Thursday Dec 8
Carnival Wine Cruise 2005
Thursday was Costa Maya day - normally the ship would stop in Cozumel, but it was still very damaged from the hurricanes. Costa Maya is sort of a "constructed" tourist spot - in essence a long dock for the cruise ships, and one shopping area right by that dock. It's surrounded by MILES of dense forest. We all turned our clocks back an hour for this day.
We got up relatively late - around 10am I think - and Bob brought me in melons to have for breakfast. Then we headed out of the ship.
Compared to yesterday's tendering, it was VERY easy this time. You simply walked down to deck zero, checked out with your card, and walked onto the dock. The dock is relatively long, and there were 2 other ships there so it was like being in a downtown city with huge skyscrapers around you. They did have a jeep-pulled trolly car doing the pier run so if you didn't want to walk its length you could ride. The water was SUPER clear and you could see all sorts of interesting striped and silvery fish right off the pier. A few photo ops were available down the length, and then you were in the shopping village.
There were mostly 'market stalls' with no prices listed - you haggled for the price you wanted. Everyone spoke English. There were also a few more formal shops that had jewelry and tshirts and such that were fixed price. In the center were a few open-air bars, a swimming pool (very cloudy, I wouldn't enter that myself!) and a plaza where they gave free shows. We wandered around and I got a shawl and a hat because it was very sunny and I'd forgotten to bring both with me. I took Spanish for 6 years, so I was able to chat and get my requests known, but I'm sure they spoke English too.
Then we went to the beach area - very lava-rocky and sharp, so I kept my shoes on. There were really cool tidal pools with baby striped fish and baby blue fish, as well as hermit crabs and other critters in them. We spent a ton of time enjoying the tidal pools, and then we headed back to the ship.
We didn't have any wine events at all until after dinner today, so this was our first real day "to ourselves". We first went up to the fish & chips place - they hadn't opened yet, but I grabbed 2 tunas and enjoyed them, then when they did open I got 4 more for my lunch. I love the tuna there. Bob got Chinese. Then we wandered all over the ship exploring and taking pictures. We started at the top of the ship and went down the front balconies. You can go out on 9 and 8, but the bridge is at 7 so you have to go "in" to the real stairs and then back out on 6 to continue down the balconies. Most are completely deserted but have deck chairs and everything, so they are the perfect places to escape.
Down at 3 is a pair of hot tubs, this appears to be where the crew gets to hang out and escape from the crowds. In fact we went in on this floor and ended up in the crew quarters, where there are interesting maps of the ships, signs to be quiet so the crew can sleep, and so on. We left quickly and moved to another set of stairs and ended up in the lifeboat area - you walk down the entire length of the ship without another soul in sight, but you have to walk back up to the front to leave the deck.
At 3:15pm I had set up a massage appointment so I headed up there about 3. They tell you on the form to arrive early to "enjoy the ambiance". The area is all bright red and there are only 2 little orange foam couches to sit on, so I'm not sure if there's really a lot of ambiance to enjoy :) I filled out the obligatory health form and then gave in my room key for a locker key, a plasic bin, a pair of flip flops and a waffle-fabric robe. I went into the locker room - all beige tile - and changed into the robe and sat. One of my table-mates, Linda, was there waiting for her facial.
Linda's in the health care profession and said she was pretty horrified at the sanitary conditions on shore - that she'd seen enough Hep patients to know that half the workers here were probably positive, and that if ship people were eating on shore they were taking a risk she herself wouldn't want to take.
She got taken in quickly but I waited a while - Catharine, my masseuse, came by to say the room was still occupied and I'd have to wait. While I waited I heard the screams and yelling of a group of kids in the showers - even though there's a sign in the wall saying those under 16 needed an adult present, apparently whoever was in charge of these kids let them run loose. The waiting area in the locker room was again rather drab, so it wasn't a "quiet peaceful" wait. I realize it's a ship of course :) But I've been so impressed by some other parts of the ship, that to pay $99 for a massage which is much higher than land prices, you'd think they'd at least match the land experience of quiet serenity and a nice surrounding.
Finally Catharine showed up to walk me into the room. It was very tiny, very drab, no decorations at all. Just beige blah. I laid down on the table, with the typical new-agey music playing, and she spent 10 minutes going over my form and telling me to spend more time relaxing :) I've heard this all before and tried to zip through this, so I could actually get to the massage part :) Soon she got to work. It was standard oil rub down massage, and some of the knots in my shoulders were so bad that she apparently used her elbows to dig them out. It was both painful and necessary. You can of course just get a 'quiet relaxing' massage if you want, but my shoulders kill me with those knots and I'd asked her to do her best to shake them out. After the time was up, she did a pretty hard sell on 3 different items for me, but I politely declined. I changed, went out, got my card back and checked out. Total "discount for port day" for my hour - $99 plus tip.
Bob was waiting for me when I came out, and we went out onto the back of the ship to watch the people slowly drift in from shore, and the sun set. We got to see a cool magnificent frigatebird which is a HUGE seabird only found in the Florida Keys and southwards. Very neat. The sunset was gorgeous, and people were still struggling onto the ship even after the 5:30pm final call. Then they began paging for a couple, numerous times, which led us to believe that the couple was missing from the ship. We of course never found out if they found the couple or not - but eventually the ship slid away from dock. We headed back to the room to change.
We put on swimsuits and went back to the hottubs. Interestingly, while the tubs had been almost full during the sunset, they were now pretty much empty. They also weren't very warm - probably worried about overheating people who stayed in them longer than the recommended 15 minutes. We did see a security guy come by and warn people not to have alcoholic beverages in there. Eventually we headed back to the room for a dinner clothes change. We also left 2 money origami shapes for our room person, as a thank you for the towel animals.
This was the optional formal night, which is sort of silly because many people have been dressing formal EVERY night :) On the other hand, the other half of the people have been completely ignoring the main dining rooms and just eating buffet meals 24 hours a day and living in shorts and bathing suits. So it all depends which half you belong to, I suppose. We dressed up and I really wanted to lounge by the piano in the garden bar area (in the big atrium with the glass elevators) sipping port from our room and relaxing in our elegant clothes. No such luck - we went down there and the piano player was off for the day.
OK, so we went up to the "bar area" with stages, the piano bar, Hot & Cold and the Paparrazi bar. Out of these, hot & cold had a private function. The piano bar had a private function. The stage was closed. The only thing open was Paparazzi which really isn't a nice lounging area. It's got tiny stools and is noisy. The casino was open I suppose, with a country western singer, but it is REALLY loud and smoky there. The cabinet room with its gorgeous parquet floors is also very smoky. So I was feeling a little sad - there was no lounge to sit, relax and just enjoy some nice music.
We chose to grab some sushi rolls from the Origami sushi place and sit at Paparazzi. We met a fellow wine club member there and talked with him up until dinner time. He told us how deck 8 cabins were right beneath the public areas and you had to put up with people dragging chairs overhead all night long. In the meantime deck 6 was right above the disco and public areas and you had to deal with noise all night long. So apparently deck 7 is the perfect place to sleep! Then we headed in to eat.
We began with a freebie appetizer, and moved on through the dinner choices. Nothing really stood out as exceptional - the filet mignon was nice and tender, but the cream of broccoli soup was a little on the over-textured side. The roasted pineapple dessert was nice. Bob and I finished up our Bordeaux with dinner, and our table-mates kindly shared their Champagne bottles with us. Then it was time for the dessert wine tasting.
The wine club members hung around while the rest of the dining room people left, and at 10:15 we began our tasting. They brought out several ports, Champagnes and a sherry - and then they brought out a sampler plate of nuts, cheesecake, chocolate, caramel, and so on. The thought was to try the various dessert wines with the various items to see what worked well. The wine reps discussed the various wines and explained the pairings to us. I'm writing that up for the wine site.
When we were done there was still a TON of wine left over. Bob and I gathered up the 3 ports and the sherry, and headed out with 2 glasses apiece. We stopped by the Jardin bar for ... black forest cake!! This stuff is REALLY good and well worth the small $2 price. We took it up to the room, had a decadent evening and then promptly fell asleep.
Photo Collection from Thursday
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