deep1

There are some fish in Columbus Cove.  However because of the pier nearby and the landing point for jet skis and more the swimming area isn't very deep. I think they actually made the swimming area smaller in March compared to previous cruises.  It isn't great snorkeling but if you are looking to kill a bit of time it would work.  There were pretty big schools of fish that came almost up to the beach.  Not the brightest color fish and the water was somewhat murky but my 7 year old enjoyed it.  It was better in the morning than later in the afternoon.

Wow I hit a hot topic! ?As for the newbies I never got any points. On the sailing solo, I enjoy having a baritone voice but the GF would see to it that I would become soprano if I went that direction. ? Some great ideas coming through though... Keep em coming... 

Just sat down in my living room and will begin banging out reviews from our 5 day we got off this morn. We are not elite kind of people so it is limited to the comp locations. MDR we did "my time". Without a lobster night the menu didn't change a whole lot from night to night. Appetizers were good. Cesar Salad not overly "ceasry ". Kind of lemony vinaigrette would be more appropriate of description. Shrimp cocktail was good but better order two because they were using 36-50 smallish shrimp. Shrimp ceviche used tiny shrimp that tasted fine but the rest was rather bland lacking any "personality". Coconut shrimp were dandy! The escargot was supreme. Lobster bisque was also way up there. For main course I stuck with beef the first four nights. Prime rib was excellent, tenderloin tips buttery tender and delicious, NY strip dandy. They missed the mark, no make that the whole target , with their stroganoff though. More like stir fried beef on spaghetti, far from what one would expect as stroganoff. I finished the trip with a turkey dinner that was pretty darn good. GF stuck to fish dishes and raved about them all. I had royal chocolate cake every night and can't get enough. They brought an extra treat one night. A large cupcake celebrating 50 years. It was good as well. GF went down the line on her deserts and found them all stunning. 
Windjammer was frequently crowded  but everything we tried was good. They offered up sponge cake and pineapple drowned in chocolate sauce and GF needed to be dragged away from it...  
Sorrentos was predictable. If it was busy and the pizza fresh it was good. If it was quiet and they had been out for a while it was sheets of cardboard with tomato and cheese... 
Over all I give the trip a 9. I might add that the mixed nachos at Money Bar in Cozumel was a stand out for land based food... 

A little follow up. Royal Caribbean has been good about getting me in touch with the spa vendor and so far they have shown a lot of concern and willingness to fix it...

We take a cab over to that place every time we visit Cozumel and stock up on chocolate.  

A little follow up. Royal Caribbean has been good about getting me in touch with the spa vendor and so far they have shown a lot of concern and willingness to fix it...

A little follow up. Royal Caribbean has been good about getting me in touch with the spa vendor and so far they have shown a lot of concern and willingness to fix it...

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Sounds yummy. How many hours was the tour experience. Did you have to take local transport to the place or did they do a pick up and drop. Could you share a link pls.

Prior to heading to Cozumel, I saw a hot button for my GF that would make her day. A Chocolate tour? I decided to educate myself on chocolate and its relation to the Mayan culture. While searching around I stumbled on a tour up in town. I compared it to the one the cruise line offered  and due to its hands on nature and very small class size the tour  at Kao Kao won the coin toss. 
I can see a couple reasons it isn't sanctioned by the cruise lines. Small class size would be short on profit and its located pretty far into the residential part of town off the beaten path. We had time to shop in their little store before the class began. Not just candy. Soaps, hair conditioner, perfume, hair rinse , body wash. My GF aired my wallet pretty good on this stop. 
Class. Extremely informative. I will forever look at chocolate differently after it. It's history is interesting . More or less a symbol of wealth even used as a sort of currency. We learned that chocolates that we normally see in the stores are sorry knock offs of the real deal. We tasted 27 different kinds of real chocolate and each unique. From there we made our own coarse dark chocolate bars while our guide prepared a native chocolate drink with a chili added for a really fascinating kicker. 
I took the tour as my GF is a chocolate aficionado. Thought I would be bored but really enjoyed every second of it. Never too old to learn something!

