Though it had been quite a number of years since my wife and I had last cruised, we had so looked forward to this trip. We had driven down the day before, and stayed at the Galvez and caught the shuttle the next morning. We had scheduled an early arrival time. and as such were there right on time. After dropping off our luggage with one of the porters (look for guys in floral print Hawaiian style shirts), we made our way to the concourse to enter the building. The building has different doors, each marked with letters of the alphabet. Go to A. Any group designation marked with any other letter seems to be irrelevant. Don't get confused like we did!
They were late in allowing us to begin the boarding process. My wife found out later that the crew had to track down a person that didn't want to get off! Once the process began, it was well organized and speedy. They even had cold fruit water in the embarkation lounge! After that, it was a quick matter to get on board.
Our cabin steward Arthur was very helpful at all times, though language was a small barrier. He seemed to be very good at his job, and we felt fortunate to have him there. At first there had been an off smell, but he quickly took care of it. Additionally, the balcony divider between ours and the next cabin had been left unlocked, but he corrected that as well.
The cabin was spacious and well maintained for a ship at sea. You don't spend much time there anyway, but I loved where we stayed. Appointed aft starboard, we were one deck below the buffet on the Lido deck. Prior to boarding, we were a bit apprehensive about that location, because of the potential for noise. Not to worry! Noise was not a problem at all. Our cabin steward Arthur was quite helpful and efficient.
The merchants in the port area of Cozumel are terrible! Not only are they they overpriced, but some are downright aggressive and abusive. One shopkeeper made us downright intimidated. He started coming after us as we were walking out, yelling, :What?! You don't like my shop?! We just walked away without responding.