Friday, September 20, 2019
Cozumel, Mexico
So as we pulled into port this morning, guess which other cruise ship was already there? None other than Norwegian Breakaway. It was like seeing my old home. As you can see in the pics below, our ship was about half her size. In many ways I miss the benefits a bigger ship has to offer like more eatery choices, more activities and more shows. I find myself glad I have a nice balcony cabin on the Armonia 'cause if I had to deal with the four walls syndrome of an inside cabin on this ship, I'd go crazy. I still say we're not a full compliment of passengers but with everyone congregating in the same places all the time, it gets old fast.
At 10:30 I made my way to the theater for excursion roundup and instructions. The instructions were in heavy accented English and a slew of other languages, primarily Spanish and Italian. I did make my way to the right area on the dock and we were escorted to our submarine excursion.
This was freakin' awesome. We took a boat out to the surfaced sub, squeezed into the sub and went exploring the ocean floor seeing all kinds of coral and fish...even a sunken ship! Well worth the $100/person cost. Let the pics and video below speak for themselves.
Walked around the shops near the port a bit after the excursion was over but the hawkers were irritating so I chose to head back to the ship.
Lunch and dinner were on off times so I just grabbed a burger and fries for lunch and a couple slices of pizza for late dinner. But I did have breakfast in the dining room today. Of course was seated next to a couple who spoke no English so it was rather quiet but I enjoyed a fresh made-to-order omelet in relative civility compared to the cattle yard trough on Deck 11.
The first show tonight was scheduled at 9:00 pm so I had plenty of time to catch two movies on the in-room TV, Tomb Raider and Aquaman. Hadn't seen either and wanted to so that was convenient. Captain Marvel was playing in the Business Center "theater" at 10 pm but I was too pooped for that.
As for the show, it was a variety show put on by the crew staff. Nice but relying on old slapstick routines that no doubt hearken back to the age of vaudeville, pantomiming drunk "clowns" hearkening back to, in the US anyway, a now forbidden less PC era in the vein of comedians like Foster Brooks and a bit of male cross-dressing. Yes, straight men "comically" appearing in ill-fitting dress, wig and faux boobs for laughs, hearkening back to the age of Milton Burle. All I have to say is...you won't see this on Norwegian or Royal Caribbean, that's for sure. MSC once again proves it sails to the beat of its own quirky drummer.