| This was a cruise that we did back to back. Apparently on the cruise workld, it's called a back-to-back cruise. The first photo is of all the folks who were doing a back to back cruise, which they told us was a lot more then usual.
October 2017
Mahogany Bay
The morning started well, we got to port at around 9:30, had breakfast, and made it to the meetting station by 10:45 to meet for our waverunner/snorkel/beach excursion. There were only 6 of us, so it was a small shuttle ride, that took about 30-40 minutes to get to the private beach. The road was perilled with pot holes along the way, but out driver, Justin, seemed to know every pot hole along the way, and the spaces to slow down and pause when needed, which made the ride a little smoother. Along the way, saw lots of dogs hanging out along the road, almost on the road sleeping. The place we went was a private beach. and had very few people.. They had segways, horses, a small island to ride horses around, and jetski's. We did a 30 minute jetski ride tour near the island, which I got my first taste of what it was like to jetski in salt water... After jetskiing in the fresh water areas for so long, got a little diffifcult learning to keep my mouth shut while riding the ski. Sophia was doing her best to hold on for dear life as I rode the ski like a mad man, and did a lot of twists and turns while following behind the guide person(Caesor). After jetskiing, we did some snorkeling, which Mahogany Bay is known for the second best coral reef in the world, next to Australia, I believe. |
| Stupid me almost killed myself when trying to help push a jetski back off the soft platform, and I fell into the hole between the rails, and almost lost the ipad into the water. And it was very close, the ipad was just resting on the edge before it fell into the water. Another issue, the jetski we were resting on after the snorkeling was not tied to the soft dock, so as we were resting on it, it slid off the dock.. While trying to get adjusted on the ski to get it back on the dock, as the folks were runnign thinngs told us to stay on it to get it back, as Sophia and I were trying to switch roles so I could drive the ski, I dropped our locker key over the side. It sank to the bottom, but was not very deep. Their diver was able to retrieve the key, and we were able to keep everything intact. Ricki also made sure we were notified of time slot and when to be ready to leave, and what we would do while we were on the private beach. Was definetely a great first excursion, and would recommend it for other folks to try if they like jetskiing and snorkeling.. Or just need a nice beach to hang out on. They had a boat dock, a locker room area($10.00 for a locker rental for the day). They had some ladies that would do hair styles, a bar/restaurant, and even decent bathrooms if needed. They had a nice pier/dock out to a small hut area that was great for taking photo's. The beach was very well maintained and a lot of people helping to make the exeperience awesome. |
| The ride back was interesting, as talking to the other 4 folks that went, everyone ran out of money after all the tipping, as it started with the driver, then the resort supervisor, to the jetski teacher, to the jetski/snorkeling guide, to the driver on the way back. A lot of tipping was needed. Not to say it wasn't worth it, but would have been a lot better if they consolidated the tipping down to just one tip split among everyone. Driving back, the traffic was a lot crazier leaving the dock, which was really backed up in places. Fortunately we were driving to the dock, so the only issue was only one of us could afford to tip the driver going back. We did a little window shopping, and then headed back to the ship for a much needed shower, and then an early dinner to enjoy some beef tenderloin and a backed potato. After dinner, we went up tpo the main Libo deck, to catch the movie Paranoia on Halloween night.. After which we went back to the room, where it was quite cold, and a towel gorilla was left on our bed. The outside temperature was warmer then our room was, so we left the door open for a bit to warm the room up, and stood outside to see if we could find the moon. After we found the moon, we headed in for a good night sleep after the fun day at an awesome beach/resort. |
| Cozumel (Round 1) |
| After starting off with the usual breakfast routine, we went to shore to go to the swim with the dolphin excursion. The shuttle was only a 5 mile or so ride, but the traffice was 1 lane for the most part, so took about 15-20 minutes to get there. The excursion had an all you can eat buffet included for lunch as well. It took quite a while to get set up for the dolphins, and they made us remove our sunscreen, and any jewelry or items with abrasive edges on them. The life vests felt like kiddie vests, and there did not seem to be a reaason for us to need them. They put us in the Platform 12.5 group, which seemed to be the big and tall group. Reason I am making this assumption, is out of the 3 groups that were made, the other 2 groups got to experience the dolphins coming up and swimming them back to the group.. Our group did not get to experience this part. My guess is because of the weight of the larger people was probably too much for the dolphins. Our dolphin that we were playing with was also pregnant, and only about a month out. The trainer we had(Electra I think), told us stories about training, and how they handle domesticated dolphins, and never dolphins fromthe wild. The entire experience, we never got water above our waists, so the life vests were pretty much pointless. The only good thing was we were in the shade most of the time, so didn't have to deal with the sun