I Belize in MAGIC! MITSUGIRLY revisits the Western Route. My Novel.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

For some reason there were a lot of crabs/conch up on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[batchbunch55]

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ok mommy, we are going back, please let me take my life jacket off". I gave in and off it came. She was free and loving it. She swam like a pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She could now dive...but was limited to the life jacket attached to her arm so she still couldn't go too deep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We swam back. It was a bit of a struggle. They gathered us around and announced that it would be too hard of a swim back to the island and they were going to send our boat out to come get us.

 

 

 

Well, the boat came and parked quite a ways from us and it was one of the hardest struggles to get to it. It wasn't this hard swimming to come back but right where they parked...oh my! It felt like forever getting back. I was worn out. Sakari was doing great and said she wasn't even tired.

 

 

 

She was like a dolphin frolicking in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally made it aboard and I couldn't be happier to sit down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They passed out drinks and I rested until everyone was on the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you share where you got this wonderful purple mermaid tail? My daughter is asking for one for Christmas. It’s hard to figure out if ones are actually usable and this is pure evidence this one is!

 

Thank you for all the pictures. Can’t wait till we go to the Western Caribbean in March on NCL!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mitsugirly]

Ahh, pop in a glass bottle=delicious!

 

 

They were raking the sand and getting the seaweed up.

 

 

I decided to head out to the side that Sakari and B were on and see if there was even a remote chance that there is anything interesting around there.

 

Several fish hanging out here:

 

 

There were A LOT of damsels in the area darting out as I went past.

 

 

 

I spotted a sea cucumber (I told ya they are always everywhere)

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

I found an anemone. I was excited. I really love these things and I put 2 of them in my tanks at home. I love to feed them and watch them grab the food and curl up while it shoves the food in its mouth.

 

 

 

I never seem to find any anemones that quite compare to the ones I have in my tank. I don't know where mine originate from but they are so much more colorful that what you spot when snorkeling or diving.

 

Here's my bubble tip anemone in my lionfish tank. It has gotten huge! and the bubbles are more prominent now.

 

 

 

Here's the other I have in another tank and it's really pretty and huge now as well and it has orange tips and the inside is neon green. When it opens up all the way, it's beautiful.

 

 

I love taking pictures of all my fish and coral. Yep, I do it just as if I'm snorkeling and put my camera (the one I use in my reviews) on the underwater snorkeling mode, put my hand in the water and snap away. hehe

 

There are conch shells everywhere in this area. Some had conchs still living there and others did not. However, they did have other creatures living in them.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ahh a feather duster worm. I love these.

 

 

 

 

 

A conch graveyard with a damsel security guard.

 

 

 

There were a lot of pencil urchins living in the conchs so I guess these empty shells are being used wisely.

 

 

 

I headed out and over to the other side. Of course I had to take pictures along the way.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

Another type of anemone I believe.

 

 

And another!!!

 

 

I believe these are some type of small dwarf puffer fish. I'm really not sure the name of them but they are usually every place we go.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

It was still very wavy out and the waves would be crashing onto the retaining wall around the island.

 

 

 

 

The area we went in to snorkel.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Our boat sitting at the dock

 

 

This hut was where you could buy food and drinks:

 

 

Of course my scuba girl...notice anything about her?

 

 

 

One of the guys was going around and collecting life jackets. I'm really not sure why people still had them and didn't take them off on the boat unless these were the people in the beginner class and they didn't go out far enough to have the boat pick them up.

 

He told everyone "20 minutes we leave". Ugh! I really wish they would extend these excursions. There's really no reason that we should have to go back so early. I mean we were in Belize until 5pm for heavens sake!

 

 

I kid you not, within 5 minutes they were telling everyone to board the boat. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY 20 MINUTES?? It took us awhile to put all of our equipment up and gather things...for 7 people... and Kendra and her family none the less. I think it was obvious that we did not want to leave and were in no hurry.

