Day Five: Roatan, Honduras

Our last day of shore excursions and we were tired. Luckily today's adventure was pretty laid back as we drove around the island a bit. Our tour guide showed us around in his van. The countryside was beautiful and I swear you can see the ocean from anywhere you are. The houses are so colourful, I want to live in every single one. 

Our first stop was to an iguana farm. As we made our way down the stairs we saw that these iguanas were just lounging around, we had to be careful where we stood because they were everywhere! Thankfully they are herbivores or else I would've been screaming louder when they started charging at me. The guy in charge would give us cocoa leaves and as soon as the leaf was low enough we were swamped with iguanas at our feet.

 

There was also a fish farm in the ocean with numerous fish that measured at least 2 feet long. When someone would throw a little fish into the water, those monstrous fish would anticipate where it was going to land and dog pile (or should I say fish pile) on top of each other to get it. 

Our next activity took us to another animal place where there were monkeys, a sloth, macaws, a weird anteater like animal, and even raccoons. They let us into the cage with the baby monkeys and we were bombarded with these creatures jumping on our heads and reaching into pockets and trying to play with cameras. Such playful and mischievous animals. 

They let us hold the sloth and she would grab our shoulders with her sharp inch long claws as if we were just a normal tree limb. 

There was also a little baby night monkey who was so cuddly and just wanted to hide her head in our armpits. 

Normally they have four macaws (two sets of mates) but only Jack and Rose where there. They each have such different personalities just like people. Jack was friendly and let us hold him when we had seeds in our hands. 

But Rose was just eyeing us up the whole time until the end when she flew across the cage and tried to grab a girls hair.

After, we got relax on the beach for a couple hours in this little area that had a barrier to block the waves of the ocean. I swear the water was as warm as the air, it felt like bath water. Before this trip I didn't realize ocean water could be that warm. 

When we got back on the ship we fell straight to sleep, after three days of excursions we were pretty tired. 

We peeked through the stores on the cruise, including the candy store; Almost got blown away when we were walking around the deck; watched a bit of the dive in movie and then played mini golf before going for dinner. 

They were serving escargots and I had to get some to compare them to the ones in France. I was a little disappointed because they didn't come with the shell on but nevertheless they were still tasty. 

We went to the theatre again for a magic show. Our seats were right up close so we were in prime position to be called on as volunteers. Brad raised my hand up and volunteered me first, but later he got brought to the stage to get a sword through his neck so it evens out. We won our second bottle of champagne, and gave it to Ryan and Tori, from dinner, I think they hang out with us because we don't drink and they want all our champagne we win. 

Day Four: Belize

We left the ship and got straight onto the first tender (a ferry) heading to the docks. It took thirty minutes before we arrived and as soon as the boat stopped we were hit with the heat. Each stop seems more and more hot. We met our tour guide and the other two in our group and she led us to her personal minivan. 

We were a little skeptical about the fact but once we got in it felt very professional. We booked through X-stream tours at www.belizecruiseexcursions.com and it was more than what we expected. She gave us the history of the country and explained everything we passed. It took about an hour to drive to the rainforest where we would do our cave tubing and canopy zip line tour. After getting all organized, we hiked for 25 minutes through the humid rainforest. Reaching the mouth of the cave we were astonished by the size of it. The water was beautiful and so refreshing of course. We tubed for forty minutes in pitch black caves, if it wasn't for our headlamps we wouldn't have seen a thing. Twenty more minutes under the canopy of the trees and then after getting all heated up we jumped in the river and swam for a bit before heading off to the zip lining. The tour from the tree tops was fantastic and exhilarating. (All of our photos are on the disposable camera) 

At the end we made our way back to the ship and proceeded to do our regular cruise things such as soaking in the hot tub, ordered room service, and waited for dinner. At each port they always have a special meal on the menu for the country. I tried cows tongue... just to say that I ate it. As long as you don't think of it as a tongue it's alright. 

We went to the theatre and watched a magic show and dancing. This isn't just a little stage. Every part of it moved in someway. Up, down, or around in circles. There was room behind stage for huge sets. And they had some complicated lighting. I was mesmerized by the quality of the act. We then went to an adult only scavenger hunt, we were in the same group as a couple (Ryan and Tori) we dine with. There was some crazy stuff happening and we laughed so hard. 

Day Three: Cozumel, Mexico

We were able to disembark the ship at 9am, so after we had eaten breakfast in bed again and packed up everything we would need for the day we joined the throng of people to the gangway. 

We were greeted with a wave of hot moist air that made us sweat buckets before we had even made it off the dock. After getting through all the shops that adorned the cruise terminals we found ourselves a scooter rental. Further down the beach we came across a snorkel gear rental and got two sets for the whole day. 

