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[ 2013 + 2014 ] Carribbean Trip Log

GregT

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Dioxide,

It sounds like a great trip - where are staying in Cancun? Westin Lagunamar?

Have fun!

Best,

Greg
 

dioxide45

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Day 9: We got up early to head to Walmart to grab some water and a few snacks along with some breakfast items. We wanted to get back to the resort before our friends were to arrive. They got in at about 11:30am and after getting situated we all headed to the pools The main pool at the Lagunamar is very warm. Pretty much bath water. The other pool is a little cooler. But neither are very refreshing. Perhaps we will have to try the ocean.

For dinner we headed over to La Madonna and had a great meal.
 

dioxide45

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Dioxide,

It sounds like a great trip - where are staying in Cancun? Westin Lagunamar?

Have fun!

Best,

Greg

Yes, we are staying at the Lagunamar again. We have a 2BR this year. When we came last year we only stayed in a studio. We had a MUCH better view last year. We were in a third floor unit that faced the ocean, this year we are in a second floor away from the ocean with the view blocked by palm trees. Oh well, no big deal. We are in Cancun on vacation and out about the resort and the sites most of the time.

We do love Lagunamar and still want to find a way to come back more often. Though I suppose we are doing well coming two years in a row.
 

dioxide45

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Day 10: This was a pool day. Not much else.

Day 11: Another pool day.

Day 12: This was the day we went over to Isla Mujeres. We got up early to catch a R-1 bus to Pto Juarez. We didn't have to wait as long for the bus this year as last year. A bus to Pto Juarez arrived within about 5 minutes. We got to the ferry terminal in plenty of time to catch the 8:30 ferry and were on Isla a little before 9:00am. Picked out a four seater large cart and were on our way.

One of our main goals this time was to do some snorkeling. So we went to Garrafon de Castilla. Paid admission and went snorkeling. There isn't a lot of coral or sea fans here. Though there is plenty of fish. Snorkeling over, we ate lunch at Garrafon de Castilla and then headed out to explore more of the island. Drove around, went to Punta Sur and the Turtle Sanctuary. We then headed back toward the ferry terminal and dropped off our golf cart and were back on the 3:00pm ferry. We got back to the Lagunamar a little before 4:30pm.
 

dioxide45

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Day 13: Pool, Pool, and more Pool.
 

dioxide45

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Day 14: More Pool. This was a much more easy going trip to Cancun than last year. Though it did rain for about a half an hour around 1:00pm, as it did the day before. This drove a lot of people from the pool only to return shortly after.

Day 15: We had to checkout of the Westin Lagunamar and move to the Marriott Casa Magna. We were able to get some more pool time in at the Casa Magna before the skies opened again. THis time they didn't relent. We ate dinner at Champions at the Marriott.

We had to be up at 2:30am for a 3:30am hotel pickup by USA Transfers. It was still raining from the day before. It seems that this trip ended in much of the same way as it did last year. Though this year the rain wasn't nearly as heavy as 2013.

Day 16: Flight home was rather uneventful. We had a 6:00am flight and got home around 4:00pm ET.
 

GregT

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We do love Lagunamar and still want to find a way to come back more often. Though I suppose we are doing well coming two years in a row.

Lagunamar looks like a great property, I hope to visit sometime. It feels like you did more pool days this year, was that intentional? (Nothing wrong with pool days, that's the majority of my vacation!)

Did the weather cooperate?

Also, what did you trade to get the Lagunamar?

Welcome back and thanks for the notes!

Best,

Greg
 

pedro47

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What a great travel log report; sounds like all went very well.
 

dioxide45

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Lagunamar looks like a great property, I hope to visit sometime. It feels like you did more pool days this year, was that intentional? (Nothing wrong with pool days, that's the majority of my vacation!)

Did the weather cooperate?

Also, what did you trade to get the Lagunamar?

Welcome back and thanks for the notes!

Best,

Greg

Greg,

The extra pool days were somewhat intentional. We did find ourselves eating at the resort in Cancun more than we expected though. The rain on the last three days caused that. After we got back up after the early afternoon downpours, the others in the group didn't want to trek out. I did go out on the second to last day to El Fish Fritanga for some tacos while everyone else ate at the pool. I got stuck out in the rain though and had to wait it out in a nearby store.
 

dioxide45

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Thought I would post a video of our snorkeling in Curacao. I know it has been almost four years, but now just starting to get in to turning all of our raw footage in to videos and posting them online. Enjoy!

 

pedro47

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Thanks for sharing your video. We are heading to Curaçao on our Southern Carribean Cruise in April. Maybe, we need to book a snorkeling excursion. Loved that video.
 

dioxide45

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Thanks for sharing your video. We are heading to Curaçao on our Southern Carribean Cruise in April. Maybe, we need to book a snorkeling excursion. Loved that video.
Personally, I would recommend renting a car and driving to Westpunt. That is the direction of the best beaches and the beaches seen in this video.
 

pedro47

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Our time on this island is very limited to rent a car, to drive to the beach , to return the car back to rental site and be back on the cruise ship .
 

dioxide45

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Our time on this island is very limited to rent a car, to drive to the beach , to return the car back to rental site and be back on the cruise ship .
What are your arrival and departure times?We often rent cars while in port. It works great and we get to choose where we go. We did this in St Croix in 2014 while on the Celebrity Summit. We have a cruise booked for March 2020 that stop in each of the ABC islands. Pretty stoked as we have yet to get to Bonaire. I will certainly be doing some snorkeling there.
 

pedro47

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We are sailing on Celebrity Reflection next month. I am going to read cruise critic for some advice. Thanks dioxide45.
 
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