Cruise Days 3 & 4

Day three: A Day at Sea. We had breakfast at Chops Grill which was an included benefit of being a suite guest. The service and the atmosphere were good, however the food was no better, and actually probably worse, than the Windjammer. We went to breakfast in our bathing suits and headed straight up to the deck with the pools. First, Luke, Kara, and Jack did the sky pad. Then, Luke, Thomas, and I did the water slides. There’s one that briefly goes out over the water and that was terrifying and cool at the same time. I went on twice and then felt dizzy and had to call it a day. Luke and Thomas went on it a bunch of times with no line. 

Eventually, we met up with the Cantells and Luke and Ella spent time on the water slides. Jack and I found Marta and Frank and we checked out the peekaboo bridge, which was pretty cool (it lets you look into the ship's bridge). We all had lunch in the Windjammer. After lunch, Jack played cards with Marta. Thomas, the girls, and I went back to the peekaboo bridge. We were really close to Cuba and it was pretty cool to be on deck and see it as we went by. We used our binoculars and were able to see the skyline of what looked like a pretty big city.  

At 2 o’clock, I went to the ice-skating show with the big kids. Meanwhile, Thomas and Luke played ping-pong and then Thomas was able to get Luke a spot in the kids club. After the show, the girls and I met up with Thomas in Café Promenade to have an afternoon snack. Jack and Marta played some more rummy. Thomas and I spent some time sitting on the deck and reading, as did Jack after cards. We had dinner in the main dining room at 5:30 and then everyone but Anna went to the 7:30 show, which featured the comedic juggler that we saw on our last cruise. He was funny and we liked it. Anna had gone to the teens club, Kara met her there after the show. We gave them a 10 o’clock curfew. Kara wanted to stay for a surprise 10 o’clock activity. But, she is 12 and we think 10 o’clock is late enough. She was still in a good mood, mostly because her team of three won a name that tune competition and she got a metal water bottle.

Day four: Cozumel. We had breakfast in the main dining room which was good. Then we hung out in our cabin until it was time to leave for our excursion at 10:30. The plan for the day was Playa Mia. Originally, we had booked an excursion to Xcarat, which everyone was very excited about. But for some unknown reason the excursion was canceled, and we scrambled to find something that we could do. Because Luke is not vaccinated, we could only do excursions with the cruise line and many of the ones that were still available had a minimum age of 8. So, we decided on another beach day. We went to Playa Mia when I was pregnant with Luke on our first cruise, which was a Disney cruise. And, I had fond memories, so it was a good consolation excursion. 

The bus left from the end of the pier around 11:15 and we were there by 11:30. Luke, the girls and I went straight to the ocean inflatables. Thomas and Jack started with some snorkeling. We also did the water bikes and hung out in the pool area. We were there with the Tilleys and the Cantells and we really enjoyed being together. 

Screenshot from a video of Luke that Kaitlin took. It wasn't easy to get up on the inflatables, so we didn't spend too much time there. But, the kids did go down the slide a few times (I even braved it once).

I love how clear the water is in the Caribbean. Anna on shore, the rest of us on the water bikes.

Better water bike view

Playing in the pool. We were the only ship in port, so nothing was crowded.

I wanted to recreate some of the photos from this play area, but we ran out of time. The pictures from the first time are in the blog under Cozumel (Nov 2013).

Our excursion did not come with food, but the food was super reasonably priced. We had some amazing nachos, quesadillas, and tacos. Everything was very good. Our excursion lasted only 3 1/2 hours before we were back on the buses. Luke was very upset about this as he wanted to do the inflatables again. But I think everyone else was ready to go. When we got back to the port, we did a little souvenir shopping. Anna got a bracelet, Kara got a necklace, Jack got a Mayan ruins statue, and Luke got a T-shirt. I bought some earrings and Mexican vanilla. Thomas got nothing. 

We were back on the ship around four and everyone showered and changed. Some of us met the Cantells at the suite lounge around five. I had a virgin piña colada and Luke and Anna had their nightly Shirley temples. We all went to dinner at 5:30. I had some delicious shrimp. Then we went to the 7:30 comedy show, which was fun. Jack especially enjoyed it. The girls headed up to their evening at the team club, where they did another scavenger hunt, and the rest of us walked around the ship a bit before deciding to call it a night.

I wish I had thought to order a pina colada on the first night. It was delicious!