Back From Vacation

**jbran23** · 11-22-2010, 03:54 PM

Just got back from a week long Carnival cruise. We stopped in Belize, Honduras, Cozumel, and Grand Caymen.

The food and weather was awesome. Basically a week long cheat meal of whatever I wanted. I gained 5 pounds in 7 days! lol. Thats what I call a bulker! This is the second cruise I have been on and I can tell you for the amount of good food and great service you get and the places you get to visit its hard to beat for the price. Anyone who has not been on a cruise I highly recommend it.

**DSM4Life** · 11-22-2010, 04:02 PM

I got a picture of you guys on the cruise. It was super duper fun.

**edgarr** · 11-22-2010, 04:17 PM

^^^ too funny

So what area did you like the best? Oh and 5 lbs is nothing!

**bdzemske** · 11-22-2010, 04:33 PM

hahah funny pic!

**jbran23** · 11-22-2010, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by DSM4Life

I got a picture of you guys on the cruise. It was super duper fun.

LMAO! Thanks buddy! Pictures are worth a thousand words....especially that one.

Congrats on the new title too by the way.

Originally Posted by edgarr

^^^ too funny

So what area did you like the best? Oh and 5 lbs is nothing!

Grand Caymen was beautiful and definitely looked like the richest place we stopped. Alot of nice houses, shops, and restaurants. They all had beautiful scenery and water though. Belize was the poorest looking. Alot of shacks and half finished houses. Our tour guide said that the average income was $10-15,000 annually. $20,000 and up is considered upper class. Minimum wage is $2.00.

**edgarr** · 11-22-2010, 04:41 PM

^^^ cayman is a ton of fun and the people are great. Last time there a big group of cruise ship people came down by our area and didnt want to go back!

**stack_it** · 11-22-2010, 04:56 PM

Did you do any excursions?

In Belize I've visited the Mayan ruins, went cave tubing, and went ziplining through the jungle. Loved Belize.

In Caymen I've been snorkeling twice and went swimming with the stingrays. Been there a few times and love the rum cakes and local bars.

In Honduras (roatone island) I took the city tour and visited the iguana farm.

I've been to Cozumel like 6 times now. Seem the entire island. Done everything from beach days to drinking at the local bars all day and shopping to renting scooters.

I agree with you on the bang for the buck value of a cruise. There's not much better. What ship were you on?

**jbran23** · 11-22-2010, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by stack_it

Did you do any excursions?

In Belize I've visited the Mayan ruins, went cave tubing, and went ziplining through the jungle. Loved Belize.

I did the cave tubing. Probably the same spot that you went. It was about an hour drive from the port. Our tour guide was very informative and talked to us the whole time about the country and what not. Very interesting. Next time I want to check out the mayan ruins. Looks cool as hell.

In Caymen I've been snorkeling twice and went swimming with the stingrays. Been there a few times and love the rum cakes and local bars.

In Caymen we went to a kind of secluded beach that my girlfriend knew about from a previous visit. There were only about 6 or 7 other people there and the setting was amazing. We got some great pics from that spot. I have never been snorkeling or scuba diving but after seeing the water and fish from the beach I wish I had done it. Next time I will definitely take advantage.

In Honduras (roatone island) I took the city tour and visited the iguana farm.

We stopped in Roatan as well! We just did some shopping right off the ship in the plaza because it was pouring the whole day! Did you notice the half sunken ship to the left of where the boat docks? Im trying to research what happened there. We took some pretty cool pics of it.

I've been to Cozumel like 6 times now. Seem the entire island. Done everything from beach days to drinking at the local bars all day and shopping to renting scooters.

Cozumel we did some shopping and then just beached it for the rest of the day and drank.

I agree with you on the bang for the buck value of a cruise. There's not much better. What ship were you on?

We sailed on the Carnival Glory. It was a nice ship but compared to the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas that I sailed on last cruise, it seemed a little dated. It did have a huge outdoor video screen on the top deck that we watched Monday Night Football on though. It was awesome!

**stack_it** · 11-22-2010, 06:09 PM

Sounds like a good time. I think I remember the sunken ship. I'll try to find my pics from then because I wanna say I did see it and took pics aswell. I've sailed on the glory. It was fun but I'd have to say my least favorite boat out of the 5 or 6 I've been on. Like you said it seemed dated and a little less well kept. The conquest was my favorite. How would you compare royal caribean and carnival? I've heard RC is more laid back and less of a party boat.

**jbran23** · 11-22-2010, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by stack_it

Sounds like a good time. I think I remember the sunken ship. I'll try to find my pics from then because I wanna say I did see it and took pics aswell. I've sailed on the glory. It was fun but I'd have to say my least favorite boat out of the 5 or 6 I've been on. Like you said it seemed dated and a little less well kept. The conquest was my favorite. How would you compare royal caribean and carnival? I've heard RC is more laid back and less of a party boat.

The Royal Caribbean ship was definitely a nicer ship but for the price we got on this cruise I cant complain. Everything just seemed fancier on RC with chandaliers and extravagant ballrooms and stuff where as Carnival seemed a little plainer and not as over the top. I dont think you can go wrong with any cruise line as far as the food and service goes. They all are going to basically treat you like royalty. Its hard coming back to the real world after a week of that.

As far as the difference between the 2 cruise lines its hard to say because I wasnt around the party scenes of the clubs and bars as much on this cruise as I was on the last one. This was more of a relaxing vacation with my girlfriend where as the last one was for a wedding so everyone was partying pretty hard the whole time.

**lovbyts** · 11-23-2010, 02:32 AM

I did the same cruise on the Glory a few years ago. I have been on 7+ Cruises in 3 years time. lol
My favorite and most memorable excursion was from Cozumel to Belize. We (my buddy and I) missed the departure time of the ship from Cozumel by 1 hr. Opps....

We where told to NOT try to catch the ship in Belize that it was near impossible to make it in time and to catch it on it's return at another stop. CHALLENGE!!! My buddy and I went to Playa Del Carmen and played until midnight, took a bus from there to the boarder of Belize, caught another bus to the main city and got there 1 hr after the ship had arrived.

We had our passports but I didnt have my wallet, only took cash off ship. My buddy's ATM was maxed out and when we got to the Belize boarder we had $6 between us left. It cost more than that to cross the boarder but after telling them what happened they let us through.

We just stayed polite, said yes we understand and asked what our options where instead of trying to argue. You get further that way.

When we boarded the ship and went to our room the captain actually came by and said congratulations on making it back on-board, we where the first to make the trip. lol

We also became very well known on-board because everyone had heard about us missing the ship and we had made it back. It was quite the bus ride also. Many interesting people we meet along the way. Back packers from different parts of the world, locals from the sticks and generally good people.

I love cruises. I always lost weight before because the food is MUCH more healthier than i would normally eat. I always schedule room-service for breakfast as my wake up call. Tomato juice, orange juice, fresh fruits, a couple eggs and coffee. I generally get a room with a balcony. I once got the master suite, 2 king size beds and large balcony for breakfast.

Reminds me, I have a FREE cruise for 2 I need to use soon and also 5 or 6 pre paid cruises and more discounted ones. I need to schedule another one soon.

For anyone who has not been on one, GO. They are cheap as long as you dont run up a bar bill.

**jbran23** · 11-23-2010, 10:50 AM

^^^Thats a pretty crazy story lovbyts. My girlfriend and I were wondering what would happen if we missed getting back on the boat at any of our stops.

We only got room service breakfast once because we had to get off the boat early that day to make our excursion. All the other days we did the buffet. The made to order omelettes were the shit! The bacon was served by someone behind the counter and I figured it was so people didnt load up on it but the dude would shovel like 8 slices on your plate. lol. It was like they were trying to get rid of it.

Man, it must be nice to have all those cruises saved up. Can you use them to go wherever you want or are they already determined where the ship goes? I would love to be able to do a Mediterranean cruise next time. Those are probably quite a bit more expensive though.