Cruise Days 5, 6, & 7

Day Five of the cruise took us to Cozumel, Mexico. As usual, here's the first thing we saw!

We were "excusioned" out by this point and I had been to Cozumel before, so we opted to explore on our own. There were shops right across from the port (and in every direction from there), so we did a little shopping and then hopped back on the boat. We did see a Starbucks with a thatched roof though!

Day Six was at sea! That night at dinner we saw something off in the distance and quickly realized they were oil rigs in the Gulf. This was the best picture we took. It was storming a little so the boat was a little unsteady and it was hard to get a clear picture.

Day Seven we got back to New Orleans around seven in the morning. Jeff and I opted for the express checkout earlier than everyone else because we had an 8 hour drive ahead of us to get home. We got off the boat when they called for express people at 8am and were through customs and pulling out of the parking garage by 8:30am!

It was so much fun and we are very thankful to the Taylor's for booking the trip!

Day 4: Belize

Day four we landed in Belize City, Belize. As always, we walked to the top deck of the ship before breakfast to take a picture of the port, but this is what we saw! I knew we'd have to tender to the port, but I thought we'd be closer than this! You can just barely make out land in the distance!

We signed up to do the "Land Rover 4x4 Jungle Adventure" for our excursion of the day. So after a ride on a boat named "Big Mamma" to get to the port we met up with our tour group and boarded the "Jungle Bus" seen below! We drove about an hour to get to the base camp. The first part of the drive was through Belize City. It was interesting to see the "expensive" part of town with rundown houses and bars on the windows. Once we got out into the jungle, we rode the bus straight up hills on very muddy dirt roads. It was a little crazy.

Here's a little video of our ride up the hills! Not much to see, but it shows you how bumpy it was!

Once we got to the base camp, we strapped on head lamps, sprayed ourselves with bug spray and grabbed a bottle of water before we headed out on our rain forest hike and cave exploring. It was VERY hot in the jungle and the caves. The trails were very muddy and slick. It was pretty interesting though.

After the hike, we loaded up in a few Land Rovers to go off-roading!! There was one guy that was on the tour by himself, so we told him to join us. Turns out he's from Clarksville, TN!! That's only about 45 minutes from Nashville! It's a small world! He was a good driver (he's an EMT and drove ambulances!) so he drove the whole time for us.

So here's a video of the Land Rover behind us coming up the hill of mud! I couldn't video us doing it because I was hanging on for dear life. Jeff and Ernie were in the cab with seat belts and I was sitting in the back on a bench with only a bar to hold onto. Right before we left our tour guide Giovanni jumped in with us, so he put his leg next to mine so I had something else to brace myself against! His is the other voice you'll hear on the video.

We drove the Land Rovers to a beautiful plantation-type setting where they fed us a typical Belizean meal... red beans and rice and stewed chicken. It was very good. Just a little weird to eat chicken with very large chickens running around at our feet. After lunch we got on a boat and took the river back to the port. I loved how much we were able to travel by boats on the excursions. A really great way to get around!

Belize was a lot of fun. We walked around the shops a little at the port and then got on a tender boat back to the ship. That night we ate at Cagney's, the steakhouse on the ship. It was SO good! A great way to end a fun day!

Cruise Day 3: Guatemala... Part Two

After we left Ak'Tenamit, we got back on the boat and traveled to Livingston. Livingston is a Garifuna town in Guatemala. In this picture below the garifuna are cleaning and salting fish. The white things you see in the foreground are fish fillets that are being dried on the docks.

When we got off of the boat we went straight into a resort/hotel where they served us some lunch. It was a mix of various things... chicken, fresh fruit (lots of watermelon!), and snacks. We also got to have something you have to pay for on the ship... COKE & DIET COKE! So nice to have a free one even if it was pretty warm! Of course, in most places outside the US, Diet Coke is called Coke Light.

Then we were treated to a performance by some locals!

After our performance, our guide gave us about 15-20 minutes to walk around the town of Livingston before we had to head back. Below is a picture of the top of the hill in the town looking back out toward the water. We really didn't get to see a lot of Livingston unfortunately.

