HEADING FOR HOME

March 7, 2019

Because we have to pack up and put our suitcases out into the hall tomorrow night after supper, this will be the last blog for this cruise, but these nightly ramblings will continue in April as we sail towards Rome.

We arrived in Cozumel at 10 o’clock this morning and took our position along with six other cruise ships.  That works out to around 20,000 guests, give or take, and 14,000 crew, more or less, invading an island with a stable population of only 49,000.  And one week from tomorrow there will be 9 ships in port, including the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas with 6,700 guests and 2,200 crew.  If we thought today was crowded!

We got to the Lido Deck around 8:30 and when we had finished we went down to Deck 3 to watch the Valor glide into her berth and tie up.  That is always fun to see.  It is always the same every time, but fun nevertheless.  There is a precision to the work.  The Captain maneuvers the ship up to her berth with small engines called azapods (speeling?) that pushes sideways, eliminating the need for tub boats.  Then ropes are thrown ashore and tied off on pylons, three sets of ropes fore, and three sets aft.  After that the customs agents swarm on board, check the papers, give the all clear and then head for the Lido.  Gang ways are put out and secured and then the “all ashore that’s going ashore” is given.  Fun to watch.

I had to go to Guest Relations to check on my reimbursement for shuttle tickets to and from the port.  It was a complicated situation, made unnecessarily so by a woman whose name tag I couldn’t read but whose accent sounded very Russian. And those of you who have traveled with me to the Rodina know that Russian women are always right, even when they are demonstrably wrong.  I showed her the papers from Carnival’s home office telling her what to do and she did what she wanted.  At Guest Relations they had no record of my request, and so the agent dialed the home office where I spoke to the woman who gave me the instructions in the first place.  A phone call was placed to the crew office and I don’t know if Ludmilla answered the phone or not, but the Entertainment Director and I spoke to another agent who said he had received a phone call and an email and all would be taken care of.  I wish Ludmilla had answered the phone.

Next it was off to find the spot from which our shore excursion would depart, and find it we did.  Together with 30 other travelers we went to the Mayan site of San Gervasio.  San Gervasio is not the Mayan name (I forget the word, but the translation is “flat land”).  Senior Gervasio was a Spanish gentlemen who claimed several hundred square acres of Cozumel, looking for gold.  In the Aztec cities, gold was hidden under the floor of the temples and other structures.  Mayan’s didn’t value gold as the Aztecs did, hence there was no gold.  But in looking for it Mr. Gervasio dynamited the temples which would then lay in ruins for 100 years before archaeologists began the reconstruction.

San Gervasio was a major Mayan site, even though it is on an island 17 miles off of the mainland.  The central part of the city was a temple dedicated to Ixhel (I know that’s not spelled right, but it is pronounced Eshell), the goddess of fertility.  Women wanting to become pregnant or women who wanted their pregnancy blessed would come during the days of the full moon and make sacrifices.

Some of the original decorations are still in place.  Mr. Gervasio having missed blowing those up.

Enough history.  We had a nice bus ride to a stop along the Caribbean where we got some great pictures and passed up an opportunity to buy souvenirs.  After the photo stop we drove another 30 minutes to the archaeological site where we only had an hour to look at all of the buildings (and of course 20 minutes to look for souvenirs which we once again eschewed – we both wished we had had more time to enjoy all of the buildings).  The last stop, about 15 minutes away was a late lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant.  We don’t remember what the food was called, but it was good.

We got back on board in time to go to supper, after which we decided to miss the magician/illusionist whom we have seen before.  Worn out from the day, my cruise buddy is asleep, so this will be your only account of the doings.

And so, TTFN