Day 132: Cozumel

I had free WiFi while on the beach today, and you know what that means...stream of consciousness photo uploading. I didn't have enough shade to determine the quality of any individual photo over another, so it was just point and click, then upload, all day long. Hopefully they will suffice in lieu of words after a long but perfect day. 

We had a wonderful, truly fantastic sleep on the new linens. These seem as luxurious as what is found in high end hotels, not that I frequent high end hotels, but I've seen photos online. ;-) G observed that we had slept with "one tucked and one untucked" (anyone remember that Seinfeld episode?) and it showed this morning. He had untucked everything and woke to find that top-most cover on the floor and his duvet floating about uncovered. I had left just one bottom corner tucked in and it seemed to make all the difference. 

After stopping by the International Cafe for hot chocolate and decaf coffee to go, we had a quick breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room (oranges and papaya and an egg white veggie omelet today) and returned to our cabin to gather up things for a simple beach day. The weather did not look promising (still...again...yet), but we overheard a fellow passenger at the next table say she had checked the hourly forecast online and the afternoon would be mostly sunny. Beggars can't be choosers, and we have been lowered to the point of begging lately when it comes to the weather. 

There was already another cruise ship, an Aida cruise line ship, at the Puerto Maya pier when the Emerald Princess arrived.  Aida is a German cruise line, and I always enjoy seeing the hammocks they have on their balconies and also the bikes they have available for passenger use. We walked though the long series of shops on the pier, and then through the shopping area to get to the taxi stand in front of the port. 

I have never bought cigarettes, and don't pay much attention to the packaging of them, but is this how it is at home, too?  Hard to miss this message...

To be fair, we need that on more things. Twinkies, ice cream, La Z Boy chairs. You know, this food, or excessive sitting on your behind will kill you. 

They make on board times very clear at Puerta Maya. I bet they've had countless issues in the past with people missing their ship.

Taxi fares from the Puerta Maya pier

Our plan for today was to go to Paradise Beach, south of where the cruise ship docks on Cozumel. We connected with another couple also going there, and split the $15 taxi fare. Unlike Nachi Cocum (which is even further south). Paradise Beach is not all inclusive. There is a $3pp charge to rent chairs and umbrella and use the beach and pool, and, in return, each person must buy at least $10 of food or beverages. The resort is beautiful, very well maintained and clean. Though the pool does not have a swim up bar, it does feature tanning ledges and is less than 4 feet deep, making it great for families.

We headed right to the beach, and the sand was recently raked and in better shape than the beach at Nachi Cocum. There were plenty of chairs and umbrellas, and some were closer to the music and others further away. We chose chairs further away (I am getting very tired of listening to constant playlists not of my choosing). The water itself was marginal, very rocky and sea grass-y, but at least the wind was kind today and it wasn't too rough. 

Paradise Beach features numerous optional water toys including kayaks and stand up paddleboards for an additional $18pp. These were a huge draw for families.

There were also snorkel trips offered that left from a pier right off the beach.

I didn't take photos of the food and bar menu (I'm sure it's available online) but loved the artwork on the front of the menu. 

Beers were $4.50 and most alcoholic beverage were $8.50, though there were a fewspecials for $5.75. We purchased a beer, a rum punch and nachos and gaucamole and met our $20 commitment.

The day was at first mostly sunny, then it clouded over and rained for about 30 minutes before the sun returned for good. It was actually the best beach weather we've had since three cruises ago when we last went to the Western Caribbean. 

Keeping with tradition, I got another henna tattoo that should last 2-3 weeks. It was still wet here, but dried to be just perfect.

The water temp in the ocean was 78F, and I spent a lot of time playing in the waves. Eventually we left the beach and settled by the pool, where the water temp was a perfect 86F. About 3:30pm, we shared a taxi back to the pier with a family of 6, and, for the first time since it was under construction last year, saw a third ship, the Carnival Elation, at the newly extended pier. There was also at least one ship docked downtown in San Miguel. 

We had just enough time to get cleaned up for the evening and briefly go to Skywalkers to watch sailaway.at 5pm. The Emerald Princess headed southwest until it was midway between Cozumel and mainland Mexico and then turned almost due south. From our port side table at dinner, we had a great view of the familiar southern end of Cozumel. It was Italian night, and I enjoyed a salad and penne arribiata with chicken strips. 

