2017 WBPC: Zen, Self-Deprecation, and Reflections of a Life Well Cruised

[Jodyfarmgirl]

IMOHO, nothing makes a man more attractive than his genuine love for his wife.

 

[JohnGalt]

Day 2, Monday April 24, Sea Day, Part III
Music Recommendation: “Wonderful Tonight” Eric Clapton

That night’s show was a Comedian, Maryellen Hopper, And she was fantastic! She managed to be incredibly funny by talking about things we can all relate to – raising her kids, her husband’s obsession with power tools, fixing up the house, etc. If you’ve never heard her, let me Google that for you. There are several clips online that you can get an idea of just how engaging & funny she is:

http://bfy.tw/CqH5

We liked her so much at her 6:15 pm show, we ordered cappuccinos with dinner and took our caffeine fueled carcasses to her 10:30 pm show too. You have to appreciate that normally DW turns into a pumpkin shortly after 10:00 pm. But there were several times on this cruise when certain shows and events would start at 10:30 pm; things that we really wanted to see. So in preparation, we would each down a double shot of cappuccino, and head out for some late night entertainment. Tonight was one of those nights.

Here are some pictures that DW took of the sky that night. I think she took these in between the show and dinner:






Dinner that night was really good, probably one of my favorite menu's of the cruise. I think it was Triton's rotational menu. My notes tell me that I had the Chateaubriand, and DW had the Salmon. But unfortunately I was a bad photojournalist that night, and for some reason, I didn't get pictures of the main courses. I don't know what happened! I'll try to do better next time, I promise! But if you need to fire me for this egregious transgression, I completely understand.

Here are the photo's that I did take:












After a great dinner that included chateaubriand, salmon, cappuccinos, and dancing mermaids on ice (ok, I may have exaggerated that last part) we headed off to see Maryellen Hooper a second time, and she was just as funny, just as fetching, just as entertaining as she had been at her 6:15 show. Although we had never even heard of her before, DW and I are now Maryellen Hooper fans.

It was now 11:15 pm. The cappuccino was wearing off and DW was ready for bed. We got back to the room and somehow, she was prostrate under the covers before I even had my shoes off. Well, she deserved to be. It had been another long day with lots of activities. We worked-out twice, sweat our toxins out in the saunas of the Rainforest room, read our books for an hour on the heated lounge chairs, saw two comedy shows, had a great Palo brunch and wonderful Tritons dinner, and we had enjoyed part of the afternoon relaxing on our balcony. That's a pretty full sea day. My DW did it all, and she looked good doing it. She really was wonderful tonight.

As I climbed into bed next DW, who had already descended into her Odinsleep, my body started complaining at me. DW is accustomed to 2 workouts a day; she routinely doubles up on her classes at the gym. Not so this dilapidated body that I'm dragging around. I'm out of shape, and the creaks and pains were broadcasting that I had done too much that day. Oh well, if it doesn't kill me, it'll just make me stronger.

I laid back and debated taking an Advil. I remembered one other cruise we went on where I had to take some pain meds. We were cruising down the Pacific coast of Mexico, and we stopped in Mazatlan. The girls wanted to go horseback riding on the beach, so we researched online and found a good excursion for that. It was great fun, but I couldn't quite get in sync with my horse. After a while, I was aware that I was developing quite a sore where the person meets the saddle. I was wearing my blue jeans, but the coarse, abrasive rubbing action from being out of sync with my horse was taking its toll on my backside! I kind of forgot about it, once we dismounted our horses. Yeah, I forgot about it until I climbed into the shower back in our stateroom. When the water from the shower hit that sore, I winced in pain and yelled out to DW that something was biting me! I thought some kind of big Mexican cucaracha was biting my behind! Turns out, I had a strawberry the size of New Jersey, and it was swollen and open and sore. That's one of DW's favorite cruise memories. Yeah, somehow the stories are always funnier if they involve me in some kind of pain.

