The World’s Longest Freedom Review: Part 7.1featured
We were already docked in Cozumel, Mexico when Stephanie and I woke up. We looked out our window and the skies were alternating between sunny and overcast, but we were anxious to get up and start our day.
The last time we were in Cozumel was 2005, on our first trip on the Miracle. We spent a lovely day at Playa Mia and then did some shopping and capped the day off at Fat Tuesday. Later that year, though, the island was just devastated by hurricane Wilma and it’s taken a long time to restore the island to it’s former glory. I was interested to see what changes were made and how different it would be since I really loved it the last time we were here. And there were a lot of changes (as to be expected), but I’ve found a lot of what I liked about the shopping area still remained…and it was even prettier than the last time.
Since we hadn’t been enjoying breakfast on the Lido deck, we decided to go eat in the main dining room. The problem? By the time we were ready for breakfast, they had already closed the MDR. Lido breakfast wasn’t that bad today, though. The bacon was crispy,the fruit wasn’t soggy and the french toast was pretty good. Our main problem with the Lido restaurant remained, though- even though we were already docked and many people had already debarked to start their day in Cozumel, the restaurant was insanely overcrowded and there just wasn’t room for everyone, so we constantly had to circle looking for a table.
The plan for the day was this: I was going to hang out with grandma on the boat while Stephanie and Mom took a cab downtown to go find this pharmacy Stephanie found online. They’d do some shopping and then come back around lunch time and then Stephanie and I would go do some shopping and grab some drinks.
Stephanie and I went up to the Serenity area for a little while just to hang out (because we couldn’t use it on port days or any day after noon because every chair was taken with…a towel…or a water bottle…or a stray flip flop) and it started raining. We hung out on the couches until the rain passed and a faint rainbow appeared over the Liberty (which we were docked next to). Nothing is more magical than rainbows while you’re on a cruise.
So Mom and Stephanie left to go downtown and I hung out with grandma. But every time we went outside? It started lightly raining. And then we’d go back in, and it’d stop. It was the oddest (and most frustrating) thing. We ended up in the room and just resting for a little while. I grabbed Stephanie’s DVD player and watched an episode of Glee. Why would I watch DVDs in the room when the entire ship was my oyster? Because it was our third day on the ship and I was already EXHAUSTED. Early mornings. Late nights. Running all over the boat (because our rooms were in the front of the boat and nearly everything was towards the aft). Sometimes, nothing feels better than laying in bed, resting and watching some TV. We only stayed in the room for maybe a half-hour or so and then we decided to stroll around the boat. We ended up sitting in the empty lobby for awhile, just enjoying the lights and the peace.
It looked bright outside, so grandma and I headed outside again and sat out by the main pool soaking up some sun. There was something called Sounds of St. Lucia playing on the big screen and since most of the boat was off enjoying the island, we had most of the area to ourselves.
Stephanie and Mom came back around 12:30 and found us up on deck (Post-It’s always seem to come in handy when we travel so we can find each other). Maybe I’ll get Stephanie to do a blog or write something on what she and Mom did downtown, but all I know is that it was a quick and cheap cab ride downtown, but that the pharmacies Stephanie researched? She couldn’t find them or they weren’t open (I told her she should have asked on the ports of call board before we left!). They ended up at a pharmacy at the pier, where the prices were way higher than the onces she had researched downtown but still cheaper than buying the meds at home (we bought antibiotics since I’m very prone to very bad sinus infections multiple times a year) and then did some shopping before heading back to the ship.
I wasn’t very hungry, but Stephanie and I sat with Mom and grandma as they had lunch. I did grab a slice of the tiramisu cheesecake since they only serve that once a cruise and they only have it up on the Lido deck during lunch hours on that one day and it was every bit as delicious as I remembered it to be.
Stephanie and I decided to try to grab some real lunch at the pier, so we grabbed our stuff and got off the boat. And wouldn’t you know it, we get off the boat and the skies darken up. Again. Lucky for us, we only had a little drizzle while we were out…nothing we couldn’t handle.
The port area was a lot different than I remembered it. A lot of the stores I remembered were gone, as well as some of the little things (fountains I took pictures with, things like that). A lot, though, still remained and I think they’ve done a fantastic job at rebuilding the port area. They really added a lot of foliage and it’s just an absolutely gorgeous area.
I was in search of a store I loved the last time we were here (Rocks and Rags), but that shop was long gone. So we made our way into a few shops, picking up random little trinkets. We also looked back into the pharmacy and checked that out and I also saw a man sitting on the pavement making these gorgeous paintings by hand. He drew quite the crowd and I’d like to pick up one of his pieces the next time I’m in Cozumel because he’s quite talented.
