Cass, Rob & Kira - Our MAGICal Christmas Cruise 2023

[Kanga2Roo]

I'm still bummed I didn't see the flamingo. Who would've thought you would see one in the middle of the ocean....flying no less!

And no it's not downhill. Still lots of fun times and just seeing pics of the ship is always so much fun. You really did some good exploring while I was catching some z's.

 

[Timon]

Part 1

Today is our Cozumel day. This is definitely not my favourite port. It's usually ridiculously hot and sunny, two things I try to avoid because of my Lupus so we don't normally do too much when we visit. Also, we've been here a million times it seems.

It's great if you're a beach person, they have some beautiful beaches and resorts to visit but none of us are beach people. Jen totally is and so is her family so that's where they headed off to today. I think they went to Mr. Sancho's for the day.


Rob was hungry and we had missed the 9:30am cut off for the sit down breakfast at Lumiere's so he was stuck with Cabanas. Against my better judgement, I joined him. Not to eat but to help him maneuver the chaos that is Cabanas in the morning.

The place, as always, was a zoo.

There were no tables so while he grabbed some food, I went to get him a coffee. I checked two places and couldn't find a mug anywhere. I found one at the third and final drink station.

Just as I spotted him, someone near me was leaving their table so I rushed over to grab it. He enjoyed his breakfast and then we headed back to the room.

Couldn't remember if I had taken a photo of the new Soul Cat Lounge.

Spotted this interesting boat while out on the balcony. It has a clear hull.

I watched Peter and Dariusz while I got ready.

We had gone forward an hour since we boarded to be on the same time zone as Cozumel so tonight we would be going back to Central Standard time for Progreso.

Kira was not interested in getting off the ship but I wanted to head over to a store but we were in no hurry, so we let everyone that needed to go off the ship before us do so.

A Carnival ship was parked down at the International Pier.

I think it was around noon when we finally left the ship. Kira either went to Vibe or stayed in bed, I can't recall now.

We saw some divers. We assumed they were checking out the propellers.

And finally, some good views of this gorgeous ship!

A quick selfie before we continued. It was so windy, we had to hold onto our hats!

It was hot and sunny but the breeze was nice and kept me from overheating.

In order to leave the port area, you have to go up the escalators, across into the mall and then find the stairs in the back corner or go all the way through the mall to get to the down escalators.

Great views of our ship from there.

I'm not a huge fan of this mall because everyone is always trying to coax you into their stores. For me, it makes me not want to go into their stores. It makes Kira feel so uncomfortable that she never even wants to leave the ship. She has anxiety and it makes her feel bad for not going into the stores, so she would much rather just skip it and stay onboard and not deal with that guilt and discomfort.

I still remember her first visit here, she was 10 months old, in a stroller and everyone kept touching her. It gave me the heebee jeebees.

Looking left, towards the northern downtown area...

We stopped for a quick pic.

Then headed to the back corner where the movie theatre is to take the stairs down to the first floor.

Walking back towards the port, we then took a left.

I wanted to go check out the Mega store. It was close and something to see and it would kill an hour so why not, right?

The Mega is kind of like if Walmart and Costco had a baby. It was very busy full of locals doing their grocery shopping.

They even had bikes for sale.

They had giant TV's.

And appliances.

They had big meat and produce departments.

Clothing, shoes, beach stuff.

I was just looking for some Coke to bring home to my brother who was watching my dogs.

Oh look, a drink with a drink special.

They had some weird sized bottles here! We have different sizes in Canada compared to what there is in the USA but Mexico beats us all!

I was hoping to find the real cane sugar Mexican Coke but after Googling it, I found out that they no longer produce it and haven't in ages! I don't speak Spanish but I could definitely make out enough to know that this was not the Coke I was looking for.

I ended up getting two different sized bottles for him and we got a bottle of Coca Cola Light, which is what they call Diet Coke. We brought that back with us and tried it the other day. It was the worst Diet Coke I have ever tasted.

I haven't asked my brother yet if he had tried his Coke to see if that was any better.

We headed for the check out area, which had a very lovely view of our ship!

