Jan and Byron's 25th Anniversary Cruise - Liberty w/pic- Western Itinerary 3/23-20/13

[boa toting mama]

Pictures will commence with embarkation day. I don't have any pictures of our day flying to Miami.

 

Our trip starts with me still packing at midnight at March 21. Yawn. I'd worked all day and then had packing and various work and business related matters to take care of into the evening. So, it was about 12:30 am on departure day when I zipped the suitcase for the last time.

 

3:00 am March 22 - the alarm went off. A quick cup of coffee, get dressed, load the car and we were on our way by 3:40. We picked up my friend Lyn and headed to the airport for our 6 am flight. Lyn was going to take care of our cats and parakeet while we were gone and drop us off/pick us up at the airport. 3:45 and we were picking up Lyn and at the airport by 4:30.

 

A fun meeting at the airport, I ran into a teacher from the school where I used to work. He and his family were going on vacation and on our first plane of the day. We visited with them while we waited to board the plan. At about 5:30 am we were boarding our first plane. United Express from Colorado Springs to Denver.

 

About 6:45 am were were in Denver and waiting for our 10:15 flight to Charlotte. We had about 3 hours to wait. We walked from one end of the terminal (gate B90-ish) to the other end (gate B7-ish). Along the way we had breakfast. After breakfast we headed to our next gate.

 

Our second connection was late getting in and we were late leaving. We were scheduled to leave at 10:15 and we actually left a bit after 11. The second flight was uneventful and we arrived in Charlotte nearly an hour late. Many people had to rush for their connection but we had a couple of hours still left. After finding our next gate we went back to the food court area for a late lunch/early dinner. Charlotte is a lovely airport with a piano player, white rocking chairs in which to relax, and a good variety of restaurants. We had lunch at a Carolina Barbecue place. We had pork sandwiches, cole slaw with a choice of sides. Byron had baked beans and I had fries. We each had a soda.

 

After lunch we went to our gate. We still had about an hour left, so I found an outlet, plugged in my iphone to charge and played around on facebook. Finally it was time to board the last leg of our journey to Miami. A 2 hour flight later and we landed on time. Upon exiting the aircraft I noticed that we weren't in Colorado anymore. We live where there is very dry air and at 6500 feet elevation. The air in Miami seemed moist and heavy. It took me a few minutes to feel comfortable breathing. We picked up our luggage and called the hotel shuttle.

 

We were staying at the Hyatt Place. The shuttle was nice, picked us up quickly. A quick trip round the terminal to pick up other passengers and we were on our way to the airport.

 

We check in and head to the room. The room is very nice. The sitting area is very comfortable, the bathroom quite nice and the bed very very comfortable. The hotel has 6 floors and is full this evening. Many cruisers stay here the night before the cruise. I met a couple dozen people at the hotel who were going to be on our cruise. I saw some of them later in the week. I would recommend this hotel.

 

I browse what's on TV. We don't watch much TV (to say the least) and commercial TV doesn't appeal to either of us. We settle on watching The Hobbit on Pay Per View as a start of vacation treat. He starts the movie and I head down to pick up our food. While waiting I run into some people who will be on our same ship and visit with them. Soon the food is ready and I bring up. We watch the movie and about 1 am it's over and we head to sleep.

 

Next post: Embarkation Day

[Chitownlou]

Pictures will commence with embarkation day. I don't have any pictures of our day flying to Miami.

 

Our trip starts with me still packing at midnight at March 21. Yawn. I'd worked all day and then had packing and various work and business related matters to take care of into the evening. So, it was about 12:30 am on departure day when I zipped the suitcase for the last time.

 

3:00 am March 22 - the alarm went off. A quick cup of coffee, get dressed, load the car and we were on our way by 3:40. We picked up my friend Lyn and headed to the airport for our 6 am flight. Lyn was going to take care of our cats and parakeet while we were gone and drop us off/pick us up at the airport. 3:45 and we were picking up Lyn and at the airport by 4:30.

