Carnival Magic and Western Carribean: Sept 20, 2015 Review

I don't have dessert photos, but here is the menu:

Dessert Menu

I don't know what others had, since there are no photos but I had creme brulee and vanilla ice cream. I'm glad I ordered the ice cream, because while the sugar was nicely crisped on the top, the custard was watery and undercooked. I chose not to eat it, so I just had the sugar with my ice cream.

Up next was The Grooveline. The show was kind of random (a mix of decades with costumes that didn't always match the decade or part of decade the songs were from). The sound mixing was horrible, so you couldn't tell what the female was saying at all- and it was SO SO LOUD. SO LOUD. I cannot type in big enough capital letters to emphasize that.

The Grooveline (The Indian made me a bit uncomfortable. IIRC, he was the first person to appear on stage, and stay for a few beats alone. We'll call that a product of the time?)

We sat in the balcony, and Kevin captured some photos (if you are into photography Flickr tells you some settings; if you are not, know these were all taken without a flash. A flash is prohibited and wouldn't do anything from the balcony.)

This part of the show had one dancer, who did an act after the entire group left the stage, for a more extensive costume change.

There were two singers, and parts of the show used a live band.

I did like a lot of the costuming from the show. But overall, it was underwhelming. But, I always go to the shows if I can.

by , on Flickr

I don't think there was a warning, but don't go to these shows if you have light induced seizures. They all used lots of strobes and lazers and such. K being new to Carnival was really surprised to see the women dancing in thongs under their skirts, but this show wasn't too bad as far as that goes for "family friendly" (they at least always had the skirt on in this one) Your kids might notice some backsides hanging out of costumes though.

We ended the night with a bear:

Up tomorrow: Cozumel!

[quote=skittl1321;47907447About the cruisers:

My husband Kevin and I (Jessi) live in Iowa QUOTE]

Hello. We are live in Iowa too... :D

[quote=skittl1321;47907447About the cruisers:

My husband Kevin and I (Jessi) live in Iowa QUOTE]

 

Hello. We are live in Iowa too... :D

Yay for Iowa! Wish there was a port closer to here!

After reading through your review so far.. I felt your pain with dinner service and the dancing. John Heald mentions this every six months or so on his FB page after someone complains about it.

His response is normally "I don't ever see us getting rid of this because it's such a popular thing about our line and our staff really enjoy themselves doing it"

Then follow hundreds of posts confirming what he just said. I for one, don't care for it and it only makes it worse when they drop of the plates but then leave them there to go perform. Normally someone will at least drop off the plates to the table then go "catch-up" to the performance but I have seen what you took a photo of and that's plates, sitting there, meal getting cold while my wait staff performs the Macarena. :mad:

Following! Thanks for the review so far :D

Enjoying your review!

Enjoying your review! We're sailing on the Magic in March (a group of 20 from Nebraska & Iowa) so looking forward to seeing if we have the same itinerary.

No pressure but I leave on the Magic on Sunday so if you can finish your review before then that would be great:). I'm enjoying it so far, it's just too short!

No pressure but I leave on the Magic on Sunday so if you can finish your review before then that would be great:). I'm enjoying it so far, it's just too short!

Sorry! I will do my best to add a day or two tonight. I've been sick, so just getting through the day at work has been difficult, no computer time at night.

We were so excited for our first port, our favorite place in the world. We first came to Cozumel on the Triumph (see review in signature) and have returned twice on dive vacations. You can read about those here, if you would like.

Dive Trip with Scuba with Alison, staying at Sunscape Sabor, plus Chankanaab Swim with Manatees: http://skittles-skates.blogspot.com/2014/02/scuba-trip-report.html

Dive Trip with Tres Pelicanos, staying at Suites Bahia, plus lots of eating in town: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/497639-skittls-december-2014-review-tres-pelicanos-suites-bahia-lots-food.html

This year, because I am pregnant, we planned the cruise since we couldn't do a scuba vacation (if you didn't know- you can't dive while pregnant.)

