Carnival Elation 5 Day Caribbean Cruise Review
Day 3 Part 1 June 10, 2015 Cozumel, Mexico Arrival: 7:00AM Departure: 7:00PM
*** The times we were in port were extended at the start of the cruise by the captain!! ***
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Day 3 Part 1 June 10, 2015 Cozumel, Mexico Arrival: 7:00AM Departure: 7:00PM
*** The times we were in port were extended at the start of the cruise by the captain!! ***
Click Any Photo To Make It Larger!
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Arrival To Cozumel, Mexico:
I woke up early in the morning (about 5:50am) to get dressed in order to try to catch a glimpse of the ship's arrival at Cozumel. The Carnival Elation was scheduled to dock at Puerta Maya Pier. This pier is affiliated with Carnival Corporation and typically Carnival ships will dock here. The Carnival Elation was scheduled to arrive at 7:00am, but we were docked well before the scheduled time. The Carnival Ecstasy was scheduled to dock alongside with us in the early afternoon.
The sun was rising as I watched us dock in Cozumel. I went to the Verandah Observation Deck area and there were very few other people watching too. Here are some pictures of the view:
I woke up early in the morning (about 5:50am) to get dressed in order to try to catch a glimpse of the ship's arrival at Cozumel. The Carnival Elation was scheduled to dock at Puerta Maya Pier. This pier is affiliated with Carnival Corporation and typically Carnival ships will dock here. The Carnival Elation was scheduled to arrive at 7:00am, but we were docked well before the scheduled time. The Carnival Ecstasy was scheduled to dock alongside with us in the early afternoon.
The sun was rising as I watched us dock in Cozumel. I went to the Verandah Observation Deck area and there were very few other people watching too. Here are some pictures of the view:
View From The Front of the Ship
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Sunrise over Cozumel, Mexico
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Puerta Maya Pier
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Other Pier Near Puerta Maya
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Front of the Ship With Pier In Background
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Construction Equipment For Pier Add On
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Shops Located Directly On the Pier
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Pier Workers Securing The Ship
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Sideview of the Ship With The Pier Below
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Breakfast At Tiffany's (Lido Buffet):
Breakfast was served earlier today because of the ship's early arrival in Cozumel. The scheduled breakfast time for Tiffany's was 6:30 - 10:30am. For cruisers that did not want to eat in the buffet the Imagination Dining Room had an open breakfast seating time from 7:00am - 9:00am. The buffet served a similar selection to the first day with a few exceptions.
I got in the general buffet line first to get some food. The first plate in the row of pictures below was mine. Some of the bacon was crispy, but other pieces were very greasy. All of the meats available in the breakfast buffet are served behind the counter by crew members. However, you may ask for as much as you wish. The goal of this is to decrease food waste.
Breakfast was served earlier today because of the ship's early arrival in Cozumel. The scheduled breakfast time for Tiffany's was 6:30 - 10:30am. For cruisers that did not want to eat in the buffet the Imagination Dining Room had an open breakfast seating time from 7:00am - 9:00am. The buffet served a similar selection to the first day with a few exceptions.
I got in the general buffet line first to get some food. The first plate in the row of pictures below was mine. Some of the bacon was crispy, but other pieces were very greasy. All of the meats available in the breakfast buffet are served behind the counter by crew members. However, you may ask for as much as you wish. The goal of this is to decrease food waste.
Bacon, Hash Browns, & Sausage
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Hash Browns, French Toast, and Bacon
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Omelet Cooking
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After eating a plate of food from the general breakfast buffet line, I got in line for an omelet. This omelet was delicious! There are multiple omelet stations onboard, but I liked the omelet station that was open where the deli is normally located.
Omelet
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Hash Brown, Eggs, and Bacon
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Muffin and Fruit
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On Lido Deck - A Look At the Pier Construction
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Pullmanur's ship Monarch In the Distance
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View of Cozumel From the Back of the Ship
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Getting Off The Ship To Tour Cozumel:
In the early morning, we got off the ship. There was no line at the gangway because many of the cruisers planning to go on shore excursions had already gotten off to go ashore. Once our Sail & Sign cards were scanned, we were able to proceed down the gangway. The ship's photographers were waiting at the bottom of the gangway to take pictures of each cruiser. While you can decline getting your photo taken, you are under no obligation to buy the photo. After taking your photo or bypassing the photographers, you are free to proceed down the pier.
