Had a great cruise, but than again, any cruise/vacation is usually great. We left out of Houston this time and went to Cozumel (been there, done that), Roatan and Belize. Those two were new ports for us and the main reason we chose this trip. Have to say, we won't ever cruise out of Houston again. Even though we had lived there for 7 years and new it was a very industrial port, it was just so ugly! Who wants to go on vacation to somewhere ugly? Plus, all the Texans on board kind of took over the ship. A lot of them were rude or obnoxious if you weren't from Texas too. No thanks.
We've been to Cozumel at least 5 times, so nothing new for us there. However, the group hadn't been there before, so we had a great time. Went to the beach then to Carlos and Charlies. If you haven't been there, they make you take a shot and then "shake" it up for you. Very entertaining.
Roatan was a huge surprise for me. I've heard some not so nice things about Honduras, but Roatan was fabulous. Green, lush and CLEAN! Still very poor, but the people there at least took pride in their homes and didn't have mountains of trash everywhere. Plus, I did something I was terrified to do. I did a zip line! I can't say it was fun because I am scared of heights, but at least I did it. The group had fun though and I can check it off my bucket list. I also have to admit I cheated. The guides realized how scared I was so they did the zip with me every single time with the exception of twice. Two little short ones I did myself. But most of the time I looked like this:
Belize itself was a huge disappointment. I always pictured it as green and lush, more like Roatan. Nope. AND, it was dirty! Lots of trash everywhere and lots of people just hanging out on street corners doing nothing. With that being said, we had the best snorkeling EVER! The worlds 2nd largest barrier reef is off Belize and it's known for it's diving. We took a short plane ride to another part of the country so we could snorkel at shark alley! Yep, you read right, I snorkeled with SHARKS! They were just nurse sharks, which are bottom feeders like carp, but some of those suckers were over 10 feet long. It was a bit startling, to say the least. I also got to pet one. Felt like sandpaper. Strange. We saw at least 5 different types of sting rays, an eel, turtles and more fish than I've ever seen before. I would go back there just for the snorkeling.
Also while we were on this trip, our best friends Rex and Michele, renewed their wedding vows. The Captain preformed the ceremony and it was really nice. We did it on a formal night, so we all got dressed up. Rex and Michele were married 20 years ago by a JP and when thru Burger King afterwards, so this was more like a wedding and she even wore a wedding dress.
Aaron and Sarah were with us and this was Sarah's first trip out of the country. I told her when we left she had better enjoy the cruise or she couldn't be a member of our family. She came up to me about 3 days in and said she LOVES cruising! She was just overwhelmed with everything but took right to it. We had so much fun with them. I arranged a semi bachelor/bachelorette party for them one night at dinner and it was a hoot complete with naughty gifts and all. I think the other tables kind of wondered what was going on until I made them wear their bride and groom hats.
It always stinks coming home after a cruise to face reality again. Mountain of laundry and nobody to cook or clean for me? What's up with that? Only way to take care of that is to plan the next one! We have to wait a year, but at least it's something to look forward to.
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