DAY 6 COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

5am wake up call. Are you serious? I just went to bed 5 minutes ago...or at least it seemed like that. I'm so glad we didn't have a day planned that would require some kind of extensive leg or arm muscles to be used because mine had been all used up from the previous few days. At this point I'm wishing that I had done what Kendra's family had done every day after port...nap! But it is what it is and I'm not about to miss a day in port.

We were really unsure of where to go for this port. It was one of the last ports that I really "researched". We had been to Maya Chan already and the service and place is fabulous! However, we didn't care for the brownish water and tons of sea grass there. But oh how I miss their guacamole. It has been the best guacamole I have EVER ate in my life. Nothing has compared to it since then. We have went to Almaplena last December and the place was absolutely gorgeous! We loved the entire day there. I didn't really care for certain parts of the food there, but that was my fault. I didn't pick from the menu and left it up to them. The entrees were excellent and I could have just lived off of those the rest of the day with no problem.

So now, it was time to pick a different place because, well, I like a variety. I had read a lot about the Malecon and the places to go to up and down it. Many people had said that Nohoch Kay was the place to go because of it's location at the end, no vendors allowed there (and would be shooed off quickly if they came), the excellent service provided by the staff and the wonderful owner. I did realize that according to its location, I probably wasn't going to get that crystal blue clear water like I had experienced at Almaplena and it would probably be more like Maya Chan. So, I was prepared for that and just prepared to relax that day (yea right, when have any of you ever known me to "relax"...I'm a go, go, go type of person and I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes). I did find a video of a couple that had rented some bikes and rode up and down the Malecon and the place looked nice and reminded me of many many years ago some of the beach places I have been to when I was in my 20's. So, I figured it would be a nice place to go to in order to pass the day by, which was going to seem extremely short. 7am-2pm was our port day.

The price was $40 for this AI and we paid a $10 deposit with the remaining balance due at the time we arrive.

Our day started with the normal run to the breakfast buffet and of course my newly discovered omelet station eggs. Since I had ate extremely late (the Mexican buffet) the night before, of course I woke up extremely hungry. So I had an omelet, some french toast and went for a visit to the bacon police...who gave me uncooked bacon that squealed at me when I touched them. Ewww. I had to go up for a second visit while they glared at me as if they had just seen me. Who me? That wasn't me. That was my twin sister. It was still completely dark out. Wow, this is the first time this has happened to me. My body knew I wasn't suppose to be up yet and so did the sun. It just felt really weird eating breakfast and starring out at the darkness.

Once we were done with breakfast, here comes Kendra and her family just getting up...of course. So predictable at this point. Brayden was back to being his chipper self (and I'm being nice when I use the words chipper). I do have to tell you that one night we had went to a show and he was in so much pain and laying down during the entire show. A man sitting behind us was asking about him and seen the blisters (he had refused to wear a shirt at that point). He told Kendra about how well Noxzema worked on sunburns. She had told him that she had tried aloe and had went to the store and purchased some sunburn stuff, but nothing was working. He assured her that the Noxzema was the best thing and not only would it pull out the burn and make him feel better, it would heal it up really quick too. He told her that he had an entire tub of if back at his room and if they wanted to, they could follow him back to the room and he would give it to them. Well my daughters bf did just that and put it on him and now he was miraculously healed. Seriously, it worked that quick...over night just about. Kudos to this unknown man who came to the rescue. I will be bringing some Noxzema with me on future cruises and keep some at home although we usually don't burn to often.

So I rushed Kendra and family with their eating and it was now after 7am. I was sitting here thinking this was ok because we had been up since 5am and sitting here at the dock for quite some time and they still hadn't cleared customs...or so I thought. I did not hear not one announcement that morning saying "welcome to Costa Maya...you can all pile out now". I thought this was weird. So about 7:30 we decided started looking over the rails of the ship and we did see people walking down the pier. Not many, but some. It was starting to lighten up a little as the sun was coming up. So we decided to make our way down to see if we could get off.

Yes, as a matter of fact we could. I'm still confused about why there was no announcement...maybe because everyone was (and should have been) STILL SLEEPING because it was dark??? hehe

The sun was starting to come up and it was getting brighter outside.

