Days 16 & 17, 28-29 April. Cozumel Mexico & At Sea (Galley Tour)

Day 16-
We docked in Cozumel Mexico this morning at 7am, the water here is a pretty azure blue colour like Malta's was. We had a small brekky in the cabin, then got ready & off the ship at 8.30am for our 9am tour. We booked the Mayan ruins tour, with stops along the way for tequilla & chocolate!  It was super, super humid again today- everyones hair was frizzy, wet & curly by the end lol!

 

Cozumel, Mexico

Our guide was Tommy & he took us by bus to the ruins about 15 mins from Cozumel port. The road was literally one straight line for about 10 mins of that! The ruins are 1000-1200 AD & the people came by sea from South America & trekked 8 miles inland and built their village in the middle of the bush so they remained undiscovered, as they were a peacef ul people (except for the sacrificing humans, although this was seen as an honour as only the best mayans were chosen).  There were only about 500 or so people in the village and fertility was a very important issue for survival of course. They would get married at 12 for the girls & 13- 14 for the boys, then would have between 8-12 chilldren. Old age was considered mid 20's-30! When the Spanish came they brought with them STIs like gonorrhoea, bugs such as the flu & chicken pox, which was responsible for a lot of deaths.

Either a mongoose or a mexican racoon

The Mayan arch & roadway

The ruins of the church

The ruins were really interesting, they used to work to build the stone roads in the evening when it was cooler and crush seashells, leaving them on the roads or tracks to show the way home as they glittered in the moonlight- ancient Hansel & Gretel style!

We saw quite a few iguanas as we were the 1st group there and a mexican racoon visited lol. After the tour we travelled along the coast as the island is only 34 kms long I think and just one long road again, then stopped at a beachside place where people surf a lot. You could buy A Coco Loko drink, which was served in a coconut. It had white rum, vodka & coconut water with ice - it was so smooth we had one each, then on to the organic cocoa chocolate factory, where we had a tour, sampled the chocolates and had a....... chocolate margarita- as you do! The bar had swings at the front! Then we travelled back to the port & were given a standard margarita at the somewhat? Famous Margaritaville! Quite a happening place with music, open air bar, singing, food & drinks. Did well today, we felt fine....must have been the dehydration from all the sweating lol!!!

Love the swing at the bar! 

Bought some gifts then wandered back to the ship for a light lunch as it was 2pm by then. A really great tour and worth doing!

After a nice quiet dinner, Bob, Linda, Gray and I went to the 'Come fly wtith me show'. -was pretty amazing 2nd time round even!

Day 17-
Up today and down to the Galley tour we booked as we have seen tv shows on the kichens on big ship and its fascinating. We were taken through one of the kitchens- there are 2 1/2 acres of them onboard can you believe and they put out a staggering 100,000 meals a DAY!!  Dont know how they manage in the heat - and that was at 10.30am!

Tv screen that shows the massive orders coming in to the kitchens 

The head chef of the busiest restaurant onboard

After the tour we had a sit down meal with canapes and champagne, all very civilised. Talked to an american couple at our table about holidays and that in the States you dont get 4 weeks annual leave and you also cant save it up one year, to take the next for a big trip like ours. You have to use it all each year or lose it, so makes it hard for them to take bigger trips away. We saw a guy at the next table had a Kiwi tattoo, designed out of the silver fern so had to a chat to him and the other 3 who were all from Auckland - first Kiwis we have seen here lol.

After that we went down and walked on the walking track- the seas were a bit more settled today after some good swells last night, we were rolling around in bed haha. We wandered through the casino and watched some people playing blackjack, really interesting but they can smoke in there, so the smell was pretty overpowering after a while.  Came back to our cabin and packed our bags as alas- today is our last full day and we are off tomorrow.

Considering Graeme doesnt really like being in massive crowds for long periods of times, we have loved this ship and cruise. 9000 people all up onboard but there are so many places to go and they have been very thoughtful in how they designed the spaces.

At 3pm we went down to the ice skating rink (yes they have one here!) which featured skaters who were all professionals and they did a great job of telling Hans Christian Andersens  stories. Then  off for the final supper with Bob & Linda and another american couple David & anita who are at our table. They are from Washington DC and experienced travellers.

Thhe snow queen

Ugly Duckling

The Tin soldier, told in Sand Art

Thats about it for this wonderful caribbean cruise- definitely recommend this cruise line and ship....the staff work really, really hard too.

Days 14 & 15, 26-27th April. Jamaica & At Sea

Day 14-
Today we came into the port of Famouth, Jamaica Mun! We booked a 1700's Plantation tour with lunch. We exited the ship and were taken by bus out to the good Hope Plantation. The Jamacian guide Lydia was great & she told us that the driver - Delroy, has a PhD to drive here....thats Pot Hole Dodger!! The roads arent good for sure but the heat & humidity - Phew! The humudity was close to 100% and about 30C. Everyone was dripping wet with the stickeyness once we got out of the air cond bus lol.

The plantation was so interesting, the big house was built in 1755 for the 17 year old english bride Elizabeth Williams. You would think it would have been a shock moving there from England buut apparently she loved it, until her unfortunate death at 24 from malaria. She was buried in a room under the big house as were her wishes.

Elizabeths grave

Colonel Thomas Williams had over 1000acres as he was legaly allotted land 'as far as he could see', so built the house on highground. Now it still farms large amounts of oranges of many varities. We tried the 'ugly orange' as its known and its sweet and so juicy. They did have slaves but the owners were very good to them by all acounts. Out the back the Colonel built a 'counting house' as it was rude at this time to count money in the the house, but apparently as there was no bank in Jamaica at this time, the money was sent back to the UK.

The counting house

"Ugly' orange- so juicy

After touring the plantation (which still has the old stone kitchen being used) we travelled further onto the land and saw the old bridge the slaves built and the massive water wheel. Then we went to have Jamaican jerk chicken in a massive stone open air dining room. We tried red stripe beer- very nice too after the extreme humidity, although it rained on and off and it cooled a little. Back along the pot holey road! To the town where they have the "Bend Down' market every Wednesday, named for the very practical exercise they do when they shop there!

We wandered along the protected and private port front after we finished the tour (We hear Jamaica is known not to be particularly safe in places, so the port is fenced and guarded. I noticed though as we travelled, that the people are very trendy and have styly hair as well! No rough sorts that we saw, but there is rubbush everywhere on the roadsides. We were also told that Falmouth is where Usain 'lightening' Bolt came from!

Graeme bought a really nice watch to add to his collection in the guaranteed stores that Royal Caribbean contract and you get a decent duty free discount, although I also bartered them down a bit more!

Day 15-
A day at sea today, so it was nice to relax after yesterdays activities. We decided to miss breakfast and save ourselves for lunch, otherwise you eat wayyy to much!  We went for another wander round the ship, chamged our onshore activity for tomorrow in Mexico cos the one we were booked into was 10 hours long we found out! Then we tried a different restaurant for lunch. Struck up a conversation with a couple while waiting in line and they invited us to sit with them. Diane and John are lovely people, look at least 10 yesrs younger than they are and have cruised over 40 times! They live between Florida and Buffalo NY and are friendly and humble along with it. Its a great way to share tips and discuss things worth seeing as there are so many very experienced travellers - mostly older than us but a lot of the americans really look after themselves and enjoy the retirement they worked so hard for. Dreaming about that kind of retirement!!

Had the most delicious lunch of fresh prawns which were in the buffet, salad and mozarella ball cheese, y.u.m. And there were cakes about the size of a large oven door- they looked too good to cut up, but...oh well. There was a wattch sale onboard today with 75% off, guess who got another 2? Sheez his collection now sits at 10!

Walked around outside in the central park area then went for a beer in the Globe & Atlas english pub onboard. Mooched around, talked to both our girls on video chat and Ayla and Charlee then got ready for dinner.

We went to the most amazing show I think Ive seen later called "Come fly with me' which was all music and aerial trapezists, dancing and singing. It was incredible what these atheletes can do and they swung down on wires, flew up into the rafters on umbrellas, had a brass section band, a huge model aeroplane etc etc. Going to go see it again tomorrow.

Off to the 70's dance party now in the street that runs through the middle of the  ship and its a lot of dancing from what we hear. Will need a drink to quelch the thirst!

Well....  had to have 2 drinks cos they had frozen mohitos and you got to keep the glass you chose! Awesome I got a pair lol!! So glad we went alond, it was so much fun and everyone was there even though it was 10pm, old,  young, able bodied, mobile scooters, elderley, a few kids....  it was great. Then we went to a dance bar for the 70's after party and had a bogie. So long since Ive danced!!

Frozen Mohito & keep the glass

We both have found that althought here are 6000 passengers onboard, it feels so much better than the smaller shi ps we have been on and we havent felt peopled out at all- so many places to go and they planned this ship out so well.