CruisingGatorGirl

We finally arrived at the ruins. Wow, I was impressed! The ruins are very fascinating and set in the lush rainforest. We stuck close to Pedro’s side so we could hear all of the stories as we explored the ins and outs of the ruins.

I was not sure to expect in Cahal Pech, especially since this was a last minute tour change and we were VERY happy with this selection!

There is a large Amish population in Belize

We had a senior guide (who turns out is a local celebrity with historical ties to Cahal Pech) named Pedro Arnoldo. His daughter who was in training would be our assistant. They were wonderful and mad ea great father-daughter team. Pedro was full of life and heavily invested into the area. His love for Belize and Cahal Pech was evident.

Pedro was amazing, almost on the level of “Gino” if you read my Med. cruise review in Pompeii. He was able to share several stories from his childhood exploring the area before it became a tourist destination. If you are lucky to have Pedro you will be in for a real treat! He made the 2 hour drive interesting and filled us with all sorts of knowledge.

Along the drive we stopped at a little place for a snack, shopping, and restrooms.

We got to drive through Pedro’s hometown (Cyro, if that is how you spell it). He also is a talented artist and pointed our several murals he painted around town.

12/17/2013, Belize City, Belize

After a great sea day we slept like babies.

All right Belize, are you ready for us? WE are ready for you! I think we were most looking forward to Belize. Again, I had no idea of what to expect from Belize. All I know is Tyler was in charge of this port and he booked an off roading Land Rover tour. In my mind I am picturing either sand dunes or muddy/clay filled back roads. Obviously I don’t know much about Belize…. As I would soon find out.

We had the alarm set for 8 but Tyler woke up at 7 (for once Tyler was the first one up)…

And, OH NO

There is a flashing light on our phone and we can see it is cloudy outside, this is not a good sign.

Yes, we had a message from shore excursions desk, our tour was canceled. NOOOOOO. The one tour Tyler planned is now canceled. I felt so bad because Tyler was really looking forward to this.

We originally had booked the Celebrity excursion: Jungle, River, Land Rover & Cave Expedition, BED3. Which was now canceled. I sat up in bed looked at Tyler and said “I understand we are in the RAIN forest and it RAINS in the RAIN forest but I was not expecting non-stop rain for 4-5 days in a row.” I could see Tyler was disappointed his tour was canceled.

So we turned our frowns upside down and marched on down to the shore excursion desk to see what we could do.

Well, I guess the rest of the ship also got the same message we did because it was crazy-town at the shore excursion desk. Turns out nearly all the excursions were canceled. Not only because it was raining but also because the days of rain caused many streets to flood and trees to topple over. Popular excursions, such as zip-lining, were canceled.

There were only 4 excursions left for us to pick from. We went up to the buffet to have breakfast and discuss which of the 4 we would go on.

As many of you know, I really like history and ruins so we had to reschedule for the Mayan Palaces of Cahal Pech, BE99A (I think that was the code).

We went back down to shore excursions to make the change and now the line was even longer. We thought there was no way we would even make the excursion on time because of the line. While we were standing in line I noticed one of the house phones on the wall. I walked up to, called shore excursions desk (that I could see from where I was standing) and was able to make the reservation, pretty easy! Others saw what I was doing so a line for the phone formed.

Today called for more rain so we grabbed all of our rain gear and headed down to the theater to wait for our tour.

Just a note for those thinking of this tour, due to the heavy rain and flooding they had to change the bus route to get to Cahal Pech, the bus ride was 1 hour and 45 minutes long each way.

Also due to the cancellations and flooding everything today was running behind. I wrote down ours had a start time of 10:15 but we didn’t actually get called out until 11:15.

We had a nearly 2 hour bus ride to get us to the archeological site, which was 8 miles from Guatemala.

I am studying Career and Technical Education so I was excited to see this:

Hello and Happy New Year

 

Someone recommended your post on another board and so I followed the thread a few days ago, and I have LOVED the read :). I'll add my thanks to everyone else's and I'm definitely going to read your next report.

 

We're doing our first-ever Celebrity Cruise in the summer - the 11 night Italy and Dalmation coast on the Constellation - and I'm really looking forward to it. I've picked up quite a few tips from you since we will visit quite a few of the places you visited.

 

Thanks again :)

Happy New Year! Thank you for the sweet words, I am glad you enjoyed it! I am in the works of our honeymoon report now :)

You are going to have a fantastic cruise! If you have questions please let me know :)

Hi everyone! I am still here :D Just a little busy right now with finals and end of semester deadlines. Lots to get done at school and work before winter break (I am a high school teacher and still in graduate school).

If you ever go back to Grand Cayman, I would definitely recommend a tour to Stingray City, and particularly a small private tour. We went on a Fatfish jet ski tour to see the rays, and there were only 6 of us on the tour. We got to spend quite a lot of time with the Rays before all the big cruise ship tours with 100s of people showed up! We have found that small tour providers know when the big ship tours go where and avoid those times. This provides a much better and less crowded experience. I can't wait for the rest of your review!

