2Okies

Here are some pictures of our first cove balcony ever. Room 2338 is right by the elevators. It was very quiet in our room. We heard some noise overhead at night - but it was always over by about 11:30ish. Many times, we had just got back to our room by then anyway. We heard more noise from people being noisy going up and down the hallway - which had nothing to do with the room.

It was convenient to the Southern Lights dining room - which was 1 floor up. We were in the middle, so we could go either way on our floor to go to front or back elevators. We never had much trouble getting an elevator.

I thought the room might be a tad smaller than our Deck 7 balcony was last year. Our bathroom seemed just a little smaller, but it wasn't inconveniently so. Our room might have been a little bit smaller too. This might be due to the fact that the balcony is pulled inside the ship, and doesn't jut out. But, with just the two of us, the room was just fine. We never felt cramped.

It was awesome to be that close to the water. However, the only sea life we saw were some dolphins, but they were more towards the front of the ship. It was interesting in port, because we were closer to the port action.

Here are a few pictures:

And - just a few more pics of Cozumel....

Cute little houses along the beach

Someone doing the Fly board - cool!

Advertising for Fly-Board

Hard Rock

Exit/Entrance to Puerta Maya - Carnival port

Some more pics along the road back to the ship.

Walking on harbor side of road back to the ship

Little restaurant where we had a lite lunch. Inexpensive & some of the best guacamole I've had!

Watching the sailboats race

Quintana Roo Lighthouse

View towards the ships at port

I finally figured out how to post pictures here on CC. Here are a few pics we took shopping around in Cozumel:

On the main harbor road

Shops down the harbor road

Central plaza

View down main road of shops

Hooters^

Famous Carlos & Charlies

I finally figured out how to add pictures here on CC, and I added some to my review of Maya Key. Just click on the link in my signature.

Thanks so much picomullet. Just read the thread. Think we will stick with our plans to Maya Key. We want to enjoy the snorkeling and sounds like it is not readily available at Little French Key, unless we pay someone to take us out or canoe out. Looking forward to seeing Maya Key. This will be our 2nd time at Isla Roatan. Can't wait!:)

If you love snorkeling - then Maya Key is a for sure GREAT snorkeling experience. We just came back from there, and the snorkeling we did at Maya Key was probably some of the best we've ever seen - and we've snorkeled quite a few places. Grand Cayman would probably be 2nd. But, the reef at Maya Key was just gorgeous! You get in the water at the end of the pier they have built, and its about 5' of water when you enter. They have red buoys in the water to show you which way to go to start, and then bottles tied to anchors under the water to show you the path through the reef. It's a 100% reef when you get out to that point, and 1000's of beautiful, colorful fish! I could have just floated over that underground garden for hours! It was awesome! You won't be disappointed.

Here are a few pictures I took at the port in Belize. I didn't get to take that many, because my camera quite working on me for a while in Belize. These were just the few I took with my phone.

This first picture is of the some of the shopping area

This picture is looking from the shopping area out into the harbor

A walking advertisement in the shopping area

Buildings across the harbor from the shopping area

Here are pictures of our Sergeant Caye Snorkel trip. Again, this was a cloudy day, so if we had sun, the pictures could have been better. But, it definitely wasn't as pretty as in Roatan the day before.

My husband did the shark encounter at Maya Key for $35. He REALLY enjoyed it. They fed the sharks while they were down there. They are nurse sharks.

Here are some pictures of our snorkeling adventure at Maya Key. These pictures would have even been more vivid if the sun had been shining. The day we snorkeled it was cloudy and overcast & it finally rained. The sun would have really made these reefs sparkle! It was so beautiful!

