We just returned from our first sailing on the beautiful Disney Treasure. I can’t say it was the best cruise we’ve had, and I can’t say it was the worst; it was just different because of events that we had no control over. However, I will say that the ship is GORGEOUS!! We had a lot of fun visiting the various lounges, especially The Haunted Mansion Parlor. The cherry on top, however, was the Moana show! It was SPECTACULAR!!
I’ve got laundry to do and pictures to organize and then I’ll be updating my report periodically. Stay tuned!
Background:
While on our 2023 Transatlantic Cruise I booked a Placeholder cruise. I wasn’t sure what we would use it on, but I had 2 years to decide.
Then in the summer of 2023, DCL released the schedule for the new Disney Treasure. This is a Triton class ship, sister to the Wish. We haven’t been on the Wish so this would be a new experience. I was especially excited about the spaces on board themed after Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion.
I approached our cruise buddies, our dear neighbors, and asked if they might be interested in sailing on the new ship. As I mentioned in previous trip reports, DNM was ability challenged and was in a wheelchair. But she loved Disney, especially Peter Pan and Aladdin. Two characters predominately featured on the Treasure.
We decided on the Western Caribbean, mostly because of the dates. They were before the spring break crowds. The itinerary wasn’t very exciting (we’ve been to those places 3 times before, with the exception of Jamaica), but it did stop at Castaway Cay, which we hadn’t been to in years. They were up for it so we used my placeholder and booked!
Our DD worked as a College Programmer at Disney World in Florida during the summer of 2023. She is planning to stay in Florida for the foreseeable future. We mentioned the trip to her and, of course, she wanted to go as well. I ended up adding her to our stateroom. The ship leaves out of Port Canaveral, so she wouldn’t have any extra travel time when asking for time off when the time comes.
Tragedy Strikes
We visited our DD in Florida in late October of 2023. Since our DD is like a third daughter to our DNs they decided to join us for a few days to visit DD since they were attending a wedding in Georgia and had family in Orlando.
We were having a great time until tragedy struck. Halloween had been the best day ever at the Magic Kingdom and we dined at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge with Snow White and friends that night. There were 7 of us, so each of us had on a t-shirt with a different dwarf. Everybody loved it. We trick-or-treated around the resort and called it a night.
Sadly, on November 1, 2023, while preparing to leave for the parks for the day, DN’s beloved DD, Morgan, experienced a brain aneurism and passed away at the Celebration hospital. We were all devastated.
Our Fellow Adventurers
After the tragedy, our future cruise on the Treasure was in doubt because DN’s didn’t think they would be able to cruise anymore. Well instead of cancelling, the cruise became a family reunion of sorts to remember and celebrate Morgan. DN’s other DD and her DS (who was born while we were on the Transatlantic) and DH, DNJ’s sister DJ, DNC’s sister and her husband and DNC’s mom all decided that they wanted to book this cruise. We were getting quite the group!
Cast of Characters:
The usual suspects, and then some, sailed this cruise.
DH and Me: Retired empty nesters. I love sea days, DH loves port days.
DD: Current full-time CM and trainer at EPCOT in Disney World in Florida and fan of all things Disney!
Our dear neighbors; DNC and DNJ.
DJ – DNJ’s sister. She last cruised with us on our 2023 Transatlantic.
DNC’s Mom. She has been on the Pacific Cruise and Alaska cruise with us.
DNC’s sister and her husband, first time cruisers.
DN’s DD, her 22-month-old son and her DH. She is a platinum while this will be a first cruise for her DS and DH.
Planning
The final count for our cruise was 12. We started making plans for private excursions in Cozumel and Grand Cayman figuring which tours everybody would be on. Since there were so many of us, DNC also emailed DCL and requested the private dining room at The Palo Steakhouse. We were informed a few weeks before the cruise that it was reserved for 11 of us.
We opted for a tour of Punta del Sur National Park in Cozumel. We had been to Cozumel 3 times before and had never visited this area. We found a Tours by Local guide.
We also chose a private boat tour in Grand Cayman, similar to the one we did in 2018 with a trip to Stingray City and some snorkeling.
We decided to go with DCL tours for Jamaica as everybody wanted to do something different or just stay onboard.
