Last week my 12-year-old niece Justina accompanied me on a Western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas.
When we visited the port of Cozumel, Mexico, on day 6 of our cruise, we still had a couple of items to cross off of Justina’s “wish list” for her first cruise.
Her priorities were to:
- go para-sailing,
- get her hair braided,
- do a little shopping.
While we had done shore excursions through the ship at the other two ports, I thought Cozumel was a good place to strike out on our own.
Justina and I hopped into a taxi and headed to San Francisco Beach. The current fare is $14 dollars for up to 4 people sharing a taxi.
We arrived around 11 am, so the San Francisco Beach Club was still fairly quiet, and we got lounger chairs, an umbrella and a table with a front-row view of the water.
The chairs are free of charge, but require a $10 per person minimum spend on food and/or drinks, which I knew from past experience wasn’t difficult to accomplish.
Shortly, a man approached us for para-sailing. The cost was $50 per person for a 15-minute flight.
The only problem: I did not want to para-sail, and my niece was too little to go up on her own.
No problem, the guy said he would find someone else to “fly” with her while I watched from the boat.
Soon we were in the para-sailing boat heading away from the shore, and Justina was getting harnessed for her “flight.”
The cameraman fitted a video camera on her head.
Then, Justina and the local lady were harnessed into place.
Up and away they went.
Higher and higher.
And, even higher into the clouds.
All good things must end. Here (above) the para-sailors are being pulled back into the boat.
Justina loved the ride and the views. Now we were ready for a little beach snack and rest.
The San Francisco Bay Club’s shrimp ceviche was just as great as I remember it from a visit years ago.
Justina stuck with nachos.
After a swim, she was ready to get her hair braided. I questioned if she really wanted to do this.
Smart girl that she is, she decided to get three partial braids on one side of her head.
The result was very nice.
After a taxi ride back to the pier, we did a little shopping right there.
When we got back on the ship, Justina couldn’t wait to try one of her purchases.
It was a fun day.
Have you visited Cozumel via a cruise ship? If so, what did you do while you were in port? Please share in comments below.
Check out these other posts detailing other parts of our Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas adventure:
- Cruising With a 12-Year-Old: Snorkeling and Climbing Dunn’s River Falls from Falmouth, Jamaica
- Cruising With a 12-Year-Old: Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s Private Resort in Haiti
- Cruising With a 12-Year-Old: A Day at Sea on the Oasis
- Traveling With a 12-Year-Old: Boarding Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas
- Traveling With a 12-Year-Old: Driving, Flying and Trying New Foods
- Traveling With a 12-Year-Old: The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel
- A Look Inside Interior Cabin #10425 on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas
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