Prior to heading to Cozumel, I saw a hot button for my GF that would make her day. A Chocolate tour? I decided to educate myself on chocolate and its relation to the Mayan culture. While searching around I stumbled on a tour up in town. I compared it to the one the cruise line offered  and due to its hands on nature and very small class size the tour  at Kao Kao won the coin toss. 
I can see a couple reasons it isn't sanctioned by the cruise lines. Small class size would be short on profit and its located pretty far into the residential part of town off the beaten path. We had time to shop in their little store before the class began. Not just candy. Soaps, hair conditioner, perfume, hair rinse , body wash. My GF aired my wallet pretty good on this stop. 
Class. Extremely informative. I will forever look at chocolate differently after it. It's history is interesting . More or less a symbol of wealth even used as a sort of currency. We learned that chocolates that we normally see in the stores are sorry knock offs of the real deal. We tasted 27 different kinds of real chocolate and each unique. From there we made our own coarse dark chocolate bars while our guide prepared a native chocolate drink with a chili added for a really fascinating kicker. 
I took the tour as my GF is a chocolate aficionado. Thought I would be bored but really enjoyed every second of it. Never too old to learn something!

Prior to heading to Cozumel, I saw a hot button for my GF that would make her day. A Chocolate tour? I decided to educate myself on chocolate and its relation to the Mayan culture. While searching around I stumbled on a tour up in town. I compared it to the one the cruise line offered  and due to its hands on nature and very small class size the tour  at Kao Kao won the coin toss. 
I can see a couple reasons it isn't sanctioned by the cruise lines. Small class size would be short on profit and its located pretty far into the residential part of town off the beaten path. We had time to shop in their little store before the class began. Not just candy. Soaps, hair conditioner, perfume, hair rinse , body wash. My GF aired my wallet pretty good on this stop. 
Class. Extremely informative. I will forever look at chocolate differently after it. It's history is interesting . More or less a symbol of wealth even used as a sort of currency. We learned that chocolates that we normally see in the stores are sorry knock offs of the real deal. We tasted 27 different kinds of real chocolate and each unique. From there we made our own coarse dark chocolate bars while our guide prepared a native chocolate drink with a chili added for a really fascinating kicker. 
I took the tour as my GF is a chocolate aficionado. Thought I would be bored but really enjoyed every second of it. Never too old to learn something!

If you look in the picture my GF's hair is usually very blonde like Dolly Parton blonde and now very dark you can even see black streaks.  She is such a sweet gentle thing and that really hurt her. 

If you look in the picture my GF's hair is usually very blonde like Dolly Parton blonde and now very dark you can even see black streaks.  She is such a sweet gentle thing and that really hurt her. 

Arriving at Lauderdale was a breeze. Parking lot closest was full so a little extra walk to lot 19 was in order... For some reason my RCL App went from my phone to the cloud and reloading took very long time to reload. It was ok because I had the set sail passes printed as well. Check in was a breeze. We are carry on people so we had no bags to check in. 
   My dear GF and I selected Independence for the ship rather than itinerary. Lots of research went into finding just the right one and we weren't disappointed. To begin with she was "fresh" with a recent refit and "amped" upgrades. Though not Oasis Class shes still a really big comfortable layout. Ice rink deck three was home to great shows and family fun. Deck four Playmaker sports bar was very casual atmosphere and the casino nicely laid out. The promenade on deck five was breathtaking. 
   We made our way to deck eleven for lunch at Windjammer which had me a little turned around on this ship being aft where the other RCL ships I had traveled previously were all forward. From there my very blonde GF made a reservation at the spa to have her hair lightened a little. This is where things went bad. It took twice as long as predicted (Making us very late for dinner) to begin with. Then the disaster unfolded when her hair dried. Instead of lightening it they darkened it countless shades to black in places! She went from Sondra Locke type hair to Lilly Munster in that ill fated visit. That's why I took one of the five stars I would have awarded had all gone right. 
   We bit our tongues and moved forward. Opening night parade on the "street" of the promenade was very uplifting. Room was spotless and comfortable. Very good attendant. Our day at sea gave us a chance to check out the water slides, flowrider, golf course  and explore. The "sky Pad" was closed I guess due to a mishap on another trip. Lunch again in Windjammer did not disappoint. Dinner was also excellent. That night we were treated to very spot on performance of "Grease". 
   First stop was Costa Maya. We opted to do a ruins tour with Native Choice based on recommendation. Very detailed and informative! In that recommendation they said they would drop us at the beach where we snorkeled, had a great lunch, did some shopping for hammocks (got great deals) and had time to get GF a massage. Dinner aboard was again fantastic. 
   Our next day found us in Cozumel. A few quick stops to pick up free trinkets then a stop at a recommended pharmacy for vanilla (which you can find everywhere)  and some other deeply discounted medications (4 month supply of Omeprazole for what I pay for three week supply here).  Our next stop took us off the beaten path to Kao Kao chocolate factory tour instead of the one being offered by RCL. We selected it after much research and again that research paid off with an extremely memorable hands on experience.  From there it was off to Money Bar where we had an outstanding lunch of mixed nachos then some excellent snorkeling. 
    Back aboard we joined in a fun "activity" cheering on and heckling those who were late returning to the ship. Dinner was good but the beef stroganoff did not resemble what I envision. More like oriental stir fried beef over buttered spaghetti. Still tasted good. We dabbled in the casino. I wound up $80 ahead playing craps and roulette. Gf wound up 35 cents ahead on the slots. 
   Yesterday at sea we pretty much relaxed redoing some things we had done before. Dinner was fine. We went to Next cruise  booking same Independence  for next year but will be bringing her teens for that one.  I went on my RCL app to check my expenses and noticed an odd $89 charge that was put on and taken off several times. At the service deck the attendant was rude and indifferent. No explanation . I then noticed that the same spa that destroyed my GF's hair took it upon themselves to "pad" the gratuity by quite a bit and unauthorized. Again the attendant was abrupt. "You need to take that up with them." They were closed and closed again for todays disembarkation! That's the second star removal reason.
    We did breakfast in the MDR and that was good. By then the line to get off was thinned out. Probably the fastest easiest disembarkation I have ever done. Its a shame that the spa incident(s) took place otherwise it would have been my pleasure to give it a full 5 star rating... 