We are so used to Disney prices that when I went to grab some USD cash out of my wallet, I grabbed a $20 bill but it ended up only being $3 for the three bottles.

They ring it up in pesos but there is a sign there that says they do accept USD, you just have to ask them to convert it for you.

With our $3 worth of Coke, we headed back to the ship. It was getting hot without that nice breeze and I was getting hungry.

Stay tuned for the rest of our jam-packed port day that consisted of eating and then more eating.

 

[Timon]

Rapunzel’s is my favorite restaurant of those I’ve been to across the fleet and that fry bread is my favorite dessert!! It’s always come warm, though. All your posts are making me miss the Magic. The kids want to go back on the Dream for the Aquaduck but since Mama books the cruise maybe the Dream will mysteriously not have any cruises available this year

I prefer Rapunzel's for the aesthetics but I much prefer Tiana's for the food.

The fry bread was delicious this time. I've only had it once before and when it's cold, it's very hard to eat. We had to use a knife and fork last year to eat it.


Yeah, I heard the Dream is all booked up until 2026.

I'm still bummed I didn't see the flamingo. Who would've thought you would see one in the middle of the ocean....flying no less!

And no it's not downhill. Still lots of fun times and just seeing pics of the ship is always so much fun. You really did some good exploring while I was catching some z's.

I am bummed too! And you're right, it's not something I EVER would have guessed that I would see on a cruise ship! But you know that now I am going to be looking for them.


Yes, lots of fun times ahead.

There's trivia and some more trivia and then, I think there's more umm...trivia!

 

[CarolynFH]

Definitely request Srdjan for both, and tell him we say hi!

Thanks for the recommendation - I can write his name down, but how is it pronounced?

 

[NAB]

I always wondered what was in that store! Thanks for the pictures, will have to show my husband.

Like you we have been to this port so much we really don’t do much either.

 

[bcwife76]

I absolutely adore Rapunzels, I think it's now my fave restaurant (just a slight, slight edge over Tiana's for me ).
Gotta love a good roam around a Mega I love that dang chain. It really does have everything

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

Part 1

I woke up to a lovely view this morning.

I showered and got ready while watching Good Morning Disney Magic, which has been revamped with new graphics. I highly suggest everyone watch this 5-minute video that plays every morning until noon because the cruise director and assistant cruise director talk about everything that is important for the day and sometimes even the next day.

Peter was our cruise director on this sailing, which is the 4th or 5th time we've had him and he is amazing. He's not too over the top, he's got just the right kind of energy and you can easily understand him, which really helps. Jen and Claire said they have had Peter as a cruise director 7 or 8 times now.

I watch this every single day when I cruise, it is very informative. All you have to do is turn on the tv, press the Watch TV button and then it automatically plays on that start-up channel. I often will catch it in the middle but then I just watch until I get to the same part as it just plays on repeat.

Once I was done the whole round of GMDM, I put it on the map and watched as it scrolled through more interesting information. I love knowing where we are and how fast we're going. Is it just me?

Just before noon, we headed up to Palo. Kira was lounging in bed but made it to Vibe shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, none of the Vibe activities start until around noon, even on a sea day. I wish Disney would figure out that not all teenagers sleep until noon.

We checked in but opted not to sit down until Jen, Claire and Skip were here. We admired the gorgeous tile work until then.

When Jen and I were on the Magic last year, we went to Palo and had an amazing server name Srdjan. We found out later on Facebook that Srdjan was really good friends with our server Cris!

So, while we were making sure we had Cris as a server yesterday, we also checked to make sure we got Srdjan for our Palo Brunch.

Jen and I are FB friends with both Cris and Srdjan, so we had let them know we were coming and that we would be requesting them. They had both brushed up on our FB posts because they knew that Jen and I had just been on the NCL Viva together and asked us about it. Now that's going above and beyond, total class act!

He came to greet us about half-way to the table and gave us hugs and welcomed us back. We sat down at our table and then I handed him my phone and asked him to take a selfie of us with him in it. I guess I wasn't very clear because he took this selfie.