DH and I planned to arrive a couple nights early before the cruise and stay at the Coronado Springs Resort. We had stayed there before when moving our DD into her second Disney College Program. However, we had not stayed in the Tower, so I made a reservation there for 2 nights. We decided to drive to the port since our DD has her car and park for the length of the voyage.
Everybody else arrived the night before the cruise from various different locations and opted to stay at the MCO Hyatt and take the DCL bus to the port.
Since our neighbors’ DD was coming on the cruise with her 22-month-old son, we planned a day at the Magic Kingdom after the cruise. We also decided to stay on a few extra nights to visit with our DD.
On-Line Check-In
Check in was a little hectic on my end, only because I had tried to put the required photos of head shots and passports in the right folder on my computer, but somehow did not. I also ended up putting the wrong photos in for my DH because I was bouncing back and forth so much. Fortunately, I was able to fix that issue later on and we were approved. Anyway, by the time I got to the Port Arrival Time, 11:30 AM was still available, which was the earliest. As it turned out, 11:30 AM was available for most of the days leading up to the cruise. Because we were driving ourselves, we received boarding group 9.
That makings of an EPIC trip report! However, I'm so sorry for your neighbors loss. I'm so glad y'all could make this such a celebration of life for Morgan. Looking forward to following along.
It seemed like we were planning this cruise forever and the day to leave had finally arrived. We always take the nonstop from Phoenix to Orlando. Our flight was originally set to depart at 9:30 AM, but was changed (as AA always does) to 10:15 AM. At least it was in our favor. We got picked up from our home at 8:15 AM and dropped at the airport by 8:30 AM. The flight was on-time and we were boarded by 9:42 AM. Our flight actually took off late at 10:29, but the flight was only 3 hours 30 minutes so we arrived early at 4:00 PM.
Usually, we expect our luggage to take, at a minimum, 45 minutes at Orlando to arrive on the carousel. We were pleasantly surprised that we retrieved our luggage in 20 minutes, a new league record! DH’s was actually the first bag on the carousel. Also, while waiting for our luggage, I got the email from Disney telling me my room was ready. We were on the 15th floor. So far, so good.
Then, we got to the Mears Connect line. We waited 27 minutes for our bus. We left the airport at 5:14 PM. Traffic was pretty bad. It was run weekend at Disney World. We arrived at our resort at 5:58 PM. Fortunately, we were the first stop!
We made our way up to our room, which was very nice and was greeted with this beautiful sunset from the window.
But the best thing about this room was that we were pixie dusted and given access to the Chronos Lounge, which is the concierge club level!
Our DD had gotten off of work by then and drove over to meet us for dinner. We made a quick reservation at Rix Sports Bar and Grill. I got my first drink of the trip, a margarita.
We made a quick stop at the gift shop and back up to our room. DH went to check out the Chronos Lounge where drinks and desserts were served in the evening.
The first part of our journey had ended and we had arrived safely in Orlando.
Now that our DD is a full time Cast Member, she gets a finite number of paid days off a year and can ask for more non-paid days off. Fortunately, she was able to get 10 days off, in addition to her regular 2 days off, leading up to, during and after the cruise. Originally, we had planned on visiting EPCOT and visiting her while she worked. DD found out that 2 of her very good friends and fellow Disney fans from college had booked the same cruise we were going to be on. Therefore, she got the day off and planned to spend the day with her friends. No problem, we planned to meet up later.
After getting up and greeting the day,
we decided to head to the Chronos Lounge for breakfast. The area is roomy and has window views overlooking the water and towards the parks.
The club level is a concierge level service where they will check you in, make reservations, check you out etc. Since we didn’t even know that we had been pixie dusted with this service we did not use them to the full extent. They put out a pretty extensive continental breakfast which varied slightly every morning.
After breakfast we headed to EPCOT. It was an unseasonably cool day. Even though DD wasn’t working, we headed to Soarin’ to ride it. We were given the 2 farthest seats on the right side of the theater. Oh well, everything leaned to the left pretty badly.
This was the last weekend of the Festival of the Arts, and they were already setting up for the Flower and Garden Festival that would start on March 5th. EPCOT has the new Communicore Exhibit Hall, which has gotten a bad rep as being a boring space. Well, when it is used as intended it is an awesome space. For the Arts Festival, they brought in costumes and props from the Disney shows on Broadway, past and present.
We walked around the World Showcase and tried some festival food. It was a beautiful day.
