Nachi Cocum & The Casino!

Our third day on this cruise started about 9:30 am for us. We ordered room service consisting of 2 PBJs, milk & cookies! After waiting and waiting, the ship finally docked and we made our way to the gangway. Once ashore, we walked through the Puerto Maya cruise terminal toward the Taxis.

Seventeen dollars later, we were at Nachi Cocum. We were immediately greeted by a woman and asked if we wanted our pictures taken in their sombreros. OH NO WAY the germaphobe living inside of me screamed! GOD KNOWS THEY’VE NEVER BEEN SANITIZED. LICE ALERT!!! So I politely declined and we went to the check-in area. They collected our money. ($55 for the day) and took us to our palapa for the day. It consisted of 2 comfy lounge chairs and a table.

This resort is owned by 1 family and they all work to operate this place. The father is the chef—and that man can cook. Their food is all homemade and fresh. They have a bartender and a man acting as drink runner and waiter in the open air restaurant.  They allow only 100 people admission per day. It makes for a very relaxing atmosphere. None of the craziness of places like Breezes or Paradise Beach.

Our admission price included a 4 course meal and unlimited alcoholic beverages and soda.  After we received our first drinks, we ordered our appetizers. I got homemade guacamole & chips. Kolton got cheese sticks—and they were not your standard mozzarella sticks. These looked homemade also and had different types of cheeses in them.

We got into that blue, blue water and cooled off. It was a beautiful day. Sunny blue skies and a nice breeze. Spent quite a bit of time just gazing at the water and watching the sun as it sparkled across the water. Life is very, very good. Later on, we moved to the cover of the open air restaurant and enjoyed the rest of our meal. I got the fresh, grilled grouper with rice and vegetables and also a fruit plate. As always, the food was excellent. (Dessert was homemade coconut ice cream.)

We then went over to the beautiful in-ground pool and hot tub. Ahhhhhh. The pool has a built-in swim up bar. After soaking and more relaxing on the comfy loungers again, we decided to make our way back to the port. We walked back through the port area and looked in the shops. They were selling a wide variety of items from a pharmacy to stores selling cheap trinkets to a Diamond International store.  And, of course, the requisite Fat Tuesday’s and Three Amigos bars.

Once back on the ship, we showered and went to the dining room for a lovely dinner. It was a quiet night on the ship as most people stayed ashore as long as possible. (All aboard was 9:30pm) After dinner, I decided the casino was calling my name. It had called my name twice previously on this cruise and I was down some money.  

Three Card Poker hadn’t been good to me so, with some reluctance, I went to the Black Jack table. (I’d given up the game a few years back because it was frustrating to play with idiots—errrr.. people that did not follow the rules and hit when they should stay or stay when they should hit.) So, I sat down and started to play. I was on fire. Strangely enough, I never hit a lot of 21s. I have never had good luck with that. But as we all know, you don’t need a 21 to win! And win I did!!!! Every time I got $100 in chips, I colored those up and got a black chip that I deposited in the 1^st Bank of Bra! I kept only enough to continue to play. I ended up winning enough to recoup my losses and pretty much pay the Sail & Sign card charges off. Yay me!!!!

I finally started getting cold about 2am so I took my money and went home!

Cruisin'

The next morning we got up and made our way to the front desk for check-out. Up and down the damn steps schlepping our luggage. What a pain. But we got aboard our shuttle to the Miami port. We breezed right in because we had a check-in time of 10 – 10:30. Made it up to the place where you get your room keys and we were directed to an ancient man that moved at a speed of such slowness, I can say without exaggerating that the check-in person to my right processed 9 people before we were finished. UGH UGH and UGH. But then we got on the ship and started to feel better immediately.

After we had some lunch on the Lido deck, we made our way to the Serenity area (which was unknown to most people) and spent a few hours chill-axing on comfy cushioned loungers enjoying a few adult beverages. The sun felt incredible. But knowing I am the queen of pale, I applied 50 SPF before I got comfy. Apparently, the wind or something made me miss several crucial areas. I now have a lovely burn above and below my eyebrows and an interesting spot near my inner eye. In addition, I missed the center of my chest and in addition to the burn, you can also see the imprint of my necklace.  So pretty!

We settled into our Ocean View stateroom and it’s quite comfortable for 2 people.  Plenty of storage, and a decent sized bathroom.  Spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and getting familiar with the layout of the ship. For dinner, we were signed up for anytime dining. I introduced my nephew to a more formal dining experience than he had ever experienced!!! He liked it! I think the food is good on this cruise line. The wait staff was impressive as always. After dinner, we went to the shops, listened to the guitar player in the atrium lobby and then sat for a few songs in the Piano Bar.

We arrived in Key West at 7:30am. Our excursion wasn’t scheduled until 9 something. As we were docked at the naval base, we couldn’t easily walk downtown. So we slept in a bit and then made our way to the lounge for our tour. We rode the trolley looking busses to the downtown area and then walked to the Fury Catamaran for our snorkel trip. A beautiful boat and a great crew. We ride out to the snorkel site & along the way we were given some basic instructions and provided water, lemonade and soda. 

We reached the reef and the stairs were lowered into the water. This was a full set of steps, not a ladder. Key West had some violent thunderstorms the previous night and that resulted in a lot of chop. You were asked to sit on your butt to go down the steps. Talk about a ride. Sheesh. It was violent down there. Once you got off the ladder it wasn’t much better. Waves were breaking over your head & the water was so churned up, you couldn’t see anything and the current was very strong. After battling the sea for a while and swallowing more sea water than I wanted to, I made my way back to those treacherous steps and made my way aboard. After you were finished snorkeling, beer and wine were available for the trip back. Personally, I think they should have cancelled the trip. Kind of a bust. We did have time to do a bit of looking around before it was time to board the Conch train for the ride back to the ship.