Arriving at Lauderdale was a breeze. Parking lot closest was full so a little extra walk to lot 19 was in order... For some reason my RCL App went from my phone to the cloud and reloading took very long time to reload. It was ok because I had the set sail passes printed as well. Check in was a breeze. We are carry on people so we had no bags to check in. 
   My dear GF and I selected Independence for the ship rather than itinerary. Lots of research went into finding just the right one and we weren't disappointed. To begin with she was "fresh" with a recent refit and "amped" upgrades. Though not Oasis Class shes still a really big comfortable layout. Ice rink deck three was home to great shows and family fun. Deck four Playmaker sports bar was very casual atmosphere and the casino nicely laid out. The promenade on deck five was breathtaking. 
   We made our way to deck eleven for lunch at Windjammer which had me a little turned around on this ship being aft where the other RCL ships I had traveled previously were all forward. From there my very blonde GF made a reservation at the spa to have her hair lightened a little. This is where things went bad. It took twice as long as predicted (Making us very late for dinner) to begin with. Then the disaster unfolded when her hair dried. Instead of lightening it they darkened it countless shades to black in places! She went from Sondra Locke type hair to Lilly Munster in that ill fated visit. That's why I took one of the five stars I would have awarded had all gone right. 
   We bit our tongues and moved forward. Opening night parade on the "street" of the promenade was very uplifting. Room was spotless and comfortable. Very good attendant. Our day at sea gave us a chance to check out the water slides, flowrider, golf course  and explore. The "sky Pad" was closed I guess due to a mishap on another trip. Lunch again in Windjammer did not disappoint. Dinner was also excellent. That night we were treated to very spot on performance of "Grease". 
   First stop was Costa Maya. We opted to do a ruins tour with Native Choice based on recommendation. Very detailed and informative! In that recommendation they said they would drop us at the beach where we snorkeled, had a great lunch, did some shopping for hammocks (got great deals) and had time to get GF a massage. Dinner aboard was again fantastic. 
   Our next day found us in Cozumel. A few quick stops to pick up free trinkets then a stop at a recommended pharmacy for vanilla (which you can find everywhere)  and some other deeply discounted medications (4 month supply of Omeprazole for what I pay for three week supply here).  Our next stop took us off the beaten path to Kao Kao chocolate factory tour instead of the one being offered by RCL. We selected it after much research and again that research paid off with an extremely memorable hands on experience.  From there it was off to Money Bar where we had an outstanding lunch of mixed nachos then some excellent snorkeling. 
    Back aboard we joined in a fun "activity" cheering on and heckling those who were late returning to the ship. Dinner was good but the beef stroganoff did not resemble what I envision. More like oriental stir fried beef over buttered spaghetti. Still tasted good. We dabbled in the casino. I wound up $80 ahead playing craps and roulette. Gf wound up 35 cents ahead on the slots. 
   Yesterday at sea we pretty much relaxed redoing some things we had done before. Dinner was fine. We went to Next cruise  booking same Independence  for next year but will be bringing her teens for that one.  I went on my RCL app to check my expenses and noticed an odd $89 charge that was put on and taken off several times. At the service deck the attendant was rude and indifferent. No explanation . I then noticed that the same spa that destroyed my GF's hair took it upon themselves to "pad" the gratuity by quite a bit and unauthorized. Again the attendant was abrupt. "You need to take that up with them." They were closed and closed again for todays disembarkation! That's the second star removal reason.
    We did breakfast in the MDR and that was good. By then the line to get off was thinned out. Probably the fastest easiest disembarkation I have ever done. Its a shame that the spa incident(s) took place otherwise it would have been my pleasure to give it a full 5 star rating... 

