Late, but Live! From the Grand 04/08

[sdlindsay]

I meant to post earlier, but have been having too much fun to get in here.

What's happened so far:

Embarkation was a breeze. We stayed at the Galvez, and used the hotel transfer. Total time of 45 minutes from boarding the bus to getting to our stateroom. Mid-ship Dolphin Mini. Room steward Enrique is a total stud. Seems to get stuff for me before I even know I want it.

 

Had a lazy lunch at Horizon. Food is much better than expected. Captain came on the horn to say we were waiting for 60 Pax late from Houston. No problem. This is a HUGE ship! DW and I took a Lotus Spa tour, and ended up booking facials that afternoon post muster. It was great, but we missed the Cruise Critic coktail party in the Martini bar.:( I was prepared for the hard sell after the spa and resisted. DW came back with an undisclosed $$ amount of stuff, only saying she would pay me back when we got home:eek:

 

We are late seat traditional, and had reserved a table for 8 (only because a 2-top was not an option). We are now seated at a 4-top with the greatest guy we've met on the ship. Very happy with the situation as it turned out. 2 Stellar waiters to boot.

 

Playa and Costa Maya have been reversed on the itenerary, so our non-Princess based ruins tour with David and Ivan may be in jeapordy. I have e-mailed them with no response yet, but am confident they can deal with us showing up a few days late.

 

We did Playa today with a Princess booked trip to Xcaret. Totally awesome! Only wish we had a couple of days there instead of 5 hours. Tendering out this AM was a breeze, but there was some sort of tender-boat malfuntion causing an hour delay in returning. We left port about 1.5 hours late headed for Belize.

 

So far, food is great, service is fantastic, and everyone seems to be in great spirits save 1 totally irate lady who blamed the world for a slightly elongated tender process. The ship is full of families and lots of kids, but I have seen at the worst only kids being kids, nothing criminal or malicious or even inconsiderate. We are cave tubing with Yhony tomorrow and I forgot my bug spray (they do NOT sell it on board) , and will try to check in tomorrow evening. Please feel free to ask any specific questions and I will do my best to get them answered.

 

Oh, yeah. We ate at the Painted Desert/Sterlings tonight with our tablemate from the dining room. Stellar shrimp coctail as promised by other board members, and a Ribeye greatly surpassing Filet Tournadoes they offer elsewhere on board. Sabatini's tomorrow.

 

Adios for now!

[kftw]

This is what I needed. Have been craving some live Grand reports. Thank you. Please keep it up.

[tex_toby]

David & Ivan won't mind you showing up a few days late. They do this everyday and know the ships schedule changes. They do not have everyday access to email, so don't be alarmed if they don't answer you before you get there. If I were you, I would just be sure to get off of the ship ASAP when you get to port and be one of the first ones to arrive at the Cat's Meow. FYI - GREAT food at this place. This tour is not one to be missed. VERY friendly and knowledgeable people.

[bishop35]

I really enjoy the live updates from the Grand:D . Thank you for spending the time to post while you are having so much fun. I hope the rest of the cruise is perfect in every way.

[sdlindsay]

Sorry I didn't post last night, I'm barely finding time to sleep. DW and i booked this cruise to get some relaxation, but I have somehow arranged for us to be busy all day. I'm going to need a vacation when this is over.

 

Yesterday we pulled into Belize bright and early. Got a "1" group tender ticket and went to Horizon for some English bacon. MMMMMM Britishy.

 

We anchored a loooong way from shore. It was a few miles at least, and I heard as much as five. Belize has the second largest barrier reef, with Australia being having only larger one.

 

< Interruption>, we have been pulling up to the dock in Costa Maya as I type, and they just announced that we are now going to tender instead of use the pier. DW is presently racing to get us tender tickets <End interruption>

 

The tender boats in Belize hold about 190 people, and really haul buggy, so the process was much smoother than in Playa.

 

<Interruption> DW and new announcement verify earlier tender notice was in error. Phew! <End interruption>

 

Cave tubing with Yhonny's crew was amazing. I'll not get too much into it now, but the whole tour from when they meet you in the back alley to when they drop you off is non-stop entertainment. Oh yeah, you tube through a cave too.

 

We ate at Sabatini's last night. Elegent service and too much food. It was 15 courses, many of which I'm sure were great, just not to our tastes. Overall it was a good experience to do once. After 2 nights away from our regular waiters, we are really looking forward to seeing them again.

 

Ivan emailed me last night and everything is a go. We are getting released to shore now so gotta run.:)

[kftw]

Great to hear from you again. I have been borderline on going to Sabatini's so was good to hear your views. Keep the posts coming.

[sdlindsay]

Costa Maya and Majuahal (Mah-ha-wall) were awesome! Having only known the tender process before yesterday, it was like heaven being able to just walk off the ship onto a pier. Tender Vs. Dock ports will now be a consideration for my future cruise destinations.

 

We did the ruins with David (dah-veed), and Ivan (ee-von). They were a little overwhelmed with our ship showing up a few days late, but handled it quite well. Highly reccomend them, will review later.

 

The fishing village of Majuahal is exactly what we have been looking for. Beautiful white sand beaches with coconut trees, shade providing ez-ups, and $10 buckets of beer delivered to your lazy butt. Definately want to go back and spend more time there.

