January 11 – Cozumel, Mexico

Weather – 26º, humid – 80%

Steps – 10,775; what happens when we wonder

We are back in Mexico today – Cozumel. We were here last week with Regent so didn’t feel a huge need to take an excursion. Good thing, since the one we were semi-interested in was waitlisted. The excursion we were kind of interested in was to ruins and then to the chocolate factory we visited last time.

A couple of days ago, we decided to take ourselves off the waitlist and have either a ship day or a low-key port day.

getting tied down

It was a bit of a groundhoggy morning…no alarm (slept until 8!), room service muesli, bacon, warm milk for the in-room coffee machine coffee, and a couple of yogurts for the future. I took my breakfast and laptop onto the deck around 9 for sail in. No matter how many sail ins I’ve seen, it’s always fascinating to watch the tugs, the ropes, and the whole shebang of getting docked. Watching other people work isn’t bad either!

This ship has a total of 4…yes 4 laundry machines for potentially 900 people! No one wants to do laundry on vacation, but it’s nice to have all your things clean – major Regent perk!! We didn’t have much hope for finding an open machine, but

it's almost our own private pool

thought a port day would be our best chance – we were in luck.

Then it was up to the pool to wait – not a bad place to wait with a mimosa.

at the pool with me

Eventually with laundry all done, we wandered into Cozumel to see what we might have for lunch. Of course we could eat on the ship, but it’s always interesting to wander for food. It was sooooo humid and still. We walked up and down the strip, checked out a couple of town squares tucked back a bit from the main drag and about an hour later settled on a place for a margaritas and nachos. This was right on the strip along the water. The road is busy, so there is definitely vibe, but I found myself longing for a place where I could put my feet in the sand. A few years back, we stopped in Zihuatanejo on a cruise and found a super charming place for a couple of beers, right along the water where we drank beers with sand between our toes.

post lunch $3 beers

After lunch we stopped for one more beer at the place we had a beer last week, before we made it back to the ship. Things in Cozumel didn’t seem super expensive. Each of the margaritas we had were about $10USD and the beers were $3USD. By the time we were heading back the humidity wasn’t so bad, but wow, I was damp when we sat down for lunch.

By about 3:30 we were back on the ship. Sail away was at 6, but we were on the go by 5:30. Explora does not mess around. Regent was never late

ship has a bit of an art gallery

either, but here, as soon as all are abord, we are off.

Dinner was at the ship’s Mediterranean restaurant. This our second visit. The first time we had ALL 6 of their tapas plates and a dessert. This time was similar – 3 tapas, then Chris had a pasta, I had a haloumi salad, and dessert of course!

I was in the mood for an early night, so we were in bed before 10. It really was

tapas

11, but we changed the clocks back for tomorrow.

It was a nice relaxing day.

Chris and I have been chatting a lot this vacation about the pros and cons of a Caribbean cruise versus a land resort. We’re finding activities in the Caribbean not exactly up our street. This is hardly a surprise – we aren’t exactly beach, water sport, water, baking in the sun kind of people – if you are, the Caribbean is where you need to be. We have always liked resort vacations ever though they are designed around beach, water sport, water, baking in the sun activities. For us, we can laze at our swim out room for 7 days reading and chilling, walk the beach a bit and that’s all the activity we need for a week.

On a cruise, I always feel like we need to be doing something, but why? I could very easily laze at a pool in the shade or on our balcony and read – especially on port days when most people are off the ship. This is basically what we did this morning, and it was lovely.

required ship shot

Cruise prices are about the same as for the swim out rooms we prefer at resorts. The main difference we have determined is the food and booze are not even comparable on the cruises. Food and cocktails are adequate at resorts, but the wine is almost undrinkable at any of the resorts we’ve ever stayed at, and we’ve probably stayed at 25 resorts over the years.

another stunning sunset

I’d say staying at a resort is slightly easier…one

flight, one resort, one flight back
home. With a cruise, we always arrive at least one night before and often stay the night before flying home. The resorts package flights with the stay, so that requires no thinking.

We’re still completely happy with this vacation…the main goal was to get out of the winter for a bit – mission accomplished. 

Lori – good question…we learned that there are now ‘hundreds’ in the preserve. Not sure if they’ve released any into the wild. There probably are some in the wild, because we learned that there is a huge fine for killing one, not sure why you'd do that, but...