keystonemama

Our guide, Colleen.

Next up, Coconuts! This is a unique bar, tshirts, panties and bras on the ceiling, animals, birds walking on the counter and its the highest point on the island. You do have to walk up some stone steps so if you are disabled or wheelchair bound, this wouldn't be be a place for you.

Ok, now we are 2 shots in and a margarita.

Ceiling

We arrive at our first stop, Punta Morena. Included in our excursion is a free shot of a special drink for each place, they all tasted good, some had something call mayan iguana juice? Those Mayan's knew how to party!;) We immediately ordered my first of many margarita's, it was excellent and the boys had mex beer, we also order chicken nachos. OMG, best every chicken flavor, the cheese was so thick and creamy! It also had a few habaneros, spicy but good, it didn't linger on the pallet. The place has a nice little pool to dip in, chairs, tiki tables, and massages are available for a good price. We thought is funny that our waiter's name was Arnold, lol, didn't know that was mexican. He was very nice and we had a mariachi band come play a nice song for us. We took a few pics and headed out to the next stop, we had about 45 minutes each stop.

I'm in Heaven!

Looking for a bargain!

We went thru the market and around to your right, there is a jewelry store there, I can't remember the name, but as you exit the ship they put a sticker of this store on your shirt, you walk in there and get a free gift, it was a small gem, mine was purple, you will have to have it made into a piece of jewelry yourself. We walked around to where the big Puerta Maya letters where and this is where you can catch a cab. It's 7 dollars for up to 4 people, they took us around to where we were to meet up with our guides Colleen and Carlos at Starbucks, very easy to find. We loaded up on a big Mercedes bus, just the 3 of us we were informed, so guess what, it was like a private tour! We could stop and go as we pleased!

Colleen was great, she's a transplant from Canada and has been there about 17 years. The ride to the other side took maybe 15 minutes? She told us alot about the island and even spoke a little of the Mayan language, she said some on the island still speak it. We passed one, yes one, propane truck on the way to our destination, there are no homes on this side of the island, no electricity, everything is done by generators, windmills and propane, at night the bars shut down at dark and police block entrance to this side. There is one hotel on the beach there, seriousously, if you are looking for a quiet week on an almost private island, stay here!

Thursday, Cozumel!

We woke up fairly early for Coz, even though we didn't have to meet our guide until 12:15. Excitement! We were all really looking forward to this port. Reason #1, the eastside of Coz looks gorgeous, #2 Tequila:p That is my drink of choice, margaritas, shots, you name it and I drink it. I can hold my tequila better than most so a chance to drink real mexican margarita's was at the top of my list!

We had read about the Cozumel Bar Hop ahead of time and it has great reviews on CC and Tripadvisor. We tried to book but were told we had to wait because they needed 6 people minimum. So after about 6 wks of emails back & forth with Tom, he let me schedule even though there was only 3 of us that day, it's $49 pp and well worth it.

We again decided to get some breakfast before debarking, it was lightly raining again this morning, so by the time we entered the market area, the rain had almost subsided and it turned out to be a beautiful day. After walking the pier you enter the market area only after being herded through the shops! We did buy some cool cigarette's here though. We saw Three Amigos, on your right, Fat Tuesdays, on your left, Ron Jon Surf Shop and then all the little shops, we spyed some cool ashtrays and sombrero's we would purchase when we returned. One guy approached my son and asked if wanted to purchase Cubans', my son said yes I am going too and he said well I have some, just around the corner in my car.:eek: DS politely declined. The Elation was anchored beside us and the RCCL Oasis was at the opposite piers, gosh that ships is humongous.

The Herd

Eagerly awaiting more of your review. :D

I'll try to get more in tonight, Cozumel's up next, it was absolutely gorgeous!

Happy Sailing,

Nice review, You guys look like you had a great cruise.:)

Thank you! We did, no matter what ship we always find a way to have a good time! It's vacation right? ;)

Thanks for the great review, it's just what I've been waiting for ! We are sailing the Paradise in a few weeks and it's our first time on Carnival, can't wait to see and read more !

Glad you are enjoying it. I think for a first time cruiser it's a nice ship to get a good feel for cruising. It's not so large you have to spend 2 days figuring out where you are?:confused:

I hope you have a great cruise!

On? Do you have the fun times that you could look for this info?

You could do martini tasting at the Rotterdam Bar anytime you wanted to, everyday. :)

Happy Sailing,

Our driver got us back to the pier and told as long as we were in line they wouldn't leave us, phew! One young man behind us in line was so red, all he had was a sleeveless shirt on so we let him use our CCK blue towel to shade himself while we waited to board. FYI, our van driver also told us for a sunburn arm n hammer works great. She said put enough in a tub of water so that it feels slick and submerge, she swears you will feel the heat leave your body and keep your tan.

