TravelwithMitsugirly NCL Escape Day 5 Costa Maya

Mitsugirly needed to ESCAPE from the cold weather

Day 5: WEDNESDAY December 18: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

When we were here 4 months ago, Sakari insisted on going to the water park at the Lost Mayan Kingdom something or other. She said it was her favorite day of the cruise and favorite port so far because she had such an amazing time there. She was super excited that we were returning and insisted on going back to the water park. I knew this meant it was just going to be a lazy day by the pool for me because I couldn't do any of the water slides or zipling. I also wasn't sure if I would even be able to make it in the pool because of the ladder situation. But, I did it while scuba diving, so I was going to at least attempt it if it got too hot.

We were in port from 8-5pm. I believe I set my alarm for 7am to give us some time to get ready and have breakfast. I wasn't in too much of a hurry, but I wasn't about to let Sakari know this.

Costa Maya welcomed us with a double rainbow that morning and a beautiful sky. I guess it paid having a balcony this morning otherwise, we would have probably missed this.

There is it...the water park of doom for me today. Oops, I mean the best water park and port EVA! I just couldn't wait....sigh

Now I remembered that on the other ships with the restaurant above the buffet that they served breakfast. I hadn't adventured up there until this morning so I wasn't sure since normally it is a paid restaurant.

I told the fam "Let's go this way. There's something I want to check out". Sure enough, they were serving breakfast. There's hardly anyone up here!!! SCORE! Not many people know about this place serving breakfast and you're sure to not have a line and not fight for a seat to eat at. I'm sure not many people read my reviews, so no worries about the word getting out. 😉

So it's a buffet type of thang! You have breakfast sandwiches here though and they DO have an omelette station as well...made to order!! They have a variety of danishes, eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, french toast, cereals and so on.

Would you look at all that seating? The choices were just too overwhelming and it was just too hard to pick a dining spot. I let Sakari pick for me since this was "HER" day!

You can even sit at the bar if your little heart desires.

They also serve all the drinks including orange, milk, chocolate milk and ....where's the coffee??? No coffee? The hubby is quite upset with me at this point. I told him there's NO WAY that they are going to serve breakfast and not provide coffee. He said he had looked "everywhere" and so by everywhere he meant he glanced in each direction as he sat down and it was really "nowhere". I ask him about around the corner and got a "uh-huh". Yea, ok.... "I guess if you've checked everywhere except for anywhere, then you'll have to settle for milk or juice and ALL these people around us (all 5 or 6 of them) magically got their coffee from downstairs and brought it up here."

After getting our belly's full it was time to head down to exchange our towels for dry ones...............................and what do you know.....there's the coffee around the corner where I said and where he had confirmed that he had checked already. 😕 I'm just glad I don't drink coffee and therefore am not obligated to go hunt for it for him. LOL

These birds were welcoming us by flying over the ship and circling around and around. There was maybe 6 of them at any given time. Sakari being the Bindi Irwin that she is gave us a lesson on these birds. I believe they were frigate birds and she told us about the markings on them. I believe she said the female has a white belly and the male doesn't? Something about red and flying for months. Or maybe the other way around. Either way, she's told me about them before and I'm sure she'll tell me about them again in the future and either way, I won't remember. But, we did have a moment of fun pointing out which were girls and which were boys. Ok, Sakari had had enough "Let's go to the waterpark mommy!" "Oh but wait here comes more birds Sakari"....it didn't last for long. I was obligated to go to this waterpark where I couldn't do anything and it was going to happen no matter how long I tried to put it off.

Just know that if you purchase your tickets from the cruise line and are one of those "special status people"...like we are Platinum, you get a discount. We had purchased our tickets the night before.

So, catching the elevator, to the room to grab our things and back to the elevator to catch a ride down to deck 4. They made an announcement that we needed to be informed that this port in Costa Maya is not owned or operated by NCL, therefore, there would not be any transportation services down the pier. I just had to gasp. Wait, they usually had trolleys or something. There's no way I can walk that entire pier and be ok with it. I would be so worn out by the time I got to the end that I'm not sure I'll even make it outside of the port.