Arriving at Lauderdale was a breeze. Parking lot closest was full so a little extra walk to lot 19 was in order... For some reason my RCL App went from my phone to the cloud and reloading took very long time to reload. It was ok because I had the set sail passes printed as well. Check in was a breeze. We are carry on people so we had no bags to check in. 
   My dear GF and I selected Independence for the ship rather than itinerary. Lots of research went into finding just the right one and we weren't disappointed. To begin with she was "fresh" with a recent refit and "amped" upgrades. Though not Oasis Class shes still a really big comfortable layout. Ice rink deck three was home to great shows and family fun. Deck four Playmaker sports bar was very casual atmosphere and the casino nicely laid out. The promenade on deck five was breathtaking. 
   We made our way to deck eleven for lunch at Windjammer which had me a little turned around on this ship being aft where the other RCL ships I had traveled previously were all forward. From there my very blonde GF made a reservation at the spa to have her hair lightened a little. This is where things went bad. It took twice as long as predicted (Making us very late for dinner) to begin with. Then the disaster unfolded when her hair dried. Instead of lightening it they darkened it countless shades to black in places! She went from Sondra Locke type hair to Lilly Munster in that ill fated visit. That's why I took one of the five stars I would have awarded had all gone right. 
   We bit our tongues and moved forward. Opening night parade on the "street" of the promenade was very uplifting. Room was spotless and comfortable. Very good attendant. Our day at sea gave us a chance to check out the water slides, flowrider, golf course  and explore. The "sky Pad" was closed I guess due to a mishap on another trip. Lunch again in Windjammer did not disappoint. Dinner was also excellent. That night we were treated to very spot on performance of "Grease". 
   First stop was Costa Maya. We opted to do a ruins tour with Native Choice based on recommendation. Very detailed and informative! In that recommendation they said they would drop us at the beach where we snorkeled, had a great lunch, did some shopping for hammocks (got great deals) and had time to get GF a massage. Dinner aboard was again fantastic. 
   Our next day found us in Cozumel. A few quick stops to pick up free trinkets then a stop at a recommended pharmacy for vanilla (which you can find everywhere)  and some other deeply discounted medications (4 month supply of Omeprazole for what I pay for three week supply here).  Our next stop took us off the beaten path to Kao Kao chocolate factory tour instead of the one being offered by RCL. We selected it after much research and again that research paid off with an extremely memorable hands on experience.  From there it was off to Money Bar where we had an outstanding lunch of mixed nachos then some excellent snorkeling. 
    Back aboard we joined in a fun "activity" cheering on and heckling those who were late returning to the ship. Dinner was good but the beef stroganoff did not resemble what I envision. More like oriental stir fried beef over buttered spaghetti. Still tasted good. We dabbled in the casino. I wound up $80 ahead playing craps and roulette. Gf wound up 35 cents ahead on the slots. 
   Yesterday at sea we pretty much relaxed redoing some things we had done before. Dinner was fine. We went to Next cruise  booking same Independence  for next year but will be bringing her teens for that one.  I went on my RCL app to check my expenses and noticed an odd $89 charge that was put on and taken off several times. At the service deck the attendant was rude and indifferent. No explanation . I then noticed that the same spa that destroyed my GF's hair took it upon themselves to "pad" the gratuity by quite a bit and unauthorized. Again the attendant was abrupt. "You need to take that up with them." They were closed and closed again for todays disembarkation! That's the second star removal reason.
    We did breakfast in the MDR and that was good. By then the line to get off was thinned out. Probably the fastest easiest disembarkation I have ever done. Its a shame that the spa incident(s) took place otherwise it would have been my pleasure to give it a full 5 star rating... 

Just sat down in my living room and will begin banging out reviews from our 5 day we got off this morn. We are not elite kind of people so it is limited to the comp locations. MDR we did "my time". Without a lobster night the menu didn't change a whole lot from night to night. Appetizers were good. Cesar Salad not overly "ceasry ". Kind of lemony vinaigrette would be more appropriate of description. Shrimp cocktail was good but better order two because they were using 36-50 smallish shrimp. Shrimp ceviche used tiny shrimp that tasted fine but the rest was rather bland lacking any "personality". Coconut shrimp were dandy! The escargot was supreme. Lobster bisque was also way up there. For main course I stuck with beef the first four nights. Prime rib was excellent, tenderloin tips buttery tender and delicious, NY strip dandy. They missed the mark, no make that the whole target , with their stroganoff though. More like stir fried beef on spaghetti, far from what one would expect as stroganoff. I finished the trip with a turkey dinner that was pretty darn good. GF stuck to fish dishes and raved about them all. I had royal chocolate cake every night and can't get enough. They brought an extra treat one night. A large cupcake celebrating 50 years. It was good as well. GF went down the line on her deserts and found them all stunning. 
Windjammer was frequently crowded  but everything we tried was good. They offered up sponge cake and pineapple drowned in chocolate sauce and GF needed to be dragged away from it...  
Sorrentos was predictable. If it was busy and the pizza fresh it was good. If it was quiet and they had been out for a while it was sheets of cardboard with tomato and cheese... 
Over all I give the trip a 9. I might add that the mixed nachos at Money Bar in Cozumel was a stand out for land based food... 

Just sat down in my living room and will begin banging out reviews from our 5 day we got off this morn. We are not elite kind of people so it is limited to the comp locations. MDR we did "my time". Without a lobster night the menu didn't change a whole lot from night to night. Appetizers were good. Cesar Salad not overly "ceasry ". Kind of lemony vinaigrette would be more appropriate of description. Shrimp cocktail was good but better order two because they were using 36-50 smallish shrimp. Shrimp ceviche used tiny shrimp that tasted fine but the rest was rather bland lacking any "personality". Coconut shrimp were dandy! The escargot was supreme. Lobster bisque was also way up there. For main course I stuck with beef the first four nights. Prime rib was excellent, tenderloin tips buttery tender and delicious, NY strip dandy. They missed the mark, no make that the whole target , with their stroganoff though. More like stir fried beef on spaghetti, far from what one would expect as stroganoff. I finished the trip with a turkey dinner that was pretty darn good. GF stuck to fish dishes and raved about them all. I had royal chocolate cake every night and can't get enough. They brought an extra treat one night. A large cupcake celebrating 50 years. It was good as well. GF went down the line on her deserts and found them all stunning. 
Windjammer was frequently crowded  but everything we tried was good. They offered up sponge cake and pineapple drowned in chocolate sauce and GF needed to be dragged away from it...  
Sorrentos was predictable. If it was busy and the pizza fresh it was good. If it was quiet and they had been out for a while it was sheets of cardboard with tomato and cheese... 
Over all I give the trip a 9. I might add that the mixed nachos at Money Bar in Cozumel was a stand out for land based food... 

Normally if something is a little off or even a lot off I don't say a word but our experience in the Indy hair salon really evokes a need to shred them.  Springing for pampering is not my norm but since our cabin bid up was not accepted I had some extra in the budget to splurge. My GF is a very attractive blonde that now and then could use some touch up on her roots. The staff person that greeted her could not be friendlier or nicer... She was scheduled for what should have been an hour to hour and half procedure to lighten up some. I checked in with her at that hour and a half mark and she replied they were nowhere close to done. Hour 2 then 2 1/2 passed with no end in sight. She had me go take our seats at dinner. At the 3 1/2 hour mark she finally appeared. I couldn't recognize her. I could tell tears had been flowing then I noticed a Lily Munsterish quaff!!!! Nearly black in places, uncountable shades darker. She had gone it to get lighter not darker! She couldn't tell when she left that had happened as it was still moist and didn't notice til she passed a mirror as it dried between salon forward and MDR aft.  She nor I are confrontational sorts and bit our tongues...  Hell, it was only $109 and we'd just have to fix.
Or was it... As she hadn't noticed when she left she authorized a $20 tip (total). A few days later (last night) I was playing with my RC app and scrolled down to my running list of charges. All seemed in order then There was an odd list of $89 charges added -subtracted- added- and subtracted with no explanation. I went to the service desk to ask what that was all about. A nasty young man would not detail what that was all about, instead saying "What does it matter since no charge actually stuck"???? I think if somebody was playing games (or mistakes) I deserve an explanation especially since we had been ashore all day the day they were applied. I scrolled one notch further and noticed yet another charge .... A $40 "tip" from the salon??? Four days later??? I scrolled back to the original salon charge. They had already taken a $19 tip on that! The nasty young man at the service desk said he couldn't /wouldn't help. Told me to take it up with the spa directly. They were closed and again closed this morning!!! So just doing my civic "buyer beware" duty and letting y'all know...

