Rainforest river tubing in Harvest Caye, Belize

I would have liked to snorkel in Belize, reportedly a great destination for scuba diving and snorkeling. Unfortunately the trips were all sold out; I had to settle for river tubing in a rainforest. The day was cloudy and rainy, the ride to the river from the Norwegian cruise port took about 30 minutes by boat, then an hour in a bus. The long bus ride passed through small towns, and the road turned into unpaved one-lane road as we entered the rainforest.

The three guides on the trip were Mayan. They spoke very good English and quickly established rapport with the group. They also gave us an informative overview of the Mayan culture and of life in Belize.

We stopped at the take out (end) point where we had the opportunity to use the restrooms and given a life vest each. We were warned that we will get wet; I put on a rash guard over a swim suit, water shoes and left my bag with towels in the bus.

The bus then drove on to the launch area where lime green tubes were waiting for us. The guides tied 7 tubes together, making 3 groups, each led by a guide who mostly walked on the river floor as we were led down the river.

We had a mostly relaxing tubing experience, the environment was serene and peaceful, with occasional sounds of birds. It drizzled on and off, and it was rather cold but not unbearable. Unfortunately we did not see any interesting wildlife from the river although the guides assured us there are a lot of them around. I was surprised by the number of rapids we encountered. At first I did not understand why the guides had told us to raise our bottoms in the tube until mine got bumped by rocks going over the first set of rapids. I quickly learned and prepared myself for subsequent rapids. Some parts of the river were a bit rough. There were rangers on the rocks at those sections and they helped the guides push the floats out to avoid hitting the rocks. It was a pretty exhilarating experience. Everyone had a great time, some of us squealing as we passed particularly large rapids.

Too soon, we reached the take out point where we got our life vests. I was glad I had a towel and a change of dry clothes, because we were all shiverng from being wet and cold. On the way back, the bus stopped at a Mayan structure for photos (see below).

We were dropped back at the cruise port; I decided to take a detour to look at the Norwegian beach resort at Costa Maya. A number of my cruise mates had opted out of shore excursions to use the free resort that was a Norwegian cruise highlight. The area was very pretty, great for those who like to sit on a beach although there were also water activities. Later, I heard that it rained at the resort as well, and most of my friends went back to the ship early.

Beach day in Roatan Bay, Honduras

We were very happy to be able to dock at Roatan Bay, Honduras after the port call at Cozumel, Mexico was cancelled. The morning was a bit cool and cloudy, with promise of sun later in the day. I had booked a beach and snorkel excursion at Tabyana Beach which was described as a great place to snorkel without having to spend time on a boat ride to see underwater life. We disembark to a colorful port and warm welcome.

At the assembly area, we were told that the snorkel part of our excursion was cancelled because the water was choppy and visibility was not good; we would be refunded that portion of the trip. However the beach, swimming and lunch portion was still on. Those of us who were looking forward to snorkeling were disappointed, but some passengers who have been to that beach in the past said that we could go snorkeling on our own if we brought our own gear, which I did (not the fins though). We got on a minivanfor the 20 minute ride to the beach. The beach was really pretty, lots of beach chairs with no umbrellas, so those of us who did not want to sun bathe selected chairs under trees. There were security staff walking around who assured us that it was quite safe to leave our bags on the chairs if we want to swim, nice. We talked to some to some of the vendors who tried to rent us snorkeling equipment and pointed to the best spots for snorkeling. Said we should be able to see reef fishes despite the less than crystal clear water.

And so, a fellow cruise mate and I decided to try it. She rented equipment from the vendor for $15 (not a bad price), while I put on my own mask and snorkel, and we went into the water. The waves were a little choppy, but yes, we saw fish, some of which were pretty colorful. This was a great opportunity to test my new waterproof camera, although I was not sure if the quality of the photos would have been better if the water was clear, or both.

We spent a lot of time in the water, but kept an eye to make sure we did not venture way out to the outer reefs that would have been perfect for snorkeling if the sea was calmer. We then went back to our chairs where we were joined by more fellow cruise mates who came in later. Grilled/BBQ chicken with rice and beans, tropical fruit was pretty good (photo of lunch station below). I also bought a fresh young coconut, wish I remembered to take a photo. The vendors/servers/security were all very nice, and deserved the tips they got from the guests!

