luckybecky

We hit the casino for a little while. Went to the showroom for the 80s show which was outstanding. Then the comedy show at 1100, didn’t know it was going to be both comedians back to back. Each one did about a 30 minute set so the show was over around midnight and we headed up to bed. By the way, this show was not held in the Punchliner club but in the main theater. Many people there. Here are some pics from the show and a few more of our day. 20230518_183339.mp4

Later we went to dinner. We didn’t realize it was another cruise elegant night. Paul was wearing shorts and the hostess politely told him shorts aren’t allowed. It only took him a few minutes to run up and change. Another guy nearby was grumbling about being told to change. But the guy seated right next to us once we finally were seated was wearing cargo shorts. So I guess the policy is inconsistently enforced. Doesn’t matter to us. We are fine with following the policy and Paul had no problem at all with changing his pants to comply, but it doesn’t bother us if someone nearby is wearing shorts. By the way, the Carnival Hub app works great for mealtimes. It is easy to check in, and the app notifies you when your table is ready. It always showed us “less than a 10 minute wait” when we checked in. Once it notifies you that your table is ready, you show up and are seated immediately. No more long lines at the dining room. Mushroom soup Sicilian meatball soup Fried oysters Baby spinach salad Prime rib Neither of us got the lobster, so no pics of that, sorry.

Here is the Fun Times for Cozumel

Friday May 18 Cozumel We have been to Cozumel a few times so we didn’t plan an excursion here. We slept late, then had breakfast for the first time on this ship! I had a made to order omelet. We got off the ship maybe around noon with no plans at all. It was very hot. We did a little shopping, not much. If you leave the port area, there are many shops including a “supermarket” – just cross the street immediately after leaving the port area, and turn right. The supermarket has food, toiletries, and more. We bought some snacks. We looked around a few other shops and bought a t shirt, but it was so hot we just decided to get back on board early. We went to the lido deck and hung out at the pool for awhile. It was nice! First time I ever had a lounger right by the pool – and with an umbrella for shade! Ha! We are always off the ship when in port so never get to see what it’s like with few people on board. We watched the pier runners. Deck 6 forward is a good place. There were only Paul and I and one other couple there. There are a ton of excursions in Cozumel -- I didn't realize just how many until I started scanning the list from the brochure I had picked up at the shore excursions desk. Many of them sound fantastic. Makes me wish we had gone on one! I'll post all 13 pages (!) of them.

There was not a production show tonight. We hit the casino for a little while. At 9:30 we went to the Love and Marriage show hosted by cruise director Franco. It was hilarious as always. They do a similar version of this show on pretty much ever ship I have ever been on and it is always so much fun. We never miss it.

Here's the menu for tonight with food pics We started with the cheese plate Alligator beignets Baked onion soup Caprese Not sure why this photo insists on loading upside down. It's the BBQ pork spare ribs. Paul said it was good. Lasagna. I wasn't a fan. Praline cake Apple pie

Back on board a little after 3pm. We showered and then went in search of something to eat. Ended up having a couple of slices of pizza. Saw some folks getting huge seafood platters from the Seafood Shack that looked pretty impressive. We lost a little money in the casino. Gavin at the casino bar is amazing. Give him some love if you are on the ship with him. We went to supper around 6 or 6:30. It was good. Great service. Soon after we were seated, there was an announcement, we didn’t hear all of it, but it sounded like there was someone overboard. Subsequent announcements sort of cleared up the matter: there was a smaller craft that had capsized, with multiple people in the water. I would guess we had been underway about an hour at this point. We stopped and sent out a rescue boat while the Belize Coast Guard was summoned. We were at supper while all this was happening so I don’t have any photos or first hand knowledge. CD Franco later said that all were saved. It turned out to be a total of 17 people. They were passed on to the Belize Coast Guard and we continued our journey after maybe a two hour delay. Here is a story about what happened. https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-ship-involved-in-rescue-after-boat-capsizes/101788

Here are all the shore excursions that are offered in Belize.

Here is the Fun Times for Belize. I hope it is a little more legible than my earlier photos of the Fun Times, but unfortunately they aren't printed on a standard size paper and they don't completely fit on my scanner, so part of the page is cut off. But hopefully you'll still be able to see the main info such as the schedule of activities and opening times of various venues. And here is the info regarding the tender that was provided the night before arrival.

Finally we were led downstairs to a waiting boat which took us on a 45 minute ride to a small private island. I was already prepared to not like this tour: we had been forced to downgrade from a small group tour to a very large group, and then made to wait almost an hour to depart. The ride to the island was pleasant enough. A very small island but plenty of chairs, tables, and loungers and clean white sand. But the thing that saved this tour for me was our snorkel guide, Clive. He was amazing. After we arrived at the island we were given snorkel equipment and had just a few minutes to find a spot to sit, put on sunscreen or whatever. Then we all regrouped for instructions. First time snorkelers were put in their own group with a guide. We eventually set off with Clive. He was great. He took us on a leisurely swim (not the race speed we did with our guide yesterday) and stopped continually to point out and name all the many kinds of fish and coral that we were seeing. He would dive down to pick up a conch or sea cucumber or urchin for us to pass around. It was an awesome experience. After the snorkel, we had lunch: one hamburger and one cup of rum punch were included. Nothing else. You could buy soda, bottled water or beer, and chips, at additional cost. Then we had a little beach time and eventually were rounded up to return to the boat. We got back to the ship about 15 minutes early. Add this to the long delay we had to wait for departure and I thought our excursion was shorter than promised. Otherwise it was great. Note that we did not have to tender to the mainland. We went directly off the ship to the boat that took us to our little island, and then back again. Once again I was sorry to have forgotten my underwater camera because the variety of fish and coral was incredible.

Wednesday May 17 Belize This was our first time in Belize, and we have heard the snorkeling is amazing here. So we went out of our way trying to book a good snorkel tour. As I mentioned, the first tour provider told us they didn’t have enough participants. Then our Carnival small group tour was canceled at the last minute for unexplained reasons. So we ended up on a large group Carnival tour (78 of us – ugh, this is what I hate about ship tours – but it turned out to be not so bad). We didn’t have to meet up for our excursion until mid morning, and I have already told you that we are not morning people. So we tried to sleep in. Franco the cruise director was having none of that. Starting at 0700 sharp he started making extremely loud announcements in the hallway. Now, I have been on ships where if I want to hear the announcements, I have to run and open our cabin door as soon as I hear the ding-dong. That is not the case here. You can hear the announcements from a mile away. The speakers are VERY loud. For that matter, you can hear every time someone speaks in the hall outside our door. You know how you have heard that inside cabins are pitch dark? Not so. We had slivers of light – and decibels of sound – coming in from our doorway. And the announcements this morning were nonstop, every few minutes, very loud. Calling various tender boats. So the morning announcements got very annoying, very fast. We sleep with a white noise machine and even that was not enough. Take some airport runway strength earplugs, I guess, if you plan on sleeping late. We eventually gave up on sleeping. Took our time getting ready. Didn’t eat breakfast. I almost never eat breakfast, and Paul just had an apple and orange that he had brought back to our room from the buffet yesterday. Turns out we would have had more than enough time to eat. I never like to be late so we showed up in the theater 10 minutes or so before the appointed time. Then we sat there for almost an hour. Why tell us to be there at 10:15 if we aren’t going to leave until 11????

I'm not happy with how my photos of the Fun Times and other documents are turning out so I'm going to try to scan the rest of them in for the remainder of the review. My scanner is slow and kind of a PIA but I'll try to get that done this afternoon and then I'll come back later tonight to finish the trip report. By the way, the Fun Times was not delivered to the room. Of course the info is available in the app but I like to have a paper copy. You can get one at Guest Services, or several times when we left our room in the morning we would pass our room steward's cart and he'd have a few copies on there so we would grab one.

Here's the menu and food pics Escargots Greek salad Chicken noodle soup with vegetable spring rolls in the background. This was the only time they brought out both of our apps at the same time (as mentioned, we usually each order two apps). Normally they would serve one, and then the second one which is how we prefer it. Lamb chops Grilled chicken breast Chocolate panna cotta

Back on the bus at 6:30pm with some extremely intoxicated people for the return to the ship. It was raucous. One guy very loudly and repeatedly bemoaning the fact that he could not find his shirt or shoes. Fortunately only about a 10 minute trip. Long walk through the port shops. There were many shops as well as some restaurants, and a nice pool. Not a bad option if you just want to stay in the port and not do an excursion. Arriving at our cabin, we had a notice in the door that our excursion in Belize tomorrow has been canceled due to “operational reasons.” You might recall that the first excursion we planned here was also canceled. Shore excursions desk was already closed. So we just showered and got cleaned up for dinner. I used the spa locker room shower again while Paul showered in our room. We headed to dinner in the MDR. Excellent service. Our waiter almost immediately set a cheese platter (available on the dessert menu, but also can be ordered as an appetizer) on our table. We hadn’t even had time to order anything yet, but this delicious item appeared and was very welcome. We had only had a Guy’s burger several hours earlier, no breakfast and nothing else since then. So it was nice to have something on our table right away. OK here is where something went wrong and cost us some money. The menu included a roast leg of lamb, and grilled lamb chops from the steakhouse menu. Paul intended to order the leg of lamb. He received the lamb chops. We were impressed by the presentation and portion size. I even commented, “wow, that looks really nice and large for an MDR entree.” I was right. It WAS nice and large for an MDR entree. Later, when we were checking our onboard account, we discovered we had been charged $27 for the lamb. It appears that Paul was served the steakhouse selection of lamb, not the lamb that is on the regular menu. We honestly don’t know whose fault it was, ours or the server’s. The person taking our order did clarify that the lamb could take a little longer, was that OK? Yes, we said. But she did NOT clarify that it would cost more than $27 ($23, plus gratuity or tax or whatever). Since lamb was on the main menu AND on the added cost steakhouse menu, I’m going to put some of the onus on Carnival servers to make sure guests know which they are ordering and not paying extra if they don’t want to. But we also have learned our lesson to be SURE we know what we are ordering. Well, anyway, we enjoyed dinner. Meanwhile, I was on the Carnival Hub app trying to find an alternative tour in Belize and was able to book a snorkel tour. After dinner we were pretty wiped out. We usually love to do the show and comedy club, but tonight we only had energy for a short spin in the casino. We got some wine and went back to our cabin, watched tv and just chilled for awhile. Got our beach bag ready for tomorrow.

Port time today in Costa Maya was 1:30-7:30pm. We had reserved a Beach Snorkel with open bar. It was a lot of fun! Meeting time was 1:30 on the pier. We arrived early so had to wait a little while. Just after 1:30 or so we were led to a nearby bus, which took us to the beach. It was not a long drive, maybe 10-15 minutes. We were instructed to follow our guide to receive our snorkel equipment and instructions. But half the bus ran off to the beach. LOL. They got the best seats at water’s edge. We had a full half hour before we got to go choose our loungers. It took awhile to distribute masks, snorkels and fins. Finally we thought we were on our own to go find a lounger and start our beach time. We did not realize that the snorkel part of this excursion was a guided snorkel. We thought we could just go out on our own. We were wrong. Our guide started calling us to all get in the water. Soon we set of on a very ambitious swim. The tour description does include this caveat: “Guests must be strong swimmers and must be able to swim for approximately one hour.” This was true. I was really glad that we had decided not to go to the gym that morning. It would have been too much for us if we had already done a workout. Our guide swam quickly, pretty far out, not much time to stop and rest. There wasn’t time to meander in a place to just observe the fish. We had packed so quickly for this last minute cruise, I forgot to pack my underwater camera. So no pictures, but the fish were many and varied. Back on the beach, we had to surrender our mask and fins. I asked if we could keep them, hoping we could maybe do a slower paced snorkel on our own later in the afternoon. No, we had to return them now. We enjoyed the open bar. There were many shops with all the typical souvenirs if you want to do some shopping. We got a massage! What a deal! Only $20 (plus tip) for 30 minutes and it was excellent. Compare this to ship spa prices – you can’t go wrong.

Here are all the shore excursions with prices for Costa Maya

Here's the Fun Times for Costa Maya

That's weird. We checked every single tub on the ship and never saw one bubbling, and couldn't find a way to turn them on, We were on the NCL Bliss a few months ago. Those had a button you had to push and they would only go for about 15 minutes before you'd have to push it again. But none of these had any way to make them go that we could find -- and I guess we weren't the only ones because people were in them all the time but they were always only circulating with a few gentle jets you could feel underwater, but not bubbling.

Tuesday May 16 Costa Maya We slept late again. Debated going to the gym but… nah. Finally wandered up to the buffet around 11am. There is a Late Risers Buffet from 10:30-11:30am. It was limited to one line on one side of the buffet and there were at least 100 people in line. Not kidding. It was ridiculous. So we went down the casino bar and got a mimosa and bloody mary instead. That counts for breakfast, right? Back to our room to get our beach bag ready and then went back to the lido deck to get a table for lunch. Guys burger bar was open early (11:45) and the line was manageable so we got that. Lines there for the last two days have been ridiculous. Lines in general around the ship have been long. At bars, shops, food venues, guest services. It has always been crowded in the buffet and hard to find a table. The ship just generally seems crowded.

Here's the Fun Times for today.

Then we gave the casino another chance. One bartender has already learned our names and drink preferences – like we ordered from him ONE time and he knows us immediately when we approach the bar. I don’t know how they do it. Neither of us was having any luck so we headed back to our cabin around 10:30 or so. But I already told you I am a night owl and like a late night snack. I usually just have a few potato chips or a little Skinny Pop at home, but those kinds of snacks are nonexistent on this ship. I realized there is no room service menu in our room. Nor are there the breakfast order hang tags that have always been available – the ones where you make your choices and put it on your door knob the night before to have room service delivered in the morning. Nothing. There used to be a little book with menus and other info. Not now. So I tried the app. Here’s what I got. Paul bravely ventured out in search of something to snack on. He came back with sandwiches. The cheesesteak was very good! More than I needed – I just needed some chips or something – but we ate them. No fries or chips – they were out of them when Paul was there and he didn’t want to wait for some. Later, I noticed that there is a QR code sticker on the wall with a room service menu. Apparently there is NO complimentary room service available anymore. Everything had a charge. I’m so sorry to see cruising going this way, to everything having a charge. The QR code did not include a breakfast menu so I still don’t know what is available for that. This guy was waiting for us when we got back to our cabin.

After dinner we went to the theater about 20 minutes or so before showtime and got seats right on the front row. We are pretty sure this is the same show we have seen before on the Breeze, the Motown show. It was a lot of fun, very high energy with great singing and dancing. After the show, we headed to the Punchliner club for the comedian. We arrived early enough to get good seats. This club is much more spacious than I remember on other Carnival ships. It filled up by showtime but I can recall it being much harder to get into on some other cruises. It was the same comedian I saw last night but all new material. He was very funny Here are some shots of the Motown show

The cruise was $100 ($50 per person) and we received a $100 OBC. Taxes and port fees were $209. And prepaid gratuities were $192. So all in it cost $501 at the time we booked. We also used AARP gift cards (Allstate also sells them and possibly other places) which were purchased at a 10% discount. So our bottom line was about $450 to book this cruise, and we got $100 of that back in OBC.