"Clink" went our ship cards and out we went to have our pictures taken.

I stopped at every one of them I could!! lol

Me "Oh look Sakari, there's another one!"

Sakari "Come on mommy!"

They managed to sneak in this one. This must be the face she was giving her mother for stalling. I never ever by the close up shots the photographer does or the black and white pictures. They never turn out good. But, Sakari really liked this picture of her when she seen it in our folder....so I bought it. There's a first time for everything. I like it too but would really like to know what she was thinking at that moment.

Me "Are you sure you like that picture? Are you thinking how much you want to get to the water park and I'm stalling and taking forever?"

Sakari "Probably now buy it please".

Down the pier we started. I'm trying to take my mind off my sloth waddle walk by doing what I love to do...take pictures of everything around me.

Then along came a NCL worker with a wheelchair. He had just taken someone down the pier and the hubby flagged him down. I was SO relieved that I wouldn't have to walk it. They had several workers wheeling people down the dock and that was great. He wheeled me to the end of that pier, where you turn and go down the rest, and then I was set free. Wait, what?!? He said I would be able to ride the trolley the rest of the way and it would be coming shortly. But NCL said there was no transportation this time. I guess they meant by THEM! I knew there was always a trolley here but thought maybe they weren't working today or something.

Along came the trolley and away we went.

We made it to the entrance and was set free again of course. I was on my own to try to make it out of this twisting and turning port.

Sakari thought this was cute and she also thought it was cute to make it swing back and forth and then yelled "run!" Right Sakari...there's still a coconut on there and I'm not running!

We slowly made our way past the vendors screaming "Senorita, you like jewelry come inside" and we finally made it out of the port area. People holding various signs with tours were outside and of course our "excursion" was at the very end. Go me! Almost immediately after arriving at the line for our excursion, it started to move out to get on the shuttles to take us to the waterpark. Now when I bought tickets for this excursion, they ask if I wanted the 9:30 or 11:30am time. We had picked the 9:30am time of course.

Off we went for the short 5 minute drive down the street to the waterpark. Remember last time we walked and I knew there was no way for that to happen again this time around.

ARRIVED

There was no waiting this time and we walked right up to the window, they put our wristbands on and told us that we have "full access" to the entire park and off we went.

Oh no, don't let it drop on you!

As you can tell, it was a cloudy day. No blue skies or sun peaking out yet.

The park looked deserted for the most part. Either we were the first to arrive or everyone decided not to go because the weather looked as if it wasn't going to cooperate today.

Since we were just here, we knew our way around the place and I knew I wanted to go back to the area we had sat at before. It was pretty quiet and even with the weather nice the last time, it wasn't crowded like it was at the other pool (below).

There wasn't anyone back here yet. Hmmm, where should we sit? Our view from the pool area consisted of the lazy river and the landing for the zipline.

This time we ended up all the way at the back and marked our territory.

This was my view for most of the day. I would be able to see the ziplines and hopefully catch Sakari and the hubby going by.

As soon as we sat down we immediately began to have mosquito's biting us. Oh great...not one of those days. We hadn't brought any spray with us this time. Now EVERY single cruise I have brought bug spray. Every.single.time. We have NEVER had to use it. The ONE time that I don't even bother to pack it...we needed it. We would spend about 20-30 minutes swatting mosquito's around us and doing matrix moves and then all of a sudden they vanished. Did they figure out we weren't about to let them have lunch that day and moved on to a different dining location? Either way, we were pretty happy about that and we showed them who's boss! We didn't end up with one bite on us! Now those are some skills!

