We started the day with everyone sleeping in.  I would have let it go on indefinitely, but I knew that we wanted to eat in Savor with Cher and her team and that closed around 9:30 A.M.   I woke up the kids a bit after 9 and everyone jumped into their clothes or swim suits.

They gave us two tables by the window today instead of the long table we’d had every other morning.  I ordered Katriel the peaches and blueberries again today.  When the waiter learned she only ate the blueberries (I ate the peaches) he brought her a small dish filled with blueberries. 
Man it was going to be hard to go back to normal life tomorrow.

There were not a lot of photos this day.  There was a lot of pool time.  Waterslide time.  Mini-golf time.  And club time. 

We left the water areas long enough to eat lunch in the buffet.  We settled for this outside but not in the sun section.  I didn’t want to be cold in the A/C and many did not want to eat in the blazing heat. 
See Tab at the bar behind me?  That was where their buddy Craig worked.

It got a bit busier in the pools this afternoon, but it was far from unbearable.  Much of the crowd waxed and waned.  We were some of the only ones to practically take up residence. 

We did take a little time around 3 P.M. to all head back to the room and do some packing up.  Thankfully, we pretty much just had to throw stuff into suitcases without much sorting.

We had dinner reservations for 6:30 P.M. at Moderno Churrascaria, their Brazilian themed dining spot.  Nan and Kelly decided to eat in the MDR as their credits and dining package had gotten used up.  The food here was pretty unique.  There was a buffet with a variety of items – sushi, bamboo shoots, salad, asparagus, etc.  They also brought a serving dish with potatoes, yucca, mushrooms, and rice.  They did not bring us beans because of Stewart’s allergy.

They had, we believe, 8 roaming servers with huge skewers of meats, as well as one with grilled pineapple.  It was a LOT of meat, and I confess we probably didn’t appreciate it as much as we would have liked to. 

They brought Stewart a crazy amount of meat.  Like, two pieces of every kind.  They grilled his separately. 

I had to take someone to the bathroom and I got a glimpse of the setting sun.  As Marie and Tabitha wanted to hurry back to the stateroom to change and go to their club, I grabbed the camera and hurried back to the aft deck to take photos.

It was windy, warm, and wonderful. 

Dessert was a zero.  That’s ok.  We stopped by the buffet for a few more before we retired.

Boys went to hang with Craig a while and we took the little girls back to the room for bed and packing.  Marie and Tab enjoyed their club til about 10.

It was hard going to bed knowing it was the last night on the ship.  It had been so much fun.

 

My desire to take my family to Playa Mia Waterpark is the reason I picked a Western Caribbean itinerary.  We’d been talking about their giant inflatable for over a year. While the ship had an excursion to Playa Mia, I booked it via Viator, an off-shoot of TripAdvisor.  They have a solid reputation, and a back-to-the-ship-on-time guarantee.  They were cheaper by about $15/pp.  Kelly made her own plans to visit Mayan ruins.  As she was traveling solo she went ahead and booked through NCL.

I had to set an alarm to get up.  And it was hard.  Very hard.  The busy-ness was getting to me AND we lost an hour sleep last night adjusting the clock… (or did we?)  I got up around 6:45 A.M. and got the kids up around 7:15.  They didn’t rouse easily.  Getting only about 6 hours sleep between our two Magic Kingdom days didn’t phase them; but today was a work-out for some of them.

We somehow mobilized and headed to the buffet because we knew it would be quicker.  The permission to go ashore was likely to come around 8:10-8:30 and we wanted to be ready.  Moods cheered as we left our stateroom and breakfast was as yummy as ever.

Nan and Kelly ended up meeting us at the buffet.  Kelly was to meet her excursion group in the atrium at 7:45 A.M. 

We drew closer to the pier as we were eating.  It was the most overcast day we’d had, but still projected to be hot and dry. 

As we finished our speedy breakfast I asked Nigel what time it was. (Nigel was “Master Timekeeper” as John’s watch had stopped working back in Disney.)  Nigel told us it was 8:05 A.M.  I declared this was perfect.  Then I paused.  Kelly’s ears perked up and she said, “It’s 7:05, right?”

