Our Fabulous Liberty Cruise: Photo Review Part 4 (Cruise Day 3- Cozumel)

Honestly....I could not have asked for a more perfect day than we had in Cozumel.

I was pretty worried about this port stop because we only had one port of call for the entire cruise. We really wanted to see the island, have a bright, sunny day, and be able to enjoy a white-sand beach and sparkling blue water. I wasn't asking for much, right?


After hours on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor, I decided to split the day into two separate trips. We hired a driver for the day, to take us to the San Gervasio Ruins, Tequila Tasting, and some leisurely driving, then asked to be dropped off at Mr. Sancho's all-inclusive for the rest of the day. We would take our own taxi back to the ship. For the sake of simplicity, I calculated the price of the entire day, split it into threes, and gave the ladies one price that covered everything we were to see.

Booking the driver for the day was a quick and simple process. I filled out the online form, and received a confirmation within a day. I paid the deposit with no issues, and received confirmation that Alberto was to be our driver. I actually emailed them a couple times to tweak our itinerary as I researched more and more, and they were patient, kind, and willing to assist in any way they could. It was a pleasure to work with them. I plan to book with them again when Wes and I sail the Allure this year.

Our day started bright and early at 7 AM ET. Cozumel was on Central time, but we left our watches and phones on EST to keep track of when we needed to get back. We surely didn't want to miss the ship! This channel on the TV served as a "window" for us a lot of mornings.














We got dressed quickly and headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast. While waiting for the elevator, we broke into song... I don't remember what we were singing, but we were feeling a little giddy for the day ahead!

Crystal singing:

Rae dancing:

Me singing too:

The Windjammer was a madhouse! Full of people, just like us, who waited till the last minute to have breakfast . We made our plates and found three chairs at one of those bar-like tables on the edge of the carpeted area. No biggie, we wouldn't be there long anyway. We scarfed down breakfast and Crystal ran to get a towel from the pool deck. I like to exchange my beach towel in the evening, so it's fresh for the morning. 

We made our way to the Gangway on Deck 1, and exited the ship to find that it was a gorgeous day in Cozumel. We were in port with the Jewel of the Seas, which was dwarfed by the Liberty. I didn't realize how much smaller the Radiance class was compared to the Freedom class. We sailed the Serenade twice and had a fabulous time. Each class has something unique and wonderful about it. I'm sure we'll sail the Radiance class again in the future. It will likely be more for the ports, since they can dock at islands the larger ships can't.

The Liberty is on the left, Jewel on the right:















We headed for the pier exit to meet Alberto. It took us a while to find where we were supposed to go, and we walked through the market area in the midst of a bunch of compliments. One thing is for sure...they're not shy in Cozumel!

Found Alberto holding a sign with my name on it. We shook hands, and he led us to a bench in the shade (it was hot already!) to wait while he brought the car around.

There's Alberto and his taxi:

He drove us out of the port area and pulled over to discuss what we wanted to do for the day. He already had the itinerary I requested and confirmed what we wanted to see. He also showed us a map of the island, and gave us some perspective on where we were headed relative to the rest of Cozumel.





I forgot to note that we met Alberto at 8:30 AM ET.

The first thing we wanted to see was the ruins, but it was still a little early. So we drove through town a bit, and Alberto asked us questions to get to know us a little. He also told us a bit about himself, and a lot about daily life here. We were all surprised to learn that he had only been speaking English for two years. He sounded like he had been speaking it for much longer than that.

It was a beautiful day. We noticed a Carnival ship arriving to the island:



Alberto pulled over for a second so we could see the Air Force base. I liked the stop sign out front, and the plane with the shark teeth was pretty cool:








After about another 5 minute drive, Alberto parked once more. We had a scenic stop for photos, and a monument to the history of Cozumel was across the street. He also showed us photos of his adorable daughter. She's beautiful!

If I recall correctly, this monument talks about the beginnings of Cozumel, and how Spanish Catholics came to the island. On the left is a Spanish priest, to the right is a Maya leader, and at the bottom is a mother and her child, bringing offerings and gifts.

Statue of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a conquistador who came to Cozumel.







 
 We made one more stop at another monument to the history and culture of Cozumel. A gorgeous site:

So we took about 20 minutes to get to San Gervasio. We decided on these ruins because we didn't want to take the entire day to get to Tulum, but wanted to see some ruins that had historical significance. San Gervasio was built to worship the Mayan goddess Ix-Chel, the deity of fertility. People would go there to make offerings a couple times per year.