And then he took a photo of us.

So, we gave him clearer instructions and got what we wanted.

Menu hasn't changed since last year, still has all the good stuff we love.

Everyone ordered an almond croissant except for me, I ordered a regular one but we all agreed that they were probably the best croissants we've ever had!

Everyone but me enjoyed the seafood platter. I almost barfed when Srdjan placed it directly in front of me though and got a waft of the smell. I don't do seafood.

He brought out a bread basket as well.

I got my delicious celery soup, as did Claire.

Rob got his tomato soup.

Srdjan brought us a calzone to share. I don't think I have ever had this before but after sampling a small bite, I will 100% be ordering this on my next visit! Yum!

He also brought us a spicy sausage pizza to share.

Rob got the blueberry pancakes.

Jen and I shared the lasagna, which was amazing, as usual.

Claire got the steak.

I ordered the chicken parm and shared with both Rob and Jen.

Both Rob and Skip ordered the wild mushroom ravioli.

Jen and I asked for extra risotto that comes with the chicken parm and he did not disappoint us.

Time for dessert!

He brought us double Panna Cotta but we only managed to eat one.

Jen had the chocolate fondant.

Rob had the lemon citrus cake.

I think he brought the raspberry tart to share.

He also surprised us with the sticky bun, which we all ended up loving.

And I ordered the zabaglione.

He then brought out this beautiful plate to celebrate Claire's 19th birthday.

It was now 2pm and we were all quite full and Rob and Skip were standing up and ready to leave but we hadn't signed the bill yet so we told the boys that they could go but we still weren't done and they seemed a bit inpatient so we were like, "Okay, bye!" I don't think they realized that we had not taken care of the bill yet and that we couldn't leave until that was done.

So Rob and Skip left and then Srdjan grabbed our room keys and brought us the bill to sign. We tipped him extra, he was amazing!

As we were leaving, we took a peek at the private dining area (ahh, memories ) and then Srdjan called someone over and asked him to take a pic of us.

Srdjan then led us to the exit and patiently waited for us to sign the book and then bid us a fond farewell with another hug.

If you go to Palo on the Magic and want an amazing server, be sure to request Srdjan and tell him Jen & Cass say hello!

I headed back to the room to get into comfy clothes and then one of us may have taken a nap.

Firstly, hi! Love reading your report!

I was hoping you might be able to help me with the flow of Palo Brunch… we are finally Gold and were able to get a reservation (yay!), but I’m not clear on how the menu works. I don’t mean to sound greedy (I’m bad with words!), but is it like a free for all? Like you can order anything and everything (if you wanted… not saying I do!!) off the menu? Or is it like one item per section? Or something totally different???

Thanks for your help!

 

[sadiecatie]

Firstly, hi! Love reading your report!

I was hoping you might be able to help me with the flow of Palo Brunch… we are finally Gold and were able to get a reservation (yay!), but I’m not clear on how the menu works. I don’t mean to sound greedy (I’m bad with words!), but is it like a free for all? Like you can order anything and everything (if you wanted… not saying I do!!) off the menu? Or is it like one item per section? Or something totally different???

Thanks for your help!

Not OP, but I can answer - you can order whatever you like, it's not limited to one item per section. Think of it as basically the same ordering as the MDRs (you can order however many dishes you like), except this one you're paying a flat additional rate rather than it being included in your fare When we went to brunch on our Alaska sailing, our waiter almost seemed disappointed in us that we didn't order multiple desserts, but we were just too stuffed!

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

Not OP, but I can answer - you can order whatever you like, it's not limited to one item per section. Think of it as basically the same ordering as the MDRs (you can order however many dishes you like), except this one you're paying a flat additional rate rather than it being included in your fare When we went to brunch on our Alaska sailing, our waiter almost seemed disappointed in us that we didn't order multiple desserts, but we were just too stuffed!

Oh great! Thank you!! I’m so looking forward to this!!!!

 

[Timon]

EDIT: Please be patient while photos load!

Part 2

After exploring the Mega, we headed back to our beautiful ship!

