Cozumel... foiled again!

 March 17, 2010

Today is our day in Cozumel, Mexico. We are planning to go to Chankanaab Park and do some snorkeling and lying out in the sun. (We were once in Cozumel on a cruise before, but I had heat stroke, and didn't make it more than 100 feet from the ship before we had to turn around again… so we are looking forward to seeing the island).

When we get up in the morning we notice that it is very dark and cloudy. We head up to deck 14 and eat breakfast inside today (too windy). I have a pain au chocolat (it was okay but Bubby Rose’s Bakery in Cook Street Village makes 'em a million times tastier) and Steve tries out the waffles, and omelet, and turkey sausage, and cereal, and a lot more stuff...

We meet Joezer and Jedith as we leave the ship to go to Chankanaab Park. When we get off the ship it is clear that this is not the day for snorkeling (dark clouds, lots of wind, waves crashing against the shore), so we split up and Steve and I look at some of the shops. Steve was very interested in looking at some wallets until we discovered they were $74.00 US each… seriously… I wouldn’t even pay that much for a wallet at home. It starts pouring rain, we look at some more souvenir stuff (buy nothing), and decide to head back to the ship to watch a movie or something.

No snorkelling today!

When we get back on the ship one of us has the brilliant idea to go sit in the hot tubs (I can’t remember who’s idea it was, so Steve will say it was his idea… he does take advantage of it when I don’t remember stuff!!!) We sit in the hot tub out on the open deck, which was quite nice. Even though it’s raining it’s still medium warm.

After we’ve sat out in the hot tub for a while Mr. ADHD decides to go play in the fountain and check all the other hot tubs to see if any are warmer. When he discovers they are all the same he comes back to sit with me for a while.

Next, we go and sit in our favourite chair inside the solarium and read our books. Steve decides to go hang his legs in one of the indoor hot tubs and when he comes back he has sushi! Who knew you could just laze around in the solarium and have sushi? Then he takes our dishes away and comes back with pizza, cake, cookies and some M&M’s 😀 This is what I call service! (See the ADHD works in my favour… when Steve can’t sit still he goes and gets stuff for me!!)

We go back to our room and have a nap (it’s been an arduous day 😉). Steve plans to go to the gym before dinner, but just resets the alarm when it goes off.

Tonight, we have our prize dinner (from Steve’s superstar dancing!) in the specialty restaurant, The Tuscan Grille.

ALERT: If you are not interested in hearing every detail of what we ate, skip ahead!

There are not words to describe how very amazing the food and service was in this restaurant. Probably the best restaurant we’ve ever been to. There were multiple people taking care of us, and one assistant waiter who basically stood about 10 feet away from the table watching the three tables she was taking care of to make sure they didn’t need anything. Steve’s water got low and she filled it up right away… if you’ve seen Steve drink water you know this is pretty much a full time job!

We start with the breadbasket and a little dish of olives, sun-dried tomato tapenade and garlic. Then they brought us an antipasti platter with prosciutto, cheese, marinated peppers, olives, grilled zucchini and cantaloupe. (I’m worried now… I haven’t even got my appetizer and I’m getting full!) We have an excellent glass of Sangiovese and then our appetizers arrive. Steve gets five crustinis with different toppings including an amazing olive tapenade, and I get crab mixed with cheese and something else. SO GOOD! As we are eating we talk to one of the servers from Thailand and she tells us where to go in her country, and then another from the Philippines who assures us his country is cheap and safe to visit! Then it is time for the Caesar Salad. The guy (a new one we haven’t seen before) comes and makes it beside the table… you get to pick how much dressing you want, and how much cheese, anchovies and croutons you want. He also entertains us with the story of Caesar Salad. Yum again, but I don’t totally finish mine as there is still main course and dessert. Main course arrives. Steve gets some kind of mixed grill with Veal, Lamb, Chicken and Italian Sausage. It is the only lamb I’ve ever really liked. I get a NY Strip Steak, which was REALLY good. I also get paprika salted fries with mine. These are the best fries I have ever had! The insides are just the right softness, the outside is just the right crispiness and the paprika salt coating is very very tasty! I am STUFFED at this point, so eat a reasonable amount, but there is no way I can finish it! I’m thinking I might not even be able to squeeze in dessert, but read the menu just in case. Chocolate Fondue!!!! I think I can squeeze a little more in 😉. Steve has the caramel Panacotta (sp?) which was to die for by the way, and I order the chocolate fondue. HOLY! It had marshmallows, strawberries, pineapple, bananas and a chocolate brownie to dip in the warm dark Belgian chocolate. There are not even words to describe it! This is definitely the best dinner we’ve had in ages, if not ever. At the end of the meal, our waitress came and asked us "So tell me, What are you famous for tonight?". We didn’t know what she meant at first…she was from Serbia and Steve thought she was mixing up her ‘English’ and was trying to say, “So tell me, what was your favourite part of you meal tonight?”… until she explained that she saw our meal was complimentary. I told her Steve was the winner of the dance contest. (This gets me thinking that I should get Steve to dance for my dinner more often!!!) I’m glad we did it at the end of the cruise because it makes the other food we’ve eaten seem “blah”.

At our fancy dinner!

Next we head down to the show, which is a comedian and a violinist (not at the same time). The comedian is mediocre… in the middle he made some kind of joke about what a dead crowd we were… I thought that if he was funny than maybe people would laugh more… just my opinion. 😉 Next was the violinist who was excellent.

Steve and I both think that since we did nothing today and napped that we could go out dancing. Turns out neither of us want to, we’re both sleepy. So we head to bed and fall asleep… well I did… Steve probably watched some more cheesy movies 😄