It had been nearly fifteen years since I had stepped foot on Mexican soil, and oddly enough it had been in the Mexican island of Cozumel then as well. As our cruise was following the same pattern as we had gone during the 1996 Laurel and Hardy Cruise, we docked in Cozumel the day after Key West on this one as well. Mom, Bob, and I had looked into doing a couple of different things while in Cozumel on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 – among them a sunset pontoon party and the scuba and margarita offering that Mom (along with Denise and Jon had done in ’96), but since we were unsure of the weather, we opted to not pay for any extra events while in Cozumel. But this didn’t stop us from having a good time one bit.
The Imagination ship didn’t dock in Cozumel until about 1:30pm. We spent a liesurely morning grabbing some breakfast at around 9:30am, then tinkering around the room and ship until it was time for lunch at about 1:00. I had a splendid smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.
Mom enjoys her birthday breakfast
We debarked the ship at about 1:45, hurrying to get through the seemingly endless array of photo ops that the ship had to take our picture with all kinds of Mexican things – with pirates, senioritas, and sombreros. Unlike the 1996 visit, we were dropped off at the Puerta Maya Cruise terminal, an area that was actually owned by Carnival. It was filled with shops and people trying to get you into their shops. Mom had a mission: to get five free charm bracelets in local jewelry stores without letting them talk her into buying other things.
The paparazzi line up to get pics of Bob and Mom
Mom was nice enough to purchase one of the cruise photos of me and some Mexicali chica
Introducing…Mexico, just over the pier
Mom and Bob on the pier with the Imagination on the left
Me. Same pier. Same ship.
Facing my fears and mounting the first available reptile on Mexican soil
With the cool Puerta Maya sign as we waited for a taxi
It was also Mom’s 61st birthday on this day. So we chose to celebrate by getting her toasted at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. She had hoped to find beach access somewhere, but oddly enough for an island, there didn’t seem to be any nearby. We would have had to go miles north and then pay to get into resort areas. Margaritaville was the next best thing, as they had a corded off section of the Gulf where you could swim for free whilst drinking your margaritas. We hailed a $7 taxi cab that safely took us downtown to the joint.
An apropos discovery for the birthday gal
I had a couple of tasty margaritas – the Last Mango in Paris and the Strawberry Margarita – while doing (and buying Mom) a couple of Sex on the Beach alcohol shots administered by the local ugly woman. She would feed you the shot, massage your back, blow and whistle, and touch your boobies for $3.00. Quite a deal. We each had two.
Mom was hellbent on getting into the water and did so. She didn’t utilized any of the fun floating equipment in the swimming area, but was content just to have swam in Cozumel. After about 90 minutes here, we heaed out at about 4pm. I’m thinking that the drinks were pretty weak as none of seem to have been even slightly tipsy.
Wasting away again in Margaritaville
Bob gets the head massage after drinking his Sex on the Beach
The cocktail waitress gives me a tweaking
Mom polishes off the bottle
Pirate of the Caribbean Sea
Me and Mom and the ocean playthings
Mom couldn’t resist the lure of the blue Mexican waters
Outside Margaritaville in the giant chair
Mom and Bob snuggle up
We continued our walk down the streets of Cozumel, which would ultimately lead us to the Hard Rock Cafe. Various jewelry stores beckoned us in with the promise of free bracelet charms and free margaritas. Eventually, Mom succumbed to the pressure and bought herself a ring at Diamonds International.
On the streets of the Mexican island of Cozumel
Mom gets suckered in
Bob could do nothing to make her resist, so he assumes the Diamonds International position
We got to the world’s smallest Hard Rock Cafe at about 5pm. This was our fourth and final Hard Rock of the week and my fourth for the year, but since I had visited it previously in 1996, it didn’t add to my overall tally of Hard Rocks. Again, we opted to only get an appetizer – the Hard Rock Nachos (with chicken). Even though you know that it’s in pesos, it’s always a bit disheartening to see the prices presented in the menu as $179 for the nachos, with an extra $39 to add the chicken.
Indicating the tiniest of Hard Rock Cafes
Mom, me, and Bob with our giant appetizer and beverages
The Beatles display with a John Lennon owned jacket
An Ace Frehley guitar and a smattering of KISS collector trading cards. I used to have these when I was a kid.
Paul McCartney signature and concert photos on the steps on the way out of the restaurant
After browsing the memoriabila in the tiny place, we headed outside at about 6pm and grabbed a cab that would take us back to Puerta Maya. Mom wanted to browse a couple of more shops and merchandise stand, and since it was her birthday, I allowed this. We headed back to the ship and got on around 7:00.
Mom browses for Mexican junk. Maracas for everyone!
Heading back toward the Imagination at dusk
There wasn’t much exciting to do on the ship that evening, so I particiapted in the trivia game “Big Screen Trivia”, which I was hoping would have to do with movies, but instead was simply identifying iconic locations all of the world, which were being projected on the big screen. I did moderately well but didn’t win. Next up was “Family Face-Off,” a copycat version of Family Fued. And finally, we watched a silly game called “60 Seconds or Less” – which involved contestants performing menial tasks like shaking ping-pong balls out of a box with their butt, assembling a house of cups, and keeping three balloons in the air.
As it got close to 10pm, we decided on having a light dinner so I had the sandwich chef prepare a turkey sandwich and grabbed a steak from the steam table. As we walked back from the dining area past the pool, we gave our thanks that the current torrential downpour that happening hadn’t hit us while we were walking the streets of Cozumel. We had heard about this storm, which was why we hadn’t scheduled any activities.
We’d have just one day left and we’d be spending it entirely on the ship.
The cruise will conclude in the next posting…
Yes, I had a great birthday! Anytime you can spend it in the warm sun with a few drinks in hand in February has to be good. And Bob and Brad humored me all day long – great guys!
Mom
April 15th, 2011
mmmm…nachos
Eric Hubble
April 19th, 2011