LIVE HoHo Horizon and a Bottle of Tequila Christmas Cruise 12-23-18

[itchintocruise]

Last nights winner of the where are we going to eat roulette spin was supposed to be Guys Pig and Anchor, however we abandoned ship for the following reasons:

-As we walked up to venue we noticed the volume of music blaring from the speakers that where placed 2-3 feet above your head every 5-6 feet throughout. The music selection was fine, it was just the volume made it hard to talk to the person next to you.

-Their was no hostess to seat you. After standing around for a few minutes, we finally asked a bartender about seating and she said to  seat yourself. We tried to find the quietest possible spot, but still the speakers right above your made it hard to converse.

-Lack of service: We waited another 10 minutes and no one came up to take our order.

 

Combined with loud music and lack of service we left. I did notice another party also leave. Sorry Guy, your food is good as we had it at lunch time, but management has some bugs to work out. We may try it another night.

 

 

[itchintocruise]

We tried the main dining room for breakfast this morning. A nice change over the buffet.

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by itchintocruise

[MistyRo76]

On 12/24/2018 at 5:31 PM, suess said:

Wouldn’t it be more fun to “reserve” your chairs this way?

 

This is fantastic! LOL

 

We also did Blue Hole last year on our Vista cruise and we absolutely loved it! The guides there were awesome and it was so beautiful.Unfortunately it had rained the night before so the water wasn't a blue as it normally is. But it was still so much fun! My three year old even did one of the small jumps with me. Only down part was my sis dislocating her shoulder (she has a problem with that shoulder and jumped against her better judgement). But the guides and our driver took such good care of her and got her safely back to the ship to have the onboard doc put it back in place. 

[suess]

9 hours ago, itchintocruise said:

We tried the main dining room for breakfast this morning. A nice change over the buffet.

 

I don't see the prices anywhere?

 

[declansdad]

26 minutes ago, suess said:

I don't see the prices anywhere?

 

 

You don't pay for food served in the MDR, it is part of the cruise fare.

[itchintocruise]

43 minutes ago, suess said:

I don't see the prices  anywhere?

 

FREE. Not really, it is included with your base cruise fare. No upcharge. I would definitely try it.

[itchintocruise]

On 12/26/2018 at 12:28 PM, crewsweeper said:

Thanks for the review.  Hoping Anna Maria is still behind the Alchemy Bar in 2 weeks.  She's one of the best.

 

And from a guy who's been on several Bourbon Trail tours over years (me) to a guy who lives on  on the Trail (you), how is the selection at the Pig N Anchor, which I've heard has more than just Makers or Buffalo Trace?

Confirmed by Annamaria that she will be on Horizon through April.

[itchintocruise]

It’s Shhhhooooowtime.

Next up is the Celestrial Strings production in the Liquid Lounge.

[suess]

On 12/26/2018 at 4:19 PM, itchintocruise said:

Today the captain anchored the ship near Grand Cayman and we had a nice swim over to Seven Mile beach. We chose to spend a few hours at Calico Jacks. Having been there before we knew what to expect. The cabbie charged us 6 bucks a head and was not pleased when we told her our destination. She was trying to funnel business to Royal Palms. For the more adventurous types you can also take the public bus from downtown that will stop along Seven Mile beach for only 2.50 and no attitude. It’s a dive bar vibe with friendly staff. The WiFi lacked a lot to be desired. 

 

You mentioned you had to swim from where the Captain anchored the ship over to Seven Mile beach.  My boyfriend and I don't know how to swim very well so do you know if Carnival supplies swim floaties or swim rings.  We sure do want to visit that beach.

thanks for helping us out. We are excited about our first Carnival cruise.

[Shaded Lady]

1 hour ago, suess said:

You mentioned you had to swim from where the Captain anchored the ship over to Seven Mile beach.  My boyfriend and I don't know how to swim very well so do you know if Carnival supplies swim floaties or swim rings.  We sure do want to visit that beach.

thanks for helping us out. We are excited about our first Carnival cruise.

Itchintocruise was joking- you can't swim off the ship. In Grand Cayman they have tenders (smaller boats) that pick you up and ferry you to the dock. From there you can take a taxi to 7 Mile Beach.

[itchintocruise]

Part1: The day we got bamboolzed in Cozumel.

 

We had booked a shore excursion through a third party vendor that shall remain anonymous for now that was to include the following: 2 Automatic Jeep Rentals, a visit to a cenote (large natural occurring sinkhole with pristine crystal clear water to swim in), and a village tour with Tequila tasting. The advertised time was approximately 3.5 hours. With a noon departure that would have given us plenty of time to return to the ship for a favorite activity of watching for pier runners. We met at our designated spot at 11:30 and were treated to an unexpected surprise. In the shopping/ tourist trap plaza there was a group of locals performing what we could only describe as a death spiral aerial act.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by itchintocruise

[JaniceB]

Wow that is a sight to see

[itchintocruise]

Part 2: The day we got bamboozled in Cozumel.

