Mayan Adventure Tour with Aventuras Mayas

My main goal for our Cancun trip was to swim in a cenote. A cenote is a natural freshwater pool created when the limestone rock that makes up the soil of the Yucatan Peninsula collapses into the aquifer. There are thousands of cenotes near Cancun, but most of the cenote tours I found when I was researching were part of a day trip to Tulum or Chichen Itza. Then I read about the Mayan Adventure tour with Aventuras Mayas, which included snorkeling in three different ecosystems – a lagoon, an underground cenote, and an open-air cenote with a zipline into the water. It was exactly what I was looking for!

Beach Palace Cancun

As we flew over Isla Mujeres and into Cancun, we got our first glimpse of that spectacular blue water, a dozen shades of turquoise dotted with tiny white boats. I couldn’t wait to get to the beach! We would be spending the next five days at Beach Palace, an all-inclusive resort on the north end of the Hotel Zone, across from La Isla Mall and the new ferris wheel. We’d stayed at Beach Palace in 2013, and I still remembered how we'd loved the beautiful beach, our huge balcony, and the rooftop bar.

Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres means “Island of Women”. It was given the name by Francisco Hernandez Cordova, who discovered the island in 1517 and found many carved statues of women made by the Mayans to honor Ixchel, the goddess of childbirth and medicine. Although the island is only twelve miles from Cancun's Hotel Zone, it has a more laid-back, local vibe. We’d been to Isla Mujeres once before, on our first trip to Cancun in 2012. Since we were with a tour group, we didn’t have as much time to explore as we would have liked. This time, we thought we’d take the Ultramar ferry to the island so that we could set our own schedule and see some of the things we’d missed.

Secrets the Vine

After a very early flight to Cancun, Ron and I arrived at Secrets the Vine at 10 in the morning. Fortunately, we’d planned ahead and packed bathing suits in our backpacks so we didn’t have to wait until our room was ready for vacation to start. Within half an hour, I was lounging by the pool with my first mojito, where I spent most of the next four days.

Secrets the Vine is an all-inclusive, high-rise hotel in Cancun’s Hotel Zone. Our room was on the 18th floor, which was actually the 11th floor. That was because the first floor of guest rooms, the 3rd floor, was called the 10th floor so that all the room numbers could be 4-digits. Confusing… Regardless of floor number, it was a nice room with two queen beds, a mini-bar, complimentary robes, and tons of storage. One thing we found weird about the room was that the wall separating the sleeping area from the shower was made out of glass, and so were the walls around the toilet. The glass had strategically-placed opaque areas, but it still wasn’t very private.

Our Return to Cruising on Serenade of the Seas

Tampa

Our last cruise was in February 2020. And then COVID… I didn’t realize how much I would miss cruising. I missed getting on a ship and not worrying about anything for the next few days. I missed sitting on the balcony watching the waves. I missed the casinos, escargot at dinner and towel animals. I missed the color of the deep, blue water. I knew that with the COVID protocols, this cruise would be a bit different than cruises in the “before” days, but I was ready to give it a shot!

We got to the port at our 12:30 check-in time. Even with assigned check-in times and the ship at half capacity, it took a while to get through the line because the staff had to review everyone’s vaccination cards and COVID test results. But we were having lunch at one of the outdoor tables at the back of the Windjammer by 1:30. I remember loving those tables when we sailed on Jewel of the Seas, Serenade’s sister ship. Between the outdoor seating, the helipad, and the glass elevators facing the sea, there were plenty of ocean views.

Live Aqua Cancun

After having to cancel our vacation twice this year, I don’t think either of us believed we were really going to Cancun until we were on the plane. We landed in clouds and drizzling rain. What happened to the beautiful weather I’d been seeing on the webcam all week?? I hoped it would clear up soon. I really needed a few days in the sunshine.

Our transfer driver met us outside the airport terminal and whisked us off to Live Aqua, an adults-only all-inclusive resort in Cancun’s Hotel Zone. The building was large and U-shaped, with a tropical garden and restaurants tucked inside the “U”. Past the garden there were several pools, including an infinity pool and a swim-up bar pool, more restaurants, and a bar with swing chairs. And beyond that was the amazing, endless beach. When we checked in, I was disappointed with our room because we’d booked an ocean front room with a king bed and somehow we ended up with two double beds. But the room did have a lot of nice amenities – robes and slippers, mini-fridge, handmade soaps, a beach bag for use while at the resort. There was even an aromatherapy oil warmer with a menu of oils to choose from. The best part of the room, of course, was the view of the ocean. That's what keeps us coming back to Cancun.

