BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
Day 5 of the cruise was mostly uneventful. It was a full day on board ship. We got up, went to breakfast and enjoyed the relaxation of not having to rush to get to a shore excursion. During the day we went exploring the ship in areas we had yet to go. We went up to the go-cart track and watched them race. It was a hour wait to ride and we were not willing to stand around for it. So we went up to the observation level and observed. The top of the water slide was also at that level.
The most entertaining part of the day was going to the Encore Theatre and seeing the Newlywed/Not so Newlywed game. It was hysterical. The marriage range was from 1.5 weeks to 46 years.
The couples were asked many personal questions and their answers and responses of their partners blew people’s minds. Questions for the women ranged from “What is the most irritating thing you husband does? To How does he let you know he wants whoopie and what is his largest thing and his smallest thing” Some of the responses were super personal, yet these ladies were not shy about their answers. One of the irritating things one of the husbands did was to leave doors open, especially the microwave. The funniest one from that question was biting his toenails.
The men’s questions were just as revealing. One of the more mild questions for the men was dealing with if they had to go buy their wife a bra, what size and color would it be? One of the husbands had no idea what her size was. He said 8.
Day 6 was our final shore excursion. We had prepaid for a day at Paradise Beach. This was an all-inclusive excursion. All drinks and food were just brought to you upon your request. They had some shrimp dishes that were just out of this world. The day was beautiful as you can see in the video of the sunrise.
We got off of the ship and headed towards the stores and through them the taxi area to get a cab to the beach. It was a decent walk but beautiful. There were 5 ships docked in Cozumel. Our NCL, Royal Caribbean, MSC and others. Some of them were huge.
It was about a 20-minute drive to the beach. We checked in and were escorted to the beach. We had the hope of doing more snorkeling, but the seas were very rough, and they weren’t allowing anyone to go in the water.
So instead of camping out on the beach, we opted for a spot near the pool. This turned out to be more advantageous for us. The first thing we did was to order some shrimp cocktails. It was good and spicy. During the course of the day we tried probably all of the different shrimp dishes they had. We did some swimming and I met a number of nice people and hopefully will be keeping in touch with one of them who lives in south jersey just outside of Philly.
The pool was heated and was in the neighborhood of 80 degrees. It is totally different in this kind of atmosphere when dealing with people. Everyone says hello and kicks up a conversation. The usual, hi my name is… where are you from… what do you do for a living… children, grandchildren etc. The funny thing is that no one is afraid to talk to a total stranger and give a lot of their life’s details.
The day seemed to go very slowly. But the time to go finally came. We made our way to the taxis, with a brief stop in one or two of the stores. When we were finished, we made our way to the taxi. The 20 minute ride back was fun. A number of people on motorcycles cut into the oncoming lane and zipped by us. One almost hit another car that was in front of us.
There was some nice nature showing itself. A bird that seemed to be a vulture perched on top of the cabana and spread its wings. Was so majestic. Then there were the Macaws just sitting on a tree in the middle of the “resort”
We got back to the cab port and Bill paid the driver. Then the walk to the ship began in earnest. We did stop at some of the stores again. I had seen something I wanted to get for my cousins to thank them for taking such good care of Stephanie for the week. I got some shirts for the kids and something else for Steph. Guillermo was busy bargaining with a guy in the jewelry store over a ring. Bill tried to bargain with a guy who I had bought something from after negotiating 15 dollars off the price. After getting what we all wanted, we began a search for Jose. He was nowhere to be found. We finally decided to finish the trek to the ship. On the way, Guillermo realized he didn’t have the towel he had taken from the ship. He went to look for it and Bill and I decided to wait in a little bar for him. He got back and didn’t see us. He began a search of the stores in the area. I finally saw him and Bill went to get him. Near the end of the walk there was a store that reminded me of me, Brett and Spencer.
We finally made it back to the ship and boarded. This time we didn’t have to beat out the rain and lose. Got to the room, deposited all our stuff, hung out there for a bit, got cleaned up and went to dinner. I was not sure about it because the seas had gotten rough and the ship was bouncing all over the place, at least it felt like that. But I went. Only at a little of it. And the rough seas caused me some trouble. I was dizzy and nauseous, so I called it an early night right after dinner.
The last day was going to be another one of on ship as we sailed to Miami for debarkation on Saturday morning.
The final part of this saga, will be a summary of the cruise. The people, the crew and the dining/entertainment experience coming later this week or early next week.