island lady

There are nice and not so nice people in every walk of life...and in every level of C&A. We just hope to associate and appreciate the nice ......and ignore/avoid the not so nice. Which IMHO, thankfully...are in the minority.

LOL!! Wonder if we will even be in the same area on embarkation? Currently on Harmony, and seems every time they do the TAD process with the B2B pax...it is different. This time, however, we are only on for one leg on Harmony. Need time in between to get my laundry, and the dreaded ironing done to repack for mid Oct. Wonder! 😉

I keep forgetting to use the 25.00 cert....drats. Our meal in the MDR first night was good service and decent food....but the screaming "darlings" next to us with the family that could not control them was miserable. 150 the second night. Food somewhat good (though not like it used to be), but the service was terrible! Very limited wine list as well, of which most of it was wrong and outdated. My how things change. 😞

Pinnacles are RCI's highest level of loyalty..obviously...so they show their appreciation. RCI makes it as such...not me. Can beef about it all you want...but that is how RCI wants it. It is the way it is. And paid for by others? Gee I wish others would pay for mine as well. 😄 I have paid in spades. And BTW...I don't hang out in the DL or CL or SL. Even being a "suites" person. We use our vouchers all over the ship, and use specialty restaurants, and the MDR ......as well as CK on the limited ships that have one.

It is not a hotel that Otto and Karlita have, but instead a house with extra rooms. They built it themselves, and in fact raised the level out of the swampy low land with a lot of fill, and even put in a tiny lap pool. The bottom of the home opens out into the courtyard/pool area with an open air Mexican style kitchen. They are very proud of what they built...with good reason. No, have never done Cooking with Josefina...but sounds interesting. I need to research it, thanks!

Indeed. We never take the tram. Not into can of sardines on wheels travel. 😄

That is what I did. Was easy peasy.

Have just docked up at Costa Maya right now. We are once again, the only ship in port. It is 10:30 (ship's time). Have been here with 4 ships in. If our itinerary had not been changed by Fiona...they would not even have a ship here. Probably some scrambling to get set up for the unexpected influx of pax. 😉 It is hot...hot...and very humid here. And lots of seaweed!

Yes, she and Otto put up (by hand themselves, with a lot of scary climbing) a huge tower to sell internet service to the area. They are also going to rent out some of their extra rooms at their new house. They really did a nice job with it. 🙂 Yes, have done the class at their old location (an upstairs walk up at Mahahul) and this last time...at their new place just outside of Costa Maya. I book with TripA, since I can't book direct. It works well. In fact when RCI changed arrival dates with Serenade early December, it was easy to cancel and rebook. They don't charge you until a couple of days before the event. Love...love the class! Limited number at I think just six or eight at the most. Very personalized.

So did Pinnacles get to that level by not spending money with RCI? Gee...sign me up for that. 😉

You are most welcome...enjoy! 🙂

LOL...silly girl. I will already be on Wonder by 10/16. 😄 😄 Though will be going through TAD before even those newly boarding pesky Pinnacles board on the 30th. 😉

We indeed would have done a usual B2B on this one as a minimum....but ran out of time before we head to Wonder. Basically a fond farewell to Harmony before she leaves for Ft. Lauderdale. 🙂 Will miss our favorite crew members on this ship.

Just did 150 last night...used BOGO. So ...yes...still applies.

Believe me...so do Pinnies. 😉 This Pinnie also sails in suites. Double whammy.

I am wondering, being on a cruise in September (which we normally don't do) with limited ships in Carib. ports.....could have something to do with so many ships still doing the Europe, Alaska, NE, etc. routes. Our TA on Wonder is not until the end of Oct. Though we are doing a couple of loops around the Med before that.

LOL...now that is indeed creative!! 😄 We were the only ship at Coco Cay...which felt odd. Really was not that busy on the island. Just a few of the usual rude pax at the taco toppings area...but that was it. We of course did our normal, and opted for a small ice cream cone for dessert to enjoy on our walk back to the ship. Sun is out now, just a few light clouds on our way to Costa Maya. Can see the city of Havana from our balcony on the port side. Stars last night with the "Cheshire Cat smile" moon were beautiful. 🙂

It was on and off in various areas. We tried to go down to the casino while it was not busy to try to use our promo...but they were shutting all the slots down. Looked weird to see them all opened up and exposing the insides. 😉 We heard the fans go off, A/C go off, elevators off and on. This was around 10:15 or so.

Nice! That is the way it should be. 🙂 This is our first cruise since coming back from the summer in Maine. We are only on for this one week, not enough time in our schedule for a B2B before we board Wonder in a few weeks.

LOL!! We did get some really dirty looks when we boarded before the suites guests. 😉

We were at South Beach having a Coco Loco at the bar there when we saw that one downpour of rain coming. Was just nice to wash the air for a bit...and add to the humidity. 😉 Bucky opted out of his usual hot dog at Chill Island buffet for a taco. I love the taco bar there...you can get quite creative. That indeed was an odd test...the blackout. Have not seen that before, that I have noticed anyway. Almost everything electronic shut down. Heard some howling upset pax on the stairs that were grumpy about the elevator shut down. We always take the stairs down anyway...I guess those pax just got stuck with bad timing. Did not bother us. We headed to south beach on our usual walk around 10:30. Back to the ship for after lunch for beer and wine in the almost empty SL.

Agree...just a normal Carib summertime thunderstorm squall. It was pretty wild for awhile though early this morning on the way here. Still calm here in Coco Cay...though a bit of quick passing rain a few times already. Still plenty of sun, and have already witnessed a few "lobsters" coming back to the ship. 😄 We will be long gone before we would feel any effects of Fiona. Westward bound. 😉

We poked our heads in there around 6 pm last night I think it was, mostly just to see if our cards worked in the door. There were maybe a dozen pax in there. Was a rather depressing mood. We left to go up to the suites lounge to hang out at the bar with Louie. He has become our favorite bartender on this go round. 😉

I still don't get the "me first" mentality of boarding. We are all going to get on the ship at some point. It won't leave without them. It really is just a few minutes in between sets anyway. One of the last times we were waiting in the front of the lobby with our fellow B2B pax in a separate group...they called us to board first. Some of "The Key" pax started storming the front and getting very upset/rude with the crew members that we were boarding in front of them. I thought they were going to come to punches they were so bad. Yikes...people get a life!! 😮

Thanks. Have done Tropicante many times in the past. Steve left years ago. Just not the same without him now. Unfortunately we don't arrive to Costa Maya until 11 am, and that is assuming we are there on time. Most things we would like to do would be starting in the morning, before it gets hotter than the devil. Will just walk around early, then back to the ship for lunch and to enjoy the empty ship. Definitely looking forward to our usual favorite there....Karlita's Mexican Kitchen cooking class in December on Serenade. 🥰