Mariner Review 8/1-8 Last Part

[allelect]

GRAND CAYMAN: The tenders worked efficiently like assembly lines. We were off the ship and onto the island very quickly (15-20 minutes). My son and I walked two blocks to Captain Marvins for a 2+ hour snorkel tour. Their boat is nice and comfortable with easy on-off access for snorkeling in the rear. The weather was outstanding and Stingray City was a great experience. We got to observe, pet, hold, and feed some stingrays. Next we snorkeled at Coral Gardens which is a good introduction for those new to snorkeling. It’s relatively shallow (maybe 8ft), but aquatic life is not plentiful.

I wished we had arranged the 3-site tour so that we would have gone to the Barrier Reef as well where the snorkeling is supposed to be more exciting. Captain Marvin’s people were in the water with you including a videographer. We didn’t opt for the DVD as it was $51. There was one other family on board and the two of us. Also, Captain Marvin’s gives you free small rum cakes to take home.

 

COZUMEL: Our family got into one taxi. My son and I were dropped off at Eagle Ray Divers for a snorkel tour. My wife and daughter continued on in the taxi to Paradise Beach. We snorkeled at 2 sites on the Palancar Reef. The drift snorkeling was a neat experience—just lying on the water and moving slowly along. We saw several different types of fish and one large school of maybe 1000 fish. I was a little disappointed because I expected the sites to be teeming with an abundance of aquatic life.

Eagle Ray Divers had an older boat with no easy on-off platform. The cost for 2 sites was $100 for the two of us. There were two young women on the boat as well. The Royal Caribbean snorkel excursions may be a bit cheaper, but the trade off might be having more snorkelers and a larger boat. After a couple of hours snorkeling, my son and I hopped into a taxi and joined the rest of the family at Paradise Beach. This was definitely a highlight of the cruise. Paradise Beach is beautiful, comfortable, has some water toys to enjoy, and the lounge chairs and umbrellas and water mats were all free. Waiters came right up to your spot on the beach and served tasty lunches, Mexican beers, water, soft drinks, and the exotic drinks. The service was superb and the prices were very reasonable.

 

ON SHIP: We enjoyed most of the shows including the dazzling pageantry of the ice show. The Platters sang their old hit tunes one night. We spent time at Bingo and in the Casino. We took advantage of ShipShape activities and worked out in the ShipShape Center and earned those ShipShape $$ for free T-shirts.

 

The problem with the whole vacation is that by the time you really, really relax that it’s time to leave and go home. Maybe next time, we should book a longer cruise……

[LLM]

Thank you for your wonderful review.

 

Lisa

[Chloe Girl]

allelect:

 

Sigh!

 

Now the worst part is yet to come...the PCD or otherwise known as "Post Cruise Depression"!

 

Thank you for your review!

 

V&M