Day 6-8, Cozumel, At Sea and Home

More pics of the cruise ship, the happenings within and the departure for home...and if you say, "It's about time you end this @#*&@"% series, I'm with you LOL.

 

After sailing overnight, we arrived at Cozumel with other cruise ships with the same idea.

These phone booths are fast becoming an extinct specie in the light of cell phones and such.

I wanted to take this pic to show to my sister, who is partially dependent on a wheelchair, that cruising is something she could  do and enjoy, among other things. All cruise ships are handicapped-friendly and at their ports of call, there are means for them to go where they want to, either assisted or on their own.

                                    

One of the friendly Pinoy bartenders who made sure that I didn't get thirsty LOL. Thanks for taking care of a kababayan.

I don't know why I took this pic but it looked good when I saw it.

The place where I left some of the extra weight in my wallet.

A parting shot when I was leaving the ship's casino to call it a night.

A feeble attempt to take a night shot with a cheapy point and shoot.

A Starbucks inside a cruise ship! Give me a break!!

At the Boardwalk

The 2nd parade on the ship. We made sure we had a good spot this time.

There she is!!

                                    

I am beginning to associate the sight of airports with the inconvenience and invasive nature of security inspections - carry-on x-ray, body scan, pat down and God knows what they will think of next. Is it really worth it?



Day 4-5, At Sea and at Costa Maya

The Allure took a couple of nights and a full day at sail before arriving at Costa Maya, which is a region in Mexico on the Caribbean Sea side. This port of call is close to Belize (formerly known as British Honduras) and is just now emerging as an attractive tourist destination as a consequence of the completion of the long pier to accomodate cruise ships. We did not visit Belize nor did we bother to see some of the Mayan ruins nearby because they are not as spectacular as the ones we have already seen in our previous land trips and cruise stops to other parts of Mexico. We just hang out near the beach and the watering holes (for the guys) and the shopping areas (for the gals) LOL.

Costa Maya as seen from the top deck of the our ship

Cruisers on their way to explore this new port of call

The other cruise ship "parked" perpendicular to ours is the Norwegian Epic

The good life?

Booze brought to the ship are temporarily "confiscated" and delivered to your stateroom the evening prior to debarkation. Bummer!

This guy tried to stop me from taking a pic of his shop! When he did not succeed, he asked me for money. He did not succeed either LOL. What a jerk!

For those who do not feel like walking and want to cover more ground, a horse-drawn carriage is an option, as are rental SUVs and motorized cycles.

I'm not sure if this is a police or military patrol but it sure is an indication that it is not all heaven in this coastal paradise.

Day 3 Labadee, Haiti

We arrived at Labadee, our first port-of-call, around 8:30 in the morning of December 7. Labadee is a beautiful coastal area located in the northern part of Haiti. It is privately owned and developed by Royal Caribbean exclusively for their guests. Although there is an ongoing epidemic of cholera in Haiti, Labadee is in a fairly remote location and not easily accessible from the rest of the island. All the food and drinks we had there were brought in from the ship so cholera was not even a topic of discussion. 

          

Cruisers were starting to come out to explore what fun things they can do onshore.

Jet ski anyone? 

                                                   

Those dots in the sky are zip line riders! Labadee has one of the longest, if not the longest zip line in the world.

It would be nice to explore the inland area with one of this. I am, of course,  referring to the battey powered vehicle!

That's an odd-looking bottle of Corona beer! I had a few of them before going to a lunch of  lobster, barbecued spare ribs and other goodies at the beach.

  Souvenir shops

I got myself a lounge chair, parked it in the shade and took a long nap.  I left swimming, snorkeling, parasailing, kayaking, diving, coaster riding and whatever else is available out there, for the young ones.

It's time for me to return to the ship.

The waiters performed a song and dance routine for our entertainment at dinner time.

Day 2 At Sea

I was waiting for the rising sun to shed its cloud cover but it was not happening. I got tired of waiting and I just snapped this pic. I can never be a good photographer! I do not have the patience to wait for all the elements of a good capture to coalesce before taking the pic. Of course, it is different if I were taking a pic of one of Hefner's playmates. I will have all the patience in the world to wait for the best angle, believe me LOL.

I'm not really picky about staterooms. It makes no difference to me whether my room has a porthole, a window, a balcony or just a curtain that opens to a bare wall. I only stay there to sleep, maybe watch a little bit of tv and rest. As long as it is far from the engine room, I'm good to go.

Although I am of average height and definitely not on the heavy side, the size of the shower area is a bit discomforting for me. All the cruise ships I've been on have similar bathroom configuration and size, give or take a few inches. I wonder how an obese person can fit in a space with very little wiggle room. I saw a lot of obese cruisers, some of them morbidly so, but I could not summon the nerve to ask any of them how they manage to take a shower in such a tight space. Baka gulpihin ako LOL.

Staterooms with balcony overlooking the park

Similar staterooms overlooking the boardwalk and the aqua show venue

I needed a stiff drink to ride the zip line - it is a long way down if something goes wrong. I hate to imagine what the impact will do to my beautiful body when I hit bottom at 32 ft/sec/sec LOL.

Surf simulator

Mini golf

First parade I ever saw on a ship

Photographic reminders of the cruise

New York style pizza and beer!

This was good!

Western Caribbean cruise on the Allure of the Seas, Dec. 5-12, 2010

After four days at Fort Lauderdale, it was time for us to board the Allure of the Seas, the newest of the Royal Caribbean fleet of cruise ships. Her itinerary was not that interesting but this was her maiden voyage and that was good enough for me. I wanted to get a feel for the largest passenger ship... so far; she is 5 centimeters larger than Oasis of the Seas, her sister ship built a few years earlier LOL.

The ship sailing away with 5,200 passengers and more than 2,300 crew!

Nice view of an almost empty beach from the top deck.

Some staterooms have a view of a park instead of the ocean!

This crowd was watching an outdoor aqua show, one of the many Las Vegas-style shows on board.

My point and shoot camera couldn't capture the acrobatic movements of these performers. I had to wait until they were literally standing still to get a decent shot.

This is the rising tide bar, one of my favorite hangouts. The bar goes three decks up and down while you drink (all the moving bars I've been to before just slowly rotate 360 degrees). After you have one drink too many, you don't really care whether the bar is moving or you are LOL.

If somebody give this to me with the stipulation that I cannot sell or give it away, I'll hate the giver for the rest of my life. Think car insurance, gas mileage, maintenance and repair, secured parking, etc., etc. I'll never have the peace of mind that I do with my 14 year old pick-up in serious need of a paint job LOL.

Our first night dinner

As good as it looked, I did not enjoy it as much (no reflection on the chef's expertise) - I'd rather have a fish taco at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint.

A well-marked shipboard walking/jogging tract

2.4 lap equals 1 mile