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14 Days of Fun! Our B2B on the Liberty -- reprise edition -- 3/31/12-4/14/12

jjtimes6

By jjtimes6,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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jjtimes6

jjtimes6

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April 11: Roatan
Another early day! Up at 6 again. Lots of early ports this cruise, which is my excuse for only making it to the gym one time.

We were off the ship around 7 and walked up and over the hill to meet Victor Bodden’s driver, Tex, who was our escort for the day. A bit about the walk: you have to go all the way through the port area, and then head up the road toward the zipline that is right beside the road. Walk up the hill and keep going. It’s really NOT that bad of a hill. In my opinion, the downhill part is worse. Then you walk down the hill, until you feel like maybe you are losing your mind and completely misread the directions. All of a sudden, you will see all the tour operators.


If you see this sign, you are going the right way. Turn left up the road, and keep going...

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A tip: if you booked a specific person, tell them at the bottom of the hill. We had requested Tex, based on reviews, but I really think that any one of the drivers we talked to while waiting would have been great too. My opinion is that YOU are a big part of the tour experience. If you are friendly, social, curious, eager to learn, then it’s pretty easy to get any driver to relax and talk to you.

The first time we were in Roatan we did a Carnival snuba tour. It was fun, but, again, we did not see much of the island or culture. Our first goal was to see the island, so Tex started by driving us toward French Harbour. We drove through town, and then back toward West End. We went through Coxen Hole, and he took us up to a hilltop lookout.

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That's the hat she bought in Cozumel:

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There were some vendors there, and I fell in love with a mahogany salad bowl set. She wanted $55, and I was ready to offer $45, but Tex tried to bargain, and she wasn’t having it. He told me that we would find one elsewhere, and she got MAD at him!
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jjtimes6

jjtimes6

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From here we headed over to the part that the girls were looking forward to: the monkey visit. Victor Bodden’s monkey business is pretty awesome. The animals are well cared for. Since we were on a private tour, just the four of us, Tex had an animal handler, George, take just the four of us into all the cages.



Warning: There are a LOT of photos! Kacy and Leah were so excited, that I took Kacy's camera away and just let her enjoy it. I took about 200 photos, just of the animals with the girls... I will not post them all...


The first monkey was a mama spider monkey. We did not go into her cage.

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Next up were squirrels... ewww.

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And then some other rat like animal. I can't remember what it was. We did not go into any of these cages (thankfully!)

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More spider monkeys:

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jjtimes6

jjtimes6

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This was the first real contact the girls got with the monkeys; this one liked to put her arms around you through the cage.

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Another monkey was loose, and kept bugging the caged monkeys. I assume it was wild, but I don't know the real story.

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jjtimes6

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This is when I took Kacy's camera. She needed to just focus on the experience! I didn't really care if I held monkeys.

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Hey, monkey, watch those hands! That's my daughter!

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jjtimes6

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Finally, we got to go inside with some baby spider monkeys.

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jjtimes6

jjtimes6

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ry%3D400

 

Then some green birds:

 

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The driver for the day: $25 per person = $100 + $5 per person for the monkeys, so the whole day was $125! Roatan is inexpensive!

 

We then went over to the beach at West Bay. Huge tourist place, but the snorkeling right off shore was pretty incredible.

 

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We ended up spending about two hours on the beach (way longer than we told Tex we would), and then ended up at a beach bar for some local beer. Local beer on the beach was 3 beers for $5!

 

Kacy was bound and determined to try some Honduran food (that’s my girl!), so we walked over to Celeste’s, which was highly recommended on several sites. We ordered four Baleadas, one each with lobster, shrimp, steak and grouper. With two beers, the total bill came to $50. Not bad. I think I may need to go spend a week in Roatan.

 

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My beautiful Honduran salad bowl set: (which, sadly, cracked within weeks of getting it home. I wouldn't bother with buying another one!)

 

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Tex was kind of freaking out by now. He was worried that we would not make it back on time. We made it back to port at 2:45, pretty close, but there were still people getting back on board 45 minutes later than us.

 

We skipped dinner this night. The baleadas were HUGE. John and I had sushi for dinner, and were in bed by 8:30. A word about the sushi… we are from California. We have pretty great sushi. One of the roll call families asked me the next day about the sushi on the ship. I asked where they were from, and she said New York. I said that I think they have some pretty good sushi in New York. She probably would not be crazy about the ship’s sushi. It’s all about location with food.

