Where do all the cruise people go?

[Skittl1321]

My last cruise I was pregnant and couldn't dive. We went to Mr. Sancho's for the day and it was a fine day and not that crowded. The pool was filled with loud, obnoxious, drunk, smokers- but we spent our time in the ocean, or at our table, or paddleboarding, so it was fine. I didn't feel crowded at all and hate crowds. If you don't drink at all, the all inclusive price is a bit high, but I didn't find it to be unreasonable.

A previous cruise, before I dove, we spent the day at Money Bar, that was a LONG time ago now though, so I can't guarantee it doesn't get insanely crowded. It was busy, but not crowded. Amazing chicken nachos, reasonable priced drinks, great snorkeling.

On a decompression day we went to Chankanaab one year. There were cruisers there, but the high entry price keeps them away. Swimming with the manatees was great fun, though I still have mixed feelings about those sorts of things.

Another decompression day I got a massage from Sally at Barefoot in Cozumel, that was a fun experience, as I'd never had that kind of massage before. Then I wandered town and got a great root beer float, and some other yummy food.

I haven't been there, but from cruise boards, my understanding is that Nachi Cocom has a limited entry, so while it will be full of cruisers, only a certain number of them can get in, and it is peaceful and relaxing. Another "if you can't beat them, join them" approach might be something like the America's Cup Excursion. Again, I haven't done it, but friends have raved about it.

 

[mcpowell]

Thanks for all the info. It sounds like the island isn’t too overrun. We’ll time our excursions towards the second half of the afternoon, if we don’t want to face the crowds. The east side of the island is definitely on the agenda.

 

[ggunn]

Thanks for all the info. It sounds like the island isn’t too overrun. We’ll time our excursions towards the second half of the afternoon, if we don’t want to face the crowds. The east side of the island is definitely on the agenda.

Be advised: most of the places over there close at 5PM.

 

[DjDiverDan]

If someone in your family likes sparkly baubles Coz can get expensive.

I’ve never been impressed with what amounts to just pretty rocks. But once upon a time, a long time ago, I was dating a woman who ran a business with her brother out of their garage - growing rubies, using the flux method. She could grow nearly perfect ruby crystals, most small 1/8 to 1/4 carat, some large, as big as 4-5 carats, for about $5.00 per carat. The process involves bringing a flux (a salt) to a molten state in a crucible, at over 1200 degrees C, along with the right proportions of alumina (aluminum oxide) and chromium to create a saturated solution, then, after sufficient “cooking” time to get as much alumina and chromium as possible into solution (you are aiming for a supersaturated solution; the higher the temperature and pressure, the greater the saturation, and the more rubies you can create), you SLOWLY cool the solution down to force the aluminum oxide and chromium out of solution to grow crystals on the side of the crucible. The home grown rubies are chemically and physically identical to natural rubies, except that they have fewer impurities, clearer and more consistent color, and a different pattern of occlusions, and can only be distinguished from natural rubies with a microscope of at least 100 power. She was also a scuba diver, and joined me on a couple of trips to Cozumel, and brought with her her jewelers loupe and a small handheld 100 power microscope. Just for grins, we went to several of the high-end jewelry stores to look at their rubies. A couple of stores did indeed show us ONLY natural rubies, but at several, anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of what was guaranteed to us as “natural” stones were home-grown using the flux method.

There are other methods of growing synthetic rubies, including flame fusion and “melt and pull”, which involves bringing alumina and chromium to a melting point, over 3,300 degrees C, and simply “pulling” rods of pure ruby from the molten mix, those rubies are incredibly pure and incredibly cheap, but easy to tell from natural by the circular growth rings in the crystal. That method is used to create rubie for ruby lasers, used in all sorts of high-tech goodies like CD readers and burners, laser printers, etc.

Bottom line is that you are a gullible idiot if you decide to drop a few thousand dollars on gemstones in a jewelry store in Cozumel, and if you are willing to accept a store’s promise that the gems are “natural”, and you probably deserve to be taken.

BTW, you can also grow synthetic sapphires and emeralds using the flux method, but sapphires are trickier, and emeralds require a VERY toxic additive for the green color, so both are avoided by “home growers.” But emeralds are tricky because a poor quality natural emerald can be made to look much better by infusing it in oil under pressure; it will look great for a while, but the oil eventually comes out and you are left with an ugly poor-quality stone.

 

[deepsea21]

@DjDiverDan... I shared your post with my gemologist certified wife and her response was, "Yup, they've been doing that a long time". The same is the case with "manufactured" diamonds that are produced with specialized equipment. To determine whether or not a diamond is manufactured or natural is very difficult as, of course, technology migrated to reproducing the most expensive gem.

Long story short, all of them are just "pretty rocks" that are mined and some are able to be manufactured in bulk everyday... There is no shortage of any of them. What there is a shortage of is the time we have on this earth and if it comes down to buying a rock or enjoying a great dive vaca I know where my $ will be spent. When we're old we only have our memories to sustain us. We prefer having great memories of travel and when we're on our death beds instead of a bunch of "beautiful" rocks adorning our fingers that are, in my opinion, worthless. Ya can't take them with ya.

 

[Gdog]

We simply walk in one block to avoid all the cruiser crowds if the Melgar is crowded. One block in and its like they arent even there.

 

[Altamira]

If you know what you are doing, a 10x jewelers loupe is enough to differentiate natural from created rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. If you don't know what you are doing, a 100x scope is not going to make you knowledgable of gemstones. After doing many appraisals of jewelry bought in the Caribbean and other tourist destination locations, one thing is a given: What you paid for that gemstone or piece of jewelry is not going to be the fantastic bargain you were told and were expecting.

 

[deepsea21]

What you paid for that gemstone or piece of jewelry is not going to be the fantastic bargain you were told and were expecting.

Of course it isn't. If a piece of jewelry has a tag on it with a price of say $1,000 and after 5 minutes of haggling the salesperson is down to $700 and after another 5 minutes it's down to $500 what the heck does that say? That says it all in my opinion. One thinks they just got a screaming great deal until they get it home and then something happens. A clasp breaks off and they take it to their reputable jeweler who looks at it and informs them the junk stone and cheap setting is worth about $250 and asks, "Do you really want to pay to have this repaired?

 

[pepperbelly]

On my first cruise on Carnival "Gemstone John" told us about these great diamonds for sale in port at Diamonds International. Woohoo!
My SIL was really excited, until I looked it up on my phone using the ship wi-fi and found that that company is owned by Carnival.
My daughter enjoyed looking for pretty shells on the beach more than looking at jewelry. In fact I think the only jewelry we bought were a few puka shell necklaces and bracelets for friends.