Key West

We are up early enough to see a Key West sunrise.


Our Arrival time in Key West is 8:00 and I had reserved biles for the day with a pick up time of 9:00. We found out the night before we are required to go through customs after we arrive Key West, it will be done on the ship.  Our time slot for our floor is 9:40!  What! I am not happy about this because we can't get off the ship until we go through customs.  I try to let it go we are on vacation. We wander around the ship and an employee who is directing passengers to customs tells us to go to deck 1, we let him know our time is later and he tells us that is okay that it is actually better to go now, well okay! We go back to our cabin and get our passports and head to the customs line and walk off the ship and get to the bike shop shortly after 9:00 :)
We are given our old style cruisers complete with baskets and we are off to bike the complete loop around the island.  We make a few stops along the way for pictures.










This is what the bike path looks like for about 1/3 of the way



Dave gives me a hard time about not being very comfortable on a bike!  There are a few areas a tad worse than this due to traffic and narrow roads.  Dave keeps reminding me this a biking community and motorists are watching out for you.....well maybe not if they aren't from here is what I am thinking!





We stopped at a Starbucks hoping to find a Key West mug for our collection...nope only Florida ones and we have one already. We ride back to the cruise ship pier after about 2 1/2 hours of riding and lock our bikes up at a location the bike shop told us to, they will come and pick them up later.  I told Dave I just want to walk from here to enjoy the neighborhoods, too much traffic for me!
We get back on ship for lunch and try the Dive Inn for burgers and fries, they are yummy :)


Then we head out to walk around and find some good key lime pie.  We pass a bakery and I pop in to check it out.  I ask a couple eating pie if it is good. They tell me it is the best pie in Key West and they spends weeks here.  They tell me they especially like the coconut Key lime pie and that he suggested it to them as he liked their coconut pie and their key lime pie and suggested they combine them. Okay I am sold! I get a piece for Dave and I to share, he was right it was amazing!





We walk along Duval Street and back up to Eaton Street to find the restaurant the bike shop owner told us about, Bien, owner is from Spokane and has a restaurant in Seattle.  Dave has featured the Seattle restaurant in WA Grown! The owner doesn't seem to be around but Dave tells the girl working there, she does know about the Seattle restaurant and tells us a bit about them. Dave notices the menu is the same.



My knee is telling me its time to be done and we walk back to the ship.  We have some time to kill before dinner and watch a House Hunters International since we don't get that channel at home....it is probably a good thing!
We watch the famous sun set in Key West :)

Dave made reservations at Tamarind, one of the pay for specialty restaurants on board.  They were going around the pool deck the other day offering 25 % off, it looks great and is so beautiful we decided to try it, and we are ready for a change from the dining room. We enjoy our meal and the beautiful environment.
Fresh flowers on the plates.


We are given hand washing towels that expand when they put hot water into the bowl, along with jasmine tea.  Then they bring shrimp crackers with the 3 dips you see above. They have already brought up our left over bottle of wine from the dining room to be ready for us!
We order 2 different appetizers, satay sampler and soft shell crab.




We order 2 different sushi rolls.




I have a red chicken curry


Dave a lobster dish


We both have the sorbet trio of green tea, passion fruit and lime.


We felt all the food was fine, but our local Ginger Bistro at home is better!
After dinner we go to the show in the main theater, One World, is was very enjoyable. It was animals in nature footage from the BBC and shown on a big screen with the on board orchestra, young musicians from Amsterdam, playing the music to accompany.
Then we caught one last show in the BB King Blues Club. We have gotten to know several of the musicians as we have talked to them around the ship. They are such friendly guys! Cassie, one the the lead singers gives us a thumbs up when we dance, Dave had told him that he is a bad dancer but that their music makes him just have to get out and dance :) We will miss hearing them every night!
We head back to our room, need to pack up and put our suitcases out :(
We really enjoyed this one week cruise! We had perfect weather, great ports, met some great fellow passengers, and enjoyed the best music ever on a cruise ship! Tomorrow we head home to snow!!! Ugh!

Sea Day

We didn’t do much today. After breakfast we grabbed a couple of loungers at the rear pool  over looking the back wake :) 

We hung out here until lunch time, again salads and shared a pizza. 

I went to the excursion desk and purchase tickets for a tour in Fort Lauderdale to kill time before our flight home on Saturday. Then walked and did my knee exercises. 

We watched a couple episodes of Mexico Life on the TV since we don’t get these channels at home, wish we did but probably good that we don’t! 

Had happy hour drinks and played cards at the Ocean Bat. Tried a new one, Hemingway Daquari, it was yummy. They always bring a plate of assorted appetizers. 

Love the fresh flowers in this ship, amazing arrangements! 

Had our lady Gala night and a lovely dinner in the main dining room. 

They still do towel animals :) 

Ended the evening of course st the Blues Club :) 

 

Cozumel

We have a late arrival, 11:00, since I knew this and the fact there are lots of ships in port today I had pre reserved a day at Nachi Cocum for us. 

Dave gets a run in and I do my exercises the PT gave me for my knee and then walk laps while waiting for our arrival. Dave reports an officer  told him he couldn’t run on the promanade, he has run out there two other days, and the gym attendants told him you can run on the promanade, there is no jogging track on this ship. Dave said an elderly man with a cane would hold it up and shake it at him when he went by, he thinks the man must have reported him. Dave called quest services and was again told you can run on the promanade as long as it is not wet and slippery, it is perfectly dry....hmm who is right???

 We take a taxi to get to Nachi Cocum, 17.00 dollars each way. The resort is lovely and so peaceful! It is an all inclusive day resort. They limit the number of guests to 120, I don’t think there were that many people here today. 

We are shown to our spot for the day and order our first drinks, beer for Dave and of course a margarita for me, it is a true Mexico margarita:) 

The resort is on a lovely stretch of quiet beach, has a pool with swim up bar, restaurant, WiFi, additional services for fees such as massages, stand up paddle boards. We brought our own snorkel and floats do we are set. Think I payed  64.00 per person. 

Dave joins me in a margarita since they are good ones:)

We again do our usual beach stuff, swim, float, walk, get on the Internet to check on thing back home and post my blog. 

We snack on guacamole, salsa and chips, then choose quesadillas for lunch.

 They have a large menu to choose from including shrimp, fish, enchiladas and fajitas and desserts. We order a couple diet cokes and waters, 2 margaritas and I need to be done! The waiter doesn’t think so and brings us a couple more!! Of course I drink it, then more water and diet cokes to hydrate!!!

We stay until 4:30 then taxi back to ship. We drop off our stuff in our room and change clothes and head out to walk to town. We stop at an OXXI along the way and pick up our favorite sparkly water we get in PV.

We forget what a long walk it is to get to town and turn around after we walk 40 minutes, it is hot and my knee is hurting. 

We are docked by an AIDA ship, the staff is pouring alcohol drinks and handling them out for their guests as the board!  Obviously free and huge choices. We ask a crew member where they sailed from, Germany! We noticed lots of young people and young families boarding, I guess they get a lot more vacation time than we do in the US because that would be a long cruise! 

We shower and head to dinner. Quiet night in the dining room, again late dinner and we are here until 11:00 pm. 

We are given a great seat st the rear window where we can watch the AIDA ship prepare to leave port and then sail away. 

After dinner we head to the lido deck where a local mariachi group has been brought on to provide entertainment tonight. 

Then back to the B.B. Blues Club, we stay through 2 sets, no dancing tonight though, I have a headache.... maybe too much tequila???

I grab a couple glasses of ice water to take back to our room and we call it a night. We really did have a wonderfully beautiful day! Might have been the best day yet on this cruise :)