Traveler

Day 5 Roatan . Again we woke up much too early for a vacation , I am sure on the last day before we need to leave , our jet lag will be gone ? the good thing comming up earlier is the ability to watch the sunrise. .. Post breakfast (the regular WJ nothing really to tell about) we started to do our way to the peer to catch our RC tour - jungle ATVs and a beach break , I booked it during one of the pre cruise sell. We arrived 10 minutes earlier so we had to wait few minutes. The ride to the ATV location took around 20 minutes on decent roads . We arrived , sign a waiver , saw some safety movie (at least most of us ), and got bandanas plus helmets. We still had to wait around 15 minutes for the previous group to come back but it was not too bad. Near the ATV they had an Ambulance parked and reafy, I guess just in case. It was long time ago since I last used an ATV , so long that I do not even want to admit it (let's just say it was no long after high school). The tour starts with going again over the safety roles and riding in circles just to see no one have any issues Post the training session we started our real trail and although it takes few minutes to understand exactly how the ATV behaves its becoming fun after, the only issue is the smoke the ATV creates , feels like being few hours in the smoking section of an RC Casino . The trail is nice and contain going up and down hills and passing over muddy water . Remember to bring clothes and shoes you are not really attached to ... We also had one photo stop with nice jungle view . During the ride , we one of the passagers roll over 180 degrees during going up the hill , nothing seriously happened to him (although the ATV ended on his leg) but it was a good reminder for the possible hazards. All in all it was enjoyable experience , messi but nice , My shoes post the activity , they are originally black After the ATV activity (1 hour net ride) we were transferred to the Sol Mar beach. The beach is a very clean one, with cristal clear water We had two hours to enjoy it , we grabbed two chairs and order beers an a cocktail (3$ beer , 10$ cocktail) , we also ordered the island sampler plate which came with rice , fried platano and kebabs - stake , chicken and shrimp, all were very tasty. After the two hours beach break we returned to the port , did some windows shopping and drank a coconut water . We returned to the ship atound 4 and went to Sabor , I figured out we need at least once to go and eat there before it is being replaced. I will write later about Sabor

Welcome party in Costa Maya

Almost every restaurant accespts dollars , just make sure you ask for the rate before and have a calculator to check how much you need to pay as some of the places has really maths problem ...

Day 4 Cozumel : Regular breakfast in WJ , it was quite empty and off we go to the port. Near our ship we had Celbrety Edge , we were so close we could see what people order for in room breakfast As we did not any special plans we be just took a taxi to down town and started to walk around drank a margarita and tryed to avoid the over pushy store people (one even called us and ask if " want to see his junk ?" , at least he was pointing his store and not something else. Soon it was time for lunch. We got some recommendation from this site for few options and we choosen Casa Denise which was very close , it's was quite good and I liked that they did not try fishing for customer. Post lunch we walked over to Mega supermarket which I was reading about in @Matt posts. It's really a good place to buy some local food, spices and even Alcohol (cheaper than the ship prices for rum and tequila) they accepted dollars with good exchange rate , We bought some hot sauces and candies. It was very easy to catch a taxi going back to the port. It was almost time for all aboard so I went to the balcony to watch the process and some peer runner , well all on board was 5:30 PM , last people boarding was around 6:05. At the evening we went to WJ for a quick bite before we went to watch the aqua show. As always it was a nice show , the fact the ship moved allot adedd to the difficulty level. I

For some strange reasons some one keep stealing our cabin do not disturb sign, I guess some is really liking RC magnets .... After the the third time I gave up and created improvised sign from the endless port shopping Advertising materials , I hope no one will fancy that ?

Thanks, At the end we went to Casa Denis ,it was not bad at all and was easy to find. Not to many were eating there when we went, what I liked is the fact they might be the only restaurant around that did not tried to convince us to try them.

Day 3 - Sea Day We woke up much too early for sea day , again I had to join some meetings at the morning. Post the meetings we went to eat something small as we schedule Sushi class. This time the cruise team did not done really good job in coordinating the activities , between 10 am to 11 am we had : The C&A welcome back party, the meet and mingle meeting and cruise port talk , Anyway , I took the numbers C&A numbers from the TV recording , total 2780 C&As , 1521 Gold , 526 Platinum , 212 Emerald , 322 Diamond , 164 D+ , 37 pinnacles 2 cruisers were with 1700 points and the top one with 2035 points IT was time to go to Izumi for the class, we arrived at time , signed some waver, washed our hands again and started the demonstration , I do not have many pictures from the class as we were wearing gloves to prevent any food issues. The class was nice, I learned some new things and yes its allot of food to eat at 10:30 AM (or any other time). Most of the people did not complete the food they created. All in all I am happy we booked it and will recommend to try it at least once, I just wish they have done it in a better time (lunch time maybe). Here is my creation : Post the class , we went to explore the ship once again to see whats going on , it was quite cold and windy outside so we went to the casino for a while, later we went to eat some very late lunch at the park cafe , we were still full from the morning sushi, after we thought its a good time to take a nap. we were planning to watch the water show but it was canceled due to the ship movement and it was moving quite allot , when I walked I thought I might had too many drinks , but considering the fact I was only drinking water I guessed we encounter some rough waves. later went to the WJ for recon only and we found some interesting dishes so we had to taste them for the research only ... sure . Velvet cake strikes back They established a pasta station, some veg/fruits drinks, jerk chicken and tasty Indian food. around 10 PM we went down to the Casino as they were going to have a raffle of an upgrade to a crown loft suite for the rest of the cruise , three names were announced but none of the people were not around so they lost it , at the end some lady won it (She was in regular balcony room) , surprisingly I did not won , its not that I needed the upgrade , I just wanted to have more pictures to share in the blog ?. Love and marriage was our next station, there were many volunteers so the eliminate process took some time but was very funny , the activity director (Fabio) was very funny, the cruise director Jemmy was less fun , but we will give him another chance during the quest. The interesting thing was that none of the couples were watching the show before (after all its the same questions every time and you can prepare for it if you really want to win). it was time to go to sleep as we were tired from the early morning , quick email round and I called it for that day.

Thanks for the tips , we grabbed a taxi to the city , will find some restaurant and then we will all to the Mega , catch a taxi later . Will love some local restaurants recommendations

Actually, we visit this place yesterday ,this were most of the paradise island were taken from. Very nice deck I just wish they have added some chairs there.

Some Christmas decorations around the ship:

I must say, heaving to tow device package make out live easier, no more stealing the internet from each other ? by the way internet package were offered for 10 $ per day on board

Hi all Can someone tell me how to get to the big supermarket in Cozumel ? Is it walking distance ? Would I find taxi nearby ?

Internet speed is not bad on the Allure , I had no issues connecting to the work VPN , share a presentation and lead a call using Skype for business phone from my laptop

Something must be done , escalations to be submitted , maybe I can send email to RC CEO or book the president cruise so I can complain directly. The lighting in the MDR and the rest of the restaurants is just horrible for food photography

Day 2 , First sea day ! we are in Nassau :-) , regular breakfast at the WJ (7 AM at the morning) it was amazing to see how many people were in the WJ so early, I even found some vegetables to eat. Although we had no special plans we went down to walk around and increase our step counts. We even bought some gift to bring home..The water color and the view was very nice , the weather was changing every 5 minutes between sun and clouds with light rain from time to time, it was not too warm to walk and browse the city. Although we heard many bad things about pushy sell people we did not felt it too much, yes , many offer you few hours trips but once you say no thank you they leave you alone. After few hours we went back to the ship , I called CK to reserve dinner and catch lunch at Solarium bistro, it was not bad , I preferred on the WJ lunch, less option = less temptations to resist ? . Post lunch we tour the boat and I must say it was quite empty for Nassau port , many disembark from the ship , no issue to find prime location near the pool. I went to rest for few hours , much needed to gain back some of the missing sleeping hours .., that was good, finally it felt like vacation ? . We went up to the CK , as it was official nigh I wear some dress shirt and my spouse went with a dress, we felt over dressed in the CK ? I counted 10 man (And some woman) with shorts , many with polo shirts and T-shirts ... For us service was very fast , we both took the lobster salad for starter , for main I took the veal tenderloin and my partner, the prime rib ,the portion of the veal was quite small but it was enough for me , both were good but not something special. For desert I took the Velarhona bar and we also tried the cheese cake. We brought wine with us but since they wanted a 15 $ corkage fee so we decide to skip it and just use our BOGO offer for two glass of wine (total 11 $) , it strange for me to pay 15$ to open my 14 $ bottle ?. On day one we were very tired , so although we went to see MamaMia and enjoyed it my souse went back to the room after the break. Today we waited for the brake, entered in the theater, waiting until the show will start again and found empty chair to enjoy the second half.

Some Casino news (for me anyway) they added another level to the reward program- for 8000 points you get certificate for a free junior suite offer

I tried the Valarhona bar, it was ok but not what I expected

Was saving for the day recap ?

CK menu

Quick CK update , we brought wine with us and it's the first time ever we were asked for corkage fee . I know it's not a new fee .

You are right , but I was busy trying to fix several things before ? , anyway the good news is that I called them today and reserved a table without any issue

Day 1 : Yesterday was all about contribution to the US economy, which was OK for me for the first two hours ? but since there is huge price difference between the US and home we to advantage of it. Anyway its just to explain why although originally we came with two suitcase now we had three , good that I printed enough luggage tags. Finally it was the cruise day, we woke up around 5 am (Jet Lag) and started to get organized while I had to take some working calls. The plan was to start and drive around 6:30 AM so we will drop the luggage at the port and I will continue and drop the car at the airport. We checked out from our hotel, Holiday inn suites across Universal , its perfect hotel if you visit Universal , the room are big and comes with kitchen and allot of space. The hotel is quite old and need some ramp up but its clean and its the second time we stayed there. As we start our way to the port , my spouse ask if we can go for few minutes to Walmart to complete some last minute shopping , I knew Walmart is never few minutes (because of me most of the times, I always need to check the outdoor section and electronics) but I said why not , although we planned to be at port around 10:30 ... but its not a deal breaker. Around 7:45 we started our way on the turnpike. the drive was OK most of the time , not much traffic on Sunday morning. when we were getting close to Miami three things happened , one , the traffic started to be slow , second , the car complained about the gas level (I was prepaying for gas) and it started to rain heavily. Quick assessment of the situation and we decided to go first to the airport to drop the car and catch a taxi/Uber to the port. That came to be a very good decision as the port was very busy. We arrived to the car rental center around 11:15 , dropped the car and took a taxi (flat rate of 27 $). At port we were around 10 minutes in traffic but once we arrived all the check inn process was very quick. We dropped the suitcases , gave some tip to the porter and went enter terminal A. We went to the second floor to a very quick check in and went to the ship , all in all I estimate it around 7 minutes (including security). First stop was the WJ , nothing much to say as not really existing food. During the lunch time a lady approached us to offer dining packages , I have asked her about chef table , she went to check for us for any promotion but came back with zero of them , oh well we will try next time. the rooms were opened at 1 PM , I looked at the key room and saw that again they did not linked my account with the my club royal status , I was annoyed as I called them before to cruise to make sure there are no issues and they promised me everything going to be OK. I called club royal , waited on line for 15 minutes to get one person who did not helped much, the call was cut at the middle so I had to dial again , waited another 15 minutes until got another person who after another 15-20 figure out what happened and how she can fix it. She told me they are going to send an email to the ship and I should go to guest services to re print my key (which as you know on day 1 of the cruise the lines are crazy). I wanted the status associate mainly because the internet (and yes also the free alcohol). It was not such a good start and it also made me to be late in reserving CK , but hey I am on vacation and not going to let things like that to ruined it. Another thing that was missing was the C&A free water, but since I am already used to it I just notify the cabin attended and he fixed it for us. We went to explorer the ship for a while , for some reason we did not find the water slides and the dry slides , but what do you know we found Sabor ? We took our first drink and went to the muster drill. After the drill ended we went back to the cabin for sell away from our balcony . Since we did not had reservations to CK we went up to try our luck , as I wrote before no much luck (at least for the time we wanted) so we went to the MDR which was not bad and took only one hour. Post the MDR we went to the casino to talk to the casino host about the status , he said he got the email and added a sticker to my card , he also made a call to IT and they add the internet to our account, so issue were fixed just on time before we had to go to see Mama Mia, we both thought the show is one of the best RCL production so far , not so for the set but more about the performance, or maybe we just liked the fact we know most of the songs :-). Mind the show is 2.5 hours ! (with 15 minutes break) and for sure is not suitable for kids. That was a long day (including 3.5 hours driving) , well tomorrow its a sea day , we are arriving Nassau

JS Costal kitchen update. I tried to call them to reserve a table for tonight but no answer. On 5:45 e we went up and being told we can have a table at 7:30 which was not a good time for us as we have a show at 8 . The host gave us her phone for reservation on other days so we will try again tomorrow. For tonight it will be the MDR

Hi , Embarcation was very fast , we arrived around 11:45 am , stuck on traffic for around 10 minutes ,once we arrived to the terminal it took us 7 minutes and we were on board

Another way to cruise. Oh well maybe next time, I wonder if they have a buffet there, if not I think we will skip it