If you're going to go there, I recommend hiring a driver. The long road leading to the ruins was extremely bumpy, I wouldn't want to drive it myself, and I certainly wouldn't want to ride a scooter! That's just me.






I think we were some of the first people to arrive at the ruins. They only had one tour guide yet, and they asked me if we were sure we wanted to go with him because he wasn't the best one they had. We thought a guide would be very helpful and beneficial so we agreed to go with him.

We each paid $8 USD to enter the ruins. For some reason, we paid $4 at one desk, then another $4 at a desk closer to the entrance to the ruins. The guide was $18, and we paid him at the end of the tour. We ran to the restroom (very clean) before proceeding.

Our tour guide was a nice older man who was very kind.

I feel soooo bad....but we couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying. And, he took a very long time to lead us around....it was supposed to be an hour long tour, and ended up being close to two hours. That was a little frustrating since we only had Alberto for three hours, originally. We didn't want to cut him off so we stayed. Looking back, we should have said something. He did give us an appreciation of the mathematical brilliance the Maya had, as well as the deep sense of pride he had in his culture and history. We got a pretty good idea of the meaning behind the ruins and what most things there were for. We had the chance to take some great photos. It's an incredibly quiet and peaceful area. There were only about 5 other people there when we arrived, so we had the ruins to ourselves. Just beautiful.




Manitas structure, likely a residence. Note the red-colored hand prints on the walls.


















There were several cute iguanas around. We would walk along the paths and not even see them until they were just about under our feet. They didn't move either, like they were thinking, "You're in MY home..YOU move!"














 This was used to grind food. Talk about an industrial-sized mortar and pestle!



We almost stepped on this big guy. Didn't see him until this moment:







El Arco: this arch was the main entrance to the ruins. The guide said the road leading to this arch was several miles long. People would walk for a day, then camp at night to rest, and do this a couple times to reach the arch and this site.






Our guide gave us each one of these flowers:











 Some more photos around the ruins. They're not very big, but I think it's worth spending an hour or so here:


















On our way back, we noticed the most beautiful butterfly. Can you see it?


 So we made our way to the exit and paid our guide. We did a little shopping there. I got my Mom some pure vanilla for $12 (a popular purchase in Cozumel), in the jewelry and artwork shop. There was this very raunchy T-shirt shop that we visited, since Rae's Mom loves a great shirt as a souvenir. I was so excited when I looked up and saw lots of luchador masks. For those of you not familiar with these, they're masks that Mexican wrestlers wear when in the ring. Here are some examples. My husband and I always crack jokes from the film Nacho Libre, so I KNEW he would be so happy to have one. Rae and I were cracking up since the two of us and our husbands watched the movie together.

One thing I learned about Coz is if you're okay walking away from someone when they give you a price...the price comes down pretty quickly, lol! I wasn't even planning to haggle, but whenever I walked away from an item, the seller came back with a lower price.

I said that to say, I asked for the price of the mask, and it was $15. I decided to walk around the shop a little more to decide if I wanted to get the mask, and the shop owner said, Ok I'll give it to you for $10. SOLD!

By the way, Wes was so happy when he got the mask. He's actually following this review so perhaps we can convince him to let me post the pic of him in the mask?








 Because of the length of time in San Gervasio, we had to decide whether to head straight to Mr. Sancho's, or hire Alberto for another hour. I'm so glad we decided to remain with him one more hour. Our next stop was Hacienda Antigua, the tequila tour on the island. So. Much. Fun! I'm glad we didn't skip this one. I think it was less than a 10 minute ride away if I recall correctly.



This man came out and shouted, "Welcome to the tequilaaaaa!!!! Yeeeeaaaaah!!" Accent and all. And he jumped right into my photo. It was hilarious!



 So the price normally listed for the tour and tasting is $14 per person, but they had us pay $10 per person. I don't know if they say that to everyone, or if it was just a special of the day, so budget to bring $14 pp.

We were led to this beautiful open-air restaurant to the left, where three ice-cold margaritas were waiting for us. That was the best I've ever had! Perfectly smooth, sweet, and tart at the same time. It was delicious. There was a beautiful breeze, we sat here for about 10 minutes or so and relaxed while we enjoyed our drinks.











 Hilarious!





This is when we met Francisco, our tour guide for the day. There were the three of us and a Canadian couple on the tour. We were, again, some of the first people there, so we had the property pretty much to ourselves. Loved it!

Francisco had a wonderful personality, and was a great teacher. He's actually a lawyer in Mexico City who comes out to Cozumel often to do these tours. We were able to take our unfinished margaritas with us.

He led us to the agave plants on the property to show us that good tequila comes from blue agave. You can see it behind him.

He also showed us a map of where the blue agave can be found. It's not found on Cozumel, but they planted a few here so we could see the real plants. The tequila is made in Mexico and shipped here to Cozumel.

Something cool we learned is that if someone tries to sell you tequila with the worm in the bottle, that's not real tequila. That's mescal, made from a green agave plant. You should look at the back of the bottle; if it doesn't say made from 100% agave, it's not authentic. Tequila must come from a certain place in Mexico, just like real champagne has to come from a certain location in France. Luckily, we were in the right place for real tequila! 

When I sat to take a picture, Francisco jumped right into the photo and said, "Today, I am a lucky man." ROFL...










 
He quickly led us through the tequila-making process. He was short and to the point, and explained, "I know you want to get to the fun part, right?! Glug-Glug-Glug, right??!! Hahaa!!" In spite of the speed of the tour, it was very informative and interesting.

That pineapple-looking part at the base of the plant is what's used to make the tequila.

Time to taste the tequila!

Francisco had bottles of tequila waiting with pumps, and small cups for tasting. He gave us about 3-5 squirts of each. We tried 6 different varieties. Our favorite was light blue...actually it was the one used in our margaritas. We each got a bottle of that one, for $12.










These were pretty cool souvenirs. Each strand had all 6 varieties we tried. Crystal bought one of these.


 As we made our purchases, we noticed that the crowds were arriving. Lots of tours in groups of about 20. I would have been frustrated trying to hear everything if I got stuck at the back of the line. It pays to do your research, and book a private tour so you can really enjoy every second of the tour. Since we're not comfortable driving outside the USA, I think we'll hire a driver whenever we're in Cozumel from now on.

We said goodbye to Francisco, and made our way to the exit. We came upon a couple dressed up in traditional Mexican gear, who offered visitors the chance to take a photo for tips. We all took one and tipped them.

The man asked Rae if she would like a Mexican husband. He looked heartbroken when she said she was already married, lol!










 We met back with Alberto and he took us to Mr. Sancho's. It was about a 20 minute drive there. Along the way, he told us a bit about life in Cozumel, where he dreams of vacationing one day with his daughter (Disney World!), and some history. My only regret about this day is that we didn't spend more time with him. I'm thinking my husband and I will have to spend the day with him when we return.

One thing he noted is that a lot of people in Cozumel sleep in hammocks, instead of beds. It's so hot and humid there that I can imagine how much nicer a hammock would be than a bed.

Photos of the homes, taken from a moving car. I think the camera did pretty well:

Love the Coca-Cola truck. The ad says, "Enjoy!"

We stopped in front of various resorts and excursion locations, and Alberto gave us an idea of the pricing if we wanted to come back and stay for a land vacation. We can really see ourselves doing that in the future.

Looks like there are some nice snorkeling spots on the side of the road in this area. A lot of people rented their own cars and drove to this area to snorkel on their own.











We finally reached Mr. Sancho's!








We said our goodbyes to Alberto, and he walked us inside to make sure we were well taken care of. He was awesome, can't wait to book with him again!











I booked our time at Mr. Sancho's ahead of time, at Cozumel Water Sports. I chose this spot because it seemed like it was a little more lively than Nachi, and that's right up our alley. The cost was $45 pp for the all-inclusive side of the resort. My deposit was $5 pp, and I had to bring my deposit receipt so I could pay the balance of our fare.

I paid our fare, and we each received a bracelet to wear that let everyone know we were AI. The area is beautiful:











 We were able to quickly find three lounge chairs right on the edge of the water. Rae needed an umbrella, and she was able to rent one for $10. They asked for $10 cash, and another $10 deposit you got back when you returned the umbrella. She gave them a $20, and a server came to set the umbrella up for her, as well as take our drink orders.

I tried the Dirty Monkey....didn't like it that much, so I asked for a strawberry margarita instead. Rae liked her Pina Colada. We enjoyed the scenery and took several photos for a while. The water was the perfect temperature. Crystal went to explore a bit.













There was a guy holding an iguana who offered to take your pic with it for a fee. It was wearing a diaper, he said it was just for the sake of the pictures We said no thanks.






By the time Crystal returned, we were hungry, so we moved to the tables and chairs so we could order lunch.







So much to choose from! We gave our orders and relaxed a bit with our drinks. Crystal's entire meal came out first, so we shared her fries while we waited for ours. She had coconut shrimp, cheese quesadillas (I think), and Caribbean fries. The fries were yummy, and the coconut shrimp so good that I had to order some. I don't normally like coconut shrimp, but they were very fresh, and didn't have a lot of batter. You could really taste the shrimp, and the coconut accented them rather than overpowered them.

Banana Mama- still not quite right. I tried a Miami Vice next and had finally found my drink!


 I had the shrimp ceviche and shrimp cocktail. The cocktail sauce was closer to a barbecue sauce flavor than actual horseradish and ketchup. I ordered nachos with salsa but never got them. No biggie, I just ordered the coconut shrimp instead. Rae had the beef nachos, very good too.


















My Miami Vice


We all tried a couple more things and shared them.

Coconut Shrimp



Whole Fried Fish

Beef Fajitas


So one of the workers came by holding two parrots, and asked if anyone would like to take a picture for $15. Crystal said she would take the picture, if he would follow her around to take some shots of her around the property for $10. She had some poses in mind and wanted us to be able to enjoy the resort. I was so amused when he said yes. She took several shots and they were really nice. In one pose, she was laying on the beach, face to the sky, with a fierce model face. She had some of the women on the beach shouting, "That's right honey, you do your thang!" Such a diva, I love her. If she sends them to me, perhaps I'll post a few of her photos.

In the meantime, Rae and I went into the water. We also got a kayak (included in the price) and did some rowing. I had never done that before, but I def will in the future. It was so much fun and really serene far out in the water. Crystal came back in time to catch a couple pics of us.






Crystal did a little more shopping and found a dress for the white party that night. She was so happy, and the dress was perfect. We swam a bit more, then got ready to leave the resort at 4:30 PM ET. All-aboard was at 5:30, and the ship was about 15 minutes away. I like to try and be back to the ship at least 30 minutes before the all-aboard.

Our last few minutes at Mr. Sancho's:












We got a taxi at the entrance back to the cruise terminal. The cost was $15 total.














Love, love, LOVE these shots because they show how huge the ships are relative to people. Crystal and Rae are in the center:

So on our return, Rae and Crystal returned to the room, but I wanted to watch sailaway. I took some shots of the pool deck of the Jewel from deck 12 on the Liberty. I couldn't believe that we were looking down into the Jewel's pool deck.








Bye-bye Cozumel! We'll be back










I went to the spa for the steamroom again, and got back to find the ladies prepping for dinner. Tonight was the white party, so we dressed for the entire evening before dinner. Loved our outfits, I think we looked great and stood out quite a bit. Thanks to CC, we were aware of the white party and could dress accordingly. Each of us wore a white dress

Dinner was nice tonight, as always:

Scallop Risotto:

Caprese Salad:

Caesar Salad:

Antipasti:

Roasted Garlic Soup:


We all had the garlic tiger shrimp, which was fabulous. The sauce from the shrimp seeped into the perfectly cooked rice. There was a little sauteed spinach in garlic, and some steamed asparagus as well. Yum!



Crystal tried the lamb shank as well. It fell right off the bone!



Our beautiful Head Waiter came over to take the shells off our shrimp before we ate. She noticed me taking a pic and smiled for the photo:


I had the tiramisu for dessert. Pretty good, I liked Sorrento's version a bit better:

The wait staff did the parade on this night:

 We wandered the ship and took some pics before the Love and Marriage game show.








The couples in the show had been married for (left to right) 4 days, 19 years, and 51 years. So many funny responses. It was pretty obvious that the youngest husband had a LOT to learn!





Took the elevators up to Deck 11, for the White Party. There was a simple buffet and lots of great music. It was fun to dance at night on the pool deck.









 







We spent the rest of the evening in the Catacombs. It was so cute, an old lady came in with her walker. Everyone cleared a path in the dance floor and cheered her on as she made her lap through the club






 ...and so that's it for our day in Cozumel! It was amazing. Couldn't ask for more.

Feel free to ask questions, I still have two days left: our last sea day, and then a full day in Fort Lauderdale since our flights didn't leave until 8 and 9 PM.



For part 5, click here.