Proud Pride Cruisers!! (Feb 8th-Feb 15th Western Review)

[Viscus]

I had to laugh about the tender in Belize. Last August we did the Altun Ha and River Wallace tour, also an all-day tour. "Last tender" was supposed to be 4:15 p.m. Well, it seemed that most the passengers had every intention of being on that last tender. We got in line around 4:00 and it snaked around the port area. I think "last tender" ended up being somewhere around 5:00.

 

Your review is great. Thanks for taking the time to put this together!

 

I don't think we ran into that, but the Carnival staff was shuffling us through the cruise terminal as quickly as they could. If you even looked at a shop, a Carnival employee would hit you with a tranq dart and force you onto the tender.

[petesweet]

And see, you seemed like such a nice person until you said this. :P

 

You got me!!!

 

And tell us you're feeling better.

 

Kathy

[Viscus]

You got me!!!

 

And tell us you're feeling better.

 

Kathy

 

I guess better is relative. While I don't feel like death like yesterday, I still have the worst cruise souveneir ever. Good news is, I'll be able to knock out a huge part of the review today!

[Jenny in TX]

Enjoying your review!

[Viscus]

Enjoying your review!

 

Thanks for the support!

[Viscus]

Let's continue on to...

 

Day 4: Isla Roatan, where we discovered 400% humidity is real!

 

First off, that day's Fun Times!

 

 

 

 

 

If you go to the Roatan section of these forums to do excursion research, there are a few scattered ideas, but there's a several thousand comment thread about Victor Bodden tours. If you go to his website, he has a couple of organize excursion tours, but he also offers a private tour where you get a guide and a vehicle for the day that only transports your group. If you get 4 people together to do it, the basic package only costs $25pp. Perfect for my cheap self! Once on the tour, the guide takes you to major landmarks, some nice hangout spots, and grocery stores and other shopping areas if you want. You can also select individual add-ons for extra $ where they take you to specific paid destinations.

 

When I decided we were going to use Bodden, I emailed them through their online reservation process. This was quick and easy, and because I booked them so early (about 3 months out), we were able to request a vehicle. Since I'm not a small guy (tall, but I also really, really like food and dislike sweat ;) ), I asked for one of their air conditioned mini-vans. This turned out to be a great decision!

 

We also decided we were going to add-on the on-island monkey sanctuary. That brought the total up to $30pp for the day, and we were excited to get something very personalized while also getting to do some really cool things!

 

The port times for this stop were a little wonky (8AM-3PM), so we had to get up bright and early so to not miss out on anything. We got up at 7AM, got ready for the day, and headed up to the Lido in time to watch docking. Was a very beautiful morning.

 

[Viscus]

 

The Splendor sliding in behind us. We beat you, nah nah nah nah nah! :P

 

 

At around 7:30, we went over to the Blue Iguana to load up on some breakfast burritos and breakfast tacos. Mmmmmmm

 

 

Picture of some of the toppings choices for the burritos.

 

 

These things get devoured quickly. Love em. Have I mentioned that yet? ;)

 

Right after we finished eating, they opened up the pier for debarking, so off we went. It was a beautiful day, if a little warm and humid for 8AM (actually 7AM there). Guess that's to be expected that far south. But man, my pasty big self is not built for that climate.

 

[Viscus]

The cruise terminal we docked in was apparently completely built and paid for by Carnival. According to our tour guide later, it was a $35million construction project and the village employs a huge amount of locals in the shops. Good on you Carnival! The only issue I have with it is the money you spend in the shops in the terminal doesn't go to the local economy for the most part, which it really could use. But hey, Carnival is a private company, they have money to make.

 

The village itself is very nice. As you can see in the pictures above, it's surrounded by lush forest and has a nice breeze during the day. It also is where you can catch a flying chair over to their private beach, with the beach being free and the chairs like $12pp for all day, but the beach is kind of overcrowded since it's the only thing within walking distance. We never went to it this day, so I can't really comment on the overall quality, but I heard from other people later that a storm had kicked up a ton of algae and seaweed and the beach was "dirty" from it.

 

Anyways, here's a couple of port terminal pictures in the shopping side:

 

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of our van in the morning, but remembered to later in the afternoon. This was our golden chariot for the day:

 

 

Really nice van considering the island is kind of impoverished. Thankfully, very cold AC, electric doors, and it felt safe and reliable. Apparently, this is the norm for Victor Bodden tour vehicles.

 

To meet our guide, though, you have to leave the cruise terminal. Since the entire property is owned and controlled by Carnival, they don't allow private companies to park on site. In order to get to the meet up spot, you have to walk through all the shops, then walk about half a mile down the road that leads out of the terminal. The road takes you up and down a pretty steep hill, but if you're mobility impaired (or lazy), you can pay $2pp to catch a quick cab ride to the meet up spot.

 

Once there, it was pretty easy to pick out the Victor Bodden rep, and he introduced us to our guide for the day. We ended up with Jorge (I think that's how you spell it), and he ended up being fantastic. I'll explain why throughout this part of the review, but just for starters, he was hilarious and just a fun guy.

 

 

Again, I forgot to take a picture at the beginning of the day, but remembered in the afternoon, so excuse how gross I look at this point. This was at the end of a long day of walking and sweating...

[dream2cruiseLMT]

Loving your review , trying not to work too hard today

[curious_st]

 

The Splendor sliding in behind us. We beat you, nah nah nah nah nah! :P

 

 

At around 7:30, we went over to the Blue Iguana to load up on some breakfast burritos and breakfast tacos. Mmmmmmm

 

 

Picture of some of the toppings choices for the burritos.

 

 

These things get devoured quickly. Love em. Have I mentioned that yet? ;)

 

Right after we finished eating, they opened up the pier for debarking, so off we went. It was a beautiful day, if a little warm and humid for 8AM (actually 7AM there). Guess that's to be expected that far south. But man, my pasty big self is not built for that climate.

 

 

 

What!?! No photos of the salsa bar!?! Love the Blue Iguana breakfast burritos and arepas! Yumm-o!

[Viscus]

Once we got loaded up, we headed out of the terminal and Jorge started showing us some of the island and the nicer homes.

 

 

Jorge also started giving us his background. When he first got old enough to do his own thing, he signed up to work on cruise ships. He spent over 20 years with Carnival on various ships, and some of the places he's been to made me jealous. At one point, he told us about going to Rome for 3 days while a ship he was working on was repaired, and he made sure to emphasize the trip was before he met his wife. If you catch my drift. Hilarious story about how he met an italian lady, who he couldn't speak with, but just kept taking her places and had a 2 day relationship with her without ever really talking to each other.

 

Moving back to the actual tour, according to Jorge, the nicest homes on the island belong to rich expat retirees and the owners of the fishing companies. I should learn to enjoy fishing, because some of these homes were GORGEOUS. While we were driving around, Jorge heard my wife mention that we should buy one of the houses since they were "cheap" for a mansion (huge house, with beachfront property, for $200k according to Jorge), so for the rest of the day, Jorge made sure to point out homes for sale. He even bought my wife a real estate magazine at one of our stops. Such a nice guy spending my money like that. ;)

 

After driving for a bit, Jorge tells us he's going to bring us to one of his friend's house. I got kind of worried since this was one of the first things we were doing, and I had no idea where we were about to end up. Well, by friend, Jorge meant a man he had met while he was working on the cruise ships who later contacted Jorge about retiring on his home island Jorge loved so much, Roatan. The man flew down, Jorge hooked him up with a good local developer and building company, and the man has lived there ever since.

 

When we pulled up to the house, I fell in love. This man was living the good life.

 

 

The view from his front porch.

 

 

The front "porch".

 

 

The pool area. The man also owned 3 large dogs, and me and my wife are dog fanatics. We have 3 ourselves and are trying to find a Great Dane rescue to add a 4th. These dogs were absolute sweethearts, but apparently, if someone tried to break into the property, they acted a little differently.

 

The owner of the house also allows Jorge's wife to come up and set up a table and sell local goods and arts and crafts she makes. I know this all sounds a little tourist trappy, but it definitely felt authentic. This is where I picked up my cigars, and my wife bought a bracelet that apparently was made by a prisoner in the island's jail as a form of rehabilitation. Very cool little stop, and it felt good buying something from someone obviously local and not giving more money to the cruise line.

 

While me and husband#2 were enjoying a beer by the pool looking out over the ocean below, Jorge gave us a choice. We could go to the Victor Bodden monkey sanctuary, which really only has monkeys and they keep them in pens that you can go inside to hold and touch them, or we could go to a locally owned "zoo" where the monkeys are allowed to roam free and they have a much larger animal collection. Option 1 was the $5 we had already planned on, and option 2 was $10. We decided to head for 2.

 

After tearfully leaving the house, we piled back into the van to head for the zoo.

[Viscus]

What!?! No photos of the salsa bar!?! Love the Blue Iguana breakfast burritos and arepas! Yumm-o!

 

Not a huge fan of their salsa selection for the breakfast burritos, but my wife always grabbed a few limes from it for her breakfast. And yes, the arepas with the made to order eggs are super good!

[Viscus]

Loving your review , trying not to work too hard today

 

Thanks! I'm right with you, although I'm actually home from work sick. Picked up a nasty bug during the cruise.

[pirate4me2]

Great review so far! We hit some of these ports on Sunshine in 10 days, so your review has me really looking forward to the cruise!

