Our Family Breakaway - April 17-24

[tripleboom]

11 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Inalwsys enjoy your reviews. Your boys seem so excited and appreciative of the experience. Keep up the great work!

 

❤⚓ Ashley 

 

They have their moments 😉 Like all parents we're just kinda making it up as we go, but they really are pretty great kids! I think we'll keep 'em around. 😂

[tripleboom]

After Landon's adventures on the ropes course, it was starting to get a bit toasty, so we headed back to the room and changed into our swimsuits. I did notice on the last couple of cruises that there weren't beach towels waiting for us in the room. This meant we had to snag the towels at the exchange up on the pool deck. No biggie, but a small change I had noted from past sailings.

 

The ship's photographers were wandering around the pool deck a bit, so we obliged their request and were pleasantly surprised to find a keeper among the photos. 😃

 

 

The Deck 15 level was pretty full up, so we ventured up to Deck 16 and found some chairs just above the family pool/slides area. Pretty much direct, hot sunlight, but after an Iowa winter I wasn't about to complain!

 

Stacy and I settled in to read and enjoy the sun while the boys ran off to start enjoying the pool and slides.  Some editing was done to this photo to protect the identity of the innocent sunbather behind us. 😆

 

 

You can kind of see in this photo just how remarkably calm the water was! Again, we were on Deck  where there's nothing to stop the wind at all, and it really felt like only a light breeze. Just wonderful!

 

 

I stayed dry and would run back and forth to the buffet once in a while to get some water (so thankful for the outdoor drink station at the buffet!) or snacks while the boys had a blast in the water.  They eventually talked Stacy into making a couple of trips down the slide with them too. 

 

 

 

72 trips down the slides later, and Landon was ready for some ice cream, so I made the first of a billion trips to the soft serve machine. 🍦

 

 

[sprez33]

Great review!   Keep them coming.

[tripleboom]

After a few hours on the pool deck we headed back to the room, showered, and got changed. We still had a little bit of time before dinner time, so we let the boys burn off some more of their credit in the arcade.

 

Nothing makes you fear the teenage driving years quite like watching them bounce off every wall and car in their path!

 

 

My timing on today's posts couldn't be better! One of the boys' favorite games was the Star Wars Battle Pod that allowed the player to be immersed in the cockpit of various Star Wars ships and participate in the epic battles of the movies.

 

 

It can be yours too for the low, low price of $31,000! 🤪 https://www.joystixgames.com/product/star-wars-battle-pod/  

 

But for only $3 and some change per swipe, this was a budget friendly, immersive game for the boys.

 

 

 

 

Connor even managed to take down the Death Star!  The 4th was with him!

 

 

But hey, if you're more Star Trek than Star Wars, I took a picture for you too 😉

 

[HowardK]

Great review! I went on the Breakaway '13 and '14 and hope to go again.

[tripleboom]

The daily for today mentioned that photographers would be out roaming about this evening, so we decided tonight would be the night we'd get dressed up and head to a nice dinner with the boys.  Honestly, they were really very good, and the kind couple sitting at the table next to us commented on how well behaved they were.  This was of course immediately before Landon laid his head on the table and mocked snoring, and Connor made a fart joke.  So par for the course for us!

 

The meal was pretty decent tonight too!  I opted for the breaded pork chop which was excellent! 

 

 

As would become the theme for this cruise, service was definitely on the slower side. I'm used to the relaxed pace of the meals, but it was another long delay between each course tonight with probably close to 15 minutes passing between our entrees being cleared and the dessert menu arriving, and probably another 20 minutes before dessert arrived.  I know from being a curious little nerd that the desserts are basically pre-plated and ready to roll, so this appeared to have come down to a case of understaffing again.  I just honestly think they haven't beefed up staffing to pre-pandemic levels yet, and even with an Easter/Spring break cruise like ours, the ship was not staffed sufficiently yet. Hopefully these are just growing pains for the industry during the "Great Cruise Comeback," and not the new norm.

 

This also felt like a place where the lack of Splash Academy really hurt. The boys LOVE the buffet and the plethora of choices it offers. On our 2019 cruise I would take the boys up to the buffet while Stacy readied herself, then we'd drop the boys off at Splash and go enjoy a nice meal at a leisurely pace.  Whereas on this cruise it became a point of tension for me. I know plenty of cruisers that would smirk and nod knowingly at the couple of kids that are bored with the pace of service and chuckle as they turn their noses up at the refined food choices, but I also know there's a few that could have their pleasant dining experience spoiled by a couple of squirmy kiddos sitting at the next table over.  So I held a fair amount of that tension in me. I know some would say, "that's their problem, not yours," but I think the "Midwest nice" part of me really is hyper aware that I could be inconveniencing or bothering someone else.

 

All that said, and looking back now, the boys were really well behaved and tolerated the more refined vibe of Taste remarkably well. And we looked pretty dapper all dressed up too.

 

 

Landon refused to give me a nice smile, so I told him that's fine. I'll just post whatever face you make on Facebook and Cruise Critic. He called my bluff.

 

Except I don't bluff.

 

 

Lots of good options on the dessert menu tonight! But I LOVE me some Boston Cream Pie.  NCL's was pretty dang good, but Stacy has her own recipe that's sooooo good. With my birthday coming next Monday, I know what I'll be asking for. 😀

 

[tripleboom]

After a nice dinner, we took our tour to stop at a few of the various photographer's stations scattered throughout the ship.  The boys moaned and groaned a bit louder with each stop, but in the end we were able to select a few, really good photos for the walls at home.

 

These first three were taken along the curved wall on Deck 8 near the 678 Chandelier. Loved this wall as a backdrop! The photographer here, John Paul, was absolutely wonderful! We bumped into him a few more times throughout the cruise, and even if the boys weren't right with us he would ask how the boys were doing, what we had done in port that day, etc. He really stood out as an excellent, memorable member of the crew

 

 

 

 

Safe to say the boys have grown just a bit since 2019.

 

 

 

This final one was ALLLLL the boys' idea. Tough to say if my face was red from the day's sun, or if it was from each boy LEAPING on top of the pile to take his picture. 😅

 

[tripleboom]

After hearing from others about a rash of cancellations later in sailings, I wanted to be sure we got to "Six" before anything could happen. We reserved the show shortly after boarding, and arrived early enough to find some decent seats on the aisle.

 

 

Only after getting home did I notice the gentlemen sitting next to Connor who was inadvertently mean mugging for the picture.  Is it just me or is there a slight resemblance here...

 

 

Looks like just Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul!

 

 

We had seen Six on the Bliss back in November twice, but the show was SOOOO good that we were definitely up to seeing it again. The show has a couple of double entendres that for SURE flew over our kids' heads, and some of the costumes may be considered racy by some (but no more so than anything that can be seen on the pool deck on any given day 🤪), but compared to the likes of Rock of Ages or Kinky Boots, the show is largely a family friendly one with GREAT music performed by a cast and band of extraordinarily gifted women. Make sure you get to this show. You won't regret it!

 

 

 

 

 

As we would come to find out later during the cruise, the rest of the Six shows for the week would be canceled due to "technical issues," and I don't think Burn the Floor ever performed for the same reasons (though I'm not 100% sure on that).  Entertainment on board was one area that I found lacking on this sailing. Thank goodness we made it to Six or it would have been a solid D+ for the cruise's entertainment. Only one other event later in the week (we'll get there) was half as entertaining.

 

After the show we were BEAT, and knew that tomorrow would be a big day in port. One last swing by the chandelier, and then it was time to hit Cozumel in the morning!

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by tripleboom

[tripleboom]

Day 3 - Cozumel

 

We knew that 2 out of our 4 port stops were not going to be beach days, so we decided to make sure to enjoy a good, full day at the beach here in Cozumel.  I wound up booking us for Mr. Sancho's through Viator. Again, the rebates you can get through RetailMeNot, Rakuten, and similar websites allow for quite a bit of savings if you book at the right time. I happened to book when there was a 20% incentive, and that rebate just came through earlier today via PayPal.  The base cost before our cab fare or rebate was $195 for the all-inclusive day.

 

We arrived at Punta Langosta, disembarked, and took the long walk down the pier toward the mall. After heading down the pier you go up an escalator and across a pedestrian bridge over Rafael Melgar Avenue. Once you cross over to the mall area you can proceed to the back, right corner of the mall to a set of stairs that take you back down to the street level, and then proceed toward the center back area of the mall to exit to where the taxis are waiting.  The taxi costs are posted, so from Punta Langosta to Mr. Sanchos was $18 one-way plus tip.

 

It's about a 20-25 minute drive from the port to Sancho's, but as always you'll want to be sure to pad that time quite a bit on your return!  Once we arrived at Sancho's we were directed to wait in a short line, then presented our Viator print out (I brought a paper copy and a mobile copy for the sake of redundancy), then you're wrist banded and led to your spot for the day.

 

Our waiter, Miguel, was fantastic throughout the day, and would bring drinks out to the water's edge to us if we weren't relaxing at our table beneath our palapa.  There were a handful of vendors that made the rounds during our stay offering bracelets, massages, various trinkets, and a mariachi band that would play for tips.  

 

The drink and food options were all quite good, and Miguel always seemed to be around to check on us and see if we wanted a refill or a bite to eat.  Here's the menus available with the all inclusive package. Highly recommend the, dirty monkey, coconut shrimp, and the chips and guac!

 

 

 

It was a little cool in the morning, but before too long the sun came out and stayed out, and it was PERFECT!

 

 

 

If you haven't figured it out by now, Landon likes to climb. All the things. So the aqua park was a must do for him. For the extra $12 I was happy to let him run out there for a while.

 

 

 

 

[tripleboom]

By about 1:30 PM we had decided we were all pretty well spent, and decided to head back toward the ship. We could have stayed a little longer, but the boys were definitely tired and ready to head back to the ship.  There's a long line of taxis just parked and waiting on site, so we walked out from Mr. Sancho's and immediately caught a minivan cab back to the port.

 

The cab dropped us right on the front drive, but unfortunately the escalators there were out of order, and barricaded off, so we had to head back to the back corner of the mall again to head up the stairs. This did allow us to snap a quick pic at the Cozumel sign.

 

 

From there it was back across the pedestrian bridge to head toward the ship. There's a pretty nice overlook before you head back down the escalator here that makes for a good photo opp too.

 

 

 

Home sweet home!

 

 

Before too long we were back to the room. We were on Deck 9 forward in a B6 Large Balcony room, so I settled in for some potential pier running observation, and as it would turn out, there would be plenty of action to be seen.

 

 

By about 4:00 PM the ferry to the mainland/Playa Del Carmen had returned and a good number of our fellow passengers had made their way back to the port.

 

 

Unfortunately, we wound up being held up as not one but two ambulances had to make their way down the pier to unload some of our fellow guests, and a couple of different families was very tardy getting back as well. There was plenty of rumor going around the ship later during the week as to what caused our very late departure, but at least one story had it that a couple of passengers had rented a Jeep on their own, got into a traffic accident, and wound up severely delayed getting back while they negotiated their release from the police and and a settlement of the damages to the Jeep. Some versions of the story included the American consulate getting involved to aid in negotiating their release.  I have no way to verify any of this, but if that doesn't scare you into being extra careful with your in-port decision making, I don't know what will!

 

Eventually we would cast off around 6:30 vs. our originally scheduled 6:00 PM and be on our way.  RCL's Liberty of the Seas was not far behind.

 

[cmecruise1962]

I am loving this!  Leaving tomorrow for Miami to set sail on Sunday.  Note to self, go to SIX the first night it plays!

[tripleboom]

21 hours ago, cmecruise1962 said:

I am loving this!  Leaving tomorrow for Miami to set sail on Sunday.  Note to self, go to SIX the first night it plays!

 

Hopefully by now you're already on board or close to it! Enjoy your cruise, @cmecruise1962

[tripleboom]

One of the areas we struggled with due to the closing of Splash Academy was figuring out how to make our specialty dining package work for us. We could either bring the boys along with us and pay full price for their meals, or they could pick off of the kids' menu, or we could try to figure out some alternative for them.  The boys decided they weren't up for fancy dining two nights in a row, so after we left port I ran them up to the buffet while Stacy got ready in the room. 

 

By the time I got back with the boys, Stacy was ready to go, and a pretty good movie was just coming on the TV. Earlier in the week I had bought the onboard texting capability for my phone and for Connor's. At a cost of $9.99 each this allowed us to keep tabs on the boys and make sure all was well with them. I wound up having to sign Stacy in to the NCL app on Connor's phone because it required an NCL.com login to work. Not a big deal, but something to be aware of if you intend to text with your kids. Make sure they have the NCL app downloaded AND a sign in before leaving.

 

With the boys settled in for a movie night in the room, Stacy and I headed down to Deck 8 and checked out Moderno.  This was our first time dining here. We've had Brazilian steakhouses back in the U.S., but I had heard mixed reviews for Moderno in terms of the quality of the meat. Most commonly I had heard that it was over seasoned and sometimes dry. But since we made no advance reservations, and because I'm not willing to let the internet dictate what I do and don't do, we decided to give it a try tonight.

 

When we arrived they scanned our stateroom card, confirmed we had no reservations for the evening, and said that they should be able to accommodate us still. The restaurant was perhaps half full, so I had hoped accommodating us wouldn't be an issue. I know we could have made reservations, but I prefer to let our moods dictate what we eat, particularly when the ship was far less than full still.

 

At any rate, we were seated, provided the menu...

 

 

Stacy ordered the strawberry caipirinha (no UBP for us this go round, so this was paid out of pocket) and then allowed to start at the salad bar.  Stacy had some very good greens, and I had a few bites of sushi, some meats and cheeses, and few other fillers.  Once the sides started coming out, we flipped our tableside cards from red to green and the parade of meats began.  I found the bacon wrapped filet to be the best of the bunch with the Brazilian sausage not far behind. Stacy enjoyed the chicken breast. We both agreed that the lamb was pretty sub-par, but overall I did find this to be a good dining experience.  I could have eaten the warm cheese bread for my entire main course and been perfectly happy.

 

I had scoped out some of the dessert options from prior sailings, but we were both pleasantly surprised to find a few new additions including this banana caramel meringue tartlet. This was definitely the best dessert I had on this cruise.

 

 

We left absolutely, miserably, yet delightfully stuffed, but before heading back upstairs and off to bed we swung out to the Waterfront for one last peek at the sunset. Nothing like sunset on a cruise ship.

 

 

 

We got back to the room fairly early, cleaned up, and settled in to watch a movie before drifting off to sleep. Tomorrow morning would find us waking up to a day at Harvest Caye, Belize!

[Miffy2003]

What a lovely trip report. Looking forward to reading more 🙂

[Warm Breezes]

On 5/6/2022 at 12:30 PM, tripleboom said:

 

Unfortunately, we wound up being held up as not one but two ambulances had to make their way down the pier to unload some of our fellow guests, and a couple of different families was very tardy getting back as well. There was plenty of rumor going around the ship later during the week as to what caused our very late departure, but at least one story had it that a couple of passengers had rented a Jeep on their own, got into a traffic accident, and wound up severely delayed getting back while they negotiated their release from the police and and a settlement of the damages to the Jeep. Some versions of the story included the American consulate getting involved to aid in negotiating their release.  I have no way to verify any of this, but if that doesn't scare you into being extra careful with your in-port decision making, I don't know what will!

 

A member of our FB group had family who was involved in this incident.  This is what she told us happened in Cozumel:

 

It was my brother that was involved in the accident. My two brothers, son and nephew rented a jeep from Magical Island Tours.

They were followed and eventually t boned on the passenger side. The person that hit them was the neighbor of the jeep rental people. It was all a scheme. The seatbelts were cut and wrapped around the roll bars.

My brother had a laceration on his ear that cut his ear almost completely off. He had a large laceration above his eye brow, his eye swelled shut and a fractured skull. My nephew had a concussion and does not remember the event.

The police wanted to arrest my brother that was driving, the other went to the hospital. They wanted $4500. We tried to have my father western union the money from the us, but western union said it was too large to wire. We were on the side of the road for 3 hours begging them to let us go. Eventually we gave them $2600 and they let us go. They gave some money to the police right in front of us.

My brother was brought back by ambulance to the ship at 4pm. Unfortunately we did not know he had a skull fracture. The ship dr told us and said he had to go back to the hospital because he could bleed in his brain. So he went back by ambulance to the hospital in Cozumel. He was discharged 24 hours later. He took a six hour taxi ride that cost $600 to costa maya and joined us on Friday.

Long story short, don’t do excursions not run by the cruise line. We need a vacation from our vacation.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Warm Breezes

[tripleboom]

Day 4 - Harvest Caye

 

The next morning saw us making our approach in to Harvest Caye. Originally our itinerary was set to be Cozumel - Roatan - Harvest Caye - Costa Maya, but we were made aware of the late itinerary change on the sail date. I'm not sure if it was pier availability in Roatan, or what dictated the change, but it made no difference to us save for having to re-book our off-NCL excursion for Roatan.

 

So save for the mild headache it cause, we were entirely happy to be pulling up to Harvest Caye!