 

We also stopped by the food hut again and I bought a yummy glass bottle of coke light to go. Sakari requested a bag of cookies ($2).

 

Then we reluctantly decided we would follow instructions and head to the boat.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I would miss this place.

 

 

 

 

We slowly pulled out and I felt a tear roll down my face.

 

 

 

 

The crew passed out punch to drink on the way back (they gave water on the way there and on the snorkeling trip).

 

We were all tired, but very happy to have experienced such a wonderful place.

 

When we got closer to the ship, they stopped the boat and those of us with camera's got up and took pictures.

 

 

 

Then we docked right up to the ship, the same way we had left.

 

[jenniferandwhatnot]

Love your reviews! Subscribing so I can follow along with the rest of the trip :)

[mitsugirly]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON RENDEZVOUS CAYE

 

I think by now you all can figure out that I absolutely LOVED this place.

 

It was a beautiful little island. It was nicely landscaped. The palapa huts were huge and had plenty of room with chairs and even tables under some of them.

 

It seemed like there was plenty of room there and everyone was all spread out. I liked that.

 

The 2 beaches there were ok and good enough for cooling off. Not a lot to see snorkel wise from the beach, but a few things.

 

The snorkeling....ah the snorkeling...simply amazing. I don't think pictures really do anything justice. Man was this place awesome! I don't think I have ever been on a snorkeling excursion (or even on my own) where we got to see so much all in the same encounter.

 

The guides were amazing!

 

I can't recommend this excursion enough. I would go back in a heart beat.

 

The ONLY thing that was an issue today was...the wind. Lordy lordy it was crazy. But of course, that's no fault of the excursion, Carnival or the vendors. It has been a rainy week for them and the water was a little outraged, so I would expect it to be windy. It was no big deal though. Nothing could have messed that day up.

 

The only other thing is the time. They really could and should extend the time. There's absolutely no reason to come back that soon. Seriously!

 

We pulled up at the island at 9:45am.

We pulled away from the island at 12:26

We had approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes on the island, which included our snorkeling time.

1 hour was spent snorkeling.

I guess if you factor in a 40 minute boat ride there and 40 minutes back, you are looking at a total time of around 4 hours...as the tour said.

 

Just.not.enough.time !!!!

 

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

:D

[Ralphinsc]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON RENDEZVOUS CAYE

 

I think by now you all can figure out that I absolutely LOVED this place.

 

It was a beautiful little island. It was nicely landscaped. The palapa huts were huge and had plenty of room with chairs and even tables under some of them.

 

It seemed like there was plenty of room there and everyone was all spread out. I liked that.

 

The 2 beaches there were ok and good enough for cooling off. Not a lot to see snorkel wise from the beach, but a few things.

 

The snorkeling....ah the snorkeling...simply amazing. I don't think pictures really do anything justice. Man was this place awesome! I don't think I have ever been on a snorkeling excursion (or even on my own) where we got to see so much all in the same encounter.

 

The guides were amazing!

 

I can't recommend this excursion enough. I would go back in a heart beat.

 

The ONLY thing that was an issue today was...the wind. Lordy lordy it was crazy. But of course, that's no fault of the excursion, Carnival or the vendors. It has been a rainy week for them and the water was a little outraged, so I would expect it to be windy. It was no big deal though. Nothing could have messed that day up.

 

The only other thing is the time. They really could and should extend the time. There's absolutely no reason to come back that soon. Seriously!

 

We pulled up at the island at 9:45am.

We pulled away from the island at 12:26

We had approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes on the island, which included our snorkeling time.

1 hour was spent snorkeling.

I guess if you factor in a 40 minute boat ride there and 40 minutes back, you are looking at a total time of around 4 hours...as the tour said.

 

Just.not.enough.time !!!!

 

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

:D

 

I know where I'm going now when I next visit Belize! :D

 

That. Was. Amazing!