Just sat down in my living room and will begin banging out reviews from our 5 day we got off this morn. We are not elite kind of people so it is limited to the comp locations. MDR we did "my time". Without a lobster night the menu didn't change a whole lot from night to night. Appetizers were good. Cesar Salad not overly "ceasry ". Kind of lemony vinaigrette would be more appropriate of description. Shrimp cocktail was good but better order two because they were using 36-50 smallish shrimp. Shrimp ceviche used tiny shrimp that tasted fine but the rest was rather bland lacking any "personality". Coconut shrimp were dandy! The escargot was supreme. Lobster bisque was also way up there. For main course I stuck with beef the first four nights. Prime rib was excellent, tenderloin tips buttery tender and delicious, NY strip dandy. They missed the mark, no make that the whole target , with their stroganoff though. More like stir fried beef on spaghetti, far from what one would expect as stroganoff. I finished the trip with a turkey dinner that was pretty darn good. GF stuck to fish dishes and raved about them all. I had royal chocolate cake every night and can't get enough. They brought an extra treat one night. A large cupcake celebrating 50 years. It was good as well. GF went down the line on her deserts and found them all stunning. 
Windjammer was frequently crowded  but everything we tried was good. They offered up sponge cake and pineapple drowned in chocolate sauce and GF needed to be dragged away from it...  
Sorrentos was predictable. If it was busy and the pizza fresh it was good. If it was quiet and they had been out for a while it was sheets of cardboard with tomato and cheese... 
Over all I give the trip a 9. I might add that the mixed nachos at Money Bar in Cozumel was a stand out for land based food... 

Just sat down in my living room and will begin banging out reviews from our 5 day we got off this morn. We are not elite kind of people so it is limited to the comp locations. MDR we did "my time". Without a lobster night the menu didn't change a whole lot from night to night. Appetizers were good. Cesar Salad not overly "ceasry ". Kind of lemony vinaigrette would be more appropriate of description. Shrimp cocktail was good but better order two because they were using 36-50 smallish shrimp. Shrimp ceviche used tiny shrimp that tasted fine but the rest was rather bland lacking any "personality". Coconut shrimp were dandy! The escargot was supreme. Lobster bisque was also way up there. For main course I stuck with beef the first four nights. Prime rib was excellent, tenderloin tips buttery tender and delicious, NY strip dandy. They missed the mark, no make that the whole target , with their stroganoff though. More like stir fried beef on spaghetti, far from what one would expect as stroganoff. I finished the trip with a turkey dinner that was pretty darn good. GF stuck to fish dishes and raved about them all. I had royal chocolate cake every night and can't get enough. They brought an extra treat one night. A large cupcake celebrating 50 years. It was good as well. GF went down the line on her deserts and found them all stunning. 
Windjammer was frequently crowded  but everything we tried was good. They offered up sponge cake and pineapple drowned in chocolate sauce and GF needed to be dragged away from it...  
Sorrentos was predictable. If it was busy and the pizza fresh it was good. If it was quiet and they had been out for a while it was sheets of cardboard with tomato and cheese... 
Over all I give the trip a 9. I might add that the mixed nachos at Money Bar in Cozumel was a stand out for land based food... 

It works as long as hes connected to wifi and the ones calling use that app as well...
 

I saw mentioned somewhere in here about calling back home. I do get the voom package and when in its range I leave my phone on. To make calls or text I use WhatsApp. All my family and friends are instructed to contact me via that only. Any other calls come in  I likely don't want to hear from them anyway... ?

Yes. There’s a parking lot maybe 200’ away. Go straight to parking it’s a short walk.