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We walked out of the Turtle Centre and tried to figure out where we should wait on the bus to come by and pick us up. There was a Turtle Centre van sitting there, and a guy hollered for us to come over there. We explained that we wanted to go to Foster’s Food Fair, a grocery store where we were going to get lunch. He asked, “Foster’s West Bay”? I said “Foster’s by Cemetery Beach. He repeated, “West Bay? And Robby said yes. Soon, we were on our way, and before long I spotted Foster’s Food Fair. I commented to my family, “That’s our stop.” But we weren’t slowing down. So I said several times very loudly that we wanted to stop there. The driver just kept going. After we passed the store, Robby said, “Hey, you missed our stop!” The driver replied, “I asked if you wanted to go to Foster’s West Bay. That wasn’t West Bay.” Now I was a little ticked off because I felt like he was completely ignoring everything I said. But he did turn around and drop us off right in front of the entrance to Foster’s Food Fair – the one we wanted to go to. I paid him and thanked him sweetly, even though I was still aggravated.

We went inside to the deli.They had a lot of things to choose from. You just filled your own to-go container with whatever you wanted and it was $5.59/lb Cayman. We all got soft drinks that were just over $1 each. I paid with US dollars, and got change in Cayman dollars and coins. I was pretty excited about that, because they are very pretty. I thought it was interesting when I later found out completely by accident that the Cayman coins stick to a magnet, but US coins do not.

We took our food and drinks outside and sat under the shade at a picnic table in the parking lot. There were chickens running around begging for scraps. We all really enjoyed our food. My favorites were the jerk chicken pasta and the plantains. The girls got more than they could eat, so they fed the chickens their leftovers.

We walked a few blocks to Cemetery Beach. We literally walked right beside a cemetery to get to the beach.

It wasn’t crowded at all,and the water was absolutely gorgeous! I had read that this was the best place to snorkel from the beach, so Robby and I headed out to see what we could find. Maybe we just didn’t go out far enough, but we swam out really far, and all we saw was dead coral and a few stray fish here and there.

Dead Brain Coral

Molly found a flounder and took this picture

The snorkeling was really disappointing. But above the water, the view was incredible!!

We decided that we better leave since we weren’t sure how long we would have to wait for the bus. It is supposed to run every 15 minutes.We walked over to a bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited. I think Robby and I were both starting to panic when a bus going the other direction turned around and came back for us. We were so grateful! But as usual, the bus made many stops for people to get off and on. We could see the ship, but we seemed to be going in the wrong direction. We were 15 minutes away from last tender,and we never cut it that close. Robby told Jessie to ask the driver if we would be at the port in the next 15 minutes. He said of course! We still worried, but he was right. We were there in plenty of time, and there was a long line for the tender boats anyway. We got on the last tender back, which left the port probably 30 minutes after the time they told us for last tender. It was a quick trip back, and we saw this cool pirate ship on the way.

We dried off and walked over to the Caribbean Free Flight Aviary. It was an enclosed area with lots of interesting birds.

Next, we went to Breaker’s Lagoon and the Turtle Twister Waterslide. Breakers Lagoon is a big pool with a waterfall and water slide, and lounge chairs around it. Molly loved the water slide.

Our final stop at Cayman Turtle Center was the Turtle Wading Touch Pool. The girls all got in and took turns holding some of the turtles. They loved it! One turtle bit Jessie’s toe. She said it hurt, but it didn’t break the skin or even leave much of a mark.

Our next stop at the turtle farm was Turtle Lagoon. Molly and I put on our snorkeling gear right away and got in, and the other girls followed us. They did require us to wear vests, but I didn’t inflate mine. We started snorkeling, and the water had a lot of really gross junk floating on the top. Like really gross. And we were swimming into it head first. I wanted to get out, but Molly wanted to swim with the turtles, so I pretended it wasn’t bothering me.

We swam a pretty good ways before we saw our first turtle, and we had only seen a few little fish. I got some pictures of the turtle, and was ready to turn around and go back. We had done what we were in there for, right?

But Molly spotted another turtle in the distance, so we kept going. And going. And then, we turned a corner, and saw tons of big fish! And lots of turtles! It was awesome, and I completely forgot about all the yucky stuff.This corner of the lagoon is where people feed the fish and turtles, and that is why they all congregated there.

We stayed in that spot for a really longtime, and several turtles swap right past the girls. When we finally moved on,there wasn’t much else to see. I was very surprised that when I got out of the lagoon, none of the gross junk was on me. None of it! I would definitely do that again, without hesitation.

Friday, June 22, 2018 – Cayman Turtle Centre and CemeteryBeach - Grand Cayman

Although we had visited all of our other ports multiple times in the past, this was our first time at Grand Cayman. We were all really looking forward to seeing a new place. I was torn between doing the stingrays or the turtles, so I let the girls decide, and they chose the turtles.

Grand Cayman is a tender port, but it was a lot different than Belize. We were anchored just a short distance from the port, and then tender ride was super short.

I was a little disappointed that nobody one the tender boat welcomed us and told us about their island like the people did on our Belize tender boat. They didn’t give us any safety information, or really even speak to us at all.