The ride back was made interesting as the train contained a large amount of hugely drunk people. This one guy kept standing up. The tram would stop and the guy would tell him to sit down. This continued every few minutes until the other passengers were screaming for him to sit the F down.  Then we got to the checkpoint and everyone had to show the military person a ship’s card and a photo ID. Now, it’s not as if they would let you off the ship without showing you had both…. But people are stupid! They were not complying and it took forever to get through the checkpoint. UGH. Once we got back to the ship, there were HUGE lines of people trying to get aboard. And of course, the ‘young drunk punks’ that thought they were special just waltzed past the line and moved to the front. People were screaming at them to get to the back of the line and they just ignored them. Now, what really made me angry was that there were security people there that did absolutely nothing.

Back on board, we showered and napped. LOL Life is tough. We went to a very late dinner and then to the comedy club. That was a good time. Both comedians were pretty funny.  

Back in the cabin, sleeping came so easy. Between the beds and the motion of the ship, I sleep so well. The mattresses are so perfect and the duvet is the perfect weight on your body. Ahhhhhhh. Another day in paradise!

The Joys of Travelling!

After getting up at 4am and driving to BWI, going through the mile long line through security (Pre-Check not available), removing my shoes, liquids, stepping through the ‘make you naked’ scanner, being told my left boob needed extra security via a pat-down, having my sunscreen confiscated, my Oral-B toothbrush scrutinized, and the entire content of my carry-on pawed by a TSA goon, and finally arriving at gate A-6 only to find out that my 9:35 flight is now delayed until 11AM due to bad weather in FLL.  UGH! The rest of the week in FLL shows pretty little suns in the forecast—all except today. Sigh.  

Kolton is amusing himself with his phone and/or people watching as I write this post.

We did have a decent breakfast at Phillip’s prior to coming to this gate. It was huge. We could have easily shared it. There were at least 4 scrambled eggs on each plate. Plus, red-skin potatoes, bacon and Texas toast. I topped this off with a double-shot Bloody Mary and Kolton had a Mimosa. We are chill.

I am really looking forward to this trip. I have been working a lot of extra hours at work. I have a project in deployment and honestly, it’s a hot mess. In the words of a former boss of mine, “testing is for pussies” and that is pretty much how this has gone. Though the issues are not caused by the employees but to an off-shore contracting group. UGH for the second time in one post.

I signed off of my work computer last night about 5:45 and went to get my pedicure. Pure bliss! The leg and foot massage alone are worth the cost. I now have beautiful turquoise colored toenails!

And we wait……………………………and wait……………..and wait

The early start to the day, the Mimosa and the long wait caught up to Kolton.

Finally made our way to Ft. Lauderdale after a weather-related delay. We finally arrived to horrible thunderstorms and so much rain, there was street flooding. So much for our beach day. Oh well. We grabbed a cab to our hotel and the room wasn’t ready. So we decided to take advantage of a break in the rain and walk down the street to get a late lunch. While we ate, the rain started up again and we waited until it let up a bit and walked the couple of blocks back to our hotel.

I’d reserved just a standard room – which looked decent enough—differing only from the other rooms due to our view (parking lot). However, we were put in the 4 story building across the parking lot from the hotel and accessed via a covered bridge. The clerk asked if we were able to handle just a few steps with our luggage. A few? Oh yes, just a couple of steps and then take the Elevator to the second floor and cross the sky bridge. Sounds easy, right? Hahahahaha We get off the elevator and come to a full flight of stairs heading down. The luggage plunks down the steps and we open the door and head across the bridge where we come to more steps….This time a set of 6 and another set 4. Really?

Oh and we were told ‘the rooms were recently remodeled. Once again I have to laugh. There was nothing majorly wrong with the room but it was far from newly renovated. The beds felt about 3-4 years past needing to be replaced. Shoddy paint & tiling added to the charm. I normally don’t stay at hotels in the Hilton plan but thought I would try this hotel as it was in the area I wanted to stay.

We went to Lulu’s Bait Shack for dinner and a few drinks. It’s at a place called The Beach Place. It’s mostly restaurants like Lulu’s, Fat Tuesdays, Hooters etc. The restaurants are directly across A1A and the beach. We snagged a table near the open air windows and settled in for some food and drink. The food at LuLu’s is not gourmet, but it’s good bar food and the drinks are very good. We noticed a band setting up and decided to wait and listen to them. In the meantime, we did a lot of people watching from our 3^rd-floor perch. There is a Naval/AirForce base nearby so there was a constant stream of soldiers coming and going. They were shuttled in on huge buses.                                                             

Gotta love a man in uniform....mmmm mmmm. 

And Kolton liked the fact that you can smoke in the restaurant because it's open air!

And that my friends, it a dirty monkey cocktail!

About 9pm, after hearing ‘check 1-2’, at least 300 times, the band started. 3 guys and a chick on the base. The girl just killed us. She wore her long black hair in pigtails and took great pleasure in whipping them around when she was ‘jammin’—which was all the time. The singer was a 40+ guy wearing a bandana on his head to cover his bald spot. The guitar guy was a Bon Jovi (in his early days) wanna-be. The drummer was pretty non-descript. So they started their set and they were decent. The tables all around us were filled and as the band played oldies—Journey, Aldo Nova, Foreigner—etc all songs from the 80s I was looking around at all the ‘old people’ seriously JAMMING and head banging to the music. And then it hit me, these old people were MY AGE. OMG I was stunned. I think inside I still think of myself as like 37. I was really freaked out by this and kept saying to my Nephew, OMG these people are my age and they are old. (Of course, the 4 drinks I already drank had nothing to do with this reality, I’m sure.) 

And so ended our first day..... imperfect weather, but still, a good time had by all.