screenma'am

That's a good question. Why do we enjoy the specialty restaurants so much? We just do. I imagine it's really the better service and of course the good food. We ate at Le Bistro twice this trip and last! And, we like to try different, new things. Liked Moderno this trip. It was worth the expense to have the experience of all those different wonderfully-prepared meats. I also loved the salad bar at Moderno; it was different than most salad bars. But don't waste too many calories on salad; save lots of room for the meats, even if you only take a bite or two of each. Oh, and the little round roll thingies they serve are to dye for.

Yes, we did all get bracelets from Vincent! His sister makes them. A special friend, Vincent. Remembers our names and what we like to drink.

LFK- ahhhhhhh

Nope, you can't go wrong. Even though we had an overcast, sometimes drizzly day while there, it was the hit of our week. I hope to go back again, too.

Nope, no sand toys at Tropicante. My great neice kept busy collecting pieces of shells and using her hands to build sand castles.

Just a few words. It's almost midnight and I have to get up again at 6:00. Training a new lead tomorrow.

I enjoyed the tea from Medicalma'am's coffeemaker. Loved it. Also enjoyed that champagne in the mimosas Screenma'am made.

We had one blue mesh sounger and one solid blue lounger in 10730. With a round white table. With all the rain we had, I must say that the loungers dried off really quickly.

Our steward was Angelo. The best!

Medicalma'am is doing a great job. I can't add much to her posts. Here are some ramblings.

We had a wonderful meet & great. There were about 45-50 attendees. We enjoyed coffee, juice and sweets on the first mid-morning at sea. The Captain and many of his crew were there to talk to us. They gave each of us a card with all the important numbers on and said to call them directly if we needed anything. And, yes, the Captain did say he'd be inviting all of us who were interested to a Bridge tour on our last day at sea! What an honor! We exchanged gifts from our part of the country, and had about an hour to chat and meet everyone. We really enjoyed our yummy dates from Southern California! One of the things I most like about meet and greats is seeing people we've met there around the ship and on shore during the rest of the week and being able to say "hi" and wave. Makes it more like being in a small town.

I tagged along with Planma'am and her family in Costa Maya. We went to Tropicante and had a good time sitting on the beach, wading in the water, reading a good book and watching people. The food was good, the drinks were good. Planma'am and her daughter had a great hour-long massage right on the beach. My neice also got a couple of nice temporary tatoos. I decided to get one, too, but when I went looking for the lady, she was gone. I really thought it would be fun to freak out the daughter who got a few tatoos in her teens "over my dead body."

The bus driver didn't seem to know where Tropicante was. He let us out at the end of the line and pointed us in the direction of the beach. Ended up, we had to walk back a block or two. We had made arrangements for Tropicante prior, so they were expecting us. We had a spot on the beach with a large umbrella and chairs or chaises, whichever we wanted. The beach was beautiful, clean and the water the clearest I've ever seen. There was a dock area with a canoo-like boat that could be used and I kept seeing a banana boat going by. Don't know if it belonged to Tropicante or not.

Tropicante is a slice of beachfront with a "restaurant" behind. I use the term loosely. There was a bar area, a kitchen of sorts that I was glad we couldn't see, an area with tables and chairs and shelves full of books you could check out and a bathroom for each sex. We were given a waiter who would take care of us during the day, whatever we needed and introduced to another man who could also help with anything. I must say that it did take awhile to get the food we ordered later. Drinks arrived more quickly. There were other "resort areas" like Tropicante to the left and right of us.

What I will say is this -- next time in Costa Maya, I'm going to Maya Chan!

DH and I had an aft cabin also, but not a mini-suite. They don't make enough mini-suites in a row! Our little band of cruisers did have 5 cabins in a row, aft, on deck 10 though. It is nice to be able to sit out on the balcony in a lounger, rather than a straight-back chair! And there's nothing more soothing than listening to the wake behind the ship. We had heard that the cruise line no longer allows the steward to open up the doors between balconies. The one between Planma'am and Medicalma'am did happen to come open once, and our Steward allowed it to stay open. We couldn't get ours to happen to come open, though!

It was rather nice seeing my neices and nephew and their spouses and children have such a great time on the cruise. We did things together almost every day. The great neices both reeeaaallllllly enjoyed the Children's Place, or whatever it's called. One day we happened upon them having lunch. Just to see them acting so grown up, sitting at a table with other children and the adults in charge, napkins in their laps, eating away and chatting was priceless! When their grandma's decided to take them back to the cabin for a short nap, one of them in particular puckered up her face and pouted. They enjoyed their special place so much.

Our two daughters, their husbands and our six grandchildren stayed back at home. There's no way we could afford to treat all of them like Planma'am and Medicalma'am did their children. Daughter #1 gets terribly motion sick, just in a car, and says she'll never cruise. Daughter #2 went on a cruise for her honeymoon, at Halloween 7 years ago. It was quite eventful. Ended up it was a cruise mainly for a certain type of person, and there they were, newleweds, one a male, the other a female! Not a Norwegian cruise, I must add. Their travel agent was out to lunch when she arranged that one.

For not having much to add, I've certainly gone on enough. Looking forward to what the other two ma'ams will add.