 

I am soaking up all these Equinox reviews, as we are just 60 days away from our Equinox cruise! I always intend to journal, and I never make it very far into the cruise before I give up. The last cruise I made it two days in before I gave up! LOL!

 

 

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Thank you for the tips! I think I learned my lesson on GC, haha! Just means we need to go back and try it again.

You are going to have a great trip, wish I could sneak into your bag LOL! I really enjoy to journal and I was just thinking the other day I should journal on a regular basis for my own personal reasons. I love looking back and reflecting on life. I will admit it was easier on this trip to journal because we had a lot of down time. On our med cruise I had to fill in some of the gaps by using pictures to remind me.

And thanks for the amazing review

Your wedding pics are beautiful - you are a stunning bride and handsome groom!

We are going on Equniox next year so enjoying your pics and thoughts

Many thanks!

Thank you so much for the sweet words! You all know how to make a girl blush :o You are going to have a great trip!!

Hi, Ashley

Another follower from your amazing Med review. So, really happy to find this one. I'm on the armchair now!

Aww thank you for finding this and following. Hopefully we will have another med cruise to journal. However we might have to cancel our May 2015 Eastern. Med. cruise because of a potential new job for my husband that would put him in training for 6 months :eek:

I am loving your review. We just got off the same itinerary last Friday (Nov 21). It is so fun hearing your perspective. This was the longest cruise we had ever taken. My DH and DD were ready to leave the ship at the end of the cruise, I on the other hand was begging for more!!

 

We also had a lot of rain as well. It was a wonderful ship and a fantastic cruise!

That's wonderful!!! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Interesting to hear your perspective. May I ask, why were they ready to leave? just too long on a cruise or was it because of the rain? Just wondering :-)

Thank you for you review. I am really enjoying it. I have wanted to go to Cartegena. Your pictures made me want to go even more.

Thank you! We actually really enjoyed Cartegena! Before we left I had visions of it being "Scary" and we did not find that to be the case. We felt very safe, everywhere we went was nice, clean, friendly people! I think the shop owners here were the least pushy of all the stops. You should go!

Enjoying your review, thanks for taking the time to write and post it and your wonderful photo's.

Thank you so much for the nice comments! Have a great weekend!

Hi Ashley, enjoying your review as always We are going on our first Med cruise on the Reflection on 29th May. I hope that our ships pass each other along the way and we can wave to each other! I must read your Med cruise review again to refresh my memory for our cruise. I still have the info you emailed to me, it has lots of helpful information in it too. May will be here before we know it and I just hope that I am organized enough before the trip!

 

Tracey.

Oh my goodness, Tracey, you are so right! AHH, January is just around the corner which means the cruise will be here before we know it!! I still have a lot to do. I tend to plan like crazy when we first book, then I slow down, and then pick it up again.

Not sure if you saw me write this before. There is a chance we are going to have to cancel our cruise; about 6 weeks after we booked my husband started moving along in a job that has a very long application process. Things are looking good for him and the job, we are expecting a phone call sometime this month to let him know if he got it (fingers crossed he did). If so, he has to go to training for 6 months!!!!! :eek: If that is the case, no Med. cruise in May, booooo. This is his dream job so we are going for it!

Just updating the thread to keep alive.

Norma

Thank you, Norma! Life got busy, I will finish the report, I promise :D Have a great day!

Like you, I am left wondering "what happened next???" Did she sleep the rest of the cruise away??

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of the story....

 

I'm sure she will be back soon with the next chapter.

HAHAHA! I wish I could go back and sleep on the Equinox right now ;) Don't worry, I will finish it :-) Have a nice day!!

What a very nice present, a gift from the hot glass show! I have one from our first cruise and I love it.

Thank you! Yes, that was very generous of my parents on our Med. cruise to bid on a piece and win for us. It is our most prized possession :) we hand carried it on the plane from Europe to the US! That is so neat that you have a piece too, if you are able to could you post a picture? I would love to see it! We were really hoping to be able to win one at the auction but we were outbid.

So glad you are finally writing this review. I loved, loved, loved your Med review and engagement. It even brought tears to my eyes a couple of times.

Looking forward to the rest of your review and pictures.

Norma

Thank you so much, Norma! You are so sweet, I appreciate the kind words :)

We too love the hot glass shows. My Dad has been lucky enough to win a piece on both of our Solstice cruises. I just wish he would share his luck with me.

Wow that is awesome!! I need to cruise with your dad haha! Be sure to follow this report until the end... you will see why, I think you might like it!

In post 83 you mention cabin fever, tihis was the cruise in which I decided how much I value suite space.

