SuperSatellite ||

Okay, time to back track and talk about the trip.  I did get the photo album posted last night, so you can look over what all went down.  There’s a lot of pictures there of Tulum.

Well, getting out wasn’t much of a problem.  The weather stayed relatively nice all the way down.  The only problem I really hit was after landing in Tampa, there was a traffic jam getting out of the airport that delayed me about two hours.  There was a bunch of us sitting in the shuttle pickup area, and you could see the cars in the round-a-bout area.  You could watch them for half an hour without seeing a single one even move.  So that was awfully frustrating.

But getting on the boat and everything was not too bad, aside from issues stemming from over-aggressive ID checking, which I mentioned the other day.  Oh, and they make you bind a credit card to your Sail & Sign card (basically your credit card/room key on the boat), which I personally think is dumb.  What’s wrong with cash?  I made the mistake of getting a Coke after I got on board because I was thirsty (of course, they had free sparkling wine on the deck, but little good that does me).  $2.00 for a can later, I decided I’d be sticking to free tea and fruit punch the rest of the trip.

Being on the boat isn’t that bad.  I, personally, had no problems with seasickness, and would say that while you can at times feel movement, for the most part you can’t hardly feel anything since it’s so big.  The problem is, while on the boat, there just isn’t much to do.  There’s a casino, where I turned $30 into $77.50 at Blackjack.  There are crappy stage shows in the evening.  There’s a small pool generally overrun by kids.  Or you can lay out on the deck or eat.  That’s about it.  Oh, there is a gym too, and that was alright.  As far as the other entertainment, you easily exhaust it in a day and end up spending a lot of time wandering the ship (not entirely because you are lost).

Something that is completely worthwhile, however, is the food.  While you pay for any drink beyond the basics (which does not include pop), food is completely free and always available.  There was a sushi bar open from 5:00 until 8:30 in the evenings which was okay.  Not as good as I’d expect though.  There’s 24 hour pizza and deli sandwiches.  Multiple buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  And best of all, gourmet dinners.  We’re talking shrimp, duck, lobster, fillet mignon,  chateaubriand and pork chops the size of my head.  I highly recommend the food.  And the servers are surprisingly pleasant and fun.  Far more of them are eastern European than I would have expected, too.  I probably ate my ticket price alone in food.

Excursions were alright.  Grand Cayman wasn’t particularly exciting.  We didn’t get to stay there long, it was cloudy, and the cab drivers are crazy.  I did go parasailing, which nearly made me sick.  It was a new experience though.  I also saw a random chicken running around in town.  Calica was put in place of Cozumel due to their hurricane damage.  We had all day there, and the Mayan ruins at Tulum were neat.  It’s a shame it’s such a tourist trap.  I spent more time beating off shop owners than anything. I much prefer traditional means of shopping over haggling, I don’t want to be hassled while I’m shopping.  What is crazy is how hot it is there in winter, and yet everyone works in jeans.  I can only imaging what summer is like.  Hooray for air conditioned buses.

I would not recommend the evening shows.  The singing…the dancing…let me be clear, I’m a theatre person, and I love a good show.  I also know bad singing and dancing when I see it.  And when a show is put together by someone without much of a theatre background, it’s very clear.  You’re better off dumping quarters into the slot machines.

I did make ample use of the gym, as well as the ice cream machine.  Granted, the two probably offset each other pretty evenly, but I think I’m okay with that.  I spent plenty of time just sleeping out on the deck too.  So much so, that there was actually a point where I no longer knew what day it was.  In that regard, it was a very relaxing vacation.  It’s also a good value, given how much food you (can) eat.  I’d probably do it again, but maybe without the excursions, just like 4 days at sea or something.  Better yet, just take everything in the boat, put it in a resort or something where it’s warm, and I’ll go there for a week.