Trip log, day five. Cozumel, Mexico.
7-Night Western Caribbean Royal Caribbean Cruise from Miami, Florida
March 19, 2025
Cruise Compass – Day 5
Icon of the Seas Deck Plan
This is a milestone day – at the stoke of midnight, we changed from a family of 2 adults and a child to 3 adults. Today should be fun, but first I headed Playmakers to get some work done.
The Icon of the Seas has two elevator and staircase lobbies similar to Disney Wish Class design. The main difference is the “smart” elevator system in which you use one of many touch screens to call an elevator. Upon selecting a deck, you are directed to one of eight elevators identified by a letter A-H. The system is great, but still could be improved to make it smarter. With 8 elevators in one area, you’d think they’d queue guests up by the floor, but in reality it didn’t seem like all 8 elevators were in use as we’d still stop at multiple decks. On a positive note, this eliminated the inadvertent button pressing while in the elevator.
I headed back to the stateroom to prepare for our day passing by an empty and photogenic Pearl. Those squares you see move creating a mesmerizing effect. The real treasure in this pearl is the floor to ceiling ocean views at the top of the stairs.
Before heading ashore, we had some business to take care of starting with a trip to the Guest Service desk to get Isabelle an adult Sea Pass card and get her added to our adult comedy booking for tonight. Card check complete, +1 for the comedy… Think again! All of the reservations were taken, but this isn’t a surprise. We tried calling prior to the cruise to get her added to our adult reservations for the 2nd half of this cruise, but even a human shoreside is unable to add a child who will turn 18 on the ship to adult activities on or after the child’s birthday. All changes/additions must be made onboard once on the actual birthdate. I’m not too worried, I am going let her have my reservation and I will stand in the standby line.
Across from the Pearl is the Starbucks, which was selling these ‘You Are Here’ Icon of the Seas coffee mugs.
Next order of business was to head over to the Shore Excursions desk to add Isabelle to the adult beach booking for our final day, which is Perfect Day at Coco Cay. The representative at Shore Excursions was amazing. She extended the 50% off Black Friday deal we booked at because in her words “the computers are stupid.” Small reservations like the comedy club are one thing, but a day pass for the adult beach is something that changes the plans for the day in the event it is not possible to add on another guest. Thankfully, the booking at Perfect Day had available spots to add. We expected to pay full price or the going rack rate for her, so that was awesome customer service by the Shore Excursion crew member to honor the same price we paid back in November. Lets have a serious talk.. It is 2025, leverage the DATEADD() or DATEDIFF() function in your database to determining if a guest meets the age requirements for a specific event date not the embarkation date.
While it was not on our to do list or keep an eye out list, we received confirmation of our departure time based on the form we submitted earlier in the sailing.
Our morning administrative tasks were completed well ahead of schedule. We stopped at Central Park cafe and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a light breakfast before heading ashore.
I am still shocked how well this ship holds approximately 7,300 passengers or we are just lucky picking the perfect time to do things such as head ashore. This is Emily’s first big day heading out on the knee scooter. We have been building up each day from a brief roll around Roatan, to a short trip to a taxi in Costa Maya yesterday to a full fledged adventure in Cozumel today.
We have been waiting for this day and I am not referring to the milestone birthday celebration. Today, we are finally heading to the Cozumel Cat Cafe!!!! We had the option to take a taxi or go for walk.
Well, in typical Sanders fashion, we walked the 25 minutes up the main road outside the port and up and around some back roads to the Cozumel Humane Society.
This isn’t the most accessible adventure, but we made it there in decent time and well before our 10 o’clock reservation (which is required).
We arrived, checked in, paid and were escorted into the Cat Cafe, a stand alone building behind the main building.
At the time of our visit, it was $12 USD per person for the 2 hour experience with the cats. We were served freshly brewed coffee and snacks were available. There was however one offering missing; there are no restroom facilities available for visitors, so plan accordingly.
This experience is for the mature cat lover, as these cats are actively up for adoption or are soon-to-be up for adoption. Some are skittish, some are loving, and others just have a bunch of energy and want to play. Plus, the population of cats will change as they adopt out and new cats are welcomed in. As with all cats, we sat down and let them check us out. If it was not a logistical issue, Puma and Gringo would have come home with us. Hook was a recent addition and still finding his place and as a result was not interested in human or fellow feline interaction. That’s what I love about cats, they control the situation and we are just here to enjoy it. And let’s be honest, we would’ve adopted Hook too. There was also another very lovable Tabby that loved attention.
It comes as no surprise that we are a cat family and have adopted in many forms all of our cats either from a shelter, humane society, neighbor, or welcomed in a stray or 4. We had a feeling this would be a great place to spend some time and we were not wrong.
They even have WiFi.
The Cozumel Cat Café was such a fun experience, but I will warn you, this on-your-own excursion is not for everyone. As we left, we walked through the recovery area following a spay and neuter session of about four dogs, which may be unsettling for some guests (it was not for us, in fact, we were thrilled to see their good work in action!). Additionally, please ensure that you and your traveling party are prepared to remain calm and respectful while visiting with the cats. This unique cat cafe at the Humane Society is home for the cats, and they are welcoming us into their home. For the best experience for everyone, including the cats, it’s important that all visitors follow the cafe’s guidelines and treat the cats with the care they deserve. If you are a cat lover and are interested, you can learn more and book a reservation at CozumelCatCafe.com – there is also a link to donate to the Humane Society and another to buy toys for the cats (and this is something they could use – new toys; plus of course, food & litter).
This is important… There are no guest bathrooms available at the cat cafe. As a result, we ended our time there a bit short of the 2 hours and requested a taxi back to the port area which they arranged at the front desk. Our daughter came in clutch as the women working the desk only spoke Spanish.
The fare for the 5-minute taxi ride back to the International Cruise Terminal was $10 USD (+tip). If you are sailing with Disney and docking at Punta Lungosta, I’d recommend just getting a taxi. Walking was a fun experience, but you are walking on your own down roads away from the tourist areas of Cozumel, so please exercise good judgement and be safe out exploring. I will note however, everyone that we encountered was friendly and waved.
It was time to take a break from our wholesome family time to head to Señor Frogs. We are in Mexico with different laws, so the birthday girl can now legally enjoy an adult beverage and requested to visit Señor Frogs. In true Captain Ron fashion, she enjoyed a classic margarita on the rocks.
Back in 2011, we sailed to Cozumel on the Disney Magic – her first visit to Cozumel.
A wise man once said, “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Same can be said for raising kids.
We made our way back to the ship stopping to take some pictures.
Back onboard, we started to walk around to see what else we could discover on this ship.
We were once again lucky to run into Rover in The Overlook, which looks out over the bow.
At first Emily was not sure if she could get down to The Overlook area from the AquaDome, but there is a small lift near the coffee bar, Rye & Bean. While there are signs to ask for an attendant, it’s sorta once you are shown the way by a crew member you can do it yourself.
You could have your pick of seats on the upper decks. Plenty of open areas and empty tables at the Mexican restaurant compared to the mad house on the first sea day. Granted we were still in port, but the internet told me this would be a madhouse on such a large ship. Once again, this ship amazes me how well it handles 7,300 guests, although a good majority may still be ashore. All I can report is it not busy as we approach the 3 o’clock hour.
We were attempting to get to The Hideaway, which is the adult area after on deck 15. We could only find stairs. The accessibility route was hidden one deck below via a crew-only door in the back of WindJammer that led to the family bathroom corridor in the Hideaway. Similar to the lift to The Outlook, once you are shown the accessibility passage you can come and go as you please without a crew escort.
The Hideway is not a library. It is an adult party atmosphere with excessively loud music that was rattling the panels during periods of the music with deep bass. I’m all for a good time, but not at the expense of my hearing. We had a cocktail and beer then bolted.
On the way back through the Windjammer, I noticed a Gluten Free area. This is my 12th night sailing with Royal Caribbean and I’ve yet to eat at Windjammer.
Well, that ends now. I spotted a charcuterie area and essentially made the same cheese plate as we received as part of the purchased stateroom wine and cheese plate on embarkation day. I think its great you can put something like this together in Windjammer, but it really makes that stateroom order from embarkation day look pathetic.
We were in the area so decided to play some mini-golf. While other areas of the ship were nearly vacant, this area was popular. The theming of the 9-hole course was great and location on the ship was close to the shaded area of Basecamp. We had a great round.
After our golf outing, we walked past the Crown Edge which is the gimmick where you pay to get in a harness and hang off the side of the ship.
As we continued our walk around the ship, we spotted the Meyer Tuku hull plaque as well as the plaque for the lucky coins ceremony dated October 12, 2023.
From the upper decks of the Icon of the Sea you can get a great view of the International Cruise Terminal in Cozumel. Another thing that is neat about this pier/area is there is a swimming area right off of the pier. We would absolutely entertain this on a future trip.
We returned to the stateroom for a bit while we cleaned up and changed for the evening.
It has been nice to have such a variety of options for dinner outside of the main dining room. The MDR has been solid and service has been great with dinner only taking about an hour. Each night, our server would ask if we had any time sensitive plans and was always accommodating, but in reality with efficient service and well timed events and spacious venues, we have not had any issues getting to evening activities on time and there have been plenty of open seats. It has been fantastic!
Tonight, we chose to have a casual diner at Giovanni’s for Isabelle’s birthday, more specifically the bar seating just outside the restaurant located across from the Pearl on deck 6 in the promenade, where there is a bar and a la carte menu. Since we sat at the bar, we did not need to make any reservations and simply showed up at our leisure!
I was not sure what to expect, but I was managing my expectations. I am happy to report the pizza from Giovanni’s was a noticeable step up from Sorrento’s Pizza, the walk up pizza shop on deck 5. This was only our second Royal Caribbean cruise, but we are already at their gold loyalty level which includes 2 half off glasses of wine. This was a great spot to splurge on a higher priced wine as they had a wide selection of bottles available.
After dinner, I took our box of leftover pizza back to the room and met back up with the family in Dueling Pianos for 90’s music trivia.
Our big day continued with the adult comedy club show with our new adult family member. I waited in the standby line since we only had the 2 seats reserved, but there were plenty of stand by spots open and I was able to join the family. Another nod to RCCL for their capacity management!
The show was delayed as there was a medical emergency with a guest. The medical team was quick to respond in force and the guest was thankfully able to walk out under their own power. To the credit of the guests in attendance, everyone respected the severity of the situation and kept their phones down. Yay humanity!
The comedy show featured 3 comedians and the first was set up to fail with the delay and late arriving guest who just casually walked across a the stage. In some scenarios, she could have been a plant, but this was just one of those guests who likes to share opinions. The comic was fantastic in the situation and leveraged this into his set in a very entertaining way.
I should mention, the cruise director did speak to the room prior to the start and gave anyone who was not in the mood to stay for comedy an opportunity to come back later in the voyage.
The show was enjoyable and the comics are not holding back or toeing a company line which is incredibly refreshing. They didn’t speak badly about the cruise line, but they made some jokes at the line’s expense.
The overall show was exponentially better than last year’s on the Wonder of the Seas. The final comic was hilarious and I hear he is a fan of the Mouse. If you are an adult with an open mind who doesn’t mind offensive language, this is a great evening option.
How does one cap off the first day as an adult on a cruise ship? A trip to Casino Royale!
With the help of the blogger of the seas (no, not me), Matt the RCL blog helped teach a new adult the harsh realities of adulthood. Nothing in life comes easy. Work hard and never gamble more than you are willing to lose. Thankfully, that was only $30 and technically she was using house money. It’s actually good she didn’t hit her ‘all on red’ bet the first time out. We should’ve consulted our buddy Mike Drauer earlier for his ‘always bet on black’ advice. As a degenerate sports gambler, I’m happy she didn’t hit big her first time out, but I am bummed her first time out ended so quickly. At least we all had fun (and we did!).
We had a great day and hopefully, Isabelle enjoyed her birthday. Tomorrow, another relaxing day at sea.
Wait….Isabelle is 18! How did that happen!! You are right, time really passes quickly! Happy 18th Isabelle!
Thanks so much, Scott. I was on the Icon in December and was impressed.