Sakari started begging to go to the ziplines immediately. Of course I would have scurried off with her but that was going to be impossible this time. Daddy wasn't really feeling it but I gave him that look and said "You have obligated daddy duties today to make your munchkin happy." He hung his head and said "give me the camera" an prepared himself for what was about to happen. I handed him the camera and gave him strict instructions on what to do and what settings I wanted him to use...the regular sport setting, since he would be in motion and moving along quickly, the picture "pop" miniature setting that I use all the time for the "neat effects", and then the video of course. "Got it" he said. I gave him the side eye look and said "we'll see". Of course he knew that I wouldn't actually "see" until I got home, so he was safe....at least for several weeks to come. Sakari took the GoPro.

They headed off and I decided I needed to check-in with Kolin back home and see how the animals are doing. We had not had any internet service the entire cruise, but knew that this place had free wifi and I was going to make the most of it today. I really needed to know if he had done anything dumb this time around...like a few times before...such as poisoning my dog. He has never lived it down since that. I also needed to know if any of their cats had a tasty treat while we were gone (Sakari's Axolotl).

Obviously my children had been watching my location and Kolin had posted this on his snapchat....

He also sent me this picture of him taking our dog out early this morning...well, at least he was still alive.

Wait, what's this white stuff???? It snowed?? Yikes! I picked the perfect time to be away on vacation (it melted before we returned and I haven't seen any since). The animals were ok and all still alive. Kolin gave me the normal talk about how he wished he would have went this time and he was regretting it....which he says every.single.time but yet still never goes. Little does he know...that would be his Christmas gift from us. He's going to be forced to go sooner or later!

Time for some ziplining fun. Now I made sure to tell the both of them to go on the zipline we didn't go on last time. Last time we went on the LONGEST route they had. It was about 1 hour or longer to complete. The one we went on before did not go over the pool where we were sitting and didn't have any of the swinging bridges that you see in the area.

Good pic of Sakari taking off...except that finger in the picture.

There she goes...and there's your finger again.

I waited and waited for them to come. Since I had never done this zipline route, I really wasn't sure if it took longer, the same, or shorter than the one we had done before. I just knew that it was a "different" route. I was getting pretty thirsty and the waiter that was always coming by to take your order last time was just not coming around...and neither was anyone else (visitors). Maybe that's why he decided not to come over and serve that area.

Ok, I'll just wobble on over and get my own drink from the stand past the pool and around the corner. I strapped up my foot in my snorkel sock and ankle brace and off I went. I finally arrived to get a pop and was on my way back and here 'MOOOOMMMMAAAAYYYY!" I look up and this is what I see.

All that waiting I did for them to zipline across me and the pool and the minute that I get up to get something to drink, thinking I'll make it back in plenty of time, they have already went by. Only my type of luck!

There I am down there walking back from the pop truck...I tell ya I just can't make this bad luck up! Here's the proof.

There must be several of these swinging bridges because the hubby had pictures of a different one that the one that was in my area.

The hubby got some great shots while they were up there. This is the zipline roller coaster. It's pretty fun. But wait, no finger?

Getting ready for take off...make sure you got that hand in the picture!

Here's an overview of the kiddie water park area and of course the hubbys finger...

Now I just noticed...I've never even seen this area or pool. I didn't know it existed. I see the kiddie waterpark over there, so it has to be somewhat in that area. I don't know what the long area is with the fence going around it either. There's steps over there leading down into the pool area. Maybe it's a small shallow pool for the youngsters? Hmm...weird I have never found it. But there's that finger....

All the beautiful undeveloped land still in Costa Maya!

And our ship off in the distance.

More finger pictures...I mean of the ziplining and area's below it.

Here's another view of that pool area I wasn't aware of...and according to the hubby just now, he was leaving an area in the picture (with his finger) to put the name stamp. MmmmHmmm

So I just pulled up the map of the place and I see this area on the map. There's a hut at the area we have sat in the last two times and it is for the zipling landing. You can walk under it and there's a path on the other side. I walked back in there last time (didn't follow the path too far) and it looked like it was the "back scene" area of the park. I would see workers back there hauling food on golf carts here and there and a few people walk down it. But, it looks like it winds around and ends up at this pool I didn't know existed.