 

A fun meeting at the airport, I ran into a teacher from the school where I used to work. He and his family were going on vacation and on our first plane of the day. We visited with them while we waited to board the plan. At about 5:30 am we were boarding our first plane. United Express from Colorado Springs to Denver.

 

About 6:45 am were were in Denver and waiting for our 10:15 flight to Charlotte. We had about 3 hours to wait. We walked from one end of the terminal (gate B90-ish) to the other end (gate B7-ish). Along the way we had breakfast. After breakfast we headed to our next gate.

 

Our second connection was late getting in and we were late leaving. We were scheduled to leave at 10:15 and we actually left a bit after 11. The second flight was uneventful and we arrived in Charlotte nearly an hour late. Many people had to rush for their connection but we had a couple of hours still left. After finding our next gate we went back to the food court area for a late lunch/early dinner. Charlotte is a lovely airport with a piano player, white rocking chairs in which to relax, and a good variety of restaurants. We had lunch at a Carolina Barbecue place. We had pork sandwiches, cole slaw with a choice of sides. Byron had baked beans and I had fries. We each had a soda.

 

After lunch we went to our gate. We still had about an hour left, so I found an outlet, plugged in my iphone to charge and played around on facebook. Finally it was time to board the last leg of our journey to Miami. A 2 hour flight later and we landed on time. Upon exiting the aircraft I noticed that we weren't in Colorado anymore. We live where there is very dry air and at 6500 feet elevation. The air in Miami seemed moist and heavy. It took me a few minutes to feel comfortable breathing. We picked up our luggage and called the hotel shuttle.

 

We were staying at the Hyatt Place. The shuttle was nice, picked us up quickly. A quick trip round the terminal to pick up other passengers and we were on our way to the airport.

 

We check in and head to the room. The room is very nice. The sitting area is very comfortable, the bathroom quite nice and the bed very very comfortable. The hotel has 6 floors and is full this evening. Many cruisers stay here the night before the cruise. I met a couple dozen people at the hotel who were going to be on our cruise. I saw some of them later in the week. I would recommend this hotel.

 

I browse what's on TV. We don't watch much TV (to say the least) and commercial TV doesn't appeal to either of us. We settle on watching The Hobbit on Pay Per View as a start of vacation treat. He starts the movie and I head down to pick up our food. While waiting I run into some people who will be on our same ship and visit with them. Soon the food is ready and I bring up. We watch the movie and about 1 am it's over and we head to sleep.

 

Next post: Embarkation Day

 

Congrats on your 25th Anniversary! Looking forward to the review

[boa toting mama]

Today is the day we board the ship! We get up about 8, it's a bright sunny day. We get ready and head down to breakfast. Breakfast is nice. A selection of pastries, pancakes, fruit, yogurt, cereal, assorted juice, coffee, tea, etc. Settling in at a table, we strike up a conversation with a couple near us. They are going on our same ship and we end up running into them every other day or so.

 

The hotel has contracts with a shuttle service to take cruisers to the airport, it's $12.00 per person and was going to arrive at 12:30 and be full of dozens of people and get to the ship/on board about 2 or so after loading/unloading everyone's luggage. I know we can be on board much earlier and easier by using a cab and the cost difference is minimal. We head up to the room, collect our bags and have the hotel call us a cab about 10:15. The cab comes in a few minutes and we get in and head to the Port of Miami to board the Carnival Liberty.

 

On our way to the port we hit a small snag, but it's worse for the cab driver. There we are, driving down the freeway and BAM the hood flies up, smashes the windshield and splinters it. The cabby stays in full control of the car and pulls us off to the left. Less than a minute later a police officer comes alongside, stops traffic and leads us to the right side of the road, on the exit median. The officer then heads off about his business. The cab driver calls us another cab and starts planning on getting his car repaired. We get out of the cab and look to see what might have gone wrong. Ends up the bolts/a bolt holding the hood down had sheared off, causing the hood to fly up. I hope the driver got it fixed soon so he could go back on the road/work. We pay the first driver for this leg of the journey and await our second cab.

