podunkhum

While on the Glory a few weeks ago we experienced a problem with our AC. Most of the time the room was comfortable, but a couple of times it got hot and we called guest services. Both times the problem was resolved rather quickly. I have no idea if it had to do with someone else propping the balcony door but I guess it makes sense as we never saw a technician in our room. I would be curious to know how they resolved it, if anything was done at all.

It seems like such a trivial thing. I loved my balcony room but I had no desire to prop open the door. The sounds of the ocean are nice but even if it wasn't a rule I still wouldn't do it. Doesn't make me a better person, it's just not me. However, I wouldn't want to be the guy who inconvenienced someone else for my own pleasure or satisfaction. It's discouraging to me to see that there are so many selfish people.

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We continued to wait in line and would soon discover that the power had gone out on the ship. I don't know how long the people in front of us had been waiting, but I think we waited somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 minutes. Hey, I know things happen, but dang...we could have spent that time wandering around Cozumel. I really would have liked to put that time to good use rather than standing around in some line. I almost let this affect me, but I chalked it up as one of those uncontrollable circumstances that pop up every now and then. The worst part about this was having to wait in line next to some boorish drunks that were cussing and smoking. I did have a difficult time reining in my dark mood that was about to overtake me, but once back on the ship, I let it go and moved on. Here is a picture of the line from our balcony. I think we were about an hour late of pushing off from the dock.

Here is another shot of right before we got in line to wait.

I really wish that we would have had more time at Playa Del Carmen. Heck, I wish that we would have had more time at Cozumel. Although it was a great day, I only wish for a couple more hours in each port. I was really in the mood for shopping around for some souvenirs, and although we had about an hour and a half left, minus about 45 minutes for the ferry and taxi, it wasn't nearly enough.

Jonathan dropped us off about two blocks from the port. There were so many places I wanted to check out but I knew that we didn't have time. We did stop at a couple of stores real quick like and did some whirlwind shopping. I found a pair of knock off Oakley sunglasses that I really liked and I tried to barter a bit with the shopkeep. He wasn't having any of that. Oh really? I used to haggle all of the time with the merchants in Juarez and I know that they jack up the prices in the touristy areas. He could have come down a few bucks but he must have seen that I really wanted them. If I would have had more time I could have walked away and acted like I wasn't interested and he would have come down then, but I didn't have the time. That being said, I was still happy with my purchase. Man, I wanted to buy more stuff but we had to get on our ferry that was to leave in 15 minutes.

We started walking down the pier towards the ferries and my wife and son told me that we had to go upstairs and over the top. Huh, why? Nonsense. Why would we need to do that? The ferry is right there. So we kept walking and sure enough, we got turned back. We did have to go upstairs. Oops. They were right and dad was wrong. It was a good thing that we gave ourselves a few minutes because that killed more than 5 by my count. We made it onto the ferry with only a few minutes to spare. It wasn't very crowded and we picked seats on the second level this time. Remember that on the way over, some of us got a little sick. I wanted to avoid that and I figured that the open air would help combat the nausea.

Here is our ride back to Cozumel. It was actually a pretty nice vessel. It seemed pretty new to me. Ultramar was the name of the company.

It ended up being a pretty pleasant ride back. Little did we know, we would have some live music. These guys were entertaining and pretty talented. They made the time go by pretty fast. There was a fourth guy in this picture but this was towards the end and he was walking around collecting tips. We happily obliged. They took our mind off of the rough seas and no one got sick on the ride back.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but as we were on our way back, a ferry from a rival company tried to overtake us. The captain I swear kept maneuvering to cut off the other ferry. The other ferry kept changing positions to what I would assume to be a passing position, but our captain continued to stay ahead of this other ferry. I don't know...maybe it was my imagination. Hmmmm.

Right before we got back I saw this and took a picture. Curious. Anyone know what it is used for? It doesn't look like an ordinary vessel. It looks more like a toy ship to me.

Once back at Cozumel it was easy to find the taxi line and grab a ride back to the port. Once again, we only have about 30 minutes to shop, maybe a smidge more, but it wasn't enough. I could have easily spent another few hours here. I was in the mood to spend money and eat more treats. This port area was about as clean as the port area in Honduras but much larger. There were a ton of stores and restaurants in the port area alone. I definitely want to come back here. I wish I would have snapped some pics of this place but I felt rushed. We did manage to buy some knick knacks and so I was mildly appeased. On the way back to the ship we saw quite a few street performers and I would have loved to have been able to stay and linger a bit longer, but of course there is that huge fear of being left behind. Man, I can't even begin to imagine how badly that would suck.

When we arrive back at the ship there is a line to get on board. Huh? We hadn't ever encountered this problem before. The line didn't seem to be moving much either. Man, I could have lingered back there at the shops after all. So as we wait in line I snap a few more pics.

Actually, this pic was taken from this morning but it was in Cozumel. I took the picture because at one time I thought we would be booking with the Freedom. In the beginning we thought we would be leaving from Galveston but that changed. I think I would have liked the Freedom but I saw that it had a lot of problems earlier this year. Hmmm. I wonder how different things would have been had we decided to book with her instead. Ahhh well. No regrets.