We went ahead and got off the ship and started the LONG walk down the pier to Costa Maya.

There wasn't a lot of people out and about. I wondered if people had just decided to skip this port since we were there so early and not going to be there long.

I can tell you that people did get off the ship when it was still completely dark outside and I know this because of the pictures we would later see that day that the ship photographer took of them getting off...they were completely DARK!

We started walking and looked back and of course Kendra and family were so far behind us with Brayden even further. That boy does not like to walk (if you haven't guessed by now). He will drag and drag and even sit down at any given point just to try to get you to carry him.

We made it to the port with Kendra and them no where in site. Then all of a sudden here comes the "train" people mover that runs up and down from the port to the ship...and out comes Kendra and family. I screamed "cheaters!" but was happy to see they had made it. I really didn't want another day like yesterday where they were left behind.

All of my other visits to Costa Maya had a "welcome" crew with dancers dressed up and dancing to the music. Not today (or at least not while we were passing by). Yes, it was too early for them too!

As always, Kendra takes every opportunity for a picture with the live "props"

Costa Maya's port is nice. I could probably spend a day there (if I was one of those cruisers that didn't like to get out and see the area and what it's really like). I know a lot of people have ask me in the past if there was much to do there. They have a pool, they have TONS of shops, they have a man made beach in the middle of the port, they have a swim up bar, they have dolphin swims there (which won't even come close to swimming with them at Chankanaab in Cozumel) and some palapa's along a sandy area (that doesn't go off into the ocean) that you can rest at and just stared at your ship while in port. They have a tower that you can climb and get awesome pictures from up there of the port and the ship. So yea, one that is trying to save some money and not go outside the port could do so with no problem. (Those of you wanting to see more of the port can find pictures of it in my Costa Maya links in my signature line). I really didn't take too many pictures this time here. Been there, done that many times and it still always looks the same.

The only pictures I was interested in were that of the "props" with the kids.

Of course when Brayden seen this "head" he immediately went running by Sakari and tried to crawl up in its mouth. I swear I don't know this kid most of the time. I had to get him out and tell him to turn around so that I could see his face.

Kendra just HAD to have a picture in one of these stools. She said that her bf's dad always has had something to say about these stools and really liked them. So, she was getting him a picture of it.

Brayden wanted in on the fun

Sakari had to follow suit...

The faces everyone was making was completely cracking me up. 

You always have to have that one picture of your ship sitting in port between the buildings and by the pool. It's a must and this day would be no exception.

I wasn't sure if I had ever took a picture of the "sandy beach" area around the pool. So it was time for a quick shot of that.

Now we had been told by email that we were to exit the port and go to where the taxi stands are. Do not tell anyone that you are going to Nohoch Kay as you come out and walk to the taxi stand. Well I know from our last time we were here we were required to walk out of the port and WAY down the road to where the Hard Rock Cafe use to be to catch the regular taxis to Almaplena. It's quite the haul, but it was nice out and it wasn't going to be bad this time around. When we went to Maya Chan, we walked right outside the port and our bus was sitting there waiting to take us. This time, I wasn't really sure where I was going.

There were people there asking you where you wanted to go and we decided to tell them and see if they would take us there. They said yes. We purchased "passes" from them and they charged us $3 for the adults and $2 each for the kids. Now I had not read anywhere on here that they had a reduced rate for the kids. So I was kinda shocked to find this out.

We all got in the van and we were on our way. 

I was trying to get a few shots of things as we passed them. I had never noticed this boat landscape sitting in the middle section of the road on my previous visits.

This is as you are pulling off the port road and onto the main road.

A few houses along the way...more vibrant colors.

When the driver turned off the road and headed toward the Malecon, I could see the lighthouse. I knew we were getting close because (since I do so much research prior to my trips) I had "walked" along this road many times trying to determine just "where" along this road I could locate Nohoch Kay....using google earth. I had seen this lighthouse with each "walk" along the street and knew it was at the opposite end of Nohoch.