Rob's favourite lunch on the ship is always Cabanas because he likes the wide variety of food. The only problem with that is that they always close by 2pm and I find that with Late Dining especially, we often will miss it. We made sure today that we would not miss it for him!

His lunch:

And here's mine.

I much prefer chicken tenders or a burger or even a hot dog and since I have some anxiety when it comes to crowds, I much prefer eating in the room, watching a show. Rob loves his Cabanas and prefers to eat where he is dining so that he can easily grab more food.

And as much as I hate Cabanas, (germs and crowds are not my friends ) I love my husband so I join him to keep him company.

I wasn't going to get anything actually but then I spotted scalloped potatoes, my fave!! And since I am a meat and potatoes kind of girl, I literally got...meat and potatoes.

This was so good, I went and got more potatoes and I also found some yellow pea soup that tasted very similar to my Gran's so I also enjoyed a small bowl of that.

We texted Kira to let her know that we found grilled shrimp, which is her fave so she left Vibe and joined us for her fave, shrimp and fries.

She went right back to Vibe for an activity that she was looking forward to.

Speaking of Vibe, here's the two days that Kira remembered to get a photo of the activities. She apologizes for not getting all of them for you.

The rest of the afternoon was enjoyed mostly on the verandah. It had cooled down and the views were spectacular.

We eventually moved down to deck 4. One of my favourite things about cruising is sailing in and out of port. I try to never miss it!

We were also watching for pier runners.

It was now past our scheduled departure time so we knew we were waiting on people. When you see an officer in his whites, with a walkie talkie in his hand, staring down the pier, you know it's going to be fun.

Actually, it turned out to be a huge group, so it must be an entire DCL excursion that was running behind otherwise, they typically don't wait.

One of the ladies coming back late yelled up to all of us watching from deck 4 that it wasn't their fault.

It ended up being a very pretty sunset tonight.

Once we started moving, we flipped over to the other side and watched as Cozumel faded into the distance.

Our bed had been turned down while we were watching our sail away. Tonight was pirate night but I knew from watching the morning show on the TV that like our last Christmas cruise, they were not having fireworks tonight. Instead, they would be showing them on Christmas day, with a Christmas theme.

Rob and I were a little peckish so we headed to deck 9. Rob was always on the hunt for his coconut/pineapple ice cream. They have a special flavour every day in addition to the regular chocolate and vanilla.

No luck today but he did grab a twist cone.

We decided to share some chicken strips. I guess it was a special pirate night chicken strip, it had a hook!

Eventually it was dinner time! Out of our 6 Christmas cruises, this was only the second time we actually had the Pirate Night menu. I also noticed that we didn't get the Captain's gala menu all cruise (the big seafood night with lobster) and we didn't in 2021 either so on these Christmas sailings, you seem to either get Captain's Gala or Pirate Night but not both.

I much prefer the Pirate menu, thanks! It has my favourite dessert on a Disney ship, other than Tiana's beignets and Doberge Gateau!

Our head server, Geffrey (my fave!) came by for a visit and Cris was being playful, as always!

Also, it looks like Skip got a little too much sun today.

Kira and Claire both had the kids menu/pirate hat waiting for them at the table.

Kira got her Caesar salad again tonight.

Kira and I both got the pasta but I gladly passed all of the gross seafood over to her.

Cris took the time (and it takes a bit!) to remove the shrimp from the shell for both Kira and I, which was such a lovely gesture. I felt bad because it was pretty time consuming but we had a nice little chat while he did it.

This is a great pasta, I always love it once I unload all of that seacrap!

This was Rob's...

Rob's two desserts.

I think Kira passed on dessert tonight and I got my always-delicious Caramel Cheesecake.

We spotted Hook and Smee in the Atrium as we left the restaurant.

More pool time tonight!

It ended up raining tonight while I was in the pool so Rob moved over in front of Signals to stay dry. That's another little difference between the sister ships, the Magic has a huge cover over both the bar and seating area but the Wonder only has covering over the bar area, not the extended seating area in front.

