A Caribbean Star! Norwegian Star Tampa-Western Caribbean 1/17-1/24

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Yes, every cabin has a safe in the room that either coded to use your keycard or just a four digit number (depending on the ship). Most of the standard cabins have a safe size about 14" wide by 6" deep by 6" high. Big enough to keep your wallet, small purse, cash, jewelry, and other valuable items. In the cabins we've been in it's usually behind the entry door, so it's hard to have the cabin door open while you're in the safe which is a good security feature.

 

Our safe on the Star had the pin-activation method. I like that more than having to swipe a card anyway. Although we had a dead battery in our safe on our last Carnival cruise which took them 3 days to fix which was a pain and the safe didn't work at all on the Sky when I went on that disaster of a cruise a few months ago. Yes, it was in the closet closest to the door in our cabin as well, which is not a bad thing. Funny story about the safe - years ago on a cruise, we overheard on one of the open decks some first-timers or whatever say to each other that they didn't know what the safe was when they saw it and thought it was a microwave. I still call the safes microwaves to this day as a joke.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I know it has been a while since I posted about my sea day experience from this NCL Star cruise from last month. I do apologize for that, I am pretty busy most of the time and it is hard to find a few hours at one time to sit down and write about the cruise in the manner that I like to do. These do take time and I cannot believe it has been 3 and half weeks since I got back from it already. Time does fly. Anyway, I am back and here is Day 4 of the cruise in words and pictures. Enjoy!

 

DAY 4: ROATAN, HONDURAS

 

The vacation was just getting going now, as we had spent the last day at sea, getting ourselves familiar with the ship and all it had to offer. However, a big part of cruising is visiting ports and countries that you have never been to before. This cruise took us to a few places that I have never seen so I was excited for this reason. Our first port of call was Roatan, an island situated some distance from mainland Honduras. This day would be an exciting one, so of course I had to sleep in so I would not be tired while exploring it.

 

I got up around 1030, as I like to do and we figured out what the plan would be for the day. Our room steward kind of figured out that we like to sleep in late by this point, so he wouldn't come around until after noon most days to service the cabin. He did a good job all cruise long, along with his team. Anyway, I got cleaned up and headed upstairs to get breakfast, which consisted of a lot of the same stuff that I got the day before, lol. It fills you up, which is the best I can say about it I guess. We went back to the cabin at 1130 or so to get our passports, spending money, etc, and headed off the ship around noon. Before getting off the ship, I walked around on the upper decks and got some pictures of the landscape all around us as I like to do whenever possible. I was also able to see us pull up to the dock and got a picture, as today featured a pretty late arrival by usual scheduled standards. It was a warm and humid day, and overcast with rain forecast for later on.

 

 

 

There is a nice little port area with shops and restaurants when you get off the ship, and you have to pass through a little corridor to get to the tour pick-up area. In this corridor is probably a hundred different vendors who are all trying to sell you some sort of excursion or another and some of them get pretty aggressive. You just have to keep moving through there and ignore them and you will be fine. There is a decent police and security presence all through the port area as well, so safety is no issue there. Once outside that area, the line for cabs and buses is just staggering. Fortunately for us, we had already booked our own independent excursion before getting there, so we had a set time and place to go to meet our tour. Still, getting to it was a pain and aggravating.

 

 

Anyway, about the tour. We looked at NCL excursions for here, but they were way overpriced and nothing really appealed to us anyway. I went on cruise critic and trip advisor and looked at some private tours that looked interesting. We settled on Channin Bodden Tours, which had a very good rating on trip advisor and was affordable for what we wanted to do. We were in contact with Channin Bodden himself through his website, and worked out what time we wanted to tour, and which type of tour we wanted to take so all we had to do was meet him on the port day and we were all set. The cost of the tour was $50 a person (cash and we paid him after the tour was over) for the basic island tour but you will spend more if you want to see or do more than we did. We met him across the street from the port area and he went and got his SUV that we would be riding around in and picked us up a minute later, around 1230. We also got a private tour today, which was nice. We really got to interact with him on a personal basis and got a really great tour of the entire island.

 

Channin is a native of the island, and his family is large and pretty influential on the island. He began with telling us how the island is home to about 50,000 people and the demographic makeup of the place. It is made up of native islanders, and has all people of many types of ethnicities as well. It has just become modernized in the last 40 or so years, as before that it was a very rural area with very few modern technological advances and luxuries. He mentioned that tourism is a big thing there lately, but with that comes the change in lifestyle and culture. That is the tradeoff but he said it isn't too bad, but he feels that some of the uniqueness of the place is going away slowly but surely. We began by riding around through the main city, Coxen Hole, and made our way through the countryside. The island is about 50 miles long by 5 miles wide, and is located generally outside of the hurricane belt. We got to see his hometown, French Key, and he explained how the culture was in each little neighborhood that we rode through. He said he spent some time during his teen years in the USA, and went to high school for a few years in the Miami area. But he returned home as an adult and to start a family.

 

He explained that there has been a lot of foreign investment in the last few years, as some Texan oil companies have set up there as well as a lot of investment from other countries. He said the local electric utility has been run by a Texan for a few years and he has jacked the rates up too much there, despite complaints from the locals. He said most foreigners who are there and do business are pretty good with the community though. The roads are pretty decent quality and there is no speed limit, as people generally respect the road and each other while driving and there is really not a huge need for too much oversight. Unlike some other Caribbean islands, where the reputations for bad drivers are well-earned. We did get to see his original home and the neighborhood he grew up in, and he did come from modest means although his family was pretty influential. In Roatan, you get a reputation based on your family's reputation, and as long as you don't do anything to mess it up, you will get respect from others based on that idea. We rode through a rather wealthy area, and we saw the mansion owned by a former mayor of the island, and Channin said that he was a really down-to-earth guy, despite his power and fortune. It would be cool to live in a mansion like that, huh? lol

 

Anyway, at my 6-picture limit so will continue on the next post.....

