DAY 5: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

I thought I would add a map that they gave us of the Costa Maya port. I know that a common question on here is how to get out of the compound and where is the taxi station located. This will help show where to walk to if you are not catching the shuttle bus or on a private excursion.

If you need to actually walk down the street to the taxi stand outside of the compound, here's where you'll find it.

So today would be like any other day. I sat my alarm for 7am and I woke up at 6:55am before it went off. I really don't know what's gotten into me on this cruise.

We showered and headed upstairs for our normal breakfast at Moderno and it was yummy.

We heard them make the announcements that they were waiting on the port authority to clean us, then we never heard another announcement. I swear this is the first ship on NCL that I don't recall hearing very many announcements when it was time to go ashore.

So, about 8:15am, I figured we should be able to go ashore and headed down.

Like all ports, we had our wonderful pictures taken by the awesome, very professional, takes great pictures so you'll buy them NCL photographers and then headed on our way to the exit of the compound.

There she is in all her beauty. At least she looks pretty darn big from down here!

The people movers were already sprung into action and picking up passengers for the long haul to the port. Darnit, we just missed this one.

Looking over at Cha Cha beach and wondering if there would be anyone sneaking in today and becoming a part of the "hole in the wall" gang.

A glance over at the compound

I always wondered how they got these long people movers turned around without running the hoards of people over. This would answer my question...they detach it from one end, drive around to the other side and reattach and go.

These guys are always here for pictures each time we've been here. If my daughter would have been with us (my oldest-Kendra), I knew we would have been stopping again.

A few pictures along the way...even though I have a million of these shots already...I guess she might have grown a few inches in between each stop???

We made it outside the port and purchased our shuttle/bus tickets at the stand. Just like before $3 for adults and $2 for children. Only this time we would actually get to take the open aired trolley shuttle. We have never been on it before. Woo hoo. Exciting. (This means I would be able to get pictures along the way with no glass glare...only blur from moving. Hey only 1 bad thing is better than 2 right?)

They had different "styles"

We were first on the shuttle and I picked the front seat. hee hee. I figured that would give me even a better chance a good pictures.

It was such a beautiful sunny day. I just absolutely love the colors of this port. Bright and colorful.

For those of you that have to walk to the taxi stand outside the port, I know I have explained the "route" and the "walkway" several times on these boards, but never really had pictures to accompany my descriptions. This time I managed to get pictures as we drove by.

The pedestrian sidewalk is actually located in the MIDDLE of the street. It's a pretty wide are that you walk down and has greenery and landscaped nicely. They also have areas to sit under a trellis if you want.

This is at the end of the road (see my map) and where you catch the taxis. They use to have the curb painted yellow where it begins, but I don't remember seeing that now. Also, I noticed that there wasn't a lot of taxis sitting there, but instead sitting closer. I wonder if people complained because of the walk?

Going around the corner.

I didn't manage to get a good shot of the boat they have on the corner...darnit

Anyone notice the for sale sign? I think I might have to contact them. They have nurses in Costa Maya right???

So today, we were going to a new place along the Malecon that we have not been to before and were real excited. We were headed to Blue Kay. To find my complete review, click the tab below:

We made it back to the port in about 5 minutes and Sakari decided she had not had enough "water" time and played in the pool for awhile. I told her 15 minutes while daddy went in the shops and then we had to go.

A few pictures along the way back to the pier

Of course I needed picture of the beautiful Sun smiling at us as we walked back to her. She was welcoming us back!!

We headed back up to our room and showered real fast and then headed up to deck 12 for the sailaway.

I took pictures of the sunset.

Looking back at the area that we had stayed at today.

Sailaway from the port and watching the sunset. 

Being goofy...

She had a shirt on all day to help with NOT getting burned, but it looked like she managed to get a little red anyhow.

We pulled out on time, like always. No pier runners or anyone missing.

We had dinner in the buffet since we were already in that area and Sakari was hungry again. Every meal must include a pretzel roll of course!

After dinner, Sakari wanted to head to the kids club. It was the Wacky Tacky Party and the counselors were dressed up funny. I wish I would have known they had something like this...I would have planned better with some crazy outfits for Sakari.

We headed to our normal spot...the casino and I did pretty good that night, always staying ahead.

Then when it was time, we headed to the show in the theater. The dailies said it was going to be a ventriloquist/comedian. His name was Kenny and we had seen him before on one of the other cruises. He stated in his show that he "likes to change things up a bit" and gets his material from different things that happen on the cruise. However, it was the SAME show with the same lines as the last time we had been to his show (which was over a year ago). We honestly didn't think he was too funny, but I did remember that the last bit of his show was ok, so we stayed for the end. I noticed that there were a lot of people getting up and leaving. He is one of those guys that is telling a joke and trying to be funny, but yet repeats himself over and over with asking a question to the "dummy" and it will seem as if he's stalling and thinking of what to say next. It's just not very entertaining and obviously others didn't think so either. I have read other reports saying they didn't enjoy him either. Maybe NCL should think about letting go of this one after the contract is up.???

Another problem was the way this particular theater is set up, the 2nd floor kind of over hangs the first floor. Kenny goes out into the audience for participation and then everyone upstairs can not see a thing that is going on. You are sitting there wondering and waiting...not good IMO. He should limit the audience participation to at least the areas on the first floor that can be seen from the balconies. Otherwise people lose interest.

After the show, we decided to pick up Sakari and she was ready to eat again. This night I discovered the pasta bar and boy was I ready for a change. I got my alfredo and noodles and it was a good "change" from the rest of the cruise.

After dinner we went back to the room and found another VIP gift...(not my thing)

And also a survey of the port of Costa Maya. I had every intention on filling it out and turning it in, but I started packing for our next port day and completely forgot. Somehow it ended up in my huge stack of papers to bring home. Oops

Our towel animal for the night was a beautiful swam and we were back to the "big" animals.

We were really tired tonight and headed to bed a little earlier than normal. 

Of course not before Sakari could get in a quick drawing of a lizard as she furiously scribbled away as I went to turn off the lights while counting out loud to her...