 

After enjoying the crazy spectacle, I hope their workers compensation insurance is paid up, we checked in with tour rep. We started to ask some questions about our tour and soon found out that it lasted a full 5.5 hours and would include a beach stop along with snorkeling for an additional expense (food and drink not included). After brief family pow wow we told the rep we were more interested in watching pier runners than being a captured audience at their “Beach Stop”.  After a little back and forth we agreed that they would have us back to the pier by 4.

 

Quick side note. We as a family tend not to be sheeple. We don’t like being herded around and waste our vacation time on stuff that is of no interest to us. We also don’t like being conned into spending pesos on junk.

 

We then headed to the vehicle junk yard along with the other minions in our tour to board our jeeps. Mass confusion ensued as the guides were trying to figure out how many jeeps we needed and who went with who. Keep in mind we had paid extra for Automatic Jeeps. After the dust settled our group was left standing in front of 2 Jeep Wranglers  from the 90’s. Both with manual transmissions, ragged soft tops and questionable tires. Unfortunately, and we do feel bad, the reps kicked a group out their newer automatic. We ended up just squeezing our group into one Jeep to keep from causing more of a ruckus. 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by itchintocruise

[itchintocruise]

Part 3: The day we got bamboozled in Cozumel.

 

We finally got underway to head to the cenote, or so I thought. After getting off the main road  and down the trail for some “off roading”, more like a partially paved road with many potholes, we stopped at the village. Here we encountered a few locals peddling the usual trinkets. We also had a small history lesson of the area from our guide. In their defense, our guides did a great job and were very pleasant. Then, we were herded to the Tequila tasting area. After a brief explanation of the making of organic Tequila we were offered many samples of the different varieties - 6 in all including one that contained Vitamin B17 for additional health benefits. Yes that is not a typo. B17. Now hold on folks. After some serious eye rolling and thinking I missed that day in Chiropractic school and consulting with my oldest who is working on her PhD in Physiology, there is no Vitamin B17. The sham continues...

 

Now we were back on the trail heading for the cenote, keep in mind there are now several drivers who sampled all six shots. After several more miles of playing dodge the potholes we arrived at the main reason we signed up for this tour.

[sjn911]

Thanks...loving this live tour. Great writer and truth teller...been a while since on the boards..thanks for making return fantastic...although I am sure end of this Jeep ride may not be....Happy Holidays!!

[itchintocruise]

Part 4: The day we got bamboozled in Cozumel.

 

Unfortunately the cenote turned out be a big bust. The water was not clear and crisp, more like murky and cloudy. More like the perfect place to brew brain eating amoeba. We were assured that the “health department “ takes water samples every 2 weeks to make it sure it is safe to swim in. Several people were brave enough to take a swim and several even jumped in from the top of the sinkhole, maybe 15 feet up. Kudos to them. After spending 30 minutes here, the next stop was the beach and snorkeling for some and hopefully the end of the tour for us. We reached their “buddy’s bar” around 3:30 thinking that was a good time to get us back to the pier by 4:00. We were gently persuaded by the tour guides to come inside and check it out. Wrong. We told them it was time to go. They said to hold on and they needed us to fill out some paperwork because we were leaving the excursion early. Clearly another way to get us to walk into their establishment and spend some more money. Luckily their was a cab waiting at the entrance to the bar, so we just hopped in and off we went back to the pier.

 

Fortunately we made it back to ship in time for Happy Hour and to watch the pier runners. It turned out to be worth it as the runners were entertaining in their own way. In looking back, even though our day didn’t turn as planned we will talk about the memories from this misadventure for a long time.

 

[itchintocruise]

55 minutes ago, sjn911 said:

Thanks...loving this live tour. Great writer and truth teller...been a while since on the boards..thanks for making return fantastic...although I am sure end of this Jeep ride may not be....Happy Holidays!!

Your welcome. Thanks for tagging along.

[itchintocruise]

Tonight’s winner of our dinner choice.

[itchintocruise]

Appetizer

Arancini

[itchintocruise]

Main

Spaghetti with Meatballs 

[bakersdozen12]

5 hours ago, itchintocruise said:

After a brief explanation of the making of organic Tequila we were offered many samples of the different varieties - 6 in all including one that contained Vitamin B17 for additional health benefits. Yes that is not a typo. B17. Now hold on folks. After some serious eye rolling and thinking I missed that day in Chiropractic school and consulting with my oldest who is working on her PhD in Physiology, there is no Vitamin B17. The sham continues...

 

There is something referred to as vitamin B17. It’s also called amygdalin. It’s can be dangerous and I believe it’s banned in the US. I haven’t finished reading what you have posted so far, but I do hope you mention the name of this tour company so that others can avoid it. 

 

https://www.webmd.com/cancer/amygdalin-cancer-treatment

[Cafedumonde]

I want to know too!  The tour co.  

Thanks for the review.

[KT+5]

We are coming today, and there are many bowl games my husband wants to see. 

Where is the best place to watch the games?

thanks!

[puppycanducruise]

Great photos and info.

Thanks.

[itchintocruise]

2 hours ago, KT+5 said:

We are coming today, and there are many bowl games my husband wants to see. 

Where is the best place to watch the games?

thanks!

I’m guessing the Skybox Sports Bar. Enjoy your cruise.