So in Cozumel, Kevin had planned to go diving and I planned a relaxing beach day with J and K.

First up though, another really disappointing dining experience.

I don't have any photos from breakfast, but here's how it went. This was pretty unbelievable to me, because Carnival service has always been pretty decent.

So we woke up and went to the dining room for breakfast. We were seated at a table for 2 and handed menus. And then we waited 5+ minutes. In this time, we never got greeted. No one poured us water, we didn't get a basket of pastries- nothing. The large table next to us had 4 servers. We tried waving one down, we tried saying "excuse me" as they passed by. No notice at all. So we waited another 5 minutes. We had been seated for more than 10 (but less than 15 minutes) at this point, and NO ONE had paid us any notice. We got up and left. What a horrible start to a day. NOT impressed.

We went up to the Lido deck which was predictably crowded. Kevin got eggs benedict (with ham) which he said was not very good. It had obviously sat in a warmer for a long time, and he said the ham was cut too thickly, making it difficult to use the knife to slice into it. I got waffles. They were so cold they were inedible. This morning is not going well for us. So then I got a bagel and cream cheese, which was fine.

Ugh.

We went back to our room and waited until the call to leave the ship. As soon as the announcement was made, Kevin high-tailed it out of there, as he had to meet his (private) scuba excursion at the marina. I planned to meet J and K at 9:30. The port time was 9:00, so we figured we would miss the crowd if we got off the ship a bit later. We weren't in a huge hurry, so it was no big deal.

But the plan did not work. At about 9:20ish there was an announcement made that another ship was pulling into port. They would close our gangways until that ship was secured. So I think we waited until almost 10:00 to get off the ship in a huge crowd. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it did delay us just a bit.

But now after a few roadbumps we are all in Cozumel!

Hmmm... so I did a really bad job of taking photos in Cozumel.

First, we celebrated K and J's first steps in a foreign country by taking a photo of our ship. It looks so big!

Magic and Paradise

Then we took one (seriously- one) goofy photo in Puerta Maya as we tried to figure out how the heck to get to the taxi's. (I knew the general direction, put it's a pretty long walk!)

Having found the taxi's there was no line, and we quickly saw that it would be $17 to Mr. Sanchos. Two other people were also waiting, so we were going to share with them, which would bring the per person cost down just a teeny little bit. But then a sixth person hopped into our van which brought the ride to $34- the original price for the 3 of us we planned to pay. No biggie, but no unexpected savings either.

I didn't realize it, but this was J and K's first ever taxi ride. If I had known, I would have taken a photo. But I got one of their second ever taxi ride on the way home!

Mr. Sanchos was a quick drive. Having never been to Cozumel, J and K were pretty impressed by the quality of the roads - they are in great shape. And this taxi driver was a safe driver, so the ride wasn't scary at all!

We got to Mr. Sanchos and quickly found the AI check in. I had booked at a shore excursion site online, put a $5 deposit down for each of us, and then owed $135 for the rest of the day. I paid in cash, but they do take credit cards too.

Once paid, we were given bracelets and our waiter, Jesus, escorted us to a table. The table had room for 6 and a huge umbrella over it. We were told we could select any lounge chairs we would like to use as well, but we actually never did.

K quickly got a beer (he chose Sol) and told Jesus to keep them coming. K was then thrilled that Jesus took that literally, and was never without a beer for the rest of the day.

J started her day off with a fruity blue cocktail, and I had a pineapple juice.

This would be a great opportunity for me to show you some photos of the property, or of our drinks- but I took none. It was just too fun of a day to think about the camera...

So how did the rest of the day go? K basically sat at the table the whole day. He insisted to us that THIS is how he enjoys a beach day- with a fine waiter keeping him well stocked with beer, so we didn't try to push him getting into the ocean... He also ordered some tacos (fish tacos?) which he said were fabulous.