We ended up having lunch at the Pizza window at Via Napoli. The pizza was good. I then had the Hummingbird Cake from the America pavilion. It was also very good.
DH also saw some art of the Walt Disney World Railroad engines, which he kind of collects, so we ended up buying it. We left it at DD’s apartment while we were cruising.
We went to meet up with DD and her friends and rode Figment. DD also works there occasionally, so we had a personal tour guide of the queue. Afterwards, we headed back to the resort and went back to the Chronos lounge for snacks and drinks and relaxed. DH got a nice glass of red wine.
We had dinner reservations at Maya Grill that night. I got my second margarita of the trip so far.
The nice thing about staying at the tower is that all the restaurants and shops are accessible without every stepping outside. After dinner, however, we decided to walk outside back to the tower. If I hadn’t mentioned it before, while it was a beautiful sunny day, it was unseasonably cool and windy, so it was a rather brisk walk.
Our DD came up to our room after leaving her friends who were also at Coronado Springs to get some things to leave at her apartment and we went down to the Chronos lounge for some dessert. After that, it was time for bed, we had a cruise to board in the morning!
We woke up to another beautiful day in Orlando, even if a bit cool. We were up 7 AM to get ready.
DH and I headed down to the Chronos Lounge for breakfast at 8:30 AM. The staff in the lounge were very friendly and loved to chat, we had chats with a couple of them. We love to brag about our DD and told them we were going on the Treasure. They were, of course, jealous and hoped to go one day.
After breakfast we went back to pack up the rest of our belongings and wait for DD to pick us up. She arrived and we filled out the Health Questionnaire that DCL emailed me that morning. Fortunately, we were all healthy! Since we weren’t supposed to arrive prior to 11:30, we figured we would leave the resort at about 10:15 AM
It has been 16 years since we sailed out of Port Canaveral. In the past we just took the DCL bus from our Disney Resort. Since DD had her car and there was no way for her to leave her car at the resort to take the bus, and she didn’t want to rely on friends with unreliable schedules to drop her and pick her up, we opted just to drive and leave the car at the port.
We took our luggage down to her Subaru Forester and played Tetris to get all of our luggage to fit!
I have to say it was actually very easy to navigate to the port from Disney property and we made it there in a little over an hour at 11:20 AM.
I love how you can see Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center from the road.
But the best view is the first glimpses of the ship when you arrive at port.
A porter came and took our checked bags and DD and I stayed with the carry-on luggage while DH went to park and pay in the garage. When DH joined us, it was exactly 11:30 AM. Our port arrival time!
We found our way to the correct line for our PAT and was let in where they checked our boarding pass.
We were let inside where we entered the Pearl and Platinum check in area.
We literally had no wait to check in. It was very quick and easy. We showed our boarding pass again and our passports and were told that we wouldn’t need our passports anymore that day.
We then went to security. There was a bit of a wait, but we were directed to a shorter line. Unfortunately, DD always get waylaid because of her insulin pump and has to be hand wanded. We waited for her and then went up the escalator into the terminal at 11:41 AM.
Once inside the terminal we found a place to sit and made visits to the restrooms. DD and I went to check out the outdated model of the Magic.
And then went outside to the viewing area.
Disney ships are so beautiful! DCL called our boarding number 9 at 12:12 PM.
We were asked if we wanted a boarding photo, so we stepped out of line to get one as there was no wait. Once our photo was taken, we stepped back into the line to board.
We showed our boarding pass one more time and were let onto the ramp to get on the ship. It wasn’t a long walk after that.
This whole time we were in communication with the rest of our party. They were taking the DCL bus from the airport and had left about 30 minutes before we did. They boarded before we did.
Before we knew it, we were entering the beautiful Royal Hall of the Treasure and hearing our family name announced!
Our travel companions texted us that they were at Marceline’s, so we headed to the aft elevators and made our way up to the 11th deck.
There were so many themed areas inside.
We found them quickly and found an empty table nearby. I was eating my peel-and-eat shrimp by 12:35 PM. I forgot to take a before shot. The leek and potato soup was delicious!
After we ate, we spent some time catching up with everybody and trading Chat ID numbers to link up our Navigator apps so we could text during the cruise. I also signed DD, DH and myself up for the Imagineering Tour of the ship for the next day at 1:00 PM. There we many time and day options available. We also found out that our dining rotation was:
DD was bummed because we would miss our first night at Marvel because we had dinner planned in Palo.