I did get some hot tub time in tonight as most people were getting ready for the pirate night festivities. I can't recall if the party had already happened but I do know that many people were waiting around to see fireworks.

This is why you watch the morning show.

Another glorious hour of pool time.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our arrival into Progreso, Rob's lack of bartering skills and to see if we finally get to play some dang trivia!

 

[JenLovesMM]

Loving the updates!

You know, out of all the activities you guys do on cruises I think the ones I am most jealous of is just sitting on the deck looking out to sea. I am an East Coast girl and love looking at the sea, I can never get enough! Though like you I don't like seafood.

2nd favorite is when you get the pool to yourself at night. I mean anywhere anytime, being in a pool at night is always the best I think. The only cruise we did, the last night we did the aqua duck over and over followed by pool time. We were the only ones in both. The lifeguards just kept shaking their heads... you crazy Canadians!!

 

[Kanga2Roo]

I think they went to Mr. Sancho's for the day.

Yes we did. it was fun!

Also, it looks like Skip got a little too much sun today.

Yes he did! He spent a lot of time in both the ocean and the pool

 

[bcwife76]

Aww what a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Dinner looked great, pirate night is not my fave menu but I can usually find something

 

[rndmr2]

Nice update. We went to Cozumel on a cruise on our Honeymoon. We went to the Chankanaab Beach/Park (I saw it on the sign/map in one of your pics). It was a nice day.

Seemed like you had a nice day too. Weird to see all the different size/shape coke bottles. I remember when we did our Med cruise in October , the soda bottles were odd shaped and the caps in Italy were weird too. We always had a heck of a time opening them, they had these plastic pieces that would stick out from the side. We eventually figured out that if you knew how to open them the right way (LOL) they became kind of a flip top.

Lots of yummy choices on that Pirate night menu. Love to see the cold fruit soups. That was always something I looked forward to on cruises but haven't had them on the last couple.

Slightly off topic, I have watched and enjoyed the 1st 3 parts of your 25th anniversary cruise videos. Looking forward to more of them and this TR too.

 

[Timon]

Part 1

Today is Progreso day. We were all here together (minus Skip) in December 2021 on the Disney Wonder's first visit here. The actual town of Progreso is just over 4 miles away from where we dock and I have heard that the free bus that takes you there and back is not air conditioned so we didn't do anything last time other than explore the little shop area at the pier.

This was why I was hoping to do an excursion because there's some really cool stuff to do but everything is a 2-3 hours drive, there and then back again.

I popped out onto the verandah as we were sailing in.

The Carnival Valor was already docked when we pulled alongside of the pier.

Rob and I were wanting to have a sit-down breakfast at Lumiere's. We asked everyone to join us but only Jen was up for it that morning.

Rob got all of his favourites...

I had my usual...

And I don't know if this was Jen's or Rob's 5th course?

The three of us then met up with Claire and Kira for some trivia. I think it was a general Disney trivia and some of the questions were really easy and then some of them were really hard! We did a lot better than we thought we would and ended up coming in second place. Again.

We all had decided to get off the ship together and just explore the port area again. Skip stayed behind, I think he was enjoying a quiet adult pool.

We noticed right away that the port area was very busy, so much busier than the last time we were here as the sole ship!

We took turns taking each other's pics at the Progreso sign.

The first shop you go through is my favourite. Once you pass all of the duty-free stuff, there's a big room filled with lots of good stuff. I loved these shirts but sadly they were kid sizes only.

I have recently read that the so-called amazing Mexico vanilla is no better than the generic vanilla you can find in Canada or the USA. I don't know how true that is but I decided to not get any this year.

Jen and Claire went off to find the pharmacy while I headed over to the right to take some pics of our ship.

When I found Rob and Kira again, they were inside a store. As I walked up I heard Rob bartering with this guy about a ring that Kira fell in love with.

I heard him mention something about $150 so I ran up and asked what was going on.

This guy heard Rob say $150 USD and he was off finding a box to put her ring in! I was like "Hold up, I'm the momma bear and she does not have $150!"

