We woke up this morning to find that we were not the only ship in Cozumel today. On the contrary……there were seven cruise ships here, including us. Honestly, we thought there goes social distancing, and more than likely we would not leave the ship. The other ships were Brilliance and Liberty of the Seas, Carnival Pride and Dream, Celebrity's APEX, and Silversea's Silver Moon. The Nieuw Statendam docked in between the two Carnival ships at the Puerta Maya Pier. Even at half capacity, there will be a whole lot of people in town.
At breakfast, we were told that none of the crew members will be allowed shore leave today. We could not help but notice there was a lot of sanitizing happening everywhere we went, even in the Shops, which were closed. Every nook and cranny was being sprayed. Now we are hoping this is just precautionary, but are convinced if there is something going on with Covid spread, we may never know about it. If this was the case, all of the guests would have been denied access to the port as well. The ship will be in Ft. Lauderdale in a few days, and we know the staff goes the long mile to make sure they get high marks with the CDC. We would say the effort has doubled.
We did manage to dig up a few interesting facts about Cozumel, which is actually an island off of the eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. The island is 35 miles long and 10 miles wide. A high speed ferry transports people to and from Playa del Carmen on the maiinland, a 35 minute ride. The island of Cozumel is famous for their coral reefs, turquoise waters, and powdery white sand. And for that reason, the Corona beer commercials have been filmed here.
Back in 1959 and 1961, Jacques Cousteau, the famous underwater researcher, brought attention to Cozumel with diving documentaries, thus the diving adventures put Cozumel on the map. There are more than 40 dive sites where one can see reef fish and multi-colored corals. The temperature of the water is 77 to 82 degrees year round. You can see moray eels, sea turtles, nurse sharks, manta rays, and even the rare black coral. Even caves. Many years ago, we took a tour that was called drift-snorkeling. The dive boat dropped us off in deep water, then we went with the current and back to the boat which went ahead of us. We never did see any tropical fish, but we did pass through a large cluster of small blue jellyfish, which stung everyone. We could barely feel the stings, but one young boy (our dinner mate at the time) had an allergic reaction to them, and had to be taken back to the ship for immediate treatment. Not sure they offered that tour today. In fact, we missed the chance to check out the tours on the TV, but we assume most of them were water-related.
History shows this island was always a commercial port for sea trade, and also a spot for the pirates to hide. Here is an interesting fact – chewing gum gave this island a resurgence in the 19th and 20th centuries. The gum was made from the elastic sap of the chicosapote tree, thus the name chicle or Chicklets was born. You can see these little packets of gum being sold everywhere in Mexico.
So at the Puerta Maya Pier, we discovered we were in a shopper's and diner's paradise. We studied the traffic and congestion before leaving the ship, and decided this area was large enough to handle the people. And besides, many of them were on tours. The terminal building was actually Dufry, duty-free shopping. Alcohol, perfume, and cigarettes could be purchased here at good prices. Beyond this building were the numerous restaurants, bars, high end jewelry stores, and tons of souvenir shops – big and small. None of these places were packed with too many people, and if you entered a larger shop, your hands were sprayed with Purell. Masks were also mandatory. And we have to add that this complex was very well-maintained.
We continued walking out onto the main street in search of the Hard Rock Café. The last time we were here, maybe 6 years ago, we sure did not remember seeing this pier area. Either that, or we did not walk any further than the HRC. At the time, we were docked at least a mile or more further up the coast. We did locate the restaurant and the shop, but had decided to buy just a city t-shirt…..no food. Disappointed, we discovered they did not sell any city t's. So much for that.
This whole area was full of more souvenir shops, and probably sold their items for much less than at the pier. One place of interest was a leather shop, where we found a nice man's wallet. Looking for a smaller version to keep my room key and driver's license, the one I picked up was a real snakeskin wallet. Guessing it was perhaps $20, it was more like $100. Decided I did not need it that badly, since I do have many more similar to these at home. We will have many more ports to search for another one.
Having walked for two hours, we headed back to the ship for lunch. It was obvious that many folks had stayed onboard, because the Lido restaurant, Dive In Grill, and Deli and Pizza were all busy. We had our Lido salads, then headed down to the Dutch Café for toasted ham and cheese sandwiches with a shared dish of fries. And a few little cookies. Perfect.
We had more fun watching the passengers coming back from town as they passed between the two ships. The Carnival group were singing and dancing while carrying bags full of their treasures they bought. For some of the older guests, there were fellows on bikes, like tuk-tuks, bringing people back and forth to the plaza.
Ship's horn began to blow, one at a time, warning folks it was close to all aboard time. For us that was 5:30pm, although some boat tours got back late, and the guests took their sweet time walking back. Each vessel took a turn leaving, except for the Silver Moon, who was left behind. Captain Noel wins the prize for the longest horn-blowing ever. The sun set as we left the island, ending a rather fun day.
Dinner this evening was gala, appropriate for the New Year's Eve celebration. But when we walked towards the upper dining room, a line had formed to enter the room. It wound around the corner and right through the Photo Shop. Could that many people be waiting for a formal photo? It turned out that extra sanitizing was being done in the upper dining room before the late seating guests could enter. Now we really wonder what is going on, as we have never seen this practice on any other ship. Delayed by about 20 minutes, guess there was no way we would be able to participate in the New Year's Eve Party held in the Lido Pool area at 9pm.
And that leads us to the meal service at the 8pm fixed dinner. The wait staff, from our head waiter to our servers, have been most attentive. As hard as they have tried to move the meal along, the wait time has not been good. We have figured out the drill over the years we have been sailing. Even though we are a table of two, we are grouped with surrounding tables and served all together, most of the time. Unless the head waiter intervenes, which he has frequently, our courses arrive with the surrounding tables. Usually when we have our world cruise group of up to eight guests, we don't mind some space between courses. But serving a table of two should not exceed one hour. The cuisine here has been tasty for the most part, but more often than not, the food is warm at best. Now we are very happy that we have the option of specialty dining, which was full to capacity tonight. If we had been thinking, we could have gone to Club Orange, and had the same menu there. In fact, Tanto, our morning waiter, showed up. He said it was very quiet at 8pm in Club Orange, so he was sent here to help. We still think the wait crew is short staffed, with the 28 waiters still under the 10 day quarantine since boarding in Florida last Sunday.
At each place setting, we had paper New Year's Eve party hats, the only decorations for the occasion. Entrees for us were the lobster and steak combo, with desserts of a chocolate mousse and a glass of strawberries with liqueur.
Both bands, the BB King's Blues and Rolling Stone Rock Room Band, were not in their usual spots tonight, as they were playing at the Lido Pool. That continued well past midnight, but we chose not to attend because we knew it would be way too crowded. Some folks are letting down their guard, and not wearing the masks as required. And to be fair, if you are actively eating or drinking, you can skip the mask. We are certain there was a lot of drinking, because until after 1am, we could hear the noisy party-goers filtering down the hallway.
Since we are nearing the end of this cruise, we had some mail reminding us of another Covid test tomorrow. We also got the letter for in transit guests along with our in transit card to show in Ft. Lauderdale. Finally, we got another letter explaining that they are experiencing a technical difficulty with one of the Azipods, which may slow us down a bit. In addition, due to stronger than normal currents on our way to Curacao next week, we will be arriving six hours later than expected. This will not bother us, as we have not booked any excursions there.
We are now headed around the north coast of Cuba, and Captain Noel warned we may have some rough currents. So far, it has been pretty smooth sailing.
Bill & Mary Ann