Line

I didn't get a picture of this, but there was a small child on the stairs on our tender back standing by his dad, when we got almost to the Paradise, he yelled out, "Hey Dad, we almost home!" Too cute!

We all headed back to the our rooms to change/shower and then we headed to Lido for some lunch. I purchased a Whale Tail drink!

We later visited Vera at the casino bar, my DS was already there. There was a family there trying to find out how to get a buzz on a ship without breaking the bank, so DS calls on his dear Vera who he had already taught a new drink too. It's called an Irish Breakfast and can be dangerous. It consist of shooting 1 shot of Jameson and 1 shot of combined OJ and butterscotch schnapps. When people hear they have to shoot Jameson, their faces always squintch up (is that a word) but he promises them, just trust me and they do. He tells them do what I say and it will taste like waffles. Well the whole family shoots, squintches and then a big smile comes across their faces with a, "OMG, that tastes like pancakes", Vera give me another!" lol

We later went to karaoke and the comedy show and of course dancing like crazy at the Rex and finished it off at 2:00 a.m. with pizza! Tomorrow, Cozumel!

We walked back up to Calico Jack's for some refreshments. Near here there are several water toys you can rent to use, bikes, balls, snorkel, jet skis etc. We ordered margarita's and a bucket of Caybrew ($20) and ordered a conch fritter plate.

There are changing rooms and showers also located here. One lady was sitting at these table across from us and all of a sudden she let out a scream that rivals any good horror film, a Cayman crab had snuck up on her and skittered across her foot!:eek: Our waitress told us they have crab here as big as gopher turtles, sometimes they have to stop their cars for them to cross the road.

Some other GA friends we had met took the snorkel/beer excursion on the Happy Hour, they dropped them at CJ's for about an hour before returning back to the pier, so they hung out with us.

These little covered benches near here are free to the public.

All the van drivers hang out here also and offer you a ride back. Just make sure you tell them your departure time, we had some Freedom people on ours and they still had an hour, we had 15 mins, thats the closest we have come to missing the ship.:eek:

Albert was trying to stay cool in the shade

It was more crowded at the other end of the beach.

Albert and I decided to get a little creative in the sand....

And for my hunny of 25 years...

Here is a few pics at port

Freedom was in port with us, we luved this ship.

We walked around just a little to show my DS the shops, it is mostly jewelry shopping here, so we walked down the road and caught a van to 7 mile beach, cost for 3 of us $7.50. The guys rented some snorkel gear, $20, and I proceeded to stay cool in the water because it was quite humid this day. I found some interesting coral rocks and took pics of the guys.

After martini's, we again went to the comedy show and then played a few slots. The casino band was rockin' and we danced some and Vera made our Long Islands, yum! It was getting late and DH had to have some late night burgers from Lido!:rolleyes: I got some ice cream and coffee. Then we called it a night or morning, depends on how you look at it.

Next morning, on my desk in the room was my DS souvenir, you can get these in the Rex lounge

We were arriving in Grand Caymans today early and since we had already been there, we knew we were going, Seven Mile Beach and do some snorkeling. It was raining a little so we decided to board around 10:00, so we took our time and went up for breakfast and took a few pics.

A little sprinkle didn't stop these guys.

We headed down to tender and were on the island in about 8 minutes.

Tender, thats our waiter, Sam, he was taking a beach day.

After dinner the boys appeased me by taking several photos for a family pic. I chose a couple later on.

DS went off to find his "girl" friends, later he told me they made him take more portraits. lol. We strolled over to the Piano Bar for Sing-A-Long, we ordered drinks and sang for about 30 minutes, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

I really wanted to do the martini tasting again, a good buy for $17 and they are pretty strong. We luved our bartender and took his pic and he in turn insisted on taking ours, lol. You also get a small martini glass charm with each tasting ordered.

I just took this angle for fun.

We made our way to dinner and I must say everyone look so nice! Later that night I even heard one elderly gentleman tell his wife, wow everyone looks so beautiful tonight!

All our tablemates were already there. We ordered some wine and then on to the menu! I chose lobster as did DH and DS ordered prime rib. All were very good. I had bitter and blanc for dessert and DH had cherries jubilee and of course my expresso! I had suggested to the GA gals try the warm chocolate melting cake, so they did. The look on their faces after the first bite was priceless, they were hooked!:p

We visited Vera at the Casino bar and met some new friends, in this area each day they also do trivia games. At night the band plays here also, they do a mean Bohemian Rhapsody.:)

We checked out the spa, I don't care about exercising on a cruise so I did not take a look at the gym, but I did go check out the free use of the sauna and steam room, there are lockers and it's separated male/female.

Later we made it to Serenity and spent a couple of hours here enjoying the quiet and hot tubs, we met another newlywed couple who had gotten married Saturday and drove all the way from Michigan! It was their first cruise and they were having a blast.

I was enjoying Serenity so much, I missed getting ready for the Captain's Celebration, oh well, next time. We headed off to the room to get ready for Elegant night, that was interesting with all 3 of us getting "purdy" at one time.:eek: I wanted a family photo, so DS was willing to dress up a bit for me, lol, so I wasn't about to complain! BTW, if you are like me and like it fairly cool, especially when trying to put on makeup, BRING A FAN! I brought one and used it alot. Rooms were nice at night, but during the afternoon I thought they were a little warm.

Tuesday, Sea Day

We got up about 9:30 and headed out for breakfast on Lido, bloody mary's and belliso to boot, look at that view, tables were hard to get here as you can see why, I noticed an elderly couple sitting on the back aft tryng to get one of these tables, the gentlemen got up several times when he saw one becoming available from the other end, everytime he would get to our table he would have to turn around because somebody else on the opposite end would snag it, so I looked at my DH and said, "Finish your coffee so we can give this couple our table", so we did, and I motioned to him and his wife to come to our table, I kept my deriere planted until they got there so nobody else could snag it!:D Ok, my good deed for the day. NOT a chair hog! lol

We proceeded to go looking around at some of the shops, I ended buying a nice bag and purse for $20. We went and purchased our embark pic next.

After dinner, we attended the Free liquor tasting at the Fun Shops, we tasted 3 different liquor, you could choose from about 6, I fell in luv with the Sheridan's from Dublin, apparently you cannot buy it in the states but is so smooth, like Bailey's, we purchased 2 bottles for $44 and my DS ordered 4 Bacardi for $36.

We then attended the Game Show Mania. Good show and DH got picked for the last round (I knew making him wear that hawaiian shirt would pay off):p Well, he didn't disappoint, he knew his stuff and won his first coveted Ship on a Stick and a bottle of bubbly!

We made our way to the Rotterdam Bar and did the martini tasting and watched a bit of the magic show then it was time for the adult comedy show, we had a good time here, first night we walked right in and chose any seat we wanted. We saw 3 shows, the 2nd & 3rd night there was a line and people were rushing in to try and get a good close seat, so be there early at the door if you want to get in. They serve a few drink specials during the show.

We made our way back to lido for the midnight buffet of hotdogs and burgers enjoyed on the aft seating and then closed the night out at the casino bar.

The first night we did choose to eat in the MDR, we were in the Elation dining room. This is probably the only thing I didn't really like about the ship. I know it's an older ship, so maybe this is how the dining rooms were made back then, but I found it closed in feeling, ceiling was fairly low and the colors were a deep crimson, maybe if they lightened the colors and added some mirror effects it would seem bigger, we ate 2 nights there.

We were seated at a table of 10, us 3, 4 women traveling from GA and 3 (grandmother, mother, daughter) from CA. All were entertaining, this was the first CCL cruise for the GA group, so we helped them with a few "insider details". They had cruised RCCL before. The group from CA were "seasoned" cruisers and have cruised just about every line from all over the world. Grandma was a hoot, when dessert was over, she would look at the daughter and say "Casino open yet?" lol. When she said this I was kidding when I leaned over to my son and said, "Hey, maybe you go follow grandma and see how to really gamble", her daughter laughs and looks at me and said, "He really should, she won the Reno Poker Championship a few years ago!" :D

Our server was Sam and he was great. He was very informative and knew what was good and would bring double and triples (lobster) to my DH & DS w/o them even asking! He learned I loved the expresso after dinner, (or 2) and would automatically bring them!

Ok, I think I'll post a few food porn pics from Lido for you guys....

These are from the grill, some of the best chicken tenders I have tasted. (and I'm from the south)

burger from the grill, DH luvs toppings, the more the better!

Reuben from the grill inside Lido buffet area, DH would request this with an extra piece of turkey, awesome!

DH's breakfast, I told you, he piles it on!

My breakfast, a little better to see, I didn't take a pic of the egg's benedict but it was good. Also, I didn't have anyone put bacon on my plate, I reached over and just placed it on the plate myself. They served OJ and apple juice and guava.

Pizza bar, napolitano. We had pepperoni also. If you want a whole pizza, you get 4 of these slices. Pizza is okay, late night we ate it alot. You can order a chicken caesar salad or calzone also.

Thanks everyone for such nice comments! I told you I had alot of pics! I'm learning with each cruise what to take and few "cool" pics in between. I can't wait till I post Cozumel. So beautiful! I have decided by my next long cruise, (Breeze) I am buying a nice camera for some fabulous pictures like some others I see on here!

Well time for me to wrap it up tonight, I will try to get some more done tomorrow! :)

Happy Sailing,