26 November 2008

(Cruise Day 5) Cozumel

Posted by BaBa under: Travel .

Today we would walk off the ship and go into Cozumel. We were going to go on a scavenger hunt for the free charms available from some of the merchants. This required that we take a cab downtown. The other thing that we wished to do was to take Magoo to the beach as he wanted to play with his beach toys.

We walked off the ship and Magoo got to see how large the ship was as we left. We were walking down the pier and it hit him that this was the cruise ship and that he had been on the ship. It finally hit him s to the idea that we were on the ship and it was a BIG ship.

We walked around the pier shopping and got Magoo a Maraca. He also listened to the music being played by some of the local talent. He really does enjoy the music and enjoys all music (except hippity hop). No complaints that he does not like hippity hop as we do not like it either.

We then caught a cab to the forum shops and collected another charm bracelet piece. This was a great way to pass the day as it was sort of like a scavenger hunt. We were under no illusions that the pieces were really valuable. We also collected some gemstones and trinkets along the way. We bought some Vanilla for cooking. MaMa found a Dooney and Burke handbag and we got this for her at a much discounted price. We also bought a wooden spiral cut bread basket in the shape of an apple

We stopped as I found a couple of small boats by the sea and Magoo said Beach. Magoo got out his toys and played on the beach which was not more the 10 feet wide and 25 long. However, it had sand and he had fun building with his bucket and star mold. What else could you wish for when you are 3? Your parents watching you play and playing with you while taking photos and enjoying each of your creations in the sand. It was a very satisfying day.

As we took the taxi back to the pier, we enjoyed this nice day in the sun in Mexico. I had a mishap with the camera and will have to see about a repair to my lens. It is not zooming smoothly after being jostled. I was upset at my negligence, but looking back on it later it was not a major thing as the big thing was that we had a good time. As we got out of the cab and made our way to the pier, our little soldier fell asleep in the stroller. He was exhausted. I helped get those two back to the room and then ventured off the ship again.

I did not go far. I walked around some of the shops and bought a new fanny pack in leather. My main mission was going to the Internet café and updating the blog and checking mail. I spent the huge sum of $4 to spend 1 hour updating the blog, killing spam and checking mail. I answered my student’s questions and caught up with their progress. This is so much better than the ship based Internet at 0.75 a minute or $45 for the time I was online.

I got back to the ship in time for a quick snack and then it was time to get ready for dinner. We had dinner in the DaVinci dining room with our waitress Elena from Romania. She really takes care of us especially Sheridan. He has made so many friends on the ship from the crew in the Pelican’s club to the Maître De to any of the staff that he encounters. Wherever he goes, people comment about his manners and for being cute. He really is such a happy boy. He has also adapted to new dinner partners each night. We have a standing reservation each night at the same table, but the rest of the table is open and so we get different guests each night. This makes it interesting. Some nights are good and some are long.

Tonight was a long night at dinner. The night brought two G.O.A.T’s to the table. We had a single G.O.A.T. appear one other night, but she did not like our company almost immediately and feigned an excuse about being cold and left for her cabin. Tonight, we had no such luck. This was a shame since these two G.O.A.T’s decided to stay for dinner. It was also a shame as Ms. Heather and Ms. Chris came in later and were planning to join us, but did not because of the G.O.A.Ts.

G.O.A.T. stands for Geriatric Old Age Traveler. The lady complained that the chicken last night was so tough that you could not cut it. Tonight they ordered crab legs and rack of lamb. She complained after dinner that the lamb was fat and he complained about the crab legs being frozen and stale. There was nothing left on their plates. It was so awful that they ate it all.

They lamented throughout the dinner on the cost cutting moves that have been implemented. No daily newspaper summary, no tissues in the men’s restrooms or in the stateroom (they are in both) and the fact that the line no longer mails forms to customers but expects that you get them online. They had a friend do this and it took 4 hours since the friend does not have yahoo or Google installed and the friend’s system does not have the same system as the cruise line. This showed how little that they or the friend knows as you don’t install any of these items. The friend probably has an original vintage IBM PC with a 300 baud modem on dial-up. Ha Ha!!!!!!

We were really glad to see them go and I overheard them say to the Maître De that everything was fine and lovely. Another trademark of a G.O.A.T. is this type of insincerity along with slow movement, being completely unaware that they are not the center of the universe, complaining at every turn and a sour outlook toward the world. We try to stay away from G.O.A.T.’s and pray that we never develop these awful traits.

We went up to check on the movie and found they were playing a teen flick. So we retired to our room and watched Iron Man and completed our night.

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