 

I hope the beginner stuff is as good. I'm borderline on intermediate but my son and wife are pretty much snorkeling novices. Maybe I can break them in a bit better before we get back to Belize.

[beshears]

I'm going to try this again. I started out writing a line or two, and the next thing I knew..........it was gone.:o

It has been a while since I have been on CC, but now that my laundry is drying, I thought I would get on here for a few, since we booked our Magic cruise for the end of March. While scanning the questions, I came across a "familiar" signature, that has helped me out in the past on my questions, which is YOU!!! I'm looking forward tomorrow to continue reading the rest of your review here.:)

[Cafedumonde]

Just dreamy... what a great review!

[mitsugirly]

When we got off the boat, somehow Kam was with us. We checked in, security, elevators...wait, where's Kendra and family? I have Kam! She was no where in site.

 

We waited by security...and waited, and waited. When do you think she got off the boat and showed up? LAST! The VERY LAST people to get off the boat. How does this happen? We were sitting right next to them! I had to use the restroom. I'm totally convinced this stuff only happens to me. It's usually B that's trying to tag along with us, but now it's Kam's first cruise and she's already doing it.

 

We finally made it to our room and headed for the shower.

 

Sakari even has to draw on the mirrors. Art is life!

 

 

 

I remembered that you could go up to the Italian restaurant and eat lunch for free when it was open. I decided that's what we would do today and headed up.

 

We were immediately seated.

 

 

They give you a check off menu and you go down the line and check off what you want and hand it back to them to prepare.

 

 

The salad and roll arrived and it was good.

 

 

 

It didn't take long before our food arrived and it was SO YUMMY!

 

 

 

Kendra then messaged me wanting to know what we did for food. I told her where we were at and her and Kam came upstairs. When she got there, they told her they were closed and she would not be able to eat there. She came over and sat by us. I offered some of mine...several times actually, and she never answered. So, I finished it off.

 

Then we would watch another family come in and they had them sit down right beside the check in desk. I did see them filling out papers. I think they made them food to go and have no idea why they would not let Kendra do that. It was weird.

 

After lunch we walked around for awhile and noticed they had Pixels completely shut down and they had things roped off, construction going, noise, building, blankets...you name it.

 

This would be the day that I went around and took pictures of most of the ship. It's like it was abandoned today. You have to remember, we came back from our excursion so early and had a lot of ship time while people were still gone.

 

We decided to head back to the room and take a nap. I normally don't nap when I'm on the ship but today I was tired from so much snorkeling and swimming. I felt it was justified.

 

There's one thing that I noticed on this cruise this time around...I could hear every single noise and voice in the hallway from my room. I had never noticed this before. It has never bothered me. But it was if the walls were paper thin in my room this time around. Housekeeping also walked in at one point. Oops, I forgot to lock the door.

 

We decided to get up after awhile and left the room at 7:15.

 

Sakari would head off to the munchkin club and we would head off to Pixels to look for our pictures. It was if nothing had even been done that day. Everything was cleaned up and perfect again.

 

After we found our pictures and had them put it in our folder and we headed off to donate some money at the casino.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We picked up the munchkin from the kids club and she was a little upset that when she goes and Kam goes, Kam cries and only wants to be around "sissy". They allow Sakari to stay in the "baby club" with Kam and she states that she can't leave Kam's site. She tries to sneak off and go to her age appropriate club, but it never works...or at least doesn't work until it's almost time to go. It makes for a boring time at the kids club for Sakari and I believe she wasn't enjoying herself.

 

However, they did braid her hair for her and put some beads in it. She was super excited about that.

 

 

She also made a flower and got to pick out 2 charms.

 

 

She made a bracelet as well.

 

 

I guess this company must be the one sponsoring the beads and throughout the week she would make more bracelets for us.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now you have to see this video. When we were anchored, the entire back of the ship was swarmed with dragonflies. Like A LOT!