Thanks so much picomullet. Just read the thread. Think we will stick with our plans to Maya Key. We want to enjoy the snorkeling and sounds like it is not readily available at Little French Key, unless we pay someone to take us out or canoe out. Looking forward to seeing Maya Key. This will be our 2nd time at Isla Roatan. Can't wait!:)

If you love snorkeling - then Maya Key is a for sure GREAT snorkeling experience. We just came back from there, and the snorkeling we did at Maya Key was probably some of the best we've ever seen - and we've snorkeled quite a few places. Grand Cayman would probably be 2nd. But, the reef at Maya Key was just gorgeous! You get in the water at the end of the pier they have built, and its about 5' of water when you enter. They have red buoys in the water to show you which way to go to start, and then bottles tied to anchors under the water to show you the path through the reef. It's a 100% reef when you get out to that point, and 1000's of beautiful, colorful fish! I could have just floated over that underground garden for hours! It was awesome! You won't be disappointed.

We were just on the Carnival Magic a couple of weeks ago in Belize. I didn't hear of anyone that said they did any beach activities or para sailing in Belize, and I didn't see anyone on the water doing it when we took tenders. Not saying they don't do it somewhere - but I don't think its very prevalent there.

We took a snorkel excursion in Belize to Sergeant Caye through the ship, but we weren't that impressed. If we had it to do again, we would do a land excursion - to the ruins, cave tubing, zip lining or something like that. Land excursions appear to be the thing to do at this port. Belize doesn't really have any beaches that I've heard of. The Caye's (little islands) don't really have much of a beach - but you might find an excursion through your ship that offers something.

I think I would advise taking a ship excursion for anything you decide on in Belize, because the tender times take up a lot of your day, and you wouldn't want to miss your ship here. Even the people on our ship that took the cave tubing excursion through the ship barely made the last tender, and the ship waited past the sail-away for them to get on the ship. The ship anchors quite a ways from the shore, and tender into shore takes about 20-25 minutes. Our snorkel excursion was through the ship, and they picked us up at the ship, so that cut out having to tender into land, and then catch another boat.

If you want to para sail - I would say do it in Roatan or Cozumel (if your ship is going there). I would say Cozumel for sure is great for para sailing or other water sports . They have a lot of those type excursions.

Roatan has many awesome excursions too. We went snorkeling and it was probably the most beautiful place we've ever snorkeled. Grand Cayman was pretty too - but Roatan was gorgeous.

One of the men we met on the boat did this excursion, but I'm pretty sure he just hooked up w/it onshore. It was a spur of the moment decision for him to do it. He LOVES sailing, and has his own sailboat in Houston. He said this excursion was a blast.

I agree - get away from the Pier and see Cozumel! Cozumel is one of the best places to explore without feeling insecure. Its a wonderful tourist spot, and lots of places to visit. Don't be afraid to go anywhere. There are many, many great beaches to go to, for a relatively inexpensive cab fare.

We didn't eat or drink anything while we were there, but I did see 2 or 3 places at least to get their beer, and they may have also had snacks. It looked like their beer was about $2-3 each? We don't drink, so we didn't try any.

The port isn't that bad. Its actually much better than I imagined it to be. There are some of the shops you will see at the other ports (Diamond International, Tanzinite stores, etc - and a few mom & pop type souvenir shops. The shops were nice - not run down, or scary. It was enough to keep us busy for a couple of hours, and be able to say we stepped foot on Belize soil!

I would say its worth the effort to take the tender over if you have time. We didn't buy much there. I did get a few things like a picture frame, a small cutting board, etc - and the obligatory shot glass for our collection for every new place we visit.

Picture of the reef - it pretty much all looked like this. Not a lot of color.

Sorry I haven't figured out how to post multiple pics or anything bigger than a thumbnail. Help anyone?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1971372

See the comments on this thread I started. We just came back from cruising on Carnival Magic. We took the Sergeant Caye snorkel trip. This thread might help you decide.

If you prefer to snorkel (or aren't divers) I would HIGHLY recommend Maya Key for snorkeling!