When I look it up online I found this...

It's called the Cascada Azul Relax Pool. The sound of the water falling from the blue cascade in this secluded area of the park is the best way to relax and enjoy the good life in the Mexican Caribbean. It looks absolutely gorgeous and definitely a place I would have went to in order to relax this time around. DARNIT! (This is a picture pulled from the internet from their website)

Don't it look amazing???

She was having so much fun. I'm so glad that daddy went with her. Now I do want to mention...of course daddy had just settled in when we got there and Sakari was chomping at the bit to go ziplining. Daddy didn't want to jump right in and go so she said she would go by herself. She came back shortly after leaving and had this look on her face and told us that they would not let her go alone and needed a parent there with her. A parent being there isn't going to be "with" her. She's too big to tandem and she's still going by herself! Last time we were there, there were people in front and behind us. They had no idea if she was with anyone a lot of times...so why did this matter? That meant daddy had to go ziplining with her whether he was ready or not. lol

Finger above, finger below, finger finger everywhere.

I get home to find out that the hubs only shot a couple of ziplining videos and man oh man...I told him "there's no way you can be Mitsugirly's hubby with this type of skills". LOL

Everything was in super S L O W M O T I O N !!! I have no idea what he was doing but geesh. I had to take it into the new video maker I just bought and speed things up to even make them viewable (with one spot I left it slow). His fingers in the way, pointing at the ground walking...these would all be things involved in this video. And....you're welcome. 🤣

And Sakari's video...

Once ziplining was over...daddy needed to rest. There's a lot of stair climbing during ziplining and I knew exactly what he was dealing with...although I really missed not doing it this time.

Of course Sakari was wanting to be constantly on the go and was already ready for some water slide fun. Nope, no can do for daddy. He's down for the count and "didn't want to get wet anymore". Sakari said she'd go herself and off she went...only to return once again.

"They won't let me go" she said in a quivering voice with crocodile tears in her eyes as she turned her head so I couldn't see. Sakari went through this stage about 2 years ago were she won't cry...like EVER. I've seen her have some nasty falls on her scooter and really tear up her legs and arms (she has scars still from it) and not a tear in site! But not allowing her on the water slide at the place she loves most...well it brought a tear to her eye even though she didn't want anyone to see.

Geesh, are we going to deal with this all day? Not letting her do any of the rides. First the zipline and now the water rides. Daddy jumped up and said "Let's go! I'm about to have a talk with these people! We were just here 4 months ago and you went on the ziplines and you went on every single water slide they have!" Then off they went. I mean if they weren't going to let her do any of these rides, this was a pointless trip. I can't even get her to go over to the kiddie waterpark...even though the slides over there are pretty darn non-kiddie looking to me.

Meanwhile, I'm talking to Kendra back home and telling her what was going on. She said "Show them the proof she did them all".

The hubby returned without Sakari. That could only mean one thing...she was on the water slides. He said that when he arrived and Sakari said "he said that" the worker immediately denied it and said she could go. She didn't have a problem after that on anything.

While she was going on the water slides, I was down below taking pictures of the area to send to Kendra so she could see what she is missing out on since she pulled out of going.

Inside the pyramid and where you catch the elevators to go up to the zipling and the water slides.

Pick your route and what you want to do.

Restrooms and showers

Locker rental and the photo booth. You can purchase a wristband/watch looking thing for pictures. You wear it on your wrist and there are several stations that when you are there or go by, you hold up your watch to this box and it takes your picture.

Photo station

Lazy river inside the pyramid.

This way to the zip line and water slides elevator.

The locker area.

Kendra was beating herself up for not going this time, but then again so was Kolin. She kept asking if we ever return here, would I be willing to go back again. Well honestly, I would rather not. We've been twice now and that's enough for me and I would rather do something different next time around.

