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Live-ish from Liberty 4/16-4/23

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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Day 5...Belize..

 

Let's first discuss everyone's biggest worry here - tendering.

 

If you have a RCI Tour, your tour ticket IS your tender. You will be the first ones off the boat starting around 8:15/8:30 it seems.

 

If you don't have an RCI Excursion, but do have another excursion booked on the island, you need to bring confirmation of your tour to the ticket station (it was at level 5 dining room on our cruise) and you will be given a tender ticket in the next group. They are given out in letters. You want to get in the tender ticket line early to get a letter A if possible. We were close - got letter B.

 

If you have no tour planned, you will be given a numbered ticket, starting at number 1. The numbered tickets will be called after the letters. When we stopped near the ticket distro location at 9am, they were already at ticket #11. Definitely get there early for a ticket number!

 

They told us that they didn't think letter B would be called until 9:15/9:30 and to wait in the common areas and listen to be called down to studio B.

 

Around 8:50, I had my family just head to Studio B to avoid the rush as we could easily see the tender boats moving along outside. Shortly after we got there, CD Jeff made an announcement that one of the RCI Tour tenders had room on it and they would take some of the A's and maybe B's in Studio B. So - several A's made it on board and Jeff made an announcement that they only had room for 15 more so they couldn't call B's at this time. We happened to be standing RIGHT next to him when he said that and I said 'If you need more people, we are a B and a party of 4' and he said 'off you go - get on the tender!'. So - we were actually on a tender at 9am and on Belize by 9:22!

 

So - my advice here is be ready early. Get the tender tickets early, grab breakfast, and head to studio B. And don't be shy about asking to get on a tender earlier than your ticket # if the opportunity presents itself!

 

Btw - only 1 person is needed in the tender ticket line and no sea passes are required.

 

Also - the tenders are pretty big - multi-level. We boarded the DI Branded Tender via the upper level but disembarked by the lower level.

 

My only regret is that I didn't get any good photos of the ship while we were on the tender. I was never seated in the right spot to get a good view - not sure where the right spot would be but I wasn't in it!!!

 

 

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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When we arrived at the dock, we had reserved a cave tubing tour direct with Cavetubing.bz . Liberty docks at Terminal 2 (Carnival Splender was also in port using Terminal 1), so we followed the directions in the email to walk to the end of Terminal 1 to find their desk. This was very easy to do and not far at all.

 

Upon arrival at the desk, we checked in - they had our name on their list, we used the bathroom, and then they walked a group of us out of the terminal area, past the Belize sign, and towards the lighthouse to wait.

 

By 8:42 we were at the lighthouse and the guides gave us complimentary bottles of water.

 

At 9:00, we were still all standing there. There were 4 vans and I couldn't understand what the hold up was, I had the confirmation email that said we should have been put on one of those vans right away.

 

A few others also had the same email and we approached the staff who told us that we were waiting for a bus??? A bus?? No - we specifically reserved with them for a small group feeling and expected to be on an air conditioned van by now!! One of the others (cruise critic member ace1zoe2) with the email had a party of 12. They told me that my party size was too small to be a private group in a van despite what the email said. I was never expecting private but I was definitely expecting a van size group and not a bus size group! And we got off the boat really early to get on our way and not wait for a full bus to depart. Ace1zoe2's group was granted a van and we were soooo excited that they asked that our party of 4 join them with the 3 seats remaining on their van. My daughter sat in my seat with me and we were finally on our way.

 

While our 25 minutes in the hot sun at the pier were NOT ideal, from the moment we stepped onto the van with our tour guide Luis, it was a GREAT day!!!!

 

One word of advice - if you want pictures at the Belize sign and you pass it on your way, stop and take them. You will not be dropped off in the same place as pickup and it will feel like a long walk to repeat after your tour.

 

 

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BecciBoo Great Review Rare

BecciBoo

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I just wanted to clarify - all of the soups and bisque see have had were very good, but living in New England, I am used to a VERY creamy thick pink Lobster Bisque. This was not as thick and more orange-ish. It was still good, just not what I get at home.

 

 

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Lucky you, never been up north, but definitely would love to go and have chowders/bisques and fresh lobster!

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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Once in our way with Luis, we drove to the cavetubing.bz office. Luis did a great job telling us all about the island and the sights we were seeing as we passed. Once at the office - we paid for our tour, and picked up the second guide Ginette that would be helping our group today. It's another 5 miles to the national park caves from there. Upon arrival - we had a few minutes to change and use the facilities. All of our belongings would be locked in Luis's van while we are away.

 

We were given helmets and life jackets and began the trek to the river. Cavetubing.bz has the tubes stashed very close to the water entrance so we did not have to carry them.

 

In the one mile to the cave entrance, we walked across/thru 3 small rivers (so you will get wet!!) and passed many different types of vegetation and our guides told us all about them.

 

We saw several tours carrying their own tubes and we were very happy not to be them!

 

At the entrance point, they hooked all 16 of our tubes together and we moved into the water.

 

We were inside the dark caves for about 25 minutes with the guides teaching about caves and Belize history (particularly wrt water levels) and pointing out some fun formations shaped like various things (a woman, an eagle, a manatee, a bird, etc).

 

After we exit the caves, it's about a 20-25 minute river journey back.

 

During this time - you can get out of your tubes and swim or walk for a bit if you would like (both of my kids did!).

 

There are some parts of the river (in and out of the caves) that are VERY shallow - and as the other cave tubing company would say 'Butts Up' are required! Our tubes were closed in the center so we were not much at risk for any scratches or bumps but it's definitely only a few inches deep at times!!

 

After the cave tubing adventure - we changed, hoped back in the van, and went to the office for lunch.

 

Lunch was exactly as promised - stewed chicken, rice and beans, and Cole slaw. You had your choice of soda (I think there was Coke, Sprite, orange Fanta, and strawberry Fanta), water, or rum punch. I know that the bottled products were tightly controlled but at least a few in our group had multiple rum punch glasses.

 

After lunch, Luis brought us back to the pier and dropped is off at Terminal 4.

 

We were back at the terminal at 3:15 ship time (2:15 local time). All aboard the last tender was at 4:30 ship time, so we did a little shopping at the port and then got in the tender line.

 

The Liberty tender line was very short (we were on a tender immediately)...the Carnival Splender line was VERY long.

 

We had a great tender ride back. It took a bit of time to get thru security - they actually had is weaving thru zigzag lines/rows to get everyone processed but around 4:30, we were on board in our room.

 

 

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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Day 6 - Cozumel...

 

After tons of research about the different beaches to go to in Cozumel, my family decided that they wanted to 'relax' on the ship instead!!

 

It's 9:30 and my son is in line for the flow rider. There is stand up from 9:30-10:15. The line is pretty short - about 6-7 people and good quality individual attention. There is boogie boarding for 45 minutes following this.

 

Slides are also open until 11am, then everything closes until 4pm.

 

 

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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We sent out laundry for wash and fold - it was returned within 24 hours...attached is a photo of the bag and contents before and the folded items returned..price was $35 (no discount for gold)

 

96ece088122b0ce14ada4b5163b4f160.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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Last night (Day 5) dinner menu was Shiitake...we looked at the menu and decided not to eat at the MDR...we went to the WJ and the selections were equally unattractive to us (many of the same items)...

 

In the future - I really need to make sure we schedule a specialty restaurant on this menu night!!!

 

The menu was the standard online one...sorry - no photos of that one since we didn't go into the dining room...

 

 

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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What did you do in Roatan?

 

 

 

Head back to post #52 to read about our day in Roatan..we did a Victor Bodden private tour with monkeys, zipline and stop at west beach.

 

Was able to find enough pictures that didn't have people in them for our time at zip/monkeys.

 

856f1620deac3e5fd51c4e6ccd34a2be.jpg

 

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poohtaz

poohtaz

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The Tidal Wave slide was open all day and I loved it! It's definitely more psychologically thrilling when you think you might hit the top/end of the ride from that high up in the ocean, than it is physically thrilling, but we loved it.

 

The Green/Orange slides are horrible! Took me 68 seconds to get down the green one - I was constantly stuck! Totally sucked...

 

My son says that the yellow slide in the splash pad area is WAAAY better than green/orange and highly recommends it to those who are eligible. He probably went on it 10-15 times because it was actually fast.

 

 

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My claustrophobia just went through the roof when you said you got stuck!!! OMG, I was apprehensive before about those tubes, but now.. yikes! :eek: No Bueno. I'll do the Tidal Wave one

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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My claustrophobia just went through the roof when you said you got stuck!!! OMG, I was apprehensive before about those tubes, but now.. yikes! :eek: No Bueno. I'll do the Tidal Wave one

 

 

My son tried the trick reported earlier to go faster on the slide with no luck...I would not recommend them if you are claustrophobic. The good news is that it is NOT dark in them - they have lights that shine in and make it very colorful inside.

 

 

 

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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We walked around the pier for a while in Cozumel and collected about 7 charms and necklaces for my daughter.

 

We stopped into the new Margaritaville for lunch. The food was actually quite good but the place is LOUD. Yes, there is trivia to earn Margaritas. Yes, There are line dances around that have alcohol poured right in your mouth. Yes, there was some inappropriate touching / dancing...These things did not bother us and might even be fun...but the constant whistle blowing was TOO MUCH for us...

 

 

 

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Junkhouse

Junkhouse

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My son tried the trick reported earlier to go faster on the slide with no luck

 

Dang sorry it didn't work for him. The only contact I have with the slide are my heel and shoulders. I must have a lot more mass:D that helps me out.

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