We just got off the Carnival Magic last week and took an excursion to Maya Key (because of Mitsugirly's review too!). I felt like I had been there before because of all of her great pictures. I knew just where we were supposed to go to snorkel - right off the pier. The pier has a gazebo at the end, which has seats you can sit on to put on your gear. You enter via a ladder, and at first its only about 5' deep. They do have red buoys above the water to show you where to "aim", and then you follow the underwater water bottles tied to a rope that guide you through the reefs. When we got out to the red bouys it was 100% reef as far as you could see, and the most colorful gorgeous formations I've ever seen. There were literally 1000's of fish everywhere. I've never seen so many, and so colorful. I could have stayed floating above that beautiful garden forever. There was so much to see.

I've read that West Bay beach is supposed to have beautiful reefs also. If we ever get to go back, we may have to try snorkeling there.

But - if you can get to Maya Key, it is a FOR SURE perfect place to snorkel!

Thanks for your review!!! Princess has a barrier reef excursion and I have posted on that board PLUS this board trying to find details.. and have not had any answers! I have been thinking of canceling due to too many people kicking me and the sand we are experienced snorkelers so we are used to be on our own. Now I think we may cancel :(

You're welcome. I had the same problem on the Belize board - no good information.

I don't know if you're ship is going to Roatan, but the snorkeling there was absolutely GORGEOUS! Breathtaking reef, coral & fish!

We snorkeled at Maya Key where we snorkeled at the end of a pier and we could only get that excursion through Carnival. I'm not sure if Princess cruises go there or not. However, I read a lot of people go to West Bay and snorkel from the beach, and say it is beautiful as well.

Belize may be a great "diving" place, but I could never get anyone to comment on any snorkeling excursions. Maybe a land excursion is the best bet.

Good luck to you!

Yes - I misspoke when I said great barrier reef - as it I know that is in Australia. But, Belize is known for its amazing reefs, and we were hoping to see get some good snorkeling in. We were disappointed.

I did a review on Sergeant Cay in another post that has had no comments. We took the excursion last week thru Carnival, and we were on the Magic.

It was very convenient to have them pick us up at the ship so we didn't have to tender into the island first. The trip out to the reef was only 25 minutes or so, and was an easy ride in a big ferry-type double-decker boat. They insisted we wear the snorkel vests, and said to just blow them up slightly - just enough to keep you buoyant. They did say if you were experienced, and after you were in the water and were confident, you could release the air. However, I was glad for the vest, as I'm not the strongest swimmer, and the current and waves were a little much, and I got tired easily. We had about 40+ people on the boat, and the guides preferred we all stay in basically the same area, so I got kicked and knocked around a bit. It was pretty crowded. (Which is why we usually try to go w/private excursions, but we couldn't find one of those either!) We were in about 15-20' of water I would guess. It may have been deeper closer to the breaks, but I didn't go out that far because of the current & waves I was struggling with. As for the snorkeling, there were a few formations and coral hit & miss in the water w/a few fish. But, I didn't think the formations were that pretty. We had been in Roatan the day before & snorkeled & it was absolutely gorgeous and there were 1000's of colorful fish! This did not compare to that beauty at all. My DH said he went out to the breaks, and the coral was more plentiful, was a little more colorful, and he saw a few more fish.

I swam back to the boat after about 45 minutes because I was exhausted - and I wasn't the only one who did. The boat already had a dozen or so people on it. My DH stayed out almost for the entire time allowed - probably an hour or a little more. I heard others commenting on how strong the current was, and others had struggled in the water as well.

The Carnival excursion page said this went to a beach, but we never went to land. We passed a deserted looking island that had chairs & some facilities, and the guides said they take "some" excursions there. I don't know why we didn't stop there. But, it was all good. They took us directly back to the ship. We had plenty of time to clean up, and we took the ship tender into Belize to shop at the small port for a while.

Would I recommend this excursion? Probably not. There may be better places to snorkel in Belize. However, before the cruise, I had problems getting anyone to reply back to any of my inquiries about snorkeling spots around Belize to get any recommendations. So, good luck to you in finding any information about snorkeling.

We were originally signed up to do the cave tubing, and now I kind of wished we had done that. A couple at our dining table did it and said it was great.

So...maybe next time.

We just came off the Magic this last weekend. (Jan 19-26). We only had about 1 1/2 days of great sunshine on ship to enjoy the deck. The rest of the time it was overcast, cloudy, windy and cool to cold. Once or twice it rained.

Our first port, Roatan, was very cloudy and we could see rain coming in. However, the temps were nice & we wore shorts. We did get to snorkel until it did start a down pour. The water was warm. But, it finally quit when we were back at the port, and we were able to shop a while at the port.

In Belize, it was cloudy, then sunny. However, on our snorkel trip, I thought the water was colder than in Roatan.

In Cozumel, it was overcast all day, but the temps were in the 80's. We wore our shorts all day while we shopped.

Our daughter & son-in-law were on the Triumph about the same time - Jan 18-23. She said their two ports in Cozumel & Progresso were very hot - about 100 degrees. But, she did say it was chilly on most of their sea days also.

So, we both cruised at basically the same time, and found different experiences at Cozumel.

We had a travel agent that sat at our dining table, and she said February is really the better winter month, as the temps are starting to get more consistently warm in the Caribbean. She said January its always hit & miss.

We made friends with an older man on our cruise last week that was traveling alone. He grabbed a taxi and just had the taxi driver take him on a tour of the island. He said it was very enjoyable, and they had a nice conversation. He said it was evident the taxi driver knew a lot of people on the island wherever they stopped.

Anyway, right before they were finished with the tour, the driver said he wanted our friend to meet someone. He said they were at the taxi stand, and there was a man visiting w/the other drivers. He was introduced to our friend as the "new" Roatan mayor. They had a long conversation about the "politics" going on in Roatan. Evidently it has been "run" by the same wealthy man as mayor for years, and many did not like him, and therefore he was taken out of office, and this new man installed. The old mayor was against the tourism, and bucked anything like that on the island. He has also let crime run rampant. However, the new mayor, who said he is not a politician - he is just an average citizen like everyone else, said he's going to do everything he can to make some changes. He did state that many citizens do not want to see the island become "touristy", but some DO want it to - so there is some division. However, he can see the advantages to their economy. He also said that anyone caught doing anything like what those men did to the people on the Carnival cruise will be put in jail. And, he said, in Roatan jail you don't even get food or water unless you have family that will bring you some. Basically - you are put in there and forgotten. So, no one wants to go to jail. He said he is also trying to make sure the taxi drivers, excursion operators, etc stay honest with the tourists, and anyone reported not doing so, will be jailed. He wants to work with the cruise lines to make Roatan a good place for people to come to.

Our friend found this very interesting. He said the man sounded very genuine, and concerned about his island. However, he did state there had been a lot of unrest on the island because of this new power change, and the difference in opinions of the tourism market. Our friend was told that around the week that the family was attacked is when a big protest was going on in Roatan regarding these things. That may be why the US issued a traveling advisory to Honduras.

I guess time will tell what will happen.

Thanks good to know that it is good for lunch. I know exactly where you mean. It does look like a nice place, unfortunately it was closed when we tried to go once - will have to try again! I don't know if all the buildings in that group belong to one facility but the first two after the lighthouse used to belong to Albertos for a while.

There may have been a name on their menu - but I didn't notice, or remember. I got the cheese quesidillas that came with guac that was delicious & fresh. My husband got the shrimp quesidillas which he thought were great too. The prices were cheap, which was great for a light lunch.

I did go ahead and get a bright orange float strap for the camera. I could just see me dropping it.

You will be glad you did.

Thanks, the Tough is the 830, not the more expensive one. I think I will try out some land shots and see how they compare. I may leave the Nikon on the ship.

I put my Olympus on a lanyard, and it went everywhere with me on the ship. I would also invest in one of the floating straps if you don't already have one (they are bright orange & they will keep the camera afloat if you drop it in the water). I take the floating strap off when I'm on the ship. We had a dining mate at our table this past week, and she went diving in Belize, and she dropped her camera while diving and of course it went all the way to the bottom of the ocean - out of her reach. That would NOT be good!