We slept in till 10 am, then we went to the Marketplace to have our brunch. The ship docked at Mahogany Bay.
Carnival Magic was right next to us.
Our port side stateroom could see the chairlifts from the terminal to the beach nearby. The ride on the chairlift is 6 minutes long.
We had a ship excursion with the meeting time of 1:15pm at the plaza right outside the terminal. It was HOT!
There were some natives playing drums with dancers.
We boarded the minibus from Gumbalimba Park. The air-conditioning was good but it was very squished.
The journey took 45 minutes. The excursion that we chose was clear kayaking & snorkelling at Gumbalimba Park.
The park was also famous for its zip line, birds & monkeys but we didn’t have time for those.We paid US$3 to get a locker & started snorkelling right away.
Our own full-faced masks worked nicely. The ship had these for sale for $60, but they were not Tribord like what I have. Mine didn’t steam up easily so it’s very good.
The water was very clear & the 2 guides were very responsible to take care of 15 of us. As I am not a good swimmer, I stayed close to Guide Kenfor & at times I could hold on to the float that he had. There were lots of corals but they were not as colourful as those that we saw in Bora Bora & Tahiti.
My husband even found 2 conchs.
After a 10-minute break, we went kayaking on a 2-person clear bottom kayak. It was an easy trip to the other beach on West Bay, with a pretty good view of different corals that we didn’t see during snorkelling.
We spent about 2 hours at the park before returning to the bus. They had fresh water showers there but the water was quite cold. We waited at the “Bus to Princess” area for the minibus to take us back to the pier. Although there were many tour groups from different cruise ships like Norwegian Getaway & Carnival Magic, the park labelled each waiting area very clearly so guests wouldn’t get mixed up. I strongly recommend to pay $20 more to go with the ship rather than privately.
It was good that we booked specialty dining at Steamers for 7 pm, otherwise it would be extremely rushed to eat at our usual dinner time at 5:45 pm. We got back to the ship at 5:30 pm, so we had time to take a shower leisurely.
Dinner at Steamers was amazing! The cover charge for an appetizer, a main course & a dessert is $12. To add a lobster tail & king crabs was an additional $10. Here is the menu:
The chowder was good. The fried seafood platter was above average but I would recommend paying the extra $10 for the mouth-watering lobster & king crab.
My husband & I shared the food & we were so full that we just tasted a little bit of the key lime pie in a jar.
We went to the show by a passionate & energetic entertainer, Nathan Foley, from Australia. He was excellent but I’m not a big fan of Rock & Roll.
We spent the rest of the night at the Lobby Bar on Deck 5 next to the International Cafe. The bartender, Sawat, was awesome & went all the way to Deck 7 to get us nuts even after their closing time at 11 pm. We love staying at the Piazza late at night that it’s quiet down there, but we could still hear the remote sound of the vocal & piano player singing on Deck 7. Looking forward to Costa Maya tomorrow, our 1st time there.
Travel with Wismergirl 