 

We get into the second cab and make an uneventful trip to the port. We pay the second driver, give our bags to the porter, tipping him and make our away to the Carnival terminal entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we head into the terminal, show my passport, Byron's birth certificate and ID and head to check in. We have priority check in, so nice! Next thing we know we're heading to get our Sail & Sign cards, head to board, have our embarkation picture taken and we're on board!!!!

 

I'll put the rest in another post this one is getting long.

[boa toting mama]

We are on the ship! We head to floor 7, Room 7279, our home for the next week. It's 12:20 and our cabin steward, Putu (a friendly and wonderful steward). We aren't supposed to be up in our room till 12:30, so we head up to deck 9, Lido deck for lunch. I've heard on cruisecritic about a drink called the Funship Special and so we order one. Byron finds it too sweet, and it is sweet, but it's tasty! We also have a Guys' burger. I'm writing this review for my blog and for cruise critic so sometimes I may explain something that people know already in one venue or another.

 

In any case, Guy Fieri, of Food Network fame, has his name/franchised a burger restaurant on Carnival ships. I've heard much about them, and have eagerly anticipated having one. So there we are and we find a seat at a table on Lido deck and I have my first Guy's burger. It's ok. I know many rave about them and perhaps it was just that it's so busy on embarkation day. Or perhaps it's that I'm married to a restaurant chef (currently working in a hotel) and good burgers aren't uncommon. In any case, it was tasty, but nothing spectacular. I have a "straight up burger" and Byron has the "pig patty" and I put grilled onions, mushrooms and I enjoy the fries very much.

 

 

After lunch we head back down to our cabin.

A nice surprise is in store. Our friend and travel agent has surprised us with anniversary decorations in our room and a plate a chocolate covered strawberries!

 

I'll finish this post tomorrow. It's 11 pm and time for bed.

[DJ56]

Keep the review and pictures coming!! I will be on the Liberty later this month and I am so so so excited!! Sailed on the Liberty two years ago and am excited to sail again. Also THANK YOU for taking the time to write a review and post pictures. I have done it in the past and it is very time consuming but so exciting for people like me to read!! ;) SO THANKS!!

[RockyMtnMama]

Hey girl! I can't wait to read the rest of your report! And just in case you don't recognize me as RockyMtnMama, I'm the one who took your profile photo. ;-)

[boa toting mama]

Hey girl! I can't wait to read the rest of your report! And just in case you don't recognize me as RockyMtnMama, I'm the one who took your profile photo. ;-)

 

Yup I know you in real and online life. :) I'll have more report up later today.

I plan on getting to at least day 3/Cozumel today. We'll see.

[ch27088]

Hurry, hurry more and more of your review and photos.

[Orpheo]

Enjoying your review. Congrats on your 25th Anniversary :D

[boa toting mama]

This part has a few pictures so will be in more than one post.

 

Day 2, Part 3 - Our cabin, sail away, steakhouse dinner, show, rest of day

Darn, wrote the post and had it nearly done and then poof, it was gone. Don't you hate when that happens?

 

 

 

Byron got right down to relaxing!

Ok, cabin post part 2.

 

Where was I... oh yes, we were heading to the cabin. Our wonderful travel agent/friend Cheryl had surprised us with anniversary decorations.

 

 

 

 

 

[boa toting mama]

We unpacked our carry ons, looked at our balcony and over the side to the luggage being loaded:

 

 

 

 

 

Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, so we wandered about the ship. In our wanderings we went to the atrium lobby area, the Promenade where Byron signed up to attend a free champagne art auction the next day (and guessed at the price of a work of art). We encountered a someone from the steakhouse and confirmed our reservations for that evening. We also found ourselves up on Deck 11 and toured the spa. They have a variety of treatments/services, a wonderful workout area/gym, sauna, showers, and friendly staff. The gym and sauna are free. The spa services have fees.