To read my full review of our day at Nohoch Kay, click the following tab:

We did the normal thing, shower, throw the hair up and lets go. I really don't remember the details at this point. I know some time after we pulled out of port Sakari and Brayden wanted to head to the "Camp" and we took them later on in the day.

They were only there for maybe a few hours, with our "phones in the pocket" and for some reason we decided to go pick them up. On the way up there, we were walking threw the door to CC and the phone was ringing. I stopped to pull it out of my purse and the hubby continued to the window to pick up Sakari. When I answered, they hung up. I had seen that it was the camp calling (yes, the phones have caller ID on them). When I walked in, they were explaining to my husband that Sakari and Brayden wanted to leave. Um ok, I have never known my kid wanting to leave any kids club...ever. Every NCL kids club we have been to, she begged non-stop to go to and would cry when she had to leave. I did notice that this NEVER happened this cruise. We would have to actually ask her if she wanted to go there and she would just simply agree. She never had a problem leaving and she never begged to go. Just weird.

So instead of them just leaving it at "she wanted to leave"...which I found out later that she nor Brayden said that....ever, the counselors continued with the negativity and "attitude" that we had experienced during the entire cruise with them. She proceeded to tell me that Sakari (and Brayden) refused to do any of the activities with them. She didn't want to participate in anything. She just sat there and refused. She wouldn't do the projects, she wouldn't make anything, and she didn't enjoy being there. Um ok again. This is not my daughter!! You don't understand, Sakari is my "art child". We don't buy her a bunch of toys for her birthday or for Christmas, we buy her "projects". She gets paint and paint brushes, clay molding, planting flowers stuff, tons of regular drawing paper, finger paints, construction paper, crayons, markers, drawing boards, art easels, sun catchers...and every other kind of art related thing you can think of. Her teachers pulled me aside just a month ago and told me about Sakari's "art" skills. They said all she loves to do is draw and make things. Her "skills" were way above her age level. She goes in to great detail. She loves to draw animals and it's not a typical body, legs, head drawing...it's detailed to the max. She draws pictures non-stop at home of her cruises. She will draw the ship, the port holes, people in the windows looking out, the smoke stack with smoke, the deck chairs, it has the water, she will put whales, dolphins, fish and starfish in the water. She will add the sky and the clouds and the smiling sun. She will draw an airplane, it will even have the runway wheels. That's how much this girl loves to draw. Her teacher told me that some day she would make a good illustrator. They said they get companies that donate paper to the schools and they wanted to donate some to Sakari. They knew it would be put to good use...and it has.

So now this PLACE is telling me that she refuses to participate in the activities. Yea...riiiiightttt! Something just did not jive at all. At the time we were picking her up, they had the tee-shirts lined up on the floor and Sakari was sitting beside hers. They were getting ready to "color" their shirts.

Remember this?

Well it sure didn't look to me like she wasn't participating. They yelled for her to come over and told her she was leaving and they gathered up her shirt and handed it to us. She was UPSET!!! She cried all the way out the door and we would hear nothing but complaining the rest of the night because she wanted to color her shirt. We ask her over and over if she had ask to leave or told the counselors that she wanted them to call us to pick her up and she told us over and over that she did not say that. :mad:

I also have to add that when we picked her up, this is what she looked like...

Yep, that looks like a kid that doesn't participate in activities to me for sure. COMPLETELY ROLLING MY EYES AT THIS POINT. So now the hubby and I are starting to feel a little hot under the collar and I didn't even have a collar on. Kendra was a little upset as well. Although Brayden is not the "activities type of kid" like Sakari is, he did come back with his face painted and things that he had made too during the cruise.

My blood continued to boil the rest of the day. Especially the two ladies that talked to us about Sakari's inability to participate with the "class". These same 2 ladies and 1 other were the same ladies we always seem to catch an attitude from. I do know that the worse ones name was Svetlana. I made it a point to look at her name tag the following day when I reluctantly took Sakari back to the Camp during our final sea day. She had the nastiest attitude about her and the way she spoke to you was just demeaning and degrading every time. She's one of those people that acts like someone who should not be taking care of someone's precious child. Some times I write things off to "they're having a bad day", but I'm sorry, this is just not the case with this lady.