We were making our way towards the back end of the port area to a store called Los Cinco Soles. It’s really like a souvenir megastore, with just everything you could possibly ever want. We remembered it from our last trip and were very happy to see it still remained in the same spot. On our way over, Stephanie showed me a little centro area that she and Mom had found earlier. I don’t remember it being there from our last trip and it was just an absolutely gorgeous little area. We sat around here for a little while just taking it all in since the sun was finally out and it was just gorgeous out.
Right next to Los Cinco Soles is a restaurant called Pancho’s Backyard. We’d heard of it on the boards and it was in the recommended shopping guide, so we decided to stop over for lunch. It wasn’t very busy, so we could choose whether to eat indoors our out. I HATE eating outdoors, but it was so nice out that I couldn’t resist, and we were taken out to a lovely table on the patio with a gorgeous view of the ship.
Someone came to our table to explain to us that our server would have an ID badge and not to bother with anyone who approached our table without the same badge. No one ever did, but I assume there could have been a problem with solicitation in the past, so if you’re dining al fresco at Pancho’s, make sure you don’t hand your pesos over to someone without an employee badge.
Pancho’s Backyard had a rather extensive menu. Stephanie and I decided to order some small plates (which weren’t so small) and two glasses of sangria. Stephanie ordered the cheese quesadilla ($7.95), which was served with a scoop of beans (which I snuck a taste of and were delicious) and some sour cream. I ordered the chicken nachos ($8.95) and while I’m not really a fan of shredded chicken or chicken on my nachos, these were AMAZING. Probably some of the best nachos I’ve ever had. A bowl of fresh pico de gallo was put on our table, which Stephanie said was fresh and delicious (I don’t eat raw tomatoes or raw onions) and a small bowl of pickled jalepenos, which were nice and hot. And the sangria? Best sangria I’ve ever had. Bar none. Next time we go to Cozumel? I’m just ordering a pitcher.
We went halfsies on the bill, so with tip, I think we each put in around $20. It was $20 well worth it. The food was fantastic. The restaurant was clean. The sangria was out of this world. And best of all, neither of us experienced Montezuma’s Revenge later on.
After lunch, we headed into Los Cinco Soles and did some shopping. They literally have everything under the sun there. Tequila? Got it. Hot sauces? Got ’em. Clothes? Yep. Little nick nacks? Dozens. Literally…from crystal sculptures to coffeee to maracas. They have EVERYTHING. One-stop shopping. I bought a pack of different hot sauces since, well, I love hot sauce LOL. And I picked up some random little souvenirs while I was at it.
We passed the taxi area on our way back towards the front of the port area and I wanted to take a picture of the cab rates (since they’re set rates) for future reference (and in case anyone else was curious). If this is too small, let me know and I’ll blow the picture up.
Stephanie wanted to go do shots at Fat Tuesdays and we contemplated it for a few minutes before deciding we’d be cutting it close getting back to the boat if we hung out at Fat Tuesdays, so we did a little more shopping and walking around before heading back to the boat. Stephanie stopped at one of the liquor stores at the pier because she wanted to buy a few bottles of rum (I think). She does this switcharoo thing where she buys two bottles, hides one and checks the other so she can bring a bottle back to the room and still check one. I don’t know why since we almost never open it, but if you want details on how she pulls that one off, you can ask her for it LOL. Anyways, I thought the liquor prices were exorbitantly high for an island. These definitely aren’t St. Thomas or St. Maarten prices. They aren’t even, like, Grand Turk prices. They’re barely at a discount from what I saw, but Stephanie felt they were discounted enough for her.
Back on board time was in less than an hour by the time we were getting back to the boat, so after one last stop at Ron Jon (Stephanie wanted to buy one of those gigantic insulated travel mugs to cut down on trips to the Lido deck for drinks…it worked out pretty well for her), we went through the security checkpoint and got back on the boat.
It wasn’t too hot out, but nothing feels better than that first blast of cool air as you get back onto the boat. We encountered another annoyance for the week- the cram-everyone-into-a-crowded-elevator thing where there’s already more than 10 people in an elevator and literally no room, but someone will be convinced that somehow, they and their two drunk friends or their three kids and husband will fit into the elevator. Seriously. Just wait for the next one. It’s not that hard. The Lido deck will still be serving hot dogs in five minutes. Anyways. We stopped off at the room to drop off all our bags and then went off to look for Mom and grandma.