 

Last night was island night and crab legs in the dining room. We were very happy to be back with our regular waiters, Mario y Pedro from Portugal. DW couldn't decide between the kiev chicken or the lamb chops. When I showed some indecision before, I was presented with 3 plates of food. DW was quite stern in not wanting the attention of 2 dinners brought before her, so mario brought the chicken. Then he came back and put 3 lamb chops on her plate. Then he brought a side of nothing but crab legs. Once the guilt of being such piggies went away, we all had a good laugh and a bunch of great food. Bananas Foster for desert.

 

Up to present. We have been so tired, we slept in until 8 and then had the Mayan balcony breakfast. T0tally Awesome. The first course was Mimosa and coffee, a crab quiche (good, not great) with crab leg meat draped across the top (far superior to the crab we had last night), a hollowed tomato with a creamy buttery cheezy sauce inside, and a green salad i left alone. MMMM good. Oh my god, that was the appetizer!

Next was a Beautiful plate with a smoked salmon rose in the center, surrounded by red onion, tomato, capers, a crumpet and cream cheese. Salmon is one of the few foods I absolutely detest, but have been really trying to give everything a chance on this vacation. First a small piece of salmon with all the condiments. Quite good. Next a larger piece of fish, with less condiments. Still good. You get the idea. This continued as I tried to find that taste I hate so much. I never found it. Ok full now.

Wait, a hollowed out melon half with fresh berries for each of us and a plate chock full of muffins and stuff.

 

Just waiting for our tender number now, have no solid plans other than not rush around. Maybe Paradise Beach if the mood hits. Just called my number, no time for second breakfast:p

 

Adios for now:D

[kftw]

Once again, thank you for continuing to post from the ship.

[sdlindsay]

Wow! What a great place. The water is beautiful, about 87f degrees, and friendly people. Tendering in took about a half hour total from when they called our number to when we set foot in Cozumel. Not bad really. I counted 7 ships here today. A couple of them the size of the Grand, and 1 monster (I mean that in a good way, it really looks nice) Carnival ship. There was a Celebrity ship that actually tied up to a pier, and their pax didn't have to tender. I envied them.

 

The area where the tender dropped us was Puerta Maya. Good shopping and good times right on the water. Spent some money, but felt really good about the prices for what we got. Some blankets 3 for 12$, some Mexican dolls (nice ones, but still toys) for $5 each, and hats and shirts and stuff like that for reasonable prices.

 

DW and I were getting hot, so for $12 we took a cab to Paradise Beach. Seems like a good place, but there were so many people today, it was mostly just crowded. We could not find a single lounger on the beach, so we just walked along in the water for a while and went to the bar to drink.

Shots of Cazadores and Sol beer until the crowds didn't matter anymore. I tried the ceviche of shrimp, conch, and octopus. It was all good. The tequila did it's job.

 

Another cab ride back to Puerto Maya and even more shopping for DW. I suppose it's better to bring back stuff for everyone than tell them how much fun I had losing it in the casino:eek:

 

Formal night tonight, I'm typing here in my suit while DW beautifies. Lobster tonight too! I going to look so slick in my suit with a bib on, and butter all over my face. :p Probably only going to eat 10-12. Not really hungry. They also have the champagne waterfall tonight. I hear the juice is not too good, but it sounds like fun.

 

Adios:D

[sdlindsay]

Dinner last night was great, as expected. The ship was moving and rocking a lot more than any previous day, thought still not what I considered to be severe. I think it was windy, but never ventured outside to check. It was Loabster and beef wellington night. I ordered both, so was brought the full Wellington dinner plate (perfectly cooked medium-rare-rare) with a pair of lobby tails atop. Both DW and our guest ordered straight lobster. I also tried escargot for the first time. (if you read what I ate earlier in the day, it was a very experimental culinary period for me) They were good, but now having eaten them, I no longer feel the desire to try them. DW was feeling a little queasy from the tequila-beer-champagne-rough seas combo, so I also ate both of her lobster tails. When our waiter noticed my clean plate, he brought another tail without me even asking. That was plenty. I was a little dissapointed in myself for not eating more, but the week of eating too much is finally catching up with me:)

After dinner was the champagne waterfall in the atrium. Quite a site to watch them construct it, and they serve complimentary champagne the whole time.:cool:

After a countdown, we all throw streamers and cheer and dance and they assist some vips in pouring more champagne into the top glass of a pyramid of over 700, creating a waterfall type effect. It would have been better if they didn't have so many guests helping. It really slowed things down. After tiring of all the free booze I could drink, I proceeded to the casino to give them the rest of my money. I really enjoy gambling, even when losing, but the machines I found were extremely tight. >>>ff to today>>

Slept in until 10, so again missed breakfast in the dining room. Gotta get up early and do that tomorrow:rolleyes: Had a nice buffet breakfast instead, and went back to our cabin to begin to pack:( We are scheduled for the maitre'd's wine tasting at 3 today, and I hope to attend the afternoon tea (ends at 4:30) if time allows. Then just a lazy day at sea. Excactly the reason we took a cruise. They have already changed all of the shops stuff to the Mediterranean stuff, and are closing out all of the caribbean stuff at like 75% off. Might pick up something small, but room is limited in our luggage. Let me know if anyone has any specific questions, and I'll check back here later tonight.