[jimbri]

Your photos are great!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

He mentioned that baseball used to be the main sport on the island, but in modern years, other sports like soccer are beginning to spring up. He said that everyone on the island is either an Atlanta Braves or New York Yankees fan because when cable TV was first introduced to the people, TBS and I guess YES were offered and those two teams show up a lot on these networks. Funny I guess, but it does make sense. Before all those league TV packages, I myself saw just as much of the Braves on TBS as I did of my own Phillies for this very reason. Anyway, he said that fishing was a decent industry there and that watersports were not popular until the tourism boom of recent decades. People have recently discovered those ideas and a lot of younger people are beginning to do stuff involving the sea much more than the older generations. Channin himself is into watersports, he said.

 

I have to say that our guide knows pretty much everyone there it seems. He has been asked numerous times to run for public office, but he appears to be more business-oriented in his outlook and says that he has declined each time but would not rule it out in the future. He does have that personable quality that a businessman or politician has to have to succeed. We passed by a marina that has some really nice yachts, owned by tour companies and by rich residents of the island.

 

I forget which car company had a lot of market share there, but it was either Toyota or Honda, but he said imported cars from Asia are pretty popular. He said that fast food just does not do well there, as the only place that has been able to stay in business is Bojangles fried chicken. Interesting. He says there are a few of them on the island, but nothing else. We rode past the island's main shopping mall, where they have stores, I think a movie theater, and lots of restaurants.

 

 

He said that this year's tourism had been slow as on most days this time of year, there is on average more than just the one cruise ship in port per day. Perhaps it was the abnormally warm December we had up north? Anyway, he told us that there is very little crime on the island, and if anyone is convicted of a major crime, they go to prison in mainland Honduras. You might remember the murder of the NCL cruise ship employee a few years ago on Roatan? He told us the story of that, and it differs from what you probably heard from the cruise companies. Apparently a lot of crew members spend their time off the ship with prostitutes when in Roatan, and these prostitutes come to meet them from the mainland. It goes that a crew member who had been doing this for a while met with his usual rendezvous but did not know that his "friend's" husband had just gotten out of prison and discovered what was going on with his wife. You can figure out what happened next but it is understood that a lot of vice stuff goes on with crew members and locals during visits. The official story was that it was a robbery gone wrong. He said the cruise companies don't want people to know about what goes on or used to go on (he said they are really beginning to crack down on that stuff if they can) with their crew members in port, as it would hurt their reputations or whatever. I have to assume that his explanation of all this was accurate, there really would be no reason for him to make anything up about it that did not really happen.

 

Later, we went up to a high point on the island, great for sight seeing. We stopped and got a nice view of the Caribbean and were approached by a teenager trying to sell us trinkets. He shooed him away, and told us that the kid asks him for a tour guide job all the time but he doesn't want to hire him because he thinks he is a great salesman but not a tour guide and the two are very different jobs.

 

 

He told us that there is not much of a rise or drop in water level there, but many homes are built on stilts anyway, not because of flooding concerns, but the higher your structure is off the ground, the better the air flow is and the breeze going through your house makes for good natural air conditioning. We stopped at a resort to use the restroom, which happened to be owned by his brother or cousin, or something. It was located right on the water, and featured cabins that could be rented out. Also had a restaurant and resort with a boat dock for people to go to as well. He said it is expensive, but is luxurious and a lot of really nice and expensive boats are parked here. I think it was called Joe's or Tony's or something like that.

 

 

 

We were then on our way, and continued to make our way through the area. He told us that there are a lot of made-for-tourists type resorts on the island, and he feels like those types of places do not allow for people to get the entire island experience. He is very proud of the culture and wants other people to experience it. So, being an entrepreneur, he told us his next project is to take some land he owns on a beach, turn it into a destination for people who he takes on tours, and this way, they get to do a tour of the island from a knowledgeable local, and also get to experience the resort atmosphere of the place. He said that will probably be ready in the next few years.

 

I will continue in the next post.....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Just a little bit up from the resort, he showed us the original road that was built on Roatan. It was just a dirt road, right alongside the water, but it was the first one. We rode right along the water's edge, and he pointed out some of the homes and landmarks along the left side. He said a lot of pretty wealthy folks have homes there and most are pretty cool. It was kind of weird riding that close to the water, as on beaches up north, you generally don't drive out on the beach like that.

 

 

 

We stopped by some fruit trees and he explained that there are a lot of natural remedies that come from the fruit and nuts, leaves, etc on the island. He showed us an almond tree, he told us that mangoes really help you to get to sleep, told us about some fruit called "cheese fruit" that smells but tastes good, and that some leaves are very helpful in helping relieve pain. And those were just a few of the things. Really interesting stuff.

 

 

We saw yet another local neighborhood that he spent lots of time in, and showed us the church that he went to growing up. It dates back about 150 years, and the only thing that is not original is a few of the windows that were replaced after storms. Fishing is a big industry there, and he said that fish fry is a big thing. He said that he spends time working on projects in the US with a friend of his from time to time but when he gets home he cannot wait to get some fried fish. I know how that is. Try getting a good steak sandwich outside of the Delaware Valley, lol. Or a pizza outside of the northeast or Chicago. You get the idea.