I offered that, no, we had to advance our clocks last night.  She has a moment of panic.  I have a moment of shock.  We all look for a black-clad employee and find one.  She confirms it is 7:05 A.M.  We were to move our clocks forward later THAT night.

I got them up an hour early.

I’m considered turning in my vacation planning credentials then and there. 

It was a low moment. 

No one scolded me.  They knew how badly I felt.

We went back to our room and just did nothing until it was time to get off the ship.  We were in the first hundred or so folks off the ship.  We walked down the pier and stopped for photos.  I was pretty nervous, I admit, on that pier.  It felt dicey.  I don’t know.  Maybe I was vacationed out?
None of us took photos of the port area.  We were all sort of off, I think.  We followed the directions on my paper from Viator and found a representative from the club.  He stated we were a little early (don’t go there, dude); but concluded that as we filled a van he’d get us one.  (One nice thing about being a large group is we never had to wait for more people to fill a taxi to go somewhere.)   He explained our package to us painstakingly: admission, transport, food, non-alcoholic drinks, non-motorized watercraft. He also mentioned all the things we were missing out on (alcohol, umbrellas, and motorized watersports) with Great Emphasis and assured us we could add those features to our package when we got there.

He lead us over and yon to a main street and called a taxi/van for us.  We drove about 15 minutes and arrived at Playa Mia.  The man from the port had told us to look for Julio when we got there and he would direct us into the park.  Julio actually met our van and he again reiterated what was and was not included.  He also told us that cabs leave every hour on the hour to go back to the port and we could decide when we wanted to return to the ship.  He then said, “You have a lot of young princesses.  When you want to go back, anytime, just come find me.”  That was nice to know.

He lead us through a clean little shopping plaza to the cashiers.  He gave the women in the booth our paperwork and they proceeded to remind us what was and was not included.  They offered to sell us whatever else we wanted to add to our package.  Um, we’re good.
The place was all but empty.  I wonder now if they were even really open!
Pool area.

Looking back through shopping plaza we’d walked through.

Buffet/dining area.

Beach side pool with swim up bar.

Some dining tables available on beach.

The inflatable course.

It was so windy the chairs would blow closed as quickly as they’d reopen them.

We found chairs (there were thousands) and John and the older four went out to the inflatable.  The sand was course.  Very course.  There would be no lounging in the sand here.  That was hard for me to swallow.  Frankly, I’d never go back.  Beach was as yucky as the ugly one I went to in Jamaica with Emily 2014. 

The water was gross and grassy.  It was rough water; that isn’t their fault. 

After John and the kids came back in, they told me how “scary” it was to fall off the course.  There was really grassy water just beyond the inflatable and the water was murky. 

We hung out in that area for more than an hour.  It took that much time, incidentally, for cruise ship excursions to start arriving.  The Viator angle DID get us an extra hour there.  Yay us…

When John and Tab came back in, they went with Nan, Johanna and Katriel to the beach side pool.  Soon Marie and Stewart came back in, then finally Nigel.  We all relocated away from the beach.  I think we are all a little let down.

We decided to eat.  This meant figuring out what Stewart could and could not eat.  Honestly,  he didn’t miss anything.  The buffet was immense… but it was so American-ized!  I was really hoping for spicy food, but it was very bland. 

It looked so good, but was so bland. 

We headed to the waterpark side after lunch.  We spent a few hours over there.

Here is a photo of the kids and I in the whirlpool just moments before they told us kids were not allowed in the whirlpool.

Which, I gotta tell you, was not posted and makes ZERO SENSE in the world when you consider its location right smack dab in the MIDDLE of the main pool.

We had fun.  We were on vacation on an island in the Caribbean.  But we wouldn’t go back.  It was far from awful.  But it was far from amazing, as well. 

It was 2 P.M. on the nose, I believe, when we decided to find Julio.  He had a cab/van right there for us to pile into and we were back to the ship in no time. 

There are three ports there, and the one we were at was very nice.  We saw some street performers, and peeked in a store or two.  But mostly we headed back to the ship.  Of all the places we stopped it was the most built up port.  Hotels and such immediately outside the port complex.  You have to go up and over the road to get back to the port side.  It made for nice photos, if not a little jumbled for strollers and wheelchairs. 