 

At some point before sail away our strawberries frome Cheryl arrived? They were as delicious as they were pretty!

 

 

After wandering about on decks 11, 10, 9, 5 and 3 we went back to our room and lo and behold, our luggage had arrived. We unpacked and headed to "muster" aka safety drill. We listened to safety instructions and then headed up to Lido "Sail Away." Oh, we also got our "bottomless bubbles" stickers which meant that we could then have free soda/juice in the main dining room and bar areas. A handy thing to have! Once up on Lido we listened to the music, watched the antics of the DJ Double ii and then the entertainment staff was introduced to much applause. We had Cruise Director Troy Lipton, Assistant Cruise Director Adam, Graham was another entertainment staff and then the dancers (who also had many duties helping with guests in addition to dancing in the shows).

 

Ends up departure (5 pm) was delayed for one reason or another and we ended up going back to the cabin about 5:30 to rest and hang out before getting ready/dressed up for our first dinner on ship, the Steakhouse. We had 7:15 reservations.

 

The steakhouse was everything that I'd heard it was and more. Byron is a cook for a living and has worked in a seafood/steakhouse and in other nice restaurants and currently works in a small-ish hotel here in town doing banquet work. He was *very* impressed with the steakhouse. We had appetizers, Caesar salad, the bread (rosemary foccacia was so amazing I could have sworn I heard angels singing when we ate it). I had filet mignon and Byron had the double cut lamb chops. I had some creamed spinach as a side and a potato. For dessert we had homemade fresh raspberry sorbet which was beyond divine and we finished with coffee. This restaurant has a flat rate $35 fee and was very well worth it. On land this dinner would cost over $100 each and be worth that. Also, on the first night on board the dinner comes with a complimentary bottle of red or white wine. We chose the red.

 

After this amazing repast, which took a couple of hours, we went to the 10:30 show which was a "Welcome Aboard" show, it was entertaining and fun. We also observed a game of bingo before that. We didn't play, the steakhouse was our "splurge" and we felt bingo was overpriced and didn't play at all during the cruise ($25 per game, for 3 cards).

 

After the show and a very long day we headed to bed and our first sleep at sea.

[boa toting mama]

Hurry, hurry more and more of your review and photos.

 

Just posted the rest of embarkation day. Will get to sea day later. Glad you're enjoying it!

 

Enjoying your review. Congrats on your 25th Anniversary :D

 

Thanks so much!

[boa toting mama]

I didn't take food porn, darn it all. I'd left my camera at home accidentally and had my iphone with me. Periodically I'd think of taking food pics, but never did.

 

I'll post what we had for meals in various posts. And maybe do a "food review" post at the end with Byron's comments as well.

[boa toting mama]

Keep the review and pictures coming!! I will be on the Liberty later this month and I am so so so excited!! Sailed on the Liberty two years ago and am excited to sail again. Also THANK YOU for taking the time to write a review and post pictures. I have done it in the past and it is very time consuming but so exciting for people like me to read!! ;) SO THANKS!!

 

Glad you are enjoying it. I enjoyed reading reviews too. Yes, it's time consuming, but fun too.

[boa toting mama]

I looked back at my notes after posting and fixed my blog, but it was too late to edit my post here.

 

Kindly insert the following paragraphs between ending of show and before heading to bed. Thank you for your kind consideration.

 

 

 

************************

After the show and a very long day we were wandering the promenade for a bit and along came a "fun crawl" - Cruise Director Troy was taking people (maybe 100) on a tour of various fun spots on the promenade and I joined in the fun while Byron watched some poker in the casino.