We’ve taken some great family vacations over the years. I could have spent some of that vacation money on driving a more prestigious car, but instead, I settled for a Pontiac Vibe. I put 260,000 miles on that car. But you know what? Long after that Vibe has been reduced to a rusty carcass in a graveyard of automobiles, I'll still have the memories of cantering on the beach in Mazatlan with my girls. Time to pop an Advil and go to sleep. Goodnight everyone. See you tomorrow.

 

[JohnGalt]

Loving your report. We will be taking the PC cruise next year in the opposite direction. Like you, we will be taking it without our one and only off spring who will be enjoying her first semester in college.

You'll have a great time. And, it is SOO fun to pay for college and cruise at the same time! LOL.

 

[JohnGalt]

IMOHO, nothing makes a man more attractive than his genuine love for his wife.

Then I must be smokin' hot! LOL (all visual evidence to the contrary).

 

[JohnGalt]

Day 3, Tuesday April 25, Cozumel Day
Music Recommendation: “Soak Up the Sun” Sheryl Crow

Cozumel day! We've cruised the Caribbean plenty of times, and Cozumel has always been one of our favorite ports. It's safe, easy to navigate, great food, and there are a variety of fun choices for excursions. If you're looking for a beautiful Caribbean beach day, Cozumel's got your back. Unfortunately, there were a couple of things that marred an otherwise glorious day; and I know this is going to shock you, but yes, one of the issues was all my fault. I did it. Or rather didn't do it. I forgot to check the coffee box on our breakfast room-service card thingy.

Here come all my excuses: It was so late when we got back from the second Marryellen Hooper show; I was so distracted because DW looked so pretty all dressed up; I was suffering from the aches and pains associated with working out twice in one day for the first time in forever; .......DW was having none of it. She wanted, needed her coffee fix. It's like she’s a different person before her coffee. On the up side, it’s kind of like getting 3 people on a Disney Cruise for the price of 2. Me, Miss DW, and Mrs. Hyde.

And there’s no reasoning with Mrs. Hyde before that first cup. I've tried. On Cozumel morning, my pre-coffee “intervention” attempt went something like this:

Me: “Um, Darling Wife, do you think, just maybe, that the grumpiness quotient might be a little extreme before you drink your coffee?”

She: “You don’t understand. All women are like this before they drink their coffee.”

Me: “But Darling Wife, I’ve talked to other men, and none of them say that their wives are particularly grumpy before their first cup.”

She: “Well I’ve talked to other women and they all agree with me. We’re all sisters under the skin.”

Me: “Well then jump back in there and send your sister out. Maybe she’s in a better mood!”

As you might expect, that didn't work out too well for me. I switched in to coffee-crisis mode, and quickly threw on some shorts and shoes and made my way up to the Cove Cafe. Only their premium coffee concoctions could get me out of the mess I'd made.

One cold-brew from Cove Cafe later, coffee crisis averted, we prepped for the day. Our prep work involved suntan lotion, a quick trip to Cabana's for oatmeal and fruit, and a walk around decks 9 and 10 to take in our approach to Cozumel. Here are some pics DW took, as we approached the pier:














You can see in one of the pictures above that the ship we docked next to is the Norwegian Jade. We've never sailed her. In fact, we've never sailed Norwegian. But at the risk of making a hasty, uninformed judgment, I believe I can tell you what the best thing is about the Norwegian Jade: The reflective windows.



Check that reflection out. DW took that picture. One of my favorite. Here's another:



So this is where I talk about our excursion experience on Cozumel. Spoiler Alert: It starts out sad, but ends up great. Several months before the cruise, we had reserved an excursion for Cozumel Day; CZ59 in the catalog below, "All Inclusive Passion Island By Twister." We've done this excursion once before when the girls were with us and it was an absolute blast! But sadly, a note was left in our room on embarkation day saying that this excursion had been canceled due to insufficient people signing up for it. That really rained on our parade. No matter, there's a ton of other things to do in Cozumel. We've gone to Paradise Beach a couple of times, and we've always enjoyed it. I suggested to DW that we do that, or that we try another beach club that we haven't been to yet. DW however, thought we should do something more daring than a beach club. She perused the catalog and landed on CZ23, "Dune Buggy & Beach Snorkel Combo."

