Last week during spring break, Susan, the kids, and I took a Carnival cruise to Cozumel. This was our fourth cruise together as a family, and our second time to visit Cozumel. Previously we cruised to Hawaii in 2015, Alaska in 2012, and Cozumel (the first time) ten years ago in 2009.
We spent Sunday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day), driving from Oklahoma City down to Galveston, Texas (about 500 miles). Our cruise ship, the Carnival Valor, departed from Galveston the following morning. On Wednesday, March 20, we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico, and on the following day, we arrived in Progresso. Tuesday and Friday were sea days. We arrived back in Galveston early Saturday morning, and drove home that same day.
After our first Carnival cruise to Cozumel, I wrote up a fairly detailed summary of the cruise experience, so I won’t duplicate that here. I will say that each time we cruise, we pick up a few more tips and tricks that make our cruise experiences more enjoyable. For example, by only taking carry on luggage, we were able to trip literally hours off of the disembarking process.
Also, again, we booked suites — two of them this time; one for us, and one next door for the kids. Our room had a queen-sized bed (the kids had two twins), a large couch, a table with three chairs, a bathroom with a shower/tub, tons of storage, and our own private balcony. For the difference in price, I can’t imagine ever downgrading.
During our stop in Cozumel, just as we did ten years ago, we visited Chankanaab Beach Adventure Park. Our tickets included transportation costs to and from the park, plus lunch and drinks. Susan even got them to toss in four sets of snorkeling masks and breathing tubes for free. As with any event you do either on the ship or off, there are always people on standby ready to take your money. We skipped the provided free lunch and opted to eat at the same outdoor restaurant we dined at ten years ago. Total bill? $80. Oh, and those free drinks? You can get them over there, a quarter of a mile away. The ones over here are $5-$10. And don’t worry, senior — everyone takes US dollars.
For ten years, I’ve regretted not visiting the Three Amigos Cantina located right off the Cozumel pier. This time, we made a point of poking our heads in. I bought an “El Guapo” baseball cap, and we took several pictures both inside and outside the restaurant.
On the following day, our ship docked in Progresso, Yucatan. There, we had a multi-hour bus tour of Yucatan. Our first stop were a series of salt mines — large ponds of water that are bright pink due to the natural salt in the soil. Salt was the primary spice harvested and traded by the Mayans when they lived here. The Yucatan peninsula is also home to the Chicxulub crater, which scientists believe is the asteroid impact strike that killed the dinosaurs, and most definitely altered the Yucatan soil composition. The pictures I took do not do the water’s color justice; it was as pink as the flamingos we saw standing around!
At this same stop were two Mayan women who were hand preparing a snack of tortillas, guacamole, and salsa. On the corner of the table in this picture you can see the hollowed out gourd the ladies were using to store their tortillas. The women live on this site in similar huts and sleep in hammocks.
Our next stop were a series of Mayan ruins in Xcambo, Yucatan. Some of the ruins have been dated back to 250 A.D. Tourists are allowed (and even encouraged) to climb around on and explore the ruin site. As our tourist guide put it, “there are no rules in Mexico, only suggestions.” This particular site included what archaeologists believe is a bath house, which would have been used to cleanse people’s bodies before they were sacrificed, and the actual spot where people were sacrificed. Our tour guides noted that the ruins appear to have been built to line up with Venus, the brightest “star” in the sky.
Our third destination was the Santa Ana Cathedral, located in Dzemul, Yucatan. It is believed that the foundation of the church was formerly the foundation for a Mayan temple. When the Mayans were conquered by the Spaniards, the temple was torn down and this Catholic church was built on the site. The church was established in the 15th century, and rebuilt in the 17th century. The baptism pool shows a date of 1691.
Our final stop was at another private beach resort, which had a buffet, swimming pool, deck chairs, and ocean access. It looked like what you imagine it might, so I won’t share a picture of that. Instead, here is a picture I took from the bus as we drove through Dzemul.
In a side conversation I had with our tour guide, he guessed that the average monthly income there was “about six-hundred US dollars.” Those are the people who are willing to commute the 45 minutes to the capital city of Merida and work there. For those that don’t, he guessed the average monthly income would be closer to $200. That’s about half of the Mexcian national average income of $19(USD)/day. It’s a weird feeling to be riding through in an air conditioned bus on your way to a private beach in someone else’s town that they’re not allowed to visit.
On Friday, the final day of our cruise, Susan and I attended Carnival’s Behind the Fun tour. The tour, which costs $100/person, takes you on a walking tour through parts of the ship that passengers never see. I have done similar trips twice before — once with Mason and once with Morgan — but Susan had never gone, so this time was our turn. The tour lasted more than three hours, and led us through the laundry room, the kitchen galley, behind the main performance stage, through the engineering room, and even up on the bridge, where we got to meet the captain. If you are interested in facts related to your cruise (our ship had 6 engines — 4 v16 and 2 v12 — and consumes 500 gallons of diesel per engine per hour) then I highly recommend you sign up for this tour. Our cruise had two tour slots of 16 people; when it sells out, that’s it. It’s very limited and one of my highlights.
The rest of our time on board was sent doing “cruise” stuff — eating, napping, hanging out on the decks, eating… you get the idea. The best part about our cruise was that we only had limited internet service and no phone coverage at all, which made for a nice week away from work. :)
