Back home from A western Caribbean crusie

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Back home from A western Caribbean crusie

Posted: 11/17/2012 10:21:41 AM EDT

First I am very glad to be home and I do realize we have it

very good here. Took the Carnival Dream to Cozumel, Belize,

Roatan and Costa Mayo. In Belize we took a two hour Bus ride to

Xunantunich. The ride there was eye opening. Very impoverished

country. They speak English and I was told they have no welfare.

I really appreciated this. The people are self sufficient and this

is what I would like to see here.

People live in homes they can afford. Some are smaller than my shed.

Here are a couple examples I saw.

There are armed police or soldiers along the way. They have check points along

the roads along with little guard houses.

These guys were at the ruins. They would not let me take anymore pics of them.

The upper on that rifle had no finish left on the upper, the lower appears to be

newer.

The ruins were magnificent. You could see a town in Guatemala from the top of

the pyramid.

Posted: 11/17/2012 10:25:33 AM EDT

[#1]

How many days?

Have you done cruises before?

Would you recommend it?

Wife and I looking at doing that.

Posted: 11/17/2012 10:29:01 AM EDT

[#2]

Beautiful country.
Really friendly people.
If you go again, take a couple weeks in country, a lot of really cool places to visit.

Posted: 11/17/2012 10:33:57 AM EDT

[#3]

This was a 7 day Cruise and was my second. I really enjoyed it and would

recommend it. I do suggest taking excursions that are sponsored by the

cruise line. This trip cost 2 of us 200 total (ruins). It was a full day, 2 hours each way

and they did provide a lunch. The ports have little markets right at the docks.

You can get away from the ports on the excursions and see they real country.

The good thing about taking an approved excursion is that the ship will wait

for you if they are late. There was a group that did not make it back to ship

while out on their own. The ship left them in Costa Maya Thursday.

We zip lined in Roatan and went to a private beach. Since there is no welfare there

is fierce competition between the vendors. The people can be a little annoying but

they will stop if you let them know that you are not interested in their goods.

Posted: 11/17/2012 10:43:30 AM EDT

[#4]

I have been to Belize 3 times.
I will go back again.
I had pic's I took that are similar to those of the OP. Extreme Poverty in my eyes and living life in the their eyes.
The government School had no window glass just curtains and a dirt floor. This was 2 hours out of Belize City

Posted: 11/17/2012 2:49:13 PM EDT

[#5]

Mahogany Bay Roatan.
View of Mahogany Bay from my cove balcony room.

View from zip line platforms.

Tabyana Beach after the zip lines.

random building on the trip back from the beach

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:01:33 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
This was a 7 day Cruise and was my second. I really enjoyed it and would
recommend it. I do suggest taking excursions that are sponsored by the
cruise line. This trip cost 2 of us 200 total (ruins). It was a full day, 2 hours each way
and they did provide a lunch. The ports have little markets right at the docks.
You can get away from the ports on the excursions and see they real country.
The good thing about taking an approved excursion is that the ship will wait
for you if they are late. There was a group that did not make it back to ship
while out on their own. The ship left them in Costa Maya Thursday.

We zip lined in Roatan and went to a private beach. Since there is no welfare there
is fierce competition between the vendors. The people can be a little annoying but
they will stop if you let them know that you are not interested in their goods.

So what happens to the people who are left?

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:10:50 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

So what happens to the people who are left?

Beats me. I guess they have to find their own way home. The ship waited 30

extra minutes before sailing. They stress the sailing time every day. That is

very motivating in my book.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:17:00 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:
This was a 7 day Cruise and was my second. I really enjoyed it and would
recommend it. I do suggest taking excursions that are sponsored by the
cruise line. This trip cost 2 of us 200 total (ruins). It was a full day, 2 hours each way
and they did provide a lunch. The ports have little markets right at the docks.
You can get away from the ports on the excursions and see they real country.
The good thing about taking an approved excursion is that the ship will wait
for you if they are late. There was a group that did not make it back to ship
while out on their own. The ship left them in Costa Maya Thursday.

We zip lined in Roatan and went to a private beach. Since there is no welfare there
is fierce competition between the vendors. The people can be a little annoying but
they will stop if you let them know that you are not interested in their goods.