 

[JohnGalt]

Here's the entire excursion catalog, if you're interested.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

You'll have a great time. And, it is SOO fun to pay for college and cruise at the same time! LOL.

Thank goodness for scholarships!

 

[JohnGalt]

So, never wanting to be accused of being the risk averse partner in this marriage, I procured tickets for her dart-board selection and started pumping myself up. Ok, Dune Buggies. Manual Transmissions. In Mexico. What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, nothing went wrong. We had an awesome day driving around the island in this:




We stopped at a couple of different beaches. These pictures were taken at the first beach stop, Playa Uvas:





The snorkeling was really good here. Our tour guide went out into the water with us and kept the group together, which I thought might be a pain, but it ended up being a good thing because he took the group to all the really neat spots. He pointed out lots of fish, coral, and other under water features, including an underwater cave. This tour really delivered on the snorkeling component!

Note that Playa Uvas is on the west, or leeward side of the island, the side facing the mainland. Consequently, the water was pretty calm compared to what it would be like at the next beach we visited. Altogether, we spent about an hour and a half here, and as you can see, it was beautiful. We then climbed back into our dune buggy and continued south, then east, then north, along the east, or windward side of the island. This side of the island faces the open water of the Caribbean Sea, and it was much more turbulent. The name of the beach we stopped at was Playa San Martin. The beach was beautiful here also (see below), and we noticed that this side of the island is not nearly as developed. We parked our dune buggy with the beach to our right, and some little shops and a small restaurant on our left side. The shops sold local "artesanias", or handicrafts, typical of many tourist stops in Mexico. Lunch was provided here, but it was not memorable. In fact, I'd say that the lunch they provided was the thing we liked least about this otherwise very entertaining excursion. Here you can see the beautiful, though turbulent, water on the windward side of the island:



Don't I look especially manly with a white Disney towel draped around my neck? Heh, what a dufus. You can't see it from this picture, but the sand was actually pretty nice at Playa San Martin. When you got up away from the water line, there weren't patches of seaweed everywhere, and the terrain was a pleasant, white sand beach. We laid our towels down and "soaked up the sun" for awhile. Sheryl Crow would be proud of us.

We noticed a group of 12 or 15 kids, age 20 something, coming down to the beach from the highway. I wondered if they were all Americans. They laid their towels out not to far from us, and I heard some of them talking with German, or maybe Scandinavian accents. They were all fit, good looking kids and I told DW that they might be production dancers from one of the cruise ships in port that day. Many of the kids headed down into the water and I laid back to continue my beach siesta. After a few minutes I heard DW whisper "whoops", and I saw her turn her head quickly toward me. Evidently, one of the young men from the dancer troupe was changing into his swim trunks and DW happened to look up at the wrong moment. In this young man's defense, the bathroom situation on the beach was sub par. There were no bathrooms on the beach. The only facilities were a hike back up to the restaurant and artesanias shops, and even they weren't terribly private. The young man had even tried to wander off to himself a little bit, before he discretely dropped trou. DW just happened to look up from her siesta at exactly the wrong moment to see the moon over Cozumel, at 2:00 in the afternoon! This of course became a very ripe topic for me to tease her about. "Time to go honey; do you want to say goodbye to your special friend?" She smacked me on the arm. Who cares; sooo worth it.

Here's DW, vamping it up on the way back to the pier:



Check out the color of that water! I have not altered this picture in any way; that is exactly how my Iphone took it.

Here are a few more shots taken from our dune buggy:







As you can probably ascertain on your own, we had a fantastic time on this excursion.

 

[JohnGalt]

Thank goodness for scholarships!

Yes! Well said, and congratulations!

 

[bcwife76]

Haha well it turns out you still had a fabulous day in Cozumel, even with the excursion change.

And really....who doesn't love a full moon on the beach?

 

[JohnGalt]

Haha well it turns out you still had a fabulous day in Cozumel, even with the excursion change.

And really....who doesn't love a full moon on the beach?

LOL, That's hilarious!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

And here is the hypodermic needle station. Wait, what?
View attachment 252478

DW explained to me that with the proliferation of type 2 diabetes, there is a very real need for disposal repositories, like this one, so that folks aren’t just throwing their insulin needles into the trash can, where they can inadvertently poke through the plastic liner and stick the poor guy emptying the trash. Ok then! I’m onboard. Props to Disney for being proactive!

