Carnival Triumph - May 12, 2007

In Cozumel, be sure to make a stop at Margaritaville. You can listen to the music of Jimmy Buffet while eating good food and drinking a strong blue margarita!

In Grand Cayman, make sure to try some Tortuga Rum Cake. Of course, the highlight is the "try before you buy" attitude...and most shops have samples of every flavor available. Beware, the cake is strong and you don't want kids eating this. They pour the rum on after the cake is cooked, so it is not baked out.

In Jamaica, the most beautiful homes can be found in the hills. Keep your eyes out for these. There are also areas of extreme poverty. Be mindful and respectful...and go home appreciating what you have.

Quick Tips:

When in Cozumel, head straight to Margaritaville. From the pier, turn right after the DuFry shop. Walk less than five minutes. Margaritaville will be on your right. Be sure to bring your swimsuit, because you can swim in the ocean at the back of the restaurant after you eat or drink there. If you want a more party-like atmosphere, you can head to Carlos & Charlie's or Senor Frog's, but be prepared for typical teenage antics and drunks.

In Grand Cayman, take the Trolley Roger tour. If you are lucky, Steve from Canada will be your tour driver. He dresses as a pirate, which is great for kids, but he imparts a lot of knowledge of the local culture and gives a tour of the homes on the island.

Before headed to Jamaica, look up the driver Phil Lafayette. You can find his tours online and book them in advance. Phil has a great knowledge and love of Jamaica and will definitely show you a good time. Bring extra cash in case you decide to do any side tours with him (for example, you can experience a real Jamaican barbecue for less than after seeing Dunns Falls) in a beautiful setting.

Best Way To Get Around:

When in Cozumel: walk or take a cab. If you are interested in shopping or going to the bars, everything is within five to fifteen minutes walking distance. If you want to go to the beach, take a ten minute cab ride to Playa Paradisa (for tranquility) or Playa Mia (if you want the crowds from the ship).

When in Grand Cayman, just walk! Everything worth seeing is within walking distance. Of course, if you want to go to Stingray City, you will need to take a cab or tour. Caution: the bus service in GC is very slow. They often make multiple stops to take people shopping (and waiting for them) or to work. They are not catering to tourists and a 15 minute ride to 7 mile beach took us almost an hour!

When in Ocho Rios, take a tour of the island. There is so much to see...but most of it is a bit away from the port. However, if you want to just go shopping, it is about a 5 minute walk to Island Village on the Beach, which I recommend.

The embarkation process was relatively smooth. The whole process was about 40-45 minutes, but it was split into three different stations. You first had to register (even with your Fun Pass in hand), get your Sail & Sign card and then you had to go on the ship to register your Sail & Sign card with a credit card. After that, you were able to get to your room.

We went to check out our room and found it was a good size – it appeared larger than our rooms on the Jubilee or on the HA MS Amsterdam. We were on the main deck, where most of the cabins are located, and we had an ocean view. Our luggage arrived soon after we got into our room, but we were upset to find out that someone broke our Delsey luggage between when we put our locks on it at the port and when it arrived in our room. The damage was so bad that we think it must have been hit with the forklift. We recommend lugging your luggage in with you so as to avoid this unfortunate problem.

Highlights of the trip include listening and singing along to music in The Big Easy Piano Bar and watching the magic and comedy shows on board.

The magic show was incredible and the dancers and choreography were the highlight of that show. We saw the late night comedy show, so it was a bit dirty.

We met some really great people on board and on our shore excursions. We wish we would have met more people, but our dinner partners only showed up to dinner in the dining room on the second to last night. We had requested a large table, but we ended up at a table for four by ourselves! My advice is if you want to meet more people, go to breakfast and lunch in the dining room whenever possible.

About dining onboard: we found the late service in the Paris Dining Room, Upper Level, to be extremely slow. Our servers were Fernando from Peru and Manuel from Venezuela (I hope I got those right). We would be seated at 8 p.m. and order by 8:10, but we would not have our appetizer until 8:50 every night. The dinners lasted until at least 10:15 every night…and we almost missed the shows as a result! We’re not slow eaters at all, and we could never find our waiters when we needed water or if something came out wrong from the kitchen. The food was decent enough, but even my husband didn’t gain any weight with reason.

