Courtney GMy birthday was finally here, the reason for the trip! I’ll be honest though; it didn’t really feel like my birthday at first.
Getting Started
We’d ordered room service for breakfast that morning to avoid the potential long lines at the Windjammer. It was a port day; we figured everyone would be trying to get breakfast early. The menu for room service was free but they had an $8 service charge. I remember ordering an omelet and fruit. I felt I was lacking fruit for the past couple of days.
Finishing breakfast, we got dressed, prepped with our hats we bought the day before. I went up to the main dining room again to see if there were any earlier reservations for dinner during other days of the cruise. There were not. We didn’t need any today because had dinner reservations for Chef’s Table. After that I went looking for Celeste and Cali while they were taking pictures out on deck 5.
While I was looking, I heard the Captain announce the birthdays. He pronounced my name “Curtney” but hey, he said it. We all found each other just at the end of the announcements, gushing over the fact that I got acknowledged. The captain acknowledged all birthdays and anniversaries. I think that day there 15 of them.
We walked down to deck 2 to get off the ship which was speedier than expected.
Because we knew about the free gifts at the shops from the presentation yesterday, we got off as soon as the allowed us to.
Cozumel Port
We took our standard port photo, the wind blowing around, nearly blowing our hats off.
As we walked into the Cozumel port, we were asked constantly if wanted come in to buy something or taste tequila and so on.
We politely declined and went to the specific places the cruise line recommended. I considered buying jewelry at Effy. We got a free pendant by showing our port shopping maps from the presentation. But, I knew I wouldn’t wear it often so why spend nearly $200? Even if it is a good deal?
Amongst going to the different shops I could finally talk to my family. Being on land again meant all of the birthday text messages came in. The calls weren’t coming in but I manage to make a call out to my mom. No other calls were going through so she called my dad via three-way call. I talked to him for a few minutes.
I added an international plan on my phone that charged $5 a day for calls and texts. For some reason my calls only went to my mom (of course we have the same phone carrier but that shouldn’t matter). Since that seemed to be the case, I also had asked my mom to call my travel agency to fix an issue.
Tequila Tasting and Tortilla Chips
Wrapping up all the birthday phone calls, I joined my friends in Del Sol to get tote bags that change color in the sun. Then, we went to Chile Tequila where we met Franco the store manager. He let us try many different sweet tequilas.
I’m not a big drinker because I don’t like the taste of alcohol but I couldn’t taste the alcohol in 5 out of 6 of these! We tried Strawberry, Kiwi, Café, Chocolate, Passionfruit, and a mixture of some. They were all so good. I would’ve bought some but I didn’t want to pay for a checked bag going home. Recapping this now, I wish I bought what I wanted and checked the bag. I highly recommend going to Franco’s store in the Cozumel Port (which was the one recommend by Royal Caribbean). He was so cool and friendly; you won’t regret stepping in.
After our late morning tequila tasting, we got a quick snack of chips and guacamole before our excursion at a restaurant in the port. We knew we wouldn’t be eating lunch during this excursion so we thought ahead.
We all went the bathroom before heading to our excursion line. Cali told us that in Mexico they normally don’t flush toilet paper. The toilet paper is put in the trash can. At this particular bathroom it looked like they allowed the flushing of toilet paper (probably because it was a touristy port area).
Excursion Time
San Gervasio
Once we got to our excursion line, we met our tour guide, Patrick. Patrick was so nice, friendly, and knowledgeable. I was glad we had him guiding us. We went to San Gervasio where we learned about different places in the Mayan settlement and how certain structures were used, the moon goddess Ichel, and the serpent god K’uk’ulkan.
We couldn’t take video, only pictures. If you had professional cameras you had to pay $3 (luckily they didn’t make me do that. I guess my DSLR is considered semi-professional camera and it’s smaller than most). I would suggest bringing bug spray for this particular part of the excursion.
The different rituals and gods he discussed I recognized from movies like The Road to El Dorado and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. We asked Patrick his thoughts on Wakanda Forever and he said it was a pretty good representation on some things in Mayan culture. He recommended we watch Apocalypto because all the actors that played the Mayans were of actual Mayan descent. He explained the movie also showed the harsh deception when warriors would compete to win games so they can go to Xibalba and be reincarnated (Road to El Dorado was a little wrong about this).
When this part of our tour was over, I ended up buying a small Mayan calendar for $30.
We then went to a bee sanctuary where we participated in a ritual and looked at some obsidian stones and honey. I got some honey candy but they had a lot of different honey products and medicines.