So what happens to the people who are left?

They are personally responsible for obtaining transportation to the next port where they can reembark on the cruise ship.

That's why I only purchase shore exclusions from the cruise line.

BTW; there are an unbelievable number of really big sharks cruising right along the beaches at Mahogany Bay.

The locals call them "lazy sharks" but they are damn big and scared the hell out of me.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:17:08 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:

Quoted:

So what happens to the people who are left?

Beats me. I guess they have to find their own way home. The ship waited 30
extra minutes before sailing. They stress the sailing time every day. That is
very motivating in my book.

lol, i bet they freaked out

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:21:05 PM EDT

[#10]

Great pics, thanks for posting.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:25:48 PM EDT

[#11]

the few ways to find out how well even the poorest in America have it, is to go to a 3rd world country.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:32:21 PM EDT

[#12]

Great trip/cruise, we took it in January (on the Liberty). It was our first time on a big boat and enjoyed it enough to do it again. We're taking the Eastern leg cruise in three weeks (on the Valor...no Guys Burger Joint on the Valor though

).

IMO, Mahogany Bay was by far the nicest stop along the way.

ETA: The absolute biggest disappointment about the cruise was finding out (once on it) that the pools (both of them) are salt water.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:39:12 PM EDT

[#13]

I'm going on that cruise in April, can't wait!

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:44:07 PM EDT

[#14]

Cuba

Would really like to go there legally one day.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:44:45 PM EDT

[#15]

Wife unit is going to be working for a cruise line from home, but we'll get essentially free cruises. I'm so excited, neither of us have ever been, and we're going to try to go out twice a year starting this summer.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:48:01 PM EDT

[#16]

Cruising is a very cost effective way to vacation. The food is good and

most people do not realize that you can order more than one starter,

entree or desert each night. I am sure I put on about 5 pounds this week.

Posted: 11/17/2012 3:52:07 PM EDT

[#17]

So jealous. And, I feel so lazy. Because of the wife's job, we can go on cruises for like $12. We are going to do one, sooner or later.

Posted: 11/17/2012 4:01:22 PM EDT

[#18]

We're booked on the Dream in March for the Eastern Caribbean; looking forward, first "real" vacation after 28 years of marriage.

Posted: 11/17/2012 4:04:39 PM EDT

[#19]

Cozumel

Posted: 11/17/2012 4:05:33 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

We're booked on the Dream in March for the Eastern Caribbean; looking forward, first "real" vacation after 28 years of marriage.

Hope you enjoy yourselves. We just had our 27th.

Posted: 11/17/2012 4:08:29 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Cuba

Would really like to go there legally one day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/banditman1/DSC_1639.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/banditman1/DSC_1638.jpg

Been there 20 years ago. The base was nice, though we were told if you see arrows painted on the ground to stop and start yelling for help. Something about land mines.

Posted: 11/17/2012 4:26:12 PM EDT

[#22]

Posted: 11/21/2012 5:12:10 PM EDT

[#23]

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

Glad you guys had a good time!

Posted: 11/21/2012 5:24:36 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

Glad you guys had a good time!

Thanks MW

It was great and we really needed to get away.

Posted: 11/21/2012 5:26:57 PM EDT

[#25]

Ive been to that very same temple in Belize and even saw an armed group of soldiers there. I was told they patrol the border to keep out the illegal immigrants. I was surprised at the number of Amish there.

Prep

Posted: 11/21/2012 5:30:28 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:

Cuba

Would really like to go there legally one day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/banditman1/DSC_1639.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/banditman1/DSC_1638.jpg

You technically can go there legally - you just can't spend US dollars there.

I plan on going there this spring or summer.

Posted: 11/22/2012 8:25:59 AM EDT

[#27]

Nice, sounds you were on the same cruise as friends of mine last week.

Posted: 11/22/2012 12:02:04 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:

Nice, sounds you were on the same cruise as friends of mine last week.

If they were on the Dream we were. That thing holds 4000 guests and 1500 workers. But was

not crowded most of the time. Got a little crowded around the shops when they were having

drawings.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Back home from A western Caribbean crusie

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