Port day 3–Costa Maya, Mexico

Check this out: I was NOT up early.  Nope.  Not today.  I think the pace of the last, um, six months caught up with me and I had to cry “Uncle.”  We were not on any tight schedule, and the extra sleep didn’t hurt us any. 

We were at the pier long before we were ready to disembark.  The waves and the wind seemed rough to us, although we are not experts.

We headed to the buffet this morning, because we’d knew it would be faster.   It really is a good buffet.  So many choices and it was always well staffed and well stocked.  I still prefer the MDR, but this was not a bad second choice.

As I was researching our ports of call, I had the most trouble with Costa Maya.  There is no shortage of possible activities in Costa Maya, but none of them seemed to rise to the top for us.  There are a lot of opportunities to go see Mayan ruins, or to snorkel; but those are not things we were at all interested in.  I wanted a beach, and we needed something inexpensive as other days had more costly excursions. 

Nan decided she needed a day off, and this was the day to do it.  The rest of us were off the ship around 9:15 A.M.  Disembarking here was very easy. 

There are dozens of beach clubs in the area and comparing them is like shopping for mattresses.  But Mitsugirly from Cruise Critic had been to half-a-dozen places in the area and I ended up picking Blue Kay Beach Club.  Their website wasn’t the greatest, but I followed them on facebook for a few months before we went and was able to ask them questions about their facility as they popped into my head.

Costa Maya has a nice port area with lots of shopping.  They also have a system of trams that you can ride from the ship to the port area, and another set you can ride from the port area down the Malecon (main street) of beach clubs. 

We opted for the open air tram.  They charged us $3 per person, but the two little girls were free.

It was a nice, but VERY windy ride.   

Replica along the road.

We rode the tram to the first stop and then walked back toward the ship about one-third of a mile.  It was sunny and hot, but very windy.  It was what I call sunburn weather – too comfortable. 

 

We picked Blue Kay in part because they have no entry fee.  They just ask that you buy something to eat while you are there.  Or so I read. 

When we got there they asked for $5 per person 12 and over and it included one drink.  We were fine with that.  I figure it actually cost us less than what I’d anticipated.  We paid for Marie, too, even though she wasn’t of the age; we just know these folks work hard for not much money.  They gave us each a blue band.

The sand was great here.  The water was a little chillier than Honduras, but still really comfortable.  The view was sort of dull, but in a peaceful way.  While they had water things to rent, we didn’t pursue renting anything.  We just sort of hung out. 

We could see the ship from the beach. 

It was super uncrowded; our club was the first in a miles-long stretch of clubs.
There were a few snorkelers out there and some small grassy patches near shore and some larger ones just a bit out from us.  A snorkeler John got talking to said when they were there a few years ago they saw someone get stung by something.  We weren’t interested in exploring much anyway (I know – what kind of ocean people are we?).

All that UV protective clothing… and she sunburnt her legs. 

We almost forgot to order our drinks.

Our late breakfast made us not that hungry for lunch so we weren’t in a hurry to get back to the ship.  When we were ready to head back the bartender called a cab for us.  The taxi only charged $2 per person over 12 for a ride back to the ship.

We poked around the shops just a bit, but didn’t buy anything. 

We hadn’t had a chance to do the ropes course yet, so we had ourselves up there half-an-hour before it opened to be first in line.  This didn’t work as well as we thought, because they sent half of us back to our staterooms to change clothes.  Um. Ok.

John stayed on the ground the first time through to take photos. 
They have a mini-course for the little ones.

We all took turns on the plank. 
The “plank” is the reason I booked this cruise line, by the way.  When I first pulled up NCL.com on the internet the first image I saw was a man on the plank.  I figured this was the ship for my family. 

After I zipped I got off so John could get on.

Dinner was at La Cucina, NCL’s specialty Italian restaurant.  This was Cher’s home-base.  I must say, for as much as I love Italian food in general, I’d probably not pay extra to eat there.  The portions were small, and they weren’t all that exciting.  It was also awkward the way they made a table for 10.  It ended up creating two seats with large table legs in the way of pulling the chair in.  We were not comfortable while we ate.

I hadn’t had much chicken during the week, so I tried to order that.  I say tried, because the waiter told me it was very dry and talked me out of it.  My sister did end up getting it and thought it was fine.

John  got tiramisu again for dessert which I tasted.  (I also had some in the buffet one afternoon.)  It was good, but I still give the Tropicana tirumisu a higher rating. 

I got ricotta cheese cake which was nice, but not exceptional.  Although, I must admit, I might just have been getting fooded out.

I don’t have a photo of Stewart’s dessert. Cher had asked the chef to make him a special dessert.  It was some kind of rich vanilla custard/crème brulee thing with fruit, but not exactly crème brulee… how is that for clear?  I had a taste of that too.  It was amazing!

The boys played some mini-golf and hung out with Craig, while the older girls went to their club for a little while.  Who is Craig?  Oh, just the bartender they befriended.  He manned the bar closest to the mini-golf, right near the buffet.  It wasn’t heavily trafficked in the evening hours, and my boys talked with this young man from St. Lucia a lot.  He liked to give Nigel wisdom, such as: “You need to drink more water; that Mountain Dew isn’t good for you.”

They all came back to their cabin somewhat early as they wanted to watch a movie on the movie channel. 

Speaking of the movie channel, the TV choices in the staterooms is awful.  We never watch much TV, but we often use it in hotel rooms, etc., as a treat for the little girls while the big ones are getting ready, etc.  Lots of NCL specific stations, some news channels, a movie channel, and a pay-movie channel.  The pay-movie channel does have movies for $0.00, so that worked out at one point.  I’m including this info for folks who do use a TV on vacation.