Everybody seemed to be going their separate ways and I know DNs wanted to spend time with their DD, DGS and DSon-in-law. So, we didn’t make any plans to meet up that afternoon.
When we first booked our stateroom, I knew I wanted one of the Deluxe Family Verandah rooms with the extra space. Some of these rooms had murphy beds. I was unable to determine from several sources whether or not our room had one for DD or not. We did determine that our room would be Encanto themed as we were on the Aft of Deck 8.
At 1:30 PM we made our way down to Deck 8 to see if the rooms were ready. We knew rooms were usually ready by 1:30 PM but the app was telling us 2:30 PM. Fortunately, the ropes were down and we could head to our home for the next 7 nights.
I loved how bright everything still was, including the carpeting!
DD grabbed our KTTW cards off the clip before I could get a picture. Then we remembered that we could use our Magic Band+ to open the door. The room was gorgeous!
Eureka!! We had a murphy bed. DD was very excited to sleep in a real bed and not the sofa!
They were refueling so we couldn't go out on our balcony.
Our lanyards were waiting for us. I was thrilled to find that my side of the bed had the plugs, while DH’s side had the UBS connection, which was all he needed to charge his phone.
Alas, our stateroom gifts were not on the bed where we usually found them, but in the shelfs above the desk. In all our excitement, we forgot to take pictures onboard.
There was a beach towel (Platinum), an insulated tote bag/back pack (Gold) and the wet/dry bag (Silver). They all came in this bag.
Here is a copy of the insulated bag.
They all said Treasure Inaugural Sailings. After divvying up the gifts (DD took 2 of the items), we headed out to explore the ship before the muster drill.
I liked the light fixtures in the hallways.
We found our way to Deck 4 above the Royal Hall. Rapunzel and Flynn were on the balcony.
This space is so beautifully themed. I love the bright colors and the mosaics are beautiful.
We found our way forward to Sarabi. This became one of my favorite spots on the ship. It is basically Studio D on the classic ships.
Right across from Sarabi we found the Periscope Pub, themed after “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.” DD was very excited to have some Mead here during the cruise.
The Wonderland (Starboard side) and Neverland (Port side) theaters are up near Sarabi as well. The Neverland Theater decorations were very poignant as Peter Pan was Morgan’s favorite character and she would have loved the murals.
Back to the Royal Hall and the chandelier. The lamps around the main one represent each of the other ships in the fleet. They are represented by the character of the statue in the main atriums.
The main statue of Aladdin and Jasmine is stunning. The lighting effects from the genie lamp is very cool as it runs up the side of the entire staircase.
We found the Hei Hei Café.
The Worlds of Marvel dining room.
We walked outside on deck 4. Kind of weird they did not make this a walking track around the ship without having to go upstairs. Unfortunately, during the course of the cruise, I never made the attempt to see where it all lead to.
We also found a water bottle filling station which came in very handy.
We made our way down to Deck 3. We weren’t sure if we would be able to get seats, but we couldn’t wait any longer to check out the Haunted Mansion Parlor.
It did not disappoint!! The parlor is very small but the details and the number of nods to the Haunted Mansion attraction is phenomenal. Luckily, after arriving we were able to snag and grouping of seats next to the fish tank. Score!!
We checked out the drink menu. We also discovered the secret drink menu.
I order the Chilling Challenge. DD ordered the Regions Beyond, which she said was a little too sweet, but she liked the gummy eye ball. My drink came in a box and when you opened it, smoke came out. On the foam, there were 3 ghosts printed in a glow in the dark substance. The waiter brought over the black light. I wasn’t a fan of the foam, but the drink underneath was very good.
DD’s friends came in and joined us for a drink. Shortly after 3:00 PM, we headed back to the stateroom to see if our luggage had arrived and get ready for the muster drill. DD and her friends checked out some of the other areas. First, the Skipper Society Lounge just outside the Haunted Mansion Parlor.
They also took a gander at the Scat Cat Lounge.
I love the door handles. DD played trumpet in her high school marching band.
Our luggage had arrived so we started to unpack. Our room steward, Kavin from India, stopped by and introduced himself. We told him DD wanted the Murphy Bed made up and we asked for ice to be delivered every afternoon. Kavin was one of the best stewards we have had. He was awesome!
I decorated our door.
Our Muster drill was in The Marvel Restaurant, Station T. Since we all had our rooms in the same area, we saw a few members or our party at their stations as well.
After the muster drill, we headed off to explore the upper decks outside. We found the drink stations on Deck 11. We weren’t necessarily interested in watching the Sail Away Party, but as we made our way to Deck 13, we found the huge round chaises that will hold 3 people. One was empty so we grabbed it and listened to the show from there.
We found out we had Captain Andy. Darren from the UK was our Cruise Director (we had never had him before) and David was the assistant CD.
We started moving just before 5:00 PM. Finally, the time arrived to her our beloved Ship’s Horn and we were off on our adventure. We spent some more time exploring the upper decks, which were very confusing because there seemed to be so many dead ends.
The Café Cove is hidden away on the very aft of the ship on Deck 13. We visited the Café Cove are frequently on the other ships, but didn’t make it there at all on this cruise. They also didn’t have the free pastries like on the other ships.
The infinity pool on the adult deck was pretty cool. We also didn’t make it here during the cruise.
We watched as we sailed by Jetty Park and out into the Atlantic. It was time to get ready for dinner at 5:45 PM.
We lined up for dinner at 5:35 and were let in shortly. We were handed our hand wipes and lead to table 318 (which was actually two 6 tops put together). Our Server was Saville from India. Our assistant Server was Alejandro from Colombia. I will tell you that these guys hustled every night. I think they just had one more table besides ours, but we had 12 people. While the guys hustled, we felt rushed at every meal. Kaydrian from Jamaica introduced himself as our Head Server.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t take a lot of pictures of our food. I will desserts, but not appetizers and main entrees. I will try to tell you what I ordered, if I remembered to write it down.
The filet was good, but was not cooked enough for me.
Burbank Blueberry-Lemon Bavarian Cream for dessert
All were delicious. A couple of people in our party ordered wine packages and were kind enough to share with us.
Surprisingly for a first night meal, we were done with dinner before 7:00 PM.
On previous cruises, I have been disappointed with the amount of merchandise available on the cruise on the first night for special sailings. Since this was still considered an inaugural season sailing, I especially wanted to get a shirt and pins. Right after dinner, DD and I headed over to Mainsail Mickey’s. They were controlling the crowd and there was a line formed outside to get in. We waited maybe 10 minutes. My worries wear unnecessary as the ship was well stocked with shirts and pins for the entire cruise. I got what I wanted.
Before we get to much farther, based on my past trip reports, many of you know how frustrated I had been getting at the trivia games on board the ships. They weren’t fun anymore because the same people were always winning. Well, this cruise, I resolved myself to not play trivia or at least not many. So far, so good!
After shopping, DD and I headed down to Sarabi to watch Mouseketeer Madness at 8:30 PM. Our main interest was just to watch, but when we got there, there were literally only 3 other people there, so we decided to grab a number and play. Right before they started, a family of 4 came in wearing medals won from another game. They also grabbed numbers and we began. During the course of the game, 2 of the first group were called and the sons from the family were called. The last number was being randomly selected when the father of the family’s number was pulled. He was gracious enough to let DD have his turn.
DD went up and answered the questions and “used” her help lines. She was able to win a medal, but then everybody did. Haha Danny was the host in Sarabi. We got to talk to him a little. He was talking to DD about where she made magic. He is very funny and was a very good host.
DD left to go explore the ship until 10:00 PM. She went to Jumbeaux’s Sweets for some ice cream.
I texted our DNs and told them where we were. DNC was helping with her DGS. They came and found us right before they started playing Majority Minds, adults only, at 10:00 PM.
The object of the game is to answer the questions how you think the majority of the other teams will answer the same. DNs, DD and I formed a team. We played several rounds and ended up winning with the most correct answers. We got a goody bag with a luggage tag, DCL hat, small DCL sling pack and some other little things. It was a winning night all around!
We stayed to watch the first round of Match your Mate (Adult only version) at 10:30 PM.
It was hilarious!! They took 3 couples. One dating couple who had been together 2 or less years, a married couple who had been together 31 years and a couple of guys who had been together 4 years. They took one from each couple and put them in a soundproof room somewhere. Then they asked the remaining partner 3 questions about their first date, what would be their song (choice of 3) and Marvel super hero when being intimate. But it was after 11:00 PM and we were getting tired, so we skipped out to head to bed before the second round.
Our blanket animal tonight was this dude.
Overall, we had a great day. Getting to the port, checking in and boarding were so easy and streamlined. We’re used to boarding at much different ports. It was great being able to explore the ship and enjoy some late-night entertainment.
Well, unfortunately, I didn’t have a very good night. I don’t know if it was the dinner or travel, but I had some gastro issues overnight. I knew it wasn’t anything contagious or Norovirus, but I didn’t sleep well at all and felt off and sluggish all day. Because of this, I really didn’t do much other than the things we had scheduled.
I slept in. DD was out the door early to go grab her coffee at the Jade Cricket Café. This became one of her favorite spots on the ship, especially when hanging out with DN’s DD.
It was a beautiful day on the sea.
DH went up to Marceline’s for breakfast and brought me some toast. DD and DH left me to go explore the ship. DD found a very helpful cast member at Mickey Mainsail and she gave DD tips on pin trading on the ship. She played some trivia, and explored the ship.
I eventually gathered enough strength to get a shower and prepare for the day. We had Champagne Tasting at 11:30 AM. It was DNs, DH and myself for the tasting. Everybody else either had wine tasting later, spa appointments or was busy entertaining an almost 2-year-old!
I really wasn’t hungry but knew I needed to put something in my stomach before the tasting, so I went to Deck 11 and got some ice cream. Unlike the other ships, it is not self-service on the Treasure. There was usually a line and everyday had a different flavor, along with vanilla and chocolate.
A little before 11:30 we made our way down to the Scat Cat Lounge for our tasting. We were shown to a grouping of chairs for 4 of us.
Tom from Mynar was our host and head sommelier at Palo. His assistants were the sommeliers for the other lounges and restaurants on the ship. Tom was very informative about the process of making champagne. We had heard some of this knowledge at our last Champagne tasting, but it was fun tasting the different ones. He had some very expensive samples.
After the tasting, DH and DD headed to the Imagineering Tour. I wasn’t up to it, so I went back to the stateroom for a nap. DH and DD very much enjoyed the tour and shared their knowledge with me throughout the week.
For instance, this mural is made with real moss and is trimmed every few weeks.
At 6:00 PM we all gathered at Palo Steakhouse for our dinner. The child had been put in the nursery for the evening. Unfortunately, our dinner was so long that DSon-in-law had to leave early to retrieve the boy.
The entrance to Enchantment.
The entrance to the Rose.
I loved the rose pattern on the ceiling.
Magdelina from Indonesia was our server. She was very nice. Unfortunately, we had some issues with getting wine from our dining room staff which delayed the start of our dinner. The private room had a very modern feel to it compared to the other ships.
For dessert, of course, I had the Chocolate Souffle.
Dinner lasted for 3 ½ hours, so we weren’t able to see the opening show in the theater. However, I was feeling better, so DD and I went to Sarabi to see the Choose Wisely! An Indiana Jones Comedy Adventure show at 10:30 PM.
The Sarabi is turned into a supper club. A performer came out and sang a couple of 1930 era songs. She was tremendous. Afterwards, we were introduced to Coriander and Sage who were essentially auditioning for the act for the supper club. Their act was reenacting all 5 of the Indiana Jones movies in just under an hour. The catch was that at various times during their show, they would stop and ask you to choose a particular path for Indiana to take. If it was the wrong path, which invariably it always was, they would dial back time. Sage would play Indy, while Coriander played every other character, and I mean every other character! Danny, the club host, was used as the prop master and they would project images on the screen on stage. The best prop was the plane they used over the map to show was Indy was flying, just like in the movies. The show was absolutely hilarious! The innuendos with the whip were hysterical!
We met up with DD’s friends by accident, who joined us for the show. We really enjoyed it.
After the show, we headed for our stateroom and bed. We had an excursion in the morning.
Today, we were exploring the Punta Sur National Park with a guide from Tours by Locals. Our excursion was at 9:00 AM. We were docked by 8:00 AM. I started the day but making my way around the murphy bed, which comes down right in front of the door to the verandah.
I also checked the bridge report on the tv. We had traveled 710 nautical miles.
As became her morning routine, DD headed out to get her morning coffee. This morning let her to the HeiHei Café.
At about 7:40 AM we headed up to Marceline’s for breakfast. Here’s another sign made with moss.
We ran into DNJ at breakfast. Well, while I was feeling much better, DNC was not. DNC was unfortunately running a temp and bowed out of the tour. A little backstory. About 2 weeks before our cruise, DNC’s mom came down with a bad cough. DNC was making sure she took her meds correctly and using her inhaler so she would be able to make the trip. After dinner at Palo, I noticed DNC had a cough. We thought she must have caught it from her mom.
That left 8 of us for the tour. We arranged to meet in the Royal Hall at 8:30 AM. While waiting I took some pictures of the incredible tile mosaics in the Royal Hall.
After we all gathered, we headed off the ship on Deck 1 Aft.
We made our way down the long pier to the mall.
The Viking ship looked like a toy next to the Treasure.
We passed through Security, went up to the second level of the mall, walked all the way around, went down the lower level and met up with our guide, Theresita, or Teta for short.
We walked a short distance to our van and driver and were on our way to our destination. We drove for about half an hour or so. Our first stop was the lighthouse. The roads in the park were not paved and had a lot of pot holes. We did a lot of serpentining down the road to avoid the worst ones. Every once in a while, we had to slow down for an iguana in the middle of the road and scare it away. I called it an “Iguana Jam.”
There was a museum about the Mayans and Pirates in the area.
DD and DH joined some of our group and climbed the lighthouse for the stunning views.
While they were high up, I stayed low and took some photos.
We then went on a bit of a nature hike. This is the flower of Cozumel, Cordia.
After the walk, we drove some more of the unpaved road and came upon a beach. We took some time at the beach to relax, get our toes wet and get something to drink.
After the beach we saw a resident raccoon.
We then walked down to the Mangrove, where a tour boat was about to leave. We didn’t ride the boat, but we saw what was underneath.
We headed back towards the entrance of the park, continuing to dodge iguanas along the way.
One of our intrepid travelers noticed a flamboyance of flamingoes! I have never seen any out of captivity and never that pink!
We stopped at a Mayan ruin for a picture and had this iguana pose with us.
On the way out, we saw more wildlife.
A white egret.
An Oriole.
We made it back to San Miguel. DNC joined us and we asked Teta take us to a local Mexican food restaurant. She took us here.
I had a quesadilla and a margarita. They were both muy delicioso!
One of their specialties was chicken Pastor style. They charbroiled it and shaved it right there on a spit.
After lunch we headed back to the mall and back to the ship. We went through a cursory security before entering the pier and showed our KTTW card, but no request for government ID.
We went to x-ray security once we boarded. We were back on the ship by 4:00 PM.
Our dinner tonight was in Plaza de Cocos. According to the Imagineering Tour, it is supposed to look like you are entering a fiesta in a backyard. Therefore, all the porthole windows along the long hallway to the restaurant are covered so you cannot see outside.
Just a side note. This is one of the issues I had with the design of this ship. The best views from the portholes were literally in the stores. If you sat on Deck 4 and looked out, you mostly saw lifeboats.
Back to dinner. The hall was decorated with items and pictures from the movie.
Our table was literally in the furthest back of the ship, and if we had been able to look, we would have seen Captain Hook and Peter Pan hanging from the aft. Therefore, we didn’t have a very good view of the stage.
We were a bit disappointed with the chips and “salsa”, it was more like tomato soup.
I ordered:
Abuelita Elena’s Shrimp Diabla
Baby Romaine Salad
Enrique’s Port Wine Braised Center Cut Beef Short Ribs
Warm Coconut Tres Leches
A few were interested in seeing the variety act at the Walt Disney Theater. Tonight’s featured act was The Fly Boys. They were 4 men that harmonized and took popular music and made it “swing.” They were on our Transatlantic cruise and I didn’t see them there, so I thought I would tonight.
I met up with DNJ and DNC’s mom in the hall at 8:15 and we made our way to the theater. We got fairly good seats as the theater was not full for the 8:30 PM show. David told us about how tendering would work in Grand Cayman and about the possible weather coming in and then introduced the act.
They were ok, but their act did not blow my socks off.
After that we called it a night. We had another excursion planned in the morning.
Good night!
Overall, we enjoyed ourselves in Cozumel. It was fun visiting a place that we hadn’t been and looking for wildlife. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed eating authentic Mexican food outside on the patio.
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