6:15 am
Rise and shine. OK, so I am not so sure about the shine part of that as 6:15 is early! I bet my kids are not even awake yet!
6:40 am
We make our way to deck #12 to watch us pull into port. We are running side by side with a Carnival ship as we approach the pier. They have a separate pier than the one that we will be using so the pier area does not feel crowded at all.
Cozumel pier area
Down one deck to the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast. Today’s choices are scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast with strawberry topping and a bowl of Corn Pops for good measure! I also have finally discovered that they have chocolate milk! How did it take me 5 morning meals to realize that they had choc milk? I love apple juice and I have been fine drinking juice but choc milk is awesome!
8:00 am
Time to get ready to go ashore and meet our tour guide for our island tour.
8:45 am
Did I mention that our tour today is on a Segway?!
Segway - our wheels for our tour
I have been looking forward to this tour for a while. We do get some slightly disappointing news in that our tour was to have time for snorkeling too but the water is too rough and the snorkel portion has been canceled. The good news is that we get more time on the Segway instead. Several guests cancel (and get a full refund) as they really wanted to snorkel but the snorkel was just a bonus to us.
I was not real worried about hurting myself on the Segway but once we meet our guide and he has a bandage wrap on his left knee, I begin to worry!
9:00 am
We take a van ride to a parking lot a couple miles away and this is where we will learn how to ride our Segway before heading out on the open roads. Our guide gives us a demonstration and some pointers but this looks very easy. If you have never seen a Segway, first thing you realize is that there is no gas or brake controls other than your body controlling the machine. You lean forward to move forward, lean backwards to slow to a stop, continue to lean backwards to begin moving in reverse. The steering control does not turn but you just lean it left or right to move that direction. Piece of cake.
I turn on my Segway and with the help of the guide I step on the platform. Now as I am getting on, I lean forward and begin to accelerate forward. I quickly lean backwards to stop but I lean too far backward and begin to move in reverse. I quickly lean forward to stop but lean too far forward and begin to move forward. Again, I quickly lean backward to stop but I lean too far backward and begin to move in reverse again! A vicious cycle that I cannot control at this point and I might as well just be riding a bull in a rodeo. Finally, after what seems like a half hour but was just 20 seconds or less, the guide grabs my Segway to stop me. I now wonder whether or not this little plastic helmet is really going to help me.
I gather myself and give it another try and am able to get the hang of the controls. We practice riding around in the parking lot for several minutes before we begin our journey on the roads. Horse seems to have gotten the hang of it too without the bull in a rodeo effect as he was riding around before I was. Show-off!
9:15 am
Let’s roll! We begin by riding on a bike path so traffic is not a concern at this point. We make a stop to learn about some history of the island and plants that are native to Cozumel.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop....I mean here is Horse on his Segway!
We get to learn a new trick that the parking lot dwas unable to teach us, how to drive over a speed bump. The trick to theis is that you have to lean forward to go up the front side of the bump but need to lean backwards just enough to slow you down as you descend on the other side of the bump. Otherwise you will just fly over too fast, go air born and crash & burn. The first bump, the guide stands and offers assistance as we go over it. The next one, he stays on his Segway but goes slow and looks back with caution to watch us. By the third bump he does not even look back at us. I guess we are doing pretty good then!
Stud muffin on wheels
Now we venture out on the roads and drive along the coastline with the ocean to our right. Absolutely gorgeous.
We make a stop at a beach club, where we were supposed to snorkel, so we can rest our feet. Since you just stand in one place, your feet fall asleep and start to really burn. The trick is to keep rocking on your feet but you have to be careful because if you move too much you will cause the Segway to go too fast or stop. This is why they don’t tell you to do that but we learned from just watching the feet of the tour guide. We did this on the way back from the beach club and our feet were much better but still fell asleep. We just sit and relax at the club watching the ocean.
We get back on our Segways and the guide snaps a few photos of us riding around. We keep riding up the coast for a mile or two. The guide stops us and has us turn around to see our cruise ship off in the distance. It was very cool and surprising to see how far we have come on these 2-wheeled cycles! Snap a few more photos and then we begin our journey back.
Studs on wheels in paradise
The best part comes when we stop and get off the machines. We are supposed to get down, turn off the machine and then lean it up against the wall. No problem for me. Horse gets down but forgets to turn his off before leaning it up against the wall. As he tries to lean it on the wall, he steps in front of the tire and then leans the handle forward. Keep in mind that it is still on and leaning the handle forward makes it move forward. The tires start turning and runs right up the back of his leg and keeps spinning trying to move forward. His calf muscle is now getting a nice massage from the tire and has black rubber burns on it. Awesome! Wish I would have video taped that nice trick!
What an absolutely wonderful experience that was! One of the coolest things I have ever done. Let’s take that to mean that riding a Segway was ultra cool and not to mean that I have not done many cool things in my life.
11:30 am
We are back on board the Voyager of the Seas and looking for some food. We are at the very end of breakfast and a lot of food is being taken off of the buffet but still too early for lunch. I settle for some fresh pineapple, cheese and croissants and some corned beef hash. (You thought I forgot to have some today, huh?)
11:50 am
Grab a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream cone as we make our way back to the bottom deck of the ship to go ashore again for some shopping.
