Cozumel, Mexico is the stop of the day today on this 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the MSC Seascape, where we arrived around 9:30am and the all clear to go ashore was given just before 10am. In Cozumel, there are three ports that cruise ships dock at. The Puerta Maya port is one that is used mainly by Carnival Cruise Line and some of their other brands. Just down the street from Puerta Maya is the International TMM port which is the oldest of the three and the one used mostly by Royal Caribbean and NCL. The third, Punta Langosta, is a few miles away from the other two and is used by MSC, Disney, NCL and some others.
We docked at Punta Langosta, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve been on a ship that uses this port. Once off the ship, you are funneled into a fairly large two-story shopping mall that has a good variety of places to eat, national brand shops, movie theater, local merchants, and the obligatory duty-free store. While there’s no Senor Frogs to provide those back on the ship entertainment at the end of the day when the amateur drunks are stumbling or being carried back to the ship, there is a Hooters!
This part of town, compared to where the other two terminals are at, has much more to do and is close to downtown. To me, it also feels like a safer area to wander around in, if there really is such a thing. The main street is full of local shops, restaurants, bars, and the famous No Name Bar and Beach Club, a watering hole frequented mostly by crew members that offer cheap beers and food and is right on the beach so you can hang out in the sand.
Directly across the street from No Name Bar, is the Mega Supermarket – a popular place for locals, crew, and tourists to grab some snacks, or that stick of deodorant you forgot to bring along.
I had some video meetings for much of the first half of the day, and like I mentioned in yesterday’s report, the Starlink Internet service wasn’t behaving. I had frequent drops, buffering issues, slow Internet speeds, and plenty of frustration with trying to keep a good connection. After those wrapped up, I headed out to do some exploring around the area and ended up at the aforementioned No Name Bar for a few brews. $15 for three beers – try to find those kinds of prices back home!
If you’re looking for things to do in Cozumel, excursions to the Mayan ruins is probably one of the most popular touristy things to do. If you’re not into that, there are excursions to some of the local beaches – many offering an all-inclusive deal, snorkeling, or booking your own beach adventure at many of the beach clubs in the area, the most popular being Mr. Sanchos.
All aboard time was 5:30pm and plenty of people were still walking back to the ship at way past that. One of the ferry boats that take visitors on excursions pulled up around 5:55pm and dropped off about 100+ passengers. Not sure where they were at and what caused their delay back to the ship, but it pushed our departure time back by about 15 minutes. Once the lines were drawn, the Seascape made her way from the pier and we were on our way!
Evening Entertainment
In the ship’s main theater, the show In Concert was being performed by the ship’s cast of singers and dancers singing the music from icons such as Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, the Beatles and more. I skipped out on this show, but ventured over to Le Cabaret Rouge, a lounge and showroom that puts on cabaret style shows – imagine that! Many of these shows have a live band, singers, dancers, and acrobats/aerialists. The 7:30pm show had a singer crooning to canned music as the band had the night off. It wasn’t my thing, as I was expecting a higher energy show, but have to give it another shot on a night when the band is along for the ride.
In the meantime, I moved over to the bar for a glass of wine and up on the liquor shelf, I saw that I thought was a prop – a paint thinner can. I asked what it was, and the bartender pulled the can off the shelf – Engine Italian Organic Gin. Now there was no way I was going to let the opportunity to drink a funky gin, poured from a can, get away from me, so I asked for a Gin & Tonic.
The gin itself was heavy on the botanicals and had a citrusy after-taste, which was almost a little too bitter for me. The drink itself was made with Fever Tree tonic and garnished with dehydrated limes.
Dinner at Kaito Teppanyaki
It was off to the ship’s teppanyaki restaurant for dinner, the second visit to use up my final specialty dining credit. The restaurant itself features eight teppanyaki tables and offers two seatings a night and once lunch seating on sea days. The menu features different “packages” which basically just offer different protein options. For those on the dining package, you can choose either the Katana or Sencho package. If you want to upgrade to the Shogun package you can for an additional $20.
Dinner starts off with a selection of sushi. Tonight, I asked for all tuna.
Next up is the salad and miso soup course.
Then along comes the seafood course, which with my Shogun package consisted of lobster, scallops, and butterfish.
The meat course is next and comes with fried rice and veggies.
Finally, to wrap it up some ginger ice cream for dessert.
Service was excellent, the food just as good, and for this dinner I had a table where we all spoke English and had a great time interacting with the chef and each other. My first visit here, my table mates didn’t speak English and weren’t very fun! Thankfully, it was the complete opposite this time around. Everyone at the table hung around till well after all the other people in the restaurant left, as we were all having a great time eating and drinking.
It was a long night and a late one! On my way back to my stateroom, I stopped to check out the party in the ship’s atrium, as it was jam packed! Hollywood was the theme and some of the movies biggest hits were being played, with the ship’s entertainment team leading everyone in dance while the DJ pumped out the music. All the parties in this area are very high energy and are a great way to end the night.
And that’s how mine ended!
We’re sailing towards our final port of call, the worst one of the trip – Nassau, Bahamas, where we arrive Friday morning. Until then, we have a day at sea to just relax and soak up some more sun as we get ready to wind up this latest adventure.
As always, thanks for following along!