Caribbean Princess Sea Day, August 31

Hubby and I are people watchers (and listeners). Here are just a few of the comments we've heard over the past two days:

"This is bull sh**. Even hotels have free wi-fi."

"There is no way I'm paying thirteen dollars a day for him to clean my room twice a day."

"The food is terrible on this ship."

"I hate this itinerary. It's too hot."

"Carnival is better than Princess."

"I can't wait to get off this boat."

These comments clearly demonstrate how crucial it is to make sure you've researched the cruise line, ship, and itinerary before booking a cruise. Not all cruise lines are a good fit for all people. And not all people are a good fit for a cruise.

Like our neighbors this cruise. They have already refused to pay the gratuities, they smoke on their balcony (yes, we reported it), leave their dirty dishes in the hallway, and throw their dirty towels outside our cabin. And these aren't kids doing this - these are two middle-aged ladies. Come on, people.

We've traveled enough to know nothing is ever perfect and also know a trip is what you make of it. If you look for problems you will find them; if you look for the good you'll find it. We choose to look for the good.

Another pretty sunrise

Not much else going on for us today. I went to the crafting session, hubby has been out and about visiting with crew, and I did some writing. We're on for another leg of the journey so no packing tonight for us. Our cabin doesn't ever get messy, but after two weeks on the ship we wound up with a junk drawer. You know, like a junk drawer at home. A camera battery charger, directions for my tape recorder, a butter knife and a napkin, pillow chocolates, some straws, a sugar packet, a few loose dollar bills, an encouraging word money pocket, a pen, fingernail polish, crackers, sunglasses, and the drops for the snorkel mask were all thrown in there together. Oh yeah, and a pair of socks and undies. All nice and neat now!

Medallion™ Update:
I've combined my updates to make the progression of the roll-out more clear. 
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here. I added a picture today of the progress of the area near the photo gallery. Sure is looking pretty.
Sept 1-8 updates can be found here.

Encouraging Word Money Pocket Drop Off:
Left in the buffet seating at lunch.

Tomorrow we're back in Ft. Lauderdale for turnaround. We are hoping the third time's the charm in our attempt to get to 5 O'Clock Charlie's.

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please click on the envelope icon at the top right of this screen.

Caribbean Princess in Cozumel

Hello from Cozumel!

Man, I love this itinerary and I love Cozumel. It's one of my favorite ports, for sure.

It was a pretty sail in.

 

We didn't get to dock right away. The current was strong and the Captain had to stop the process and attempt again. Cozumel is a port we've had problems with before with wind and cancelled excursions and multiple attempts at docking so we weren't too worried about hearing his announcement. One more crack at it and he had us in.

The worst part of Cozumel is the walk through the Dufry duty-free shop, of course. You must walk through the length of the entire store to get anywhere. (Although today they are doing construction in one end so it wasn't the whole store. Woo hoo!) If you're a crew member you get to bypass the store. If you're one of the first folks off the ship you can sometimes bypass it, too. When a ship first gets into port the store can't handle the hundreds of people all at once so they let you use the outside sidewalk. But soon the gate closes and you're stuck going through the store again.

If you are having to go through the store here are a few tips:
*Don't dawdle or you'll either have a crowd pushing you from behind on their way out the door or you'll have a store worker making a bee line to you to try and get you to make a purchase.
*Walk with a purpose
*Be prepared to say no more than once.
*Be ready to dodge the throngs of people making their way through.

But once you get through it is a bit better, but not totally. The folks working in the stores inside the port area will also be calling you over to buy again and again and again.

And one more thing to know about Cozumel - you must present your bags, backpacks and purses to the dogs to sniff. So don't bring fresh foods off the ship. You will be caught!

Cozumel is a port we've been to a lot. I mean A LOT. Enough where I even have a top 5 list for Cozumel. That list is here. Hubby's limitations keep him from experiencing everything the port has to offer but we have two things we do again and again that work for him.

Our first stop is always the Money Bar. Snorkeling for me and eating and drinking for hubby. (Their menu is here.) I spent several hours in the water today finding all kinds of things to look at. I wish I had a new underwater camera so I could share everything I saw. So amazing!

Instead you get two of my best photos of the day from Money Bar.

I'm planning on doing a separate write-up for Money Bar and their facilities for one of my Wanderlust Wednesdays so I won't add a ton of water and lounger and food pics yet.

Our other must-stop is Pancho's Backyard.  Their banana leaf wrapped tamales are to die for! All aboard wasn't until 8:30 tonight so we ate there for dinner. Unfortunately, the tamales we love were on their lunch menu. Darn. But we sure love being able to stay in port late and come back after dark.

The umpteenth perfect day.

Medallion™ Update:
I've combined my updates to make the progression of the roll-out more clear. 
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here. 
Sept 1-8 updates can be found here.

Encouraging Word Money Pocket Drop Off:
Left in the restroom at the Money Bar.

Tomorrow is a sea day on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale. Boo hoo. So glad we have another week to go