After this, we drove on the east side of island where the beaches were but we didn’t get out. From the description of the excursion I thought we would get out to take pictures. I dozed off a little here because it was so quiet. However, before I fully fell asleep I did hear Patrick tell us that because of the pandemic, a lot of animals – like turtles – that had gone away from the island came back.
The Mayan Cacao Company
For our last stop we went to The Mayan Cacao Company where we learned about how chocolate came to be. Europeans mixed the cocoa powder the Mayan’s gave them with milk and it froze in the cold. We also watched a demonstration of Mayan chocolate being made with different add-ins and tried mole with a tortilla.
Mole, pronounced moh-lay, is a type of chili sauce or marinade. I’ve always tried the variation that includes chocolate but I’ve seen some not include it. With trying the mole we had the option to add habanero. According to Patrick, habanero is supposed to be easier on the stomach than jalapeño…I don’t know about the stomach but that habanero had my mouth on fire! My throat and tongue was constantly burning, haha. Now, I mentioned in a previous post that I have GERD so I shouldn’t have even added it but I wanted the full experience.
After the chocolate making demonstration, the bar was right outside for chocolate-based cocktails. Honestly, I think the added habanero was a tactic to make us get the drinks to cool our mouths down and I fell for it. I got a chocolate margarita which was $6. They gave a chance to look at the gift shop to buy chocolate or hot chocolate mixes and other items.
We’d taken pictures at the beginning of the tour in the Mayan Cacao Company and they were ready for us on the other side of the gift shop. They sold a frame with it but we decided just get the photo by itself (takes up less room). I took the photo with me so I could scan it and send a digital copy to them when I got home.
Back at the Port
Going back to port we tipped Patrick and the bus driver, Miguel. Before re-entering the tourist-y part, we went to a pharmacy and store outside the port for some personal items (that we ultimately couldn’t find).
We went back to Chile Tequila for my friends to pick up the tequila they bought which surprisingly was not taken when went through security back on the ship.
Birthday Surprise
Returning to the room, there was party of towel animals! I already knew our stateroom attendant, Kresdee, was going to decorate because Celeste told me the night before but I still ended up surprised by just how many towel animals there were. Not to mention, the actual birthday decorations and white wine. His manager actually helped him decorated the room for free. Normally, to have a room decorated for an occasion is $40 so I was very appreciative they decorated for free.
I wasn’t necessarily in a bad mood before but this boosted my mood 10 times. It was like a birthday party! That’s when it started feeling like my birthday.
Chef’s Table
By the time we got back on the ship we only hand about an hour to get ready for dinner. We arrived for our formal dinner at Chef’s Table and to my happy surprise we ended up having a private dinner (I’m an introvert, what can I say?).
The other dinner guests that also booked it the restaurant for that night had too much tequila and told our waiter, Mandu, they couldn’t make it. Honestly, if they had come, they would’ve been even more messed up because we had wine with every course and mixing alcohol would’ve ended terribly. I felt a little tipsy by the time we were done and I didn’t even drink every glass all the way.
I really enjoyed hearing Mandu explain the wines and why they were paired with the specific course. I also enjoyed the chef explaining the process of how he created the meals (I’m a big food person). I did have to substitute the tomato soup for mushroom soup because of GERD. I already had chocolate and alcohol today which are both triggers of GERD. The last really bad episode I had with it dealt with tomato sauce so I didn’t want to risk it). The mushroom – which is also made is Chops Grill – was so good I tried remaking it when I got home from the trip.
There were a total of six courses including dessert. There was a truffle oil infused garlic bread that was actually warm and 100x better than the bread we’d been getting in the main dining room or the Windjammer (and no I’m not exaggerating).
Toward the end of the night, my friends and I were tipsy and stuffed. During dessert, our waiter, the chef, and two sous chefs came out and sang for me, giving me a birthday dessert on top of the course dessert which a chocolate globe melted by hot caramel (absolutely delicious). I thought it was so sweet (the dessert and them singing)!
End of the Birthday
Even though we were inebriated, I wanted to take a few pictures outside of Starquest because of the galaxy wall piece it had. Shortly after our photoshoot, we went to sleep, too tired go partying and too tired to stay up and watch them change the day in the elevator.
I’m a little bummed I didn’t party on my birthday but I liked my sleep more. The next day we’ll be in Costa Maya!
What would you do during a day in port? Are you more of shopper? Do you like lounging by the beach? Do you prefer more adventurous excursions? Comment down below!
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