 

 

Anyway, time flies and it was after 1500 when we got back to the port area. We had just taken a 3-hour private tour with a really cool local from Roatan. We learned a lot and had a good time. Not bad. We got dropped off at the entrance to the port, paid the driver and thanked him for the good tour. I told him he would be getting a good shout out on cruise critic as well, lol. Anyway, we still had a few hours until it was time to sail so we hung around the port area and saw what there was to do there. I got a magnet for about $3 in one of the shops and my mom looked around some as well. We were hungry and while in port, best to check out some of the local cuisine and beer, right?

 

 

Continued....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

There were some locals doing cultural dance routines in the port area, and of course land is very affordable there. Hence the sign for timeshares or new-build homes for $50,000 on the island. The cultural dancers were shown in the last picture as well. Channin did say that you could buy a parcel of land for even less a few years ago, build on it and sell the homes for quite a bit more than what you paid for the land.

 

So, there was a place called Monkey Lala that was just an outside bar/tent on the dock, right before the entrance to the ship area. So, wanting to try some local cuisine and drinks, we went there and ordered food and drink. Lucky we were under the tent because the sky just opened up shortly thereafter. It was raining so much they had to keep brushing water off the roof so it wouldn't pool too much in certain spots on it. Anyway, I ordered fried fish and rice and a Port Royal beer and some mixed drink. We waited a while for the stuff but it was worth the wait. The beer and drink were very strong, and my mom got a Pina Colada which she said was very good. They brought out a plate with a full fried fish, some sort of salsa, plantain chips, and a lot of beans and rice. For like $20 or so. Really good. People sitting around us came by to take pictures of it. LOL. I finished it all, and my mom got a pic of me holding up just the fish carcass after cleaning my plate. Around 1700 we were finished, and made our way back to the ship. Just need a ship card and driver's license here, but it is still a good idea to bring your passport as you just never know if you will need it.

 

 

Yes, you really can hear the sound of the sea in that shell. I guarantee you. The port area did clear out after the rain and most people just headed back to the ship as we were scheduled to leave again at 1900 anyway.

 

 

Me in front of the obligatory welcome to XYZ port sign on the way back to the ship, this one being for Roatan.

 

 

After getting back onboard, I went back to the cabin for a little while and possibly took a nap for a little while. I went back up to the outer decks to watch us sail away from Roatan, as I always like to do when we visit a port. It was night by now and looking down at the dock, it was quiet by now as we were all onboard and their day was over. Lot of nice views of the island all lit up. We actually departed a few minutes early, around 1850, as Captain Andersson said he had all pax onboard early and so we left ahead of schedule. Onto our next port we go....

 

Continued....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I proceeded to go to the hot tub around 2000, and it was quiet up on the pool deck. I guess everyone was at dinner or whatever, but it was peaceful and I relaxed some in the whirlpool for an hour or so. I hate getting out when it is so nice in there, ya know? But I was hungry. So I went back downstairs, got cleaned up, and we headed to the Aqua dining room to get some dinner around 2100. They are open until at least 2130, and it was not crowded at all. The tip is just to go to dinner at times that most people don't want to and you get great and quick service, haha. Aqua is located on Deck 6, midship and is hard to find. The door is located between the elevators I think and is easy to miss but it is worth it.

 

I got some sweet and sour pork and a beef tenderloin and both were good. I forget what the appetizer was but there was always something on the menu that I liked each night. I got a peach dessert, and of course the sodas were flowing at the table. The waiter we had was good, forgot his name but he was so good we asked for him the next night that we went to the Aqua and got him to take care of us. There is plenty of wine on the menu in the mdr but we never got any during the entire cruise. I don't feel it is worth the extra money but that is just me. I am not a huge wine drinker.

 

 

After dinner, there was not much to do on this evening so my mom went back to the cabin to hang out for a while and I just wandered around the ship some to see if I could find anything to do. I am not big on dance parties, so no Spinnaker (they had something pretty much every night) and nothing like a comedian or stage show and I wasn't feeling the casino so really not a whole ton to do. If that is one complaint, I wish they had more comedy nights or more stage shows or something in the evening. It does get a little boring on NCL at night sometimes. Like I said, I was bored around 2330 and was hungry again, so we headed up to O'Sheehan's for some wings. I got some Jerk and some BBQ wings and both were good. They have poutine (fries with all kind of gravy and stuff on them) but if you don't want all that, you can get just plain fries. They also have hot dogs and brownies as desserts. I was too full to get a brownie this time around.

So, after all that, it was close to 0100, I was finally tired enough to lay down and go to sleep, and I got some rest before our visit to Belize the next day, which would be a lot of fun as well. Before however, I had to get my towel animal pic, so here it was.

 

Hope you enjoyed this day's adventure, and hope you learned something about Roatan that you didn't know and maybe it helped you plan for your upcoming visit to there. It was a good time that we had. Have a good day, happy cruising and hopefully I will get to the next part before next week. :cool:

[Lialovestotravel]

Fun! Can wait to see Roatan in april! I used to work with a girl from Honduras and she made a pico that looks like your Roatan salsa. She used a lemon juice and vinegar base rather than a tomato base and it would have cabbage in addition to the usual suspects. Still one of my favorite salsas, I make it often. Thx for taking the time to review!

