Hey everyone! We are finally back from our fantastic cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. We had such an awesome time and I can't wait to share with everyone. The map below shows where we went. New Orleans is at the top. We went to Costa Maya first, then Belize City, then Roatan, the Cozumel, then back to New O. So, here's what we did...
Saturday, Jan. 7
We left, around 8 am to drive to New Orleans (about an 8 hr drive). I started the vacation off well by nearly peeing my pants a few hours in before we found a bathroom in Natchitoches, LA. The rest areas in Louisiana are few and far between. We made it to New Orleans around 4, but the hotel wasn't ready for anyone to check in. All hotels were super busy because of the playoff between the Saints and the Lions was that night. After we finally checked in, we drove into NO, which was ridiculously crowded with Saints fans. We luckily found parking, then walked to Mother's Restaurant to eat one of their famous Po'Boys sandwiches. It was featured on "Man vs. Food." The sandwich wasn't worth the money in our opinion, but it was fun to try it out. Next we walked through town, including Bourbon Street, which I will hopefully never experience again, and the river walk. I wasn't a huge fan of the city, but it was cool to see some Bayou on the way there. That was it for the first day.
Sunday, Jan. 8
Got up at 9am. Drove our car to the parking lot we had reserved. We then took a shuttle to the terminal with another couple that would be on our ship. Our luggage was taken to load on the ship, and we went through 5 different long lines before boarding the ship at 1pm. We immediately went to the buffet, not having had breakfast, and ate outside on one of the decks at the back of the boat. Then we wandered the ship and enjoyed the view.
At 4 we had the drill, where they show where to go and how to do the life vests in case of emergency. Half an hour later, we watched the ship disembark. We ate in one of the main dining rooms for dinner. The tables were so packed that our table of 2 was only a couple inches away from another table of 2, so we got to know a couple in their 50's pretty well before the end of our meal. That night we chilled in the hot tub and found out that our "waterproof camera" wasn't so waterproof. Luckily, we had my old one that had been tested.
Monday, Jan. 9
The next day was spent completely at sea. It was amazing and slightly freaky to be surrounded by just ocean with no land in sight. We spent the afternoon sunbathing by the pool, eating endless amounts of food, napping, and playing games. That night was the formal or not night. We dressed up and went to eat at Le Bistro, the French restaurant (not one of the included restaurants). Aaron ordered Escargot and swordfish. I had the 4 cone sampler, each filled with a different ensemble, and the lamb. The meals were okay, but dessert was fantastic. Creme Brulee, cheese sampler, and choco balls.
After dinner, we walked around, listened to some live music, and I got hit on by an older man. (He told me to tell my husband that he says I'm cute.)
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| 4cones |
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| Escargot |
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| Le Bistro |
We woke up and ate breadfast. Aaron went back to sleep for an hour, while I watch us come into Costa Maya's port. After getting off the ship, we walked through all the touristy stuff, down a side street to the left side of Costa Maya to get to the beach area. We had to pay for lounge chairs, but the view was very nice. Aaron got a fresh coconut, which was very different than the coconut we are used to in the U.S. There were kayaks included in the price of our chairs, so we took them out for a little bit. It was pretty fun, though not nearly adventurous for Aaron. We then walked along the shops and bars, took a taxi back to the ship dock, and were on our way back to the ship when we saw people holding a baby tiger. It was 25 bucks to do it, but it went to tiger preservation, so we pulled out the cash. She was 2 months old, named Sofiya, and enjoyed using Aaron's arm as a chew toy. Altogether, we never want to go to Costa Maya again. Way too touristy, with nothing there, and still being developed. The tiger was the highlight.
Wednesday, Jan. 11
We woke up in Belize City, but had to take a tender to get to shore. We were in group 2 to board a tender. It was a 25 min ride to the dock. Once there, we met our tour group to go cave tubing. After an hour ride through Belize City and up into the rainforest mountain range, we got to the park, changed into swimsuits, grabbed our tubes and life vests, and hiked 45 min into the rainforest. Now it sounds super cool, but it was very touristy. The trail was packed with groups doing the same thing. We crossed the river 3 times before getting the caves. Our guide offered termites from a tree, and Aaron ate one. They supposedly tasted minty, but I wasn't about to find out. We were lowered onto our tubes one at a time, with 7 people in a group to one guide. Me and Aaron were in the front of our group. The guides do all the work from then on. We immediately went through one cave system. We had headlamps so we could somewhat see. We then came out into rainforest for a bit, then into another cave. It took about an hour to get back to the bottom. Overall it was pretty cool, though extremely tame and crowded. After an hour drive back to the city, we went shopping a little. Didn't buy anything though, because prices were too high and the people wouldn't lower much. Thank you tourists that don't know to barter and pay full price. That was pretty much it for Belize.
Thursday, Jan. 12
We woke up in Roatan, Honduras. The view of the island from the ship was amazing! After breadfast, we took another tender to the island. This time it only took about 5 minutes. On the island, we met our tour company, which assigned us a guide for the day. His name was Darrio. Darrio drove us to a gas station to change into our swimsuits, then drove to another part of the island where we met Denver and Jake, the guys that would take us snorkeling. They took us in a small motor boat to a close by Dolphin preserve. We didn't go in because it costs a lot, but we got up close enough to see and hear them. It was good enough for me to even see one that close in a more natural environment than Sea World. Next, our guides drove us to the first snorkeling sight. There were no other tourists around, just fishing boats. Denver stayed in the boat close by, while Jake went in the water with us. This was my first time snorkeling, and I did not do well at all. Swallowed so much water that I didn't enjoy myself at all. However, I kept trying and at one point spotted a sea turtle. Aaron went down and touched it. That was his wish fulfilled. The second sight we went to, I took a life vest which worked wonders for my snorkeling abilities. The reef was so incredible. Our guide (Denver this time) brought an urchin for us to hold. He pointed out lots of other cool stuff and took pictures that we couldn't have held our breath long enough for. After snorkeling, they dropped us off on the most beautiful beach I had ever seen, which was of course crowded with tourists and bars. We rinsed off and changed, then Darrio took us to the monkey farm. There, we were used as trees for Capuchins (the monkey from Night at the Museum). In the baby Capuchin cage, Aaron had a can of sprite. They loved it, but I thought the guide would throw us out. We also had our scalps dug into by Red Macaws. They would only land on your head. And we held a small green macaw that had the most gorgeous eyes. Afterwards, we did a little shopping. I bought an 8x4 hand carved mahogany box with a 3d picture of a street in Roatan. That about does it for Roatan. It was by far the best day of the whole trip. We hope to go back again.
Friday, Jan. 13
Our last port city was Cozumel, Mexico. When we got off the ship, we had directions to follow to find our excursion group. The meeting place was supposed to be 2 miles in between our dock and the other cruise dock, so we decided to walk instead of taking a taxi. It ended up being more like 3.5 miles and really confusing. The name of the place wasn't anywhere in sight, and the only way we knew we had found it was by asking the group of white couples sitting there if they were in the same group. After checking in, we got on a ghetto catamaran and puttered slowly to our snorkel spot. The head guide lectured for 15 min. about the right way to put on a mask and safety signs. We felt like 7 year olds. We got in the water with 15 other people in our group. Compared to Roatan, the snorkeling sucked. There were only little patches of coral and a few fish. The second spot we were supposed to go to was supposedly much better. They told us we would see stingrays, and they saw dolphins 2 days ago. But, when we got there, we waited for 15 min and then they told us there were jellyfish all over, so we'd have to go to a different spot. It was about the same as the first. Boring. The best part of the trip was the ride back. They actually put the sails up, the waves got crazy, and we got soaked. They gave us fresh guacamole, and it started to rain a little. Overall, this trip was not at all worth the money we paid. When we got back to dock, we took a taxi van with some others in our group and went back to ship to shower and change. We then went back into the city to walk around and shop. At one of the last shops we decided to look at, we bought a black and gray hand carved onyx chess set and a black onyx dominoes set. The chess pieces are mayan looking. That night, back on the ship, we went to a show in the theater. It was called "Elements" and was a mix of dance, acrobatics, and magic with the theme of earth, fire, wind, and water. It was actually really cool. Afterwards, we went to the chocoholic buffet. Yummm!! Everything chocolate you could think of. Cakes, dipped strawberries, ice cream, tarts... It was amazing.
Well, thats pretty much it. The next was all at sea on our way back to New Orleans. We did nothing but relax, play games, eat, and watch the 49ers game. We had such a blast! Even with the Italian cruise ship disaster freaking everyone out, we will definitely go again. We hope to take some family with us someday. Any takers?