Now this picture I did take while waiting in line. It is a huge ship. I think that is something like a 10 story waterslide or something like that. RCI's the Harmony of the Seas. I'm pretty sure that this would be one of the other two ships stalking us over the next 6 hours or so as we left Cozumel. I'm not sure I would enjoy being on a ship that big. Does it dazzle? Sure it does. Lots of glitz and glitter. But is bigger really better? I already had to walk a ton on the Glory, how many steps would I be taking a day on this monstrosity?

Did you book your tour of Tulum with Heleman tours? That's who we used and really enjoyed ourselves!

You got it. Helaman Tours. I really have no complaints with this company. We had an excellent day and Jonathan was a great tour guide. Out of all three excursions we did, I would have to say that this one was my favorite. And the best part was the price. The cheapest excursion that we did.

Stingrays at stingray city have never killed anyone that i've ever heard of or found in searching. they are used to people daily and come to the sand bar because they get fed. Squid, dog bones or fish from the tour guides and people. You dont know what your missing swimming with the amazing creatures.

 

from what i've found only 17 reports of people have been killed by a stingray world wide. Theres way more deaths from sharks each year. Driving your car is probably 1000 times more dangerous.

 

I searched if anyone has ever died swimming with stingrays at stingray city and I cant find even 1 or any news of someone being seriously hurt at stingray city.

 

Go out on the tour boats and just watch from the boat and see for your self. you'll end up in the water eventually. they are not going to hurt you. The are several trained tour guides out there in the water with you and they wont let anyone handle them wrong or miss treat them to where they get aggressive.

Thanks for the correction on Steve Irwin's death. I honestly thought it was a sting ray. That makes a lot more sense. I've seen two sting rays in my life now that I think about it. One at Freeport and one at Nassau in the Bahamas. One of them I saw while snorkeling and I got pretty close. Seems preposterous to me to think that one of those little creatures could actually kill someone.

Here are a few more shots of Tulum. After the tour, Jonathan told us we could walk around on our own for about 40 minutes.

This shot is one of my favorites. I never get bored of that awesome blue color of the Caribbean.

We saw so many of these iguanas at Tulum. We probably saw at least 50 of them. The feeding must be plentiful for these guys as this one looks very well fed.

Since I was a young boy I have always loved seeing animals in the wild. I think I got that gene from my grandpa. In the summertime when we were in the mountains camping with grandpa, he would always tell us grandkids to keep an eye out for the deer or elk. I remember one time we were riding down a dirt road in the back of a truck and grandpa was driving. One of us shouted that they saw a deer and grandpa practically slammed on the breaks, propelling all of us into the rear window of the truck. When grandpa found out that whoever said it was just joking, he was pretty mad. But if we really did find one on our own and pointed it out to him, he would make us feel like we were some kind of hero. I would often spot big game and point it out to grandpa, and he was always calling me "Eagle Eye Littlehumps", because back then I was much smaller you know. It made me feel special to have grandpa give me recognition though.

We saw a lot of exotic animals on this vacation. This guy we saw right outside of the Tulum entrance, a coatimundi. I recognized this right away as I had seen many of these animals in various zoos. This dude was pretty chill. We were pretty close and it showed no signs of stress or fear.

After hopping back in the van we were pretty hungry. We had a little over 2 hours until we had to be back at the port. Normally on this tour they provide a box lunch from Subway, but since we had two that were gluten free, we had to come up with a different plan. Jonathan is the son-in-law of the owner of this operation, and he told Jonathan to stay away from the local food places when feeding the clients. I think his view was that Americans don't feel comfortable eating at some of the more humble establishments. Jonathan however, wanted to find us something good and fast, and he knew just the place. He warned us and told us that if we didn't feel comfortable, to just let him know. It was a roadside taco stand, about as humble as you can get. I wasn't scared, I was exited to try this place out. The guy that ran the stand really hooked us up. We all decided on the carnitas, and the cook prepared a huge plate of carnitas, along with tortillas, salsas, and sodas. All you can eat. There was a ton of food.

Here we are waiting for the food to come. Our great tour guide Jonathan at the head of the table. Good call my friend. I love trying out places like this.

This would turn out to be one of our favorite places where we ate lunch. The carnitas were delicious and all of us walked away completely satisfied. Jonathan paid for the lunch but we left a nice tip for the cook. I think he was very appreciative. My daughter collects bottle caps and he saw my daughter collecting some. He had a stash of them in a bin that collected them at the bottle opener. He gave my daughter a big bag full which made her very happy. Now it was time to head back to Playa Del Carmen.

You did 2 of the same excursions we've planned for next week, so I'm really enjoying this review!!!

Thank you for taking the time to share!

 

 

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Hope you enjoy them. You'll have to tell us about them. :cool:

Day 6: Cozumel and the Tulum Ruins

I was always up and anxious to go early in the morning. I had had another good nights rest. I already mentioned that I slept really well on this vacation. Part of the reason for that was that we crammed so much fun into each of our days. Belize would be our most taxing day. The combination of steps we took walking, the time we spent in transit to and from the site, and the amount of time spent in exposure to the sun really does take it's toll. But I felt good about all of this. In my mind, we grabbed a hold of each day and we throttled it. Besides the occasional short power nap, we really did take advantage of each day. I have a Garmin watch that measures how many steps I take a day and I think I was averaging about 15,000 steps a day on our cruise, which is way more than I do at home. Because of this, at the end of the day we were always exhausted.

We didn't feel as rushed today as we had felt the day before, so although we were up early, we had a nice leisurely breakfast at the Lido. I didn't mind doing this because it was quick and easy. The Lido buffet never wowed me but it didn't really disappoint either. There was enough of a variety to be able to find something that you liked. It didn't ever feel crowded to me (except for on the first day) and getting the food was always easy and fast. I'm not sure if we just got lucky or what, but I didn't have any issues with the buffet. It's a buffet so you just need to go in with buffet expectations I guess. We never had a problem finding a good seat. So after a nice breakfast I was feeling happy and anticipating a good day ahead of us.

We almost didn't book this tour since we had booked a ruins tour the day before. I almost wanted another relaxing beach day, but I had various friends that highly recommended Tulum. We chose a company that came highly recommended and gave us a pretty good rate at $65 a person. On this tour it would just be my family and no one else. The owner gave us detailed instructions on what to do once leaving the ship. We would have to leave the terminal and take a taxi over to the ferry terminal. The taxi was $15 and was actually a nice ride over to the terminal. I found the island of Cozumel to be much more easy on the eyes than Belize had been the day before. It looked like a very nice island.

We were told by the tour operator and the taxi driver that the ferry would cost us $15 a person each way which I thought sounded pretty steep. That would be $120 for our family just to take the ferry. They told us not to get round trip tickets because you might not be able to get the same ferry back to the island on the return trip. We almost didn't book the tour because of this cost alone. We were told that there was a new ferry company though, which would turn out to be a good thing.

Once we were dropped off at the terminal we walked up to the ticket counters of which there were three. As soon as we were within earshot all the attendants at each counter started yelling at us to come to them and that they had the best prices. I think it started out at $8 and then it went down from there. I didn't even have to barter, they did it for me. There was so much yelling I almost wanted to put my hands over my ears and scream at them to stop. I didn't of course but I felt like it. I walked up to the counter that offered us round trip tickets for $6 a person. Really? This was going to much cheaper than I thought. As soon as I started to get my wallet out the other companies started shouting, "No, we'll do it for five dollars", another said, "we'll do it for four". Really? Geesh. Mexico...Ahhh but what are ya gonna do? I stayed with the $6 company. I guess the others should have quoted me $4 in the beginning instead of $8. I was ecstatic though, because this would now cost us 24$ instead of the $120 I was anticipating. I wasn't worried about the return trip because I looked at their schedule and they had ferries returning every hour on the hour. Nice. Man the competition was fierce, but it worked out great for us. The seats were actually quite nice and as you can see they had a place to get refreshments.

The ferry ride would be the roughest seas we would experience. I think all of us got a little green on the way over as it was a pretty wild ride. The tenders we had taken were nowhere this bad. We were all relieved to arrive at the mainland. Once we exited the ferry in Playa Del Carmen, it didn't take us long to find our tour guide at Senor Frogs. He led us to our van in the parking garage and it would be a bit nicer than our transport from the day before. Today our ride to Tulum would be a bit shorter. It was just under an hour to get there and on a much nicer highway.

We made one little stop at a convenience store on the way. It wasn't all that different from a US convenience store, except that most of the products were Mexican. I bought the Mexican equivalent of a hostess cupcake, and I gotta say, I thought that they were pretty on par with hostess. I don't often buy hostess, but enough to make that assessment I guess. There was a tray of donuts for sale, except in Mexico they were called "donas". I thought that was pretty funny.

Once we arrived at Tulum I was amazed at the large number of people around the park. It was crazy. It was almost like being at Yellowstone at Old Faithful during the peak tourist season. Our guides for the day was Jonathan. He was outstanding. We were comfortable with him from the get go. He had good energy and put off a really good vibe. He walked us around to all the different sites at Tulum and gave us a good history lesson of the people that had once lived there. He was very articulate and explained things in a way that had me fascinated and hanging on his every word. The Mayan culture is actually pretty fascinating and a lot more advanced than I could have imagined. Here are some shots that I took throughout the day.

We arrived back to the port without a hitch. It is a pretty straight shot down the highway. I don't really think anyone indulged in any shopping at this port. As far as ports go this was our least favorite. We made a beeline for the lines to get on the tenders and it would seem that at this point everyone is doing the same. There is a bit of a line and everyone is probably jonesing to get back on the ship. We sat out on top on our tender and the sun was feeling nice today. We caught a glimpse of a dolphin on the way back but it happened so fast I didn't have time to get my camera out. I think I saw it for a total of one second. Hey, at least I can say I saw one, right?

When we arrive at the ship there are three tenders ahead of us so we settled in for a bit of a wait. We probably had to wait about 20 minutes to get moored to the ship. I should note that on our tender out this morning, we were seated in the bottom of our tender and had to exit at the top when we made it to shore. As luck would have it, instead of exiting from the top like the two other tenders next to us, ours would exit from the bottom. Arrrrgh. This just meant about 10 more minutes of waiting. Ahhh well, no beeg dealio.

Back on board we had a little bit of a wait until dinner. I think I may have had a short nap. I snapped this shot sometime before dinner. Another Carnival and I'm thinking she might be the Freedom but I'm not sure. I know we would run into the Freedom tomorrow at Cozumel.

Here is another shot of the slides and the Lido deck. I want to say something about the slides. I was so worried that we wouldn't get to use the slides because of the issues with putting in the new slides and them not being done coming out of dry dock. A few cruises had to deal with the construction and not being able to use them. I would have been pretty angry if that had been me, one of the passengers that had to do without that amenity. As luck would have it, we were the first cruise to have the fully functioning Waterworks on our ship. Hurrah! But guess what...we didn't use the darned things. I tried to coax the kiddies into going but they were doing the teenage thing of "I just want to be lazy and lay around the cabin". Ahhh come on!!! Suz wanted to go once and we almost got her out there but then we got distracted. I almost went as well. I never saw a big line. Seriously...and I walked up there a bunch going to the Serenity.

Dinner tonight was another special experience. Another chance to enjoy good food and conversation. A time to mull over the events of the day and get everyone's thoughts on the excursion. The main course for me was salmon. It wasn't anything fancy or blow your mind out of the water delicious, but just a good solid piece of salmon cooked just right. The dining room just wasn't about the food though, it was about the experience. It was something that I looked forward to every night. Dessert was something that I anticipated each night at well. Always something different, but if I didn't see anything I liked, the WCMC was always available.

I didn't see any obnoxious drunks or scruffy dudes wearing wife beaters. Never did I see any questionable dress or behavior that made me gasp in astonishment. We were discussing this last night. I just didn't see very much rude behavior. The kids on the ship weren't running amok, screaming at the top of their lungs. There was one kid however that was down the hall from us that was a screamer, but we only heard him a couple of times. My kids were also flashed by a seven year old boy. My daughter was mortified. :evilsmile: But taking everything into consideration, I couldn't see why Carnival gets a bad rap by the passenger behavior. I didn't see the whole "Walmart" thing at all. If anything, this was more like a Fred Meyers crowd.

Here is a shot of one of the bands that frequently performed in the atrium. They played all types of genres of music. One night they did nothing but eighties music and I gotta say I really enjoyed that. But as you can see there were only two kids out there on the dance floor hamming it up. There were never too many people out there dancing that I saw. I saw an older couple quite a few times out there dancing and getting into it, which is always a good thing to see. They looked very happy together. There was always a good crowd gathered to listen to this band, but for the most part, it was a subdued, laid back audience.

Thanks to everyone else who has commented on the review. If you all have any questions, just ask. I've never had a vacation that I can't get out of my head before until now. Money well spent if you ask me. :cool:

We are at Mohmar and D's house this weekend and the cruise experience has dominated our conversations.

Hey bighumps, will be on the Glory on 5/13, never been on the Glory, can't remember is there a BBQ restaurant.

I know that they took away the Fish an Chips on the 10th floor, what is there now. Thanks..

The BBQ restaurant is right where the Fish and Chips used to be. Up the stairs above the Sweet Spot. The BBQ place was actually pretty good. Everyone who ate there from our group really liked it. Plus, it was generally a good spot to escape the crowds and eat lunch in peace. There is now a for fee seafood spot down on 9 aft by the pool.

Who did you book the tour through?

 

 

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Lamanai Belize Tours. Elio is the one that I dealt with when booking the tour. I believe the price per person will depend upon how many are in your party. It was $70 per person for our group. We don't have any complaints about our excursion or our dealings with this company.

The last temple that we looked at was the mask temple. It felt very Mayan, especially with the mask looking thing here. This is what I think of when I think of the Mayans. Something that looks just like this.

There were a ton of people here right before we arrived. When we got there everyone cleared out. I guess they could smell me from my intense workout of climbing the High Temple. Nice. We didn't have to wait too long to get our pictures taken with the mask. Do you know what would have been cool. If the excavators and archeologists found a mask inside one of these temples that had magical powers like the mask from Jim Carrey's movie "The Mask".

We didn't get to climb this one. Man, this one would have been cinchy. I wasn't ready to climb another temple anyways. It would have to suffice to admire this one from the jungle floor.

So we slowly trudged back to the starting point. The entire loop that we walked was about .6 miles. A little bit of an exercise which was good, because I don't think I would have wanted to go too much farther in this heat. All in all, it was a good day. I did screw up again however. Once back at the starting point I sat down with M because she was having a little bit of a rough time. She even had to drop out at one point and the other guide helped her back to the gazebo and sat with her the whole time to keep her company. I sat down with her to see how she was doing and didn't think to go to the gift shop. Shellhead and Moose went over there to browse the store and everyone else bathroomed up in preparation for our trip back to the dock. I screwed up by not going over to the gift shop. Moosejaw scored a sweet Lamanai shirt for 10 bucks. It was quality and I would have loved to have one, but at least Moose got one. The shirt I bought yesterday at LFK was twice as much and not nearly as good of quality.

The ride back was quicker. We didn't stop much. We saw a group that lost their propeller on a log or something and they were stranded and waiting for someone to pick them up. It was a smaller group so I doubt it was a ship excursion. If they were on a ship, I hope they made it back on time. Like I said, we went with a private tour operator and there is always that risk that you don't make it back to your ship. We decided to go private for two reasons. Our excursion was $70 a person as opposed to Carnival's price of $110 a person. Plus, we were a small group of 10 where the Carnival group was much larger. We saw them while we were there and they were about 60 or 70 strong. I'm pretty sure we beat them back to the ship.

We had an outstanding lunch back at the boat dock where we first put in. It was a traditional dish of chicken, rice, and coleslaw with fried plantains. This was a family business so it was cooked by one of the wives of one of the tour guides. They were extremely friendly people. Very pleasant to be around. The pico was very spicy and tasty. One of my favorite lunches on the trip. It was a buffet style lunch so it was all you could eat. They treated us so well.

One last shot of the dock from where we launched.

Before we got to the large temple in the last shot we stopped at the ball court. Javier explained the game to us and how they played it. How in the world could they have figured all that out? It seems like it was a pretty tough and brutal game to play. Just like soccer, the players weren't allowed to use their hands. Again, how could they possibly know this? This ball court is very small in comparison to other ball courts all over Central America. Similar ball courts exist at most of the excavation sites apparently but are much larger. I was intrigued. It would be pretty cool to go back in time and watch a match. This picture shows the center of the court. There was some sort of chamber underneath this stone and it seems that it was sort of a mystery as to what the real purpose of the chamber was. That's what makes this place so interesting. So many mysteries. Scooby Doo would've loved it. That would be awesome if this place was haunted.

So on we go to the main attraction. So did I mention that it was hot? And now you're asking me to climb this thing? Ouch. It looked brutal. However, we wouldn't be climbing up the front. I guess someone got hurt or worse a while back falling down the steps going up the front. Double ouch! They built some stairs around the side that led part way up the pyramid. After about halfway we were able to use the steps that you see on the front. It was steep but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I believe that this one was called the high temple as it was the top dog of all the temples in this city.

It actually didn't take too long to get to the top. Another bonus is that we timed it just right. There were many groups here this day and there isn't much room on the top. We got there just after a big group was coming down and right before a much larger group was coming up the trail. We had the whole place to ourselves and the view was pretty amazing. I was damp from head to toe as I was definitely sweating, but it really wasn't as miserable as I thought it might be. Still no flying insects. Weird. I took a few shots once we were up on top. Not everyone was feeling up to the challenge of the mighty ascent. I wonder what lies underneath my feet. Javier talked about there being a chamber and that there was some treasure found in the chamber. I'm pretty sure it was jade, and jade is nowhere to be found in this region. This probably means that there was commerce between the different tribes and regions.

The mighty victors! Yes, we did indeed conquer!

The descent was easy and we were off to the last temple. Here is a look coming down the stairs that I mentioned.

Really enjoying your review! We are doing this same itinerary on the Glory next March and was planning on these same excursions in each port so far :) only one I've been on the fence about was Roatan and debating between LFK or West Bay beach but LFK looks and sounds too good to pass up!

 

 

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I had the toughest time trying to decide in Roatan because of all the options. Not at all sorry I chose LFK but I surely want to try out West Bay next time we are there. Don't worry, the year goes by fast even though it might seem like forever and a day until you board.

Did I mention that it was hot and humid today. I hadn't really suffered too much up until this point. The humidity was also a factor...ohhh no, my hair. Oh wait...I'm wearing a hat. It's Shellhead who hates the humidity because of the frizz factor. Poor Shelly. Oh well, she wasn't complaining too much. No one was really. We stepped off of the boat and into a jungle. I was afraid that we would be swarmed by bugs but they really weren't bugging us at all. I think the only time we really dealt with bugs on this trip were the sand gnats at Ann Kolbe Nature Park in Florida. So here we are at the entrance...well, D anyway. Wait, who am I taking a picture of? D is actually photo bombing the shot. Ahh yeah, that is the girl who's hat I saved.

As we began walking up the trail we noticed an ominous sound in the background. I thought to myself, "I think I know what this noise is. It's five women fighting over a Kindle Fire tablet that happens to be the last one in stock because it is a Black Friday deal at Walmart. It sounded down right vicious. I was wrong. They were howler monkeys. I was almost right though because as it turns out, it was a territorial dispute. Real serious stuff. Javier explained to us that once they really got going, that you could here these guys from a mile away. Apparently, they used the sounds that they make for the movie Jurassic Park. Interesting. I pulled a real boneheaded move by not turning on the video. I got pictures, but was so enthralled by the whole scene that I didn't think to take video. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Yet another blunder. Not as bad as the gluten free pancake incident mind you, but still another one to kick myself over.

We continued walking through the jungle and came upon the Jaguar temple. It almost took my breath away. It just seemed so other worldly sitting out there in the middle of the jungle. What did the Mayans use these temples for anyways. They obviously went through a ton of trouble to build them. This one is the Jaguar temple. See off and down to the right, that is supposed to be the face of the jaguar.

Turns out, there was a temple that was much bigger, and we would get to climb it. Nice!

I don't like them since people have to touch those things multiple times. It's just gross. I don't know where all those nasty people's fingers have been

 

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Nasty people? Nasty like Bill Clinton nasty or Larry Craig nasty? Help me out here.

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After just over an hour we arrive at the place where we get on the boat. I had read so many reviews about this portion of the trip and I was excited to see what it was all about. We paid the tour operator in cash and took a short break. This is where we also got geared up and slathered with sun screen and bug spray. Soon we were on the small boat and on our way.

Just leaving the boat dock. Starting off at a nice slow speed.

This is Javier. He was our van driver and now he would be our boat captain. We would get to be with him for the whole day.

Before too long we picked up some speed and we were cruising right along. Javier told us that we had somewhere near 25 miles to travel to get to Lamanai Ruins. I was hoping that we would get to see a crocodile and we were not disappointed.

This one wasn't even that big. They guessed it to be about 3 years old. Apparently there are much larger ones around here, like 14 footers or something. This dude I think was maybe about 5 feet long or so. Below are some pictures of what the locals call Jesus Christ birds. I'm pretty sure that this is not their official name. Can anyone guess why? This one is a little blurry.

This one is a bit better.

The ride was beautiful and interesting, but you really had to hold onto your hat. One of the girls up front had her hat fly off and I was able to catch it. It actually hit me right in the chest. I figure we were going about 40 miles an hour so there wasn't much talking to one another on the ride. It was much too loud. I didn't mind though. We saw a few other local fisherman and we always slowed down for those boats so as not to drown them in our wake. We stopped and looked at a few other interesting things along the way. We were making pretty good for time and we didn't feel rushed. We knew it would be a long day and getting out to Lamanai and back to the ship meant we would have to manage our time wisely.

I think we were on the boat for about an hour when we finally pulled into view of the Lamanai site. It seemed so remote, but later on I looked on a map, and there are actually some other roads and a village nearby. I wanted to see what I could see from Google Earth because Javier told us that only 5% of Lamanai has been excavated. We could see all the covered mounds and hills throughout the site, which as it turned out, were actually more buildings that were covered up by jungle. Lamanai at one time was a good sized city of about 30,000 in it's prime if I remember correctly. It was founded around 1500 B.C. and was occupied for more than a millennium. There is still so much of it that is left untouched. It makes me wonder what kinds of mysteries lies undiscovered in all of those mounds. I don't think that they are doing any more excavating at this site however. The Belizean government is pretty strict with their environmental laws.

Day 5: Belize City

This was our first early day. This would be our longest day as we had an excursion booked for Lamanai Ruins. We knew we had to be on the first or second tender to be able to maximize our time at the ruins so we were up early and had room service. We ordered room service to arrive between 6:30 and 7:00. I was up by 6:40 and no room service yet. I was the first to shower and by the time I was done there was still no room service. Everyone else was up and moving and by 7:05, still no room service. I was a little concerned so I called room service on the phone to ask them if they had received my order and they informed me that the food was on it's way. It was there in under 5 minutes.

It was great being able to use this option because it helped us out on our long day. We ordered simple things, nothing too fancy...cereal, pastries, bagels, juice, fruit, and milk. You really can't screw up cereal and the pastries were pretty standard. It was quick and easy and just what we needed, so I was thankful for this service.

Now I haven't said anything about our cruise director, Eric. I only ran into him once and he seemed like a nice guy. I remember listening to him on the loudspeakers with his daily announcements, and he always started out with his question, "Hey everybody, what's going on? What's going on?" Except he sang the second "what's going on". It was kind of cheesy but it always elicited a smile from me. It always seemed like he was involved in so many of the activities. He was doing stuff all day, and then he would be hosting deck parties late at night sometimes. When did that guy ever get a break and how many hours a day did he work? He always had that energy going on and was a pretty funny dude, a bit flamboyant with his dress and hairstyle, which seemed to fit his personality.

So we listened to Eric's instructions and we walked right on down. We were easily seated on the second tender. The seas were a little rough but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be on the ride over to the mainland. We booked with Lamanai Belize Tours with Elio and we met up with Javier just inside Terminal One. Very easy to find him and soon we were on our way. He snapped a picture of the fam before we piled in the van.

One thing I noticed right away about this port...it wasn't as tourist friendly as the others. It seemed to be much more run down. Every other port we went to had bright shiny shops and restaurants and everything was clean and orderly. This port seemed almost run down. I didn't feel that we were in danger or anything like that, but it definitely didn't feel as secure as the other places. Luckily, we didn't come here to shop. We would be traveling for most of the day.

Here is a shot of the port area that actually doesn't look to shabby.

So as we headed out our guide Javier gave us the basic rundown of the city and the country. We had a lot of questions, and he was eager to share information about his country and culture. He spoke pretty good English and I think he was worried that perhaps we weren't understanding him, so he would repeat himself and would speak slowly and deliberately. He did a good job and he gave us a good basic history, culture, and economics lesson of the country. We would have plenty of time to talk because the ride out to where we would get on the boat would be about an hour. The van was comfortable and air conditioned. The roads were somewhat rough in spots but decently maintained. What I found really interesting is that the Mayan culture has survived. Javier's own grandmother, a full blooded Mayan, still speaks the Mayan language. Javier can understand it but doesn't really speak it. The ride to the boat would have been really boring had Javier not had some interesting things to tell us about his country.

So after the sunset I believe that Moose, Suz, and Shell all went off to watch Suicide Squad. I wasn't feeling it so I went off by myself to the Ebony Cabaret lounge. There was no comedy show there on that night but they were doing some karaoke. The lounge is a decent size and it looked to be more than half full. I sat down to listen and get a feel for what type of talent was going to be on display. I thought about doing it myself as I had participated in some karaoke on my first cruise. I even remember the song I did way back when on The Big Red Boat. It was Bryan Adam's Summer of '69, and I completely butchered it. It was awful. I think I was trying to sing an octave too high and wasn't smart enough to bring it down one.

I like to sing. I sing in the shower, I sing at church, and I sing at work. At work it is just the occasional outburst or line from a song, and sometimes it comes out pretty good. Of course I'm just goofing around and I do it for a laugh, but I have had people compliment me on my singing before. I wanted to give it another shot, but I could see that there was quite a line to get up there and it looked like a good wait, so I sat it out this night. I stayed about 40 minutes though. How was the talent? Well let's just say we got the whole spectrum. But even those who couldn't belt it out very well were very well supported. I was impressed. Those who seemed to have a hard time or were a little bit shy got the most support. Awesome. There was one guy that couldn't sing a lick, but he knew it, and he let his energy put on the show. He was hilarious and everyone was getting into it. I thought to myself, I can do this. If that dude who can't sing can do it, then so can I.

So fast forward to the next night. I got there earlier and there weren't as many people. I think I mentioned this earlier in my review. I picked my song, another 80's song by Simple Minds, and kind of had a picture in my mind of how it would all go down. I figured I would kill it, because I always did in my car on the way to work. I can do this. Well, when I stepped up there and grabbed the mike, stagefright took over. I was surprised at how my voice sounded over the loudspeakers and then I was even more self-conscious. I didn't butcher the song this time, but it was not rock star quality by any stretch of the imagination. As you can see by this photo, I was shell shocked. My knees were shaking the whole time. Weird, because I'm not really that shy of a person.

Afterwards I felt I could have done better. I wanted to redeem myself. I actually had a really good Collective Soul song picked out but they didn't have it. That's okay, I have a backup. Journey's "Send Her my Love". Nope...What? No Journey. How could you not have any Journey? You call this karaoke. Well I couldn't think up another song on the spot so my karaoke stint on this cruise would be spent. It was still a really good time though and I enjoyed listening to everyone.

I loved all the different venues on the ship and if I couldn't find anything that I wanted to do, I would just wander. Shellhead and I would do this often. One night we stumbled onto one of photographers setups and we had our pictures taken. I loved them but Shellhead didn't like the way she looked, so we didn't end up buying any of those. It was still fun though. I think I would end the night with Pizza Pirate at least three times and it was always good.

So looking forward to the rest of your review - we're headed to the Glory over the holidays this year!

 

KC

Thanks for reading. To be honest, I think I want to go on the Glory again on our next Caribbean cruise. I also really want to sail the Magic, but it would be hard for me because the Glory now has a hold of me. I can't get her out of my head. Hey...ELO. Cool!

Great review! I've not been to Roatan yet, every ship I am sailing on has had to miss it, to windy, hurricane...do not know what we will be doing but snorkeling is #1 with me! Nice pix, thanks for yr review, looking forward to your next adventure!

 

Cindy:p

Thanks. It was windy, but it didn't really affect us at all. The only time it was annoying was when I was kayaking because the wind would push me when I just wanted to drift.

That would have been disappointing having to miss that port because I kind of planned my whole vacation around it. Like I said, I would have liked to have done more snorkeling. I might have chosen West Bay but that is like a 40 minute drive to the beach. I would be nice if the ship could spend about 2 more hours there. It really is a beautiful island.

Ahhh back on the ship and what a day. I was so beat. It was a great time for a short nap before dinner. I should have gone up top and taken some pictures on the other side, but I must say, that was a great nap, even if it was a short one. Here is another shot from the balcony. I didn't get a shot of the beach that the sky ride takes you to. I remember looking at that beach with my binos and of course at that time it was empty. Does anyone know how crowded that beach got on this day, the 28th of March?

I took this shot later as we were pulling away from Roatan. I believe that this is the Norwegian Dawn. I seem to remember looking up what other ship would be with us in port that day, and that is what I remember. The Dawn was at Coxen Hole however.

