Liberty Review and Pics 02.23.2013

[funinthesun1964]

 

 

So, then we stop at an area, we applied sunscreen, used the restrooms (there is also a changing area) and waited for the tour to begin. (drinks for sale here)

 

 

 

restrooms/changing area

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

I did not go in this building

 

 

I am sorry to say that I don't have any pictures of the cavetubing itself. I do not own a water resistant camera and didn't want to take the chance of it getting ruined. I had no idea what to expect, as this was my first time.

 

I will say that we really enjoyed ourselves. We walked about 3/4 - 1 mile down a path. We had to carry our tubes. Michael just took mine from me about half way through and carried it the rest of the way. He was a great guy! Very personable and friendly. If you do this tour, I would ask for Michael!

 

When we reached the water, we had to cross, there was a rope available to hold onto so you wouldn't stumble and fall. When it came time to actually get into the tube, they allowed you to go into the water first without the tube if you wanted to. The water was beautiful. The cave was awesome! I didn't see anything scary (I did see bats from a distance). We had a great time.

 

After the tubing, this group provides a lunch. They take her to this place.

 

The guy (employee) in the photo below is Johnathan, he was also a great guy

 

 

The Rum punch was fabulous!

 

 

 

We had rice, jerk chicken and cole slaw. It was very good. When DH and I finished our rum punch, they gave us another. Then one for the road, on the way back! :eek:

 

[funinthesun1964]

 

 

Vitalino himself

 

 

Me with Michael

 

 

Tasty!

 

[LDR]

I loved the picture of the bucket of Sols! We love them too, but as I'm sure you know, it's hard to find in Ohio. We found a Mexican grocery store in Ypsilanti, where my son goes to school that sells it,and the Kroger there sometimes will have a couple of 6 packs. A friend from Syracuse was in town last weekend and brought us a 12 pack. But, it still tastes better on a beach, especially Paradise Beach;)

[funinthesun1964]

Jonathan

 

 

Michael in the van on the way back

 

 

Our great tour guides!

 

 

Now back to the port

 

 

and back to a tender

 

 

[MikeNKim]

Great review thank you for sharing!!!

[funinthesun1964]

I loved the picture of the bucket of Sols! We love them too, but as I'm sure you know, it's hard to find in Ohio. We found a Mexican grocery store in Ypsilanti, where my son goes to school that sells it,and the Kroger there sometimes will have a couple of 6 packs. A friend from Syracuse was in town last weekend and brought us a 12 pack. But, it still tastes better on a beach, especially Paradise Beach;)

 

Yes, very hard to find! Impossible! Someone once told me that Giant Eagle sells Sol but I have never found it there. Yes, I would definitely agree that it would taste better on Paradise Beach!

[funinthesun1964]

Great review thank you for sharing!!!

 

and Thank you for reading and commenting! :)

[parttimr]

Thanks for the review was really interested since this is the exact same cruise we are taking in Jan 2014 and being ony our second trying to get as much info as possible. Now looking for Roatan and Caymans, lol. We are planning on the same places you went and used as well so glad you had fun on them.

[akwaaba]

Thanks for the review and the pictures, I'm taking this cruise June 1 so this was very helpful.

 

When was the 2nd formal night?

[funinthesun1964]

Thanks for the review was really interested since this is the exact same cruise we are taking in Jan 2014 and being ony our second trying to get as much info as possible. Now looking for Roatan and Caymans, lol. We are planning on the same places you went and used as well so glad you had fun on them.

 

Glad to do the review and hope I can be helpful to someone. Thanks for reading!:)

[funinthesun1964]

Thanks for the review and the pictures, I'm taking this cruise June 1 so this was very helpful.

 

When was the 2nd formal night?

 

you're welcome. Have a great time!

 

 

Thursday night was the 2nd formal night.

[funinthesun1964]

When we went back to the ship from Belize, we were anxious to get showered and changed. We went to our cabins and saw our room steward, Castro, in the hallway. I asked if I could get a picture with him.

 

 

We found these invites in our cabins, and gold pins - again! We had these last cruise!

 

 

 

Went out to the Lido deck. I think I may be getting confused on the days when we did and didn't go to MDR for dinner, because in the sequence of my photos I have a Guy's burger photo on this day! It was kind of sad that when we missed on dinner two of the nights, the waiters said that they missed us. I'm sure they say that to everyone though! :p

 

soooo delicious

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

I don't remember what we did after we ate our dinner, but we filled up the night. We only went to one show in the main lounge during the week.

 

If I haven't said it before, there was a good band on the promenade deck at the casino area. I enjoyed the music.

 

I have some pictures of the atrium this night

 

 

 

The lights change color:

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

 

I think this was my favorite towel animal:

 

 

Even though we didn't have definite plans for the next day, I was still looking forward to Roatan since it was my first visit. The bed was comfy and fell off to sleep. My last day of being 48 had come to an end.

[funinthesun1964]

We awoke and met for breakfast. We decided to go to MDR again. We really liked the MDR service this time, have I mentioned that? Service was great every time but once - it was a little slow. This was very good, considering we ate breakfast (or brunch) everyday but one in MDR and five evening meals.