beating down on us. The buffet was to be expected, pretty bad, as they had steamed vegetables, hot dogs(with no taste to them), french fries, which were the best part of the meal, and free pepsi's, which were ok, but not something to drink while doing excursions. We got a ride back to the ship, walked through the large shop hallway to be accoustomed with liquor purchases again, and made our way back to the ship, which had two lines, and only one had a line of people, so we jumped over to the other line, which was great, as it was open, so we made it back into the ship pretty quick. After relaxing, we headed up for dinner. Dinner was awesome, the best server we had on the ship, named Romiel. He started off simple, but soon was reading us like a book. The filet mignon on the menu was only half the size this time, as the dish said "shared filet mignon/short ribs". I asked to not have the short ribs included, to which he said ok. Later, he brought out the plate, which had not 1 filet's, not 2, but 3 filet's on it!!! Had me hooked up without even asking. Also read Sophia on sweet desserts, and was able to get her a dish that was not sweet, that she much enjoyed. After having a great dinner, we went over to the comedy area, and listened to a stand up for 30 minutes, give great immpression of india help service people, as well as chinese restaurant servers. After which, we headed to bed to pass out. |
| Day at Sea(2nd Day, Round 1). |
| Not too much this day, Sophia found herself coming down with a cold in her throat, so ended up nursing her to health for most of the day. Was able to look through the casino, and the game room to see what they had. Game room was pretty sad, and just mostly filled with prize winning machines and tickets. Only had a few video screens for game playing.. Was able to watch about an hour of the Movie "Song", which looked cute, but wasn't able to finish it, as I needed to check back on gielfriend to make sure she was ok. |
| Switching Cabins |
| Moving frmo the back of the ship to the front was not too painful. We had to meet down at the auditorium at 9:45, which after 30 minutes, they took us off the ship, down to customs, where I had to flash my passport, and that was it. For Sohpia, they made her do finger printing scan, and ask a few questions. Unfortunately, her hands were a little dry, so it was really hard to get her prints. They even gave her lotion to try and help, which took a few minutes. Then we headed back up, and got new room cards, and headed to check on our room early(around 11:00). They already told us the room was ready.. I Ketut(K2), was very friendly. When we arrived inside the room, they had already moved our luggage in. However, we found several issues with the room. The showed would not get hotted then about 25 degree's(C), the sink drain stopped would not close all the way, and the room was not a very comfortable temperature. K2 had said he would make the call down to get things checked out. The water guy came, and quickly fixed the shower to make sure we had hot showers again, and fixed the water drain so it would close properly. The temperature lady then came, and when we told her the issue, the first words out of her mouth is it was Carnival's policy to keep the rooms between 70 to 75 degrees. Moving from the back of the ship, where we could not put the dial down below halfway because the room got too cold(below 65), we found this to not be very helpful. When she put the temperature gauge on the bed, it read 73 degree(s). After mentioning again, she said she would send someone over to look at it. 20 minutes later, someone did show up, gave us the same speal about carnival policy, and when told they we enjoyed a comfortable room on the back of the ship, he opened up the AC panel, mucked with it for a minute, and then said he opened up the panel a little bit more, and to wait about 30 minutes for it to get cool, and he would check back later. We stayed in the room for 5 more hours, he never came back, and the room never got any cooled. The room was the same temperature as the hallway. As we came back from shore excursions, took forever for us to get comfortable. The laundry room, dinner room, and even the elevator areas were cooler then our room was(I almost fell asleep in the laundry room doing laundry one night it was so comfortable(66 degrees about?). The front area was definetely more louder, as we could hear people slamming balcony doors(even ours was hard to shut). We also had kids and women screaming up and down the hallways, which not very annoying, was a little irritating. |
| While we didn't get to know Leo very well on the back of the ship(the room had no problems except for the shower head was leaky, but was not enough to be annoying), Ketut was very helpful, even had to ask for extra pillows to try and get some more surface area that as cool from time to time to sleep on, he always saw us morning and night, and wished us a great day, and his assistant() was also very helpful. Even enjoyed the happy birthday message he wrote on our mirrir in blue and pink letters.. |
| Day at Sea(1st day Round 2). |
| Sophia decided to try and get a cold and have slight throat irritations. With the attempt to let her sleep and recover, I went up on deck to check out some things. I watched ice carving records set with 300 lb. blocks of ice being carved into Indian chiefs, and found a nice shady spot on top of the ship I pulled a chair over, and relaxed for a while. Later in the day, played in a volleyball tournament. The court was supper small(about 1/3 the size of a normal court). We almost got first place, but missed it by the last server(which I did not serve by the way). The formal dinner was nice, but first time I ever saw Sophia not eat more then 1 lobster. Sadly, after I found out she did not want a second lobster, the waiter had already put the order in, so I made her have to eat it. Getting back to the room, we found a cute oregatane hanging from our ceiling, and decided to call it an early evening, as breakfast and grand caymon will come quite early in the morning(around 7:30ish). |
