Pearl docked in Cozumel with Freedom of the Seas
Most of the time when returning to a docked ship from a port stop, passengers just walk up the gangway and get on board. Sometimes they have to pass through customs first, but there’s normally no fanfare or hoopla about it. You get on the ship, send your things through the scanner, pick them up and go on your way.
Norwegian Dawn and Star docked in Cozumel
The Norwegian Pearl did things a bit differently on our Caribbean cruise. At most stops they had crew waiting to greet returning passengers at the dock with cold drinks, or maybe popsicles and wet towels for a little refreshment and cooling off before getting back onboard.
shopping area near the dock in Cozumel
Then came our last stop at Cozumel. After finishing an excellent shore excursion that took us snorkeling on Palancar Reef and relaxing at Playa Mia Beach Park, we wandered through the shops by the dock a bit. We had over an hour, but me having lost my watch at Playa Mia and John’s watch not working due to swimming with it on, we stayed at the nearby shops rather than trying to get to town.
Carnival Magic and Conquest at their nearby pier
After a bit we made our way toward the ship. We dawdled about taking photos of the Pearl and the two Carnival ships at their nearby pier. We even took a few of Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, docked next to our ship. Norwegian’s Dawn and Star docked at the other end of town, but we got photos of them on the way in.
Lots of action on one side of the dock
Coming down the dock toward the ship we could hear music. As we got closer we saw a shade tent by the ship. Passing by there a crew member handed out fruit juice treats to all the returning passengers. Another crew person handed out wet face towels.
Welcome Back to the Pearl
Walking under a Norwegian sign strung across our side of the dock led returning passengers between two lines of dancing crew. Then we saw the cruise director and another girl on stilts with long pants so it looked like they had extremely long legs dancing around between the lines of crew people in a singing, dancing welcome back.
Pearl welcomes passengers back to the ship in grand style
Most passengers walked through the corridor between the dancers, some dancing along their way. I ducked out and got out the camera. The crew of the Pearl certainly went all out to welcome passengers back to the ship from our last port stop. The people on the other ship next to us walked down a bare dock to an empty gangway, all looking over at the partying entrance the Norwegian Pearl gave to their passengers. Perhaps their way of saying our ship may be smaller, but look how much fun we have.
Filed under: Caribbean, Norwegian, Pearl, Ports of Call
