Spring Break 2014 - Part 4 – Two Days in Port

Tuesday – Costa Maya

I start this update with a callback – I forgot that for Formal day on Sunday, I treated myself to a spa service – a facial and shave.  It was very well done and refreshing, with an arm and scalp massage that relaxed me wonderfully.  On a tippy ship, there is no straight razor use, alas, but the Gillette she used was just fine.  Only downside to the experience was the hard sell on product at the end – Pamela reported similar from her massage:  My feeling is that if I’ve been your client for a few services, go ahead and recommend something.  But day one?  No, you’re not getting me to buy.  That said, I did buy the scrub because it did feel very nice.

Tuesday was a sea day in the morning, with a visit to Costa Maya, a tourist trap near Belize:  We had talked to a family who had been doing cruises for years, and they related that as recently as 5 years ago Costa Maya was a cute small place with an interesting Mayan temple you could visit.  It’s been built up and filled with duty free shops and pushy locals, and every travel site told us to use the day as a “ship day” to have fun while half the ship is away.  AND SO WE DID.

Isaac did wake up a bit grumpy, but a massive plate of bacon and some play time at Oceaneers helped smooth him out a bit.  In the evening, chilled out with some room time and ordered room service for Isaac and Bella, then checked them into Oceaneers because it was time for a DATE NIGHT!

There are ample adults-only opportunities on board – a nightclub, a pool, a spa, several bars (including Ooh La La, where we finished off our Veuve Cliquot before dinner), and two very good restaurants – Remy is French, Palo is Italian.  We did Palo, and spent two hours with a very sweet young south African named Ian (ee-YAN was the pronounciation).  We had a window seat in a beautiful wood paneled restaurant, enjoying our time, catching up and connecting. 

We decided against going out to party any later – we wanted to make sure Isaac would be well rested, so we pulled the kids out and I put Isaac to bed without MUCH grief.  He was resolved not to have a freakout like the previous nights and really really really tried to keep it together.  But after finishing reading, he was lying there, and started asking questions like “if you had to sacrifice yourself to save someone you loved, would you do it?  What about for a robber?  A stranger?”   Suddenly a dam broke and he started wailing about never ever wanting to die or talk about dying ever again – and he ran off to the bathroom and puked his guts out.  I actually think it was a stress puke if that makes sense – he didn’t seem feverish or sick in anyother way, and calmed down.  HE IS A SENSITIVE BOY – don’t let his wild side fool you.

Pamela and Bella (now the “Theater Society”) snuck out to see another live show – this one called “Magic” about people looking back at their childhoods as they prepare for college and the crazy adult world.  Pamela was fine up until the marionettes and monkeys.  Something about that rubbed her the wrong way, but Bella seemed to love it all – and especially loved having more mom time. 

Bella has really been blooming on this trip – taking care of Isaac, trying all kinds of new foods, doing lots of art, and going out on solo excursions on the ship to test her independence, but also mom-daughter dates too.  Isaac has the more colorful anecdotes, but Bella has been a real pleasure to watch on this trip.

Wednesday - Cozumel

Wednesday was another port day – we pulled into Cozumel at 8am and the ship literally emptied out – and we decided on another ship-day:  The kids kicked it off with TEN rides in a row on the AquaDuck:  There was no waiting at all, and they stopped only when they decided ten was a good number.  One funny detail is that they snap pictures of every rider and try to match them up with facial recognition technology.  That night we logged into our picture account and saw ten almost identical pictures of Isaac and Bella grimacing on the slide (the pic is snapped at a big splash point), but on number ten, Bella remembered the picture and gave a big thumbs-up! 

After that adventure, Pamela had a spa service – some sort of thai wrap experience:  I dropped the kids off at the Oceaneers club, and joined her in the spa for some relaxation:  They have a sauna, two steam baths, heated lounge chairs, soaking tubs, and “experience showers” – with scents and different sprays:  “Caribbean rain”, “waterfall”, “cool mist”, etc.  I tried them all out and found that a lot of people must love the experience of freezing cold water, because daaaaaaamn that was some coldness. 

It was comic – I didn’t know about the spa shoes, and burned my feet in the sauna (radiant heat from the floor?), then screamed from the icy shower, then walked into the room with the heated chairs and was floored with the smell of SOMEONE in there having farted, a lot (unless it was some evil “product” I was not refined enough to appreciate), and finally landed in a soaking tub, which didn’t cause me any trouble at all, and Pamela joined me.  With her help I revisited the other experiences, and the farters moved on as well, so we were able to chill out for a good bit of the afternoon.

Wednesday night had another bonus – PIRATE NIGHT!  Captain Jack Sparrow joined us on board and as you have seen from the pictures on Facebook, Pamela outdid herself as usual by packing full pirate outfits for the whole family:  I must say my outfit was amazing – we were stopped by many guests and crew.  We met pirate Mickey and Jack Sparrow (who paused to appreciate Pamela’s Silpada BLING – he really liked it!) had dinner in Animators again (our servers were dressed up too), and went up to a big party on deck.  There was a drama where we were all inducted into Pirate Mickey’s crew, but then Captain Hook tried to take over – we had to repel him with our dance moves and singing, and we represented.

After a good party, Isaac and I retired, and Bella and Pamela insisted on going out to party more – and they got back close to Midnight, having danced at the big pirate party and watched fireworks (they were at 1030pm which is way too late for Isaac, and frankly late for me as well!).  It was such a perfect cruise day we were just in shock – we wanted to rebook immediately – DO THIS FOREVER!!!  

More to come in the next update – it’s time to go get Isaac out of Oceaneers (Bella and Pamela are at another show, of course!!!)