12:00 noon
We meander through all kinds of stores just browsing. We find the keychains, errr...Christmas tree ornaments, for my kids but keep looking just to see what is there. We come to some pretty aggressive sales people that keep wanting us to go upstairs to their stores. Not sure what is up there but we pass and the sales person moves to someone else. Some people are not so lucky as they are followed and continually asked to go upstairs. Hate to se what they are like once they get you in their store!
Another chap sees my New Orleans Saints hat and shows me a wooden plaque that he has airbrushed a nice Saints logo. Starts the price at $35, then I say no thanks and he lowers to $25 and I tell him I will think about it and turn to walk away. Now he lowers the price to $20. I wonder if I went back just before the ship departs and offer him $10 if he would have taken it? It was very nice but just not on my shopping list.
On the dock in Cozumel
1:30 pm
We make our way back on board the ship for….more food!!!! Lunch time!!
2:00 pm
Lunch today in the Windjammer Cafe in the Island Grill section. A mixture of several things today with some fried chicken, pizza, spaghetti and cheese-stuffed pasta shells. I probably should have stopped about halfway through that menu! I am stuffed!
2:45 pm
Stuffed or not, I need to eat ice cream cones to break my record. I grab my 2nd cone of the day with a chocolate cone.
3:00 pm
We walk around the pool deck for a little bit to walk off lunch. We find a couple deck chairs in the sun and decide to rest a bit. Now we are in a group of chairs with room for about 20 people but there are about 8 or 10 of us. Horse and I alternate sleeping and snoring loud enough to wake ourselves up. I fall asleep soundly enough and snore loud enough that I cleared the people out around us. I wake up some time later and the chairs are now empty around us! Hope those people did not want a nice quiet place to relax!
5:00 pm
Anchors away!! Well, technically we are tied to the dock and not anchored but you get the idea. We watch as we turn 180 degrees and start our journey back to New Orleans.
Every now and again we read about some dope who falls overboard and is lost at sea. You wonder how someone can fall over a railing that is pretty tall. I am about 6’2” and most railings are middle of my stomach and up to chest high for me. Well, we got to see how this could happen. This not so smart girl decides to stand on a deck chair and hoist herself up on the railing to sit on it for a picture that will have Cozumel in the background. Not so smart boyfriend encourages her and snaps pictures. Thankfully, the photo session ends and she gets down unharmed but one nice jolt of the ship and this girl at least falls one deck down to the pool deck or right overboard to the water down below. Smart people don’t fall overboard, dumb ones do. This dumb one was just lucky.
6:30 pm
Tonight’s show in the theater is a voice impressionist named Paul Boland. He is called the man of 1,000 voices and is pretty good. Some I have never heard of but most I do know. He switches in and out of voices even while singing songs. I would say that he was good at most voices and really great at some. Enjoyable show.
7:30 pm
We make our way to the sports bar to watch the beginning of the Browns and Steelers game. I think we might be the only Browns fans in the bar and for sure the only non-smokers!
7:50 pm
This is our 2nd and last formal night on the cruise. We look rather dapper tonight so we decide to have our pictures taken again. Our last pictures looked like Horse couldn’t find the camera and had a stroke so we did not buy them. It’s always awkward to pose for a formal portrait and you end up with goofy looking smiles. We made our way through 2 awkward pictures when this little old lady who was all of 4 feet tall comes barreling through the picture area. Not sure how she missed all of the big flash umbrellas and other camera equipment but she did and walked right between us and the camera man as he was ready to snap the picture. She screams this little yelp and we bust up laughing just as the picture was taken. They ended up cropping her out of the picture and we had a photo from the chest up but it was the best picture of the bunch.
8:00 pm
Oh boy oh boy! It is lobster night in the main dining room! I order a puff pastry filled with mushrooms for an appetizer and then a cup of double duck consomme is brought to me too. I do not remember ordering but gave it a try anyways. It is a dark colored broth with shoestring sliced veggies in it. I have never had duck before so I have no idea if it tasted like duck but it was good. Now comes the good part, the entree! Even though I knew I wanted the lobster tail and shrimp, I also wanted the prime rib. The waiter brings the lobster dinner that I ordered but also brings a prime rib dinner too! Horse and I share the prime rib as he ordered lobster too. While we are munching away, the waiter brings me another lobster and shrimp dinner! I end up eating 2 lobster and shrimp dinners and half of a prime rib dinner! I follow that with a chocolate cake sampler dessert that has 3 different kinds of chocolate cake. Oh, wow. I can hardly think about eating ever again but it was the most awesome dinner of the week!
Mmmm, lobster, shrimp and prime rib!
9:30 pm
We make our way all the way up to deck #14 to find a place to watch the rest of the Browns game where there is no smoking. We watch the Browns fight a good game but lose, as usual.
11:00 pm
Some how we decide that we are hungry!! We go to the Promenade on deck #5 and get a couple fresh baked cookies from the cafe to enjoy while we watch people passing by.
12:30 pm
Take a couple Nyquil tablets to help get a good nights sleep and get rid of this nagging headache.
Good night all!
Ice Cream Cone-a-thon update: Ah, who cares? I am no where close to the total and will not even reach double digits this week. Amateur!
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