Overall, the cruise was good. From conversations we had with other passengers, we will likely try Royal Caribbean next time.

Jimmy Buffet fans all over the world rejoice! Margaritaville Cozumel is nonstop Jimmy Buffet music combined with good food and drinks right along the beach.

If you are looking for a good time, but you don't like the crazy, teenage antics of Carlos & Charlies or Senor Frog's, head straight to Margaritaville. The view is fantastic beause they're right on the ocean. In fact, bring your snorkel gear. Customers can walk from the deck right out into the ocean. They even have a floating island for those who want to sunbathe.

The food is reasonably priced at an average of about $14-$15USD per entree. We ordered Calamari, Conch Fritters and Shrimp Fajitas for the two of us and had plenty of food. Including two bottles of Pacifico each, our bill was just less than $40USD pre-tip.

Cruise ship passengers: don't forget your free calamari coupon. Their calamari is some of the best-seasoned I have ever had... and tastes even better when free!

Hours later, after stopping at a couple other bars and shops, we came back to Margaritaville for a couple drinks. The drinks were more expensive than the local bars (about $5-$9 for cocktails and shots), but the atmosphere was much better. Plus, when you sit at the bar, you can swing on a seat for two while looking at the ocean! Who can beat that?

Fratelli la Bufula is a 2007 Zagat rated restaurant. The name is literally translated to Brothers of the Buffalo and it makes a lot of sense. On the menu are buffalo meat and buffalo mozzarella. Their menu follows typical Napolitan food, but they specialize in pizza.

On this visit to Miami Beach, we split a pizza and an appetizer with some pizza left over. Including two soft drinks, we spent $40 pre-tip.

The appetizer we shared was called La Filatina. It was made up of two pieces of bread, Buffalo Mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and oregano. It was extremely messy, but was quite good.

The pizza we ordered was called Monachina and it was simply tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella and Parmesan shavings. The Parmesan was very strong and perhaps a little much so for this otherwise mild pizza. The crust was burned to a perfect black in most places, due to the wood-fired grill. It was good, but still didn't hold a match to Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Arizona.

Our lunch partners had the same pizza, but they had La Caprese Impanata for an appetizer. It had a beautiful presentation, and they appeared to enjoy the food. However, it was really only enough for one person to eat.

Overall, if I lived in Miami Beach I would likely come here again. However, as a tourist, I would probably try other places to eat in the future. I would give the food a 7 out of 10 for flavor.

Island Village on the Beach is an open-air shopping market that is within five minutes walking distance of the port.

You can find arts and crafts in Island Village, but the main ware seems to be silver and gemstone jewelry. There is also a “Rum, Roasts, and Royals” store that sells liquor and high-end Jamaican coffee. To get an idea of price, JaBlum coffee sells for $8USD for a four-ounce package there.

Island Village caters to the tourists and presents a safe-feeling shopping atmosphere. Unlike some other open-air markets in Ocho Rios (like the market at the exit of Dunns Falls), no one will pull on your clothing to get you to enter their shops. The trade-off is that the prices are a lot higher at Island Village because there is no bargaining on prices.

In the center of Island Village is a large statue of Bob Marley. This presents a great photo opportunity.

I definitely recommend visiting Island Village if you are interested in shopping. The prices are fair considering the quality of goods you can find there.

Also, there are a couple places to dine within Island Village, including Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Margaritaville has reasonable prices (about $14-$16 for an entrée) and the food is consistently good. Also, this location has a waterslide that customers may use.

Just outside the gates of the market is a coconut and sugar cane vendor. They let you try samples of sugar cane for free. They will cut open a coconut for you to drink the milk for $2USD. If you finish drinking the milk while you are waiting there, they will take the coconut back and split it for you to eat the flesh of the coconut. The coconut is a lot moister than the coconut you find in the grocery stores in the U.S.

Overall, I enjoyed visiting Island Village; The best part about it is that it is so close to the port that you can spend as much time as possible in the open-air of Jamaica and rush back to your ship just in time!