We got off the tender boat, walked through the port, and walked another few blocks to the bus station. They asked us where we were going, and I replied Cayman Turtle Centre. That’s the name of the place, but apparently everyone there calls it The Turtle Farm. I was corrected every time I said it. The cost of the bus ride was $2.50 US per person (1 Cayman dollar = $1.20 US). The bus, which was really a van,stopped often to let people on and off, and it got crowded at times. The person sitting by the door was responsible for opening and closing it.

I had already booked our tickets online. The Turtle Adventure Tour (entire park) was $45 per adult, and $25 for Molly, and then we got a 20% discount off of that. I showed my receipt at the front desk, and they also asked for my ID. We all got wristbands to wear while we were there.

The first thing we did was look at the huge turtles in The Green’s Breeding Pond. Molly bought some turtle food for $5.00 so she could feed them.

There were baby chickens running around and the girls were just asexcited about them as they were about the turtles.

A final word about Roatan, not directly related to our cruise. I debated a lot about what to say here, and if I should say anything at all. Ultimately, I decided that you are all probably here for the same reason I am - information - so I decided to share. I know a lot of cruise ship passengers love going to Little French Key in Roatan. I have not been ever there myself, but I have seen it up close from Sam Arch's boat and from Big French Key. I know how beautiful it looks, and that everyone who goes there seems to have a wonderful time. But I know things about Little French Key that most of you probably don't. I am not going to give a personal opinion here - I am just sharing a recent post from an islander friend of mine so you guys will have a little more information about the place before you make your own decision about going there. This is just the latest in a long history of sketchy activity at Little French Key.

Myra drove us to the cruise port and we were sad to tell her and beautiful Roatán goodbye. We tipped Myra and asked if she was on social media so we could keep in touch with her. She said she uses "What's Up" (Whatsapp), but we don't. I'm sure we will be able to find her again, even if we can't keep in touch in the mean time.

Inside the port, I handed Molly some money to tip the brightly dressed Garifuna who were playing music. They insisted that Molly sit with them for a picture.

I took this picture of the girls in front of the ship while we were waiting in line to board.

Cortnee said “Next time can we just fly down to Roatán and stay for a while?” Yes, Cortnee, I believe we will do just that next summer!

Here are a few more random pictures from Roatan that I didn't include earlier:

Half Moon Bay Beach at West End, right in front of Off the Hook Restaurant and Coconut Tree Divers

Gorgeous West Bay Beach

I think she loves me!

My pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the reef and fish in Roatan

We walked back to the pier at Infinity Bay and found Jason.

He told us that he doesn’t speak much English, but Robby was able to speak enough broken Spanish to ask him where he lives. He said Sandy Bay. He was really young, but he drove that boat like a pro. I’m sure he has been doing it all his life.

The water was so beautiful. Did I already mention that?

Back at West End, I saw Anita Tennyson’s Roatan PaddleSports from the water taxi. Maybe next time.

We saw Colleen again as we were leaving the pier, and Myra was right there waiting for us. She said we had a few minutes for the girls to shop for souvenirs, and then we started heading back to the port. We had to go right past Blue Island Divers, and we were all really thirsty, so we asked Myra to stop. We were all so happy that we got to see Maria there! She got us all a soft drink, and Myra took our picture together.

Then Maria took our picture with Myra.

Then time was up and we had to leave, just like that. It was a very short visit, but I am so thankful for the time we had with Maria. I just love her.

We just put our stuff down by the wall at Grand Roatan, and got in the water. Robby and I were the only ones who really snorkeled. We went out to the big rock and back. We saw the biggest parrot fish we have ever seen, but didn’t get a good picture of it. It was REALLY BIG! We saw a couple of large schools of blue tangs, and a couple of schools of squid. That was the closest I have ever come to a squid. They are so pretty!

We did not see any lionfish, which is a first for me in Roatan. But that is a good thing! They don’t belong there. We saw so many beautiful fish and corals.

I hated to leave. I could seriously snorkel there every day and never get tired of it. Above the surface, the water is breathtakingly beautiful. But under the surface, it is a whole other world full of life and excitement. You just can’t even imagine it unless you have experienced it.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back. We admired the iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks while we dried off and got our things together.

Robby bought some banana bread and cinnamon rolls from an Islander on the beach.

There was a sea turtle nest right in front of Grand Roatan. I wish we could have been there when they hatched!

We loaded back up into Myra’s van and she took us to West End. Jessie and I have been following Colleen Quinn’s blog Bald Girl Big World for almost a year now.She has alopecia, and has traveled all over Central and South America on her own. She was currently living and working in West End. I messaged her from Cozumel on Tuesday, and she agreed to meet us where she works at Off the Hook,even though she was off that day. We brought her 4 bags of Flamin Hot Cheetos,because she missed them and they are not available on Roatan. She was really sweet, andeven let us take a picture with her.

We asked where her next adventure would take her, and she told us that she was leaving for the US the following week (Where she can get all the Flamin hot Cheetos she wants. Oh,well, it’s the thought that counts, right?).

We said our thank-yous and good-byes and Myra got us a water taxi. We invited her to go to West Bay with us, but she said she had some knee trouble and couldn’t get in and out of boats very easily. She said she would be waiting for us right there when we returned. Our water taxi captain was Captain Dog. He said his name was Nelson, but there is another Nelson who is a bad guy and he didn’t want to be mistaken for him. He got his name, Captain Dog, when a dog bit him on the leg and refused to let go. Captain Dog took us on a wonderful boat ride to West Bay, and docked at the Infinity Bay pier.

He told us that when we were ready to go back, to find Jason and he would take us. Jason was young. When we got to the end of the pier, we saw Ernesto Ruiz! He was our instructor at Blue Island Divers last summer. He got all of our kids SCUBA certified. Even though we really wanted to see him, we knew we wouldn’t have time to go looking for him and never dreamed we would run into him on the beach! We were so excited, and now I am so disappointed, because I didn’t even think about taking a picture. Ernesto now has his own dive shop, Banana Nut Burgers. He was busy with tanks after a dive, and we were in a hurry to go snorkeling, so we went on our way. We were hoping to rent a chair to put our things in while we were in the water, but apparently Bananarama is the only place that does that, and we were going the opposite direction.

Thursday, June 21, 2018 – Daniel Johnson’s and West Bay -Roatan, Honduras

Since our first visit in March of 2014, Roatan has been my favorite island! Robby and I have spent a total of 30 days there in the last 4 years, and we brought the kids with us for a week last summer. We were all really looking forward to our short visit this day. I had booked our transportation for the day through Daniel Johnson, so I knew we would be well taken care of. I got up and went to Deck 10 to watch the sun rise over Roatan.

I ate my usual breakfast of French toast, bacon, eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, and milk. I brought the girls breakfast, and we were ready to go!

We had our towels and snorkeling gear, as well as four extra bags filled with gifts for our friends on the island, so we were pretty loaded down. We had to walk up and out of the port, up some stairs, and up and down a hill to get to where the non-Carnival excursions met. We recognized Daniel Johnson’s mom,Diane, who we met last summer. She introduced us to Myra Welcome, who would be our driver for the day.

Myra led us to her air conditioned van, and drove us to Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. She has 30 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, and takes care of a lot of her older relatives. She was really nice, and such a safe driver. When we arrived at Daniel Johnson’s, we were greeted by his sister Danica. We paid her $40 cash for each person to cover admission to the Hangout, as well as transportation for the entire day.

We were hoping that our expat friend Deb would be able to meet us there, but she was sick. She talked to Danica before we arrived and arranged for us to leave our gifts with her, and Deb would pick them up when she was able. We had two backpacks filled with flip flops deflated soccer balls for Deb and Nidia of Roatan Because We Care to give out for us. We also brought Deb some Hot Tamales candy because it can’t be found on Roatan, and a WiFi extender for her house.

Once we handed these things over to Danica, we met Gavin who would be our tour guide. Daniel walked up before we got started and we talked with him for a couple of minutes. He is such a great guy!

We got to see and hear about all the animals, and all of us except for Robby got to interact with a lot of them. Robby said he had been there and done that and wasn’t interested. Whatever. All of the rest of us held or “hugged” a sloth, got in the cage where the curious and mischievous monkeys climbed allover us, and held 2 kinds of beautiful birds.

We talked to Daniel a little more and he promised Molly a job there when she becomes a veterinarian. She is super excited about that! Daniel also said he would take us fishing next time – I am super excited about that! We had a lot of fun, and would have loved to stay longer, but we had a lot more we wanted to do, and not much time to do it.

I went back to change batteries, and Molly went back out with me. She swam for a little while, and we went back in so I could get something to eat too. I got a big plate of lobster kabobs with rice and beans and fried plantain and a Belikin for $10.

The girls had all gotten jerk chicken plates with a coke, and I think they were $8 each. Almost as soon as I got my food, it was time for us to go. I really enjoy Goff’s Cay, but I just never get to spend enough time there. I would definitely pay more for a longer visit, if I could. I didn’t get to spend any time with Mammaw at Goff’s Caye.

I asked her if she ever even got in the water. She said she did while I was out snorkeling, but she went in where the rocks were, not where the sand is soft and the water is so pretty. The boat ride back to Belize City was not as bumpy as it was going out. I tipped the crew, and we were back in plenty of time to catch a tender. In fact, we had to wait in a pretty long line to get to a tender boat. The one that brought us back was much smaller than the one we had that morning. We had just sat down, when Molly said “She’s throwing up! And it splattered on my feet!”. I quickly turned around as I said “WHO?” Thankfully, it wasn’t one of our girls. It was a girl a couple of rows back, who appeared to have had too much to drink.

Apparently, there was no bucket or bag or anything on the boat that she could throw up in other than the floor. Some other passengers started fanning her, but there was really nothing any of us could do. Other than hold our feet up off the floor. I am sure she had to be carried off the tender and onto the ship.

Once we were back on the ship, Robby and I headed to the Red Frog Pub in time to get a half price drink before happy hour was over. There were several people beautiful blue drinks in small pitchers. They were so pretty, it made me want to buy one without even knowing what they were! I didn’t, but decided I was going to if we made it back for happy hour another day.

I left Robby at the Pub and walked over to the casino to win some money at the slot machines. The casino was still closed, so I decided to buy some sushi instead. While I was waiting, the girls walked up. They were getting sushi too. Jessie went off with her Club O2 friends, and Molly and Cortnee went back to the Pub with me. We played foosball and listened to Karaoke for a while.

Cortnee sang Ed Sheeran’s Perfect, and almost everybody in the Pub started slow dancing. One poor guy even danced with a pole until some lady felt sorry enough for him and danced with him. She got a lot of well deserved compliments for singing that song.

That night was 80’s night. We saw Frankie “The Tank” eating in the buffet area while wearing a mullet wig. I love that guy! I am totally an 80’s girl, and I really wanted to see the 80’s show and go to the 80’s party, but for some reason we didn’t make it to the show and I was too tired for the party. I wanted to be sure I had plenty of rest, because my favorite port was coming up the next day… ROATAN!

Molly, Robby and I went snorkeling and the others stayed at the beach.

We got back on the boat and rode out a little way to where we would begin our snorkel. We were required to have a life jacket, but were allowed to loop it around our wrist if we were confident swimmers. All three of us started off with them around our wrists, but Robby and Molly kept getting tangled up with theirs, so they put them around their waists. I left mine on my wrist and didn’t have any problem. Honestly, I am not a strong swimmer, but I am incredibly floaty, especially in the Caribbean. I can float for days with no effort at all.

We saw a lot of pretty fish and coral. Claudius brought up a small conch for everyone to pass around.

Robby spotted three flamingo tongues and some Christmas tree worms. After we snorkeled for a while, we got back on the boat and it returned us to the tiny island.

Molly got some food, I got 2 more rum punches, and waded out to where Jessie and Cortnee were in the beautiful crystal clear blue water.

They had found a lot of little dead fish. It was weird – we don’t know what happened to them. I took a few pictures, and my camera battery died.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 – Goff’s Caye – Belize City, Belize

I got up and had my usual breakfast – French toast, bacon and milk, while Robby had his coffee and whatever he decided to eat that day. The buffet area was crowded, so we found a table out by the pool. Belize is a tender port, so everyone who didn’t have an excursion booked though Carnival had to get a tender sticker from the stage by the pool. Robby got ours, and we were in group 7. I brought the girls breakfast, and they weren’t even up. I told them to get up and get ready.

Fortunately, it was a while before our ship was cleared by customs, and even longer before tender number was called. When it was finally time to go, everyone was ready with their phones, towels and snorkeling gear. Frankie “The Tank” was there smiling, waving and talking as always. They scanned our cards and we were helped onto one of the tender boats.

Once the boat was full and everyone was seated, one of the crew members welcomed us to Belize and gave some brief safety instructions before telling us a little about his country. He was very nice and friendly. During the ride, I had another one of my secret panic attacks. WHAT IF… I got my times confused again. WHAT IF we had already missed our excursion! At that point there was nothing I could do about it, other than pretend everything was great After the 15 minute ride, we were helped off the tender boat, and I tipped the crew as we left.

We had a few minutes to spare (or we had missed our excursion and had the rest of the day free…) so we put all of our things down at a corner table at the Thirsty Lizard where Robby sat and had a Belikin beer while I took the girls souvenir shopping again. We all walked up to our excursion meeting place, Terminal 4 Booth 4, at 10:50 ship’s time. We were supposed to meet at 11:00 – I was super relieved to find out that I had the time right after all. I had booked our excursion online through Island Marketing. It was $40 per person, but I only had to put down a deposit of $8 per person ($48 total). I paid the balance of $192 in cash, we all got checked in and got our blue armbands, and were told that our boat would leave at 11:45. Wait – we were supposed to leave at 11:30, and be back just in time for our last tender! More secret panic. Robby assured me that it would be okay – they would just cut our excursion short so we would be back on time. Yay, and boo at the same time.

So we waited in terminal 4 for an hour. It was almost 12:00 before they finally called us. We got on the small boat named “Wet ‘n’ Wild” and were on our way. Claudius offered us water in plastic bags, showed us what Belizean currency looks like, and talked to us about Belize during the whole trip to Goff’s Caye.

The boat ride was pretty bumpy, especially for those in the front of the boat. I was worried about Mammaw and her back, but she did fine. Thank goodness. We arrived at Goff’s Caye, and walked down the pier to the tiny island.

It had a little hut where they sold food, drinks, and a few souvenirs, a small bathroom, and a few chairs for rent. The main part of the island is kind of rocky, but there is a long sand bar that juts out to the side. The ocean moves it around, so it is not always the same size, shape, or in the same place. The water over the sandy areas around Goff’s Cays is absolutely gorgeous, and so clear! I got a complimentary rum punch almost immediately. Nobody would say where they wanted to sit, so we all just stood around for a while. I finally decided I was going to put my stuff down by the little hut and get in the water. But before I even had time to do that, Claudius was calling for “Wet ‘n’Wild” to go snorkeling.

The girls decided they wanted Sushi at Sea for dinner. They used some of their onboard credit to buy it and they absolutely loved it. They said it was the best sushi they have ever had. Granted, sushi in suburban Alabama might not compare with what the rest of the world is used to, so take it for what it’s worth. Sushi at Sea was right between the casino and the Red Frog Pub.

We ate at the buffet for dinner again. What we were starting to realize is that the buffet selections are very limited. There are three different serving areas, but they all serve the same thing. I am not complaining about the quality of the food – it was all very good. And the selection wasn’t bad – I could always find something that I liked. There just wasn’t a lot of variety like I remember on previous cruises. I am not sure if it is because we were on a smaller ship this time, or if it something new that Carnival has started doing. But it was a little disappointing either way.