We were getting a little hungry so decided to take a break and go over and get the overly priced expensive $25/pp buffet. This time around it felt like they didn't have as much as last time (well, they had a lot and everything in the area was full with something but it didn't feel the same.) There were several items that we had to wait on...like fries. They just couldn't seem to keep things filled during the time we were there. Also, things didn't taste as good this time either. The tortilla chips tasted stale and a few other things just wasn't good (which slips my mind at this time), but if you are hungry and you're on a cruise ship that day, you have NO other option for food except the buffet. On non-ship days you can actually order from a menu they have. Just plain crappy!!! You are pretty much forced to pay these expensive prices if you are hungry because going back to the cruise ship and coming back really isn't much of an option from this far away (not actually being in port but down the road and you have to wait on the trolley, which comes every 30 minutes most of the time). We all know there's NO WAY that Sakari would allow us to leave early either.

After eating Sakari really wanted me to be able to participate in something while we were here. She's so thoughtful and sweet. "Let's go to the lazy river mommy. You can do that!" So off we went.

It was quite scary trying to get into the tube, but eventually I made it.

Daddy seemed pretty happy that I was able to do this as well.

Always a favorite...swinging back and forth on the ropes.

I'm not sure what this is...but I didn't stick around too long. Maybe a termite nest?

Into the pyramid we go...you're sure to get wet in here.

We met up with a few ladies during this float-along. We will call them Minnesota...because that's where they were from. We chatted and chatted and screamed when water hit us. They were a hoot and we were enjoying ourselves. Several times I took their camera's and took pictures for them...and somehow I would float off yelling "thanks for the camera!" <--true story. LOL Eventually they'd catch up though and I'd have to return their camera.

Watch out for the sprayers above. They only come on when you get to a certain spot so you just don't know it's coming. But, we are experienced Mayan Kingdom floaters so we knew it was coming.

Just look at that smile! She was loving every minute of it. Daddy just got soaked and it was hilarious to her.

Bubble time underneath us. It didn't feel the greatest on my foot but the rest of my body got a massage.

RAWR!!!! Only this time it wasn't making any roaring noises like last time.

She looked like she was up to something....

Yep, I'm sure she just splashed me or pushed me into some spraying water.

The look of guilt with no shame face...

Silly daddy...he picked up a hitchhiking tube. I wonder where the person went??? Maybe that's why the jaguar couldn't roar at us when we went by?

Before long the fun was over. Honestly, I should have just stayed on it all day long. It would have given me something to do and it was relaxing. Now came the task of figuring out how I was going to get out of the tube without jumping down on my foot. I had 2 people helping me an again, it was scary.

One last video...the lazy river

Here's a video of inside the Pyramid. It's so cool in there. I took the video so show Kendra who was on the phone with me. #jelousyfactor

We came back from the lazy river and there were a few people that had invaded our area. A few people would come and then they would leave in about an hour. I don't know if they moved to a different area or just left. I can't imagine coming there and staying most of the day to get your money's worth. It's just too darn expensive not to stay.

After we came back, I decided I was going to try to get in the pool and swim. Getting in was the easy part. The fam was happy that I was in there and joined me.

We were playing around and I was attempting to swim with 1 foot. It wasn't easy. I could feel the hinges on my foot and they were painful to move. Maybe all the walking I had done and just spent 30 minutes floating along and now I was forcing myself to move a body part that doesn't like to move.

We started having a bit of fun and Sakari said "Look mom, I'm a dolphin!" So what does mommy try to do? Swim up out of the pool like a dolphin...only I looked more like a whale that was struggling to reach the sky. Hey, it had Sakari laughing so hard.

After that, mommy needed to get out of the water and rest. But how was this going to happen? Daddy decided that he would help me push myself up on the side inside of going up the ladder. It worked. At least I still have some strength in my arms to lift myself up.

Sakari continued swimming and ask for the GoPro back. She was about to be silly with it. Posing under water, doing dances, blowing bubbles.

Here's her film...