So that ended our day in Guatemala. Before we returned from the ship, we hit a big building they have at the port where locals can sell their wares. We didn't buy anything in there, but there was lots to see. If you are ever on this particular cruise, spend all of your money in Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala! You'll think you'll want to save your money for Belize, but there's nothing really there to buy! Learn from our mistakes!!

Next post... Off-roading in Belize!!

Cruise Day 3: Guatemala... Part One

Guatemala was by far our favorite stop! As you can tell from the pictures, it is beautiful! Normally we took a picture each morning of what we awoke to, but this time we did a video.

From the ship, we boarded a speed boat to take our tour. We went everywhere by boat that day! We never got in a car! In fact, the school we went to could only be reached by boat! We had a wonderful tour guide named Carolina. She spoke terrific English and was a lot of fun.

After an hour in the boat, we reached our first destination, Ak'Tenamit. This is a school that teaches young people tourism, business, and ancient crafts. They also do a lot addressing health needs too. Check out their website. It is literally in the middle of the rainforest! We had to hike to get from one place to another at the school. I absolutely fell in love with the school and didn't want to leave! I told Jeff I wanted to move there and teach English and he quickly reminded me that it was 86 degrees with about 99% humidity in FEBRUARY! And they had no air conditioning! I think I'd adjust!

Yup... that's a machete! They all were using one to break down bamboo!

They had a shop with products made at the school that you can buy. They also had two local artisans that were selling their handmade jewelry. I bought a pair of earrings from this guy!

The students also gave us a demonstration on how to make corn tortillas. All of the students were very sweet and looked like they enjoyed their school and having us Americans walking through their classrooms! Our guide, Annie, was 16 and studying tourism.

This is the first of two Guatemala posts! We took about 80 pictures that day, plus some video so I thought I'd spread it out a little!

Cruise Day 2: Costa Maya, Mexico

Our first destination was Costa Maya, Mexico! After a really rough day at sea, it was nice to get off the ship and walk on land a little!

Every morning before we went to breakfast, we went to the top deck of the ship and took pictures of the port. So for each post the first picture you see is the first view we had of our destination. This is the port at Costa Maya. The only thing in Costa Maya is the port, consisting of a few shops with some pretty aggressive salesman!

This is some of the entertainment at the shops there at the port. Everything was painted in very bright colors. It was HOT! We hung out around the shops for about an hour before we left for our tour.

We boarded a coach bus, just as it began to rain, for our one hour ride to the Chacchoben Ruins. These are ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico. This is the one excursion we did as a whole family. Below is one of the three Mayan temples we saw. To get to this one we had to climb up some steep stone steps. I was one of the few that did it and I was SORE for days!

Jeff's dad and his brother listening to the tour guide.

Jeff and I at the ruins!

All in all it was a good day. Abby did great on the tour. We were pretty hot and sweaty by the time we got back. As soon as Jeff and I got back we went straight for the hot tub on the ship. I was relieved to find it very well chlorinated! That night we ate at the Italian restaurant on the ship, La'Trattoria. It was yummy. I was stuffed by the time the main course came, but managed to eat a good part of it anyway.

Next post(s)... Guatemala!!!

Pre-Cruise & Cruise Day 1

We left Friday (2/6... Jeff's Birthday!) after work to head to Birmingham to begin our trip! We met up with Jeff's sister and brother and his family. From there we all drove to Jeff's parent's house in Mississippi on Saturday. We were wondering if our niece Abby would warm up to Jeff this time. At Thanksgiving, she was really leery about him. This time they were best buds from the start of the trip. As you can see below, she had him wrapped around her finger!

For dinner, Jeff's brother Mark seared some yummy steaks for all of us and Jeff's dad made a "bomb" for Jeff's birthday dessert. Its a wonderful homemade ice cream cake with oozy chocolate in the middle! Yum!

Sunday morning we all packed up and drove to New Orleans to board our ship, the Norwegian Spirit! We had an easy time getting there and embarking. We headed straight for the dining room to have lunch and then checked out our staterooms. Then we walked around on the deck to wait for the boat to sail away!

Below is a picture of us sailing away from New Orleans at sunset.

Our first cruise day, Monday, was a day at sea. The water was really rough-- the most rough day I've ever had on a cruise. By evening I was a little green, but managed through it. We spent the day eating good food, catching up on sleep, and learning our way around the ship.

Stay tuned for more...

Laughed so hard, I cried!