 

2PAoqQAUA6I

 

Then after we pulled out, we would have some of the remains from the dragonfly swarm still with us.

 

 

 

After picking up Sakari, we decided to have pizza for dinner and to the back of the ship we went.

But, first some pictures along the way.

 

 

Not.quite.there.yet!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We all had to use the restroom and the restrooms are at the end of the buffet and kind of in the middle. Well when you come out, you can go back toward the buffet or go the opposite way and it takes you out to the pool on the aft of the ship. This is also where the pizza place is located. So of course we went that way.

 

We made it back there and started walking toward the pizza shop and noticed huge "Fun Ashore" flags up. It was like roped off. Immediately some employees come running up to us saying "What are you doing here?" "How did you get out here?" Um...the door? I felt like we had just walked into the White House and was being swarmed by security. They informed us that we were not allowed back there and they were setting up for a private party and we had to leave. Ok fine, I just want some pizza! They told us to go back the way we came and around.

 

 

 

 

 

They had sat up some lounge chairs and also some high tables. If these are the same tables I seen on another cruise, then they light up different colors. At one point they were testing the music and sound system and wow was it loud!!! If I was on another ship close by, I bet I would have heard it.

 

 

We finally got our pizzas to share.

 

 

 

One again, Sakari started complaining of chest pains. She was holding her chest again. How can this be? You didn't mention it hurting all day today. You went snorkeling in some of the roughest water. You have been to the kids club and although you claimed you were bored, you did mention playing on some baby slide with Kam. Now all of a sudden it hurts again? I seen the gator tears coming but she stopped herself again and just held her chest. I really don't understanding what is going on with her. There one minute and gone the next. Heartburn? What?

 

[mitsugirly]

Sakari insisted she wanted to go back to the room and lay down. Along the way, she would pass out some more friendship rocks.

 

 

 

But even though her chest hurt, that's no excuse not to get ice cream. Right?

 

 

 

When we arrived back to the room, we actually had a "night" towel animal instead of receiving it during the day. That's more like it!

 

 

 

I did discover that our room steward did not leave us any pool towels. Gasp! If you are going to forget to leave a family pool towels, our family is not the ones to do it to.

 

I called housekeeping and told them we needed 3 towels. I was not about to wait until the next morning to get them. That has happened to us before and we spent half the morning waiting on the towels when we could have already been off the ship. Our beach time is precious to us. No waiting aloud...well, unless you are Kendra a suppose.

 

They didn't arrive at my door for almost 1/2 hour. I was so ready for bed but had to wait up. I was busy listening to Sakari whine about her chest and also saying "I can feel my lungs breathe". Um ok. She was not gasping for air, she had no other symptoms. I gave her some pain medication and decided it would be another restless night of me monitoring her to make sure she was ok.

 

Our pool towels arrived. They only brought two. Are you kidding me? She said she would go back and get another and no longer did I shut my door and she was back again with the other. Thank goodness I didn't have to wait again.

 

Right before going to bed, I went to call Kendra to see what time she planned on getting up. I noticed there was a message on my phone. The message was actually for someone else and I figured it was an old message from the week before. The message said they were calling back to discuss their complaint of the sewage smell in the room. Interesting...

 

Off to bed we went.

[mitsugirly]

Can you share where you got this wonderful purple mermaid tail? My daughter is asking for one for Christmas. It’s hard to figure out if ones are actually usable and this is pure evidence this one is!

 

Thank you for all the pictures. Can’t wait till we go to the Western Caribbean in March on NCL!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We get all of Sakari's mermaid tails at finfunmermaid dot com. She has 6 of them now. She loves them. I just recently had to buy her a new mono fin because her other one is just about worn out she uses it so much. I ordered it before we left for the cruise and it arrived on our doorstep the day we left to fly to Florida. Crappy timing. LOL

 

It will now be a Christmas gift. LOL

 

Just so you know, the purple mermaid tail (and she also has a pink one) is a sparkle material. It's beautiful.