Here are some pictures I took while walking down the pier to get to Cozumel:
In the early morning, we got off the ship. There was no line at the gangway because many of the cruisers planning to go on shore excursions had already gotten off to go ashore. Once our Sail & Sign cards were scanned, we were able to proceed down the gangway. The ship's photographers were waiting at the bottom of the gangway to take pictures of each cruiser. While you can decline getting your photo taken, you are under no obligation to buy the photo. After taking your photo or bypassing the photographers, you are free to proceed down the pier.
Here are some pictures I took while walking down the pier to get to Cozumel:
On the Pier - Looking Towards The Back of the Ship
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View of New Leg of the Pier Being Constructed
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Front of the Carnival Elation & Other Ship In The Back
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Pullmantur Monarch - Former Royal Caribbean Ship
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Carnival Elation
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Area Roped Off For Pier Construction
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Before being allowed to exit the pier, all cruisers must walk through a building filled with shops. This building can become very crowded as cruisers are trying to shop and others are walking through the building in order to exit the pier.
View of Cozumel From The Pier
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Entrance Into Shops That All Passengers Had To Walk Into
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Three Amigos At Puerta Maya Pier
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Once exiting the pier, there are a variety of bars, restaurants, and shops for cruisers at Puerta Maya. We did not visit any shops here at Puerta Maya because we wanted to take a taxi ride to Punta Langosta. Punta Langosta is where we docked during our first cruise before Puerta Maya was reopened following hurricane damage. On my walk to the taxi station here are some pictures I took of the area around Puerta Maya Pier:
Another View of Three Amigos at Puerta Maya
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Walkway At Puerta Maya Pier
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One of Many Bars
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Looking Towards The Beach Area
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View of the Carnival Elation From Beach Area
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Beach Area At Puerta Maya Pier
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Walkway at Puerta Maya Pier
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Shops and Large Covered Area
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Walkway
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Taxi Ride To Punta Langosta: At the back area of Puerta Maya, you will find a taxi station. There are a variety of places you can pay to ride a taxi. A ride to Punta Langosta cost $16.00 for a van. The ride was about 4 km (I would put this number in miles, but in Mexico they use kilometers). I did not get to take very many pictures of the ride to Punta Langosta, but here are some pictures I did take:
View From Taxi As We Left Puerta Maya Pier
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View of One Of Many Side Streets
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International Cruise Terminal Building
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Arriving At the Area Surrounding Punta Langosta:
Once our taxi van dropped us off, we walked around and stopped in a few shops. Punta Langosta has its own pier for cruise ships to dock, but today no ships were scheduled to use this dock. Some shops were closed because of no cruise ship being docked at Punta Langosta, but most were open.
Once our taxi van dropped us off, we walked around and stopped in a few shops. Punta Langosta has its own pier for cruise ships to dock, but today no ships were scheduled to use this dock. Some shops were closed because of no cruise ship being docked at Punta Langosta, but most were open.
Punta Langosta
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A Glimpse Down A Sidestreet
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Street That Runs Parallel To the Water
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Shops Along The Street That Runs Parallel To Water
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View of Water
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Plaza Area
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Bamboozled In Cozumel At A Shop: In one shop we stopped to take a look because we saw a blanket that was nice. The lady working the shop seized the opportunity to hound us into buying the item. Her original price was $60.00 for this blanket (that was definitely not worth this price). When we told her no she dropped the price to $50.00 and told us that was as low as her boss would allow her to go. Once again, we told her we did not want the item for that price. She asked what we were willing to pay and we told her $20.00. She laughed at us and told us her sister made the item. We offered her $30.00, she then turned her head in all directions, and then put her finger to her lips as if to silence us. This was to make us think her boss would be mad. She sold the item for $30.00. She was her own boss.
