Our Armonia Eeperience

[aprilF]

Before I begin this quasi review of the Armonia 12-16 through 12-23 sailing Bella Inside cabin sailing I want to say that this was our second favorite cruise out of the 7 Ive taken.  Only bested by our first cruise and that probably retains first place just for the newness of everything to us...it was pre CC days so most things were a surprise to us.  While I will be highlighting many things as seemingly negatives, I am doing so only because seeing all the potential negatives helps me decide if something is for me.  Please keep in mind that we had a great time and both of us would even do this exact same sailing next year, I believe this is the first time either of us had ever felt this way.

 

How we decided on this trip Its been a rough year for us, with no true vacations...a long weekend here, traveling for funerals there, going to help my parents set up their new home...but nothing really relaxing.  It was so bad that all of my husband's vacation time remained in October when I started looking for a trip for us.  That meant that we had three weeks (after what can be carried over to this year) at the end of December that had to be taken off and filled with vacation.  I know, poor us.  LOL  So I started looking at Key West, which we had done last year and adored.  The resort we stayed last year was sold out and everything was far more expensive this year.  I had resigned myself to looking at other Keys and around other parts of Florida.  Then MSC emailed with some pretty great rates.  A week on the Armonia for one person was equal to 1.5 nights on land for hotel only.  Of course port fees and service fees raised the total but we still got off paying less for us for the Armonia than we would have paid for just a hotel for the same amount of time.  Since we have a bit of a budget buster trip planned for next year, in part on an MSC cruise, it was just too tempting not to pass up because we'd get to save some money and try out MSC before shelling out a whole lot more (and in time to cancel if we hated the "European line").  We rounded out our three weeks with a few days at home, taking our time driving down to port and a budget hotel in Orlando for a few days. 

 

Before the cruise  We stayed at the La Quinta Miami Airport East.  The big draw for this airport is the free shuttle to the port and the free parking, up  to either 10 days or a week (I cant recall).  We had a second floor room with a lovely view of a palm tree and another hotel. 😉  The room was perfectly fine for a nights sleep and we felt safe.  The breakfast was lacking.  The hot options were waffles and oatmeal.  Its been awhile now since Ive stayed at a hotel that didnt have at least some hot egg option if they were offering a hot breakfast and yet the three I booked for this trip were all missing that.  Strangely no bananas to be had at any of the hotels (and the cruise was out after day 2...was there a banana shortage I missed reading about LOL).  I know there are several people on here warning away from leaving your car at this hotel for a cruise but I read the reviews and while a couple of people didnt love how the shuttle was run, no one claimed to have their car broken into or vandalized that I saw.  So we brought our least flashy car, leaft nothing in it, parked it in a well trafficked and light spot and hoped for the best.  And we got it, car was there and fine when we returned from our cruise.  If you choose to stay here you will need to inform them if you want to use the parking and shuttle during check in.  The take your plate and contact info.  There is no parking pass or anything on your card to mark it as a car that has been left for an extended period, I liked that.  The shuttle was hectic and took longer than private transport would.  If these things annoy you, spend the extra $20 and grab an Uber to the port.

 

More to come.  🙂

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Anxious to read more. Thanks!

[Love2CruiseTampa]

Looking forward to reading more!

[aprilF]

Embarkation We arrived at the port at about noon, an hour in advance of our PAT.  We figured this was about the worst time and were prepared for a long wait but the long check in line moved pretty quickly.  From arriving to walking into the holding pen was about 40 minutes.  We waited an additional half hour for out group number to be called so we could board.  One of the quickest check ins I've ever experienced.  We got onto the ship and went to the bars listed in our welcome package to drop off our hand luggage.  They decided to close this early and we were not able to do so.  Not the biggest deal but we would have checked at least one bag if we knew we were going to have to hang onto them until our rooms were ready.

 

So we made our way to the dining areas and began looking for seating.  There was nothing in the buffet.  Nothing in the pizza area, nothing in the burger area.  Finally we found a spot just before the pool area.  It was dirty ish but we were desperate.  We did the thing where one person stays with the luggage while the other grabs food and then vice versa.  Had a variety of stuff from the buffet areas.  I enjoyed the pizza.  Sometime while we were eating the rooms opened up.  We found our room after the initial rush. 

 

Our Interior Cabin was small but certainly livable for a weeks time.  The storage was pretty great and I set out to start unpacking since we had everything.  On the bed were some papers.  I quickly glanced and saw the "Tomorrow you will arrive at Ocean Cay" letter that I had already read here from another TR.  It didnt hit me what that meant at the time.  So my husband starts going through the papers while I am unpacking and tells me there is an itinerary change.  Uh oh.  I have a non ship excursion planned for Costa Maya, here honey, check our original papers to see if the CM day had changed. (Sure would be nice if they would give you the old schedule as well so you can see what changed.)   Of course the date had changed but the time was the same.  OK, I guess I need to send an email off to Native Choice, our tour operators.  Since I was mostly unpacked by that point I finished and then drafted my email.  And then stupidly sent it without saving it first.  Of course it would not send from an interior cabin.  So we headed out to the top deck to try again.  And it was so bright.  I really should have re drafted the letter before leaving out room.  Then my phone seemed to get hung up at the 75% sent point.  After about ten minutes or so of being stuck there, We decided to try my husband's phone.  So, drafting another letter in the blinding sun on the top deck.  With this one trying real hard not to screw up the reservation number since I am not simply replying to my receipt.  All in we wasted about an hour dealing with this. 

 

Here is my big gripe with MSC about this, I understand things happen and ports are not set in stone.  BUT since they knew about this snafu when we were checking in, I feel like the itinerary change page could have been slipped into our welcome packet that we received at check in rather than waiting until our rooms opened up at 2 pm.  The internet at the port building was much better than on the ship and it would have been so easy for me to send an email off while we were waiting to board.  PLUS, we were just sitting there waiting anyway.  Instead we got to spend an hour at the start of our cruise time panicked that our one excursion may not happen.  I could have been eating gelato in that hour and reveling at how easy MSC made it for us to switch our plans.  But no, instead I was pretty sure we had made a mistake and would be canceling our Med MSC cruise (OK, so I do tend to jump to extremes at first).

 

Safety Drill/Sailaway on the Armonia you have to wear your life vests, I didnt think any of the big lines made you do that still.  Also, Im glad.  Turns out I actually would have worn mine slightly incorrectly.  Now hopefully in an emergency I would have been corrected before it was too late but now I dont have to be Jack (to my husband's Rose...uh, well, y'all get what I'm saying).  A pretty painless drill out on deck.  We did the stairs to drop off our life vests and then continued up to the sail away party.  Where we admired the Miami city scape, still (as in not moving) in front of us.  Eventually we wondered over to the party area where we were promptly pulled up to dance by a couple of members of the entertainment crew.  After a little while we went back to our seats, only to get pulled up once again!  After a few more moments of dance we grabbed our stuff from our seats and headed over to the gelato.   Yes, finally.  I mean, I had been on board for almost FIVE hours.  It was about time.  Really.  With our gelato in hand we headed to the aft area and noticed we were moving.  And it was breezy. And the sun was almost gone.  So we looked for some shelter and found it all the way aft under the basketball courts.  Big glass windows, a beautiful view, gelato, my love (order not indicative of importance LOL).  We stayed there until it was time to go to the first show.

 

Time of my Life  I was born in 1975.  I'm a girl.  I think that tells you just how important Dirty Dancing was in my formative years.  We arrived about a half hour before the show because I needed great seats.  And, most of the ship was probably going to be at the show because it was MSC's take on Dirty Dancing.  Who'd dare miss that?!?  Let's just say that as long as you didnt need to be in the first row (I totally did) you could have probably strolled into this show 10 minutes before and gotten a fine seat.  Embarkation day I guess no one cares about the show.  As the week went on, you needed to be there earlier and earlier but for day one you can stroll in a little later.  I LOVED this show.  I felt they hit most of the highlights of the movie and the dancers were FANTASTIC.  The singers, um, were less great.  I know this movie and the songs so, so well and I struggled to hear the correct lyrics from the male singer in particular.  I was aware that some reviewers took issue with MSC hiring singers that didnt have a good handle on English.  And I really tried to keep an open mind.  But these two singers were exceptionally bad at English, the male especially.  And it took away from the experience.  As a note, the female was also breathing at odd times and it was affecting the pacing of some songs.  So it wasnt just the ESL issue but I dont think either were great technical singers either.  I still loved the show, and even tried to get my husband to go to the second one with me and skip dinner, but the singers did take away from it.  Recorded tracks for all songs would have been a better option.

 

After the show we wondered into the mini mall for the free liquor tasting.  Fortified, we headed to dinner.   we got distracted at Bar del Duermo on our way to the dining room.  They were in the middle of the hilarious Queen vs King show.  Its a guessing game of Queen and King of Pop songs.  It was too funny to keep walking past so we stayed until the end, which meant we arrived about five minutes late to dinner.

 

Dinner We were the last two to be seated at our table.  We were with two other couples, both were very nice and we almost all made it to almost all meals.  I really enjoyed our table mates and they made the cruise a better experience for us.  I hope we did the same for them.  The food was fine.  I tend to eat pretty plain.  For instance my salad every night was a Caesar salad with no dressing.  After the waiter saw that what I indeed wanted was a big bowl of lettuce we were fine but I think he thought my request odd.  LOL  For my entree most nights I rotated between the pasts with marinara and a plain baked potato.  I added in whatever vegetarian items looked good to me on any given night.  And I'd usually select one or two desserts, but usually actually eating no more than one full dessert and often less.  Most nights, my husband got an appetizer, steak, and other entree and a cheese plate.  We both enjoyed our meals every night.  Although some nights items would get mixed up with our table mates and we would have to trade after our waiter left.  LOL

 

After dinner we were pretty worn out and headed to the cabin for some rest.  I get infusions for Crohn's disease and for the couple of weeks after an infusion I usually need a mid day nap.  I had an infusion before we left so I was worn out by 10:30 pm.  After a quick shower and getting ready for bed sleep came fast and hard.  Nothing wrong with our bed or pillows I'm happy to report!

 

[aprilF]

I should add that I have all the paperwork distributed on our cruise except shopping ads and what had to be returned for whatever reason (Captain's party invite, I think there was something else as well).  If anyone has any questions, please let me know.  I am not sure I know how to post pictures here on CC but if someone is desperate for them, I can probably figure it out.  🙂

[aprilF]

Not quite on vacation time yet, I got up around 5 am and was out walking the deck shortly after.  At a little before 6 my husband finds me to let me know hes hitting the gym and we make plans to meet up at the buffet at 7.  Breakfast at the buffet was good.  I am not personally a fan of croissants but I wanted something sweet so I grabbed a chocolate one. I also got some eggs, whole wheat toast, potatoes, grapefruit, a banana and orange juice.  I just got the scrambled eggs from the buffet, I usually do an egg white omelet but couldn't figure out what I needed to do.  I went to the "order eggs" area and no one appeared so I left.  Plenty of people had those little numbers on a stick and I was certain I'd figure it out tomorrow (spoiler alert, I never did get one).  Anyway the scrambled eggs were usually pretty good most days so I was happy enough.  Tip: if you want anything other than white bread toasted it will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  Seriously, head to the toast area first to make your request and then grab your other stuff.  But they keep a healthy supply of white toast at all times so if that's what you want you cant just go through the line normally.  Tip #2 Grab your butter at the beginning of the buffet because there will not be another butter opportunity near the toast.  That's right, the butter is near the croissants and pastries. Does anyone even butter those...arent they buttery enough...which leads me to the croissant.  It is pretty buttery, as I'm sure most people like.  I ate the chocolate innards and left the croissant carcass.  The potatoes were a little greasy for my taste but I'm sure they would be fine for most people.  By the way, skipping back to that toast, it was excellent.  MSC's bread game was strong throughout the trip.  Ive never been served grapefruit that wasnt either pre sectioned or came with a grapefruit spoon, MSC did neither.  Almost impossible to eat with the provided cutlery.  I did my best but that was my last grapefruit of the week.  I think I am going to pack a grapefruit spoon for the Med cruise.  LOL

 

After breakfast we headed back to the cabin to grab our stuff for the first part of the day at Ocean Cay.  I had planned to take some cash so that we could look at the local made craft items early in the day.  I also wanted to go around and check out the whole island and take some pictures.  I figured we would go back to the ship for lunch and grab our snorkel gear after dumping off our cameras and cash.  What actually happened is that we went to the craft stalls and didnt see much that interested me.  What I was slightly interested in wasnt marked with a price.  I dont know why but I didnt go into OC thinking Id have to haggle and I just wasnt in the mood to do it so we continued our tour of the island. 

 

I'm not the best map reader so I will attempt to correctly list where we walked but I may screw up the names of some of the areas.  I believe the first area we came upon was Seakers Family Cove.  Its where they were renting some larger toys from in any case.  I make a beeline for the water to dip my toe in and see how cool it is and a life guard makes a bee line to intercept me.  I do get my toe in and it feels like it is freezing.  Then the guard tells me that I need to mind the flags and there is a red flag posted there.  The water was very calm so it didnt occur to me to check for flags.  This beach is closed due to the water toys.  We traveled on towards the bridge to the smaller island.  It was totally closed off.  I mistakenly thought that maybe the whole smaller island was for YC but have since been told that isnt the case.  No explanation was given for the closure.  We then continued onto North Beach/ Ocean Cay Lagoon.  The water was a bit warmer here and after checking for flags we spent a little time walking up to knee deep water looking for shells and the elusive Sand Dollar.  Ive found tons of fun shells, sea urchins, star fish and lots of other fun stuff at the beach but never a Sand Dollar.  I want to find one so badly.  I thought maybe it was my time, but it was not. 

 

After we had our fill of splashing around and shelling we decided to cut across the island towards Sunset Beach.  We didnt start at the very beginning so I cant say if the whole beach was closed but where we ended up was.  There were rocks and I was kind of searching in those for treasures when my husband noticed a shark inside the shark netting.  He pointed it out to me and then we noticed at least one more.  It was kind of hard to keep track of them.  There could have possibly been a third.  There were two life guards there so we asked if the shark was why the beach was closed.  They wouldnt confirm that they had seen sharks but it became obvious that one of them was given the task of being a shark spotter as he followed it around.  The sharks were small, only 3-4 feet and looked to be black tips.  Just as an FYI, there were a lot of small dead fish in the rocks at Sunset Beach.  It smelled pretty ripe at times.  I live on the coast so I can handle the associated smells pretty well but someone who isnt used to it probably would have gagged.  After we watched our shark friends for awhile we went to the Wedding Pavillion.  My husband noticed the helipad so we went to check that out and then walked the little bit extra to the end of the island.  And then it happened, a miracle.  Under the palm trees someone had set two chaise loungers, just two.  Gods only know how far they had to be drug to get there but there was no one else around so they were ours for the next several hours.  We would only get the very infrequent reminder that we were not, in fact, on our own private island a few times.  For the most part, it was just us, some palms for shade and that gorgeous view.  A few times the kayakers would go past us. Once a larger shark went past us.  Id say this one was in the 7 foot range.  Our shark spotter was close behind an a walkie, keeping other areas appraised of the situation.  Eventually we ran out of water (and needed to offload some water too 😉 ) and got hungry.  We left our little piece of heaven behind.  I hope someone else found them and took advantage because it really was just the best way to spend a few hours.

 

After finding a bathroom and water fountain we came across a food truck, I saw the had a vegetarian pasta salad so I got that and a brownie.  Husband got a couple of burgers sans buns because he decided to go off carbs that day.  Yup, on a cruise.  All the food was pretty good and we had the energy to carry on.  By this point we had decided we werent going to snorkle due to it being cooler than we wanted and our toothsome friends but I still wanted to head back to the ship to get rid of the camera, cash and maybe get a little something more to eat.  On the way we stopped in the MSC run shops.  I picked up a cute little turtle dish for $19 (tax included in pricing in the shops).  They gave me a cute little postcard with my purchase but they had them tucked all around the store.  I bet they are free for the taking and I wish I would have grabbed a flamingo one as the colors were awesome.  We got back into our room very quickly and headed up to the buffet area.  We caught the last few minutes of lunch, refilled our waters and then headed back out since we hadnt yet explored the whole island. 

 

We went straightaway to the Lighthouse Bay beach area and claimed a couple of chairs and ottomans under some palms.  The area was about half full maybe.  My husband wanted to see if it was possible to climb the lighthouse so he set off to do that.  I stayed and watched people playing.  I might have snoozed for just a few minutes.  He returned and let me know that the light house isnt open to the public.  After about a half hour or so a hammock opened up.  I decided to give it a try and it was pretty comfortable so I stayed there until the last few people were on the beach.  About 20 minutes before all aboard we started back towards the ship.  There was some sort of issue with someones card in the group before us.  Her card gave someone else's picture/ possibly name.  Then the computer freaked out after trying the same card another 2-3 times.  So they opened up the other lane but took her first and it locked up that computer too.  After the first computer came back online they started checking others in.  Then the second computer came back up and she was able to scan in successfully just after us.

 

A couple of notes about Ocean Cay.  They say no water bottles are allowed on the island, they want to sell you a $17 refillable one instead, but I didnt see this enforced at all.  We had both metal and plastic water bottles and I wish we had brought both with us, we could have extended the time in our area for awhile longer if we had more water.  Due to our itinerary change we were to leave OC at 6pm, rather than 11pm.  This means that we got no parade or light shows.  But also the food trucks closed at 3pm and we saw the bars shut down at 3:30 pm, 2 full hours before all aboard.  I was going to get the drink package for just the OC day but I waited to long at home and then we didnt arrange for it the first day and then DH decided to be carb free on OC day so we never got the package.  Which really was for the best as we would have stayed nearer the bars and not found our private slice of heaven.  But it really would have bummed me out to have purchased the drink package before leaving, thinking Id get the better part of 15 hours to use it only to find that I really only got 5 hours.  That's not an insignificant difference!  Also of note is we were not offered anything for our shortened OC day.  Im not saying we were due anything but I'm guessing some might wonder.

 

After we got back up to the room I showered and the water was so chilly.  This was the only time there were water temperature issues for me on the ship but I must have hit at just the wrong time.  15 minutes or so later the water was fine for my husband so unless you are really pressed for time, wait if you dont want a cold shower.  An invitation to the CC M&M was delivered to the stateroom while we were getting ready for the evening.

 

Freshened up we headed down to the show, The Greatest.  Once again the dancers were fantastic.  We noticed at least two new dancers added.  There was also another female singer, she seemed to be in a volume contest with the female from the night before.  In our opinion the dancers are the strong points of the pre dinner show still.

 

Dinner was another fine meal, only one other couple made it to our table but we had fun catching up with them and learning more about them since it was one on one.  After dinner we headed back to the room for the night. 

 

 

[portofrome]

Thanks for your great review!

[NCTribeFan]

I sailed Armonia in May (to Cuba) and again in September (w/Costa Maya replacing Cuba).  Now that Ocean Cay is open, I'm looking for another Armonia sailing, probably in late April.

 

I really like the smaller ship.  I don't need all the bells and whistles of bigger, newer ships.  I like the more-personal attention that it seems you receive on smaller ships.

 

My favorite place to hang out during the day is that seating area between the pool and the bar on the way to either the pizza or burger area.

 

I had a Bella inside in May (with DD) and then a Fantastica OV solo in September.  Both cabins perfectly acceptable with good cabin stewards (all I need is the cabin serviced; no special requests).

 

I'm not much of a buffet person but certainly didn't go hungry.  And I love the burgers!  I've sailed Carnival many times and people rave about the Guy's Burger joints there.  Personally, I prefer the burgers on MSC.  And the pizza!  Enjoyed my dinners in the MDR.  Also ate in the Surf & Turf restaurant last time and it was excellent.

 

The CC M&G was miles better than what Carnival offers!

 

Really want to sail Armonia again.  Considering trying Seaside, but even Divina was more ship than I like, so I may stick with the "old gal."

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[CruiseVA]

To attached photos, click on the highlighted choose files... below,  next to the paperclip

Thanks for the review, I am considering this ship, we've next cruised on MSC, but I need to before Feb 2021 or I'll lose my status match. Glad to read such a positive review, we enjoy all sizes of ships, but, prefer the smaller ones. 

Edited January 7, 2020 by CruiseVA

[tcmagnum]

Enjoying your review...

[aprilF]

One more note about Ocean Cay day.  For us, and I'm assuming this is standard, the gelato bar is closed all of OC day.  While this was a bummer for us, I can imagine it would be even worse for those that have OC on their last day and are denied their final gelato.  And for those wondering most days we had a selection of Chocolate, strawberry and vanilla gelato and chocolate or vanilla soft serve.  I got chocolate with almonds and rainbow sprinkles every time until the last day.  Read on to find out what they added that last day.  😉

 

Day three starts slightly later but still early enough for me to get a few laps in and my husband to visit the gym before breakfast opens.  We have our now standard breakfasts of eggs, wheat toast, some sort of fruit, orange juice and tea (me) and eggs, meats, cheeses and some fruit (husband).  We exit on the pizza side where I notice sticky buns and decide I need one more cup of tea and a sticky bun.  Here comes gripe number 2, things being out of stock.  Basically there are 4 places to get self serve drinks on the Armonia.  I almost always had to visit at least two to get what I wanted and three or four times I visited all four spots and still couldnt get what I wanted.  I asked a crew member for help a couple of times and they couldnt help me.  So, if I were to sail MSC again I would likely grab all the green tea I need for the week (herbal was also an issue, other varieties always seemed to be stocked in at least one place).  Or I will bring my own supply if we are driving or I have the luggage space.  I ended up with a sore throat and ended up drinking plain hot water because I couldnt find any green or herbal tea.  A half hour after being told they were out I found it restocked (and promptly stocked myself for the remainder of the week).  Juices, lemonades, etc. were like this as well.  Id say a quarter of the time I tried to get a juice, it was only clear water.  Sometimes this meant it was out and other times it meant that the concentrate wasnt seated properly and just wasnt dispensing.  And it could be a problem at all 4 stations.  Perhaps the most maddening was the hand sanitizer was the same way, often times out in at least two of the stations.  With the infusions I now qualify as imuno compromised.  Id often have to visit 2-4 stations before finding a working sanitizer.  Most other cruise lines (a dreaded phrase but we are talking about health here) will have someone stationed at the buffet entrance to make sure that people are washing their hands and/ or sanitizing.  I will be bringing my own on MSC in the future and Id advise others that easily catch bugs to do the same.

 

After breakfast we went to the pool to do the workout.  It was a nice routine, about 20 minutes of actual aerobics coupled with about 20 minutes of warm up, yoga and cool down, and when you are in the sun/heat/humidity that is plenty.  It was a fun routine and Id recommend it.  Just dont eat too much at breakfast.  For us it would have been perfect if it was an hour earlier so we could eat after without being completely starved.  But we made do and after that first day knew to take it easy on breakfast. 

 

We were pretty sweaty after this so we went back to the room to clean up and the headed to the CC M&M!  I didnt think we'd be returning to the room all morning so I had the invitation with us.  It wasnt required, they just needed our names.  We showed up right on time but there were already a dozen or so people there so it looks like they started the party a bit early.  We had Bloody Marys.  They were pretty good but seemed weak, I dont usually drink vodka so I usually feel a Bloody Mary and I had 2 inside of 45 minutes and wasnt feeling it at all.  Since I basically just wanted the tomato juice this was great as it allowed me to have more (grabbed a third on the way out).  All snacks appeared to have meat in them and all be of the savory sort, there was none of the sweets I had seen in other TRs so it seems the snacks offered vary.  A couple of crew members came by and talked with our table.  They seemed genuinely interested in knowing if we were having a good time.  Then the Cruise Director made a speech, we did the photo and had cake.  The cake is probably the best cake we had all week.  Whoever did that cake should be responsible for more of the cakes served.  LOL  We met some interesting people so we ended up chatting for a long time and basically closing the party down.  I am so glad that MSC offers this.  I met some really nice people, we got to talk with some of the crew and we got a few unusual treats.  Thank you MSC!

 

After the M&M it was back up to the pool area to watch the belly flop contest, which was already underway.  We watched from the hot tub bridge and it was perfect.  Not too crowded, some shade and a perfect straight on view.  It was a fun time cheering for those that were willing to participate!  After the belly flop contest we just stayed on deck relaxing for awhile.

 

Eventually we got hungry and decided to give the dining room a chance for lunch.  We arrive are seated at a table for four (really two tables for two that are pushed together) and place our orders after a couple of minutes with the menu.  Then another couple is walked over the waitress then pulls our tables apart maybe two inches.  Bear in mind we only had one set up at the 4 top so we had the salt and pepper, they had the drinks menu, etc..  We werent annoyed at all but found it very funny, as if those two inches would make a real difference especially since neither table had a full set up.  So if you want a table just for your party, you should make it known.  Anyway,  I wanted to look at the drink menu but it felt strange just grabbing something off of their table so I asked and that's when we learned they were French!  The man spoke some English, the woman spoke none.  My husband took French in high school, I've had none.  But this was a fantastic opportunity for us to try communicating without (a great grasp on a) common language.  We had a great lunch and did OK communicating, we would even briefly talk to them around the ship later.  They were neat people and it made me feel better about our ability to get along on or Med cruise.

 

It was then time for the Italian lesson.  If you go to this bring a pen, I wish I had.  Rodrigo gives lots of tips on how things are pronounced and to write them out phonetically would have been helpful for me.  In any case we got a nice list of common phrases that should help us greatly. 

 

Next up is World Champions Quiz: Game Show. We were seated with a lovely lady that would go on to lose several more trivia games with us throughout the cruise!  Actually, most of the teams were 5-6 people so for just having 3 on our team I think we did pretty well, as we were in second place.  My husband and I do a trivia night at out clubhouse and we usually at least tie for first in at least half the games for the night so I feel like we are well exposed to American trivia.  But this is World trivia and it was tough!  Lots of world history and geography we just arent used to being tested on.  We had a great time and learned a couple of things we didnt know and every group got a bottle of sparkling wine as a participation trophy.  Our trivia partner graciously allowed us to have it and we stowed it our fridge to take to dinner later.

 

There were welcome cocktails in all the deck 5 and 6 bars from 5-6 that evening so we grabbed a couple and just relaxed for a few minutes listening to the live musician.  After that my husband went to get a quick workout in, he was really loving the gym.  We live in a small town and we dont have access to a great gym and he works really long hours so being able to work out as much as he wanted really was a luxury for him.  I think I grabbed a slice of pizza (all I had at lunch was a roll and my naked Caesar salad), a few fries and my daily gelato fix.  Then I went down to the room for a quick clean up and change.  I wanted to get a good seat for the Follies show that evening so we made arrangements that I would go down early and hold our place and my husband would join me at the theater.  I may have stopped for an additional glass of Prosecco on the way to the theater. 

 

I arrived about 45 minutes early for the Follies which was just about perfect for getting a front row seat.  I have books on my phone so I just relaxed and read with my drink while waiting.  For the Follies they add some additional acts in and yet another singer.  The dancers once again blew me away, the other acts were fantastic.  The new singer (male) was the best one yet.  We really enjoyed the Follies.

 

We had just enough time to grab our sparkling wine from our room and make it first down to dinner.  Our waiter and assistant had no issues with us bringing the wine to dinner and brought us an ice bucket and glasses.  We actually waited for dessert to open the wine so we stayed for awhile talking with our tablemates.  One couple are immigrants from Puerto Rico and it was interesting getting to know them even better.  After dinner, you guessed it, we went back to the room and crashed. 

 

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

If there were Italian lessons offered on either of my sailings, I missed it!  Would love to give it a go.

 

I know some people on these boards complain about MSC doing every announcement in 5 languages and how some of those "other" people (non-North Americans) are SO RUDE.  Personally, one of the things I've enjoyed most on MSC is sailing with folks from other cultures.  I love hearing all the different languages being spoken.  I would've loved to have been seated next to some French.  It's been a couple of decades since I've been to France and while I certainly am not fluent in the language, I'd love the opportunity to try to converse again!

 

Part of the allure of travel is being exposed to other cultures.  IMO, if you only want to be with other Americans, there are plenty of vacation spots in the US.  If you want or need everything to be exactly like it is at home, then why not stay home and leave the international travel to those of us who actually want that exposure!

[tcmagnum]

20 hours ago, aprilF said:

that's when we learned they were French!  The man spoke some English, the woman spoke none.  My husband took French in high school, I've had none.  But this was a fantastic opportunity for us to try communicating without (a great grasp on a) common language.  We had a great lunch and did OK communicating, we would even briefly talk to them around the ship later.  They were neat people and it made me feel better about our ability to get along on or Med cruise.

 

Really enjoying your review.  You guys sound like you are going with the flow and are having a blast!!

 

I wanted to comment on the above...You should throw all your concerns away and head to a Mediterranean Cruise now!!

My sisters/cousin and I have gone on 2 now and we only speak English.  And we had no issues in Italy, Croatia, Malta, France, or Greece!!  My sister did take a crash French course for our last trip and had fun trying out what she learned.  The locals were so friendly and willing to work with our horrible language.  They respect you if you try to learn some of their language.  Each of us would learn basic phrases in the different languages of the countries we were heading to.  This last trip I was assigned Greek - Ugh... So hard and didn't go very well.  But once we got in Greece we had a private tour and the driver taught us some basic words to help at our other stops in Greece (I now know 3 cuss words in Greece).  Lol...

Don't wait - Go now!!

[aprilF]

3 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

If there were Italian lessons offered on either of my sailings, I missed it!  Would love to give it a go.

 

I know some people on these boards complain about MSC doing every announcement in 5 languages and how some of those "other" people (non-North Americans) are SO RUDE.  Personally, one of the things I've enjoyed most on MSC is sailing with folks from other cultures.  I love hearing all the different languages being spoken.  I would've loved to have been seated next to some French.  It's been a couple of decades since I've been to France and while I certainly am not fluent in the language, I'd love the opportunity to try to converse again!

 

Part of the allure of travel is being exposed to other cultures.  IMO, if you only want to be with other Americans, there are plenty of vacation spots in the US.  If you want or need everything to be exactly like it is at home, then why not stay home and leave the international travel to those of us who actually want that exposure!

 

I have a fairly significant hearing impairment so I even have difficulty understanding some accents of American English speaking people.  I can read Spanish OK enough so that helps and what I learned in our Italian lesson was that Spanish and Italian are close enough that I might just be able to fake my way through.  LOL

 

I will say that it took me a good day to adjust to the personal space issues we encountered with the more international blend of people on MSC but aside from that short adjustment period most people were a delight!   We tried a little Italian, French, Spanish and Chinese on this trip.  And while we are far from a fluent grasp for any of them, it was a fun experience and I think it put the other at ease that we even tried.  And I will say that this cruise, more than any other weve taken, the people on the ship helped make the cruise a positive experience for us.

 

5 minutes ago, tcmagnum said:

Really enjoying your review.  You guys sound like you are going with the flow and are having a blast!!

 

I wanted to comment on the above...You should throw all your concerns away and head to a Mediterranean Cruise now!!

My sisters/cousin and I have gone on 2 now and we only speak English.  And we had no issues in Italy, Croatia, Malta, France, or Greece!!  My sister did take a crash French course for our last trip and had fun trying out what she learned.  The locals were so friendly and willing to work with our horrible language.  They respect you if you try to learn some of their language.  Each of us would learn basic phrases in the different languages of the countries we were heading to.  This last trip I was assigned Greek - Ugh... So hard and didn't go very well.  But once we got in Greece we had a private tour and the driver taught us some basic words to help at our other stops in Greece (I now know 3 cuss words in Greece).  Lol...

Don't wait - Go now!!

 

LOL We do need to clear the time off of work so what we have arranged is really about the earliest we can do it.  We could go a smidge earlier but Id rather wait for warmer weather (hopefully).  But it's great to hear positive experiences from others.  Thanks for sharing!

 

22 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

To attached photos, click on the highlighted choose files... below,  next to the paperclip

Thanks for the review, I am considering this ship, we've next cruised on MSC, but I need to before Feb 2021 or I'll lose my status match. Glad to read such a positive review, we enjoy all sizes of ships, but, prefer the smaller ones. 

 

Thanks, I see that now.  I think every other board I use the paperclip is at the top so that's where I was expecting it.  The way my computer opens up a reply box the bottom area where the paperclip is gets cut off, unless I manually scroll past for some reason.

[jdvmd]

Awesome review!

[aprilF]

Thankfully on this day I was able to sleep in a bit.  I woke around 6:30 and we cleaned up and went down to breakfast.  The usual fare for us, which for me now included a sticky bun from the pizza area.  If you think you will like this, try one because they are super yummy.  Just be sure to poke it first to make sure its soft.  One day it was hard, still good but harder to eat.  We ate nice and early to make sure we wouldnt feel sick for the 9 am yoga/ aerobics class.  It started to downpour about 20 minutes before class, just for a few minutes but it made working out even more brutal.  The crew did a great job in squeegeeing everything up so that it wasnt slippery.    But we were sweaty messes after the fact so back down to the room for a shower.

 

By this point it was about 10:30 and they were supposed to start letting people off at 11 so we decided it might be a good time to visit the future cruises desk.  We already had our Med trip booked but I hadnt status matched at that point and I just felt like we could possibly get a better deal on board.  I had all the details of our booked trip printed out and my hope was we could just rebook the same with better benefits/ deals.  So we get to the desk and notice that the queue to leave the ship is already well past the future cruise desk point.  Just a quick aside to let you know that they actually do a pretty great job hiding the future cruise desk.  We eventually went to the excursion desk to ask where it was.  But, basically its in that general area but off to the side and its basically just a large office desk and one lady.  Not really well marked or anything.  So there was a couple ahead of us and it seemed like they were deciding on what kind of cruise they wanted to do.  Since we didnt have plans for Jamacia and it looked like we'd be queued for at least a good hour to leave the ship, we decided to settle in and wait.  We met the most interesting man while waiting.  He was on his, I think, 5th cruise since staring his trip in October (he had almost 100 lifetime trips on Carnival alone) but this was his first MSC cruise.  He knew to status match and obviously matched to Black but didnt know what he was entitled to at that status.  Customer Service couldnt help him and sent him over to the future cruise desk.  It feels like MSC really dropped the ball because it seems like the CS desk should have been able to pull up the MSC website and print something off or tell him.  I asked if he had a wifi package because I knew right where to go online to get the info but he didnt (and neither did we).  Anyway, we spent the next hour talking about how we both liked MSC so far, the ports he has done on this trip, and the ports we would see on our Med cruise.  The hour flew by thanks to him.  At this point the line to exit the ship had been moving for about a half hour but was still past where we were waiting. 

 

I figured we would be fairly quick since we knew exactly what we are doing.  It still took around a half hour.  For our next cruise we have a whirlpool balcony suit booked on the Seaview.  There are only a few of those on the ship so in case we werent able to rebook our current room (my first choice) I had all the available rooms written down with a notation of preference.  There was only one other port room available when we left for this trip and that was my number one choice but it wasnt showing up on her inventory list so we booked starboard, one floor down.  We saved a few hundred doing this between the Status discount and the additional OBC that you get for booking on board.  Our original reservations were made through Expedia and they have done something shady so that you get less in OBC then it seems like you should get, that's why I started looking into rebooking on board anyway.  So if you have booked on Expedia and are expecting OBC, be sure to call to find out what they think they owe you.  I asked if after I got home and canceled my first room if Id be able to switch room on this new reservation and retain everything and I was told yes.  If anyone knows anything different, please LMK.  Also if anyone has any input on if theyd prefer a deck 15 port over a deck 14 starboard on a med cruise on the Seaview, please let me know.  Also, you will need a CC to book a cruise at the future cruise desk so be sure to bring one!

 

By this point the line to exit had died down but still wasnt no line (this is about one hour after they started letting people off) so we decided to grab a quick bit before going back to the room to get our daypack.  I dont recall what we had but it was very likely more of the same, salad, veggies, cheese, meats.  After the quick bite we went down to the room and decided to ditch our snorkle gear since it looked like it was going to start raining at any point.  We also ditched the hammock and the MSC towel for the same reason.  We stayed in out swimwear and brought one microfiber towel just in case we did decide to hit Turtle Beach.  We were able to exit the ship with no line and head out into Ocho Rios.I had taken screenshots of google maps and where we wanted to go and also written out simple instructions.  I didnt count on there being two port exits though and so my directions were a little off.  We passed Turtle Beach but it wasnt quite so obvious that we did and just kept heading the direction I believed to be the correct way towards the Craft Market.  By some Christmas season miracle we actually made it to across the street from the Craft Market but getting across the street seemed pretty dodgy.  A vendor for the Craft Market yelled over to see if we wanted to cross, when we said yes, he held up traffic so that we could cross.  He explained that his booth was deep inside the market and that's the best way for him to get customers!  So of course we visited his booth first.  I know haggling is expected here and I was prepared to do so when I found a pretty carved bird.  We renovated our backyard this past summer and I had been looking for similar things to decorate so I knew the going rate at home.  The rate he quoted was far lower and it being Christmas I just handed that amount over.  We were both happy and he really tried to get this sucker to buy more.  LOL  We then headed back to the beginning of the market so that we could take in all the booths.  Holey Moley are they aggressive!  The only other thing I possibly wanted was a tiny woven basket.  I have a thing for impractical baskets and bowls that are really too small to hold anything.  It started out of necessity with Sweetgrass baskets.  Look them up if you dont know them.  I wanted one but also wanted to be able to make my next mortgage payment so it had to be tiny.  Been collecting tiny basket souvenirs every since.  After many attempts to try to make me purchase a practical sized baskets I finally found what I was looking for, very deep into the market.  The seller was only asking $5 and since I didnt have any singles and, again Christmas season, I just paid what was asked.  Next up was another odd habit I have, visiting grocery stores where I travel.  I find they give you a neat snapshot into local life and you get to find things you wouldnt have even known to search for on Amazon. 

 

So our next task now that we were better oriented with the google maps screenshots and my directions was to seek out General Foods Supermarket.  I was particularly interested in Sangster Rum Cream that I had read about here.  So once inside we beelined to the liquor area which was mind expanding.  Who knew Guinness had flavors?  Other stuff that's escaping me now too.  We eventually stopped gawking and found the Sangster, lots of kinds of those as well.  The prices were in whatever the local tender is and we couldnt quite sort out the conversion rate on our own so we asked someone that was stocking the shelves.  He was able to help us enough so that we had a ballpark idea of what things cost in USD.  We also confirmed that we could pay in USD.  We picked up a couple of the half bottles of Sangster and then started perusing the rest of the store.  They had the most adorable 12 oz plastic bottles of Pepsi so we grabbed a couple of those.  Then I found Tang.  In tropical flavors.  Mind blown again.  How could I not grab a Pineapple Tang package. They had great prices on seeds (sesame, flax, etc.).  I really wanted to grab some of those but didnt know if they would get confiscated so I didnt.  Eventually we made our way to the register, figuring we'd pay about $15.  We let the cashier know we would be paying in American dollars and she didnt scan anything, just sent it all down the conveyor and told us it would be $9.  We gladly handed over a $10 and got back one USD in return (glad about that but was prepared to just donate it if we were given local money).

 

Soon after exiting the supermarket and while making our way back towards the beach area it started raining again.  We ducked into shops as the rain would start up and then leave a few minutes later to find the rain stopped.  This happened I think three times on our shortish walk back.  Once we came to the beach entrance (saw it this time) we decided that the beach would not be ideal and just continued back on toward the ship.  In letting people back onto the ship they let them queue up five at a time to get inside and the rest remain outside.  I was the last of my group of five and then the heavens opened up.  We got lucky and missed the rain again!  After we got back we dropped off our stuff and headed back to the buffet for a snack (an important distinction later).  Not the official snack time but making a snack for ourselves with the lunch offerings.  We were thrilled to see two of the dancers in the almost deserted buffet area.  I quickly told them how much I was enjoying the dancing in the shows. They were very nice but it was obvious they didnt want to be "on" so I stopped gushing and let them go on their way.

 

After this I think we went back to the room for a nap for a couple of hours.  After the nap I headed for a Snack, yes that's the official snack time, at the buffet and my husband headed to the gym.  I made the most wonderful discovery of cookies.  Whoever is in charge of signs on the Armonia does not know the difference between peanut butter and macadamia.  They were called macadamia (at least two Snack days and once in the coffee shop) but were definitely peanut butter.  And they were pretty great.  😍  They also had scones and other pastries that I didnt see available at other times.  So if you like your cookies and stuff, you need to hit up the official snack time, usually between 3-5 pm.  I got a few extra cookies and scones to take back to the room.  I travel with ziplocks and happily put one to use that afternoon.

 

That night's show was The Addams family.  My husband was a pretty big fan of the movie so I offered to go super early again to save seats while he finished up in the gym and showered.  It wasnt early enough to get front row center section and we were off to the side a good bit.  It was an OK seating.  Unfortunately the show wasnt what he wanted and he was pretty disappointed by it.  Spoiler Alert: they do not dance the Mamushka, which was view as a sacrilege by my husband.  It also does feel like the are just shoehorning in a lot of the acts (balancing acts, ring acts, contortionists).  I get that the whole thing about the Adams family is that they are a little kooky but there was not context to these acts, just all the sudden someone was doing it.

 

After the show we hurried down to Bar del Duomo for the Name That Tune game.  It was a very fun time.  there is a chair in the center of the stage and whoever is first in the chair gets to name that tune and then has to sing and dance with the entertainment crew before claiming a prize.  The funniest was when a clearly underage young man "won" the chair for It's Raining Men.  The staff has a routine they are to do with each song and, well, Im pretty sure what happened is illegal in 36 countries and 11 states. 😂  My husband actually won the chair and started to do The Lawnmower (his go to dance move) to Disco Inferno.  Let me tell yo the cruise staff didnt know what the f to do with that.  They literally all just backed away.  😳😂😂🤣  So kudos my love for making them break routine.

 

It was then time for dinner where we had a lovely time catching up with our table mates.  We really did luck out, we are all very different but also all just wanting to have a good time and be open.

 

Since we had gotten in the nap today we actually managed to stay out after dinner.  We went back to Bar del Duomo for the Majority Rules game.  We ended up on a team with a bunch of young 20 year olds.  Here is how the game works.  The Cruise Director asks a question and your group writes down an answer.  They count up the answers and which ever answer has the most exact matches wins the round.  There were either some really messed up people on that ship or people banking on us saying the most messed up things.  Us included in one of those categories because somehow we won!  Yup, our middle aged, Gen X minds somehow mixed with those 20-somethings to pull off a win.  The prize was a bottle of sparkling wine and we told them to enjoy it.  Figuring we couldnt possibly top that, we headed to bed.

 

ETA: For those interested our Sangster was not confiscated and i didnt even notice a table to self report alcohol.  Bringing the Pepsi aboard wasnt a problem either.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by aprilF
additional comments

[disneykins]

Loving your review. Taking lots of notes, we sail Armonia on March 22. Couldn't resist the super low pricing for an inside cabin. We have done Divina 2X and Seaside 2X and loved them all.

Tony and Debbie

[travelwide]

aprilF.......

 

Within your very wordy review I believe you said "immigrants from Puerto Rico".

They are U.S. citizens and not immigrants. 

[aprilF]

6 hours ago, travelwide said:

aprilF.......

 

Within your very wordy review I believe you said "immigrants from Puerto Rico".

They are U.S. citizens and not immigrants. 

You are very correct.  I cannot believe I made that faux paus.  Thank you for this important correction.

[aprilF]

The next early morning was more of the same. Walking/ gym, similar breakfast.  Then up to the pool deck for Stretching and Aerobics.  After about ten minutes I just wasn't feeling great so I went to lay down.  At some point during my rest the Captain made the announcement that we wouldn't be stopping in Grand Cayman per his decision.  Later one of our table mates was certain that he saw another ship offloading passengers onto a tender so I don't know how bad it really was.  This was at almost 10 am and we were set to leave GC at 1 pm so being a tender port it probably was the right call to just skip at that point..  Each person automatically received a credit to their stateroom accounts of $19 at the end of the cruise, I am guessing this is the return of GC port fees.

 

The captain went on to say that since we were leaving GC 3 hours early we would arrive at Costa Maya 3 hours early and that they would be *bonus* hours, we wouldn't be leaving early.  I had some concern about this given we had a tour booked with Native Choice that now had not only changed dates but times as well.  But that was a problem for tomorrow.

 

Now awake, we decided to go to Morning Trivia.  We saw our partner from World Trivia a couple of days before and again partnered up, adding a single lady that happened to be sitting near us to the group.  We didn't have the worst showing but also were not winners, we landed firmly in the middle for this game.

 

At some point we heard that new Daily Planners were available with more activities added to the day since we were missing GC.  I left my husband playing Sudoku Challenge and went down to customer Service to get one.  Strangely they didn't have anything out, even the display that usually held the extra planners was gone so I decided to try our cabin.  Bingo, new sheet there.  This was really much ado about nothing.  Five activities added, two had already taken place less than an hour after the captains announcement.

 

I still wasnt feeling great so I'm sure we got something to eat and then rested in the cabin for awhile.  We hopefully had a big day coming up tomorrow and so I wanted to be feeling as good as possible.  At some point this afternoon our cabin steward delivered the group photo from our CC M&M.  After our rest we tried our luck with Visual Trivia.  Our usual partner was MIA and so we paired up with a nice couple from South Africa, about halfway through their daughter and son in law stopped by and helped for a few minutes.  We tied for first for this contest but since there was only one prize we had to go to a tie breaker.  And then another.  And that is where we lost.  Just FYI a group of Unicorns is a Blessing.  My seven year old self was ashamed I didnt know that and just give us the clear victory.  Hopefully that helps someone, somewhere, somehow.

 

Next up was the Chocolate and Coffee Demo in Cafe San Marco.  There really isnt much to the demo, you just watch a barista make three drinks with pre measured ingredients.  But you do get 20% off between 4-5 pm.  I am not sure if this is automatically given or if you have to ask.  At first they said that they weren't doing that promotion but I showed the advertisement from the planner and then they said yes.  Who knows if the bill would have just arrived with the correct amounts though.  Worth having proof of the promotion just in case.  I also learned that the treats in the plastic case were free.  They had actual chocolate cake.  Most (all?) cakes in the dining room were more of a mousse on a very thin sponge base.  This was a devils food two layer cake with fudge icing.  The sponge was on the dry side (it had been sitting out all day already sliced, I'd guess it was better earlier), the icing was an extra dark chocolate fudge and it was excellent.  My husband had a cappuccino and I had a Nutella hot chocolate.  Both were very good.

 

Then we went to get a small snack of "real" food to help absorb the sugar bombs we just ate/ drank.  After this my husband went to the gym and I rested until it was time to get ready for the show.  Tonight's show was Time to Rock.  The dancers were excellent.  Once again was the puzzling decision to have someone without a good grasp on how to pronounce English singing American Rock hits.  Tonight's show was the worst and downright embarrassing at times.  I know this sounds awful of me, I really thought I could be more open minded about this especially since I knew about it ahead of time.  But it really was wince inducing to see the singer struggle with Elvis and Queen in particular.  He wasnt a bad singer but definitely needed a different showcase for his talents.

 

We had a great time again at dinner.  Fortunately no one was looking forward to Grand Cayman too much and everyone was focused on tomorrows plans.  Since we didnt exactly know what tomorrow would bring, we retired after dinner.

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by aprilF

[aprilF]

We awaken feeling refreshed and grab a quick breakfast.  Native Choice, our tour operator for this day, says to not worry about changes to the cruise schedule and that they will keep an eye out an adapt to changes.  The important thing is to be at their office one hour after your ship allows people to debark.  Our arrival time was now set as 8 am and after the huge line I saw on Ocho Rios day I was convinced we needed to be ready to get off the ship as early as possible.  I think we got down to the debarkation area about 45 minutes early (on Ocho Rios day there was already a huge line at 30 minutes until debarkation).  Fortunately 45 minutes early was plenty of time on this day and we were the 3rd or so group in line.  I overheard the mom and daughter behind us mention the ruins that we were going to and so I asked if they were going through Native Choice.  Sure enough they were AND they were much smarter than us in that they went to customer service after each itinerary change and called Native Choice to verify what they were supposed to do.  After talking with them I felt much more relaxed! 

 

We chatted for awhile longer and decided we were all going to walk to the tour office, they had considered a taxi.  Every other reviewer is correct that the hardest part about finding Native Choice's office is getting out of the port itself.  If you follow the map Native Choice gives you, it isnt too hard.  Do not get distracted by the flamingos, that was our fatal flaw.  Fortunately a nice bartender set us straight.  After you exit the port there will be loads of tour operators there trying to get your business.  Every single one that we mentioned Native Choice to was pleasant and let us know we were on the right path.  It took just over a half hour to walk to the office, even with our flamingo adventure.  The street/ sidewalk situation isnt the greatest but I never felt unsafe. 

 

The office and Native Choice itself are a much larger organization than I was expecting.  We choose this tour because the owner actually grew up on the ruins site.  Several trip reports mentioned Ivan himself giving the tours so I had just gotten the impression that it was a pretty small business, hence my worries that a day and time change might cause issues.  There are bathrooms at the office.  They are clean and well stocked.  Check in was easy and we were given a wristband to denote our experience, we had chosen The Mayan Experience which was a trip to the Chacchoben ruins and then a stop after at a local Mayan village where you learn to make tortillas and have a traditional Mayan meal.  The duration of the tour is listed as 5.5 hours, meaning we should be back at 2:30 pm with some bonus time to enjoy the port area. 

 

I used the restroom and came out to find my husband discussing tequila with one of the guides.  We spent almost an hour talking with Diego about tequila, how he drinks it and how we do, our favorites, life in Costa Maya and his background in agriculture, Day of the Dead and how he celebrates and how he feels about its rising popularity in America.  It was a great talk and I didnt even realize we were a half hour late in leaving!  We did eventually board a mini bus/ van type thing.  I think there were 25 people in our initial group.  We had a about an hour's drive to get to the ruins.  Diego talked a little bit about the various areas we were passing.  Once at the ruins we had a ten minute break to use the restroom, get snacks, purchase souvenirs.  I love Talavera pottery and found a tiny bowl in colors I love.  Initially they were asking $7 for it, I offered $5 and it was accepted.  It says Chacchoben on the bottom in addition to the usual marks.  I should mention that there is a fee for video recording at the site.  We didn't record but it wasn't obvious to me how or where we should have paid had we wanted to record.

 

Now it was time for the short walk through the jungle to get to the actual ruins.  I have a tiny admission here, the ruins weren't the biggest draw on this tour for me.  It isnt mentioned on the official site but several reviewers mentioned seeing monkeys.  Diego did talk about some wildlife that we might see, including the monkeys, so I was super jazzed when he pointed the first one out.  My schooling focused on Animal Behavior, with an emphasis on Primates.  I worked for a couple of years as a zookeeper and then we moved for my husband's job to a place with no zoos.  So any time we travel and we can see a good facility or interesting wildlife, we usually try to do it. We were very lucky and got to see several Spider Monkeys that day. 

 

After watching the monkeys for far too short of a time, Diego explained the easier path to get up to the next tier of the ruins and also the easier path to take down.  Then he gave us some free time to explore and take pictures.  You could actually even climb up some of the ruins.  We climbed up, went around all the ruins as fully as we could, took a few selfies and then watched the monkeys some more.  After maybe 45 more minutes Diego gathered us all up and gave a little talk about the ruins.  There isnt too much information available online about this site so it was pretty interesting, although not ideal acoustics.  At the end of his talk Diego let us know that we would be dividing up and which color wrist bands were going with who.  We were introduced to Magda and told where to meet down by the little shopping/ bathroom area.  This was the last I saw of Diego.  I lost track of him too quickly to be able to tip him.  It was so nice to talk to him and he was a good guide.  If you are going on a NC tour be aware that you may switch guides at some point at the ruins.  Have tipping money ready there if you wish to do so.

 

We were given about 20-30 minutes to travel back down to the shopping area and meet back up with Magda.  By the time we left we had spent an extra half hour or so at the ruins area beyond what was listed on the NC website.  This placed us about an hour behind schedule.  We had about a half hour to travel to the Mayan home we were visiting.  This was a smaller van, I believe there were 8 of us.  I dont recall Magda talking much on the ride other than asking if there were any dietary restrictions.  I confirmed I needed a vegetarian meal.  It was neat driving past the homes during Christmas season and seeing some of the decorations. 

 

Once we were there we did a tour of the homes garden, with Magda explaining what various plants were and how they use them.  There was one spice spice, the annatto, that Magda kept talking up.  She said that it was an important Mayan spice and let people know that today's chicken would be prepare with the annatto seed spice.  It kind of looks like a "gumball" from a Sweet Gum tree and then you break it open and there are these red orange seeds inside.  That's made into a paste and then that is what is used in the chicken recipe.  She just kept talking about it and really building it up.  My husband thought it didn't have all that much flavor.  LOL  Looking it up now, wiki says that it should depart a slightly nutty, sweet and peppery flavor.  I think Magda built it up too much.

 

After our interesting garden tour we met a few local ladies that would be helping us make tortillas and that made our lunch.  For the tortilla making they give you a ball of premade dough, show you how to form it (and then ultimately correcting each of our efforts), place it on a hot griddle where it puffs as it cooks  and then gives you back your tortilla on a paper towel to enjoy with a special condiment made out of pumpkin seeds.  It was reminiscent of a pesto in texture. It might be Sikil Pak, though what we were served had an oilier texture that what I am seeing online.  I do need to try making this though because it was delicious.  I could have happily made a meal of this!

 

After the yummy snack we were lead to another area that was set up buffet style.  They had roasted potatoes with veggies, rice, beans and chicken.  Everything but the chicken was vegetarian (no meat broth used in the rice or added as flavor to the beans).  They also made a tofu and pepper stir fry like dish for me.  There were loads of fresh tortillas on the table.  To drink they had cold hibiscus tea sweetened with honey.  For dessert I had clementine and mango, everyone else had flan.  I could have had the flan since I am not vegan but it was kind of comforting to know that they went the extra step and made sure I had no animal products.  I've been "meated" plenty of times in situations that were to be vegetarian friendly but ultimately weren't.  Often I might not detect that I had eaten meat, only to find out later when you get sick. 

 

After lunch we were told to enjoy the grounds.  By this point it was just after 2:30, the time we should have been back, and we still had an hour bus ride.  We all kind of split up and went our separate ways and then reconvened in the central area after ten minutes of so.  It was then that Magda let us know we would be waiting for another group to catch up and eat before we would be returning to the port.  Magda spent a few minutes talking a bit more about Mayan life before the other group showed up and she left us to give them the garden talk.   This is where Native Choice could have handled things better.  I get only wanting to do one larger bus back to the port rather than two smaller ones, I really don't fault them for that.  But there was no explanation that our tour was going to run 2 hours over to accommodate waiting for this second group.  And it was kind of hot and stifling with no seating and really nothing to engage us for an additional hour.  Eventually the driver could see how miserable many of us were and told us we could wait in the bus with the air running if we wanted.  We all took him up on the offer.  But Native Choice could have given us the opportunity to stay at the ruins for longer and wait for the second group to catch up there.  In my opinion that would have been a much better choice as it was more comfortable, with more activities and seating if we truly just wanted to wait.

 

Unfortunately the waiting in the heat for nearly an hour pretty much drained all of my energy and ended the excursion on a bit of a sour note.  I managed to nap on the ride back.  Would I recommend Native Choice?  Yes, probably.  Let me just say that we only would have had one hour to spare between the end of the tour and before all aboard if we had been on our original schedule.  Obviously running 2 hours over would have been a much bigger issue then.  But, I don't think it would have happened in that case.  This company has a very good reputation.  I think our schedule change contributed to the issue, I just really would have appreciated more information and maybe the choice to stay at the ruins longer of I was going to be waiting around an extra hour anyway.  If I were to have a similar change in schedule at a port in the future I will be more proactive about asking how that will impact my experience.  And if you are vegetarian or like chicken, I would recommend the upgrade to the Mayan Experience if you have the extra time in port for it.  It's only $20 pp extra and you get a nice lunch and a nice little side trip that not many people get to do.

 

As we got closer to port it was raining.  Once we were at port it was obvious that we had missed a good bit of rain as the streets were flooded.  Once again, we got lucky with the rain.  We had wanted to maybe to the tequila tour but neither of us felt like waiting once we got to the store front.  We did look in the associated bar and they didnt have anything new to us so we just continued on.  I did look in some shops and my husband was enjoying the first internet access of the cruise.  I found a Talavera frog that had Costa Maya written on the front and decided I wanted it for the right price.  I asked how much and was told $60 but for you $45.  I responded that I was thinking more like $25, we eventually settled on $27.  This frog was bigger and wasnt going to take a good chunk of luggage space.  Fortunately I always travel with an extra bag for such "problems".  They packaged him with bubble wrap and card board on either side. 

 

After that purchase the rain started to pick up again so we hurried back to the ship.  We unloaded our backpack and frog and had just enough time to make it up to the Snack in the buffet.  This is when I fell in love with MSC.  They had what can easily pass for duplicates to Panera's Triple Chocolate cookies!  On the buffet!  For free!  Unlimited!  I grabbed three in anticipation that they might be as good as they looked because the buffet was set to close at any minute.  There was no time to try and go back later, I savored them over the next few days.  We also grabbed real food in addition to the cookies and I believe we may have even stopped for gelato.  Afterwards we went back to our room and I promptly fell asleep.  We skipped the show that night so unfortunately we didnt get to see the Italian Touch show.  We awoke with just enough time to get ready and go down to dinner.  It was a lovely dinner as usual and we caught up with our table mates.  It was beach days all around for them.  No one's plans got too dampened by the rain thankfully, I guess it really was just mostly around the port area.

 

This evening was the Silent Disco which I desperately wanted to do but my husband didn't nap as well as I did and was just too tired from our long day.  It didn't seem like it would be that fun on my own so I joined him in going back to the room.  I did do a Silent Disco party on DCL and it was bonkers and I loved it.  Everyone gets a headset and there are several different stations playing with different music so everyone is just kind of doing their own thing.  I'd encourage anyone to go and at least watch, although I thought participating was very fun too!

Edited January 10, 2020 by aprilF

[NCTribeFan]

The Addams Family show was rather strange, wasn't it?  I came away thinking, "well, that was not really what I expected!" 😑

 

When I read reviews like this of a sailings I've done, I always find myself wondering why I didn't do some of the activities on board.  But I tend to use the sea days to just relax, usually finding somewhere relatively quiet to read.  At night, it's sometimes a show but most of my "entertainment" is donating funds to the casino!

 

I also toured with Native Choice last time.  I was mildly concerned with the walk to their office early in the morning on my own, but it was just fine.  I don't have any issues doing things as a solo female, but, sadly, we women have to be extra vigilant.  I talked about our tour in my review thread.  Would've been excellent except there was an Irish couple with their little boy in a stroller which meant some waiting for them to navigate the terrain.  Would definitely book with Native Choice again.  Small groups, good prices, with very knowledgeable guides.

[aprilF]

22 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

The Addams Family show was rather strange, wasn't it?  I came away thinking, "well, that was not really what I expected!" 😑

 

When I read reviews like this of a sailings I've done, I always find myself wondering why I didn't do some of the activities on board.  But I tend to use the sea days to just relax, usually finding somewhere relatively quiet to read.  At night, it's sometimes a show but most of my "entertainment" is donating funds to the casino!

 

I also toured with Native Choice last time.  I was mildly concerned with the walk to their office early in the morning on my own, but it was just fine.  I don't have any issues doing things as a solo female, but, sadly, we women have to be extra vigilant.  I talked about our tour in my review thread.  Would've been excellent except there was an Irish couple with their little boy in a stroller which meant some waiting for them to navigate the terrain.  Would definitely book with Native Choice again.  Small groups, good prices, with very knowledgeable guides.

My husband was so looking forward to the Addams family show that it really was a disappointment.  Perhaps someone without high expectations would find it fine, maybe even amusing.

 

We did our walk to the NC office at 8 in the morning.  It was light out and I felt fine in a group of 4 and I think I would have felt fine on my own, although I probably would have hustled a bit more and tried to memorize the map rather than having it out the whole walk.  I'd love to read your review if you can link it.

[Fred&Lily]

AprilF I want to read more, don't stop.  Love the details and your situational awareness.

We'll be on the January 20 itinerary.

 

[aprilF]

20 hours ago, Fred&Lily said:

AprilF I want to read more, don't stop.  Love the details and your situational awareness.

We'll be on the January 20 itinerary.

 

Hopefully more tomorrow or the night  after, just had a busy few nights and couldnt get back to the TR. 

 

I bet you will have a great time.  🙂  Almost everyone Ive spoken with on here and on the ship doesnt get why the Armonia has a kind of bad reputation.  We were all kinda worried before getting on but had a fab time once we were on board!