 

 

Love your reviews! Subscribing so I can follow along with the rest of the trip :)

 

 

Thanks! :)

 

 

I know where I'm going now when I next visit Belize! :D

 

That. Was. Amazing!

 

I hope the beginner stuff is as good. I'm borderline on intermediate but my son and wife are pretty much snorkeling novices. Maybe I can break them in a bit better before we get back to Belize.

 

Yep, definitely go there. So worth it if you love to snorkel. Hopefully the water wont be as rough when you go. The only hard part honestly was trying to make it to the boat. Other than that, we didn't have any problems.

 

 

I'm going to try this again. I started out writing a line or two, and the next thing I knew..........it was gone.

It has been a while since I have been on CC, but now that my laundry is drying, I thought I would get on here for a few, since we booked our Magic cruise for the end of March. While scanning the questions, I came across a "familiar" signature, that has helped me out in the past on my questions, which is YOU!!! I'm looking forward tomorrow to continue reading the rest of your review here

 

I hate when that happens. You don't realize just how often it happens to me...especially during a review. I don't prewrite anything and do it as I'm posting and poof...gone!

 

Well I'm glad you made it back over here. I remember your name from the past. Welcome back. :D

 

Just dreamy... what a great review!

 

Thank you. Glad you like it.

[NoDayButToday]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON RENDEZVOUS CAYE

 

I think by now you all can figure out that I absolutely LOVED this place.

 

It was a beautiful little island. It was nicely landscaped. The palapa huts were huge and had plenty of room with chairs and even tables under some of them.

 

It seemed like there was plenty of room there and everyone was all spread out. I liked that.

 

The 2 beaches there were ok and good enough for cooling off. Not a lot to see snorkel wise from the beach, but a few things.

 

The snorkeling....ah the snorkeling...simply amazing. I don't think pictures really do anything justice. Man was this place awesome! I don't think I have ever been on a snorkeling excursion (or even on my own) where we got to see so much all in the same encounter.

 

The guides were amazing!

 

I can't recommend this excursion enough. I would go back in a heart beat.

 

The ONLY thing that was an issue today was...the wind. Lordy lordy it was crazy. But of course, that's no fault of the excursion, Carnival or the vendors. It has been a rainy week for them and the water was a little outraged, so I would expect it to be windy. It was no big deal though. Nothing could have messed that day up.

 

The only other thing is the time. They really could and should extend the time. There's absolutely no reason to come back that soon. Seriously!

 

We pulled up at the island at 9:45am.

We pulled away from the island at 12:26

We had approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes on the island, which included our snorkeling time.

1 hour was spent snorkeling.

I guess if you factor in a 40 minute boat ride there and 40 minutes back, you are looking at a total time of around 4 hours...as the tour said.

 

Just.not.enough.time !!!!

 

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

Highly recommend this place!

:D

 

Absolutely LOVING your review, as always! Thank you for all the wonderful pictures and hard work you put into it.

 

We did this same excursion on our honeymoon in 2015 and it is still our favorite vacation day we have ever had. The island was beautiful (I have a video or panoramic somewhere showing the entire island all in one shot-truly private). The snorkeling was amazing-and it looks like it's only gotten better there in the last 2 years, and the staff running the excursion were a lot of fun and really knew their stuff. They've definitely expanded since we were there. The only food and drink on the island when we were there was rum punch or soda and some bags of chips!

 

I think the reason they keep it so short though is because they run multiple private excursions there every day, maximizes that tourist dollar. I think the Carnival slot is in the morning, and then the afternoon is for another cruise line. When we were there there was another load of guests coming to the island from one of the other ships in port that day.

[mitsugirly]

Absolutely LOVING your review, as always! Thank you for all the wonderful pictures and hard work you put into it.