HAHA, yes!!! I have never spent more time in a cabin before. I bet it was so nice to be in a suite. I don't think I can ever book a suite because then I will be hooked ;)

Sorry you did not enjoy Grand Cayman. We went for a week in March, and stayed in a condo with our son and daughter-in-law. The highlight of our week was swimming with the stingrays. Amazing experience even though the sea was a little rough at the time. Great and detailed review, thanks for taking the time to do this!

Yes, we were sad too. On the bright side, it just means we have to go back and try GC again! Thank you for the comments!

Grand Cayman is stunning - you need to get yourself out of the cruise terminal area and into the real GC

Locals wont hang around there

Caymana Bay - gorgeous area with beautiful shops and trendy bars/restaurants - where the wealthy locals hang out

 

The yacht club - minutes away in a taxi

 

Seven mile beach - the Ritz carlton or the Westin Brunch

You missed out on so much

For sure GC is the wealthiest island in the caribbean -

Panama = grotty

Costa Rica - same

sorry but you favored those ports over GC?

You didn't do your homework

I know GC very well - I wouldnt hang out along the front - grab a taxi and within minutes - be outta there..

Grand ole house? Abacus? Michaels at Caymana Bay - and all those stunning shops - you missed out girl!

And you didnt go swimming with the rays?

ooooh what a shame

I'd swap anywhere in the Med for GC any day of the week

Next time you are on a cruise - and go into GC - go into Gc's ,local info and get away from the Breezes - port front - area -

Billionaires dont live there for no reason - they just dont hang around Pirates Bar or Margaritaville.

Thank you for the comments and tips, you provided us with some great ideas for next time! Hopefully next time we will have better weather too. Thank you very much!! Woohoo, now I want to go back!

I also signed up for a yoga class today. I enjoy yoga at home and thought it might be nice to try it on board since we have the time and it is raining. Doesn’t that sound relaxing? Yoga, on a cruise, sun setting, as it rains out and you can watch it from the inside. Yes, sounds pretty nice to me!

The Yoga instructor was named Marvin and it was $14. I was the only one who showed up so I got a private session, SWEET!

Just a picture I took on the way back, the ship is beautiful!

Afterwards I met up with Tyler in the stateroom. We tried to watch a movie but the TV was acting up.

Back to my “Cabin Fever,” I started paying attention to the artwork on the ship. I like art, I like museums. But I think I am going crazy, this piece of art was simply called “Black Square” (if I remember correctly).

Tonight the Captain came over the PA system with an unusual announcement for the crew, perhaps someone knows what it means? He said “Starcode, starcode, starcode deck 4, port side, entrance to Equinox Theater.” Hmm not sure what that was all about.

As you probably have gathered by now I have a lot of free time to write in my journal on sea days so this is probably pretty boring to you, sorry. A lot of the same… rain, Hot Glass Show, eating, gym, repeat.

I didn’t realize I pretty much type the same thing everyday until now, so, SORRY!!!

But I do have some surprising news. Are you ready? I still can’t believe it. Tonight was the first night at dinner we didn’t order dessert!!

But… we made up for it because I got a chocolate martini (finally!!). We met up with some of the entertainment staff in the Molecular Bar. Everyone ordered fun martinis. Some had the smoking/dry ice one, someone had a spicy one, and I had the sweet one (naturally). It was called the indulgence martini.

Our new friends mentioned they heard almost all of the tours for tomorrow (Belize) were being canceled due to the heavy rains. We shall see what happens. This was the one port where TYLER picked the tour! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? TYLER actually planned a tour!!!

So I will feel really bad if our tour gets cancelled. Belize was the port Tyler was looking forward to the most. Little side story- Tyler always wanted to go fishing in Belize. Anyone have experience with a fishing charter? We talked it over and he decided not to book one because it was pretty expensive and he likes to start fishing at the crack of dawn, which you cannot do on a cruise. He ended up picking an off roading Land Rover tour.

Some of the Gingerbread Set-up in the foyer

After hanging out with our new cruise friends we finally got to catch the Sin City Comedy show. I have mixed feelings about it; I think overall I would say we enjoyed the comedy show. Put it this way, on another cruise we would go to it… just not with my parents LOL.

Things were definitely starting to turn around for us. The cruise had a slow start but we really had a good day! Even though today was rainy and dreary we still made the most of it and really enjoyed ourselves. Things are running smoothly and I feel like I am back in “Happy Cruise Mode.” Now we are sad because we are past the half way point. But I am very happy we had a happy day!! Lots of happiness, happiness for all! Ok, now I sound like Buddy the Elf from the movie Elf.

I don’t know if was the poncho or the indulgence martini, but today was a good day!

We have really enjoyed running into our Roll Call members and other people from the CC boards all over the ship! I was surprised at how many people I met who just lurk and do not post…. I see you!

Alright, that is it for this post!

Next up, Belize! WOOHOO! Please don’t let the tour be canceled, please!

Today was the Hot Glass Show auction! WOOHOO! We were instructed at our last hot glass show to wear our ponchos! If you read my Solstice report my parents so graciously purchased us a piece at the auction for an engagement gift. It was so special to us, brought tears to our eyes! We talked this morning about what we would be willing to bid. We really wanted to bring another piece of glass home with us to remember the honeymoon.

We were quickly out-bid, no surprise, we had a low limit! We all wore our ponchos hoping it would bring good vibes. I thought my poncho would bring some luck and maybe not a lot of people would show up.

This time the auction was help in the atrium/Grand Foyer due to the weather.

No luck, the poncho didn’t work, no glass. Oh well, it wasn’t met to be! I think all of the pieces sold for over $700, with the breast cancer one going for $1,600! It was still fun to wear the poncho with everyone else.

Next on our list for this sea days was Roz’s 3rd and last Beyond the Podium talk.

I got a frozen Iglu coffee drink from Café al Bacio to bring. Man, these are good!!! Her (Roz) talk was great! We really enjoyed hearing all 3 of her talks. Of course I also had to pick up some more chocolate squares while I was at the coffee stand. Her talk was followed by more nap time in the cabin.

Just a funny tidbit, we have a new term we use to describe the weather on shore: HAB. It is really not an appropriate abbreviation at all, LOL, Tyler came up with it. Lets jut say, yes, Central America is VERY hot and VERY humid. I can’t imagine what it would be like in July! Costa Rica, for example, was HAB. I’ll give you a hint it starts with “hot” and is not something a lady should ever say, LOL. So we shortened it to HAB.

We attempted trivia today but it was too hard. We play trivia here at home a lot but it was really difficult today! We enjoy the daily crossword puzzles and Sudoku puzzles offered by customer service. We never noticed the daily puzzles before. We grabbed a couple extras to bring back home with us when we are missing cruising!

Like usual, we somehow ended up at another Hot Glass Show, shocker huh? LOL! (I’LL SPARE YOU THE PICTURES LOL). Now that we are entering the “friend zone” with the gaffers and gaffer girlfriend this becomes a social event for us, hehe. We also started noticing some of the crew in “plain clothes” (such as the evening performers) attending the Hot Glass Shows. We have had a lot of free time on this cruise, obviously if we are noticing these type of things!

Today the secret poncho club emerged and the Hot Glass Show, people must think we are crazy. Hey, you only live once! #YOLO

12/16/2013, Sea Day #3

We stayed in bed for a while this morning and caught the end of breakfast. We have another beyond the podium speaker today. I don’t ever remember really hearing about these sessions on our Med. cruise but there have been quite a few on this cruise! We really liked Roz’s sessions so we checked out the one today.

Today’s beyond the podium session is from a speaker talking about non-fiction writing. I thought sure, why not, lets check it out. Ehh, it was not the best. I guess not all beyond the podium sessions are equally great!

We went to the famous sea day brunch held in the MDR. The brunch today did not seem as people-crazy compared to the one on the Solstice. This time they had us enter from the main floor and we were seated right away.

I went straight to the back to hit the dessert section, haha! It is true, most of the items you can get in the buffet but the presentation is still very nice to look at!

After brunch we went for a stroll on the decks. Most of the upper decks were closed due to the high winds.

We found this open spot to read, after a few minutes the rain started again.

I tend to jump around in thought all the time. Tyler says my brain is like a pinball machine, just bouncing all over the place and he can’t keep up. I wanted to tell you that little story before I shared this bit from my journal:

I think all the time in the cabin is starting to give me cabin fever (HA!) but after staring at the picture on the wall I decided it looks like strands of hair under a microscope:

Hi Ashley and Tyler.

We (Bert and Sylvia) were on the My friend Mario tour with you. We enjoyed it in spite of the rain. The thing I remember the most though, is the fabulous succulent, juicy pineapple we had as a snack. I have never ever eaten such delicious fruit. I find it hard to eat pineapple now, knowing how it can taste.

We are going on the Equinox again in December for the ten day voyage.

Hi!! I am glad you enjoyed the tour :) Yes, I agree, that pineapple was very good. Have a great cruise, it is just around corner! I hope you have dry weather this time.

I also has lastra as our wAiter. He was great!

 

 

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Wow, I can't believe that! There are so many waiters compared to the number of people on CC so that is pretty awesome you had the same waiter. We loved Lastra! Since our section was empty we talked to him quite a bit. All of the wait staff in the MDR were fantastic. Thanks for letting me know!

It's like a roll call reunion! hi LoveMyLab and Mrs. papers! Let's be honest that was the a very wet cruise. We snorkeled in Belize and it was cold gray and sprinkled. So Cartegena was the best weather, unless crazy hot is not your cup of tea! lol

 

funny Happy Cruiser...I thought I researched the weather and learned Dec is the dry season. So, now I know when to try that route again. Thank you.

 

We had an SV for this cruise and I will never forget the sound of the rain pounding the slider and the sound of the blow dryer drying out shoes and clothes.

We did a ships tour in Panama, and we bailed water from our small sight seeing boat and laughed like crazy as the tarp ripped and we all got drenched. We took a vote and went back early.

Roll call party! HEY! haha.

Yes, this was a wet cruise! Haha I should have added in my journal "sounds from this cruise." LOL- like you said: blow dryer, rain, creaking. And oh my goodness, you had to bail out your boat! Haha, at least you got a good story out of it. We voted too in CR and went back early.

Since it's been quite a while since I did the research for my Panama Canal cruise, I thought I'd look it up again. Here's the result:

 

Panama's tourist season is during the dry season from mid-December to mid-April. This is true for the Pacific slope, but the Caribbean side can get rain throughout the year. The weather can be hot and steamy in the lowlands during the rainy season, when the humidity makes the heat oppressive.

Weather in Panama - Lonely Planet Travel Information

www.lonelyplanet.com/panama/weatherLonely Planet

 

Thank you for the information, oh yes, it was humid! Even for a Floridian it felt extra humid and steamy.

Hey Ashley! So excited that you have finally gotten to your honeymoon trip report We all love your writing style and I was excited to see one of my June 2014 Silhouette roll call friends, BarwickCruiser, following as well!

 

Just got home yesterday from our Celebrity Xpedition/Peru trip. Phenomenal. One to add to yours and Tyler's list but not until you are older...

 

Carol

Hi Carol, so happy to see you here! Yes, about time I started it! I am dying to hear about your trip!!! Some friends we met on board (the ones who have been on 20-30 X cruises) spoke very highly of that cruise and Peru. If you have the time, I hope you do a trip report. There are not that many floating around here. We will add it to the bucket list!

We have our Eastern Med. cruise planned but sometimes we talk and want to change it to try something new. Tyler is on a Maldives or Bali kick right now, I am on a Paris/Italy for NYE kick, then we discuss Galapagos LOL. Then we will jump to a lazy week in the Almafi coast land trip. We are all over the place! So many places to see! But with his potential new job it might be hard for us to get away for 3 weeks. That is why we are leaning towards a week-ish in Bali, Maldives, somewhere out there.

Obviously, Ashley is still on her honeymoon.

 

We hope you are OK, and come back soon to finish your review.

 

Thank you for sharing your wedding information with me. The venue and wedding photos are absolutely beautiful! Everyone looks so nice and happy. Lucky couple to be able to have such a magnificent wedding!

HAHAHA I like your comment ;) I wish we could go back on our honeymoon right now! Everything is good. The problem is I work virtually and I am a grad student so Monday-Friday I sit in front of a computer screen for 10+ hours between the 2 so my eyes are "over" the computer screen. I post mostly on weekends, sorry for the delay!!

And thank you for the kind words!! Yes, I am a very lucky bride! The Don CeSar is an amazing hotel if you ever are in the Tampa Bay area.

I think we also had one of Eduardo's tours. Betsey arranged it. It was the most disorganized company I've ever seen. he didn't have us listed and had to find a last minute driver. We had a car that seemed like it would fall apart. They tried to scam us for more money. We all wrote nasty things and I think he sent Betsy a nasty email back about what others were writing about him.

Do NOT use his tour, if you're reading this thread and heading to Costa Rica

Wow, I am so sorry you also had a bad experience but this makes me feel a little better. I wrote a pretty nasty review which is very out of character for me but I was so upset over being priced for a private tour of 6 and then being placed on a bus for 15. We even had the e-mails and proof of price quotes. And now that you mention it, they were very disorganized. We also had a hard time locating them in port. Whereas with Mario they provided very detailed directions on how to find them in port and the "secret" logo LOL.

We had lunch at that restaurant in CR. It's owned by Eduardo's family. It actually wasn't too bad and the sun came out when we got there

 

Linda

Glad to hear! I think we were so "over it" by then we were tired of just standing around. No one was there to serve us or anything?

Hi everyone! Thank you all so far for reading my report :)

It is very difficult for me to get on during the week so I am trying to post as much as I can on the weekends. I just posted Costa Rica and hope to get a few more up before the weekend is over.

Thank you for your patience :D:D:D

For some reason the quote feature is not working when I reply to this

"Maybe someone can help me with this picture; it was some type of old U.S. Military base we drove through? I remember the stories of my grandfather being in the “jungle” and him talking about the size of bats they encountered. I wonder if he once resided in a place like this? I wish I knew more about this picture!

CruisinGator, This might be a building on what had been a US Naval Base which we maintained until the 'turnover' of the canal. I understand that it is now home to squatters. Such a shame as it looked like it had been a beautiful piece of real estate.

And by all means, do try to take a full transit of the canal. My sister and I did that in 2002 with no flying. Took Amtrak from Orlando to San Francisco, then down to San Diego to board Legend of the Seas. Unfortunately, the Orlando run is no more; seems that some of the railroad bridges were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina and never replaced. But..... you can always fly to NOLA and pick up the train. That's what we did two years ago for a 'circle the country Amtrak trip we took. Such fun! "

Thank you for the info! It was neat property, too bad it is falling apart now. And thank you for the advice on a full transit! We hope to complete one some day.

Really enjoying reliving our cruise with you. We had done the same tour with Mario the last time we were in Colon; so we just stayed on board and relaxed.

Hi! So happy to see so many cruises on here. Mario was great, we were very happy with our tour. We agree, if we did this itinerary again some ports we would stay on board. Thanks for stopping by an commenting.

Thanks for the review. I'm reliving the cruise with you. I can't recall that it rained when we got to Cayman. If you go to Cartegena again, consider a tour via Lee Miles, we had a great tour, our first time there. The Panama tour, I think was the best on the trip. Really enjoyed it. Boy, did the rain come down. Our first time in Panama, we also had torrential rain, even more so that when we were at the locks with you. We don't let it get us down

 

Linda

Hi Linda, so many of our roll call members on here, awesome!! Yeah the Cayman rain did go away later in the day- when we were by the pool back on board there was sun. I don't know why, but in Cartagena we were nervous to do a private tour. Now I know to go private all the way in Cartagena. Oh man, rain and rain lol. I guess we know next time to be better prepared for dealing with rain haha!

Thanks for the cheese and the meat pictures. .an easy way to see if menu changed. i had the 5 little shot glass dessert- way to much.

 

If you go back to Columbia use Mr. Emeral- he sets up private tours for locla guides. .he own a jewelry store.. but we had too much time at the mall where you paid him and not enough at the little shops -where you went. .but we went to fort, La popa, old shoes, walking tour of the town plus a museum and a drink break at Hard Rock.. i collect bears. but it was the only A/C we hd all day outside van. great day

You are very welcome! I wish I had more non-dessert pictures. We loved the cheese course. I am on the Paleo diet and the no-cheese rule is killing me! So we are going to have cheese on Thanksgiving haha.

And thank you for the tour tips! I guess we need to go back to Columbia. Thank you for the advice!

It poured in Cayman. I was on a tour that sat in a bus for a half an hour wondering if it would clear enough to take a boat out. It did and we had a rather cool day on the water.

 

This was the cruise where we learned to blow dry our shoes each evening. The humidity was so high, no hand washed or drenched items would dry in our cabin!

 

Nice to see our CC group here!

You're not kidding! We too had all different techniques to dry out haha. Alternating between umbrellas, ponchos, wet/dry shoes, backpacks to dry out it was an adventure! I agree, so nice to see our roll call here!

December is prime time rainy season in the western Caribbean, especially in Panama. One of the reasons they had such a hard time building the canal. If you do a full transit cruise, try to go the end of January or in February. It's an awesome cruise!

 

If you want to cruise in December, eastern Caribbean is a better bet for good weather.

 

Thank you for the great advice! I would love to do a full transit one day. I don't know if we will do an eastern Caribbean cruise, unless it was a great deal just to get away. From what I gather, it is mainly beaches and water activities? Growing up in Florida the beach, dolphins, jetskis, etc. really are not our thing... been there done that sorta deal. But I may be wrong! I know my aunt and uncle go on Eastern Carib. cruises all the time and LOVE it. I guess we will just need to go on one and find out, hehe.

Hula moon, is this Sharrie? (forgot how you spell it)

Costa Rica was the REAL rain

Yes it was! HAHA, I just posted Costa Rica and the RAIN that came with it. Our tour in Belize also involved a lot of rain.

I was on this same cruise and recall rain in Grand Cayman, Panama and Costa Rica. The rain in Costa Rica was mild in comparison to the other two (at least for the areas that I visited).

I guess that is the funny thing about Central America, you can be 10 miles apart and have different weather. We also had pouring rain in Belize. I think of all our tours we had the most and hardest rains in Costa Rica. Some roads were so slick and flooded I was getting a little worried we were going to get stuck or slide.

Loving this review! Had been hoping to go on this itinerary someday but as my Mother (travel companion along with my Father) never gets more than 2 weeks of vacation a year, I guess it will be a while. Anyway thanks so much for doing this. Loved your engagement review and have been waiting for this one. I must say your wedding photos are absolutely stunning! Happy (early) Anniversary

Thank you so much for commenting and the sweet words! I know, the time off is hard. My husband is about to start a new job (hopefully, fingers crossed) and it might be a while before we can go on another 2+ week trip with the line of work he will be in. Our anniversary is almost here! I was just researching how to defrost our wedding cake that has been sitting in the freezer all year, oh boy!

We were able to do some shopping at port. We started collecting patches from each country we visit to put on a backpack. That made a fun game for us at each port. (Originally we were going to collect Christmas ornaments but patches were easier to pack).

We got back on board, had lunch, then we both took EPIC naps. Nothing like a nap on a cruise ship as it pours outside. Of course I had to bundle up under my poncho to nap, I think that was why the nap was so epic, haha! I wrote in my journal with the poncho still on- the poncho was turning out to be the best souvenir ever… you just wait until we get towards the end of this report!!! I think it has magical powers, hint hint!

I will say, this has been a relaxing cruise! Unlike the Mediterranean where you are GO, GO, GO the entire time, we have had a lot of time to relax, nap, and read. There is a good side to the rain, lots of lounging around. And what better way to nap? Rain, rocking ship, comfy bed, no TV... NAP TIME!

Tonight we plan to go to the Hot Glass Show before dinner if weather permits. Captain Panos in his evening announcements said the seas would be moderate tonight.

With Lastra, our wonderful server:

One other really strange thing... our chairs in the MDR kept changing??? LOL Anyone else had this happen? One night I had the comfy chair that sort of wraps around you then the next night I had the chair in this picture- more like a chair you would find in the buffet?

Odd

After dinner we did our normal evening stroll around deck.

The Hot Glass Show was not canceled, yay! It is really awesome to catch the show at night.

The waves were picking up, I really wanted to try a chocolate martini tonight, will have to wait for another day. The ship did make for the first time a lot of creaking noises as we pitched and rolled. Nothing too bad, I just have never noticed it before.

I want to add:

***Your Lucky Tour does have really good reviews. I think we just got unlucky (HA, no pun intended); there were some other bad reviews right around the time of our tour. Maybe they had a rough patch with some guides and have since improved? Just my 2 cents, I would NEVER book with them again. But read the other reviews, people have had a great experience with the, just not us.

We would love to visit Costa Rica again one day. We heard such great things about Costa Rica, we want to give it another shot.

Up Next, a sea day followed by Belize!

Since we could not do most of the items on our tour the driver brought us to an animal rescue facility. When we arrived at the gate no one would answer and it was locked. After what felt like an hour (probably was 30-45 minutes) of honking and calling someone finally let us in. The entire time we felts felt like they were “Stalling” because they didn’t really know what to do with the pouring rain and us. You would think they would have a back up plan? It was not handled in a professional way.

The rescue facility had a handful of mostly American’s living there taking care of the monkeys and sloths.

After that we took a “scenic” drive to a viewpoint. By then all of us were pretty much over this wet day and tour, honestly we just wanted to get back on ship and change into dry clothes. We were all soaked.

Most of the drive looked like this:

I bet the beach is very nice when it is sunny. We would like to visit CR again, maybe as a land trip? We also heard the Pacific side is better?

A random bar that didn’t seem to be serving drinks, but a break from the rain

Back to this report:

Our first stop was a fruit stand. If you wanted to try any fruit you were expected to tip. We did not try any, the colors were pretty. I was still in my “trying to be positive” state of mind so I took pictures of the vibrant fruit…

Some sort of apple:

Next we went to the Del Monte banana plantation. The plantation was closed. Those who wanted to venture out the rain could take a walk through the farm.

There is some sort of story about how the banana tree grows in “3’s” the Grandma, Mom, and Child. I wish I knew more about the story. I like background knowledge on whatever I am looking at, even bananas HAHA!

12/15/2013, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Just some FYI: Last night the captain had us change our clocks back an hour to match the local time. A lot of people around the CC boards say it depends on the captain if you follow port time or not.

When we woke up we were already docked and had breakfast in the buffet. We have another private tour today, this time arranged by another member on our roll call. The tour is through Your Lucky Tours and we all chose the 6-in-1 Highlights tour. Your Lucky Tours had very good reviews. We have heard goods things about Costa Rica!

Sadly, mother nature was not on our side today. I’ll just start by saying we only were able to do 2 of the 6 items listed in our 6-in-1 highlights tour. It pretty much was a down pour the entire day without any relief. Those who had a zip-lining excursion were all canceled due to trees being down and the flooding.

Warning: some negative comments below! I am usually super positive and happy but today was just not our day.

Our tour did not get off to a great start. I am going to copy/paste some of what I said in my trip advisor review:

“Very disappointed! We were signed up for the 6-in-1 tour for a private group of 6. Instead we were on a bus with 15 or so other people? I thought this was a private tour? It even seemed the others were on a totally different tour as Eduardo stepped on a mentioned zip lining was canceled but we NEVER signed up for zip lining (the other people on the bus did, who were not part of our private tour)? Felt at times our guide was stalling. It poured the entire time and I don't think she knew what to do with us. The guide was young, 20 I think, and was reading notes of a piece of paper and often had to ask the driver for answers from our question. However, the diver was very knowledgeable. We asked to go back early as we were just sitting around at an "over look" in the pouring rain killing time. We were able to go back and only paid 50%. That was nice of them.

I know the rain cannot be controlled. What was most disappointing was we were not on a private tour like we signed up for and the lack of a knowledgeable guide. Our e-mails even said 6 people pay X price, 8 people pay X price. So we were paying the for 6 person price but were on a bus with 15? Scam perhaps?

That was mainly what I put on Trip Adivsor.

HI!

Thank you for this awesome report! I have no idea how I stumbled upon this as I usually sail Celebrity and have no children but I loved every word of this report!

Your excitement you felt in NYC was the same way when we went to Europe! I am a lot like you, I just wanted to get out on the streets and explore Barcelona and Paris :)

My husband and I have no children yet but I will have to remember some of your parenting techniques ;) I liked the 3 toy rule in FAO Schwartz!

Thank you again, it was a joy to read!

Thanks for sharing! I could feel your excitement :) we also might be booking the equinox on May 2016! (We might have to cancel our May 2015 and move it to 2016). Your story reminds me of the time I was in Miami for business and I wanted to go drive by the port to see all the ships :)

Have a great day!

Someone earlier asked for food pictures, non dessert lol. I didn't really take too many, but I do have the following 2 from Murano:

not the best quality, sorry!

reading your great revew

 

congrats on your wedding - you looked beautiful

 

would love to hear from others also how you felt cruising in December

 

we are cruising the equinox next December

 

will keep reading -

 

thanks carol

Thank you, Carol!

Yes, I would also like to know what the typical December cruise is like, especially in that part of the Caribbean. To me, December seems like a great time to cruise! I hope the weather we experienced is not typical. I don't want to spoil anything, but there is more reports of rain coming up LOL!

I had the goat cheese soufflé, and cheesy risotto. We both had the chateaubriand which was prepared table side. We thought the food and service was great. We really enjoyed the cheese course, that was a nice touch.

Table side:

Cheese course:

Dessert:

We would probably only eat at a specialty restaurant again if we had a discount or some OBC to use up. We enjoyed it but we also don’t have a lot of extra money laying around.

After dinner we changed into more comfortable clothes (AKA my poncho) to catch the Hot Glass show. But it was canceled again due to the weather, bummer.

Believe it or not, Tyler was still hungry so we went to the buffet. You would think after a multi course meal at Murano’s he would not be hungry, but he was! Then we went to bed with full bellies, night!

We enjoyed the ship at night!

Up next, Costa Rica! We have heard great things about CR and can't wait to experience it.

We arrived back at the pier with some time to shop. The Hot Glass crew sent us “groupies” AKA the die-hard fans on a mission to find ponchos. I found a pink one, check! And it was a good price. I work from home and I am always cold at my desk, maybe I could wear this at “work” to stay warm after the cruise.

We left port late today. 300 or so people on a Celebrity excursion could not get back in time. Maybe I should bring this up now, I know we are in Central America, it rains here! But they are experiencing an unusually large amount of rain, the rain is for the most part non-stop. Because of this, many roads are flooded and trees are collapsing from being soaked for days with rain.

Tonight we made reservations in Murano to celebrate our honeymoon. This will be our first time eating at a specialty restaurant; we were very excited! I am getting hungry just thinking about!

The experience and service was amazing, just like what people report on here. We were served a welcoming dish of some kind of tuna and caviar. Unlike the escargot, I am actually starting to really like caviar. Murano was pretty empty so we had the waiter just for us.

We then made our way back to the Gatun Locks to watch the gates open and the passage of a cargo ship. This was really neat to watch! Some people MAY find this boring, depends on your likes and interests, but I thought it was cool and worth visiting. How many people can say they visited the Panama Canal? I would love one day to cruise an itinerary that does a complete passage.

Which reminds me… speaking of future cruises… we met this couple on our cruise who have been on what seems like EVERY Celebrity cruise known to man, and they were giving us so many ideas for future cruises! So many cruises to take, ahhh! If you are reading, HI!

***For those of you following using this as a guide for your cruise…

We were VERY happy with My Friend Mario for a private tour! Despite the rain, they tired to make the best of the excursion. Yes, I would recommend My Friend Mario. Our guide was personable and met our needs. (Disclaimer: If you have been on a “Rome In Limo” style tour, this will not be as great as that, but yes, we were VERY happy with this tour and WOULD recommend it! Rome in Limo would be an 11 out of 10 whereas My Friend Mario would be a 9 out of 10)

Getting closer to port:

The city bus system, they call these Red Devils

I always liked history in school and recreating historic events like the Oregon Trail in 5th grade. Here, I was picturing what life would have been like. Our guide did a great job being animated to construct a picture of life.

Mario #3:

Something I just thought of as I was typing this, the guide really makes a tour. With our Cartagena tour I bet I would have enjoyed it A LOT more if we had a private tour.

Rain clouds were rolling in so we headed back to the bus. We were supposed to go on a jungle walk but due to the rain as a group we decided to skip it.

We drove past the doors/gates for the new canal: