Category Archives: Mexico

Cruising for Vacation, Bahamas, Mexico & Alaska

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Cruising for VacationCruise Nassau, Bahama

To cruise for vacation or not to cruise. Cruising has become the way to vacation in recent years (pre Covid). I can see the appeal. You have a floating hotel room and all of your meals. Once you board you unpack once and you are all set for the duration. For those of us who have worn out our joints so that we have had to slow down, being delivered to our location is a nice perk.

Still I haven’t been a fan of cruising in the past. My first cruise was to celebrate my friend Joe’s 40th birthday. Some of Joe’s friends and I chipped in and took him on a 4 day cruise to the Bahama’s. Since we were all on a budget my roommate and I settled for an inside cabin. It was small and cramped but we figured we wouldn’t be spending much time in the cabin so we could tolerate it. Never again. I’ll pay the extra for an outside cabin- preferably one with a balcony. The best part of that cruise for me was the stop at the private island. I spend most of the day snorkeling. There wasn’t a lot to see. Just a sandy bottom and occasional fish but floating in the warm waters was great!

I’m not a shopper so I didn’t get much out of the shopping spree in Nassau but I did enjoy the trip to Atlantis Resort. The bottom line is that Joe had a really special birthday but the experience didn’t encourage me to try cruising again.

 

Tulum

Tulum, Mexico

Tulum, Mexico

The next cruise I tried was once again with my friend Joe. We took a 4 day cruise out of the port of Miami to Cozumel, Mexico.

Before we headed out for Mexico we made a port of call in Key West. We were very familiar with Key West. Joe had worked there and I had visited on several occasions. Even so we enjoyed wandering around.

 

Once we reached Cozumel we took a wild ride across the channel to  Playa del Carmen. From there we took a bus to the Mayan Ruin at Tulum.

This was worth every penny. The ruins were amazing and when we went shopping we got to see The voladores, the flyers. These men tie themselves to a pole and and slowly descend circling the pole.

 

This cruise could have been longer as we didn’t have much time to spend in Mexico but what we saw was great. 

The Long Alaska Cruise Tour

With a couple of short cruises under my belt I let me sister talk me into taking an Alaska Cruise. What I learned from this experience is to not rely on the travel agent. As usual we were watching our pennies. We wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck. The travel agent convinced us that if we wanted to see baby animals, wildflowers and such we should take an early cruise-plus a shoulder season cruise was less expensive. Sounded good to us so we booked the first cruise of the season in late May. As our departure date neared we were notified of a cabin upgrade from ocean view to balcony. That was a great upgrade. We watched glaciers calve from that balcony.

On a shore excursion we got a taste of native culture.

Young Tlingit Dancer in Ceremonial dress

The weather didn’t cooperate for most of the cruise. Alaska had a late spring that year so there was still snow and a daily dose of cold, rainy, gray weather. We were glad we packed winter clothing. The bears were just beginning to come out of hibernation and most of the other mammals were still very pregnant. No babies yet and no wildflowers,  We were about a week too early! 

We did get to go dog sledding and spend time with the puppies. That was fun even though the snow had mostly melted there. Our sled was a big converted car body on wheels. I thought it would be too heavy for the dogs but they loved it. 

We did see Glaciers in Glacier Bay and bald eagles were everywhere. In Denali we got to see moose and caribou. At one port of call we spotted an otter! It wasn’t a total loss. I just think we had bad luck with our timing.  

Magarie Glacier

Bald Eagle on an ice floe

Even so Alaska is an amazing state. I want a return trip- by land this time. I’ve heard the way to see Alaska is in an RV but I’m still thinking about what I want from a return trip. 

Cruise Dos

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Poolside (c) Dusty Roads Photos

Cruise Number 2

The 2nd cruise was a few years later, 2013 to be more specific. Once again I was teamed up with my BFF. This time it was just the 2 of us. The other thing I did differently was plan the excursions in advance so that both of us were on the same page. We were doing another 4 day cruise, this time to Cozumel, Mexico.