Mammaw wanted to see the 7:00 show Getaway Island in the Phantom Theater, so Robby and I went with her. It was fun, but pretty cheesy. Frankie “The Tank” was there and even participated in the show, that was fun. He was even in the elevator with us after the show. That guy was everywhere! As usual, Robby and I went on to bed early and everyone else stayed up and had some more fun. Mammaw said it was the best day ever.

I followed a path from the pool that led back to the beach.

There were two beautiful birds at the bar beside the massage tent. I found Molly and Mammaw and brought them back to see the birds.

I ordered 2 tacos, and Molly was ready to play on the inflatables.

There were big rocks in the water most of the way from the pier on the left to the massage tent on the right. But at the very end, you could wade in through the grass. It was a little gross the day we were there, but we didn’t let that stop us. Molly had fun on the big slide, but I couldn’t get myself up there. I just waited at the bottom. I did manage to get up on the trampoline, but there was a lot of sand on it and it scraped my leg. I was also able to bounce her off of one of the inflatables into the water – but I almost fell in. We both had fun, but it would have been more fun for me if I was younger and stronger.

Robby waved us in to the shore, saying it was time to go and my tacos were cold. They were still good! I asked Darie to bring our bill, and he went over every item with me. We had 3 big bottles of water, 2 cokes, 2 bottles of Sol (beer), a virgin daiquiri, 2 virgin pina coladas, chips and salsa, nacho volcano supremo, Mexican fries, and 2 tacos. The total was $70.48. I forgot to mention earlier that they ask each person to order a minimum of $10 food/drinks in addition to the $3 admission. In my opinion, that is VERY reasonable for use of the loungers, beach, pool and bathrooms all day. I asked Darie if he got to keep the tip, or if he had to share. He said they share, so I gave him an additional tip, and told him that it was just for him. I don’t know if he got to keep it or not, but I hope so. We gathered our things, and took another van back to the port. Another $30 plus $5 tip. At the port, we had a few minutes for the girls to shop for souvenirs. We didn’t get see our friends from the other ship, but it was still a great day. We had to walk through the gift shop again to get back to the pier. There was a guy singing for tip at the exit door, but I didn’t have any cash out and there was a crowd behind me. Sorry, senor. Maybe next time. As we boarded the ship, they scanned our cards, put our bags through a scanner, and we had to remove our hats and walk through a scanner. Frankie “The Tank” was there to welcome us back aboard.

The girls ordered chips and salsa and a Nacho Volcano Supremo.

The food was very good, and there was enough for all 6 of us to share. We went to the pool for a while. It was really big, and really clean. There were lounge chairs inside the pool on the ledge, so you could sit in the sun and in the water at the same time. The pool water seemed to be fresh water – we didn’t notice any salt or chlorine.

When we arrived at Paradise Beach, it was a little after 9:00, and the place was completely deserted except for some workers who were cleaning the walkways and the pool. Nobody greeted us. Crap. They opened at 9:00 Cozumel time. It was 9:00 ship’s time – 8:00 Cozumel time! So we had an hour before they even opened. I wasn’t about to pay $60 to go back to the port for a while and then come back. So we just walked right past all the workers, made our way to the beach, and claimed some loungers in the shade. Fortunately, nobody told us to leave. There were men working very hard at the edge of the water to remove the seaweed. A tropical storm had come through the week before and it had rained for 6 days straight. We were lucky that the rain was gone, but it had left behind a bit of a mess.

We walked out to the end of the pier, and Molly and I jumped in. The water was a little cooler than I expected, but still very nice. We saw a small shark and a stingray before we climbed the steps back up to the pier and walked back to the beach.

After a while (but still well before time for them to open) Darie walked up, introduced himself and told us that he would take care of us for the day. He told us that admission was $3 per person, and the fun pass was $18 for anyone who wanted it. Molly and I were the only ones who got the fun pass, so I paid him $54. He gave us menus and told us to let him know any time we needed anything. All of the food and drinks went on our tab, and since I appeared to be in charge of the money, he made sure I was aware when anyone ordered anything, and when he brought our orders out.

The fun pass included the inflatables, paddle boards, kayaks and snorkeling gear. Molly and I wanted to paddle board – we had never done that before. We asked the guy who was getting the equipment ready and he told us we could at 9:00. Ugh. I had forgotten that we weren’t even supposed to be there yet! So we sat in the chairs and the hammocks for a little while, and at 9:00, we started paddle boarding! We were required to wear life preservers, and were told to stay inside the ropes. It was still a big area, at least for beginners! We started out on our knees, and paddled out a little ways. Then we both stood up! It was easier than I expected to stand up, but it was harder on my thighs than I ever imagined. Maybe it was because I was so tense, or maybe it just takes a lot of leg strength to stay balanced. I don’t know. I had to take some breaks and get back down on my knees or sit down and rest. Robby was out snorkeling, and I asked him to take some pictures of us. I’m usually the one taking the pictures, so I am not in a lot of them, but I wanted proof of my accomplishment!

He also took some pictures of a starfish that was right below where we were paddle boarding.

Jet skis and boats kept making waves, and that made it harder for us to balance. I only fell off once. I might have been able to regain my balance, but I was afraid I was going to fall and hit my face on the board, so I bailed off. I was surprised at how easily I was able to get back on. After a while, Molly and I got tired and decided to go back to the beach. Paddling in was a LOT harder than paddling out. We kept drifting back. I secretly started to panic a little bit, but of course I couldn’t let Molly know. Her arms were tired, and she kept drifting away from me, so I tried holding on to her paddle board with one hand and paddling with the other (sitting down, of course). It didn’t work very well. But after she rested for a while, she was able to paddle again. This time we made some progress. When we got close to the shore, I jumped off and started walking with my board. BIG mistake. There were lots of big, sharp, slippery rocks, and I kept falling. The paddle board attendant told me to get back on, and he pulled me on to the beach. That was embarrassing.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 – Paradise Beach – Cozumel, Mexico

Even though I had an alarm set on my phone, I woke up early and briefly panicked about the time. I got up, checked my phone, and went back to sleep for a while. When my alarm finally went off, I went up to the Serenity Deck to look around. I could see the Carnival Fantasy, the only other ship that was scheduled to be in port that day. We had friends on that ship, and were hoping to run in to them at some point in Cozumel. Robby finally came up to Lido with me and we went to the breakfast buffet. I had French toast, bacon, eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and milk. When we finished eating, I brought the girls some cereal, milk, yogurt and fruit on the way back to our room.

We all wore our swimsuits under our clothes, and brought our phones, towels and snorkeling gear. I also had my camera, our envelope of cash for the day, and my pocket tab for Cozumel with all of my notes. Robby asked what time Paradise Beach, our destination for the day, opened. Although I thought I had all the information we needed typed up in my binder, including our time in port by ship time, and local time, I failed to include what time Paradise Beach opened. Ugh! I went to their website to double check. 9:00. And it was already a little after 8. Frankie “The Tank” came over the intercom and announced that we were cleared to disembark and could proceed to Deck A on the left side of the ship (Port).

We docked at Puerta Maya, the southernmost cruise ship pier. We had to go walk through a shop to get off the pier, and then we had to open our bags for inspection and be sniffed by dogs before we could leave the port. Once outside, we got in a taxi van and asked to be taken to Paradise Beach. Our driver didn’t say much, and I don’t know if he even spoke English. I gave him $30 for the 6 of us, plus a $5 tip.

We checked out the dinner buffet, and tried the fried oysters which were delicious! But we decided to eat in the Bachus main dining room that night. It was elegant night, which is really not our style, but the girls wanted lobster, so we dressed up a bit. We had Your Time Dining, and arrived at Bachus on deck 3 around 7:00. Apparently, everyone else did too. We were given a pager and told to find a seat at the bar, but there were no seats to be found. We wandered around to the atrium, and watched our Cruise Director, Frankie “The Tank” introduce the captain and crew. They all got a glass of champagne and held it until the end of the introductions, then they all put them back on the tray without taking a drink. That seemed really pointless to me. After that, they had a couple singing some popular songs. They were just okay. I think we ended up waiting close to an hour before our pager finally went off. We were shown to a table at the very back of the ship, so we had a great view. Our waiter was Reymundo, and although he was very busy, he was very good to us. He asked our names, and then somehow remembered them for the rest of the night.

Most of us ordered water, Caesar Salads and Broiled Maine Lobster Tail, but Robby had Shrimp Cocktail, Cortnee had the Flat Iron Steak, and Molly had French fries and bought a coke. For dessert, we had Carnival Melting Chocolate Cake. Robby got extra ice cream, and I got peanut butter to go with mine. Unfortunately, it was more like warm chocolate soup than melting cake. The gooey peanut butter and runny chocolate were just too much – I couldn’t even finish mine. It was 9:30 by the time we were finished in the dining room, so Robby and I went back to the cabin to get ready for Cozumel the next morning. Jessie went “clubbing”, and I don’t remember what the others did.

Robby wanted to iron his clothes, so I went with him to check out the laundry room. The one on our deck was located just down the hall, across from cabin 7267. There are also laundry rooms on decks 1, 4, 5, and 6. The ironing board folds down from the wall right in front of the door. This makes it difficult for other people to get in and out when someone else is ironing. There were 2 washers and 4 dryers, and a vending machine with laundry detergent and fabric softener. You just use your sign and sail card to pay for everything. After you pay, you do have to go over to the dryer and push the start button. I didn’t realize that the first time, so the dryer never started. The iron is on a timer – you turn the knob to start it. If time runs out, start it again, or the iron will cool off.

After breakfast, I decided to get a little sun. I went to the Serenity Deck first. It is at the very back of the ship on deck 9, just outside Horatio’s buffet. I was not too impressed. There was a small pool with lots of chairs, beds, and clamshells crowded around it. I walked up to deck 10, and I liked it there much better. There was more of a breeze, and it didn’t feel so crowded.

I found an empty clam shell, and climbed it. It had a big round plastic mattress and some plastic pillows. I put my towel over them, and was very comfortable. It felt relatively private, and I was in the sun, where I wanted to be. (If I had wanted shade, I could have gone to the other side of the ship.) The clam shell did stop a lot of the breeze, so when I got too hot, I would stand up for a couple of minutes to cool off.

For lunch, I decided to try a burger at Off the Grill by the pool. It was really good. They hand you a bun and burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion (but I am sure you can ask them to leave off anything you don’t want), then you can put whatever else you want on it. There was a buffet of grilled onions, chili, cheese sauce, hot dogs, and French fries. I know there was more, but that is all I can remember right now. Past that was BBQ sauce, Mayonnaise and honey mustard. Just around the corner by the ice cream machines was mustard and ketchup. There was a beverage station with water, tea and lemonade. The water and lemonade were really good. The tea – not good at all in this southern girl’s opinion. We sat on the pool deck, at a table in the shade by a window so we could see the ocean. There were lots of loungers in the sun by the pool.

RYTHMATIC was playing and singing reggae music on the stage by the pool. The singer was the guy I mentioned earlier who did some Karaoke at the Red Frog. I don’t know if he did it for fun, or if it is part of his job to fill in when none of the passengers want to sing Karaoke. Either way, we enjoyed listening to him. I wish I had gotten his name, but I never did.

Throughout the day, I learned that the Carnival Hub App itself is really awesome! I can look at it any time and see everything that is going on around the ship, and I can look at the dining room menus for the rest of the week. Very informative and convenient. I also learned that the chat feature is not reliable. At all. Sometimes it worked great, sometimes it didn’t work at all. There didn’t seem to be any certain times or places that were better or worse than others. We had much better luck communicating with Messenger, which wasn’t 100%, but still pretty reliable.

Monday, June 18, 2018 – Fun Day at Sea

Robby loves interior cabins. Everything has to be completely dark, “quiet” and cold for him to sleep well. Interior cabins are definitely dark. His idea of “quiet” is the constant drone of a box fan and no other sounds. Since we can’t take a box fan on the ship, he has a recording of a box fan on his phone, and plays it in a continuous loop over a Bluetooth speaker all night long. The air conditioner worked very well, which meant Robby was happy, and I was freezing. The bed was very comfortable, and the pillows were awesome, as I mentioned before. We both slept well. At least until I woke up. Because interior cabins are so dark, and my phone was on charge all the way across the room, I had no idea what time it was, and I was disoriented. My immediate reaction was panic – what it we had overslept! It was a sea day, so it really didn’t matter what time we got up – that was just the first thing that came to my mind. And it jarred me wide awake. Every time I woke up. Every day. Sometimes at 3am. I really need to get a battery operated clock to keep in the bed with me so I can check the time.

We finally got up and went to the buffet for breakfast. Robby used one of the water glasses from the bathroom to bring some creamer up for his coffee. I got French toast, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and milk. The French toast and bacon were really good! I ate the sausage and potatoes, but would have rather had more French toast and bacon instead. The breakfast buffet choices were about the same every day. There was an omelet station, where they would cook you and omelet with whatever you wanted in it. Just past that, the buffet contained scrambled eggs, French toast, pancakes, bacon, potatoes, sausage, oatmeal, grits, toast and baked tomatoes. There were baked beans – really? For breakfast? I thought it was tomato gravy when I first saw it, and upon closer inspection, it looked more like pork and beans than baked beans. I didn’t try it. They also offered Eggs Benedict every day, with either ham or smoked salmon. It was ham Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and smoked Salmon on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I loved the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon! Ham – not so much. They also had hash browns on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. There was cream cheese, strawberry compote, blueberry compote, butter and syrup for toppings. Around the corner, there was a selection of pastries, muffins and bagels. There was water, juice, and coffee at the beverage station. There were small boxes of cereal (frosted flakes, cinnamon toast crunch, lucky charms, and raisin bran to name a few), cartons of milk (2%, skim and chocolate), cartons of yogurt (I remember raspberry, peach, strawberry, banana, and blueberry) cold cuts, cheese, cottage cheese and fruit (oranges, grapefruit, bananas, peaches, cantaloupe, honeydew – never any pineapple or watermelon for breakfast).

We spent a little time unpacking and relaxing, and soon it was time for the 3:00 Safety Briefing. We were assigned to Muster Station C, which was outside on the right side of Deck 3.

In the past, we always went as soon as they called us and ended up getting crowded in the back where we could barely see, hear, or breathe. We took our time – maybe a little too much time, as we were some of the last passengers to arrive. Oops! We really didn’t mean to be that late. And we were not last. They scanned our cards and after a few minutes they gave us instructions on what to do in case of an emergency, and demonstrated how the life preservers work. A couple of minutes after they finished talking, I got out my phone to text the girls and Mammaw and ask where they were. I was quickly told that phones were not allowed during the drill. Oops again. I thought it was over, even though we hadn’t been dismissed. After a few more minutes of standing there, we were dismissed. We stood off to the side and watched for the rest of our group, and soon found them.

Molly wanted to try out the water slide, so Cortnee and Mammaw went with us to do that. Molly went down about 3 times. The slide was super slow, and she kept getting stuck and had to push her way down, even though she was in the correct position. After seeing that, Cortnee decided that she didn’t even want to try it. Once Molly was done, we went back to our cabins and had a short family meeting. I let everyone know that we each had a $25 credit on our sign and sail cards, and that they could spend it any way they wanted, but if they went over $25, they had to pay for it with their own money. Is showed them how to use the Carnival Hub app to see what was happening on the ship, the menus, and how much of their $25 credit they had spent. We saw that each person also had a $8.64 credit for “refund taxes, fees, & port expenses”. That was a nice surprise. I also explained that we had purchased the Social WiFi package for each of them, so they could use SnapChat (to keep their streaks – very important) and Messenger to communicate with us as well as their friends back home. We posted pictures on FaceBook, but apparently that’s just for old people now – the girls used Instagram. The final thing we covered was curfew. They didn’t have one as long as they were up and ready on time each morning, and in a pleasant mood. After that, everyone else headed to the Sail Away Party on Deck 9, and Robby and I went to the Red Frog Pub on Deck 3 where we were meeting friends later.

The Red Frog Pub turned out to be a really fun place. They had a foosball table, table top shuffle board, Jenga, a hook and ring toss game, and maybe a few other games. They serve drinks, but no food. I saw a lot of people with really pretty blue drinks in pitchers. I wanted to get one, just because of how pretty it was, but I never got around to it. I think they had Happy Hour every day, usually from 3 to 5, and drinks were half price.

There was Karaoke most afternoons, and sometimes a band played. We were greeted by Titus, from St. Lucia. He was a young guy with a fantastic personality. He brought our drinks quickly and checked on us often to be sure we had everything we needed. He spent some time talking with us when he didn’t have other passengers to take care of. Karaoke started at 5:30, and people were reluctant to sing at first. When nobody else wanted to sing, the singer from the reggae band would step up. We even heard Titus sing once (after much encouragement from the passengers). He also danced from time to time – he really knows how to please the crowd. Once a few of the passengers started singing, they all wanted to. Robby and Cortnee signed up to sing a couple of songs, and while we were waiting for their turns, we missed sailing under the Skyway Bridge. Mammaw and Molly did get to see it, and fortunately, some of our friends took pictures and videos.

The Red Frog Pub had a book with laminated pages that listed some of the Karaoke songs they had, but they also had a lot more songs that were not in the book. There were some really good singers, and some really bad ones too, but the crowd was great. They encouraged and cheered for everyone who sang.

I kept getting notices on my Carnival Hub App that people I had met were adding me, so I paid the $5 for the chat feature. We finally left to get some dinner.

We decided to eat at the Lido Buffet - Horatio’s Restaurant. It had some of the same items that were on the dining room menu. The food was good – nothing to really rave about, but no complaints either.

After we ate, we checked the girls into the kids clubs. Molly was in Circle C. She has never liked going to the kids club, but I always sign her up so she will have the option if she wants to. Cortnee and Jessie were in Club O2. Cortnee never goes either, but Jessie absolutely loves “clubbing”. If we did anything else after that, I don’t remember it. I am pretty sure that Robby and I went to sleep, and the others probably stayed up for a while and went swimming or sat by the pool.

Thanks for following along, everyone! I'm working on more.

Robby and I had interior cabin 7287, Jessie and Cortnee were right next door in 7293, and Molly and Mammaw were in the extended balcony cabin 7295 across the hall. Our interior cabin was just what we expected it to be. The beds were pushed together to make a King size bed, and there was just enough room to walk around the bed – not much more.

There were 3 closets, one with shelves, one with coat hangers, and one with life preservers and extra blankets. There was a large mirror on the wall, and plenty of drawers.

The refrigerator was behind the cabinet door on the far left, which we left open, and it kept our water, wine, and creamer cold. We had a card swipe safe – we used an old gift card and hid it in the room. The safe in the girls’ room next door used an electronic number code, and the balcony room had a card swipe safe. The small hair dryer was in the top dresser drawer and worked very well to be so small. There was only one outlet, so we brought an extension bar without a surge protector so we could charge all of our devices and camera batteries. The light used a toggle switch (it did not require a card to stay on like on some other ships). There was a switch by the cabin door, and another one at the head of the bed. There was also a small table lamp by the bed.

The bathroom was small but very adequate. The water in the shower was HOT. I had to adjust it down quite a bit, and I like hot showers. There was a dispenser with shampoo and body wash, which I used. They were fine for me, but they didn’t lather very well.

There was an awesome small mirror that extended from an arm on the wall. It was a regular mirror on one side and magnified on the other. (Unfortunately, I didn't get it in the picture.) There was plenty of toilet paper and tissues, and well as towels and washcloths in the bathroom.

The bathroom light switch was on the wall outside the bathroom, which I couldn’t seem to remember.

Our Cabin Steward was Gugum from Indonesia. I didn't get a picture of him either :(. He greeted us soon after we arrived in our cabin, introduced himself, and asked us to fill out a card indicating when we wanted him to clean our cabin, and if we needed any extra towels, pillows, etc. I chose morning service, thinking that we would be gone and out of his way most mornings. Looking back, that may have been a bad choice, because we always came back with wet beach towels after he was done with our room. We saw him in the hall a couple of times and asked for dry towels, and the rest of the time we just exchanged them by the pool. Robby asked for an extra pillow, but it turns out he didn’t need it. The pillows were awesome! So good, in fact, we are going to buy some Carnival Comfort Collection pillows for our bed at home.