 

 

We listened to the band by the casino for a bit and the "fun crawl" peeps had a "twist" competition, that was fun to watch. The gentleman who won was likely old enough to remember the twist from the first go round! Let's hear one for the Baby-Boomers! Then it was off to the piano bar where everyone sang a rousing chorus of "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" and something else, a quick glance at the Alchemy bar and we paraded into the night club where we were given glow sticks. I don't like the style of music they had in there and I certainly don't dance to it, but I *can* manage to "count the beat" when I'm not liking something much, so I stood off to the side and "conducted" the dances 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, with my glow stick. I haven't substitute taught middle school music for nothing <grin>. After the night club the tour was over. I collected Byron from watching Poker and we headed to bed and our first sleep at sea.

[boa toting mama]

Our first full day of the cruise is a sea day.

 

The night before, before we went to bed, we filled out the room service card. Room service is included in the cruise fare, but it's understood that one tips the server who brings the food $1 or $2. Right on time the knock came on the door and we had coffee, bagels, cream cheese, butter (Byron doesn't like cream cheese) and 2 yogurts. What a way to start the day!

 

We lazed around the room, Byron got up about 9, I was up earlier enjoying my coffee in the room and watching the ship channels on the TV on ship progress and ports of call, etc. At 9 they had a Morning Show where the Cruise Director and Assistant Cruise Director (Adam) had trivia questions and they went over what there was to do on the ship that day. It was great fun and took a very long time for someone to guess the trivia question.

 

We left the room and wandered around for awhile. Byron wandered off to watch poker for awhile as they had a tournament starting at 11. I went to Lido for a Meet & Greet that ends up lots of people missed (and I caught up with them later) and at least one other person were there but we didn't see each other as we didn't have on the designated "item of apparel" so we'd know each other. I read for awhile, had a Blue Iguana burrito and talked to the lady in front of me (from Oregon) for awhile. After lunch I went and found Byron. The tournament hadn't happened (not enough people bought in) and there were people playing poker and a crowd around them.

 

I found a chair across from the casino and was reading my book when WOW, a HUGE line (maybe a couple hundred people) all wandered it and lined up between me and the casino, so I couldn't see it anymore. It was the "shopping group" people. They'd just had the shopping talk on board and these people were in line to get a free charm and something else maybe? Anyway, I was making conversation with random people in line to pass the time. The line moved fairly slowly. A few minutes later someone asked me if I had been on the cruisecritic.com "roll call" for this cruise. I had, and so I had my first "meet up" right there on the promenade. They were in line for the shopping tour of the shops and such on board and the charm. We were going to the same beach day the next day in Cozumel, so we agreed to meet up there and say hi again.

 

What with this line of people between me and the casino, where Byron was watching poker, I couldn't see him. I went over a minute later to see if he wanted to go up to lunch, as he hadn't had lunch yet. But... he wasn't there. He'd wandered off and didn't know I was still over in the chairs. I wandered around a bit and then went to the room and there he was. We went up to Lido to get him a Guys' burger.

 

Byron is not enthralled with the Guy's burgers. He's worked in food service for 30 years and has cooked many a burger and anything else in his time. He, however, was willing to think that maybe on the first day when they had *so many* people up on Lido all afternoon waiting for their rooms and sail away that the first day wasn't a good way to judge them. So he had a second one. And his opinion didn't change. It's not a bad burger in any way, it's just not "all that" super and the best thing ever. For one thing, anyone who a) cooks a lot, esp. for a living or b) spends much time watching Food Network *knows* that to get a good burger one doesn't smash it as flat as one can on the grill. However, the guy cooking had a metal smasher thing and was smashing those burgers as if to see just how thin they could be, which gets all the juice out of them. And juice in a burger = flavor. It's all great to want it cooked through and for food service burgers, that's the way to go, but smashing them just isn't a chef's method and Guy Fieri is, after all, a chef. In any case, the burger made a nice lunch and when on board we'd eat them again. We just don't agree with the consensus that the Guy's burgers are the best thing on board. The toppings bar was good, the fries are very good and the variations on burgers are a nice selection.