Cruising overnight toward our next port of call at Costa Maya only requires the ship to go about 11 knots per hour

The Most Traveled Passengers cocktail party for this cruise was held at 7pm in the Adagio Lounge (cutoff was 281 Princess days). It was fun to see some familiar faces as the same people tend to cruise at the same time every year. We swung back to the Piazza at 8:45pm to watch a brief juggling performance but skipped the comedian performing in the Princess Theater. We have another early arrival tomorrow and today's beach time was catching up with us. 

Day 111: Cozumel

Today was the best day of our Caribbean season to date. One of the best days. One of the five best days. 

Today was a good day. 

The Emerald Princess arrived early in Cozumel, Mexico, and we were still in bed but awake at 6:57am when we heard the announcement that the ship was secured at her berth and had been cleared by the local authorities for passengers to proceed ashore (this is almost word for word what we hear nearly every morning, spoken by someone with an Indian accent). There were no lines today (there never are when the ship arrives early) when we walked off the ship just after 8am, packed for another beach day. 

I guess I can rightfully claim that life's a beach...at least while we're on the Emerald Princess in the Caribbean. 

I had been following the Cruise Critic roll call for this cruise, and read a recommendation from fellow passenger Laurie about a beach resort called Nachi Cocum on the southwestern coast of Cozumel. For $55pp, we'd get access to a pool, jacuzzi, loungers, palapas (natural sun umbrellas), all we could drink (including premium brands) and a four course lunch. It sounded good enough that we had made the $11pp deposit via PayPal while we were home in December...and prayed for a sunny day. 

We walked off the Puerta Maya pier and through the "enter through the gift ship...and then through more gift shops" area required to get to the taxi stand. There was a group of passengers, including Laurie, going down about an hour later this morning, but G wanted to get an early start and Nachi Cocum opens at 8am in the winter. A taxi cost $17 and it was about a 15-20 minute ride south along Cozumel's only major north-south road. 

We commented, as we rode along, about how much Cozumel has changed since we first went there to dive in 1998. Then, there was one cruise ship pier in the town of San Miguel; now there are multiple piers and those piers keep expanding to accommodate more ships. We were lucky today, as there were only two ships in port. In Cozumel, that's a very slow day. 

Once we arrived at Nachi Cocum (which, coincidentally, was located right next door to the Allegro Diamond Resort we used to stay at), our photo was taken, as it usually is at these things, and would be available for purchase later, after we were nice and tipsy. We did buy it, of course. We'll add it to the other photos we have of ourselves on Cozumel, also purchased at the end of days when we were nice and tipsy. Honestly, the photos of us on Cozumel are the ones that are stuck on our refrigerator at home. Not only so they bring back great memories of very fun days, but they provide a somewhat painful but completely accurate chronicle of our aging visages. Today we paid the remaining $44pp due via credit card and were shown around the property. Nachi Cocum limits guests to 110 per day; today, there were only 22 of us. This really was like a private beach resort. 

Beaches on Cozumel are not the powdered sugar variety we've seen on Barbados and Antigua, and even on a good day have much stronger waves than we saw yesterday on Roatan with its protective reef. Today, was not a good day, wave-wise and the surf was very strong, though still safe to swim in. The beach was slightly littered with normal sea vegetation, but, by Cozumel standards, it was pretty darn good. But it was the setting that was perfect, and we were soon settled in loungers that were sanitized for us with small plastic tables that were cleaned for us too. And the best part...though there was some music up by the pool, all we heard in our loungers was the sound of the crashing waves. A catered day on a beach with only the sound of crashing waves. Heaven!

I dove right into the water (the temperature was 80F) and snorkeled a bit to see what there was to see. Not much. Though just a few hundred yards offshore are some of the best reefs in this part of the world, I saw only one lonely coral head with a couple of Moorish idols and several sergeant major fish. 

I returned to my chair on the beach (climbing up out of the water was a bit of a trick) and we ordered our first drinks of the day from our waiter Joseph. He gave us wonderful service throughout the day...maybe too wonderful when it came to our drinks. I tried to break them up with several long swims, at one point swimming the boundaries of the swim beach. The current was so strong that it was difficult to do anything other than get in the water on one side of the beach and try to get back out before ending up half way down the coast. G teased me that I was going to end up back at the Emerald Princess via the water and he was almost right. 