Meanwhile J and I alternated going to the water to swim and coming back for a drink or bite to eat. We definitely did not get our "money's worth" on the all-inclusive, but it was still an amazing day. J had a few more drinks, I had another juice and two bottles of water. We split chips, salsa and guacamole.

We never used the pool because they were filled with people smoking and multiple groups who each had their own boom box blaring music. (Thankfully there wasn't much smoking on the beach.)

We did walk up to check out the buffet- it was a very small selection, but that was the only place you could get fresh fruit, which I had a small plate of.

J and K originally planned to partake in the water park inflatables, but decided that playing on those wasn't going to be worth the $12. J and I went snorkeling a little bit. We brought our own equipment, and her mask (borrowed from her brother) was a bit too big, so I eventually gave her mine (well fitted for scuba) and just swam along. There wasn't much to see- but since she had never gone, the few fish amused her.

It was a pretty uncrowded day, so it was easy to maneuver around the beach, not too loud, and the water was also uncrowded.

There were vendors that came table to table, but they did not really bug you if you said no thank you.

We took one vendor up on their offer however- Ha Haak Stand Up Paddle boarding. For $35 each, we got a mini lesson and then an hour in the water with 2 instructors, one of whom took photos for facebook. (I think the facebook album had over 100 photos!)

Paddleboarding was awesome! They were super concerned about my safety, being pregnant (they discretely asked J, not asking me directly)- and originally were only going to let me sit, but once I got on the board they said they could tell I had good balance, and with a quick paddle, they could tell I knew what I was doing there (I kayak regularly) so they let me stand up. The standing was actually the easy part- the paddling for the full hour was HARD- I did end up sitting back down the last 10 minutes because I was tired. J also started her lesson on her knees- but they do that for everyone, the plan was for her to stand up after 1 lap around the buoy.

We paddled all around, and during a "rest" we got to try a little bit of yoga. Just simple things like pigeon pose, child's pose, and then a warrior pose- but they have actual yoga classes if you are skilled (and if they aren't worried about you falling and injuring a fetus... I was told over and over "if you think you are going to fall at all, just jump off!")

This was probably the best experience of the whole cruise. The couple who did the instructing were awesome, and so was the activity. And for only $35! (Something I also noticed is when they didn't have a customer they paddled around and collected sea weed from the water- a nice little service.) You can do this even if you aren't on the AI side of the resort, obviously!

When we go back to Cozumel and have a non-dive day, I want to paddle board with them again for sure!

After the paddleboarding we rejoined K up at the table. And we were completely exhausted, so we all decided that it was probably about time to head back. It was super easy to find a taxi. We did some shopping in Puerta Maya (has anyone noticed this isn't Puerto? It's actually "Mayan Door"- most people think it is Mayan Port...) and got dresses for J and K's little girls and found a dolphin figure for their boy. And I got my FAVORITE duty free purchase of all time: Milka Triolade chocolate bar. OMG, so good.

Then we got back into line to reboard the ship, which wasn't too long. We were pleasantly surprised when someone popped into the line behind us: Kevin!

So how did Kevin's day go? WONDERFUL.

We spent a week diving with Alison before, but in the grand scheme of diving, with about 30 or so total dives, we are pretty inexperienced. Kevin was thrilled to find that he was welcomed back like a long time regular (and she has many regulars with hundreds, or thousands of dives with her.)

Kevin brought his own mask, fins, computer, and air integrated SPG transmitter, but rented a regulator set and a BCD from Alison. She obviously provides tanks and weights. He chose to dive only in a swimsuit because the water is very warm in the summer. Alison's gear is in excellent shape, and it always tastes like fresh detergent from a good cleaning.

Flamingo Tongue Snail

So Kevin started his day (where thankfully he got out well before the Paradise docked!) with a taxi to the marina, where he was a little unsure how to find their boat (the marina just moved...) but quickly ran into Carlos, the Captain. So then he got to the Maximus. Alison had a wrench available for him to change out the air integrated transmitter for her provided SPG.

