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Chilly Escape to CaribbeanChilly Escape to Caribbean
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A 8-day adventure by Meredith Read more
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  • TravelerChilly Escape to Caribbean
    Day 1

    Heading out early

    January 21 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    Oof up at 3:20am to catch our American Airline flight to Charlotte (shudder) and on to Orlando International. Flights, connections and catching the shuttle all went smooth. Even the check in process was super fast and by noon we were on the Norwegian Epic. The room is cherry with a larger than normal balcony. We are rear midship so rocking shouldn’t be a problem.

    Ate at O’Sheeans while mom and dad discussed church stuff. Everyone kinda milling around waiting for the rooms to be ready. Around 3:30 e got to go to our room 9206. Our stewardess is Himaleinee. She brought us all the things we need including suitcases. Gram is “resting her eyes” might be a good idea…    Read more

  • TravelerChilly Escape to Caribbean
    Day 4

    Sea Day on the Way to Costa Maya

    January 24, Caribbean Sea ⋅ 🌬 81 °F

    Just a normal sea day…There have been some snafus about onboard credit so that was a bit stressful. But mom found out since she’s a sapphire member, she can skip all the lines…heheh.

     At around 10 PM the captain announced that the swells were still too high and that Costa Maya’s cruise dock was not sheltered. So we skipped that port too. But I captain decided we would dock in Cozumel two days early.

    We had an independent excursion planned but the announcement came too late to get in touch with the tour company. We’ll handle it in the morning…    Read more

  • TravelerChilly Escape to Caribbean
    1
    Day 4

    Costa Ma—wait, I mean Cozumel.

    January 24 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    We had to cancel manatee encounter tour. No one is sure what the new sailing plan is. Mom and I had breakfast at Taste. While there I did some online research. And I found another encounter…. Today Gram and I will swim with sharks and stingrays! (If she doesn’t kill me first 😋)

    We were able to get tickets at the information box in town. They provided transportation both ways so that was cherry. At Stingray Beach we got in a group of 6. First was the snorkeling in deeper water with two sharks…Don’t worry they were nurse sharks. Unfortunately my underwater photographs didn’t work. But Mom did great on her second time snorkeling.

    Then we went into to neighboring enclosure to interact with the string rays. We were each given half a fish to feed the rays. Sadly mine got snarfed by a pelican. I’m not proud of what I did next…I grabbed the sucker by the neck and tried to get my fish out the side of its beak. I did not squeeze or anything, just kinda held it in place. But the guide asked me to stop so I did. That dratted pelican swan in front of me just out of reach the rest of the time…grr.    Read more

  • TravelerChilly Escape to Caribbean
    111
    Day 5

    Roatán Honduras

    January 25 in Honduras ⋅ 🌬 81 °F

    I rushed Gram out before breakfast to catch our tour. There’s a lot of construction on the docking area so it’s pretty crowded. We found Christopher’s Tours and walked to the edge of the town to get to our bus. We waited for the rest of the group. Turns out the guide had five or six tours in the van. It was smart though, there were three parts to each tour. (Animal park, zip line, horseback riding, the beach and snorkeling) He’d drop part of the group at one destination and then the next and the next and then circle around to get the first group he let off.

    Anyway the animal park was great. We got to touch everything, scarlet macaw, capuchin monkeys, Guinea pigs, and of course sloths.

    After that we had a break at a small beach resort. Then we headed out to the edge of the corral reef to snorkel. Mom decided to stay in the boat. I probably should have done that too but I got to see huge Star fish and the reef. The swells were still very strong. I got back to the boat a little later…and promptly (ironic since the only thing I’d eaten that day was…) spewed my cookies all over the side of the boat. Very few if any saw me so that was a plus.

    Next stop was back to the beach for lunch.🤢 I passed on the food but the couple who sat next to us lived in North Myrtle Beach. The husband was from Osaka! It was a fun talk.

    On the bus again but stuck behind a concrete truck. Our ship was set to leave at 4 so we had to be onboard by 3:30. At the beginning of the trip the guide told us we’d be back at the port an hour and a half before all aboard. No one believe it’d happen but he had us there at exactly the right time.

    Our group was very positive and fun despite short hiccups. I wonder if that changed after we got to the ship and learned we’d be going back to Cozumel again. And since we missed half our stops they decided to give every stateroom (not each person) an onboard credit of $100 for the inconvenience. Not real happy with that…But what can you do, I thought…then I heard the captain didn’t want to use the stabilizers because it cost extra. He’d rather everyone get sea sick…grr.

    The rest of the night was rough seas. I have in and took one of mom’s sea sick pills and basically passed out.    Read more

  • TravelerChilly Escape to Caribbean
    Day 6

    Hello again Cozumel

    January 26 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    We docked again at Cozumel. But the area was different and instead of one long shopping store we were docked near a ring of smaller shops. There was a lot of barkers trying to get us to come into their stores. One actually insisted we come in and stand under the AC a bit. It was a jewelry store and we kept telling him we weren’t buying anything. He ended up giving us two small whale tail charms anyway for free. Everyone we interacted with were pleasant if not a little pushy. Got some good souvenirs.

    Back at the boat we tried trivia again. One of the cruise activity staff, Maaheir, made the questions nearly impossible. Jerk.

    We also made shirts for the Glow Party. And made balloon… things. We will need to start packing tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerChilly Escape to Caribbean
    Day 7

    Heading home

    January 27 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Quick recap of what I forgot in 12 hours-there was an ice carving demonstration. He made a swan. Saw the shore last night “Beatles: Abbey Road” then dinner at the sit down restaurant Taste. Packing wasn’t bad.

    Mom woke up early and we headed out around 7. In the atrium I asked about disembarkation and even though the first group (us) wasn’t scheduled to leave until 8:15, they were already letting people off the ship. So we queued up, got through immigration and into the shuttle bus without trouble. People followed the rules and acted like adults this time.

    The airport was a mess…we got through everything and to our gate at 10:30….

    Ok, WTH SouthWest?!?! Free for all seating!? People can’t hardly deal with being assigned a seat so you think it’s easier to just shove everyone on and hope for the best? It’s the flipping Wild West up in here! Urrgh!

    Ok ok, I’m calm (-ish) now. The steward on our second leg was hilarious and we got to move up to the front of the plane. Silly me forgot that Nashville is on central time and ran halfway across the airport to get to the gate be 4:10pm. After a weird look the gate agent reminded me of the time change. I’m very embarrassed, but we didn’t miss anything!!

    Aaaaaand we are in Myrtle @ 6:51!    Read more

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