Caribbean Cruise - Day 6 - Cozumel, Mexico

With tomorrow being our last day, the first small pangs of sadness started to set in that vacation was ending. We missed Ozzie so bad that we were really ready to see him, but it had been a great week that I didn't want to end. This morning featured chocolate for breakfast in the main dining hall. They had a chocolate shake on the menu that I eagerly ordered. A gal sitting at the table with us also ordered it. We were both given chocolate milk.

We debarked the ship and had an hour or so before we had to get on a bus to a private beach. We looked in the little shops around the port. Megan looked in a jewelry store. After showing interest in a ring, the clerk gave her a price of $525 for it. When she she said "no thanks," he went down to $320. I wonder what she could've got it for if we had the time to play Deal or No Deal.

We got on our bus and were at Playa Mia in 10 minutes. The beach featured a buffet and all you can drink, even alcohol, with the price of the excursion. It was my first time on a beach at an ocean. I really wanted to swim, but the water was cold. I can say that I have stood in an ocean.

There were a few shops as we walked into the beach. I wanted to get my brother a cigar for the ride to and from the airport. One shop was a tobacco shop selling Cuban cigars. If I ever heard anything, it was that Cubans aren't allowed in the US. I asked the proprietor of the shop if I'd have any trouble taking it into the States, and he said no. I asked again before I paid the $15 for the cigar, and he said that if I was worried about it I could take the label off and tuck it in my wallet, and he'd glue a Mexican label to it. Then, when I gave it as a gift, I could give the 'real' Cuban label with it. Since he offered that option, I took him up on it. (No one said a word about it coming back into the States, but I got this story out of it)

There was also a Mexican chocolate shop. Being a chocoholic, I was happy to go through it and try some samples. I didn't care for the chocolate at this store. The bars were $8 USD. They had what looked like a Slushy machine churning frozen chocolate. A drink was $4; and I didn't get the chocolate shake I ordered for breakfast. A gentleman served one up for me and told me to pay for it at the register. Walking to the register I took a sip of it, and it didn't even taste like chocolate. It was really bad, so I set it down, left the store, and got on our bus to go back to the port. It wasn't until I got on the bus that I realized that I was in a foreign country and technically go be thrown into a Mexican jail over a $4 chocolate drink. It was a relief when the bus pulled away and no one came looking for me. 

We got back from the beach, and back on the ship around 15:30. We got ready for our second formal night on board. I donned my suit, and Megan wore her rockin' dress she bought right before the cruise. Each night our only worry was "should we go to the show, and then dinner, or dinner first and then the show?" We went to the show first tonight. 

The show featured a so-so comedian, Steve Shaffer, for 15 minutes, and then a guy from the song and dance shows earlier in the week singing big band swing tunes. That's Life, Mac The Knife, etc. It was the weakest show in the theater all week, but the price was right. After the show we went to the main hall for formal dinner. I got the linguini that they offered every night, and I can honestly say that it was food. Megan always wanted to try Baked Alaska, and they featured it for dessert tonight. 

Baked Alaska

We went to something called The Quest Game Show in the ice arena at 22:00. It was billed only as an "adult scavenger hunt." And "you'll be hooked within the first few minutes." They split the audience into eight teams. They asked for a man and woman volunteer to be the team captains. A girl in our section popped up right away. No man would budge in our section, so I went down there to represent our team. There were boards over the ice. The host, our cruise director Elise, explained the game. She would ask for items that the captains would have to get from people in the sections and bring to her. No one would have to leave the arena to get the items.

Most of the items were made to embarrass the guys. There were only about four other guys in my section, and they were all pretty shy, so the team captain, yours truly, had to come up with most of the items/requests. When Elise asked for a man wearing pants inside out and backwards, I took off my pants (In front of everyone) and flipped them. When she asked for 2 shoelaces from a pair of men's shoes, the other captain fell to the floor and ripped them out of my shoes. I also had to show a tan line, and do the Can-Can topless with three other burly guys. 

It was a spring break-type of game. It was definitely geared toward a younger adult audience, and if I wasn't captain we probably wouldn't have stayed until the end. Our team didn't win the game. I thought the winning team would win an awesome prize after all of that, but I didn't see any prizes given out. Megan thought they won hats. Either way, I'm glad I experienced it, and even happier that I got the chocolate shake I had been craving since breakfast at the Ben & Jerry's next to the 24 hour cafe; and it was delicious. We hit the hay at about 00:30. 

Our last towel animal

Up next: Day 7 - Cruising