Day 5
October 31st 2012
Cozumel, Mexico
- Pirate Night -
Ashore: 8:30am Aboard: 5:30pm - Pirate Night
For extensive pictures visit the photo galleries at the bottom of this page; you will need to click on the little orange and green tabs above the photos to view pictures from different parts of this day. There were too many pictures to display all on a single page. We arrived today in Cozumel, Mexico and had reservations at Nachi-Cocom Beach Club. We are our normal breakfast at Cabanas and took some pictures of Cozumel from the ship. We were lucky again today to be the only ship in port in Cozumel. Right away we noticed how built up Cozumel was compared to Costa Maya. The buildings were built right up to the shore. There was no beach within walking distance.
 Once we got off of the ship we walked down the Punta Langosta Pier into the Punta Langosta shopping mall. We had to walk into the mall, go up the escalators & then walk all the way across the mall & back down the stairs to get to where the taxis are waiting. We got on a taxi and headed to Nachi-Cocom. Our taxi fare was not paid by Naci-Cocom so we owed our balance to Nachi-Cocom (in cash) and also cab fare. I believe that the cab fare was $17. USD each way. It was quite a different ride to Nachi-Cocom than to Costa Maya. The roads were paved highways and there was a lot more traffic on the roads.
After an enjoyable ride we arrived at the lush, green, well-kept Nachi-Cocom. Before being led to our beach chairs we were stopped for a picture. They later came around the beach selling the picture in a nice little commemorative frame telling about Cozumel. I believe that the picture was $15. USD and I bought it right away. I wanted the picture souvenir.
 We were then led to our four chairs and palpa. We were prepared to ask for Carlos section and a chair that was close to the bathrooms, pool and table area; they led us to a really nice, close location without us even having to ask. Maybe it was because they noticed we had small children. They brought us some wonderful Pina Coladas to drink and we all got started playing in the beautiful clear blue water and white sand.
The beach area was nice however; the chairs were not as comfortable as what was offered at Maya Chan. They kind of tilted downward in the sand. We spent a little time digging the sand down under our heads to level the chairs out because it was a little difficult to stay in them without sliding toward our feet. Overall we enjoyed our time here, even without level chairs.
 Unlike Maya Chan the kids were not given any sand toys or water floats. We were expecting that so we brought a cotton candy container from Disney World for them to build sand castles out of. Before we left i also found some Frisbees on, end of summer, clearance at Wal-Mart for .10 cents. I bought 3 of them because I figured that they would be flat and easy to pack and provide something for our kids to play in the sand with or play Frisbee with. Then when we were done with them we didn't have to worry too much about them making the trip home if they got lost. We did bring them back just because they were so easy to pack.
Nachi-Cocom offered some water activities to us at an additional cost; we decided that we would just play on the beach and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was not too hot or too cold but the water was a little bit on the cool side. It felt cooler than it was in Costa Maya. That may have been because of all the strange weather surrounding Hurricane Sandy.
After some time in the sand, we were offered menus to order our lunch from. We were stunned by the prices and glad that we had pre-purchased an all-inclusive package online. I'm not sure if anyone ever just stops by Nachi-Cocom for lunch, but the prices on the menu were so high it was comical. Appetizers ranged from $22. for french fries to $66. for guacamole. The food started at $33. for mexican tortilla soup to $66. for a cheeseburger to $159. for shrimp. We were sure glad that we booked the all-inclusive package online before leaving on our cruise. You can see more pictures of the menu in the Nachi-Cocom photo gallery under this write-up.
 For appetizers the kids had cheese sticks and french fries and we ordered nachos and guacamole. None of us were very hungry after all of the tasty drinks that we had been served. The food was defiantly not for anyone on a diet or watching their cholesterol. It very greasy with extremely thick cheese served with everything. It was nice to try something different for a change so I'm not complaining. It didn't help that we were not very hungry at the time. We could not get the kids to come away from the beach to eat even after we ordered our main course. For our main lunch the kids ordered hot dogs and we had the club sandwich and fried mexican tacos. My favorite was the club sandwich because I was trying to escape some of the grease. The sandwich did have a lot of mayonnaise and some very thick cheese on it that was a little difficult to get past. We are not very picky eaters and we did enjoy the chance to try some food cooked by a different culture. It was authentic mexican food for sure. We are used to eating all of the Americanized mexican food where we are from.
  After eating our fill and testing out the pool and building a sand castle we were ready to get back to the ship. The kids had an appointment in the Pirate League at 5:15. The staff at Nachi-Cocom called us a taxi and we visited the gift shop there at Nachi-Cocom. We liked the man that owned the gift shop. He would at least bargain on his prices and spoke good English. He talked to us and taught us about the different pesos and told us that some of them were collectable because they had stopped making them. We made a few small purchases and he gave us a peso for our scavenger hunt with our DISboard group.
We stopped above the Punta Langosta Pier in the mall for one last picture looking at the Fantasy from Cozumel before we boarded the ship and went to shower and change for pirate night onboard.
 We really had to rush to get to our appointment at the Pirate League on time. The kids loved being inducted as a first mate at the pirate league. The only disappointment that we had was not being able to track down Jack Sparrow for pictures. He was available for pictures at the exact same time the kids were getting ready in the pirate league. They really wanted to get a picture with Jack Sparrow with their pirate garb on. So we went to shutters and asked there and they sent us up to deck 10, which was completely empty. No luck there so we were never able to get a picture with Jack Sparrow even later on that night.
After getting decked out in pirate garb, we doned our pirate bandanas given to us with our personal navigator last night and we headed for a fantastic dinner in Animator's Palate. There was wonderful pirate music & a slide show of picture images on the screens surrounding the table to really set the mood. We had a great time on pirate night and may have even enjoyed it more than Halloween.
 We decided to stay up late tonight to go to the Pirate Deck Party and eat a wonderful, late night buffet at Cabanas. The kids wanted to change out of their costumes for the party & buffet so we did that first & attended the party in pajamas. We were not the only ones to do that. The Pirate Deck Party started around 9:45 or 10:00 and lasted about 30 - 45 minutes with the fireworks. The fireworks show was exceptional with the fireworks going off in complete synchronization with the pirate music. The buffet was ginormous with everything from desserts to Turkey legs being offered. There was quite the crowd & demand for the turkey legs & we were not overly hungry so we settled on a nice little dessert. After this lengthy vacation my stomach is beginning to automatically thing that it is hungry if there is not a fork in my mouth every 15 minutes.
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Documents
| October 31st Personal Navigator |
| Cozumel Shopping Guide |
Photo Gallery
| (Click tabs below to view other galleries) | |||||
 Just as we were boarding a Carnival cruise ship pulled into the Ferry Pier. |  Sailing away from Cozumel |  |
 |  |  Watching the ship pull out of port from our verandah. |
 Beautiful Cozumel sunset as we slowly sail out to sea. |  Getting ready to become a pirate in the pirate’s league |  |
 |  |  Getting a black eye while coming up with the story of how the black eye really happened |
 Our verandah has been invaded by pirates |  |  |
 Finishing touches on make-up |  ARRRGGGGHHHHH |  |
 Details |  |  Pirate on our verandah |
 Menu for pirate night in Animator’s Palate |  Different pirate photos appear on the screens around Animator’s Palate for Pirate Night |  Shrimp Appetizer |
 Pirates ready for dinner |  |  Screens with pirate photos on them |
 |  Family photo in Animator’s Palate during Pirate Night |  |
 |  Stateroom bed after turndown with tomorrow’s Navigators among other things. |  Our towel monkey now has a pirate bandana for pirate night and had a gold coin in his mouth like the monkey on the acutal pirate movies |
 Nemo tile Mosiac in Cabanas |  Beautiful late night dessert buffet in Cabanas for Pirate Night |  |
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 Pirate Deck Party |  |  |
 Jack Sparrow shows up at the Pirate Deck Party |  |  |
 Fireworks at sea |  Fireworks at sea |