We did the ropes course again (most of us – Katriel wasn’t keen to repeat it) and did some pool time.

It really was so fun. 
The plank was closed today.  I’m guessing it was because it was so windy????

We had our last group dinner tonight at Le Bistro, the French restaurant.  It was beautiful, and strikingly small. 

The service was attentive and sophisticated.  They were exceedingly nice. 
The menu – I think it was really good.  But I think after two weeks of eating out it was hard for us to be moved by food.  For appetizer Marie had escargot, and Nigel may have as well.  

This was an app, as well, but none of us know exactly what it was.  Something fishy?

The soup course was fun.  They brought us out this.  At first I wondered if maybe this was it and I was going to have to explain to my kids that what makes this fancy is the exquisitely small servings?

Then the waiter returned to soupify my soup.

And yet another server (the creme-bearer???) came by to add the white swirls.

It was delicious.

I had to take some girls to the bathroom between courses.  A lovely older couple signaled for me to stop and they proceeded to tell me how fantastic my family was, asked if that was Grandma at the end of the table, and shared how much we made them miss their extended family.  We chatted a few minutes and she later grabbed Nan on her way by, as well.  It’s always an encouraging thing to hear, especially when your kids are the only ones in a finer dining room.  

Dinner came under silver domes.

Well, Marie got a pot?

Tab ordered pizza, but they gave her Daddy’s plate somehow…

Can you see the reflection?  Katriel was on my lap.  She was tired. 

I had a lamb dish.  I thought I would try something new.  When the boys heard what I had ordered, they made sport of me until I couldn’t eat it. 
“Yer eating a widdle lammy?”
”Was he baaaaaad?”
I was careful to to waste any of my beans. 
Five beans. 
And that smear was some other bean concoction.  I am clearly too bourgeois to be impressed. 
Of course someone suggested what part of that lamb that was…

Tab gave Daddy back his plate.  That is a bamboo shoot.  Is bamboo native to France?

Now  – there were no jokes when dessert came. 
Honestly – their desserts might be a reason to eat there. 
Four or six of them got these desserts for two.  Siblings who would pierce one another’s cheek with a dull carrot for looking at them wrong are suddenly UN peacekeepers when there is chocolate to share.

Rivaled only by the tiramisu as best dessert on the ship.

After this gourmet brownie, Hanny still said normal brownies are more fun.

I think there were a few kids to the clubs, and a few to the golf course and Craig.
We were all tired, and I believe all in bed by 11. Or 10?  Or is that 12?  Island time?

 

Check this out: I was NOT up early.  Nope.  Not today.  I think the pace of the last, um, six months caught up with me and I had to cry “Uncle.”  We were not on any tight schedule, and the extra sleep didn’t hurt us any. 

We were at the pier long before we were ready to disembark.  The waves and the wind seemed rough to us, although we are not experts.

We headed to the buffet this morning, because we’d knew it would be faster.   It really is a good buffet.  So many choices and it was always well staffed and well stocked.  I still prefer the MDR, but this was not a bad second choice.

As I was researching our ports of call, I had the most trouble with Costa Maya.  There is no shortage of possible activities in Costa Maya, but none of them seemed to rise to the top for us.  There are a lot of opportunities to go see Mayan ruins, or to snorkel; but those are not things we were at all interested in.  I wanted a beach, and we needed something inexpensive as other days had more costly excursions. 

Nan decided she needed a day off, and this was the day to do it.  The rest of us were off the ship around 9:15 A.M.  Disembarking here was very easy. 

There are dozens of beach clubs in the area and comparing them is like shopping for mattresses.  But Mitsugirly from Cruise Critic had been to half-a-dozen places in the area and I ended up picking Blue Kay Beach Club.  Their website wasn’t the greatest, but I followed them on facebook for a few months before we went and was able to ask them questions about their facility as they popped into my head.

Costa Maya has a nice port area with lots of shopping.  They also have a system of trams that you can ride from the ship to the port area, and another set you can ride from the port area down the Malecon (main street) of beach clubs. 

We opted for the open air tram.  They charged us $3 per person, but the two little girls were free.
It was a nice, but VERY windy ride.   

Replica along the road.

We rode the tram to the first stop and then walked back toward the ship about one-third of a mile.  It was sunny and hot, but very windy.  It was what I call sunburn weather – too comfortable. 

We picked Blue Kay in part because they have no entry fee.  They just ask that you buy something to eat while you are there.  Or so I read. 

When we got there they asked for $5 per person 12 and over and it included one drink.  We were fine with that.  I figure it actually cost us less than what I’d anticipated.  We paid for Marie, too, even though she wasn’t of the age; we just know these folks work hard for not much money.  They gave us each a blue band.

The sand was great here.  The water was a little chillier than Honduras, but still really comfortable.  The view was sort of dull, but in a peaceful way.  While they had water things to rent, we didn’t pursue renting anything.  We just sort of hung out. 

We could see the ship from the beach. 

It was super uncrowded; our club was the first in a miles-long stretch of clubs.
There were a few snorkelers out there and some small grassy patches near shore and some larger ones just a bit out from us.  A snorkeler John got talking to said when they were there a few years ago they saw someone get stung by something.  We weren’t interested in exploring much anyway (I know – what kind of ocean people are we?).

All that UV protective clothing… and she sunburnt her legs. 

We almost forgot to order our drinks.

Our late breakfast made us not that hungry for lunch so we weren’t in a hurry to get back to the ship.  When we were ready to head back the bartender called a cab for us.  The taxi only charged $2 per person over 12 for a ride back to the ship.

We poked around the shops just a bit, but didn’t buy anything. 

We hadn’t had a chance to do the ropes course yet, so we had ourselves up there half-an-hour before it opened to be first in line.  This didn’t work as well as we thought, because they sent half of us back to our staterooms to change clothes.  Um. Ok.

John stayed on the ground the first time through to take photos. 
They have a mini-course for the little ones.

We all took turns on the plank. 
The “plank” is the reason I booked this cruise line, by the way.  When I first pulled up NCL.com on the internet the first image I saw was a man on the plank.  I figured this was the ship for my family. 

After I zipped I got off so John could get on.

Dinner was at La Cucina, NCL’s specialty Italian restaurant.  This was Cher’s home-base.  I must say, for as much as I love Italian food in general, I’d probably not pay extra to eat there.  The portions were small, and they weren’t all that exciting.  It was also awkward the way they made a table for 10.  It ended up creating two seats with large table legs in the way of pulling the chair in.  We were not comfortable while we ate.
I hadn’t had much chicken during the week, so I tried to order that.  I say tried, because the waiter told me it was very dry and talked me out of it.  My sister did end up getting it and thought it was fine.

John  got tiramisu again for dessert which I tasted.  (I also had some in the buffet one afternoon.)  It was good, but I still give the Tropicana tirumisu a higher rating. 

I got ricotta cheese cake which was nice, but not exceptional.  Although, I must admit, I might just have been getting fooded out.

I don’t have a photo of Stewart’s dessert. Cher had asked the chef to make him a special dessert.  It was some kind of rich vanilla custard/crème brulee thing with fruit, but not exactly crème brulee… how is that for clear?  I had a taste of that too.  It was amazing!

The boys played some mini-golf and hung out with Craig, while the older girls went to their club for a little while.  Who is Craig?  Oh, just the bartender they befriended.  He manned the bar closest to the mini-golf, right near the buffet.  It wasn’t heavily trafficked in the evening hours, and my boys talked with this young man from St. Lucia a lot.  He liked to give Nigel wisdom, such as: “You need to drink more water; that Mountain Dew isn’t good for you.”

They all came back to their cabin somewhat early as they wanted to watch a movie on the movie channel. 

Speaking of the movie channel, the TV choices in the staterooms is awful.  We never watch much TV, but we often use it in hotel rooms, etc., as a treat for the little girls while the big ones are getting ready, etc.  Lots of NCL specific stations, some news channels, a movie channel, and a pay-movie channel.  The pay-movie channel does have movies for $0.00, so that worked out at one point.  I’m including this info for folks who do use a TV on vacation.