Sponge

If you are looking for a scuba op, the Maximus is one of the things that sets Alison ahead (besides her amazing service)- it is a FAST boat. The twin engines get you to the southern sites super fast. And it is comfortable. You can roll of the side or giant stride off the back.

Tortuga

Kevin told me that a few divers were waiting at the marina and then they picked a few more up on the way to the dive sites.

They dove at Palancar Wall and Columbia Shallows. His dives were 62 minutes long and 90 minutes long. If you dive in Cozumel, always choose an op that will let you dive your own tank. Because there were beginners in the group, some other divers only went for 30 minutes on the first dive, for instance. In between dives they did a floating surface interval and Alison provided cakes, sodas, and water.

Coral and Brittle Sea Star

I'm so jealous I wasn't with him. I've sprinkled photos he took throughout the post. Unfortunately our camera charger fell out of our luggage in his mother's car in Austin, and the camera was not fully charged- so it died halfway through the first dive. This was a major disappointment during the cruise.

Tortuga Escondida

When we got back on the ship, I honestly don't remember what exactly we did. I know we didn't play trivia, as none was scheduled after the port hours.

I'm thinking I must have taken a nap, because I have no memories of this happening:

Shuffleboard

The Red Frog pub has various games set up to play. Kevin tells me J kicked their butts. They all also had some Thirsty Frog, which K enjoyed greatly and that became his go-to for the week. (A round of Thirsty Frog turned out to be the only purchase that Kevin made during the week. I never bought anything.)

We went to dinner, which I will detail in the next post (more disappointing dining!), and then everyone else gave up and went to bed. However, I had to meet S and E to arrange when we would meet the next morning, so I went to 60 seconds of fun (aka: Minute to Win-it rip off). There were a few cute games, and I failed miserably at throwing a paper airplane (though not as miserably as some people...mine at least went somewhere.)

But this shirt won me a ship on a stick. At the end of the show, they had a few extras and just tossed them to the audience. I got one "for the baby".

So thanks to the neighbor who gave it to me!

We again went to the MDR for dinner. I don't remember the service being slow, but it wasn't fast. I'm pretty sure we were there while they danced, but that wasn't the problem tonight.

Here was the menu: (remember you can click to make it larger)

Cozumel Menu

Appetizer's ordered by people in the group included Braised Rabbit and Vegetable Spring Rolls. I think both were liked.

Braised Rabbit

Vegetable Spring Rolls

I ordered the tortilla soup. I did not like it. The tomato base was very artificial in flavor. This made me really sad as I was looking forward to it pre-cruise, I LOVE tortilla soup; we even served it at our wedding. Though I tend to prefer the ones that are lime broth based.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

For our main courses, everyone ordered the Rosemary Lamb Shank and I ordered the Chick Pea Biscuits, which sounded like they might be a bit like falafal, one of my favorite foods.

Chick Pea Biscuits

I wish I could describe the taste, but it was just bad. They were mushy and inedible. I took just two bites and then stopped. I couldn't eat them.

And the Rosemary Lamb Shank? Well, it turned out to be curry lamb shank. Curry being the one flavor K refuses to eat, and J and Kevin weren't exactly impressed.

"Rosemary" Lamb Shank by

We left barely eaten meals on the table and left. This was not our night.

Kevin went to bed, but J, K and I went up to the Lido deck to find food.

This was my first time being on the Lido for dinner (in all my cruises). I was very surprised to find almost no choices. There was only one line (plus the deli and pizza) open. I carried a plate through the line, went back to the deli, walked by the pizza (which had a LONG line) and did not put a single piece of food on my plate. J and K selected a few things, but we were all shocked by lack of choice. In retrospect, I should have waited in the pizza day, but it was a long day, I was tired, and well, pregnancy doesn't have me eating much.

J and K laughed at my empty plate. After we finished eating, I think they went to bed, and as mentioned, I went to 60 seconds thing.

We had an early morning the next day in Belize!

Enjoying your review!