 

So, lunch done, it was time to head over to the art auction. The art auction is held in the disco/night club (yeah that seems an odd place for an art auction, the layout of the room room works well for this. We looked at the art (none of it original, but all high quality (and some artist signed) copies of whatever type they are (can you tell I'm not an art enthusiast as I don't know the terms.) That said, I very much enjoyed looking at the art and if I had money to burn of those nature (we don't) I'd have considered a piece or two as I saw some things I liked very much. A few minutes after we got there they passed around some free champagne and a few minutes after that the art auction started. The auctioneer, Steve, was great fun, funny and friendly. He got everyone enthused and there were door prizes along the way. We didn't bid on anything, but it ws fun to watch. That lasted a couple hours from looking at the art to the end when they were done for the day.

 

Penny slots were in the casino, so big spender that I am, I played $2.00 worth of pennies and ended up with $10 on my sail & sign card. Figuring that was good enough for the day, we headed to the atrium lobby and watched whatever was going on there and got some soda (diet coke for me and coke for Byron). Then we went back to the room to relax.

 

At this point (4:30 - 5:00 -ish) the wind started to kick up and the boat started rocking, and the clouds were coming in. We were between the end of Florida, the Gulf and Cuba (which we could see and I watched us sail by it on and off in the afternoon). We had dinner seating for 8:15, and so had time to read and relax and watch the sea go by from the balcony. After awhile we showered and changed for dinner.

 

We'd cruised only once before, 24 years ago, from Vancouver, British Columbia to Anchorage. Cruise ships were much smaller in 1989! We were on a Princess ship (I don't remember which one) and it held 700-ish passengers. The Liberty holds 3,000-3,500-ish. Anyway, lots of things have changed and one is they have photographers that have a bunch of backdrops and people can get their pictures taken. It's fun to watch. So, about 7:30 we head down and watch people getting their pictures taken. The boat is rocking and I'm not feeling so well. We have one picture taken and get to our dining room (the Silver Olympian, deck 3, aft) about 8. I'm not the only one not feeling well. And I'm thinking I REALLY should have taken that Bonine (sea sickness non-drowsy medication) we'd brought. Alas, I hadn't.

 

At 8:15 they let us in the dining room and I'm sitting at the table under 5 minutes before I have to bolt for the bathroom. Barely making it there in time. I come back to the table feeling a teensy bit better and order some fruit to start, a piece of baguette and some baked chicken for dinner. I ended up eating 1 bite of baguette, 2 bites of fruit and excused myself from the table. Once tucked up in bed I felt better. I watched the re-run of the prior night's show and read a bit. Byron got my dinner "to go" from the dining room and brought me a can of ginger ale (using the soda sticker we had). I ate my dinner in bed and went to sleep about 9. Byron stayed up reading and wandered about the ship for a bit.

[Bases5]

Did you get the Free bottle of wine in the steakhouse the first night?

[boa toting mama]

Did you get the Free bottle of wine in the steakhouse the first night?

 

We did, we had a choice of red or white. We chose the red.

[Cruzayear]

We did, we had a choice of red or white. We chose the red.

 

I was in the steakhouse with you, we had 7:30 reservations. The steak house food and staff were great. We had a party of 5 and were given 2 bottles of wine so we chose a white and a red :D

[BenjiRodney]

Loving the review so far, thanks so sharing with us.

[boa toting mama]

I was in the steakhouse with you, we had 7:30 reservations. The steak house food and staff were great. We had a party of 5 and were given 2 bottles of wine so we chose a white and a red :D

 

Oh, you sat across the room from us I think, on the bench seat for some of your party and 2 of you in chairs? We were the couple across the room, next to the window. Did you enjoy your meal?

[boa toting mama]

Loving the review so far, thanks so sharing with us.

 

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it!

