Western Caribbean Cruise 2008

Western Caribbean Cruise
(click on picture for larger image)

December 21-28, 2008

Myself, Gillian, Jen, and Craig decided to take a cruise for the week of Christmas. We took the Carnival Valor out of Miami.

The Ship:

The ship held about 3500 passengers. There was an enormous slide leading into one of many pools. There was also a miniature volleyball court, a mini-golf course and a big screen tv pool-side. For some odd reason, the local channels on the ship were out of Denver, CO which happened to be where the Bills were playing when we got on the ship so we were able to watch the game before we sailed. It also meant that the daily weather forecasts always seemed to be for snow although we didn't see any of it :). We had an inside stateroom which meant no windows/port holes. The room wasn't big but it was adequate. Each night, the room cleaners would leave us towel animals.

Georgetown, Grand Cayman (Tuesday)

Our first stop was at Grand Cayman. We learned that the population of Grand Cayman was about 3000 people. As there were about 5 other cruise ships in port, I think the population at least triples with the tourists. Needless to say, the town was very crowded and there was a lot of traffic. The plan was to go diving at Stingray City but the weather did not agree with us as the government shut down access to the sandbar because of rain and winds. Instead, we went to a local sea turtle farm, a dolphin pool, the Tortuga Rum Factory Outlet, and Hell. At the turtle farm, we got to hold and see a lot of sea turtles and learn about them. We visited Hell, Grand Cayman. The town of Hell consists of a post office (where you can get postcards that are postmarked from Hell) and a "volcanic" (this is still in question if it is actually a volcanic site) rock formation and not much else but it was something we just had to visit. The Tortuga Rum Outlet was fun as they had free flavored rum and rum cakes tastings.

Roatan Island, Honduras (Wednesday)

After Cayman, the weather was perfect for the rest of the trip. Our next stop was Roatan Island, Honduras. This stop was very different from Cayman. We were the only ship there and I'm pretty sure that is by design as there is not much near the port other than a few shops and they probably couldn't handle any more people at once. As I said, the town was extremely small. When we got off the ship, we stopped by "The Bar" and waited for our excursion time. We took a bus across the island to a National Park to go snorkelling and clear kayaking. We also go to go into the park and see the local birds and monkeys. After walking across a long rope bridge, we came to the bird cages. After, we got to play with and hold Peter (the monkey). He was a lot of fun and very curious. While we were back on ship and preparing to depart, a major fire broke out in the town less than a half a mile from the ship. I was told it was at or near the local lumber yard.

Belize City, Belize (Thursday, Christmas Day)

Christmas day found us in Belize City. Gillian and I decided to go to the Barrier Reef and go snorkelling followed by a day on a private island. Not a bad way to spend Christmas :). The snorkelling was a lot of fun as we saw some nice coral, a few stingrays and some fish. the island was very relaxing as we had some beers and layed by the lagoon. There was also a bald eagle not too far inland. While we were basking in the sea and sun, Jen and Craig decided to do a cave spelunking and off-road jeep excursion. While back on board the ship, there were a few signs that it was indeed Christmas (in case we forgot :)

Cozumel, Mexico (Friday)

This was our last stop before heading out for one more day at sea and then home to Miami. Cozumel was definitlely the most suited for handling mass amounts of people. Gillian and I decided to take a Snuba excursion. Snuba is just like Scuba only you don't wear any of the equipment. There is a raft that 4 people are hooked up to with a 25 foot air hose. You just swim with a mask, fins, weightbelt, and regulator. This was a lot of fun as we got to stay underwater (at around 20 feet deep) for about 35 minutes. I got to hold a baby stingray (about 1 ft in diamter) and swam through a school of fish. There was beautiful coral and fauna all around. The water temperature everywhere was in the mid to high 70s so it was very comfortable. While we did this, Jen and Craig decided to go on a high-wire zip line tour. After we were done, we all met up at Carlos and Charlies (a famous watering hole) for food and drinks. We also stopped by Senior Frogs for drinks. Both bars had a lot of entertainment and balloon hats. As the day wore on, we headed back to the pier. The port had a lot of shops and street performers. As we knew that after we got back on the ship, we wouldn't be getting off again until the cruise was over (sniff, sniff), we stopped at the Three Amigos Cantina (dedicated to the movie) for one last cocktail.

While on the ship, we found plenty to do. The casino had a poker table where Craig and I helped offset some of the costs of our trip. Gillian played her share of video poker and Jen did well with the Wheel of Fortune slot game. Food was never a problem on board. The dining room had a wonderful menu every night with plenty to choose from. We also took full advantage of the buffets, sushi bar, pizza place, and wine bar. For our last night on the cruise, we spent the extra money and went to the on-board Supper Club Restuarant to enjoy a nice surf-n-turf dinner.