 

 

 

Love watching the dock workers doing their thing. Such an impressive, gigantic ballet to get these ships properly docked!

 

 

 

We grabbed a light breakfast at the buffet, and then headed ashore.  The boys had BIG plans for today.

 

 

 

 

The ship's photographer's were scattered around a few spots on the island, and we managed to find another keeper to take home with us!

 

[tripleboom]

28 minutes ago, Warm Breezes said:

A member of our FB group had family who was involved in this incident.  This is what she told us happened in Cozumel:

 

It was my brother that was involved in the accident. My two brothers, son and nephew rented a jeep from Magical Island Tours.

They were followed and eventually t boned on the passenger side. The person that hit them was the neighbor of the jeep rental people. It was all a scheme. The seatbelts were cut and wrapped around the roll bars.

My brother had a laceration on his ear that cut his ear almost completely off. He had a large laceration above his eye brow, his eye swelled shut and a fractured skull. My nephew had a concussion and does not remember the event.

The police wanted to arrest my brother that was driving, the other went to the hospital. They wanted $4500. We tried to have my father western union the money from the us, but western union said it was too large to wire. We were on the side of the road for 3 hours begging them to let us go. Eventually we gave them $2600 and they let us go. They gave some money to the police right in front of us.

My brother was brought back by ambulance to the ship at 4pm. Unfortunately we did not know he had a skull fracture. The ship dr told us and said he had to go back to the hospital because he could bleed in his brain. So he went back by ambulance to the hospital in Cozumel. He was discharged 24 hours later. He took a six hour taxi ride that cost $600 to costa maya and joined us on Friday.

Long story short, don’t do excursions not run by the cruise line. We need a vacation from our vacation.

 

Thank you for the additional information. I wasn't hesitant to even mention the rumor simply because it WAS rumor only by the time I had heard it. My goodness what an absolute, terrifying nightmare!

[LisaLisa87]

I'm really enjoying your report! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I'm especially grateful as my family and I will be boarding the Breakaway in 13 days! I'm so happy to hear that Six is running. My daughter and I are so excited to see that show! Your photos are great, and the professional photos turned out so well -- you've inspired me to drag DH and DD to at least several of the photo ops onboard. Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by LisaLisa87

[tripleboom]

8 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

Your photos are great, and the professional photos turned out so well -- you've inspired me to drag DH and DD to at least several of the photo ops onboard. 

 

 

I really have been so impressed with the job they do on board. Some of the poses they have you run through I know we're not going to buy, but I know they have their job to do so we run through it. But we really did have a tough time narrowing down our list to purchasing just 8. With the included 8x10 copy of each + the digital copy, plus our Silver status it was $160 ($200 base cost). Not too bad compared to what you'd pay for a photo shoot back home.

[mertziek]

1 hour ago, Warm Breezes said:

….Long story short, don’t do excursions not run by the cruise line…

This was a truly scary and dangerous situation.  You’re really at their mercy.  Exactly why we do not travel in Mexico and when on a cruise only do ship sponsored tours.  I’ve read in the past that on rare occasions the ship sponsored tours have been intimidated by local thugs, too, but at least a bit more secure.  Now I realize things like this can happen anywhere but seems like most stories are about Mexico.

[Mira28]

On 5/6/2022 at 10:19 AM, tripleboom said:

After a nice dinner, we took our tour to stop at a few of the various photographer's stations scattered throughout the ship.  The boys moaned and groaned a bit louder with each stop, but in the end we were able to select a few, really good photos for the walls at home.

 

These first three were taken along the curved wall on Deck 8 near the 678 Chandelier. Loved this wall as a backdrop! The photographer here, John Paul, was absolutely wonderful! We bumped into him a few more times throughout the cruise, and even if the boys weren't right with us he would ask how the boys were doing, what we had done in port that day, etc. He really stood out as an excellent, memorable member of the crew

 

 

 

 

Safe to say the boys have grown just a bit since 2019.

 

 

 

This final one was ALLLLL the boys' idea. Tough to say if my face was red from the day's sun, or if it was from each boy LEAPING on top of the pile to take his picture. 😅

 

 

[Mira28]

What a lovely family! A great review too. I'm going on the Breakaway in October for a Canada/New England cruise.

Loved the Bliss also. (It certainly was a memorable cruise, being the very last one before Covid.) We came back to a changed world.

I like the way you convey the experience. Hope to hear more. Thank you.

[tripleboom]

Ever since we told the boys about the cruise at Christmas, they had been absolutely thrilled with the idea of going on a zipline.  Now, I know my kids well enough to know that the idea of a zipline and the willingness to do it once 100' in the air are two different things.

 

So with that in mind, we decided that the Flighthouse Ziplines at Harvest Caye were probably the best idea. You could book in advance, or I knew from past experience that you could walk up the day of and still participate as well. With that in mind, we left the ship wearing gear that was compliant with the zipline (sleeved shirts, closed toed shoes, etc.), and wandered our way to the midpoint of the island where the zipline was located.

 

Landon was 1,000,000% on board with it after a week of the ropes course, but Connor was a little more hesitant. We had told him it was zero pressure to do it, but that once we committed then he needed to go and conquer it. With this in mind, he made the decision and we headed to the counter to book the experience.

 

Because Stacy and I had both done it previously, we didn't feel an obligation to go with the boys. There was no parental supervision required for the ride, but we of course had to sign the waivers for them. The cost was $55/kid (adults were more expensive).  Almost immediately after paying (I'd find out later in my review of the stateroom charges that the $50 shore excursion credit WAS applied even though it wasn't an excursion participated in by Guest #1 on the reservation, so that was a happy surprise), the boys were sent over for their gear fitting.

 

Super tough guys, let me tell ya...

 

 

 

I brought my full GoPro kit with me for the cruise, so while all the helmets that had the GoPro mount already on them were checked out, I was instead allowed to use the head strap I had and got it all hooked into Connor's helmet.

 

 

Shortly after they were both properly outfitted they were led to the elevator to take them up to the platforms. By this time Connor had started getting REALLY nervous.  I had asked (basically knowing the likely answer) if I could accompany them to the platform just to make sure he didn't freeze up up there without someone to talk him down, but was told no. I didn't really have any problem with that. They need to have an area to work without worrying about others that AREN'T participating in the experience.

 

So while Stacy and I took up positions down below, the boys were quickly to the front of the line and made ready to fly!

 

 

 

 

 

And then they were off!!!

 

 

 

 

I was able to capture some great video from the ground.

 

 

And Connor's helmet mounted GoPro footage wound up being amazing!! You can hear him doing some heavy duty breathing at the beginning before they send him, and then it's all fun "WOOOOOOO!!!" from there.

 

 

What an unforgettable experience for the both of them.

 

 

 

 

The Lighthouse platform is about 100' in the air, and the zipline stretches for about a quarter mile. Just incredible that they got to make this fun memory!

Edited May 9, 2022 by tripleboom

[tripleboom]

The boys were giddy and still riding the high from their trip down the zipline when we started back toward the ship.  Because it's such a long haul from the shore to the ship, I think it discourages some people from going back there for lunch. But given that nothing on Harvest Caye is included in the cruise fare, we've always planned on knocking out any shopping and walking around stuff early, then head back to the ship for lunch and to change into swimsuits.

 

On the way back the boys mounted the jetski photo op

 

 

 

Tough to beat a lunch with a view!

 

 

While the buffet is never too busy during lunchtime on a port day, we always sit toward the back of the ship in the Garden Cafe. It allowed us to washy washy and then split up, grab our food independently, and then always know that we could plan to find each other near the rear of the ship. There's more kid friendly food toward the aft (pizza, burgers, fries, chicken tenders, etc.) and the drink station in the back is always much calmer and less crowded than those toward the middle of the buffet. We've found this to be true on the Breakaway, Escape, and Bliss (though the buffet is forward on the Bliss, so the inverse is true. Further forward = less crowded).

 

Once we were changed, we headed back to the island. Stacy and I had done the beach area before, and with a beach day on the day prior we thought it'd be a nice change of pace to just relax in the resort style pool instead.  On the way to the pool we stopped by the Belize photo op. 

 

 

Apparently they had moved it since Stacy and I were last here in 2017, but some things don't change. Like, apparently Belize is my Red Wings swimming gear port. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

 

The swimming pool really was so nice. Not overly crowded, and the perfect place to hang all day if you wanted. The boys could do headstands (depending on which life guard was watching) to their hearts' content, and Stacy and I were able to just relax and chat.

 

 

 

[mertziek]

The pool at Harvest Caye is so nice.  We enjoyed our day there, too, in February.