[boa toting mama]

Cruise Day 3 - Cozumel - A beach day and the Lost is (miraculously) found

Our first port day and I was up at 6 am. Well, what do you expect when I'm asleep by 9. However, the Bonine I'd taken the night before seemed to have taken effect, and the ginger ale and bland(ish) chicken and potatoes I'd had the night before had done the trick and I slept well and woke refreshed and feeling fine. Of course the husband was snoozing next to me as he hadn't gone to sleep at 9.

 

Oh, one note on the night before, Byron tells me I was far from the only one who left dinner looking a bit pale and heading for the cabin. The sea was rough that night.

 

We didn't have to be anywhere early, Cozumel was a docked port, no tendering required and our day on shore was a relaxing one of lying by the beach and hanging out in the ocean and pool at Mr. Sancho's. Cozumel was 2 hours earlier than "ship time" (aka Eastern Time) so getting to the beach early also wasn't a concern.

 

 

Our room service coffee wasn't due till 8, so I went up on Lido to find the buffet and get some coffee there. Along the way I ran into a woman looking for coffee also. We made our way to the buffet and had a pleasant hour together chatting. A bit after 7 she went to wake her husband and kids/grandson (they had 2 cabins between them) for their excursion. Lido deck had some early risers about and I had a bit of buffet breakfast while I was there. That day, a port day, the buffet opened at 7, but coffee was available earlier (24/7 I think). After breakfast I went to the cabin and read a bit till Byron woke up and our coffee arrived. I'd ordered coffee, bagels, bananas, and some cereal (frosted flakes) to the room. We just loved that room service was included in the cruise fare.

 

We hung out in the cabin and about 9-ish I phoned a friend I'd made on the roll call on cruise critic. I'd let some of the roll call people have our cabin number and she'd left a note the day before and I'd given her a call back. This time we connected and decided to get off the ship at the same time and take a taxi to Mr. Sancho's for our beach day. We made our way to deck 0 and waited for them to appear. I'd let her know what I was wearing and she'd done the same. Plus she had on the mardi gras beads we had been to wear to the meet & greet that I'd forgotten at home and she'd not wore the day before. So, we met up and shared a cab to Mr. Sanchos.

 

On the way off the ship to the cab area one has to go through a long corridor of a store, sorta like what happens when you exit a ride at WDW only with Liquor, Jewelry and Cigarettes and Souvenirs. Oh and opportunities to have one's picture taken. This one was a private (not ship) pictures and we tipped him a bit and had our picture taken.

 

 

We exited this shopping area, made our way through a commercial market area and to the place where the cabs were located.

 

I didn't take many pictures of our beach day, though I should have take more than the um, 1.... I took. Our beach day was great. We visited with the family (mom, dad, teen daughter) we'd cabbed over with and met up with the couple I'd met the day before. Out of respect for their privacy, I'm not using their names here on the trip report. Mr. Sanchos has a free section and an all inclusive section, which includes food, beverages, lounge chairs and the like. Our waiter for the day was Gabo and he was very attentive and nice. He brought us nachos, drinks and our lunch. Byron had coconut shrimp and I had fajitas. The food was adequate but nothing spectacular in the way of Mexican food.

 

We lounged around most of the day. Included in our day was a 30 minute massage for each of us. It was Byron's first ever massage. He'd told me before we left he just wanted to make sure we had a covered area as on our honeymoon (25 years ago) in Hawaii, he'd gotten badly sunburned our first day there and turned the color of a cooked lobster. He'd even had to sleep in a separate bed for three days due to the pain if I turned over when he was lying down. He didn't want a repeat. But with the guaranteed shaded area, came a 30 minute massage each and a rose for me. Included with the shaded area and the food/drink. He's now a fan of massages.

 

 

 

 

I was in the pool for awhile and met some other people from our ship, one or two had been on cruisecritic before the trip. I was only in the pool for a few minutes though and didn't catch names.

