our table mates must have stayed to watch the game, because we dined alone. Our waiter Raymudo, was very nice and although he seemed to think it was weird I did not want an entree, he was very accommodating. We finished the evening with chocolate melting cake, which really is THE BOMB dessert. At this point the boat was really rocking and we were having trouble walking straight. We took some more motion sickness pills and headed to bed.