Leaving from The Port of Miami

This cruise seemed to get off to better start. I flew down to Orlando the day before departure. We drove to Miami together to board the ship. Once on board we checked out the state rooms. This one was larger than the one I shared on the last cruise.

Sunset at the Port of Miami (c) Dusty Roads Photos

Cruise ship in Key West (c) Dusty Roads Photos

First Port of Call- Key West

Our first port of call was just down the coast in Key West. Joe had lived and worked in Key West at one time so he was very familiar with it. I’d had the opportunity to visit him so it wasn’t new to me either. We wandered around playing tourist just the same. It was a nice, relaxed day.

Beware of Thieves

I don’t remember which day it was but we decided to take our breakfast plates outside to a deck table.

Sneaky Gull- (c) Dusty Roads Photos

The morning was beautiful. The gulls seemed to know the cruise guests would be out with food and some were quite aggressive. Do not leave you plate unattended as a gull will be in that food in a heartbeat. One of the funniest moments (for me) was when a particularly determined gull decided it wanted Joe’s breakfast. Even though Joe was seated right there I watched the sneaky bird creep up the rail behind Joe. It was obvious the bird knew exactly what it was doing. Joe had no clue what was about to happen. When the bird swooped over Joe’s shoulder to raid the plate I laughed until I cried. Joe was not amused!

Tulum

Mayan Ruins, Tulem

Photo by Dusty Roads Photos

When the ship docked in Cozumel we took a shuttle to the Mexican mainland. That was one wild ride as the seas between Cozumel and the mainland are extremely rough. The crew of the shuttle were handing out seasick bags! But once on land we connected with our tour guide and got to explore the Mayan ruins of Tulum. These are both beautiful and  fascinating. Well worth the discomfort of a rough channel crossing.  I never expected to be surrounded by such history in my life.  This cruise was more to my liking!

 

Experience Rating

 

Tale of a Lost Passport

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Driving home the other day I had a sudden thought…Where is my passport? As I thought about it I became more and more nervous. By the time I actually reached the house I was in a full blown panic.

I last used the passport on my cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. I knew I had the passport when I got home because I’d seen it but where?

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While I was on the cruise and then in Florida I kept the passport in the folder I carry on each trip with all the print outs, tickets, guide books, attractions, reciepts and maps. I have a separate folder for this Alaska Cruise. I’ve found that doing it this way organizes not only my travel documents but my thoughts and helps me squeeze in as much  as I can on these trips because who knows if I will ever “pass that way again”.

When I get home this folder combines with my notes and photos to provide the basis for my tales of my trips which I share here so that those of you interested in a location can have the benefit of my experiences or mis-adventures, as the case may be. 🙂

Well, as I was writing my posts for Florida and the Everglades I remembered seeing the passport and thinking I should put it away where it belonged. But I am the world’s best procrastinator and didn’t remember doing that.

Baby Alligator

Baby Alligator

Now at home and in a panic I checked all the places I usually keep the passport when not traveling and even some I don’t usually use. Nothing. I pulled out my luggage and checked all the pockets and linings…nope… nothing.

Finally I went though the pockets of my photo vests, coats, jackets and pants. Those were a real long shot but I was hoping. Still nothing.

I’m sure by now you are asking yourself why I didn’t look in the folder. Well, that’s because as I was cleaning off my desk a few days before I looked at the huge folder and thought “I don’t want to save all this stuff. It takes up too much room in my file cabinet” so I did something I normally don’t do…I threw out my folder with notes, and maps and travel documents. In the process I threw out the passport. 🙁

I raced to the post office where they calmed my fears and said they could expedite a replacement and have it in 2 weeks. Of course it would cost me…what doesn’t these days..so now the search was on for my birth certificate…last seen 7 years ago when I applied for the passport. Lets just say it’s in a safe place.

It was looking more and more like I would have to drive to upstate NY for another certified copy of my birth certificate. So that was my plan for Monday but Sunday as I was doing routine house work I emptied the small trash can under my desk. As I tipped the can I spotted a manila folder! What’s this? Could it be? OMG it’s the Cozumel/Florida folder.
My hand was shaking as I pulled the precious folder out. The first quick flip through yielded nothing, a big fat goose egg so I took the folder to my desk and spread it out. I went through everything one piece of paper at a time and there it was. A bit battered and bent but intact.

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I can now share this cautionary story because all’s well that ends well but I did have quite a few days of stress over this silly mistake!

Sea Day On Carnival Imagination

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As I write this post there’s another Carnival Ship being towed to Alabama from their failed Gulf Cruise. The Carnival Cruise ship Triumph was disabled on Monday by an engine fire. The ship is carrying more than 4000 people between guests and crew with some reports as high as 4500. The ship was 55 miles off the Mexican coast when the fire happened. Conditions since then have really gone downhill. I would not like to be on that ship! To think only a little more than a week ago we were on the Imagination in the same area! We could have been on there!

Luckily our ship didn’t have any problems. In fact we had an uneventful day at sea the last day. The cruise director had loads of activities planned.  We watched the  “Hairy Man” competition and the ice carving exhibition.

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The lunch buffet was a bit fancier than usual with ice cream swans.

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Sorry they melt fast and when we had them make us a fresh one we forgot to take the picture before eating it! 🙂

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We finally got some sunny weather too.

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There were trivia contests and time to look at all of the photos the ship-azzazzi photographers had been taking. There was even time to grab a nap in the afternoon. The evening was spent at dinner and the farewell show. It was all a nice relaxed pace but plenty to do.

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One thing we never got to was the Casino. We walked by it plenty of times, talked about trying it for  a bit but just never got there. I’m definitely not a gambler and I don’t think Joe is either so it wasn’t missed at all. Still I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there was a casino for those so inclined.

Arriving back at our cabin for our last night we had our last towel art. I can’t call this one an animal. But very appropriate for a Post on Valentine’s day, don’t you think?

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Time to leave Mexico Behind

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It was time to start back to the ship. I left the ruins through the hole in the wall and caught the tram back to the marketplace and parking area.

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Now I had the most uncomfortable experience of the whole trip.  I know that in many countries market places are filled with pretty aggressive stall merchants. It’s one thing to read about it but quite another to be subject to it. I don’t know if it was because I was alone when I stepped off the tram or because I was a woman or if this is just their way. It’s possible it’s all an act for the gringos but I didn’t like it.

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In any case I wanted to look in the market place. I didn’t have much money on me but I was curious. Big mistake. The proprietors ran at me waving mayan calendars, or another big one was cigars. At first I tried to make light and laugh it off saying no-no I don’t smoke and things like that. But as I got away from one another was there in front of me pitching their wares and they had an answer for everything.  I broke away from them with “Buy, Buy for your husband, buy for your friend, take back to America”…ringing in my ears.

I’m sure they need the money. The area is clearly poor by American standards but the aggressive approach certainly drove me away rather than encouraging me to buy anything. I was relieved to get back to the bus where they were handing out cold cloths and water.

The ride back to the docks was uneventful. It was dark by this time and I think everyone was tired. It was time to try out our guide’s advice for avoiding seasickness.

We took seats on the lower deck and waited. News finally came that another tour bus was stuck in traffic because of an accident and we had to wait for them.  Once they finally arrived the crew wasted no time in casting off. I was still wearing my patch but I tried Paula’s tips and it seemed to work. The return to Cozumel was much easier than the morning trip.

We arrived back at the cruise ship about 9:30 pm ship’s time. Although we had covered many time zones the ship never changed the time. We were still on EST time. Unfortunately the delay leaving Mexico made us miss dinner. We wandered down to the Lido deck where the late night offerings were being picked through. We settled on Pizza. Not my first choice of food before bed but better than nothing.

Tomorrow would be a day at sea with no ports of call.

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We headed back to our cabin to be greeted by another Towel Animal. This time a frog. 🙂 Love those little surprises.