 

Now for the exciting bit. After awhile it was time to go. We left about 4 ship time, (2 Cozumel time) as we were to be on board by 5:30 for a 6 pm sailing. We had wristbands showing we were guests at Mr. Sanchos and I had a wrist wallet. See if you can guess where this is going? So, put on our beach coverups and make our way (Byron/I, the family of 3 and the couple I'd met the day before) and shared a cab back to the ship. We exit the cab and start down toward the shops on the way to the ship and I saw "wait, husband...... where's my wallet?" He had the beach bag with his things and I had a beach bag with my towel and such but no wallet. Ooops. Seems that "feeling" of something on my wrist from the Mr. Sanchos wristband and not my wallet. Ugh. My write walled had my id, my cash (only about $15 at that point), my sail & sign card (to get back on the ship/room key, etc) AND my iphone (with my pictures). oooooops. So, some of our party goes back to the ship and the husband (I'll call him D and his daughter) goes with me to ask if we can get our cab back to us. We think it's one number and they call that cab. It's not that cab. We describe the driver as best we can, but all the cabs are white and many/most of them are vans. It's Mexico. So saying our driver was a Mexican male driving a white taxi-van (probably a Dodge) wasn't very informative. However, the port taxi people were *very very* helpful. They used their walkie-talkies to check with Mr. Sancho's to see if anyone knew which drive we had. We waited. We chatted. I prayed.

 

After awhile Byron went back to the ship so he could let the ship know I was a bit delayed. A few minutes later he called our new friends phone from his phone saying the ship said I could still get on with my my sail and sigh card (and drivers license) if I really needed to. Hallelujah for that bit of news. So we waited a few more minutes. And then the blessed message came in, our taxi driver had been located. He'd gone home after he dropped us off as we were the only ship in port that day and the tourist driving about was almost over. He had my wallet. With everything intact. :) I thanked him, tipped him, and he drove off. We thanked the port dispatchers (I don't have a picture of them, but my new friend who was with us does and I've messaged her to see if she can email it to me). And I promised them I'd post to say how *wonderful* it was and how pleased I was with their true dedication to getting me my wallet back.

 

Wallet in hand we walked back to the ship and now that I had my phone/camera back, my new friend took this picture.

 

 

We got back to the ship with time to spare and chatted about seeing each other's rooms later. They had an aft-wrap (large deck, on two sides of their room as their room was in a very back corner of the ship) and they wanted to see our Ocean Suite. We made plans to meet later in the cruise.

 

Once back, I found Byron and he had me to tell Guest Services I'd arrived. So I did. By this time it was about 6 and we rested a bit, chatted about our day, showered and got ready for dinner. My Bonine seasick pills (one taken once a day) were working great and we went to the main dining room for dinner.

 

We had some pictures taken before dinner and here is one that we ended up getting. I think we clean up ok.

 

 

For dinner:

Starter:

I had the Fried vegetable spring rolls (yum!!!) - I went on to have these other nights as well

Byron had the Study in Sushi (he enjoyed this)

 

Bread: The baguettes are marvelous and we each had 2 pieces

 

Main dish:

I had the Jerked pork loin (yum)

Byron had the braised short ribs (he enjoyed these as well, good flavor, nicely cooked)

 

Side:

I had some steamed vegetables

Byron had fries

 

Dessert:

I had the warm chocolate melting cake. I just *had* to try it after hearing about it on cruisecritic for so long and it very much lived up to it's reputation. I'm glad it comes with the ice cream though as it's very very rich and the ice cream really helps with that.

 

Byron had the cheesecake

 

We each had a glass of red wine. I enjoyed the Kendall Jackson Merlot and Byron had the Barefoot Cabernet.

 

After dinner we stopped by the Piano bar for awhile. The piano player is very good. We were there about an hour. I played off another $2 in slots and won another $10 (so now I was up to $20 in slot credit having only put $2 to start with) and we headed back to the cabin.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Great start, we're doing the same cruise in May...can't wait to read about the ports.

[soapbxking]

Was the steakhouse worth it?/ What night do you think is the best to go?? I am thinking either 5(Roatan), or the second formal night(Grand CAyman)??

 

Brian