| Grand Caymon (Round 2) |
| This time, the stop at Grand Caymon was a lot different then the first time. The port we stopped at was closer to the shore this time, so the tinder boats had very little distance to cover. The area was covered in shops, and a lot of tour areas available. We signed up for a 5 stop tour, which stopped at a place(subburb) called Hell? The city was named after a Crocodile, Cayman means Crocodile in the local area. The tour we took was quite crowded, they packed the bus so tiht that even seats had to be made available in the walkway. Since they drive on the opposite side of the road, we unfortunately took the wrong side, which put us in the sun window, and on the opposuite side of most attractions to see while riding in the bus. We stopped at 7 mile beach, which apparently isn't 7 miles, but more like 4 miles. It was so hot, we only took a few photo's, and stayed under the shade most of the hour we spent at the beach. Getting back to the pier, the line to get back on the ship was super long. Took about an hour to get everyone on a tinder back to the main ship. We were the last folks to get on, which was nice, as they gave us seats right next to the exit area, which when we got back to the ship, we were the first people off the boat, which was a refreshing change. The temperature had to be around the low to middle 90's, and with the sunshine beating down, was nice to get back into the room, eat some taco's, watermelon, and lemonade and refresh with a shower and a short nap before dinner. After dinner, was able to catch the first 40 minutes of the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 movie, which was pretty good to watch, just wish I could finish it, but we needed to head out for dinner... Was another night to get laundry done sadly, and of course, the dryer cannot dry jeans on the first round.. =( |
| Mahoganey Bay, Honduras(Round 2) |
| The weather started out a little warm. During out walk through the shops, we enjoyed getting indoors to the AC shopping stores to hang out to cool off. After a couple hours walking through the shops, we went to the bar to grab a virgin strawberry smoothie and orange fanta and coke. While we were drinking, it started raining. We went back to the ship, as it looked like it might start raning harder. However, once back in the ship, it started to let up, and stayed somewhat cool. I ran back out to take some pictures of the nearby shore and scenery. |
| Belize (Round 2) |
| We took a city tour for 2 hours around the city. Of course, the bus was packed, and the tour wasn't that good. The tour guide showed us a lot of area, including how bad the main road was leaving the city. Tried to sell us on rum at a duty free store for 20 minutes. He even stopped us in front of an electronic store in an area that didn't look that great, and asked us if we wanted to get out. Only 2 folks got out, the rest of us stayed in the bus.. lol |
| Cozumel (Round 2) |
| Cozumel got off to a bad start. As we were getting ready, the cruise directory(Dustin) came on the speaker, and said they were going to close the gangway in a few minutes to allow a sister ship(freedom I think) to dock before reopening. Our excursion started at 10:15, and the announcement came on at 9:45. We rushed to get ready, headed down at 9:50 to find they had already closed the gangway, and there was already a line of people up the stairs to the first level. At 10:20, they finally opened the gangway back up.. We rushed(literally ran) to try and get to the excursion to find they had just left right when we got there, and were not going to call the boat back. They told us to wait until 11:05 and come back. We came back at 11:05, to wait another 10 minutes, to then stand in a 2x2 line in the rain(not heavy, but enough to be annoying in 80+ degree weather. 11:27, they finally started moving us to the boat, which then took another 15 minutes to get on. Boat was packed, the tour was packed(of course, they packed us with the 11:15 tour folks), and didn't really see much of interest on the tour except for a shark, and a school of fish. The snorkeling at Mahogany Bay was more interesting and more of a personal experience. |
| Getting back to the ship, as the sun and the heat were getting a bit much, we grabbed some shrimp/steak/chicken tacos, took a nap, and then headed for dinner, hoping to get Romiel again for dinner. We waited about 15 minutes before our pager went off. We did not get Romiel unfortunately.. We got a server called Mahommed, which was fine, but not quite the experience Romiel gave. Headed back to the room to call it an early night. |
| Day at Sea(Round 2, Day 2) |
| Nothing exciting about this day, ended up getting up at 9 to go out and collect breakfast to let the girlfriend sleep in and be comfortable. Almost at the end of the cruises. To be honest, I am starting to feel a bit cruised out, I think a 12-13 day cruise is about the right amount of cruise time to make for a great cruise. It could also be the fact that the ship seems more shaky then the last few cruises.. We found the back of the ship more shaky, and could hear/feel the engines rev up more. The first few days on the front of the ship, there wasn't a lot of motion, but after a few days, we started feeling more and more movements/motions. |
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