By 11ish I was getting hungry, and, when I came out of the water, discovered that Joseph had dropped off the menu for us to order our lunch. And here's when things really got good...we had a choice of appetizer, soup or salad, entree and dessert, and we could order each course one at a time and eat them right where we were sitting on the beach. 

We started with chips and gaucamole for me and breaded cheese sticks for G

About an hour later, for our salads, we ordered fruit salad with lemon sorbet. This is when we remembered how wonderful the fruit had always been during our Cozumel stays. The papaya rivaled anything we had had in French Polynesia but nothing will ever be better than those small Moorea pineapples we had enjoyed.

G slept at some point, and I walked up to the pool area to use the free wifi. Free wifi!  I am down to 19 minutes left on the ship's Internet for this cruise, and took advantage of the Nachi Cocum internet to upload some photos to the blog posts for the past couple of days and for today. 

Beach loungers and palapas

Nachi Cocum pool and jacuzzi with a swim up bar

I was texting friend Suzan from right here.

Eventually we ordered our entrees; G ordered the mixed meat fajitas and I asked for the freshest fish they had. I think my grouper was caught this morning. Honestly, we thought both meals were even better than what we've been eating on the ship (and that's been good). But the freshness of the ingredients in today's meals really made a difference. For dessert, we both ordered coconut ice cream and Joseph suggested we have it topped with kahlua. Well...if he insisted. So wonderfully yummy!

Naturally, we had continued to drink, mostly margaritas, all throughout the day, and for my last swim of the day, I momentarily considered whether I was sober enough to be able to climb my way out of the water back onto the beach. I did, of course, but I was just at the edge of having too much tequila. The far edge. ;-)

It really hit me as we left our loungers and walked back through the resort about 3:30pm. They called a taxi for us and our driver was there by the time we reached the parking lot. Everyone who worked at the resort was very welcoming and friendly (I remember that, too, from our Cozumel stays, about the wonderful hospitality of the locals) and we enjoyed our day so much that we are actually considering returning again on a later cruise.  We loved that Nachi Cocum specifically states that Spring Breakers and wild crowds are not tolerated. It's kind of the 55+ beach resort on Cozumel, and was just perfect for us, and might be especially attractive as we head into the Spring Break timeframe. 

Thank you, Laurie, for the recommendation!

We managed to get through the Puerto Maya shopping area and back down the pier without bodily injury, though the sound of our Check Liver Soon alarms was getting really annoying. We did rock, paper, scissors to see who was going to shower first (I lost), and generally tried to clean up a little more than usual because tonight was this cruise's MTP cocktail party. 

Just shoot me. 

We were not in the least hungry, but we did need to eat a little something to soak up the alcohol (past and future). We went to our usual table in the Michelangelo Dining Room where Victor served me alphabet soup from the kids' menu and sorbet. And for the first time ever, we declined his offer to open the drapes so we could see the ocean rushing by just outside the window. No thank you. That would not help at all. 

We had time after dinner for a quick nap (really quick, and I set the alarm just in case we didn't wake up), and went to the MTP party in the Adagio Lounge at 7pm. I was happy to be able to tell Chief Roddy that the pool temperatures were just perfect now, thank you very much. It was funny...Captain Forteeze came over while we were talking to tell Roddy that another passenger had just complimented him for the warm pools. :-) However, my favorite Splash Pool on Deck 17 aft is unheatable, which actually works out perfectly for me. First, no one wants to use it because it's chilly; second, it's quite comfortable when I run around in circles in it. 

I wasn't intending to stay for the entire party, thinking I'd leave after just one Perrier (the only beverage I was up to drinking), but, as always, I start chatting and before I knew it, we were the last group to finally leave. Production show Magic To Do is being shown twice tonight, and I could make it to the 10:15pm performance...

...but a comfy bed and a book sound a lot better. 

Day 133: Cozumel

We were moving slowly on this, our very last port day of the winter, but that wasn't a surprise. After 26 days on the Caribbean Princess, we're moving slower by the day. We have never had such fast paced; more fun-per-minute cruises as these have been. However, we can't keep up this pace much longer, and, thankfully, we won't have to.

We enjoyed a leisurely coffee and light breakfast in the International Cafe, and had an earnest discussion about our plans for next winter that led us to complete the paperwork to purchase (warning:  cruise terms to follow) an additional ten FCCs for each of us.  That completed, we walked off the ship intending to go to Paradise Beach Resort. Then we saw that the Oasis of the Seas (nearly 6000 passengers) was at the International Pier and that there were six cruise ships again in Cozumel. That means there were close to 20000 cruise ship passengers descending on tiny Cozumel. Yikes!  I remember when we used to travel to Cozumel to dive several times a year. Cruise ships were allowed to come just one day a week, and were limited to just two ships at a time. Even then we'd avoid going to town on that day, because (said in a horrified tone) "the cruise ships are here". Ha. 

We decided to just stay in the Puerta Maya pier area again, and spent the afternoon relaxing in loungers in the shade of palm trees. 

My view for the day. I may enlarge this and hang it in a prominent place at home to get me through the next few weeks. 

Whatever antics we expected to see today from our fellow passengers, we didn't see any. There were not the drunken college students of yesterday. We saw plenty of students, of course, but they seemed downright sober. Once we were back on the ship, steward Antonio filled us in. The Spring Breakers near our cabin didn't get out of bed until dinner time. I knew that Costa Maya would do them in!  What we might expect tonight and in the early hours of tomorrow morning is kind of frightening, but they were well behaved and subdued today. 

We had a pretty light dinner (still not hungry) and then went to this cruise's Most Traveled Passengers cocktail party in Skywalkers. We're heading back out tonight for the Mardi Gras party and then production show Caribbean Caliente. 

No time to write more...another party awaits!

Day 123: Cozumel

I feel like we are living in a perpetual party on the Caribbean Princess. 

This is our fifth winter cruising for an extended period of time.  In the past, we've cruised 100, 120, 150 days in a row. Cruised in moderation; early to bed, early to rise, living a clean and simple life. But these 28 days on the Caribbean Princess are going to be the end of us. I predict that we will crawl down the gangway on disembarkation day, fly home and sleep for a week. But...WOW!  We are having fun!!!!

The announcement that the Caribbean Princess was "securely alongside her berth and cleared by the local authorites" woke us up this morning. Breakfast was coffee and bacon, egg and cheese muffins (perfectly prepared and served with a smile) from the International Cafe. We had to wait for Captains Circle host Yuki's office hours to speak with her about tonight's parties (we're #2 again, but already know that, next cruise, we fall back into a bridesmaid position outside the top three most traveled), and so it was late morning before we walked off the ship.

It was a busy ship day in Cozumel (aren't they all?), and we were surprised to see that the Puerta Maya pier (is that what it's called?) where we were docked with the Carnival Elation out of New Orleans is being extended, with another pier being constructed in a Y configuration.  There were also two ships at the International Pier and two additional ones docked at the downtown pier.  Good grief. 

Our original plan for the day, formulated two months ago, would have taken us far away from the cruise ships to the southern end of Cozumel.  I had arranged a dive with Cozumel divemaster Allison, whom we've known for 17 years. We (I) was hoping to return to a dive site called Santa Rosa Wall, which was where I did my first wall dive 17 years ago. G was not entirely committed, but was on board in an "I'll stay on the dive boat and drink beer" sort of way.  He knew I'd be totally safe with Allison. However, my fall in St. Thomas changed all that. Though I am much improved, this is no time for me to be doing a wall dive at 100 feet. I fear that I brought my dive gear with me for nothing; the dive was cancelled over a week ago.  :-(

However, we were quite pleased with how the secured area around the Puerta Maya pier has been built up and maintained (no trash, no pesky beach vendors, very safe), and, with tiny Cozumel being taken over by 15000+ cruise ship passengers, decided to use the artificial beach right near the end of the pier. There's no swimming, of course, but we hadn't intended to get in the water, anyway. So for us it became a day quite like Grand Turk, with sand and sun and watching the excursion boats coming and going and, yes, an alcoholic beverage or two.

We ended up talking with Peter and Martha, a young couple from Vancouver, and invited them to be our guests at the second Captain's Circle party tonight. The Caribbean Princess is their first-ever cruise, but they are disembarking on Thursday and boarding the Royal Princess on Friday for a 10-night Eastern Caribbean cruise (Jenny and Bill, they'll be joining you!). We were happy to share lots of ideas about things to do on the islands of Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Thomas, having visited them a time or two in the past. ;-)

We stayed on the beach until after 4pm, when it was finally time for us to get back to get cleaned up for dinner. I had two new (to me) items tonight:  a beef chimichurra with aioli sauce as a starter and then shrimp stir fry as an entree. These are two of the regional menu items added this year, and they were both delish.

We went to the second Captains Circle party with Peter and Martha, and gifted them with our Caribbean etched glass commemorative as a momento of their first cruise.

Afterwards, we changed into casual clothes and went up to the deck above the Calypso (MUTS) Pool where we listened to the DJ play disco music while Princess trivia was shown on the big screen (hey...we needed that a few nights ago!) leading up to the Love Boat Disco Deck party, and then stayed for the hour+ long party. The weather tonight was finally perfect in every way:  warm, calm, not too breezy and dry. Yay!!

G wants to go to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the Massina Duo, but he also wants to get off the ship early tomorrow in Costa Maya. He can't have both...it's simply not in me. I've convinced him to be satisfied with a TV show on his iPhone so I can blog and bed. 

Day 10: Cozumel

Prepared Thursday evening, November 7th

Cozumel. I love Cozumel, not least for which it is the birthplace of my Pescado Amarillo moniker, but also because visiting here, if even for just a few hours, brings back so many wonderful memories for us. Bear with me for a moment, as I reminisce.

G had to drag me into the sport of scuba diving. It wasn't that I didn't like the water- I did, and we snorkeled everywhere we went- but the thought of all those feet of water on top of me made me hyperventilate. Well, once I got my Open Water and then Advanced Diver Certifications, it became obvious that, of the two of us, I was going to be the diving die hard. In our pre-cruising days, we used to come to Cozumel several times each year, to stay at an all inclusive resort on the southern end of the island and dive as much as our computers would allow. No formal nights, dressing for dinner in shorts and flip flops, talking diving when our heads were above water...that's my idea of vacation heaven!

In fact, a dive master at Dive Palancar on Cozumel, after watching me dive for a few days, named me Pescado Amarillo, because all my dive gear was yellow, and I was a fish in the water.

The. I dragged G on his first cruise, and the course of our vacation future was forever changed. We've only been to Cozumel to stay twice since then, and I've had to be satisfied with just very occasional cruise ship visits. The last time we were here, in 2005, we did a snorkel/beach excursion on the Fury Catamaran. We still have a photo of the two of us in the water on that excursion posted on the refrigerator, and it was time to make it a pair.

By the time we met for our excursion at 1pm, dark clouds were beginning to appear on the horizon and te wind was picking up. Still, we enjoyed the 30 minute cruise to Cardona Reef, and the snorkel in about 20-30 feet of water. We followed up with a visit to the Fury's beach resort. By then, it was raining, but the unlimited margaritas helped keep us warm and happy. The rain stopped for the cruise back to the cruise ship, and I even got a bit jiggy on the catamaran (hey, it was he Cupid Shuffle...I was powerless to resist).

The Nieuw Amsterdam stayed late in Cozumel, until 11pm, and on the Seaview Deck, a huge Mexican Fiesta was set up for several hours. HAL does this sort of thing really well...so much delicious food and a dessert table with an amazing variety of sweets, including chocolate dipped apples. At 8pm, a Mariachi band was scheduled to perform, but the lightning that had been threatening in the distance chose that moment to move in, bringing huge rain with it. We ran to our cabin, where we sat on the covered balcony and enjoyed the entertainment of the fiercest storm we've ever seen on a ship.

At which point G announced that he loved Holland America, but Princess really had much better weather.

;-)

Photo 1: Captain Wilbert on the Fury, talking on his cell phone and steering with his foot. ;-)

Photo 2: a coral head on Cardona Reef

Photos 3 and 4: Fury's beach resort on Cozumel

Photo 5: 8 years older, but still having fun (and the fish wanted in on the act)

Photo 6: tonight's towel doggy