Navigator of the Seas Day 3 - Cozumel

Today was a turning point for us.  

Day 1 was hectic with leaving later than we planned, having to say goodbye to the kids, the logistics of parking and getting to the port, waiting in line, wondering if we would make it on with our birth certificates and all of the first day jitters.  

Day 2 was fun but we were still a bit nervous about how everything worked.   

Day 3 was different.  It's when we actually started to relax.  It was also the day we stepped out of our comfort zones and started to try new things.  We were feeling good about the emails from back home. There were reports of games and fun and everything was going smoothly.  Yay!  It was also our first port stop - Cozumel.  

I woke up at about 6:30 to see Cozumel on our Port side.  Just something cool about seeing land after a full day of nothing but ocean.  We could see the mainland very far away.  

We passed a Disney ship on our way to the International Pier.

More good news was that the clouds seemed to have broken up and it looked promising for a sunny day.  

We watched from the balcony as they tied up the ship.  It was very comical to watch.  There was some confusion about where to tie the ropes and one of the dock workers was yelling back toward the ship in Spanish and making very interesting hand gestures.  

 We got showered and dressed and returned to the balcony to see the Costa Mediterranea backing into port.  There were several passengers out on their balconies and on the top decks of the Mediterranea also watching.  

We could see their captain and the activity on the bridge.

We also got to watch their docking activity. We were ready for a show from the yelling dock workers, but we were disappointed.  Aside from the crew member needed to re throw the heaving line, their docking was uneventful.  No yelling in Spanish whatsoever.  

There was a Carnival ship approaching in the distance

We headed to the Windjammer for breakfast.  

Then we went up to the top deck to have a look around.

The Princess ship and the Carnival ship.

The port area.

We're bigger than you are - nah nah nah nah nah nah!

We did not book any excursions before we left.  We wanted to wait and see how things went.  We didn’t even plan to get off in Cozumel but, after arriving, we thought we’d better at least get off so I could say I was in Mexico!

 We made our way down to the Promenade planning on getting some coffee and hot chocolate.  

We noticed that the crew was disassembling the enormous Christmas tree next to the Cafe.  We were a little worried about this as we had begun to start using it as a navigational tool.  The tree was ‘forward’ so we had to head away from the tree to our cabin and toward the tree for the Cafe or theater.  It’s how I navigate at home to.  It’s all about the landmarks.    With coffee in hand we started descending the stairs toward the gangway.

We came to Deck 4 and noticed one of the lifeboats was down.  The crew was doing something with it.  It looked like some kind of cleaning or maintenance.  We didn’t stick around to watch but I snapped a quick picture.  

We found the gangway on Deck 1.  Who knew??

And we were off!  My first time in Mexico!

Just off the boat! 

So many stores right inside the port area.  Many, many t-shirts and souvenir type things.  We were looking for shirts for the kids.  My favorite ones were Sponge Bob shirts.   They said Bob Esponja.  I didn’t get a photo but they were very cute.  

We kept walking around and were approached by a man at the bottom of a stairway.  He convinced us to come upstairs to his shop.  As soon as we were inside, the door closed and he offered us free shots of Tequila.  (How was he to know we don’t drink, right?)  Anyway, we said we were interested in t-shirts and he showed us some.  They were much more than the ones we had seen in the shops already that morning so we declined.  It was a little uncomfortable trying to leave but eventually we made it out and past the other shop owners who were practically begging us to enter their shops.  We went back downstairs and did a little more looking around.  

The boys saw this picture and said they wished we would have bought the donkey for them.  

 The port area was clean but crowded - which is to be expected I guess.  We didn’t plan to go into town at all so we headed back to the ship.

Brian demonstrating port security.  Kind of makes you feel safe, huh?  Or maybe not . . .

Heading back on board.

I told him not to do it!! 

We headed back to our cabin and took a nap out on the balcony.  

What's that?  

A pirate ship!! 

It was lunchtime so we decided to head up to the Windjammer.

We got an awesome seat by the window overlooking our neighbors. 

Fruit, salad, pizza, sweet and sour chicken and some kind of pear tart maybe? 

Brian's lunch. 

This is where we got crazy.  I went back to the buffet to get some kind of fish ball thing that I saw earlier.  

I was too afraid to try it but, what did I have to loose?  We shared it and it was good.  From then on we were looking for things 'outside of the comfort zone' or 'out of the zone'.  

We went up top to play some mini golf.  

Brian won again!  I am just terrible at mini golf I guess.  I couldn't even use the dark windy excuse that I had the night before.  

Bummer.

It was nearing all aboard time so we headed to Deck 4 to watch for 'runners'.  These are people who are late to the ship. 

There was a long line of people waiting to get on. 

The captain blew the horn a couple of times as a warning.  

It was nearing 4 pm.  30 minutes past the time we were supposed to be back on board and they were still waiting for people.  

I caught some video of a couple of the late comers.  

Then we headed up to the helicopter pad to watch sail away.  

The view of the bridge from the helicopter pad. 

Check out our video

Leaving Cozumel

We returned to Deck 4 to watch the sun head down. 

Us - on Deck 4

Then we headed back to our stateroom balcony to watch the sunset and get ready for dinner.  

  

We had dinner reservations for 6 pm again.  This seemed to work out well for us.  It allowed us to catch the sunset and then make it to the dining room for the doors to open.  

Swan Lake Dining Room

I had the Beef and Veal Tortellacci for my starter - delicious.

Brian had the had the Jalapeno Potato Soup - he really enjoyed it.

I had the Penne Tarantina.  Again, delicious.  I think I had more seafood that week than ever in my life.

Brian had the Tilapia.  He enjoyed it.

 Choca-Chino Trilogy for me.

Creme Brulee for Brian. 

We then headed for the Metropolis Theater to catch that evening's Production Show. This was our first show on board.  We missed the first two - I think we were just too busy to make it to the theater.   

The theater was beautiful. 

Tonight’s show was Vox Audio.  “The Best A Capella Show in America”  

We loved it!  

It was hilarious at times and just amazing what they can do with their voices.  Super fabulous show!  

There was one guy who reminded us of James.  He likes to ‘beat-box’ and make all kinds of songs/sounds with his voice and this guy (pictured) did an awesome job.

After the show we went to Studio B to see about catching the BCS Championship game on the big screen. Well, it was pretty packed by then and the screen didn't look all that big so we decided not to stay.

We headed to the Cafe Promenade for some water. Each day there was ice water and unsweetened iced tea available on a table outside of the Cafe. It was serve yourself and available all day. Sometimes they had water with fresh fruit added to it for flavor. One day it was lemon. Once there wee lemons and oranges and there was even watermelon water one day. We tried to grab a glass often as we passed by on the Promenade.

We attempted to spend some time outside on Deck 4 but it was very windy so we returned to the cabin to go over the next day's schedule. We watched a bit of the football game on TV and then used the interactive TV program to purchase the Chukka Beach Break for our stop in Jamaica. We were concerned that it would sell out. 

Later that night we headed back to the Promenade toward the theater for the Adult Comedy Show. The Promenade was packed with the 70's Disco Street Party. Not exactly what we were looking for so we headed into the cabin hallway on Deck 6 and got to the theater at the front of the ship that way.  

The comedy was just okay. We could have skipped this.

We grabbed some water from the Cafe and headed back to the cabin. We browsed the shore excursion booklet and decided to purchase tickets to the beach in Grand Cayman. It was too late to order them through the TV so I made plans to head to the Excursion Desk when it opened in the morning.

We also filled out the room service door hanger and hung it outside before heading to bed.