We decided to head out at this point. Sakari didn't want to go on the waterslides by herself and daddy just wasn't feeling it today. I don't care what people say...when the weather is somewhat gloomy or even rainy, it does put a damper on your mood. So many people will come back from a cruise and say it was terrible only to have their words ripped apart saying "well at least you're not at work" or "at least it was warm" and so on. I hate it when people say that. Yes they are right about their statement, but it does take away from the experience I don't care what they say. I would say "terrible" is probably exaggerating a bit but still. I mean even your body feels it...think about people that live in snowy area's in the winter (like me), your body needs extra Vitamin D because there's lack of sun. So your body feels it and so does your brain! #pointproven!

Although we had a good time today, it just wasn't the same as last time. The mood was different, I was different, Sakari was even different. I feel like it was money wasted this time around honestly. I was really wishing we had went somewhere else and just chilled for cheap. But, it is what it is.

After gathering our things, I had Sakari do few Christmas picture's for me.

Sakari found this bug along the pool. It had half of its body smashed off and missing legs. But, it was still walking around the concrete by the pool. I told her to stay away from it. It's red and red = stingy in my book. LOL

I took some pictures of the kiddie waterpark on the way out.

I mean it looks like a lot of fun and she definitely plays in the kiddie waterpark area when we're on a ship (this kinda reminds me of the Carnival ships play area because they always have the bucket dump).

I confirmed one last time if Sakari was interested in going on the slides or playing there and she gave me a big fat "nope" with a thumbs down. Ok then...we're leaving.

They do have a store there as you come in and out. Just your regular novelty items, shirts and so on. They did have bug spray and also sunscreen (which we had forgot our sun screen this day) and when we asked about the price of the sunscreen, they told us $26. Um no, I'll wear my shirt first. The funny thing about it is that there was a sign at the pools that said "no sunscreen or bug repellent to be worn in the pools or slides" Um...ok.

We only waited for about 10 minutes before a trolley pulled up and everyone piled in (one was just pulling out when we walked out so they run pretty quickly but they'll tell you it runs every 30 minutes).

Once we made it back to the port, we wanted to get Kolin something else for "animal sitting". We definitely haggled with the shops there. Managed to go from $55 to $25 on an item and after we walked away, they came and found us in other stores to give us that $25 price change. Score! hehe

We came to the pool area and seen some kids trying to climb a ladder above the pool. Neither one of them could make it past the 3-4th step. Sakari wanted to try.

I believe they were a little jealous that she was making it so far and I had to yell at them to wait until she's done and snapped my fingers a few times, pointing at them to get off the ladder because they were trying to inconspicuously shake it for her to fall. The mother walked up at some point, but she didn't say anything to me for my little snap snap point at her kids. I was trying to be quiet since I was filming her.

She accomplished her goal and walked away with her head held high. 😄

Well, until she got to this blue strip, which is a drop off....and she dropped. LOL It really caught her off guard and she laughed, but now she had a soaking wet towel.

I know this question comes up a lot about the usage of these chairs around the pool.

As we were headed out, Sakari spotted a bird.

Then someone started making announcements about a show. Now I've heard and read about this "show" they do at the port but I have never witnessed it myself. I've always wanted to see it but maybe we just always returned back to port at the last moment and missed it.

I started hearing drums playing and I looked up and found this...

Then down to the pier we went.

We caught the trolley and I couldn't wait to get back to relax.

BABY BAY BEACH

St Thomas 2020

St Thomas 2020

St Thomas 2020

St Thomas 2020

St Thomas 2020

TRAVEL WITH MITSUGIRLY

mitsugirlys cruise ( and land) adventures

Mitsugirly needed to ESCAPE from the cold weather

Day 5: WEDNESDAY December 18: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

Mitsugirly needed to ESCAPE from the cold weather Day 5: WEDNESDAY December 18: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

Mitsugirly needed to ESCAPE from the cold weather

Day 5: WEDNESDAY December 18: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO