Mitsugirly's extensive back to belly sun & sky review

[mitsugirly]

Sakari is gullible at her age and doesn't have the concept of when these hawkers approach you trying to get you to buy things that you are supposed to hand them money for it. She has had things put in her hands, around her neck and so on and then them putting their hand out for money from me and instead getting their item put back in their hand. She thinks everyone out there is so nice and just ready to hand her anything she wants. She falls for it every time and any time we are in port you will hear me saying "Sakari keep walking, Sakari don't stop, Sakari get over here, No Sakari" because she'll get suckered into something that I have to get her out of.

 

Here is a table full of polished conch shells for sale. Of course a hawker runs over and gives Sakari a bright shiney one in exchange for her older one that she just got out of the ocean. Hmmm, she's excited that she is going to get one of the pretty ones. She just don't understand and I'm left handing the pretty one back and giving her the old one back and having to explain to her why hers is better. Sigh* It sometimes gets aggravating for me. I can tell you that I'm the type of person that wants to be left alone when shopping...even back home. If you leave me alone while I'm shopping, I'm more likely to buy things from you. If you are hasseling me and pushing stuff in my face, I won't buy a darn thing off of you. I wish they could understand this and have a lesson on not being so pushy to the Americans. They would probably sell a lot more IMO.

 

 

 

 

 

I just love it when places are brightly painted different colors.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't believe there are any cars on this Caye. We seen a lot of bikes and go carts and I believe that's pretty much how they all get around. Which is neat.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The local bank

 

 

 

We went down the main road and the headed down a side street. Man it was hot! We tried to avoid walking in the direct sunlight and headed for every shady spot in the street we could find.

 

 

 

 

 

At one point, on the side street, we were able to look both directions and see the water. This made us realize just how small this small place was.

 

More colorful houses

 

 

 

I managed to buy another tee shirt. (I already had one, but decided it was time for a new one). I managed to get one with their saying on it:

 

 

The hubby decided to buy some sunscreen. He bought the highest spf he could find...I swear it must have been like 110spf or something like that.

 

We managed to get back to our meeting place around 2pm and had some time to spare.

 

 

We were told that the dogs around there are all "local neighborhood dogs" ...meaning they had no home and just roamed the neighborhoods. (Sakari hiding behind daddy because she just swam with sharks and stingrays and is scared of a dog).

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Most people had headed back to the boat and we just hung out with the tour people.

 

They gave us a brochure with their information on it. The name of their company was H2O. I'm not sure if they give private tours or just use the ships as their main source of income on cruise days. I know the lady said she did this job on cruise days and was a bartender on the other days.

 

 

 

 

Then after that, they pulled out tee shirts to try to solicit everyone with. They had their names on the shirts...which was weird and I kept thinking why would we want a tee shirt with your company name on it? I'm pretty sure most people would want a tee shirt with the shark-rays tour saying they done that. I didn't really see anyone buy any of them, and if they did, I would like to know what reason you had for buying it???

 

We finally headed down to the boat and sat there for a little while. Then all of a sudden some people from the restaurant came down the dock and called off several names...one of which was ours. They said we didn't pay our bill. GASP! How embarrassing. We purchased 2 excursions with the cruise line and for some reason I thought the meal was included on this. I guess I was wrong and it was the meal for our Cozumel excursion that was included in the price. Geesh. It also confused me because this day was so much like the day we went to Stingray City in Grand Cayman....and the meal was included. You were on the boat, you ordered your food to be ready for you when you returned from swimming with the rays and you ate when you arrived at Rum Point. Oh well, leave us to be the family that is scorned upon after that. Honest mistake and I gave a good tip after that for my mistake...it actually wiped my cash stash out, but a few dollars. Oops.

 

We finally headed out from the dock around 2:30pm, but first they did a roll call to make sure they weren't leaving anyone behind.

 

The ride back to the port was a lot faster of course. We didn't go through the channel where you see the dolphins and manatees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just in case you need to know where that Diamonds International is...

 

[mitsugirly]

I was able to scrape up enough change to purchase some refrigerator magnets (since Sakari started collecting them a few cruises back).

 

 

Then we headed back to the tender line to head back to the ship.

 

 

 

A few drinks to quench your thirst and a few cold, wet, sometimes frozen, wash clothes to cool you down.

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got on the tender boat, they told us it would be a short 15 minute ride back. Did the Sun decide to move closer to the port? I think not. They must have been on Belize time...so don't you Belize them when they tell you 15 minutes.

 

 

Someone got some sun today...

 

[mitsugirly]

We pulled out and the seagulls came flying. I guess maybe when the boats move it stirs the water up and they are able to get the fish?

 

 

 

The water wasn't the only thing stirred up, so were the people on the back of this boat. The fumes and the smoke was unbearable. There was a mother with a young son sitting at the back that finally had to get up and move. One of the workers told them to go upstairs.

 

 

A face of happiness that had forgotten about any of the upsetting things that happened today. (Well, not really, she just reminded me the other day how she didn't get to touch the sharks). LOL

 

 

Now I have been on tenders before where the people on the boat usually pull up along the side of the ship a ways out, allowing you to take pictures of the ship in the ocean. These guys didn't stop, didn't go sideways or anything for you to get that perfect shot. Darn!

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We made it back to the ship around 4pm (all aboard was 4:30 with a ship depature of 5pm).

 

We headed back to the room to shower and get ready to eat again.

 

Sakari checked out her collection of shells

 

 

This is Sakari's conch shell from the day. I forgot to tell the story about this. When we got on the boat leaving Caye Caulker the tour lady approached us and told us that the ship would not allow us to carry the conch shell back to the ship. I sat here for a minute and thought about this knowing that I had done it before. She went in to this VERY long detailed explanation that they don't allow conch shells to be brought back because, by law, you have to purchase them from a vendor and the vendor is supposed to write on the shell the date it was caught from the ocean and their name on it proving that you did not take it from the ocean yourself, which is against the law. She kept on and on about it and...of course, Sakari thought she was going to take her shell from her and started tearing up. Here we go again...

 

So in the end, she said she had brought some markers just for this incident and could write something on it, like Sakari's name and the date and she should be ok. She wrote it on there and once we arrived back to the ship, they didn't even look at it or take it out of our bag. I'm still not sure about this, but did see a huge overflowing box of conch shells under the security scanner desk as we walked in. I only noticed them taking the shells when people were actually walking onto the ship with them in their hands. So, I'm not sure of what this story is all about and if they would have taken Sakari's shell if she had been carrying it. If anyone knows, please inform me for future reference.

 

This is Sakari's shell that she decorated on her dresser when we returned home:

 

 

 

I checked out my coins from Belize:

 

Then we were left with another VIP "treat"

 

 

More "junk mail"

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed to the buffet to get something to eat. There wasn't much there and not much interested me, but it was all that was open. They didn't open up the Sports Bar or the Outdoor Cafe until later and I wanted something to snack on now and to feed the munchkin so we could take her to the kids club once we pulled out of port.

 

We left on time and once again, there wasn't anyone missing. I'm telling ya, it was an entirely different vibe this time around cruising.

 

We dropped Sakari off at the kids club and headed to the casino to try our luck again.

 

Tonight was Pirate night, so we knew that they always did a parade around the ship with the kids and we didn't want to miss it. They told us their "maybe" route and about what time and we made sure to watch our clocks.

 

 

I was scolded by one of the staff for taking a picture of Sakari from the round windows this time. They stated it was a privacy issue and I wasn't allowed to do it. I told them she was the only one in there at the moment so who's privacy was I invading? Then she told me that it was ok since no other kids were in there. What is the difference if there are other kids in there when they are all over the ship and I can guarantee that they end up in other peoples photos when they take pictures...just like anyone can end up in others photos around the ship. More about this later...

 

 

We stopped by the Customer Service desk to pick up my ship pins. I'm not sure why I NEVER get these in my room when I cruise. I ALWAYS have to ask for them and I don't always remember. Then I'll have to come back to this forum and beg and plead with you fine people for an extra pin you may have laying around. Sigh*

 

 

We walked through Dazzles at one point tonight and they were playing a game. It was quite funny to watch. They had competing people, who's name was called from the audience. The game was something like 55 and under. You had to do various things that involved the audience member and a staff member on each team. The winning person won something from each round.

 

 

Hey at least it was killing some time and not killing our pockets before hitting the casino right?

 

Once at the casino, I sat down at the slot that kept me playing for hours the other night. It did the same tonight as well and I played on $20 forever and actually ended up ahead. There was a lady in the next circle of machines beside me that stuck in money as she was walking by it, while still standing, hit the high bid button and hit for the jackpot in the machine...$6700. She had a crowd after that and half of the casino staff was there for the next hour or so waiting for the machine to count up her money. Lucky her.

 

When it was about time for the Pirate Parade, we headed up to the buffet area, which we knew they would be passing by there, and waited with someone from our roll call (who had grandchildren in there too). Finally they came...you can't miss them, or at least their sound of singing.

 

However, they move way too fast for my camera to focus on them and I always forget to change the setting to sports mode.

 

 

 

Wait, look at all the people taking pictures of their kids as they walk by...do you see anything wrong with this? Parents taking pictures...of kids in the parade...who has other peoples kids in that parade and in that picture! Why is this ok now? It's not ok to do it one time, but ok the next? Makes no sense to me.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

A little video of the kids singing...um stinky feet? LOL

 

D-LW3TpRASo

 

Then on to the pool deck...notice all the flashes from the pictures being taken as they walk by? Yea, people once again taking pictures of their child with other children in it...which I was just told wasn't allowed. Geesh. LOL

 

fN3ey4unAyQ

 

 

We decided to head up to the Sports Bar. I was craving some wings and artichoke dip. YES! It was open this time.

 

 

 

Now I have to say that their artichoke dip is way different than what I have had on the other ships. It was good, but just different. The soup tasted like some type of cream of potato soup or something, which was odd, but yet still good.

 

 

The wings were yummy, the fries were yummy...or I was just extremely hungry from not really eating at the buffet earlier.

 

After that, we headed up to pick up Sakari. When I picked her up, one of the staff told me that Sakari was complaining and not feeling good because of her sunburn and didn't want to participate in the games they were playing. They said they didn't know where to reach me. (I figured since they were having their parade, I would just go to get something to eat at the Sports Bar really fast and who would know right?) <--of course they would. I told them that when I checked her in, I told them we were going to the casino, then coming upstairs for the parade, then would be going to eat. They then informed me that they can only put in 1 thing at a time. Well, I didn't know that and the guy that checked me in certainly didn't say anything about it when I gave him 3 places. I was told next time to call when we switch locations and they would just change it in their system. heh heh heh..done in my evil laugh. Yep, that's what I would be doing from now on. They would be sorry that I will be doing this from now on because they will spend a majority of their time answering the phone and changing the location because I change location A LOT. I walked out like a scolded puppy again with my tail between my legs.

 

We took her to go eat and one of her favorite things on this cruise was the ice cream. She had to have her ice cream fix every day. Who was I to say no? But for some reason she only wanted ice cream and the hubby says "well she's on vacation, so let her have ice cream instead". He always gives in to her. LOL I told her she would be hungry later...and I was right.

 

Does this face look like a face of someone who doesn't feel good or complaining of a sunburn? Really? Nope! She was perfectly fine after we picked her up.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We got back to the room and watched a little t.v.

 

Sakari started doing her drawings for the day.

 

 

 

 

Daddy did a little work on the computer...you know, the one that not as slow as everyone makes it out to be???

 

Meanwhile, I notice just how dusty my hair curler is. I would wipe this thing off every single night and it would be all dusty again by the following day. What's up with that? Are we just sleeping in a room full of allergy filled dust? Yuck

 

 

 

After awhile, like I said, Sakari decided she was hungry. We headed out the door, to the buffet area, to get her a late night snack while daddy continued to work. Girls night out I guess.

 

When we arrived at the buffet, it was closed. So we headed back to the Sports Bar and got her a hamburger and fries to go. However, it was really warm outside and she decided to eat it outside and warm up.

 

Tonight was Latino dance night at the pool deck and when we were walking back to the room on deck 10...we discovered this....(and had to stay for awhile).

[jethrojam]

I wonder if the internet was speedy due to the average age of the cruisers being of retirement age? In the summer with many younger people who, like your husband, need to connect onto the internet for work and such, probably increases the bandwidth used considerably slowing down the internet speeds and creating the common thought that the internet aboard the ship is slow. I find this to be true at work, when at night the internet is lightning fast, while in the daytime it is unbearably slow.

 

A little food for thought. Can't wait for more :)

[griz400]

Are you gonna put a review up on NCL website from Sharks, Rays & Island Getaway ????

[sinclaj]

Once again, I'm thoroughly enjoying your review. You provide such good information of your excursions, it really helps in planning what we'd like to do. Your daughter is just too adorable.

Thanks again

Judy

[SuiteTraveler]

The little black striped fish with the long nose on LFK is a needle fish. You might want to look them up on the internet.

 

Love your review! Really fun and interesting details. Your daughter is adorable!

[NolaZach]

Thanks for the help and clarification earlier. Just wanted to add you just made LFK another $250 lol.. They should pay you.

 

You know how websites have "how did you find us?" one option should be Mitsugirl review.

I hope our girls enjoy it as much as your did. (they are 6 and 8 and animal and beach fanatics)

[mitsugirly]

Yes! Back to our regular scheduling program! :)

 

Harriet

 

LOL :p

 

I love, love your reviews mitsugirly! Thank you for taking the time to write and post all these wonderful pictures enabling the rest of us to live through you vicariously!

 

btw...My husband and I are Nikon DSLR peeps, but bought the Olympus Tough TG-3 after seeing all the great pix in your Getaway review. We used it last month in St. Thomas and were really impressed with the quality of the pix, especially underwater, however we had "spots", like you, on some of our underwater pix. My BIL who lives in STT said it was the highly oxygenated Caribbean water, however DH believes that it was micro crystals from the water and that the lens just needed to be wiped every so often, even underwater.

 

Thanks for the comments and glad you like the reviews.

 

As for the camera, I never once wiped it so if that was the problem, just wondering why it would go back and forth while taking the pictures? I mean I'll keep this in mind next time and wipe it off while swimming, but I just wouldn't think that would be the issue if one minute the pictures are fine and the next they weren't, then back to being fine again? I was just shocked when I got home to find most of them like that. :( I still think it might have been the flash. I do recall seeing the flash go off once when I was in a "shaded" area and remember turning it off. But I don't really know whether or not I continued to get pictures like that after turning the flash off...since I didn't know they were turning out like that. Boo Hiss.

[mitsugirly]

Another beautiful underwater photo job, Kim! THANK YOU! steve

 

Thanks Steve. I appreciate it. :)

 

I wonder if the internet was speedy due to the average age of the cruisers being of retirement age? In the summer with many younger people who, like your husband, need to connect onto the internet for work and such, probably increases the bandwidth used considerably slowing down the internet speeds and creating the common thought that the internet aboard the ship is slow. I find this to be true at work, when at night the internet is lightning fast, while in the daytime it is unbearably slow.

 

A little food for thought. Can't wait for more :)

 

While I would usually agree with this thought (because we all know that it can be like that at home even), I do wonder and this is the reason why...it was the same on the Sky as well. ;) The internet worked just fine and I can tell you that the sky did not consist of mainly "older" people. :p

 

But either way, I'm hoping that it will be like this on all the ships that we go on because in the future, we will probably just buy the service...I mean after all, it is a write off. LOL :D

[mitsugirly]

Are you gonna put a review up on NCL website from Sharks, Rays & Island Getaway ????

 

Oh gosh, I almost forgot about that. I will have to do both of our NCL excursion reviews. (So many reviews and not enough time to complete LOL). I've been trying to keep up with tripadvisor as I go along, but have been slacking a little on it too. LOL

 

Thanks for reminding me.

 

Once again, I'm thoroughly enjoying your review. You provide such good information of your excursions, it really helps in planning what we'd like to do. Your daughter is just too adorable.

Thanks again

Judy

 

Thanks so much Judy. I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know they help you out. It's people like you I do the reviews for. :)

[mitsugirly]

The little black striped fish with the long nose on LFK is a needle fish. You might want to look them up on the internet.

 

Love your review! Really fun and interesting details. Your daughter is adorable!

 

HA! Then I guessed right (needlefish). I thought that's what it was but wasn't 100% sure since it's been awhile. Well, actually now that I think about it, they were at Blue Lagoon on our Getaway cruise 6 months prior to that. I guess I just forgot the name when I was typing but thanks for looking out for me. I appreciate it. :)

 

Thanks for the help and clarification earlier. Just wanted to add you just made LFK another $250 lol.. They should pay you.

 

You know how websites have "how did you find us?" one option should be Mitsugirl review.

I hope our girls enjoy it as much as your did. (they are 6 and 8 and animal and beach fanatics)

 

I agree. I'll have to tell Kevah that. LOL :)

[mitsugirly]

So Sakari and I head back to the room and we are at the pool deck and she spots....the furries again. She just had to stop and dance with them. She absolutely loved these animals and they were oh so nice every time she was around. Hopefully the people in these costumes like kids because if they didn't, you would never be able to tell.

 

They gave her plenty of time to interact with them, take pictures and even danced with her. She loved every minute of it.

 

[YOUTUBE]ie3W4PsoyPw[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

 

She was so excited I couldn't even get her to pose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

[YOUTUBE]C3FYu5hvnNU[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point and time, I knew nothing about the

"Furries". I had ask about them to someone that I was sitting by once and I was told their name (Furries), but they also told me that "Instead of having Sponge Bob and the Nickelodeon on this cruise, they have the Furries. So maybe I misunderstood them to mean that this ship had them on it all the time. I kept thinking..."now this is way better than Sponge Bob" and they were always around. PLUS, you never knew which one you'd see. I swear as the cruise went on, there were more and more.

 

I would later find out more about them...and I will tell more on that later. :)

 

After awhile, I was able to convince Sakari that the Furries needed their "me" time and we needed to say goodbye to them and head back to the room.

 

We got back to the room and daddy was already done working and watching his new favorite show...The Profit. :D

 

We headed to bead about midnight knowing that tomorrow would bring another early morning day in Costa Maya.

[DCT61]

Great review! Slightly off topic: Sakari's artwork is really quite sophisticated for a child of her age. She notices detail that most kids (or adults) never would. I hope its something she continues to enjoy. Its a shame it really isn't appreciated much in todays world...Im glad to see you do! Keep up the good work!!!

[moopig]

How did I miss the Furries??? I was on the cruise just prior to yours and never once saw them :( Maybe they only appear when there are enough children on the cruise? There were very few children on my cruise.

[mitsugirly]

Great review! Slightly off topic: Sakari's artwork is really quite sophisticated for a child of her age. She notices detail that most kids (or adults) never would. I hope its something she continues to enjoy. Its a shame it really isn't appreciated much in todays world...Im glad to see you do! Keep up the good work!!!

 

She has been drawing since she was around 4 (I believe that's when she took interest in it). I watch her skills improve on almost a weekly basis. I use to be the same way growing up and into my teens. I could draw anything, including portraits...as long as there was a picture in front of my face. I could not draw anything 3D (like if it was sitting in front of me), but give me a flat picture and I could draw it. Sakari is the total opposite. She draws from memory and has nothing in front of her. She'll see something that day and remember all of the details of it.

 

People always tell me I need to get her into art school. There are some local community colleges that offer art programs for elementary children, but it's expensive. Maybe some day if this is what she wants to do.

 

I can tell you that when she sits down to draw, it's not a long process. She can draw these pictures in less than 2 minutes. She can draw an extensive picture in about 5 minutes. She can draw anything you ask her to draw...just don't let it be people. LOL She was still drawing stick people up until about 6 months ago. I tried and tried to get her to give them a body forever. It just wasn't her thing. LOL

 

Here's a few others that I have posted over the last few months on my fb. They are just doodles that are done in about 1 minute. She's that fast...and if you notice, she does them in ink pen, so never any erasing involved.

 

I have a friend that has a chameleon. After Sakari holding it, she came home and was obsessed with drawing chameleons.

 

 

 

A lot of her drawings consist of birds

 

 

 

Of course recently she has discovered teeth. So a lot of drawings have teeth. She said she loves her "teeth drawings" LOL

 

 

 

She went through a period of drawing nothing but dolphins and whales...every type of whale possible (yes, when she looks at a whale, she can not only tell you that it's a whale, but what type...humpback, sperm, beluga, blue, orca...and so on). <---she watches a lot of National Geographic and of course Shark Week. LOL

 

So when I get a different type of sea animal, I get excited.

 

 

 

We were at my husbands store the other night and she sat down and starting scribbling. I had no clue what she was doing and it just looked like scribbling to me (it actually started with the feathers and then she worked her way up to the body). It took about 5 or 6 minutes and then she came to me to show me her "fancy peacock".

 

 

 

Yesterday she came home from school and gave me a picture. I ask her if she had art today and she said "No, I just did this real fast in class after I got my work done." It rules her life I'm telling you. LOL

 

[mitsugirly]

How did I miss the Furries??? I was on the cruise just prior to yours and never once saw them :( Maybe they only appear when there are enough children on the cruise? There were very few children on my cruise.

 

 

You missed them because they were not on that cruise. :D More details later on the Furries.

[Perfect Stranger]

Wow! Those are impressive drawings for a child of such tender age!

 

(I couldn't begin to draw that well)