Buccanos Bar & Grill

Location: @ Club Cozumel Caribe, Playa San Juan, Cozumel, Mexico
Cuisine: Mexican
Phone: (800) 833-5971
Website: www.clubcozumelcaribe.info
Prices: $18/person
Credit Cards: MasterCard & Visa

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 10

Frequency: Unique

As part of the tour, we were taken to a restaurant called Buccanos Bar & Grill inside Club Cozumel Caribe. This paradise of a resort was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The tourbus circled around the island. To our left was always a field of green and to the right, beaches. Entering the resort felt like arriving at an oasis. We were allowed to use all of the beach amenities. It was too bad I didn't bring my swimming gear along with me. I really didn't think I needed it.


I was happy that we all ate lunch together. Before booking the tour, I thought we'd just end up in some downtown area where some of the group would just spend the time shopping in tourist trap stores. I was determined to get a good Mexican meal! It was great that everyone got a taste of it. Some people in our group feared the swine flu because of all the news and media. A couple were even hesitant about leaving the ship.

We ordered a variety of foods consisting of both safe dishes and more adventurous ones. The service was great, especially the way they handled the large group. As far as environment, I can't think of any place that was better than this one. The scenery, with one entire side open to the beach was unbeatable. The restrooms were super clean. All toilets and urinals had foot pedals for flushing. They also had free wi-fi, so I was able to check email while waiting for the meal.

For more details on the food, visit the Picasa album.

Cozumel

Since the Cozumel disembarkation was scheduled for 10am, I was able to go back to my regular gym schedule. There weren't really a lot of people in there, but it was still full because of the small square footage. I was also able to try out the track. They didn't post how many laps was equivalent to 1 mile, but I figured it was around 4. The QM2 track was 3 laps to 1.3 miles. On this ship, the track didn't go around the entire circumference of the ship and also, the ship was shorter. Early in the morning is the only good time to jog because the track was also pretty narrow. During the day, it's filled with people getting tans and wandering aimlessly.

After working out, I met up with the others at Windjammer for breakfast. We were able to take our time because the ship was a little behind schedule docking at the port. We planned on taking a tour of the Mayan ruins because it was the one thing that was not related to shopping or eating.


Once docked, we all met up at the gangway and went through the port shops quickly so we could find a tour bus with room for 12. My dad found a large van with more than enough room and a reasonable price, who would take us around to a few scenic spots, the Mayan ruins and lunch at Club Cozumel Caribe. For more information on all of these activities, visit the Picasa album.

The Blond Giraffe

...All Things Key Lime and Coconut!

Location: 511 Greene Street, Key West, FL
Cuisine: Dessert, Cafe
Phone: (888) 874-PIES
Website: www.blondgiraffe.com
Prices: $7/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 5
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

Most of our group continued checking out the shops, but Ifore and I broke off and headed to a cafe that served key lime pie. We had already passed by many places, mostly food stands that served it. Then we came across The Blond Giraffe, a nice little sitdown cafe. It was empty and didn't even look open, but we went for it because they had a free wi-fi. It turned out that The Blond Giraffe was one of the better known places. As we ate there, we read a pamphlet on the Key West port and this place served an award-winning key lime pie as seen on Food Network 20!


The pies were great. I was expecting an overly strong lime flavor. I normally don't like key lime pie, but since it was a big deal in Key West, I wanted to give it a shot. It actually tasted good and natural, unlike the artificial neon green variety you can get at any dessert place. I also tried their limeade, which was pretty strong.

The only quirk about The Blond Giraffe was they ran out of limeade. I ordered the last one, but it was obvious that we were the first customers of the day!

Key West

Normally, the first thing in the morning for me on a cruise is the gym, but the stay in Key West was so short that I had to go for that first. We were only at that port from 7am-1pm. By the time we ate breakfast and got everyone together, it was about 9am already. Luckily Key West isn't that large and didn't have that many major attractions. My main goal was to get the key lime pie mentioned in everything I read about the island. The port area was right by many stores and restaurants already, so cruise passengers weren't locked into booking an overpriced tour.


We got very lucky with the weather as well. The forecast that I kept checking everyday before we left was consistently thunderstorms and showers. However, for the entire time we were docked, the weather was perfect. Hopefully we'll have the same luck tomorrow in Cozumel where the forecast is also thunderstorms for the whole weekend.