On the way back to the ship, I stopped to check out the stores and took photos of the colorful handicrafts being sold. It was a great day off the ship!

The lovely sunset made a lovely evening.

Cruising on the Norwegian Breakaway

We transferred to the Norwegian Breakaway to start our Caribbean cruise earlier than anticipated because roads out of the Marriott were due to be closed at 10 am. The transfer was boring, with a lot of waiting around. It was a good time to get acquainted with fellow cruise mates, we were a pretty big group of 54, many of whom have taken multiple trips with STI. We finally got onboard, sampled lunch at the buffet and explored the ship. I got some nice photos of the New Orleans cruise terminal and skyline as we sailed off.

This was my first NCL cruise, my most recent experiences were with Celebrity, a few years ago, Holland America and a long time ago, Disney. Sad to say, I did not like this ship nor the cruise itself. Too many things did not go well, starting with a mobile app that was not the most user friendly, and that was not updated as soon as information changed. I enjoyed the company of my group; it was nice to cruise with STI members, eat and do things together. But the ship was noisy, the bars were usually crowded, smoking was allowed in the casino which you had to pass through when going to the main dining room (unless you divert by doing via a different floor), children hogged the hot tubs all day, many of the ship's crew did not appear happy to be working there, food was un-inspiring and entertainment (i.e. shows) was not great.

I liked the studio cabins which had access to a lounge for solo travelers that had a fancy coffee machine, juice, pastries and cookies. It also came with a very friendly and customer oriented bartender on duty 6-7 pm. Our group ended up staying in the lounge for most of our happy hour gatherings; everyone wrote Joseph (the bartender) up for a "hero" award.

The not so great weather did not help. The first sea day was rough, with quite a number of passengers getting sick. I was a little quesy when I got up in the morning, and I don't tend to get seasick. But getting out and about helped a lot. The first port of call, Cozumel was cancelled at the last minute. We were all waiting to disembark when it was announced that the choppy waters did not allow for safe morring at the port. So it was on to the next port, Roatan Bay, Honduras. Fortunately, we got to dock at Roatan where I had a shore excursion followed by a port call at Harvest Caye, Belize the next day. But Costa Maya in Mexico was cancelled, instead the ship turned back and stopped at Cozumel which we missed going out. Cozumel was where STI had scheduled its "signature experience", a day at a beach resort. STI was able to get it back on the new schedule which turned out to be a pretty good excursion. My shore excursions with photos are in separate posts.

The most negative part of the cruise came on the last day (at sea) when we were told we needed to get our refunds from cancelled excusions at the desk, in person. It appeared that NCL was unable to just reverse the charges to our credit cards (when whey were able to charge same cards directly for daily expenses), and that any refundable charges on our shipboard accounts will be lost if we don't claim them before the end of the cruise. As you could probably imagine, the lines on that last day were long. I stood in line for 1.5 hours, apparently I chose the wrong line despite the sign that said cruise credit desk. We were not aware that the guest relations line with 7 terminals could have helped us with refunds as well, and that line went a whole lot faster than the single terminal at the cruise credit desk. There was no staff to direct guests, and there were a lot of very unhappy guests, some threatening to vent on social media. When it finally got to my turn, the poor harrassed solo staff counted out $183 bills and handed them over as my refund for the cancelled Costa Maya excursion. After that, I had to go and have a few drinks to calm down ...

But, to end on a positive note, our STI concierge arranged for our group to visit the Ice Bar on the ship (for a fee) on the last evening. That was quite a COLD experience! We donned a thick hooded poncho, put on the provided gloves, and went into the bar that was made of ice inside. The visit included two drink coupons for martinis served out of glasses made of ice. Most of us could last only 5-10 minutes: it was fun but not something I'd do again.

Pre-Mardi Gras in New Orleans

What do you do on your (almost) first day in New Orleans? Have breakfast at the Cafe du Monde of course! There are now a few branches of the famous cafe in the area. After checking out of the Red Roof Inn Plus in Hammond (which surprisingly did not offer breakfast, only a bland coffee), I drove to Covington for beignets and cafe au lait (yumm) before continuing to the long term parking garage at MSY (New Orleans International Airport).

Parking was pretty simple, secure and quite affordable. A free shuttle operated every 15 min (guaranteed, or you get 50% off parking), and a mobile app that I downloaded prior to my trip tracked where the shuttle was. Nice touch, using technology. I had no problem getting my luggage to the airport, met up with a cruise buddy who just arrived from Houston and we shared a taxi to the Marriott New Orleans where we were to spend a night before transfering to the ship on Sunday. There was light rain with heavy storms were predicted later in the evening but we got to the hotel without incident. It was crowded in the lobby, the Mardi Gras celebration had just started despite the actual event being 10+ days away. Part of the Mardi Gras parade route was right in front of the hotel; guests were in party mode, wearing a lot of beads that looked like they caught from earlier parades. We checked in, dropped luggage in our respective rooms and walked to the French Quarter for lunch. The streets were wet and not too busy although lines were starting to form at many restaurants. We got a table pretty quickly at the Gumbo Shop, one of my favoritie FQ restaurants.

After lunch, I went out to Canal St. (in front of the hotel) to catch a parade. Not a lot of people out since the weather had turned cold and very windy, with some drizzle in between. The disposable rain poncho I had on was not very useful. Still, it was fun to watch the colorful floats and try to catch the more unusual beads that were being thrown by Krewe members.

I got pretty wet and chilled, loaded with beads, by the time the parade ended. I wondered what to do with all those beads, with no extra space in my luggage. There was a bin in the lobby for guests to recylce unwanted beads. Then I spied some fellow cruise mates at the bar, and distributed parade spoils among the willing -- problem solved! The evening parades were cancelled, as heavy thunderstorms started. It got so bad that most of us decided not to venture out, but stayed at the hotel bar which had a limited menu althoough the food as quite decent. It was unfortunate that we did not get to experience what would have been a fun pre-Mardi Gras evening in New Orleans. At the same time, our STI cruise coordinator announced that we needed to be out on the bus to the cruise terminal by 10 am (instead of 1 pm) because cancelled parades were rescheduled to the morning and roads will be closed. So it was prudent to make an early night of it.

Taking a break from winter, south to Louisiana

Signed up for a winter cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway with Singles Travel International, scheduled to depart from New Orleans on Feb 4. Flights to NOLA were rather expensive, plus I would have to stay a night after the cruise to get a reasonable flight back home. I decided to drive down south instead, so that I can visit Breaux Bridge, and stay with my friend Theresa until after Mardi Gras (on Feb 13). Rather than camping, I opted for staying in motels on the route, using the SUV hybrid instead of Millie (my minivan). Driving was pretty easy, the audiobooks I borrowed from the public library made the drive quite relaxing. My plan was to drive no more than 7 hours a day to reduce fatigue. Spent first night at the Travelodge in Wytheville, VA: interesting motel spread over multiple separate buildings, clean quiet rooms.

The next day, I stopped in Knoxville, TN to have lunch with a former colleague who had recently moved to the area. We met at Calhoun's on the River, a well known local reastaurant. It was too cold to sit outside but we took a walk along part of the river after lunch. Then, I drove through downtown before continuing south.

Spent that night in a Days Inn in Fultondale, AL. Checked in and went for dinner at the Full Moon BBQ, supposedly among the top 10 BBQ restaurants in the US. It's one of those places where you order food at the counter, take a placard with a number and a server brings the food to the table. I had collard greens and sweet potato casserole to go with BBQ ribs, typically southern. Tasted very good but way too much food!

The next day, I crossed into Louisiana where I had reserved a motel in Hammond, about 40 minutes to the New Orleans airport where I planned to park the car. Did not feel like going to a restaurant for dinner, so I stopped at a the Rouses Markets store in Hammond, to pick up some boiled crawfish, shrimp, a slice of king cake and some wine for dinner in the room. Very satisfying welcome to Louisiana!

Forgot to mention that the Travelodge in Wytheville, VA offered fresh pancakes at breakfast, using a pancake machine. First time I've ever seen that, so I took a photo of it!