We spent the day driving around the island finding beaches to snorkel and others to play in the waves. The water was unbelievably warm and blue. We had some early twenty year old guys come up to us and told us we looked familiar. It was a casual segway into seeing if we were LDS. Something about us like my modest swim suit or Brads clean face tipped them off. 

We got back to the ship at around 4 all sun burnt, tired and hungry. We fell right to sleep and didn't wake up until it was time to go to dinner at 8:15. Once again, the meal was fantastic I had the pasta and Brad got steak tacos. 

Right before dinner it started to rain. There was thunder and lightning and some pretty big waves which caused the boat to rock a bit. I was feeling a bit dizzy/rocky from the swaying but after laying down for a minute was feeling much better. Brad went to the ships Mexican buffet, he says it was pretty disappointing but that may have something to do with just leaving real Mexico.

Day Two: Fun Day at Sea

Last night we filled out our breakfast in bed door hanger before going to sleep so we could start the day off by waking up to room service knocking on our door with our food. 

Brad played basketball while I went for a run on the running track. Oddly I ran 1.4 miles unknowingly... It just didn't seem as hard as it is up in Canada with the altitude being comparatively closer to sea level. 

We made our way to an art seminar about collecting art. Brad dutifully tagged along claiming he was enjoying himself too, although I know he only came because he knew I wanted to go. 

I've never been to an art auction before and who knew that the first time I went it would be on a cruise ship. I didn't want to bid on anything of course, but I wanted to sit in and watch the action and hear about all the artists. It was very interesting. The atmosphere was so fun and they all talked so fast and everything was happening very quickly that I think I got a sore neck from trying to see it all. 

We had two lunches, spaced around us sitting in pools and going on the waterslides. I think Bradley is getting our money's worth just by how much fro-yo and ice cream he is eating. 

Eventually we got tired of all the noise and retreated to the adult only spa. We listened to our book that we had started on the drive up to Calgary as we laid in the couples hammock. 

Dinner that night was formal wear so we got all dressed up and headed down.

 On the menu was a lot of seafood, I had the oysters for a starter and the lobster tail for my entrée. It was delicious. Brad, not being a fan of seafood, wasn't completely satisfied but got over that quickly when I reminded him he could order room service. The waiters performed a dance number for us while we ate. 

The couple across from us were celebrating her birthday and he asked me to video the song for them. He ended up proposing to her and it brought back memories when Brad and I got engaged. What a happy day... But the wedding day was way better. 

Day One: Embarkation

After flying in the night before, we started our day out right with Texas shaped waffles at our hotel continental breakfast. So far, it has been smooth sailing. We took some precautions before we left by printing off any and all documents we could get our hands on. We did NOT want someone to tell us we didn't pay yet or not let us get on the cruise. 

After breakfast we went back to the airport to catch the last cruise shuttle to The Port of Galveston. The whole bus got pretty excited upon laying sights on our ship.

 We were itching to get on and explore but first we had to be herded like cattle through all the security and checkin queues. Brad and I were worried about the whole "if you aren't over 21 then you have to be with someone older than 25 unless you are married and show proper documents" rule. So we had photocopied as many documents we could find that legalized our marriage. After all that the security people barely even glanced at it. 

The wait was fine, I got to hold my hubby's hand most of the time, except for the fact that the shrill Texan accents of the ladies behind us resonates everywhere and for the most part it was always to the tune of a complaint. There are so many people and the ship is so big that we never ran into the same people twice. 

After we unpacked our bags in our room and tried to make our little interior stateroom feel like home,

 we headed off to enjoy the amenities that come with a cruise. Our ship, Carnival Magic, is adorned with two waterslides, a basketball/volleyball court, a library and games room, an art gallery, two pools, seven hot tubs, and dining options galore. There are 12 levels and so many elevators but we got tired of waiting for them so mostly we used the stairs (and it makes us feel okay eating all that we did haha). We had our safety meeting and then the ship embarked as we waved goodbye to Galveston. 

The rest of the day's activities included winning $200 art credits and a free work of art (which we found out later that there were so many strings attached it wasn't worth it); Bradley getting a trophy and free champagne for being the worse dancer (we ended up giving the champagne away to a group who then wanted a picture with us); dinner and then an evening show in the theatre. 

Dinner was fantastic. We were assigned to a table with three other young couples. The hard part about dinner was everything on the menu was free AND THE MENU CHANGES EVERY DAY! How on earth are we suppose to choose what to eat?! So we ordered three different appetizers, two main dishes, and two desserts. For the rest of the week we will be served by the same waiters, and ours are amazing! The sang us a honeymoon song to the tune of happy birthday and we got an "already free" dessert. 

At the front of the ship there is a two level theatre where we finished the night off with some dancing and singing shows and the cruise director entertained us.