Kira had $115 USD in Christmas money from her aunts and uncles but neither of them had even asked about the stones or original price or anything else! So after he answered all of my questions, I asked Kira to make sure she was okay with spending all of her money on this one ring and she said yes so I explained to the guy that she had $115 USD cash on her and that was as high as she was able to go.

Rob is not as frugal as I am and he is much quicker to spend money but I am also trying to teach Kira that money does not grow on trees and that she needs to have a budget for everything and that everything has a value.

I will always make sure she has everything she needs but when it comes to stuff she wants, she needs to learn the value of a dollar and make her own decisions about what she values so although Rob was eager to kick in the $35 for her to get this ring, I was not and I stood my ground. She had $115 and that was her limit. If this guy was not willing to take $115, then we would walk away without the ring and she would learn a valuable lesson.

He eventually accepted the $115 and Kira walked away with a new ring. Was it really worth $115? I highly doubt it but it was her money to spend and she was happy with her purchase.

He ended up giving her a necklace box for her ring, which was super weird.

We eventually found Jen and Claire and then we headed back to the ship.

I tried to get a selfie of all of us and I took about 5 of them but I couldn't see my screen because it was so bright so this was the best one.

You can see Kira showing off her new ring.

As usual, Disney was hard at work taking care of our ship, unlike the rust bucket next door.

Tons of birds were flying around both ships.

Once on board, I we ended up getting lunch for all of us. Blueberry ice cream today, Rob was not sad about this!

Kira did some homework while she munched on her lunch.

Rob was doing his daily affirmations and I think I watched an episode of Lessons In Chemistry. Dang that show was so good, I wish I could watch it all over again for the first time.

Once lunch was done, we spent some time on the balcony where I watched all of the birds flying around us. Pelicans are so cool to watch!

Stay tuned to hear about the rest of our Progreso day.

 

[Kanga2Roo]

And I don't know if this was Jen's or Rob's 5th course?

Robs! LOL

How is the ring. It really was pretty. I hope she is enjoying it still.

 

[bcwife76]

Haha Mama Bear swept in in the nick of time! I'm glad she got the ring at the lower price. It's a shame Progresso is so far from any actual excursion activities. Being on a tour bus for 4-6 hours round trip is not my idea of fun

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Part 1

Today is Progreso day. We were all here together (minus Skip) in December 2021 on the Disney Wonder's first visit here. The actual town of Progreso is just over 4 miles away from where we dock and I have heard that the free bus that takes you there and bag is not air conditioned so we didn't do anything last time other than explore the little shop area at the pier.

This was why I was hoping to do an excursion because there's some really cool stuff to do but everything is a 2-3 hours drive, there and then back again.

I popped out onto the verandah as we were sailing in.

The Carnival Valor was already docked when we pulled alongside of the pier.

Rob and I were wanting to have a sit-down breakfast at Lumiere's. We asked everyone to join us but only Jen was up for it that morning.

Rob got all of his favourites...

I had my usual...

And I don't know if this was Jen's or Rob's 5th course?

The three of us then met up with Claire and Kira for some trivia. I think it was a general Disney trivia and some of the questions were really easy and then some of them were really hard! We did a lot better than we thought we would and ended up coming in second place. Again.

We all had decided to get off the ship together and just explore the port area again. Skip stayed behind, I think he was enjoying a quiet adult pool.

We noticed right away that the port area was very busy, so much busier than the last time we were here as the sole ship!

We took turns taking each other's pics at the Progreso sign.

The first shop you go through is my favourite. Once you pass all of the duty-free stuff, there's a big room filled with lots of good stuff. I loved these shirts but sadly they were kid sizes only.

I have recently read that the so-called amazing Mexico vanilla is no better than the generic vanilla you can find in Canada or the USA. I don't know how true that is but I decided to not get any this year.

Jen and Claire went off to find the pharmacy while I headed over to the right to take some pics of our ship.

When I found Rob and Kira again, they were inside a store. As I walked up I heard Rob bartering with this guy about a ring that Kira fell in love with.

I heard him mention something about $150 so I ran up and asked what was going on.

