Cruising, sunshine and vitamin sea

By John Toth

The Bulletin

After my sixth cruise in two or three years, I am finding myself to be a guide to other cruisers not as seasoned.

In cruising years, my experience is minimal. I’ve come across people who have cruised more than 30 times.

In their eyes, I’m just a baby, still learning to walk. But in the eyes of first-time cruisers, I am now the equivalent of Professor Cruiser.

On Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas, on which we cruised recently, Sharon and I came across several first-timers and engaged them in conversations. I’m glad we did, because we were able to straighten out a few things for them.

One of the first things I mention is that when we get off the ship at a port, I love to walk between the massive ships.

That’s the first time we can really see how our ship looks like on the outside.

Take a few minutes to snap a few photos of the ships and you,” I usually recommend. “You’ll be glad you did.”

It is humbling to have the ships tower over us. To the people who work on cruise ships or ports, it’s an everyday thing. To me, it is fascinating. It never gets old.

 “I’ve heard that there will be 25 ships, each with 2,000 people in Cozumel,” said one freshman cruiser during lunch or breakfast. “That’s a lot of people.”

We were on a 5-day cruise to the Western Caribbean, with port calls to Porta Maya and Cozumel, both in Mexico.

That number is a little off, I replied, and explained that at the most, four ships dock in Costa Maya.

As it turned out, there were three ships porting on the day we were there. Together, the total capacity of those ships was about 13,000 passengers.

That’s still a lot for Costa Maya, where the port is packed even with only two ships. It’s hard to get around.It’s my least favorite port, so far. Many cruisers just stay on the ship there.

I explained all this to the fellow cruiser, and still she insisted that there would be 25 ships there. I did not see her after the port stop, but I’d bet she was surprised to see only three ships.

“This is my first time cruising,” said another woman at lunch. “I didn’t know it would be this rocky.”

The ship rocked for the first two days as we sailed through some rough seas in the Gulf of Mexico.

 I was taking motion sickness pills on those days and felt fine. It was the rockiest two days I’ve experienced cruising.

“This is a smaller-class ship. Usually, it’s smooth sailing,” I said.

We have been on a ship that sailed through a storm, which later became a hurricane. It was rocking, but not as much as Mariner. We walked in hallways looking like drunks. Those who bought the drink package didn’t mind, though.

I have to give credit to the ice-skating cast on the ship for performing two shows when the ship rocked the most.

I missed those performances, but caught the later ones when the ship was completely still.

 I can’t imagine how a skater can do a double axle while the ship moves that much, but they did.

We missed the ice-skating shows that day because we both fell asleep late afternoon and did not wake up until the next morning. Recovering from partying into the night takes a little longer as you get older. But it’s still a lot of fun.

“I heard that in Mexico they only take pesos,” said another newby who was worried that she would have to convert dollars to pesos somewhere.

I was so glad that fate brought us together, because that is as wrong as 25 ships pulling into port on the same day.

“I have only paid in Mexican ports with American dollars. You don’t need to buy pesos,” I said.

Tourist businesses in Mexico in and outside the ports gladly take dollars. Most of the items are priced in dollars and pesos, (and they are probably marked up about 300 percent).

A  street peddler in Cozumel,    whose booth has become a must stop for Sharon, only quoted us prices in dollars. After we hesitated, he quoted the price in fewer dollars. Sharon, my wife, co-publisher and travel editor, is a fan of aquatic-styled necklaces, and this booth is filled with them, starting at $1. Of course, we had to buy one for $10, but that’s O.K. We were tourists. That’s how vendors make their living.

Professor Cruiser did his duty on this cruise, all free of charge. It was actually a lot of fun.

I have jotted down some more observations while on this cruise and will expand on them in future columns.

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