We would continue to dwell on this subject for the rest of the night...as much as I wanted to just let it go, I couldn't for some reason. But, I didn't let it spoil the day completely.

More on this subject on the next sea day. 😡

So after picking up the kids, we decided to go back to the room and take a little nap. Although the day wasn't strenuous, the week had been and I did only get 4 hours of sleep the night before.

On the way back, I snapped another picture of the glitzy balls and glitter on our Dream....I didn't realize until I downloaded the picture that Kendra had jumped in there and gave us a "face"...she's always unpredictable, goofy, and full of life. Hmmm, I have no idea where she gets that from. 😉

Sakari took a picture of her and the monkey from the night before since he was still "hanging around" in the room.

So the intentions were to lay down for a couple of hours and get up, go eat, and maybe catch a show.

I believe we slept for about 2 1/2 hours...well at least I did and it was almost 9:00pm. I decided to get up and go out on the deck to see if anything was going on. (I had no idea what time it actually was). As I was walking around, my belly reminded me that it was hungry so I decided to head back to the room and get the rest of the family up. I woke up Sakari and she just opened her eyes and gave me that "really?" look. I ask if she was ready to get up. Her reply "no, I'm tired." So I said "Are you hungry and want to get something to eat?" Sakari- "No, I'm just tired." Ok, now normally at this point I would pull out all the stops and it would work....Me-"Do you want to go visit your friends?" (Now I said this knowing that she never passes up an opportunity for that, but I also knew that they were going to be closing and after our little problem today, I wasn't taking her, but figured it would at least get her up). Sakari "No, I don't want to go there." :eek: I would never in a million years think that she would refuse this and she did. What does that tell you? Something was not right with that place.

I tried to wake the hubby up. He pulled the pillow over his head. Ok, I get it, obviously they weren't going to get up and I was going to have to finish off the night on my own. I do know that Kendra said she had wanted to dress up and get their family pictures taken that night, but I had no clue if they were still doing that. (I found out the following day that they did and they were doing this about the same time I was up and wondering around the ship alone).

So first things first...my belly. I headed back to the deli and got one of their wonderful wraps. That did the trick. I spent the rest of the night wondering around the ship taking most of the wonderful pictures of the glitzy ship that I shared with you in the beginning of my review.

I stopped in for a moment to see what show was playing and once again, it was the same singers and dancers they had all week long at the shows. I only stayed for a moment and decided even though it was a different show, it was still kinda the same, just different music (and theme) and different props. I know people said the entertainment was terrible on the Carnival ships and I actually thought the shows were pretty good...until I had went to several of them and started noticing it was the same people over and over just a different show. It got kind of repetitive and I was tired of seeing them. I guess this is where Carnival does lack, but yet it was something I can deal with. I don't really cruise for the entertainment, but if it's there, it's an added benefit and gives you something to do.

Now I will totally admit, I did not read the Fun Times front to back and I basically did what I do on the NCL dailies. I look along the side column to see what's playing when and decide what I want to do each day. However, on the side with all of the listed times, it would just say something like 9:30pm showtime in the Encore theater. I thought it was strange that it didn't tell exactly what was at the show. Kendra later laughed at me and told me I had to look at the middle of the inside to see the show for the night and what it was about. 🙄 I guess the whole thing just read funny to me because I was use to NCL's and didn't pay attention.

Also NCL has all of their shows in the main theaters. I guess I also expected this on any ship. I kept wondering why I didn't see any comedy shows or this acrobat show that I had heard of there. It was always the same singers and dancers. I took out my old Fun Times and noticed they were having shows at multiple different places on the ship at night. THAT'S why I wasn't seeing much of anything. OK, lesson learned. I will read the Fun Times from front to back next time around and pay closer attention to WHERE things are located. LOL

I stopped by the casino for one last spin for luck and actually walked out about $100 richer in about 30 minutes time. Yea me. 😁

Since there was no need to get up early the next day I believe I stayed out until around midnight (I know, it's early but I'm out running around by myself and well, I became bored).

So back to the room I went and found the family still asleep and I was about to do the same thing. Zzzzzz