Hey Shrek...can you please call off Fiona?

[cruisegirl1]

55 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

We were at South Beach having a Coco Loco at the bar there when we saw that one downpour of rain coming.  Was just nice to wash the air for a bit...and add to the humidity.  😉  

 

Bucky opted out of his usual hot dog at Chill Island buffet for a taco.  I love the taco bar there...you can get quite creative.  

 

That indeed was an odd test...the blackout.  Have not seen that before, that I have noticed anyway.  Almost everything electronic shut down.  Heard some howling upset pax on the stairs that were grumpy about the elevator shut down.  We always take the stairs down anyway...I guess those pax just got stuck with bad timing.  Did not bother us.  We headed to south beach on our usual walk around 10:30.  

 

Back to the ship for after lunch for beer and wine in the almost empty SL.  

 

 

 

I don’t think the power outage test lasted more than five minutes.  The lights in our cabin were out for maybe 90 seconds.  But I guess some folks will complain about anything

m

[OCSC Mike]

58 minutes ago, island lady said:

Bucky opted out of his usual hot dog at Chill Island buffet for a taco.  I love the taco bar there...you can get quite creative.  

 

Does eating as many tacos as humanly possible while saving room for a chicken sandwich and funnel cake from the snack shack count as creative? 😋

 

Picky wife won't eat tacos but she loves making ice cream sandwiches at Chill Grill by taking 2 chocolate chip cookies to the soft serve station. The only catch is you have about 15 seconds before it starts melting... but it's worth it.

 

Had no problem being on Cococay with Freedom twice in July, plenty of room there, but barring any itinerary changes, Indy will be the only ship there during our cruise next month. That should be pretty nice.

[robmtx]

16 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Picky wife won't eat tacos but she loves making ice cream sandwiches at Chill Grill by taking 2 chocolate chip cookies to the soft serve station. The only catch is you have about 15 seconds before it starts melting... but it's worth it.

Turn this into a competition like riding a bull for 8 secs. If you can get your ice cream sandwich to last longer than 15 secs...winner winner chicken dinner.

 

We do the upside cones. The attendant will fill a plastic cup with soft server and then we put the cone on top 🙂

[OCSC Mike]

34 minutes ago, robmtx said:

We do the upside cones. The attendant will fill a plastic cup with soft server and then we put the cone on top 🙂

 

That's a common way to get ice cream here in Florida if you plan to eat it outside. Drippy cones are bad news.

[island lady]

18 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

I don’t think the power outage test lasted more than five minutes.  The lights in our cabin were out for maybe 90 seconds.  But I guess some folks will complain about anything

m

 

It was on and off in various areas.  We tried to go down to the casino while it was not busy to try to use our promo...but they were shutting all the slots down.   Looked weird to see them all opened up and exposing the insides.  😉

 

We heard the fans go off, A/C go off, elevators off and on.   This was around 10:15 or so.  

[island lady]

18 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Does eating as many tacos as humanly possible while saving room for a chicken sandwich and funnel cake from the snack shack count as creative? 😋

 

Picky wife won't eat tacos but she loves making ice cream sandwiches at Chill Grill by taking 2 chocolate chip cookies to the soft serve station. The only catch is you have about 15 seconds before it starts melting... but it's worth it.

 

Had no problem being on Cococay with Freedom twice in July, plenty of room there, but barring any itinerary changes, Indy will be the only ship there during our cruise next month. That should be pretty nice.

 

LOL...now that is indeed creative!!  😄  

 

We were the only ship at Coco Cay...which felt odd.  Really was not that busy on the island.  Just a few of the usual rude pax at the taco toppings area...but that was it.  We of course did our normal, and opted for a small ice cream cone for dessert to enjoy on our walk back to the ship. 

 

Sun is out now, just a few light clouds on our way to Costa Maya.  Can see the city of Havana from our balcony on the port side.   Stars last night with the "Cheshire Cat smile" moon were beautiful.  🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by island lady

[OCSC Mike]

47 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

LOL...now that is indeed creative!!  😄  

 

We were the only ship at Coco Cay...which felt odd.  Really was not that busy on the island.  Just a few of the usual rude pax at the taco toppings area...but that was it.  We of course did our normal, and opted for a small ice cream cone for dessert to enjoy on our walk back to the ship. 

 

Sun is out now, just a few light clouds on our way to Costa Maya.  Can see the city of Havana from our balcony on the port side.   Stars last night with the "Cheshire Cat smile" moon were beautiful.  🙂

 

Sounds like yet another great cruise. It's almost like you know what you're doing and have a routine. 😁 Not surprisingly, we camp out at Cococay all day. I'm not even a big beach or pool guy but we really developed a routine we enjoyed last trip.

 

If Harmony alone felt odd, I wonder how quiet it will feel for us.

[island lady]

27 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Sounds like yet another great cruise. It's almost like you know what you're doing and have a routine. 😁 Not surprisingly, we camp out at Cococay all day. I'm not even a big beach or pool guy but we really developed a routine we enjoyed last trip.

 

If Harmony alone felt odd, I wonder how quiet it will feel for us.

 

I am wondering, being on a cruise in September (which we normally don't do) with limited ships in Carib. ports.....could have something to do with so many ships still doing the Europe, Alaska, NE, etc. routes. 

 

Our TA on Wonder is not until the end of Oct.  Though we are doing a couple of loops around the Med before that.  

[OCSC Mike]

46 minutes ago, island lady said:

I am wondering, being on a cruise in September (which we normally don't do) with limited ships in Carib. ports.....could have something to do with so many ships still doing the Europe, Alaska, NE, etc. routes. 

 

Could be. You'd know far better than I would. This is my first cruise ever not in June/July other than one spring break cruise. I didn't give any thought to any of the logistics, I was just thrilled to finally be able to sail without paying the summer premium prices I'm used to.

 

We really did want to do another B2B but the weekend prices are lousy compared to the Going, Going, Gone price we paid for the M-F 4-nighter (at least 2X as much for one less night) and we're too frugal for that. If my wife's schedule allowed, we probably would have done more of the 4-nighters between the price and our recently formed Indy/Cococay routine but I'm not complaining.

[island lady]

51 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Could be. You'd know far better than I would. This is my first cruise ever not in June/July other than one spring break cruise. I didn't give any thought to any of the logistics, I was just thrilled to finally be able to sail without paying the summer premium prices I'm used to.

 

We really did want to do another B2B but the weekend prices are lousy compared to the Going, Going, Gone price we paid for the M-F 4-nighter (at least 2X as much for one less night) and we're too frugal for that. If my wife's schedule allowed, we probably would have done more of the 4-nighters between the price and our recently formed Indy/Cococay routine but I'm not complaining.

 

We indeed would have done a usual B2B on this one as a minimum....but ran out of time before we head to Wonder.   Basically a fond farewell to Harmony before she leaves for Ft. Lauderdale.  🙂 

Will miss our favorite crew members on this ship.  

[Another_Critic]

7 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

If Harmony alone felt odd, I wonder how quiet it will feel for us.

Was on Enchantment in March when we were alone in Coco Cay.

[BirdTravels]

11 hours ago, robmtx said:

We do the upside cones. The attendant will fill a plastic cup with soft server and then we put the cone on top 🙂

we do the same thing. No tiny cone for us! We grab a cup from the drink dispenser and have the attendant fill it up.  

[jk04]

To continue with the Disney theme, Gaston is now the next tropical storm.

[c-leg5]

On 9/19/2022 at 12:51 PM, island lady said:

Definitely looking forward to our usual favorite there....Karlita's Mexican Kitchen cooking class in December on Serenade.  🥰

Have you done this class before? Is it held at La Chilanganoense? do yo7 book with her directly?
 

Karlita certainly seems to have her finger in a lot of pies these days!

[perfect match]

14 hours ago, island lady said:

 

LOL...now that is indeed creative!!  😄  

 

We were the only ship at Coco Cay...which felt odd.  Really was not that busy on the island.  Just a few of the usual rude pax at the taco toppings area...but that was it.  We of course did our normal, and opted for a small ice cream cone for dessert to enjoy on our walk back to the ship. 

 

Sun is out now, just a few light clouds on our way to Costa Maya.  Can see the city of Havana from our balcony on the port side.   Stars last night with the "Cheshire Cat smile" moon were beautiful.  🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I’m spoiled after our two very low capacity cruises last fall. Last September we had 2200 pax on Allure, and early December 3300 pax on Indy. Both times we were the only ship there. I loved it! Felt like I really was on a private island.
 

Coco Cay felt very crowded to me last Saturday. Harmony was pretty full, and Freedom was there as well. Felt like I was in one of our Orlando theme parks on a crowded day during high season.

 

That said, yes, I had fun. I even found two stingrays to swim with at South Beach. Then I had the not so bright idea to take the tram back to the ship. Figured I’d get there faster than if I walked. Nope! The tram was packed and it took over an hour for me to get back, and that was just to the transfer station. I walked the rest of the way. Should have done that in the first place. Learned my lesson!

Edited September 21, 2022 by perfect match

[LEMJMcC]

On 9/19/2022 at 5:46 AM, Ocean Boy said:

But it is really annoying when they close the outside decks.🤨

They did that on Freedom, but we found a way around it...

[island lady]

11 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Have you done this class before? Is it held at La Chilanganoense? do yo7 book with her directly?
 

Karlita certainly seems to have her finger in a lot of pies these days!

 

Yes, she and Otto put up (by hand themselves, with a lot of scary climbing) a huge tower to sell internet service to the area.  They are also going to rent out some of their extra rooms at their new house. They really did a nice job with it.  🙂 

 

Yes, have done the class at their old location (an upstairs walk up at Mahahul) and this last time...at their new place just outside of Costa Maya.  

 

I book with TripA, since I can't book direct.  It works well.  In fact when RCI changed arrival dates with Serenade early December, it was easy to cancel and rebook.  They don't charge you until a couple of days before the event.  Love...love the class!  Limited number at I think just six or eight at the most.  Very personalized.  

[island lady]

Have just docked up at Costa Maya right now.   We are once again, the only ship in port.  It is 10:30 (ship's time).   Have been here with 4 ships in.  

 

If our itinerary had not been changed by Fiona...they would not even have a ship here.  Probably some scrambling to get set up for the unexpected influx of pax.  😉 

 

It is hot...hot...and very humid here.   And lots of seaweed!  

[island lady]

9 hours ago, perfect match said:

I guess I’m spoiled after our two very low capacity cruises last fall. Last September we had 2200 pax on Allure, and early December 3300 pax on Indy. Both times we were the only ship there. I loved it! Felt like I really was on a private island.
 

Coco Cay felt very crowded to me last Saturday. Harmony was pretty full, and Freedom was there as well. Felt like I was in one of our Orlando theme parks on a crowded day during high season.

 

That said, yes, I had fun. I even found two stingrays to swim with at South Beach. Then I had the not so bright idea to take the tram back to the ship. Figured I’d get there faster than if I walked. Nope! The tram was packed and it took over an hour for me to get back, and that was just to the transfer station. I walked the rest of the way. Should have done that in the first place. Learned my lesson!

 

Indeed.   We never take the tram.   Not into can of sardines on wheels travel.  😄 

[c-leg5]

29 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Yes, she and Otto put up (by hand themselves, with a lot of scary climbing) a huge tower to sell internet service to the area.  They are also going to rent out some of their extra rooms at their new house. They really did a nice job with it.  🙂 

 

Yes, have done the class at their old location (an upstairs walk up at Mahahul) and this last time...at their new place just outside of Costa Maya.  

 

I book with TripA, since I can't book direct.  It works well.  In fact when RCI changed arrival dates with Serenade early December, it was easy to cancel and rebook.  They don't charge you until a couple of days before the event.  Love...love the class!  Limited number at I think just six or eight at the most.  Very personalized.  

Thanks, so it is held at their new hotel just outside the port and you can walk to it? It is something I may be interested in for a change.

 

Have you ever done “Cooking with Josefina” in Cozumel? How would you say it compares? I understand Karlita changes the menu daily?

Edited September 21, 2022 by c-leg5

[island lady]

3 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Thanks, so it is held at their new hotel just outside the port and you can walk to it? It is something I may be interested in for a change.

 

Have you ever done “Cooking with Josefina” in Cozumel? How would you say it compares? I understand Karlita changes the menu daily?

 

It is not a hotel that Otto and Karlita have, but instead a house with extra rooms.  They built it themselves, and in fact raised the level out of the swampy low land with a lot of fill, and even put in a tiny lap pool.  The bottom of the home opens out into the courtyard/pool area with an open air Mexican style kitchen.  They are very proud of what they built...with good reason.  

 

No, have never done Cooking with Josefina...but sounds interesting.  I need to research it, thanks!  

[Ocean Boy]

6 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

They did that on Freedom, but we found a way around it...

And you are just going to leave me hanging.....?

[LEMJMcC]

17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

And you are just going to leave me hanging.....?

Well, it was really kind of simple.  We found an access door on the same level that was not locked or barricaded and used it to access the deck.

 

Here are a couple of pics showing how much the water in pool moved while we were in it.

 

[MaddyandMax]

Oh man,  starting to get slightly nervous over here. We are sailing October 9 on Oasis out of NJ.  As a Canadian I really don't want to end up cruising back to Canada! LOL LOL

[island lady]

1 hour ago, MaddyandMax said:

Oh man,  starting to get slightly nervous over here. We are sailing October 9 on Oasis out of NJ.  As a Canadian I really don't want to end up cruising back to Canada! LOL LOL

 

Luckily RCI made the right decision to change our Harmony from eastern to  western.   Regular summer day over here along the Mexican coast.  Calm seas.  

But very, very humid and warm.  

Edited September 22, 2022 by island lady