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April 12: Grand Cayman

This would be our third visit to Grand Cayman. I do not love it. Everything is overpriced, so I would never shop there. Hammerheads right by the port makes a great beer, but their prices have gone up and up. I do think the stingrays are super cool, though. We have gone out to swim with them every time we visit. I don’t think I would ever get tired of it! Once again there were several roll call families on this excursion with us. Cruising71 was awesome and got us all number 2 tender tickets!

 

 

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Once again, I booked this excursion with Native Ways ages ago. Sharon was super helpful and nice, and responded via email, my preferred method of communication. The cost was $62.50 per person, which included a trip to the rays, snorkeling at a reef, and lunch and beach time at Rum Point Beach.

 

Sharon scheduled a special tour just for the Liberty, because we came into port much later than the other two ships that were in port that day. After booking it, I let people on the roll call know, as I wanted to get the tour filled up, since she had booked it especially for us. Well, people booked! As they wrote in, they told her that they had heard about it from me, and eventually she emailed me and said that the tour was full and that she would be doing something special for us.

 

We met up with Sharon and got checked in. Motivatedgirl2 was on this one too, along with Cruising71 and her family, and there were two other families from the roll call too, Angiebear12003 and one more family whose screen name I can’t find. We had a bit of time to kill, and so Kacy and I went in search of more Ting! Turns out the Rum store right there carried plastic bottles for $2.10 each, so we grabbed four for the boat.

 

After about a 15 minute bus ride to the boat, we boarded and met Andrew and Andrew, our captains for the day, and headed off to the rays. This is when Sharon announced that everyone on Liberty (even the people who had booked separately) would all get $5 each off the price, bringing the cost down to $57.50 per person!

 

 

 

The stingrays were as cool as always…

 

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Leah's first stingray encounter:

 

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Afterward, we went over to a reef and snorkeled.

 

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Then we headed over to Rum Point Beach, where lunch was waiting for us. We had the jerk pork, and the fresh fish of the day: Mahi Mahi. They came with rice and beans and slaw. Leah got chicken tenders with fries.

 

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Then we headed over to Rum Point Beach, where lunch was waiting for us. We had the jerk pork, and the fresh fish of the day: Mahi Mahi. They came with rice and beans and slaw. Leah got chicken tenders with fries.

 

 

We then spent a good amount of time just kicking back in the water with Cruising71’s family and Motivatedgirl2. The other two families with us were playing nearby.

 

The beach is beautiful, but crowded. There are several resorts on that side of the island as well, and the beach bar was expensive! $7 for a beer? Seriously?

 

 

 

Our Grand Cayman hot sauce:

 

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April 13: Sea Day

Same old sea day for us. Reading, deck (ours – no end to the chair hogs!) We did finally wander up to Serenity around 2 and found two chairs. It was actually quite lovely up there, a light breeze made it perfect for laying out.

 

We ended our two weeks with Alchemy, comedy Dan Smith – funny), piano bar, hangover. Good idea. It was a ton of fun, hanging out with Shellbell42, Bhauser, Banks822, and several others over the course of the evening. I’m pretty sure piano bar Bob hates me now, and I called a group of women at the piano bar “lame,” so they probably hate me too. (They really were lame! If you go to a piano bar, and you are sitting at the piano, you need to participate!) I blame whoever bought me that last Restorative Basil Drop.

 

April 14: Miami

Did I mention a hangover? It was my only one in 14 days… We did the self-disembark, and took a cab to our hotel in Miami beach, where I finally recovered from my hangover thanks to a long walk down Miami beach in heavy winds.

 

Our flight home was not until the next day, and my plan was to hang out at the beach all day. Miami weather did not cooperate, however, so we spent the day lounging in our rooms, reading and sleeping. The girls did not mind! They were tired!

 

 

 

 

That's it... I finished (for the second time)!

 

 

 

I'm happy to answer any questions. Hope you enjoy!

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SMSACE6

SMSACE6

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I loved your review! Your ship photos brought back memories of my excellent cruise on the Liberty. I loved your photos of your excursions. You all looked like you were having so much fun! Thanks for your excellent review!:)

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