As expected, there were generator problems on the ship that have plagued it for months, causing them to cancel Grand Cayman. I was quite disappointed in not getting to check out Sting Ray City, but I'll catch it another time. Instead, we went to Playa del Carmen, and we all received $75 credit plus about $8 credit on port charges. Princess rules clearly state they can change ports at any time, etc., so they are under no obligation to give this credit. While they need to fix the darn ship soon, I think it was a very commendable act on this part to voluntarily give us the credit. Kudos to Princess for this.

PORTS OF CALL:

Costa Maya (Mahajual) - We hired Native Tours to take us to the Chacchoben ruins - the group was overbooked, so there was a bus, and the 6 of us were put in a private van. Ivan was our group's guide (we split into 2 groups). Very cool ruins. I've been to Tulum and some others, but I thought these were more interesting, partially because our guide was so good. Ivan is a local Mayan man who speaks excellent English, and gave us tons of cultural info as well as historical, which I enjoyed. At first I thought it would only be the one pyramid and nothing else, but there was quite a bit more, including more pyramids. Because we had the van to ourselves, we left before the bus did, and had the driver stop at a little local store on the way home, so we could load up on snacks and drinks. Went back to Mahajual, where we had about an hour left. I really wanted to try the massages on the beach, but was surprised to see that everything was shutting down at 5 PM (ship left at 6 PM). A young man saw me looking at the massage tables, and asked if I was interested. He went to talk to a couple of girls, and said that one of them would set her table back up for me. Turns out, he was her husband. I talked to them for a bit, and they were a great couple - extremely friendly. I forgot to write down his name, but he runs snorkeling tours in Mahajual, while his wife, Maria, does the massages. They are both teenagers. He said for either massages or snorkeling, just ask for Maria. Hard to believe there would only be one gal named "Maria" in the town, but I recommend them! By the way, the massage was about 35 minutes for $20, and very professional. They are definitely trained in standard massage therapy and know what they are doing. Well worth it. Read more