This guy heard Rob say $150 USD and he was off finding a box to put her ring in! I was like "Hold up, I'm the momma bear and she does not have $150!"

Kira had $115 USD in Christmas money from her aunts and uncles but neither of them had even asked about the stones or original price or anything else! So after he answered all of my questions, I asked Kira to make sure she was okay with spending all of her money on this one ring and she said yes so I explained to the guy that she had $115 USD cash on her and that was as high as she was able to go.

Rob is not as frugal as I am and he is much quicker to spend money but I am also trying to teach Kira that money does not grow on trees and that she needs to have a budget for everything and that everything has a value.

I will always make sure she has everything she needs but when it comes to stuff she wants, she needs to learn the value of a dollar and make her own decisions about what she values so although Rob was eager to kick in the $35 for her to get this ring, I was not and I stood my ground. She had $115 and that was her limit. If this guy was not willing to take $115, then we would walk away without the ring and she would learn a valuable lesson.

He eventually accepted the $115 and Kira walked away with a new ring. Was it really worth $115? I highly doubt it but it was her money to spend and she was happy with her purchase.

He ended up giving her a necklace box for her ring, which was super weird.

We eventually found Jen and Claire and then we headed back to the ship.

I tried to get a selfie of all of us and I took about 5 of them but I couldn't see my screen because it was so bright so this was the best one.

You can see Kira showing off her new ring.

As usual, Disney was hard at work taking care of our ship, unlike the rust bucket next door.

Tons of birds were flying around both ships.

Once on board, I we ended up getting lunch for all of us. Blueberry ice cream today, Rob was not sad about this!

Kira did some homework while she munched on her lunch.

Rob was doing his daily affirmations and I think I watched an episode of Lessons In Chemistry. Dang that show was so good, I wish I could watch it all over again for the first time.

Once lunch was done, we spent some time on the balcony where I watched all of the birds flying around us. Pelicans are so cool to watch!

Stay tuned to hear about the rest of our Progreso day.

I absolutely love that you made Kira stay within budget. That is so important.

 

[Annabell]

Nice trip report, lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Timon]

Thanks for the recommendation - I can write his name down, but how is it pronounced?

It's very close to "surgeon" and he is from Montenegro.

I always wondered what was in that store! Thanks for the pictures, will have to show my husband.

Like you we have been to this port so much we really don’t do much either.

You're very welcome!

I have been meaning to explore that store for quite some time now. It's really handy if you have forgotten anything or need something for the beach, great prices!

I absolutely adore Rapunzels, I think it's now my fave restaurant (just a slight, slight edge over Tiana's for me ).
Gotta love a good roam around a Mega I love that dang chain. It really does have everything

I don't think I can choose between them so I guess I will just have to cruise both ships.

I don't think I have ever seen a Mega anywhere else! Where have you seen them before? Am I just blind?

Firstly, hi! Love reading your report!

I was hoping you might be able to help me with the flow of Palo Brunch… we are finally Gold and were able to get a reservation (yay!), but I’m not clear on how the menu works. I don’t mean to sound greedy (I’m bad with words!), but is it like a free for all? Like you can order anything and everything (if you wanted… not saying I do!!) off the menu? Or is it like one item per section? Or something totally different???

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for reading! Sadiecatie answered your question but I will add that the dinner is more restrictive, they will tell you what you can and can't order whereas the brunch is more free for all and you can ask for whatever you want! Rob once had three bowls of tomato soup!

Don't be afraid to get everything on the menu, you never know what you will like! You can also ask for half-portions for certain items if you know you probably won't like something but still want to try. Enjoy!

Not OP, but I can answer - you can order whatever you like, it's not limited to one item per section. Think of it as basically the same ordering as the MDRs (you can order however many dishes you like), except this one you're paying a flat additional rate rather than it being included in your fare When we went to brunch on our Alaska sailing, our waiter almost seemed disappointed in us that we didn't order multiple desserts, but we were just too stuffed!

Thanks for answering motherdaughtercruisers' question! I only get around to replying every few days.

Loving the updates!

You know, out of all the activities you guys do on cruises I think the ones I am most jealous of is just sitting on the deck looking out to sea. I am an East Coast girl and love looking at the sea, I can never get enough! Though like you I don't like seafood.

2nd favorite is when you get the pool to yourself at night. I mean anywhere anytime, being in a pool at night is always the best I think. The only cruise we did, the last night we did the aqua duck over and over followed by pool time. We were the only ones in both. The lifeguards just kept shaking their heads... you crazy Canadians!!

It's my favourite thing to do, just chill and enjoy the sunrises, sunsets, sail ins and outs! Because we've done so many, we don't feel the need to see and do everything. We do what's important to us now.

And yes, pool time...hallelujah!

On these Galveston cruises especially, I get the pool to myself most nights and I just love it!!!

And I hear you about the lifeguards and us Canucks! I have spent many nights alone in a Disney pool (Universal too!) with the lifeguards all bundled up, enjoying every second!

Yes we did. it was fun!

Yes he did! He spent a lot of time in both the ocean and the pool

I am so glad you guys enjoyed your Cozumel day!

Aww what a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Dinner looked great, pirate night is not my fave menu but I can usually find something

It never was my fave either until I tried that pasta, it is quite delicious! I never tried it because of the seafood but Kira started ordering it a few cruises ago and she left some of her pasta one time and I tried it and thought it was delicious! And also, that cheesecake used to be gross but they changed it up and now I love it! And I even hate macadamia nuts but there's only a few in it and I don't mind them slathered in that delicious caramel.

Nice update. We went to Cozumel on a cruise on our Honeymoon. We went to the Chankanaab Beach/Park (I saw it on the sign/map in one of your pics). It was a nice day.

Seemed like you had a nice day too. Weird to see all the different size/shape coke bottles. I remember when we did our Med cruise in October , the soda bottles were odd shaped and the caps in Italy were weird too. We always had a heck of a time opening them, they had these plastic pieces that would stick out from the side. We eventually figured out that if you knew how to open them the right way (LOL) they became kind of a flip top.

Lots of yummy choices on that Pirate night menu. Love to see the cold fruit soups. That was always something I looked forward to on cruises but haven't had them on the last couple.

Slightly off topic, I have watched and enjoyed the 1st 3 parts of your 25th anniversary cruise videos. Looking forward to more of them and this TR too.

Oh how lovely! We had Chankanaab Dolphin Swim booked in 2007 but it was cancelled due to winds. We ended up doing the VIP swim at Dolphinaris years and years later, which was AMAZING!

That's cool about the coke bottles! And the flip tops too, neat! I've read that over there you only get one bottle, no ice and no refills. Not sure how well I would do with that.

Rob loves his cold fruit soups too! I like my drinks COLD and my food HOT!

Oh, thanks! I am glad you are enjoying them! I am LOVING editing them because it's been a few months now and I am reliving it all over and I am loving it!! We had so much fun! It was a little long for us at 15 nights, we were missing Kira and our doggies but it was so special and so memorable and even though it was long, I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Wait until you see Part 5 video that I just posted. I am STILL not over that scenery and that experience!!! Other than marrying Rob and having Kira, it was the best thing I have ever done in my entire life!!!

I have enabled comments now so feel free to comment over there. I had disabled them because some people are just so mean, I am used to the amazing Disney peeps on this board who are so unbelievably kind and sweet!

Robs! LOL

How is the ring. It really was pretty. I hope she is enjoying it still.

LOL, I had a feeling it was his.

She is loving her ring!

Haha Mama Bear swept in in the nick of time! I'm glad she got the ring at the lower price. It's a shame Progresso is so far from any actual excursion activities. Being on a tour bus for 4-6 hours round trip is not my idea of fun

I didn't mind the price so much but I really did want her to stick to her budget. They gotta learn somehow, right?

Yes! It's tough! I want to do some of those excursions while I still can, I'm getting old and decrepit but my body can't handle those buses for 3-4 hours!

I absolutely love that you made Kira stay within budget. That is so important.

I totally agree!

Nice trip report, lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting!