A Winter Break(away) - Family Breakaway Cruise - February 4 - 11

[tripleboom]

As the last glimmer of sunlight died out, the boys started to rejoin us to grab a late dinner. This picture is a bit misleading, but it won't be TOO much longer before Connor passes Stacy's height!

 

Landon soon tracked us down as well thanks to the NCL app messaging platform. He loves the glass inserts in the deck located aft on The Waterfront.

 

 

Then we headed to Taste to grab a later dinner. Our waitstaff on this night was particularly great! I enjoyed the cajun shrimp and grits which was outstanding.

 

 

Stacy opted for the gnocchi. She mentioned that it tasted good but arrived on the cooler side.

 

Landon had opted for the pizza and fries again, but the waiter said he thought he'd like the country fried chicken on the menu tonight, so brought it out for him to try! Landon really liked it, but on this night, the kitchen won. Landon is RARELY full, but they beat him tonight! 🤣

 

Dessert options weren't super intriguing tonight, but how do you SKIP dessert?! Black Forest Cake for me.

 

While Stacy (and yes, even Landon 🤨) opted for the banana split.

 

With a full day on the plate tomorrow, we finished dinner, retired to the room, watched some Black Panther on the TV, and drifted off to sleep. Beach day ahead!

[WITraveler37]

Can I ask, with 4 of you in the room, what did they do about the beds? Did they leave them all set up the entire time or were you able to get them put away in the morning and taken down at night?

[tripleboom]

4 minutes ago, WITraveler37 said:

Can I ask, with 4 of you in the room, what did they do about the beds? Did they leave them all set up the entire time or were you able to get them put away in the morning and taken down at night?

Unfortunately, they have done away with the 2x daily cabin servicing, so the couch remains in its "bed" format, and the pullman bed above it remains "down" for the entirety of the cruise with the exception of embarkation day (it's converted that first evening on board). That said, we didn't find it to be too much of a nuissance EXCEPT when trying to access the far side of the closet. With the pullman down, it's a tight squeeze to manuever around over there. Outside of that, we weren't typically in the room long enough to be inconvenienced by the arrangement.

[WITraveler37]

Did you try to put the Pullman bed up yourselves at all? We have a cruise coming up with 4 of us in a room and we really want the bed up during the day. We have no issues doing it ourselves if they'll show us how.

[tripleboom]

12 minutes ago, WITraveler37 said:

Did you try to put the Pullman bed up yourselves at all? We have a cruise coming up with 4 of us in a room and we really want the bed up during the day. We have no issues doing it ourselves if they'll show us how.

I've never tried to put it away. I can't rememeber the exact verbiage, but there is a placcard on the Pullman that says you are not allowed to put it away by yourself. I believe there's a specialized tool required to do so that the cabin attendants have. Can't hurt to ask, but I suspect their answer will probably be a "no."

[tripleboom]

Day 6 - Cozumel

With an 11am arrival into port for today, it was nice to be able to have a leisurely start to it all. We grabbed an O'Sheehan's breakfast and then headed back to the room to await the completion of docking. I noticed from the balcony that we were definitely NOT headed to Punta Langosta, the only port we had ever come into previously. I used the telephoto lens on my camera to find signage on the shore identifying it as Puerta Maya instead. I know right where to head for cabs in Punta Langosta, but wasn't so sure at this location. So we disembarked and headed through the very long, narrow duty free shop and got spit out the other end into the bustling port shopping area. 

 

Again, not having been able to research ahead of time, and knowing that these port shopping areas are designed to keep you in and shopping or talking with the tour sales folks inside, but I identified a group of folks booked through NCL for their excursions, and knowing that they had to be headed out of the port to some form of large group transportation, I fell in behind and drafted off of them all the way to the taxi stand in the opposite corner from where we entered the shopping area. Sneaky, sneaky. 😁

 

A plethora of the white cabs with red stripes down their sides was waiting for us, and we hopped right in and were on our way. With the clearly posted taxi rates located adjacent to the taxi stand, it's always nice to know you've got a reliable, established rate with who you're hopping in with. With our four passenger, it cost us $15+tip to get to Paradise Beach Club for the day.

 

Upon arrival we were whisked in to the check-in area, paid the remainder of our $222 that was owed (our downpayment was $111, so $111 was due at check-in), and were soon delivered into the hands of our waiter for the day. 

 

With options for poolside of beachside, we opted for the latter. We were pretty certain the boys were going to want the "fun pass" bands, but reserved that option until we could see it for ourselves. It didn't take them long to conclude that they would want the $18/person "fun pass" for the day. And that's quite a bargain given all the options included. They're in the middle of the platform shown in this photo.

 

We arrived and were settled in at our chairs by about 12:15 or so, so we kept our fingers crossed that the sun would come out as the day wore on. In the meantime, the boys really enjoyed the nearby pier with swings.

 

Stacy checked it out too. This may be my favorite picture of the entire trip. I outkicked my coverage big time. Can't imagine cruising through life with anyone else!

 

 

 

Stacy and I headed back to our chairs for a bit while the boys attacked the water park in earnest.

 

[icft]

I'm really enjoying your review. It is nice to see things from a family perspective.

 

Thanks for taking us along.

[AKR2011]

I always love following your family. I'm super late to this adventure, but it is fabulous as always. Looking forward to more ❤️⚓️