[Viscus]

After snaking through dirt roads and cutting in and out of mountain villages, we finally arrived at the "zoo". As soon as I saw it, I knew we were in for something good. They had a hammock area set up for the guides and drivers, so I knew the main reason Jorge talked us into going here. Jorge grabbed us a zoo guide for just us 4 instead of making us join one of the larger groups, and we headed down for the butterfly gardens.

 

Again, the monkeys aren't kept in pens, so if you're walking around with food like crackers or fruit, you're liable to have a monkey dive bomb you from the trees. Saw it happen twice while we were there to other people.

 

 

Toucans! I love birds, and I wish we could've held a toucan, but these were the only things you couldn't touch in the entire place.

 

Inside the butterfly gardens, our guide explained how they go through the greenhouse and find eggs every single day and move them into their grow room. They have a separate grow room that they keep locked since the monkeys have figured out, if they can get into the greenhouse, they have snacks everywhere. Sneaky devils!

 

 

 

The gardens were beautiful. They had several different butterfly species in there, and the landscaping itself was beautiful.

 

 

[Viscus]

Great review so far! We hit some of these ports on Sunshine in 10 days, so your review has me really looking forward to the cruise!

 

I'm jealous, I currently don't have a cruise scheduled, life feels so empty and meaningless right now. ;)

[Viscus]

 

 

 

 

Some more garden shots.

 

Once we walked around a bit in there, we headed over to the larger animal pens. On one of the replica statues they have on site, a huge Macaw was hanging out. Apparently, he'll say Hola every so often. After having a very one sided conversation with it, I gave up. Pretty bird though.

 

 

See, birds blink when getting their picture taken too. :P

[bev.pearce]

Our turn on 1 March

Flying form UK to Tampa on 27th, then on the C Pride

Thanks for the review x

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Viscus]

Our next stop was a hornbill species of bird that I can't remember the actual name of. Maybe another bird lover on here can correct me? These guys you couldn't hold, but you could feed them, and their markings were very cool looking.

 

 

Oh, and this is the only monkey that was in a cage. He was young (I think our guide said 8 weeks) and was too clumsy still to let him roam around with the visitors. He was so sweet, he reached through and held my wife's hand even after she didn't have anymore food to give him.

 

 

From there we headed over to the howler monkeys. These guys were jerks. Super pushy and grabby. The way they moved was so cool, but if you got too close, you were liable to get grabbed or scratched. My wife drifted a little too close and the guide had to snatch her back before one of the monkeys grabbed and yanked her hair.

 

 

They just don't let you do these things in America. Gotta love 3rd world nations and their lax regulations sometimes. ;)

 

Next up was a species of nocturnal monkey. Poor girl just wanted to sleep in her hut, but our guide goaded her out with some fruit and let us hold her. She was such a sweetheart.

 

 

When husband#2 and I held her, she actually have us kisses on the lips. She was probably tasting our breakfast, but it was so darn sweet. Loved that monkey.

 

[Viscus]

Our turn on 1 March

Flying form UK to Tampa on 27th, then on the C Pride

Thanks for the review x

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I think you'll love it, definitely worth the trip.

[Viscus]

After that, we headed over to what our guide called a "jungle rabbit". If that was actually a species of rabbit, it was huuuuuuuuuge.

 

 

At one point, one of the monkeys literally ran up, opened the cage door, and let one out. I almost freaked out and ran after it, but our guide stopped me and said it happens all the time. All they do is put food out and the rabbit comes back eventually. See what I mean? I loved this place, it was like another planet!

 

The last cage was for 2 anteaters. They wouldn't let you pick them up because their claws are 2 inches long and pretty sharp, but they were super curious if we had any food. They love to grab onto things, and one reached through and held my hand while it smelled me up and down looking for something to eat.

 

 

Our relationship ended pretty abruptly when it figured out I was foodless, but those 20 seconds were filled with love and romance, I'm telling you.

 

At this point, our guide actually started trying to lure the monkeys to us. These guys are crafty. If they can get the food without having to let you hold them, they will. After many, many failed attempts, my wife finally succeeded!

 

 

Wife#2 got dive bombed by one early in the day, and was terrified of the monkeys for most of the rest of the time. Here was her first organized monkey encounter.

 

 

I know she's smiling, but she was terrified. What a chicken. After the first couple of times, though, she really got into it. At one point, she turned into a little kid and started jumping in front of me to steal my monkey encounters. Thief!

 

[Viscus]

I actually don't have any pictures of me holding the ones I held, those are on other people's phones, but I definitely got my money's worth. The best part was, you weren't rushed. Other than the initial tour, if you wanted to stay there the rest of the day, you could. Our Victor Bodden guide had a hammock and a cold drink, so he definitely didn't mind.

 

After awhile of monkey holding and chicken chasing (there's a flock of chickens that roam the property), we met back up with Jorge to head to a local grocery store.

 

He took us to the supermarket where he buys his groceries.

 

 

Husband#2 bought his mom a giant back of coffee for like $2, I bough me and my wife a couple of local drinks for $1, and wife#2 bought some sauces and spices for cheap too. Everything other than gas on the island was very inexpensive.

 

After that shopping stop, we headed for Halfmoon Bay, and a "resort" area Victor Bodden has a deal with. Jorge dropped us off, walked us over to one of the waiters, had him take us to a really good spot on the beach, helped drag us over 4 lounge chairs, then went to grab himself a drink. The restaurant/beach area was really pretty.

 

 

The entrance to the bar area

 

 

Some private cabin things people can stay in if they traveled specifically to Roatan

 

 

Entrance to the beach area

 

 

The view from our lounge chairs.

[Viscus]

They had food and drinks on site, and we ordered a few beers and a couple of appetizers, but it was a little pricey. $15+ for most of the menu items, but the beers were only $1.50 each. Gotta have those priorities straight, heh.

 

The bar area had a good wifi network, so after we all did some emailing, facebook picture posting to make people jealous, and mobile game playing, we asked Jorge to take us to a good souvenir shopping area. We piled into the van and headed for West End Village, which was right around the corner.

 

The shopping stands here were great. While some vendors who were walking around didn't understand how to take a polite no as an answer, no one got too crazy, and husband and wife#2 were able to find some pretty great stuff for their son. And if you love to haggle (it's one of my favorite hobbies), this place is a dreamland.

 

 

 

Plus, the shopping is right on the beach area. Sadly, that same storm I mentioned earlier with the Mahogany Bay beach also hit this part of the island too. That black mound that looks like mulch? That's dead seaweed the government had hired locals to clean off the beach. Something about decaying plant life in high humidity and heat does not produce a pleasant smell. No one's fault, and I'm sure it'll be cleaned up in a week or so, but a slight negative.

 

Sadly, because of the weird port time, it was about time to head back to the port. If you're paying cash for the tour, you don't have to go to the Victor Bodden offices, so you can add a little bit of time to your day. The route he took us on to get back to our dock took us through the more poor, local area of the island. The architecture here is less ornate than the richer and touristy areas of the island, but it was still beautiful.

 

 

 

 

I'd love to have that backyard.

[Viscus]

 

I love the color schemes in the Carribean.

 

After we parted ways with Jorge (I later emailed Victor and gave him a glowing review, he seriously made the day so much better), we headed for the ship and the wives did a little last minute shopping.

 

 

I didn't realize until I saw this map in the terminal how long and skinny the island is. I guess it makes sense, we almost always had views of the ocean on both sides of us.

 

When we got on board, it was around 2:45PM, and the only thing open for lunch was Guy's Burgers and the deli. I don't know who's idea it is to close things right as everyone is getting back on board, but it apparently happens fleetwide. At least on the Pride, there aren't enough people on board for lines to get too crazy.

 

We all grabbed another Guy's burger and chowed down.

 

 

After lunch, we went and showered and changed for the night, and went down for some trivia in the cafe. The water was like glass during sail way, was very pretty.

 

 

The cafe they do trivia in on the Pride is right across a walkway from the Coffee bar. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but was super thirsty after a long, humid day. I asked for a frappuchino, which they can't make, but say they had milkshakes. I ordered a Black and White milkshake (vanilla and chocolate), paid up, and took it back over to our group.

 

 

These things are AMAZING! I don't know what brand of ice cream they use for the milkshakes, but it's so delicious. I wish we would've discovered these before Thursday, as this first shake was definitely not the last. They are about $3.50 each, but so worth it in my opinion. You can also add flavored liquors to it, but we never did.

 

From here, it was off to dinner in the MDR!

[Viscus]

As we were being sat for dinner (which, by the way, we never waited more than 2-3 minutes to do so, was pretty nice), we caught the tail end of one of the dancing portions of service.

 

 

Sorry for the terrible quality, they lights were dimming and going up with the music, which was making my iPad's camera go nuts. They wait staff were grabbing random people in the restaurant and making them dance with them. Was a pretty fun night, and was the only night the staff on the YTD section of the MDR involved us with the set dining nightly performances.

 

The menu tonight was pretty good, but only the entrees, so we all loaded up!

 

 

I can't remember what this was or how it tasted. Sorry. :( Definitely should've labelled these as I went.

 

 

Thai Chicken: 8/10, chicken was a little dry, but the seasoning was excellent

 

 

I'm pretty sure this was the filet: 7/10, the meat was very good, but the other things on the plate were pretty bland.

 

 

Some sort of fish dish, I didn't order this, but I remember husband#2 saying it was good.