G did this itinerary at least 15 times in the past two winters without me, and it’s obvious that he has in mind to share certain specific things with me. In the case of Costa Maya, it was to sit on the little fake beach next to the pier and enjoy the view of the ships and the music. Also, our Verizon Cellular service provides us free coverage in Mexico. We needed to check again for any nasty ‘Cancellation Notices’ from Princess.
Sidebar: Do you recall, after the shipwreck in Nice, after we had flown home, spent a week while the Pacific Princess was repaired and then gotten notification that the ship would be ready for the next cruise, flown to Rome and the night before we were to re-join the ship in Civitavecchia, Princess emailed us a ‘Cancellation Notice’ and it nearly stopped my heart because all I could see was the Subject of that email and the words ‘Cancellation Notice’, and it wasn’t until I opened the email that I could see a voyage date, and the voyage date was for the cruise when the ship was being repaired and we were home and not the cruise we’d be joining the next day? Yeah, that was mean. 😉
So, back to today. G has discovered the omelet bar in the buffet, so he has been temporarily distracted from his chicken biscuits, and I move more slowly in the morning (good grief, this inside cabin sleep is unsurpassed), but I eventually made it to the Pacific Dining Room for my favorite avocado toast and when I got notification of my table number, I chat it to G and he joined me there for juice (much better than Princess’s, he says) and coffee. It’s a good system.
Back in the cabin, I covered myself liberally in sunscreen (really, I did) and we walked off the ship and settled into a spot at the aforementioned little sandy area next to the pier and G bought us two beers and we iPhoned and I texted friends and was relieved to not see any ‘Cancellation Notices’ and to read that the general consensus online is that our November 10 Regal Princess cruise is a go.
Still, no additional FCC or cruise credits for the missed cruises. I guess Princess doesn’t realize that if they announce they will give you something, but you have to subsequently chase it down and beg for it, it kind of diminishes the joy of receiving it. I’m still counting on it magically appearing before we return home.
The beers were gone and the sun was hot and I’m the one who led us down the path of debauchery as I ordered us two margaritas in two foot tall glasses and they really hit the spot. And we were internetting and talking with new friends and time was passing, and then we had to order food so we could get ourselves back down the pier to the ship and, all in all, we spent about five hours on that beach and had a blast.
There was one bikini-ed girl being wheelchaired back to our ship (bringing back memories of that Spring Break cruise we did on the Emerald Princess…oh my, that was something else) and she was being sick the whole way and they deposited her on the pier until someone from ship’s medical could come out to look after her, but G’s medic training wouldn’t allow him to just leave her there in case she choked, so he stayed with her until someone came, but I fled, and quickly. There’s a reason I was totally ill-suited to the medical field. G later said he actually thought she might have been drugged, she was so sick. So be careful out there in Mexico!!
One look in the bathroom mirror told me I had done a bad, bad thing. I was fifty shades of red, mostly levels 40 to 50, and received a stark reminder that sun reflects off of sand and up, even if one is in the shade. Suddenly every face wrinkle popped out and I’ve aged 15 years. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and it will definitely keep me on the ship tomorrow.
We returned to the HoJo Atlantic for dinner. Our waiters are so darned nice to us. In fact, the entire crew is. And our fellow passengers are, frankly, the nicest group I have ever sailed with. Everyone talks to everyone, all the time. I was so, so wrong about what to expect cruising on a Carnival ship out of Galveston. Yes, the food is still tough for me, especially at lunch and dinner, but I’m not starving. I’m mostly sticking to what Carnival calls the “featured salad” on the dining room menu and tonight’s was particularly delicious.
Showtime at dinner no longer shocks me. Last night’s dance was to Uptown Funk, and that can’t be bad. It's still a little strange to me, but if I abandon past biases and just go with it, it’s kinda fun. The American Gothic couple at the next table has never returned after the first night, so we basically have a table for four for two of us and that is much more comfortable. In many ways.
Last night’s production show was called Soulbound and it wasn’t really a production show in the Princess sense. It was simply the four vocalists performing songs by soul and jazz artists in kind of a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (my words) theme. No dancing to speak of.
Thankfully, the walk from the Jubilee Theater to our cabin is about two minutes. With almost 6000 passengers on this ship, how lucky were we to get a last minute cancellation in this location? I was in the shower at 4:35pm today when the spa called me to tell me I was late for my salt scrub pedicure. I never booked a pedicure and told them so. Apparently “Angela” forgot to cancel that when she cancelled her cruise and it didn’t happen automatically. Not that I couldn’t use one at this point, but my feet are sunburned and I really don’t need them to be salt scrubbed right now.
I think the inevitable peeling that is certain to follow will take care of any needed exfoliation for me.
😮