 

Anyway, after breakfast we decided to go ahead and get off the ship. We did not have anything preplanned for this port, but I was looking forward to it. The reason for not having anything in advance is that I did most of the research and planning for Belize, the hotel and the car stuff pre-cruise, also I had recommended Paradise Beach in Cozumel. I didn't want to "take over" the whole cruise - since we were going with another couple. In other words, I didn't want to go ahead and plan something and then find out that they wouldn't have liked it. It was their vacation too and they deserved to have a voice in what they did. Of course, we could have each went and did our own thing, but we enjoy spending time together, don't see each other often and we are always too busy to talk so it seems. You know how that goes.

 

I'm rambling. I have my thinking power back. (last night I was sooo tired)

 

Before we got off the ship, I took some photos

 

 

 

 

See the "flying chairs" you can purchase the ride tickets to take you back and forth from the beach...think it is around $8 pp, we didn't do this though.

 

I think I have more later. The beach area is very nice.

 

After breakfast, when we went back to get our things for the day, this was there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another ship in port

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

The port area is owned by Carnival. Shops and usual stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty plants and things

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

Whew! It was HOT here! But that was fine with me, I love the hot weather. Great place to be on birthday!

 

We walked slightly outside of the port area. I first asked someone in a building labeled "island tourist information" or something similar where I could go to see monkeys. I had been wanting to do this, if this was all right with everyone else. The woman working at the info desk asked if I just wanted to see the monkeys, or actually touch, hold and play with the monkeys. Of course, being an animal lover, I wanted to hold them. She suggested we go to "here" (she pointed on a map). It was Jungle Top, a cab ride away.

 

Well, I had read on cruise critic that if you get a cab right outside the port area that it will be higher than if you wander out of the port area, take a left and walk up the hill. We eventually found this, after a bit of wandering to the right! We had a few people trying to talk us in to their tours, but we weren't exactly sure yet. We also had someone try to talk us into ATV tour, this sounded very tempting to us, but they wouldn't come down to the price we wanted and we thought it was too expensive for the time that you get.

 

This was just a building out on the road that we were walking on:

 

 

Here we are walking up the hill

 

We found someone who directed us to a cab. This is where we met up with our driver for the day. We were directed to walk forward and he found us. We were at first very leery, as two guys both approached us and were trying to get us to go with them. But the correct person found us. If anyone wants his contact information, I have it. He gave us a card at the end. He was nice and 19 years old, lol, but a great guy. We were a little hesitant to go with him, he had an unmarked car, kind of junky, but it was all fine. He told us about a lot of things. He told us that he worked at Jungle Top previously as a zipline guide. He said that he could get us a great deal on this if we had any interest in doing this. Plus, we could see the monkeys afterwards to be included in the cost.

 

We had ziplined before in St. Kitts and we enjoyed it. I hadn't planned on doing this here in Roatan, but everyone else seemed eager and so I went with the flow. (I have a height phobia, and I didn't take an Ativan, lol)

 

We took a drive, about 15-20 minutes and saw a small airport, a town, and some other things on the way. We arrived, paid for the zipline tour, and we were good to go.

 

Coming up later....many pictures of ziplining and monkeys! I have to go to work now. boo:mad:

[muss2k1]

excellent review, cant wait for more!!

[MikeNKim]

to back track a bit what was the wait like to drop off the car rental at Dollar? I am thinking of doing that for my upcoming trip. Do they provide the shuttle free of charge or do you have to pay?

 

Thank you

 

Kim

[funinthesun1964]

excellent review, cant wait for more!!

 

Thanks for that, glad you are enjoying. :)

[funinthesun1964]

to back track a bit what was the wait like to drop off the car rental at Dollar? I am thinking of doing that for my upcoming trip. Do they provide the shuttle free of charge or do you have to pay?

 

Thank you

 

Kim

 

There was really no wait. We had Thrifty. Just followed the directions to the Miami airport, followed the signs to the rental car return. DH walked up to the desk, completed the paperwork, and we took the vehicle to the designated parking spot. The shuttle to the port then was free, but the driver took tips for loading and unloading your bags for you.

[MikeNKim]

Thank you!

[funinthesun1964]

When we arrived at Jungle Top, our driver, Jeffrey, went in to negotiate our price. He said it was normally $40 but since he worked there, he could get it for us for $35. This was for zipline and seeing the monkeys afterwards.

 

We all agreed to go. Since Jeffrey used to work there as a guide, he went along with us, along with 2 other young men. Jeffrey was so patient with me. I was very afraid on the first line...and he offered to go with me :o I'm telling ya, if I would have known that day that I was going to do this, I would have had an Ativan!

 

Anyway, after the first one, I was fine. I will tell you though...the platforms did not seem sturdy at all. Then you crossed a "bridge" a couple of times....just made of rope and boards. I was fine with that though. Really, you weren't up all that high, if you fell you would have been hurt, but they did really check all of us to make sure we were really secured and strapped in. All the guides were very nice and patient. I would recommend them.

 

They took us up to the top of a mountain. The ride was so steep I almost felt like I would slide out the back of the truck at times!

 

 

A good lookout point at the top, and a royal Caribbean ship in the background. This was the port area known Coxen Hole.

 

 

 

and here we go!

[funinthesun1964]

Thank you!

 

no problem, any other questions feel free to ask