Burgers & Ice Cream

After the show, Edwin & I met up with Ifore back at the rooms. We watched a little bit of the game, then headed out to Windjammer with Uncle Charlie for our late night cruise meal... aka Burgers & Ice Cream. The menu was limited as they only offered hot dogs, burgers & pizza. I thought I was going to miss the ice cream half of the tradition we started last year, but on the way back down I came across the ice cream machine. So I brought my dad a glass of punch and then headed back up to the ice cream machine to fulfill the mission and end the night with this blog entry.

Welcome Show

After dinner, we walked around the ship a bit and then rested a while before going to the welcome show at the Orpheum Theater. I was originally not going to join the rest of the group for it because I wanted to catch the Magic vs. Lakers NBA Final. Then I figured I could still leave in the middle to watch the 2nd half. I ended up staying the whole time because it was pretty good and we had front row seats so I could see in detail what the illusionist was doing. Here are some clips:




The show ended earlier than I though, so I actually saw the end of the 2nd quarter of the game.

Dinner

Since we had a group of 12, we were assigned to 2 tables for dinner at My Fair Lady. The first seating was pretty tight. It only ran from 6-6:15pm. Missing that small time frame would mean an 8:30 dinner! Most of us made it, but Edwin, Ifore & Uncle Charlie were still battling jet lag.

Boarding

We boarded The Enchantment of the Seas at around 12pm. There was hardly a line as we were having lunch at The Windjammer by 12:30pm. Since we had an early breakfast, we were all pretty hungry. Also because we boarded & checked-in early, all 12 of us got seats and made our rounds right away. Naturally, everything is just a bit smaller than QM2, but so far, the buffet dining seems to have more variety.

After we ate, I went with Edwin & Ifore to take a quick tour of the ship. The pool area is one large one as opposed to the many small ones in QM2. The gym on Enchantment seems to be slightly larger, but has less variety in classes. There's a rock climbing wall at the rear of the ship. Because of it's location, the feel of being at the top must be pretty close to an actual mountain because it's all ocean if one were to look down!

So right now, we're just relaxing and waiting for our luggage to arrive on our floor. There's also a mandatory safety drill coming up.

Don Frye?

We got up at about 5am for the 8am flight to our port of call, Ft. Lauderdale. The limo arrived on time and we all did the electronic check-in, which took just about the same time as the conventional method. While I was entering all of our flight data, I saw a guy walk by that looked just like the fighter/actor, Don Frye. In my mind, I always thought he was taller though. I didn't get a chance to ask him because his name didn't come to my mind right away... and he was too far away by the time I was done with the ticketing machine. Too bad we didn't end up at the same gate. I could've used a second look to confirm and would've loved to take a picture with him.

Right now, we're waiting for the plane to take off. There was a slight delay because they had to get some paperwork done for a part replacement. Hopefully it doesn't end up like our American Airlines flight back in January.

Related: IMDB, Wikipedia, Godzilla: Final Wars

Packing for Enchantment

With just 3 more days until my family cruise to Key West & Cozumel, I started putting aside what I plan to bring early. It's a short 4-night cruise, but hard to pack for. I'm trying to think of the different activities I might be doing and balancing that with the latest luggage restrictions. It's going to be hot, so at least most of the clothing will be light. Here's what I have so far:

- netbook for blogging & offloading digital photos
- digital camera, 8 GB SD, charger & case
- iPod for the plane ride & gym
- prescription swimming goggles
- 1 pair of dress pants for dinner
- *1 pair of jeans for other cruise activities & flights
- 2 pairs of shorts (1 for gym, 1 for port stops)
- 1 pair of swimming trunks
- 7 pairs of socks (1 for each day, 2 for emergency)
- 6 boxers (1 for each day, 1 for emergency)
- 1 dress shirt & tie for dinner
- 5 T-shirts for various use... it's more than the number of days because some of these will be used for mornings at the gym
- *1 belt that goes with everything
- dress shoes for dinner
- *Pumas for jogging & port stops
- armband for cellphone, but can also be used w/ iPod while jogging
- 1 small pouch of personal hygiene products
- light leather jacket for the flights... and because it's my favorite
*Will be wearing these items

All of these items cover the various activities like swimming, jogging, rock climbing, dining etc. They also fit into a laptop bag and medium sized carry-on luggage with some room to spare. A lot of the space was saved with the 10" netbook. Before getting that, I used to lug around a 15" laptop that weighed about 7 lbs! Since the netbook is so small (like a hardcover novel), it can easily be carried around, which also eliminates the small travel journal I usually bring around. I used to make notes for blogs on paper, but now I can go directly to computer.