As the mother of a Type 1 diabetic (Let's not forget about those), I am very glad to see these sharps containers in the women's rooms as well. They are also in the parks, which is very convenient when having to deal with extremely high blood sugars or changing insets, etc. I agree, kudos to Disney!

 

[ironz]

Great report! We would love to do one of the PC cruises one day.

 

[JohnGalt]

After our excursion was over we headed back to the cruise terminal to complete DW's ever important archeological ritual that she has become accustomed to performing at every port we stop at. Ever. It's the search for Starbucks antiquities. DW collects Starbucks coffee mugs, and if there is a Starbucks somewhere in the city, DW will brave obstacles that would make Indiana Jones go home, to add just one mug to her collection! Thankfully, we were not required to fight Nazi's or endure a pit full of snakes this time. In fact, we were extremely lucky in that there was a Starbucks right there in the cruise terminal. DW bought 2 mugs at Starbucks, and we also bought some Mexican vanilla and some chocolate from a grocery store nearby. Here was our haul that day, no digging required:




We returned to the ship, content with the knowledge that all the conventions of DW's archeological ritual had been observed and respected.

But we had returned to the ship kind of hungry. As described above, the lunch provided with our excursion did not satisfy. Enter shawarma! This wasn't the first, and wouldn't be the last, but they were ohhh so good and satisfying. The way we scarffed them down you'd think we hadn't eaten in days. I think I had two. You need to try them with the garlic sauce....and the meat was nice and lean and the tomatoes were so ripe...they're so perky; I love that. After our shawarmas, we readied ourselves for the evening; it was going to be another late one.

The show tonight was Hector the Magician. He was awesome!! I really liked the way the first part of his show was comprised of big magic production numbers, but the last part was close up magic, and I thought the way he handled the close up magic was inspired. He put a web cam right on stage with he and a random audience member. While he performed his illusions for the random audience member, the rest of us were able to watch every move, very close up on the huge screen behind him. This made it feel like we were right there on stage with him for this close up magic show; it was actually quite engaging. I love trying to figure out how magicians do their tricks and for the most part, I can usually solve it. But this guy did some things that still have me stumped. And, he's just really personable and entertaining to listen to. Sometimes cruise entertainment is hit and miss, but so far, all three shows have been immensely entertaining. I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of them.

Dinner was Animators Pallet rotation night. DW and I thought the menu was great. She got the truffles and let me try one. They were outstanding. None of the appetizers particularly grabbed me, so I had soup, and a salad. Both were very good. But my main course, the beef, was really remarkable. DW ordered the seared tuna dish, and she only ate half of it. I don’t think she understood that seared Tuna is pretty much sashimi with a quick flip in the frying pan. It was a little too raw for her liking. Of course, Ebriham offered to bring her something else, but I think she was still a little full from the late afternoon shawarma, so she declined. Here is our meal that night:

 

[JohnGalt]

As the mother of a Type 1 diabetic (Let's not forget about those), I am very glad to see these sharps containers in the women's rooms as well. They are also in the parks, which is very convenient when having to deal with extremely high blood sugars or changing insets, etc. I agree, kudos to Disney!

Agreed! Hopefully, Disney is setting a trend that other parks and other venues will follow! It's safer and more convenient for everyone.

JG

 

[JohnGalt]

Great report! We would love to do one of the PC cruises one day.

Thanks! Put on your Nike's and "JUST DO IT!" We need to check Alaska off our bucket list next, but after that, I could see us doing another PC. It was that good.

JG

 

[krissy2803]

and the meat was nice and lean and the tomatoes were so ripe...they're so perky; I love that.

Inconceivable!

 

[ILoveMyKellen]

Loving your trip report. I am now a captive member of your audience!

 

[Msmit002]

Great TR! I'm looking forward to our EBPC this fall and your Cozumel excursion just jumped to the top of my list.

 

[JohnGalt]

Inconceivable!

Good job!! I wondered if anyone would get that reference.

JG