 

We did this same excursion on our honeymoon in 2015 and it is still our favorite vacation day we have ever had. The island was beautiful (I have a video or panoramic somewhere showing the entire island all in one shot-truly private). The snorkeling was amazing-and it looks like it's only gotten better there in the last 2 years, and the staff running the excursion were a lot of fun and really knew their stuff. They've definitely expanded since we were there. The only food and drink on the island when we were there was rum punch or soda and some bags of chips!

 

I think the reason they keep it so short though is because they run multiple private excursions there every day, maximizes that tourist dollar. I think the Carnival slot is in the morning, and then the afternoon is for another cruise line. When we were there there was another load of guests coming to the island from one of the other ships in port that day.

 

It sounds like you had an amazing time there as well. It's just a beautiful little island with excellent snorkeling.

 

 

I wouldn't care if the place was over crowded on the island as long as I got to stay longer. I just didn't want to leave. :( I just hate short excursions and like to make the most of my day there. I do know we were the only ship there that day. I was hoping they would allow us to stay a little longer but it didn't happen. :loudcry:

[mitsugirly]

ROATAN: 9-6pm

 

I woke up at 6:30am today and checked the time. What is wrong with me waking up so early and not even needing the alarm. Kendra said she has been up every day at 7am without an alarm. We must be losing our minds or super excited.

 

 

 

 

 

I immediately checked the weather and it said sunny, then a shower, then more sun. I was hoping that it would be more sun than rain. But, I guess some is better than none since the entire week called for thunderstorms in each port prior to leaving for the cruise. Even though we have had some rain and cloudy days, I think we have been pretty lucky so far.

 

I sounded the mommy wake up call and everyone got dressed and we headed for breakfast. To my surprise, Kendra was already there...although she was not staying and just picking up breakfast for her and the kids and taking it back to the room while they all got ready.

 

Since I didn't feel like runny eggs today, I headed for the omelette line. To my surprise, there wasn't much of a line and it was quick and painless. I passed my plate along to the bacon police and told them "crispy please". They were generous with their 1 1/2 pieces of bacon they slapped on my plate with a smile.

 

 

 

I finished off my breakfast with my favorite "pastries"

 

 

 

It had been a rainy week for the Caribbean I guess. We pulled up and the water looked disgusting. I was really hoping it didn't look like this everywhere and we'd be able to see some beautiful crystal clear water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I have never seen any water in the Caribbean look this bad.

 

 

 

 

Mahogany Bay

 

 

 

I was trying to focus on the lift ride taking people over to the beach area.

 

 

Here's the building we needed to make it to in order to get out of the cruise compound.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I'm pretty sure the sun was trying to come out for us.

 

 

 

The following video is an overview of the walk from the ship to the port and to the exit of the compound. Then it will show you the street you need to walk (which is uphill) to get to the taxi vendors outside the port. It's a bit of a haul, but I know that a lot of people want to know just how far of a walk it is. So, I figured I'd take a video from the ship to show you.

 

 

/yeP8wcWE_2U

 

 

 

After breakfast I texted Kendra to devise a plan to meet and get off the ship. We had a little bit of time and she said "meet me in the casino" then she mentioned "deck 6" which was the deck she was staying on, then she said "elevators", then mentioned they were going to the "casino"...which isn't on deck 6 at all, but instead on deck 5. Confusion set in.

 

We gathered our things and headed to the casino. We found the kids and billy there...playing a game.

 

 

There was no Kendra. I waited and waited and I guess she was waiting for us on deck 6 by the elevators. LOL

 

We never did hear them announce that the ship was cleared and we could get off the ship. I'm not sure why they don't do announcements like NCL does when you can get off. Maybe they don't want a mob of people running for the exit? I'm not sure. I have just always been used to hearing them say we are cleared and can leave.

 

It was 9:20am and I said "Let's just go, it can't be taking this long". Then off we went.

 

We stopped for our port pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously Kendra was special today and they took a bunch of black and white photos of her family.