So tonight for dinner we again dined in the MDR. We dined there every night, although both sets of grandparents would at least once take a night off. We loved eating in the MDR however. It was pleasant and very easy on the eyes. I liked the decor and I loved having the same servers every night. Tonight I ordered the NY strip steak off of the steakhouse menu. It had a $20 surcharge which I felt was worth it. There was a slight snag in the order however as our server gave my steak to someone else. He was falling all over himself apologizing and he gave me the filet mignon of the gentlemen who got my steak. I was totally fine with that as that would have been my second choice anyways. It was one of the assistants who made the goof, but it turned out to be a pretty good goof, because the filet was excellent. Very juicy and flavorful. Each bite hit me right in the taste buds. My mouth is watering just thinking about it now. I had a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. It was awesome. This would be the best meal I had in the MDR on the cruise.

After about 10 minutes the server brings me out my original order of the NY strip. It looked awesome. I couldn't believe it but I shouldn't have been surprised. This was the type of service that we were receiving on a daily basis. I was only halfway through with my filet but I made room for the strip. Man, this was a whole different world of flavor. Two different cuts of meat but unique in their own way. I rotated between the two and had to take my time because the stip was a big piece of meat. I used the sauce they brought out to dip the meat in and it just gave it a more intense flavor. Since I was filling up on all this delicious meat I thought of the scene from The Great Outdoors, where John Candy decides to take on "the old 96er", where if he finished the whole thing, dinner was on the house for everyone in the party. Back in the day I knew how to put it away, but there was no way I was going to be able to finish both steaks. I ended up sharing with some of the other men at my table. So these weren't the best steaks I have ever eaten, but I think that I could solidly put them in the top ten. It was a great night. I finished it off with whatever pie of the day it was with a scoop of ice cream.

After dinner on many nights we would head up to the deck and try to catch a sunset. Most of the time were fails but for we did nail it on this night. Here are some shots of the sun going down to bid farewell to a beautiful day.

We got back to the port in plenty of time to do some shopping. I almost wish we could have gotten out to explore some of the "authentic" local stuff on the way back. Maybe some other time. I like to get off of the beaten path sometimes. The port area is beautiful.

I took this picture at about 5:00. We were told to be back on board by 5:30. We wanted to do some shopping so we did. Were we pushing it? I don't think so. But look at how empty this place is. There was no one in the stores either. Mohmar and D were a little worried and wanted to get back to the ship. They didn't want to end up on someone's Youtube video as some dim witted port runner. I wasn't worried however. We weren't even supposed to leave until 6:00. So we stayed and shopped.

I love that shot of The Glory in the background. We may be having to leave a beautiful island, but at least we get to get back on that glorious ship. :D

Just taking a beautiful afternoon stroll. It's getting close to 5:30. Still not having to run just yet. Boy, are we pushing it or what?

Hey look, it's that shipwreck. If you look through the leaves you can just make it out. This would be the only shot I got of the shipwreck. For some reason, I never made it over to the other side of the ship to take pictures. Bummer.

And last but not least, I got this shot before getting back on the boat. I neglected to get a shot on the way in this morning because I was so darned focused on finding Larry before everyone else. I wasn't going to miss this photo opp, although I couldn't find anyone to take our picture together. Remember, we were the last ones getting on the ship so no one else was available. But really, how could you not get a picture here. It's like getting that picture in front of the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park sign. Ya just gotta do it.

OK. Now we can run back to the ship. "Nooooo, don't leave! Wait for us. We just had to get that last shot." I'm sure you can find us somewhere on Youtube, leaping onto the ship, just as it is pulling away from the island. Photo finish that was. We were just so darned reluctant to leave this beautiful place.

This would be our most expensive excursion, but it will be one that everyone enjoyed and I am sure we will always remember it. I think I could have used another couple of hours here though. I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do. I didn't get to use this rope swing to jump off of out into the water. I had seen so many videos of people doing it and it looked like a lot of fun. I think I only saw one group using it. It seemed to be sitting unused most of the time.

There is a house on the island that has rooms for rent. The prices seemed pretty reasonable. One thing to keep in mind is that you can use the ferry to get back to the main island and use this place as your base of operations while you spend a week here on vacation. There are tons of things to do in Roatan. It is actually a pretty big island...a tropical paradise really. We didn't see the rooms, but I have seen pictures of them. They look to be really beautiful. The grounds here were immaculate. Everything was very clean. Even the monkeys were soft and clean. I thought that they would at least smell bad but they didn't. I think the owners are doing a fine job of making this resort into a good family getaway. They have a ton of add ons of things to do here so you won't find yourself getting bored.

What I loved about our two beach days...no waves. So easy to get in this water and swim around. It was like a giant swimming pool with fish.

The restroom and changing facilities were pretty nice. They have lockers to rent but I didn't feel that we needed them. Albert said that we didn't need to worry about our stuff, so I didn't worry about our stuff. The sand was fine and the grounds were clean. We brought water shoes but I don't think you really needed them here. Shellhead didn't seem to mind going barefoot.

Well LFK, you made my day.

I can't help but wonder if we'll ever see the place again. That would be cool. :cool: