lisavangemert

Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

We took the chair lift over to the beach and hung out there awhile. Then, we rented kayaks from the shop (expensive, of course). They also had other water sport equipment for rent. We kayaked along the river behind the beach, and we saw this man in a bend of the river with a netted area. My eldest son speaks Spanish from being a missionary and he asked him what he was doing. They bonded over his surprise at my son's Spanish, and the guy invited us to jump in and see. What did we see? Giant turtles! We swam with them and touched them, and it was the highlight of my cruise, really. He loves his turtles. He knows them and raises them. We called him "hombre de Tortuga," or "Turtle Man," and he loved that. He didn't charge us, but I tipped him $50 for the best hour of our cruise.

Belize City, Belize

We took an excursion through the ship to Lamanai. We do them through the ship for stops where we're worried about time. Some people on our ship who cruise a lot told us that on the last cruise they were on, the captain's wife was late, and he left without her (apparently he hired a speed boat to bring her out to the ship!). Some excursion companies give back-to-ship guarantees, but what good does that really do you in the moment? Lamanai is a trek! We took a bus and then a river boat out there. You travel a long time. Don't bring little kids on this excursion. We loved the ruins. Apparently you can't climb the pyramid anymore (?), but it was pretty scary, so I'm not sad about that. The view was amazing, but coming back down was somewhat disconcerting. If you haven't seen ruins, they're worth it.

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a fun little island, and it's worth coming in a day early to go to the sea wall, Moody Gardens, the Hurricane Museum, and definitely go up the road to the Houston Space Center if you've never been. If you do that, read the book "Apollo 8," first. Everything will mean much more.

Cozumel, Mexico

We'd been to Cozumel before and did ruins, and we were doing ruins again at Belize, so in Cozumel we took an excursion through the ship to Xcaret. Our eldest son is a certified scuba diver, and he did a separate excursion to go scuba diving. Cozumel has the second largest coral reef in the world apparently, and he was excited to dive it. Xcaret was terrific. We had to take a boat in (you can see the bright yellow in the picture), and then a bus. We do excursions through the ship when we're worried about time. Otherwise, we do our own, usually with Costco or Shoreexcursions.com. The park is fantastic! We loved, loved, loved it. Our boys went swimming down the underground river, we saw the baby turtles, which was cool, there are amazing animals (some just right there like the lizard in the picture), and the bat cave is cool, too. You get to stand and be a roost for beautiful birds, and the acquarium is great. Their jellies display is very well done. We loved the birds, and in place, my husband was sitting there and a bird just randomly came up to him and jumped on his arm (see picture). There are some cultural things in the park as well, and a beach. We ate lunch in the restaurant (very good), and we could see people swimming with dolphins. We don't do that because our son was taking AP Environmental Science and told us about the cruelty of it, so we can't ever do dolphin swims!!! I'm so sad!!! Overal, worth it and a great excursion I'd highly recommend. It may not be perfect for those with little ones, as the park is not geared to small children, necessarily. It could be done, but they wouldn't necessarily love it.

Crown Princess

I'd bring protein bars or something if you are going on any of the excursions, as even if they give you lunch, it may be at an odd time (2pm) or not something you feel comfortable eating. This is true of any ship, but since this ship's itinerary took us two places with possible longer excursions (Cozumel & Belize City), it was particularly true.

Cozumel, Mexico

We went to the ruins of Tulum, and it was great. It's a very long trip, so bring a snack and a bottle of water.

Galveston, Texas

We visited the hurricane museum and the beach. Both were great.

George Town, Grand Cayman

We combined with other cruisers and hired a private van for the day when we got off of the ship. He took us to the beach, the turtle farm, hell, and his house! It was fun.

Key West, Florida

We got there too late to see Hemingway's house, which was what I really wanted to see, but it was fun to walk down the main street. I wanted to buy one of these pretty bud vases they had for my classroom, but a fellow passenger warned me they were bongs! I decided NOT to purchase drug paraphernalia for my desk!

Rhapsody of the Seas

Bring a highlighter to mark the activities that you want to do on the card they give you every day. Take a picture of it in case you lose it.