Independence of the Seas

Fort Lauderdale

It’s been a long time since we’ve been on a cruise ship with “Wow Factor”. We mainly take 3- and 4-day cruises and, let’s face it, the cruise lines save their oldest and smallest ships for the short itineraries. So I was really excited when we found a 4-day cruise over President’s Day weekend on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas. At 154,000 gross tons, it was much larger than any ship we’d been on. Plus it had a FlowRider and an ice skating rink, as well as a Royal Promenade, an indoor boardwalk with shops, bars and a 24-hour cafe. Lots of new things to do and see.

The ship was supposed to leave out of Fort Lauderdale at 4:30 but the day before sailing we got an email saying that “due to important maintenance work”, we would not be departing until 7:30. Ron and I speculated that the delay had something to do with Majesty of the Seas’ life jacket fiasco. A few days earlier, the Coast Guard had found some faulty life jackets on Majesty, and the ship was stuck in port an extra day while they inspected and replaced all the life jackets. Fortunately, our email didn’t say anything about boarding being delayed, so we decided to stick with our original plan of getting to port around noon to enjoy the ship as early as possible.

Cruising into the New Year

Tampa

In December our company unexpectedly decided to close on New Year’s Eve for the rest of the week. We suddenly had five days off in a row and weren’t about to let them go to waste! We started looking into short cruises and found a 4-day sailing on the Carnival Paradise that left out of Tampa on New Year’s Day. It sounded like the perfect way to start the New Year.

We got to the port at noon and were on board within minutes. This was our second trip on Paradise so we were already familiar with the ship, but this time it was decorated for Christmas with swags of garland and bows all around the atrium railings and a large Christmas tree next to the lobby bar. The greens and reds looked pretty with the colored glass and giant turquoise “eggs”. Bar waiters were handing out complimentary glasses of champagne. It was very festive.

Paradise Atrium

ME Cancun

We’re back from a long weekend in Cancun, our last hurrah for the year. We stayed at the ME Cancun, an all-inclusive hotel with a South Beach vibe. The modern lobby had a Starbucks-style coffee bar, water fountains and lots of odd black sculptures of either women or cats, I was never quite sure which. Ron said he thought they were aliens. :-)  One thing that a lot of people mentioned on Trip Advisor was how good the lobby smelled. I caught myself taking a deep breath a few times when we walked inside. Very spa-like.

Carnival Victory - Part II

Cozumel

The ship didn’t arrive in Cozumel until 1 o’clock so we spent the morning in the gym, working off our lobster and Bitter and Blanc. When we pulled into port, we docked alongside Carnival Paradise and Carnival Elation. It was neat looking down at the Paradise’s deck from our deck. We were there last year!

Fun on the Fun Ship Paradise

Tampa

This wasn’t our first choice for a getaway. OK, it wasn’t even our second or third choice. What I really, REALLY wanted to do this summer was to go to the Outer Banks, but Southwest discontinued their direct flights to Norfolk. Airfare made a long weekend trip to the Caribbean out of the question. Then we thought we would use airline miles to fly to Miami and take a cruise on the Carnival Victory. But American Airlines wouldn’t let us use our miles on the flights we wanted. Foiled by the airlines! We couldn’t fly and Ron didn’t want to drive, so we booked a trip on the Carnival Paradise out of Tampa.

We got to the port around 1 and were on the ship by 1:30. The first thing we did after dropping our bags in the cabin was head to the Elation Dining Room to change our dining assignment. Since we’d booked last minute, we were wait-listed for Your Time Dining. But our room card said we’d been assigned to Early Seating. That was not going to work! The maître d’ told us that Your Time Dining was full but at least he was able to switch us to Late Seating.

RIU Palace Las Americas

Elizabeth: So that's it, then? That's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum.
Jack Sparrow: Welcome to the Caribbean.
(Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)

Those are my favorite movie lines ever and pretty much summed up our plans for the weekend at RIU Palace Las Americas. No tours, no schedules, just relaxing, exploring a new hotel and enjoying the sun and beautiful water.

This was our second trip to Cancun and our first at RIU Palace Las Americas. The hotel was gorgeous. It was located along the bend at the top of the Hotel Zone’s 7, and although it was built in 2003, it felt more like a historic old hotel. The exterior was gleaming white with wide porches and balustrades. The huge lobby had faux marble pillars, a stained-glass ceiling and a bar with dark wood walls. The lobby opened out to an infinity pool circled by Greek-style statues and arbor-shaded sunbeds. I kept thinking that Mama would really love the hotel because of all the quiet, shady spots and couches for reading or sipping a cup of coffee. There was also an activities pool, where all the games took place during the day.