[wildtky101]

Great review!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Your photos are great!

 

Thanks, got a whole bunch more coming up in my Belize City visit summary!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Fun! Can wait to see Roatan in april! I used to work with a girl from Honduras and she made a pico that looks like your Roatan salsa. She used a lemon juice and vinegar base rather than a tomato base and it would have cabbage in addition to the usual suspects. Still one of my favorite salsas, I make it often. Thx for taking the time to review!

 

Roatan is nice. I suppose you can do the usual stuff like beach visits and ziplining, etc as there is plenty of that available but I liked to see the island from the perspective of a local in a one-on-one type setting. I enjoy doing tours like that whenever possible. Enjoy whatever it is you choose to do.

 

I have never made pico as I am not huge on salsa to be honest but that beans and rice, yeah, I have done that at home a few times and it turned out really good. Only thing with the plantains is that they came in chip form instead of deep fried and therefore were not too sweet. I still don't know what kind of fish that was but it was really good.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading and following along with my review, I have another part coming right up in a few moments. And enjoy your cruise to Roatan in April.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Great review!

 

Thanks, glad to hear you like it. I am coming right up with my Belize adventure, hope you enjoy reading about it as well.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Hello everyone, thanks for your comments and feedback thus far, I am back with the continuation of this review. Where are we now you ask? I left off with our visit to the island of Roatan, Honduras, which was the first port of call on this cruise and I covered a lot of ground there. This sailing featured four port days in a row, so next up for us was Belize City. This is where we will pick up with the fun.

 

DAY 5: BELIZE CITY, BELIZE

As with Roatan, I had never been to Belize. One of the few Caribbean islands I had not visited yet to that point. I had heard things about it from my mother, who had been there in the past, so this helped give me an idea of what to expect there. I will be honest, based on everything I heard about the place, I felt much more comfortable with booking a tour through the cruise company, rather than going off on our own, like we did the day before. Anyway, Belize is not far from Roatan, so we did arrive pretty early in the morning, around 0700.

 

Of course I was not awake that early, I probably got up around 0930 or so and figured out what the exact plan for the day would be. After all, this is a tender port, and we tender around 5 miles off shore, so it is quite a long ride to land. You need a tender ticket to get off the ship here, at least early in the day due to the rush of people all trying to get off first. The tender deck was the same deck as our cabin (4) and thus there was quite a line of people in the hallway all morning as we tried to make our way up to breakfast. Our tour was not until afternoon, so no hurry for us to get off the ship too early.

 

We got breakfast in the buffet dining room as we did many times on this cruise, and I actually got a ham and sausage omelet this morning as the line for the omelets was not long at all. Like I said, if you want decent eggs, you have to have them made at the omelet. Today was much better weather-wise than the day before. I have to mention that between this cruise and my Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Magic a few months earlier, I had never experienced so many rainy and nasty weather days in all my other prior cruises combined. Today was warm and partly sunny though, no rain. Looking out the window from the buffet, we were parked near another tendering Carnival ship (I forget which one), and could see the constant tender activity going to and from our ships.

 

 

 

We were really far from land here, as you can see.

 

So, after breakfast we headed back to the cabin, got our stuff we were going to take off the ship with us, and headed down to the tenders around noon. They recommend an hour to get off the ship before your scheduled excursion and I would say the tenders left every half hour or so as they filled up. Our tour was at 1300, so a 1200 tender was fine for us. The water seemed to be pretty choppy but once the boat was full, we were on our way to shore where the crew did a safety briefing and all. We were going fast and were probably to shore in ten or so minutes.

 

 

This is how far from land our homes for the week were. Never tendered this far away from shore at any port. I think the captain said there is some sort of major reef or something in that area and this may be part of the reason for tendering so far away. Anybody know?

 

 

When you get off the tender, you disembark at one of like 3 or 4 different piers. We got off at number 1 if I recall right. There is plenty of shopping, drinking and eating at this port area. We went right to our tour pickup area, which was right near the dock. We booked our tour on this stop through Norwegian, because based on stories from my mother and reviews on internet sites, going on an independent tour here just is not a good idea, for safety and other reasons. Anyway, the tour we settled on was a city bus tour and an airboat ride through the lagoons outside of town.

 

We met our tour, got on the bus around 1300, and rode all around town. The tour company doing our excursion was called Chukka Tours, and it seemed to be a pretty well-organized and large-scale operation. It did cost over a hundred dollars a person, but it was a good value and I feel like it was worth the price. We rode all around town, and saw major landmarks around town, along with narration from our tour guide (forget her name but she was of Creole descent and said she only speaks English while doing tours) and she was very good. We saw a town park, we saw the downtown area, and rode along the coast for a while.

 

 

 

I do apologize for not getting as many pictures from inside the bus but we were moving fast and not many good photo ops from the window. Belize is an English-speaking country, but there are many languages spoken and many different ethnicities there. I did note that there are a lot of private, religious schools there and religion is a big part of life there. Our guide said that Chinese companies own a lot of land there, and that Coca-Cola is the only major soft drink company in the country. Good. I have to note that I am not all that happy that NCL is the only cruise line that I know that still has Pepsi products. Anyway, gasoline is not all that expensive there although it costs more than in the US due to the fact that there is only one company that supplies fuel to be sold there. Gotta love monopolies, huh? LOL. Anyway, I will continue in the next post.....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

BELIZE, CONTINUED:

 

Spanish, Creole, and English are spoken in Belize. I think they said that two Belizean dollars is equivalent to 1 US dollar. But of course, they take US money in all tourist places. I mentioned that they get a lot of their oil from Venezuela and Texas, and that it does cost more than it does here. There is a lot of US investment here as well, a lot of wealthy Americans own land and live there at least part of the time. We also passed the soccer stadium there, as soccer is pretty big in Belize. Our guide said there is a rent-to-own program for housing there, as in they build you a modest home, you pay a certain amount for it per month and after a while, you own it as long as you make your payments to the government on time and in full up to that point. Honestly, based on what we saw while riding around, I wouldn't feel completely unsafe in most areas, but probably would not want to walk around by myself in Belize City.

 

We rode through some residential areas, and most people have capability to wash clothes but will hang them outside to dry, which I found interesting. It works though. We rode past a mahogany tree, which is a very important tree in Belize it was explained. There is a lot of wetland area here, and on our way out to the airboat ride, we rode through some wildnerness. The second and probably more exciting part of this tour was the airboat ride.....

 

The airboat ride is serious stuff, apparently. I was not sure what to expect but I found out quickly that it would be neat. We go down onto the boats in groups of like 10 to a boat or so, and are given safety briefings and hearing protection upon boarding. The engines on these boats are loud. I did get a few pics during the ride although I had to be careful to not drop my camera into the water during maneuvers. You will get a little wet during this ride, keep that in mind.

 

 

 

We slowly made our way out through the little channel near the dock, and saw what they said was a baby crocodile off in the bushes. Yeah. I have seen quite a few gators in Florida but no crocodiles. This tour would go wayyyy out there.

 

 

We got out into the open waters, and began to really go fast. When making turns, our guide asked us to wave our arms out in the direction that we were headed, lol. We were all given laminated copies of pictures and descriptions of the wildlife we would see out in the wetlands. Lot of birds. We did get to see quite a few different types of birds. The water is not deep in this area at all, our guide said it was not more than a few feet deep in most places.

 

 

 

We started and stopped many times to see all types of wildlife and for our crew to show us noteworthy stuff in the area. Pretty interesting. Will continue in the next post....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

BELIZE, CONTINUED:

We were warned that snakes are in the trees all around and to be careful that they don't fall out of the trees as we are passing underneath and get bitten. They said the venom of certain snakes is deadly and there is no cure. On a good note, no bugs here though as the heavy dragonfly population likes to eat mosquitos and thus keep them from annoying people. Lots of different types of trees here as well and they say that once in a while the very flammable wood in their trunks catches fire and is basically impossible to put out once ignited.

 

 

 

We did some crazy maneuvers on the way back to the dock and that was fun and after over an hour on the boat, we arrived back at the Chukka tour dock. It was a fun ride. They do take pictures that you can buy if you like but I did not do that. There is a little crocodile setup with a bench inside on the dock if you want to get your picture taken while sitting inside of a croc's mouth and my mom thought that would be funny to get, so I got one of her doing that. There is a large gift shop there as there is in most places and you have to go through it to get back to the bus. I wasn't interested in the trinkets, but they had wine tasting and I tried a cashew fruit wine that I really liked and purchased a bottle of for $12 to take home. Really tasty and sweet and unique for sure. We got back on the bus and rode back towards town, as it was close to 1500 by this point in time. Our guide gave us a few more pointers about the area as we rode through and made sure to let us know that we had to tell everyone back home what an un-Belizeable time we had. Cute.

Anyway, we were back at the port by 1530, and we took the time to shop around a little in the stores they have at the port. Most offer the same stuff but I found a place that had a magnet for $3 and met up with my mom back at the Belize sign near pier 1. The last shuttle was at 1630, so we stopped in a bar/restaurant right near the boarding dock and wanted to get some food and drink but for whatever reason, they didn't have any food and barely any drinks to choose from. Whatever. Pathetic if you ask me but I found a beer that they did have some of, which was Belikin, the Belizean beer. It seems they have quite a recycling program there, as boxes and boxes full of empty bottles were lined up behind the bar, ready to be shipped back to the factory for money I would suppose. Too bad only a few states in the US do that.

 

 

Before re-boarding, I had to get a picture taken by the huge Belize sign. And I wasn't the only one. Lots of people had the same idea.

 

 

Upon re-boarding the tender, they offer hot towels and spray hand sanitizer on your hands as you wait in line to board. We were on quickly, rode back to the ship and were onboard by 1615. We were hungry and headed right up to O'Sheehan's for a late lunch and early pre-dinner. I got a BBQ burger and some wings and both were awesome. It was semi-crowded here but we did not have any wait for a table. The burger is a huge beef patty with BBQ sauce and bacon, along with the usual fixins if you want them. Too much food to finish honestly. I also ordered black bean soup and that was good as well.

 

 

Once everyone was back onboard, Captain Andersson came over the loudspeaker to announce our departure from Belize and to tell us what the weather would be that night and the next day. He also told us about the reef and that the ship has to maneuver around it to get back to sea, which would explain things if people saw the ship beginning to swerve all over the place during the evening. We departed around 1700, and were on our way to Costa Maya, Mexico. But there was still plenty to do that evening......

 

More in a second......:cool:

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

BELIZE - CONTINUED:

 

After finishing up at O'Sheehan's, I headed back to the cabin to take a nap around 1800. We were far away from land by this point and it was just about dark, so nothing to see outside. We had reservations for Teppanyaki at 2000 anyway, so something to look very forward to. Oh, and by the way, forgot to mention that yeah, they do confiscate any liquor you buy in port and make you sign it in so you can collect it with a receipt on the last night of the cruise. They took my bottle of cashew wine. Not that I was going to open it until I got home anyway. But if you are thinking about trying to sneak booze back onto the ship, it ain't gonna happen. They especially look for that stuff, haha.

 

I got up in time to get ready for dinner, and we headed up to the 7th deck to meet up at our restaurant. The Teppanyaki is located midship, in the back of the Asian dining area and you meet the hostess at the Ginza noodle bar to confirm your reservation. The Teppanyaki is a very intimate venue, only seating about 12 people and everything is made to order in very entertaining fashion. I had gone to this place on the Jewel last May and loved it so I had big expectations (and a big appetite). You are seated, get a soup appetizer, they take your entree order, and you order drinks here as well. I ordered a filet mignon entree, but you can order chicken, steak, shrimp, or any combo of two of these. Based on past experience, I knew that the steak was the best choice. The two-man chef team comes into the area, fires up the grill, and puts on a show. They stir-fry veggies for everyone as they begin to cook the garlic fried rice that everyone will eventually get. The cooks have a lot of fun preparing the food and interact with the diners quite a bit. I got my rice and filet mignon shortly thereafter, and it was so good I got a second bowl of rice when the chefs asked if anyone wanted seconds, haha. Just too much food really. I was barely able to finish my steak and rice, and my mom was not able to finish her chicken and steak either. We were seated next to some cool folks from New York State and had a nice conversation with them throughout the meal. I ordered sashimi (fruit plate) for dessert and we were out of there by 2130. The total cost is $29 a person plus tip, but it is well worth it. Best specialty venue on Norwegian if you ask me. Just keep in mind that it gets very, very hot in there with all the cooking going on in an enclosed area so do not dress too warmly.

 

 

 

 

Once again, there was not a whole ton to do onboard this evening, so my mom retired to the cabin around 2200 and I went upstairs to see if I could find anything to do. I noticed that although they advertise that the hot tubs will close at 2200 nightly, they seemed to stay open later if people were in them on this ship. I did not go in tonight however. I was still too full from dinner, lol. I settled on donating another $20 to Norwegian at the casino and played the slots until around midnight and headed back to the cabin to go to bed shortly thereafter. Sadly, no picture of my towel animal tonight. Just never got around to it.

 

Anyway, the next day would feature a visit to Costa Maya, Mexico, again another place I have never visited so sure to get a full night's rest so I would be able to go full power the next day and enjoy the port. And guess what, rain was in the forecast again so we had that to look forward to. But whatever weather we had there was nothing like what was in the forecast for back home. The blizzard of all time was forming and headed right for our home region. The snow forecast just kept going up and up as we watched the weather forecast on the cable news channels on our room TV. Keep in mind this storm was huge and would have a major effect on our cruise as we made our way back to Tampa. But more on that later.

That wraps up Day 5, hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing about it. I will talk about Day 6 when I get around to it, hopefully soon. I do apologize for taking forever to get this thing done but I am getting it done in parts when I get the opportunity. I want it to be the best review it can be, and it does take time to make that happen. Good night! :D

Edited February 24, 2016 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[baxter44]

Your posts are worth the wait, thanks for the info on Belize and pics of Teppanyaki, that steak looks soooo good!

[Lynmae75]

Reading your trip report is getting me even more excited about my upcoming cruise on the Norwegian Star. Thank you.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Your posts are worth the wait, thanks for the info on Belize and pics of Teppanyaki, that steak looks soooo good!

 

Thanks for being patient with me, lol. I should be getting to the next part today, have been looking forward to putting it together for a little while now. Belize is not a bad place, just have to be careful these days with the Zika scare I suppose. It was just beginning to be talked about when I visited there. I like to do the tours that show you what the islands really are like rather than just staying in the resort areas though, and although it probably isn't a great idea to walk around town on your own, it didn't look too bad as we rode all around. Teppanyaki is the best specialty pay restaurant on NCL and yes, the steak is just out of this world good. Everything there is but the steak is the best thing on the menu, IMO.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Reading your trip report is getting me even more excited about my upcoming cruise on the Norwegian Star. Thank you.

 

I am glad you like my review. It is my pleasure to share my adventures with others so it can help them get ready for their cruises. The Star is a pretty nice ship and the food is pretty good as is the service. The ship management seems to be top-notch as well and that does make a difference in the experience. I have the next part coming up so be sure to check that out.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything in here about this cruise, but here I am back with the next part of the review. Thank you all for being patient with me and for your kind comments and I do hope this has helped some of you prepare for your upcoming Star cruises or just cruises that may stop in these ports in the future. So, sitting back and watching the Phillies first spring training game on TV (means warm weather is not far off) and hanging out today, I will now present you my summary and pics of my day in the Mexican port of Costa Maya. Enjoy!

 

DAY 6: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

 

Once again, we had an early arrival to port (0800), and once again, I was not awake when we arrived. Remember I am not a big morning person, lol. That and again, and I cannot stress this enough, not having a window in an interior cabin makes it very hard to have any sense of time or what is going on in the outside world.

 

However, as soon as we arrived at port, the crew did its lifeboat and safety drill as it seems to do once on each cruise I go on. It involves the captain simulating an emergency evacuation procedure which means sounding the horns, the abandon ship siren, and making announcements on the PA system to coordinate the drill. It makes it hard to sleep in but these drills are necessary and they are very important to everyone's safety. I am glad they do them and take these things seriously. Especially seeing the recent issues on the RCCL Anthem, I feel safer knowing the crew knows what to do if a major emergency occurs. This went on for a few hours it seemed and kept waking me up but it was over a little after 1000.

 

I finally got cleaned up and we went up to lunch around 1130 and got some grub. I mixed up a lemonade/iced tea for my mom as she likes that and we looked out at the cloudy conditions outside. Yes, the skies looked very threatening on this day although it was warm out, being Mexico and all. Costa Maya is a made-for-cruise-ships-type port and we did not book any excursions here so looking at the weather, we almost did not even get off the ship but I wanted to see what stuff there was to do so we braved the elements to do that. Got some pics from the upper decks of the ship of the port area and the weather conditions on this day.

 

 

 

The Regal Princess had just pulled in next to us and they actually had to stop debarkation due to the fact they only had one dock crew to get their ship secured I guess. The Regal Princess was probably a little larger than our ship.

 

By the time we got off the ship around 1230, it was raining pretty hard. A lot of people chose to not get off but we pressed on. There is a little tram that picks up at the halfway point on the dock as it is a pretty long walk to town, and my mom got on that and I walked. The rain slowed down a little but we soon discovered that today was a sort of tropical-type rain that dumped on you for a few minutes and then slowed down, picked up again, etc.

 

There was also a Silversea Cruises ship at the dock, and that was by far the smallest ship of the three. I have never been on Silversea but I believe they are a luxury, niche-type line, and it probably costs way more to sail than either NCL or Princess, haha.

 

 

So, I met up with my mom at the entrance gate to the port area, and we figured out what we were going to do while there. When you enter, it is a Mayan-themed environment and once you get into the port, you experience a large shopping area (doesn't every tourist place have this though?) and a few restaurants. I am not into the shopping experience most of the time (except for little things like magnets, shot glasses as I have a whole rack of them on my wall at home) so we made our way to the closest place that would offer food and drinks. Reading about the port before the cruise, I saw that they do have excursions but they are not near the port, are expensive, and don't really go anywhere that I am interested in so we just elected to stay in the immediate area this time.

 

I got this good pic with the man-made beach in the background and the ships behind me as well. As you can see, it was raining pretty hard at this time. This was before we decided where we would hang out for the afternoon.

 

 

There is a huge swimming pool in the courtyard area that anyone can use although it was really cold today for some reason. We went to an open-air restaurant that was located adjacent to the pool, called Cucina Latina. This is where we would spend most of the afternoon. I will continue in the next post....

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 6: COSTA MAYA, CONTINUED:

Cucina Latina has good music, food and drinks and is a nice atmosphere. It is pretty expensive though but I didn't mind it as it is a tourist place after all and it was a nice way to spend the day. I ordered a Sol beer and a yard-size Margarita and my mom got a yard-size Margarita and some nachos. I went into the pool for a little swim while we waited for our stuff to be delivered to the table.

 

The pool was nice but it was really cold and with the rain falling off and on, it could have been better but it is still neat to swim outside in January. Especially when you think of what was coming back home in the form of a blizzard. We got our stuff and enjoyed our food, drinks and the general atmosphere of the place and just hung out there for a few hours it seemed. The yard size drinks were huge and really strong and the Sol beer was pretty good. Why get the same Corona that you can get at the grocery store at home when you can get a Sol instead? The Sol was like $6 and the drinks were like $18 each but it was worth it I think. My mom noted that there was much more to do in this area now as it has been built up more since she had last been here years ago on another cruise.

 

 

After we left the restaurant around 1500, we stopped by the nearby dolphin cove to watch the dolphins and their trainers do a meet and greet with some folks who I guess booked a dolphin encounter excursion. I am not really huge on swimming with dolphins but it is neat to watch them do their tricks and engage with humans.

 

 

It was getting to be time to head back so we began walking back towards the port gates and just stopped a few times to see what was in some of the shops and to sightsee and peoplewatch along the way. I stopped into one of the gift shops and got a Costa Maya magnet for guess what, $3 - just as I had gotten my magnets from the other ports, lol.

 

 

There were some folks dressed up in Mayan cultural clothing at the gates and were doing dances every so often. Some people stopped to get pictures taken with them but I didn't. The sun was beginning to come out by now, go figure, and we began to make our way back to the ship. As with most ports, just show your ship card and ID and you are good to go.

 

 

My mom rode on the tram and I walked back to the ship, but I stopped to snap a pic of our ship from the dock. You can see our cabin all the way up at the nose of the ship, down near the waterline, it is somewhere in there, haha.

 

 

A few minutes later, we met up at the gangway, around 1600, and headed back onto the ship. We were scheduled for a 1700 departure. I stopped back in the cabin to drop our beach bag off and we headed upstairs to watch sail-away. More in the next post...

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 6: COSTA MAYA CONTINUED:

 

We were the first ship to leave around 1715 or so, and were on our way shortly thereafter. I got a few nice pics of the sailaway before heading to the hot tub to relax for a little while.

 

 

 

Well...the plan was to hang in the hot tub for a little while, then get some nice pics of the sunset as I had not gotten much of a chance to do so earlier in the cruise. I do like my sunsets at sea. However, upon entering the hot tub, I met up with the same guys I had seen in the hot tub a few days before, AND, I met a couple very nice girls as well. Of course we all spent the next few hours in there talking to each other and getting acquainted and before you know it, I lost track of time and almost completely missed the sunset. Was it worth it? You bet. I did see these nice ladies a few more times during the cruise. They said they were best friends, one lived in Tampa and her friend was actually from my neck of the woods, in Delaware. Cool. We finally all split around 1900, to go do whatever, and I made my way to the outside decks to see the end of the sunset. I did get one decent sunset pic though....had to put my camera in night mode and hold it steady to get this, not bad all things considered.

 

 

After all that activity, I got ready for dinner and we went to Aqua for a nice meal around 2000 or so. Again, not crowded at all. I would never miss dinner on a cruise. I rarely have dreams about cruising when I am back on land but when I do, it usually involves me getting to the end of a cruise and realizing to myself that I skipped the MDR every night of the voyage and being mad at myself because of this. LOL.

 

I ordered some tenderloin and potato gnocchi and it was really good. The steak I got that is pictured next to it was awesome. Better than the steak I got at Cagney's when I sailed the Jewel last year. Perfectly cooked, seasoned and tasty. Can't ask for anything better. I forget what dessert was, if I even got anything. I want to say the appetizer soup was good as well but I forget what it was. Minestrone maybe? Italian Wedding? Can't remember. I also have to note that they serve copious amounts of bread when you are seated and will keep bringing you more if you ask for it during dinner. Don't eat too much as it will fill you up too quickly. The sunflower seed-crusted roll is really good. I also have to say that Cagney's is just not my thing. I love steakhouses back on land but the one time I went to Cagney's as part of the UDP on the Jewel, I just did not find anything great about it. I think it is actually a-la-carte now, instead of being one flat fee. But that is just my opinion, others may think differently.

 

 

We were finally treated to a comedian show this evening, and it featured the comedy of Fred Bevill. I honestly don't think he was that funny tonight as all he made was lame marriage jokes but it was at least something to see. He did another show on the last sea evening and he was much better. This show was held in the main theater and had a decent attendance. The show ran from 2100 to 2145. He said he had worked with George Carlin in the past and couldn't say enough good things about the influence that Carlin had on him. Seemed like a really genuinely nice guy.

 

After that they did have a liar comedy show in the Spinnaker, followed by a dance party that I did not attend. I should have also as the girls had talked to in the hot tub had talked about hitting the club but I was tired by this point quite frankly and didn't feel like dancing and all that. Instead, I went to play at the casino for a little while until I was to meet my mom to go to O'Sheehan's for a late night snack around midnight. Of course I was having too much fun in the casino and made a little bit of money for myself, so I never went to meet up with her and ended up almost closing the casino at nearly 0200. She was mad at me too when I finally got back to the cabin, lol. The seas were also fairly rough on this evening, as we were sailing through the tail end of the massive storm that was getting ready to crush the entire east coast and the Caribbean was really beginning to get churned up. It was neat to watch waves from the swimming pool splash all around the pool deck when I walked past there before heading back to the cabin. The seas were really getting rough. I did get a nice picture of my towel animal for the evening and the next day's Freestyle Daily before going to bed.

 

I have to note that we were watching the developing weather situation the best we could on the cabin tv but due to the lack of really good programming, we could only watch the coverage on either Fox News or MSNBC and their coverage was not all that great. We did see that it was going to be a huge storm though and it would affect the trip home, even after it was over, all the way through to Monday. They have those two channels, a free movie channel, a channel with rerun network TV shows, music, ship info channel, bow cam, and that is pretty much it. Even worse than Carnival's programming. Why can these lines not do better in that department?

 

Anyway, that about wraps it up for Day 6 of the journey. We still had one more port to visit, Cozumel the next day and I will get to that as soon as I can. I sincerely hope you are enjoying my review as much as I am enjoying writing about it, 5 weeks after the fact, :D. Anyway, happy cruising and happy meterological spring. Review to be continued......

Edited March 1, 2016 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[baxter44]

Love the positive attitude you have throughout your trip despite and rain and other annoyances - I can't tell you how sick I am of negative reviews, I know no cruise is perfect, no experience in life is perfect, but facing whatever comes with optimism and appreciation makes a big difference! Can't wait for the rest of your review :)

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Love the positive attitude you have throughout your trip despite and rain and other annoyances - I can't tell you how sick I am of negative reviews, I know no cruise is perfect, no experience in life is perfect, but facing whatever comes with optimism and appreciation makes a big difference! Can't wait for the rest of your review :)

 

Thanks, I always say that I will tell it like it is. I give honest, detailed reviews from my perspective and will not sugarcoat anything. If it is good, I say it, if it is just OK, I say that and if it is not so good, I will surely say that I didn't think much of it. I have always said that an average cruise is almost always better than an average day at work back home. After my disasterous experience on the Sky back in December, I really was not sure what to expect from this cruise but I would say that for the most part, NCL did deliver this time for me. There were surely parts that I didn't like but most of the experience was pretty good. I had a good run of beautiful weather the last few years on my cruises, and that kind of spoiled me I guess. The lousy weather I have had during the last few cruises was an annoyance but you can usually find an alternative to your original plan that keeps you out of the weather if you plan it out ahead of time. Always have to factor stuff like that in when planning port visits and even sea days. Anyway, I am happy to see you like my review and I am going to try to get to Cozumel day in just a little while here. Also, if you are interested, I do have some reviews of past cruises on both NCL and Carnival in my signature if you want to check that out sometime. Have a good one!