Proof that I got a ship on a stick last night:

Jessi and her ship

And our towel animal from the Cozumel-day night.

Elephant

So the Belize day was one I was nervous about. I had read so much about how tendering takes forever, about how you have to be on the first (non-Carnival excursion tender) to have enough time for the excursion I booked, about how you get back to the port at the last second... there was just a lot to worry about. And I had done all the excursion planning today, so if something went wrong (and if it did, it seemed like it would go very wrong: with us left in Belize) it would be my fault. I knew it was likely things would go okay, but there was a lot of nagging in my head.

Anyway- the night before we had arranged to meet outside the dining room where tender tickets would be handed out 30 minutes before the ticket distribution began. (7:30; distribution starts at 8:00- IIRC) If you didn't have an excursion, you went to the 4th floor mid-ship restaurant. If you had one, you went to the show lounge.

Kevin and I started our morning with room service breakfast. It arrived, pretty much to the second, at 6:45; we had written a 6:45-7:00 window on the form, so this was perfect. We got a bagel, a croissant, some fruit, and some cereals. You'll all be shocked to hear I ate a bagel :) And it turns out I've been eating malt-o-meals Frosted Flakes for so long I didn't like the Kelloggs ones. But that certainly wasn't Carnival's fault.

Carnival Magic

At 7:15, we get a call from K that they went to the Lido deck for breakfast, and there are tons of people up there with their bags, so we need to go get in line for tender tickets NOW. So we go. And there is 1 other person there. They sit inside the restaurant, but we start a line at the door; knowing that there will be no order if everyone goes and just sits in random chairs. Slowly, more people trickle into the line. By the time it is time to distribute tickets the line goes out toward the photo area, but it isn't overwhelmingly long. (We did have a hysterical experience where someone who walked through the restaurant stopped and stood in front of us, rather than walking to the back of the line like everyone else who came that way. In conversation we dropped the word "line" at least 6 times, and mentioned how long all the people behind us had been waiting. The woman just stared blankly and said "wow, it really is quite a long line. Why did people get here so early?" Then turned around and faced the door, so it was clear she knew which direction the line went. Either she was the most clueless person ever, or this was the best strategy ever for cutting because we were so flabbergasted we couldn't tell her to get her ass to the back of the line".

So it turns out the first worry of the day was for nothing. Maybe some cruises are frantic, and this was a hurricane season cruise, so perhaps it was just less crowded and more low key, but we easily got #1 tender tickets, and I didn't feel like 30 minutes was that long to be in line. And then when the first tender was called, they took #1-5, which I think was EVERYONE in the dining room at 8:00. So it didn't even matter we were near the front of the line, the whole line got called. The tender boat held about 150 people.

On the Tender

Updates are more fun with photos- so this one has a few from the tender.

For our excursion we had booked Cave-tubing and ziplining (including lunch) with Cavetubing.bz

The cost was $65 for the combo, and $45 for just the cave-tubing. As we got closer to the cruise and more and more nervous about the tender situation we considered switching to the Carnival excursion. We did not, because 1) the combo cost $125, and there was no option to not do both parts of the combo, and 2) pregnant women could not go on the excursion- not even just the cave tubing only excursion! (I can understand not allowing pregnant women to zipline, although I didn't do it because I've broken my neck multiple times and have some complications from the surgery and spinal cord damage, and it is possible the harness may have been uncomfortable on my pregnant stomach; but there was nothing about the tubing that made me understand this limitation. In the end, my husband told me the ziplining would have been fine for my neck, and probably my belly; but I'd rather play it safe!)

Okay- anyway. We got off the ship and easily found the folks from .bz. They have recently been allowed to enter the port area, so they are there to meet you right when you get off the tender (apparently you used to have to leave the gated area of the port and then find them.) The guides in the yellow polos directed us to an area to wait for everyone else doing the excursion, while plenty of other groups gathered with their excursions. There are a lot of cave tubing companies (and likely, some other excursions too!)

And He's Off

We waited for quite some time and ended up with probably a group of 60 or so, divided into "cave tubing only" and "cave tubing, ziplining, and ATV combos". The ATV thing got a little confusing, because they kept saying all 3, and MOST of the people in the line were only there for 2, so everytime someone would have to verify they were in the right place, since they weren't ATVing. Then we got moving to our vans. I didn't see what the 40 people who went with the only cave tubing got into (if they went into a bus or broke into smaller groups), but there were 22 people in our group and we went into a small bus. The bus was in good condition, had good air conditioning, and working seat belts.

Ready to Go

The drive to the site where we paid (the first thing done on the excursion!) was about an hour, and during that time "D" gave us a FABULOUS city tour where we learned a lot about Belize. Our driver was very safe, and the drive was great. (In retrospect, if this drive went a bit faster, he wouldn't have to go so insanely fast on the way home...) After paying, we went to the zipline area.

I can't really tell you much about what happened there- since I didn't zipline. But J, K, Kevin, S, and E came back THRILLED. They all said it was wonderful fun. I've sprinkled in photos Kevin took during this part of the review. There were two young children on our tour- and Kevin said they just had a BLAST ziplining too.

I can tell you what I did during the time they were gone (an hour? more? I don't really know.) I sat on the air conditioned bus and talked to the driver. I had brought a book, and told him that if this was his break, I'd be happy to read, but he seemed more than happy to talk to me. And we talked about all kinds of things about Belize. I learned all about their education system, how much money it costs to buy things, how difficult it is for him to get a visa to travel to the United States, their medical system (he was a medic)- including some information about trauma surgeries like I had when I broke my neck (sounds like I probably would have had a good chance of surviving if he was my first responded, but probably wouldn't be walking...) and how they birth babies (he recommended a Guinness once a month to boost my blood volume. Women are not admitted to the labor/delivery area of the hospital if the father has not donated 2 units of blood already!) You know how some luxury cruise lines sell "lunch with a local" as an upscale excursion where you just get a candid talk with someone? That's what I felt like I got out of this. Really, they should have charged me as much as the zipliners, because it was a great experience to hear about how someone lives in another country. I feel privileged to have gotten that, and really want to thank the driver for being so gracious. (We did make sure to tip at the end of the day!)

After ziplining everyone came back to the bus. (I was a bit worried the bus was going to get VERY smelly, because the first two people came back pouring sweat, but most of the other people really weren't. It was a fairly hot day- and the excursion did provide water.)

The 6 people who were ATVing left our group to go do that. They left their stuff on the bus, and would meet back up with us at the end of the day. (During ziplining, all the stuff stayed on the bus.)

From there we drove a short distance to the cave tubing. There were changing rooms and restrooms available and we got ready to go on a short hike. Some of the women elected to hike just in swimsuit bottoms, but I went for shorts and a swimsuit top instead. We were fitted with life jackets and helmets and ready to go. I appreciated that the company transported our tubes for us- we didn't have to carry them.

Jessi Gets to do This One

Since I haven't been allowed to exercise pregnant, I was really worried about the walk. It was 30-45 minutes, but with frequent stops, so it was no big deal. The guides would talk about various plants they found along the way, which was interesting. It was uneven ground, and a lot of hills. There were a few staircases that were somewhat steep, but I did fine, as did everyone else in the group, including the children. No one in the group was truly elderly but we had a few seniors, and they did fine too.

The hike was really beautiful and I think should be viewed as part of an excursion, instead of just travel TO the excursion.

Crossing at the take out (I can't believe I am sharing this photo, because it isn't very flattering- but this is the river crossing. It got up to my mid-thigh by the middle of the river. The river was very slow, so you didn't need to use the rope to cross, but some days you might. The people in the tubes are ENDING their journey.

The gang (except Kevin)

Once to the river (well the 2nd time, the first time you cross it is actually where you get OUT of the river)- our tubes (which were super comfortable, with no hole in the bottom, and a head rest) were roped together, and we sat in them. I'd seen photos of people getting in off a dock, but we were in a different entrance, and just climbed into our tube.

Time to get wet The absolutely beautiful scenery of our "put-in"

Got the tubes

Then we were through the caves.

The caves were beautiful. We had headlamps which lit just a bit ahead of us, but a lot was really quite dark. It is hard to describe, although if you've ever been in a cave, it looks like that! At one point, there was a beautiful series of waterfalls. Just wonderful. Because we were later in the day, it was fairly quiet in there, it wasn't crowded. (There was a group behind us who were part of an excursion that paddled little blow up boats, but they quickly passed us so their noise tapered off.) The guides told us about features and pointed out interesting things, but they didn't talk so much as to "ruin the nature". It was really amazing.

Now, if you've been tubing before, you'd know it is a slow experience. In this case, the guides actually pull you along to speed you up! A few shallow times they yelled "butts up" and some of the heavier members of the group remarked how it was painful that they would drag along the ground, but due to lack of abs with the whole expanded uterus thing, I never actually went "butts up" and never felt the ground, so I don't think our water was too low. There were even a few points that had actual currents too!

I'm going to type less and let the photos talk! (Note: The water was not cold, but being a river, and not the ocean, it wasn't warm. In the winter, I can imagine it would get quite chilly with a lower air temperature!)

After the cave part, there is still a float along the river to get back to the rope where we crossed. I though this was as beautiful as the caves!

WG3_0185-2

Pretty River

River Tubing

The guides also took our cameras and took some photos of us.

Kevin and Jessi

J and K

After we got back to the rope where we first crossed the river, we carried our tubes back to the parking lot (about a 3-5 minute walk) and got changed and back into the van. Here was where most of us started worrying about time. (Well apparently some people started worrying during the leisurely float down the river when the caves were over...) It was starting to seem like there wasn't nearly enough time to make that long drive back- AND we still had to eat lunch.

But we drove back to the company's property and ate lunch. The lunch stop was only 20-30 minutes, but I think I'd rather eat in the van and have been back to port 20-30 minutes earlier!

It was a VERY good lunch. We had rice and beans, coleslaw and chicken. I don't eat much mean and was told they could accommodate vegetarians. The accommodation was 2 pieces of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and a slice of cucumber. Um, okay... Luckily, the rice and beans (with some habenero sauce!) was very filling and the coleslaw was excellent- plus you could have as much as you wanted, so I did have seconds of the coleslaw! There was unlimited rum punch, and K proved that they were not lying about that: I think he had 4. You could have 1 soda included, though the choices were limited, I think they had Sprite or a few Fantas. I had a sprite. I think there was also beer to purchase, but no one in our group did, as everyone else had a rum punch and some people had the sprite. There was a gift shop on site; K bought some hot sauce.

THEN, we finally loaded up to get back to port. Well, the warnings on cruise critic about a crazy ride were true. Perhaps because the mini-bus was in better shape than some of the "cabs" I've been in in other ports it wasn't the scariest cruise taxi I've been in; but this was break-neck speeds, tail-gating to its finest. And narrowly missing head on collisions while passing on the other side of the road. I think K was going to have a heart attack; J was too busy panicking about the time to notice too much of the crazy driving. But our driver was VERY skilled.

We passed a number of excursion vans on our way; including a Carnival excursion bus, which they used to reassure us about the time. The whole time I kept thinking "I KNOW we will get there in plenty of time, but I hate cutting it this close." Rationally, these peoples livelyhood requires them to get cruisers back- but a tire blowout, and we'd be screwed. (A crash, and well, a lot of us would probably be dead...)

Anyhow, the "last tender time" was 4:15, and we got back to the port a few minutes after 4:00. J convinces us we definitely have time for a bathroom break, so we stop, and then walk quickly toward the tender pick up. And just as Cruise Critic predicted (and I told them to expect...) there is a GIANT line. S takes this as an opportunity to buy a coconut filled with rum. Turns out, our tender loads at 4:40. And then there is one more after us...

I highly recommend the cave-tubing/zipline combo from .bz. They could not have been more professional, and it was a beautiful, fun experience. But don't do it if you don't have travel insurance.

Tonight J and K decided to do room service for dinner, so Kevin and I went to the dining room alone. We sat at a large table and got EXCELLENT service. Probably the best of the cruise.

Belize Dinner Menu

For his appetizer, Kevin tried the fry jacks. The menu doesn't do a good job of describing them. Turns out, they are just some crispy fried dough, like a tortilla chip. He was a bit disappointed.

I had another cheese plate, this time with extra grapes.

He had a chili relleno, which I believe he said was good.

I had the Indian vegetarian again, so he didn't take a photo. But it is different every night. This night it was WONDERFUL. I wish the waiters would tell you the names of each dish on it. The rice was creamier than the previous night, and the other two dishes were just fabulous.

For dessert, Kevin had the sticky toffee brioche. He really liked it, I thought it was just a bit dry.

I had the S'more parfait, which wasn't to my taste (though another woman at the table just gobbled it up.) I think Kevin ended up eating it.

I also had a fruit plate (no photo) and it was EXCELLENT!

The dinner 'show' tonight was to "Happy". It was a little too long; but the waiters on the podiums near us were really into it.

The production show tonight was a Magic show. J and K met us, and we found seats up in the balcony area. It was PACKED tonight. This was the first time we had really seen a crowd on the cruise, so we were pretty surprised.

Destination Unknown (Don't worry- no flash was used!)

Having sat in the balcony of the Triumph magic show, we knew these seats were the "magic-ruiner" seats, as you can see the trick behind many of the illusions. Some were hysterical enough that we are calling back to them with sayings or hand movements even a few weeks later- I think one of the tricks may be an inside joke for us for years.

A few of the illusions were still impressive.

And the costumes for the show were wonderful.

Again, the show was WAY TOO LOUD! And poorly mixed- you couldn't make out a word the male singer was saying, and the woman sounded screechy. The sound was a pretty big damper on the entertainment this cruise. (The lobby bar was also impossibly loud.)

If you want to believe in the magic, make sure to sit level 1, in the middle! And another costuming warning; so people may not think this show is "family friendly". There were a lot of butt cheeks; and one act the women came out in nude/sparkly body suits and slowly pulled various articles of clothing out of a hat to cover up.

After the show we went to bed. For me, Roatan would be a lazy day. Kevin had a diving excursion to head to!

Here were the Belize fun times: (remember you can go to flickr to view larger)

And our cutest towel animal yet.

I asked our room steward (Lawrence, he was fabulous!) for a monkey before the cruise was over, and he teased me by telling me they don't make them anymore. And then that since I asked, he couldn't do it because it wouldn't be a surprise. He also hinted if I like towel animals I should wake up early the next morning and take a swim!

Loving your review! We just got off the Magic this morning on this same itinerary. :):):)

In Roatan Kevin and I once again planned to go our separate ways. He would be diving, through a Carnival excursion, and I would be going with K and J to enjoy the beach at Mahogany Bay. We decided not to go outside the Carnival complex because I just wanted a cheap day, and K just wanted to drink beer on the beach- even if beer cost less elsewhere, the cost of a taxi would be great enough that it wasn't really worth it.

So, we woke up and went to the Lido deck for breakfast. Breakfast was pretty nondescript, in that I have no recollection what I got at all.

Kevin did take a photo of what he ate though:

Scuba Breakfast

And, as hinted by our cabin steward, the Lido deck had been taken over by chair hogs. No wait, by towel animals. The ram was my favorite.

So we had breakfast, and then pulled into Mahogany Bay.

Roatan Port Shopping

Kevin left to join his excursion as soon as the cruise director called that people could leave the ship. I would meet up with J and K a bit later, as we wanted a slow start to the morning.