After walking away from this store, we saw an identical blanket for $10.00. We saw many more of the same blankets throughout the day. How could this lady's sister make hundreds of blankets for these shops? The lady was probably telling us this to try to get us to pay more.
LESSON: Always shop around before buying something. Many ports of call have shops that sell similar (if not identical) items at different prices.
After walking away from this store, we saw an identical blanket for $10.00. We saw many more of the same blankets throughout the day. How could this lady's sister make hundreds of blankets for these shops? The lady was probably telling us this to try to get us to pay more.
LESSON: Always shop around before buying something. Many ports of call have shops that sell similar (if not identical) items at different prices.
Building Labeled "Plaza Del Sol"
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Another View of Plaza
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A Closed McDonald's In Cozumel
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Taxis Parked
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Cozumel, Mexico
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Blue Waters of Cozumel, Mexico
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The Punta Langosta shopping area is something cruisers would first see if their ship docked at Punta Langosta. Here are some pictures I took of the Punta Langosta shopping area:
Area Back at Punta Langosta
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Punta Langosta Logo
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A Shop At Punta Langosta
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Other Shops at Punta Langosta
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Punta Langosta
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Punta Langosta
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More Shops At Punta Langosta
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Shops
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Directory at Punta Langosta Pier
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Taxi Ride Back to Puerta Maya: It was $16.00 to ride back to Puerta Maya. This driver drove quicker than the other one and we were back at Puerta Maya within a few minutes. I had a chance to get some better pictures on the ride back to Puerta Maya. Here are some pictures:
View of Punta Langosta From Our Taxi
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Supermarket in Cozumel Mexico
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View of a Sidestreet
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Hard Rock Cafe in Cozumel
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Puerta Maya Letters At Entrance
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Puerta Maya
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View of the Carnival Elation From Puerta Maya Beach Area
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Monarch Docked - View From Puerta Maya's Beach
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Walkway at Puerta Maya Pier
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Here are some pictures taken as I walked on the pier back to the ship:
View of the Carnival Elation
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Front of the Carnival Elation
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Carnival Elation's Gangway
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Lunch Onboard At Tiffany's (Lido Deck Buffet):
Today's lunch at Tiffany's was very relaxed because most of the other cruisers were still ashore in Cozumel. There were many of the upper level crew members getting some food at the buffet. A few buffet lines were closed due to a lack of passengers onboard, but there was virtually no wait at any of the open buffet lines. The Chef's Choice buffet line was serving French food today.
My first stop on the buffet today was the grill. I wanted a hamburger, fries, and some chicken tenders. The chips & pico de gallo that the grill serves are also good. Here are some pictures of the grill's buffet line:
Today's lunch at Tiffany's was very relaxed because most of the other cruisers were still ashore in Cozumel. There were many of the upper level crew members getting some food at the buffet. A few buffet lines were closed due to a lack of passengers onboard, but there was virtually no wait at any of the open buffet lines. The Chef's Choice buffet line was serving French food today.
My first stop on the buffet today was the grill. I wanted a hamburger, fries, and some chicken tenders. The chips & pico de gallo that the grill serves are also good. Here are some pictures of the grill's buffet line:
Chips and Hamburger Toppings at the Grill
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French Fries and Chicken Tenders
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Variety of Toppings
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Hotdog Buns
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Hotdogs and Some Toppings
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Plate Of Food From The Grill
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Here are some pictures I took of the buffet's dessert station:
Assorted Foods From The Dessert Station
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Assorted Foods From The Dessert Station
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Assorted Foods From The Dessert Station
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As I mentioned earlier, the Chef's Choice buffet line was serving French food. Here are some pictures I managed to take of this buffet line:
Chef's Choice French Buffet Line Menu
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Assorted Food In the Chef's Choice Buffet Line
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Assorted Food In the Chef's Choice Buffet Line
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The deli, Mongolian Wok, and salad bar were also open. Here are some assorted food pictures:
Salad Bar Food
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Fruit From The Salad Bar
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Food Dish From the Mongolian Wok
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