brookeq

18 minutes ago, hard_eight said:

Loved the plantains at the ferry in Belize, I wish I could order them!

 

Love the review

I know.  I bought some at a store called Fresh Thyme when we got home.  Not quite the same.

They docked the boat. 

I got a quick picture with our fish since no one else would touch them.  

Amelia jumped in for one picture

We could see El Cielo In the distance so we started to head that way.  

It was so pretty.  

I took a video of us riding in.  You can click the link below. 

el cielo video 1

I am not sure how to do videos.  Here is a link below if you want to watch it.  

video

Oops let me retry the video

Pedro had drinks and snacks on board.  I always pack my own for the kids just in case.  

Eventually we moved to some more shallow water and we started to catch some fish.  We caught some yellow tail first.  

Then we caught a reef fish and we put it back.  

We caught a few others and then a bunch of trigger fish.   On his last line Hayden caught 2 fish together.  So he was happy.  Here is a video

My husband didn’t like when we stopped because the boat would rock too much and he felt sick.  He gets so annoyed that I don't get sick small boats.  I get very car sick.  I had a hard time on our trip to hawaii (big island) one year.  The winding roads and the up and down of hills.  i was so sick.  But we went on a really rough boat ride (we were the only boat out it was so bad) and I was having a ball and laughing.  He was dying.   Poor guy.  

He was fine when the boat was moving.  The kids liked riding and hitting some of the small waves.  They laughed when they got sprayed by the water.   Hayden would come up front for that.  Look at that smile 🙂

8 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

How neat to see flying fish!  I've only seen one once.  Nice pictures of everyone!  The kids look like they had a great time.

We saw them all day.   They really do look like birds.   🙂

We trolled for fish while we rode around.  

We stopped in some deep water and tried to catch some big fish.   The currents were strong and we didn’t have much luck today.  Several boats went by during our time and none of them were having much luck catching the big fish we saw on pedros site (like barracuda, mahi mahi, etc).  It was not from a lack of trying.  Pedro worked so hard.    So did Sammy when he wasn’t driving.   The only fish we caught in the deep area were one of the flying fish we kept seeing.

We were given instructions to catch a cab to the Caletta marina.   We got off the boat and headed to the cab stand.  The marina was listed at the top of the board.  It was an $8 ride for us.   It was a quick ride.  Maybe like 5 minutes or so.  Pedro and Sammy were there waiting for us.  

They took us to their boat.  It was a nice boat and very clean.  Pedro wipes it all day. 

We set sail and headed past all of the beach clubs.   It was a nice day.   Amelia liked riding in the front of the boat.   We just sat in the sun and enjoyed the ride.  She was already forgetting about Paradise Beach. 

Hayden stayed in the back and watched Pedro prep the lines.  

Cozumel

I was up early again (I just couldn’t sleep well this trip) and headed to the lido deck for breakfast.  This time I got the huevos rancheros.  

The pool deck was covered in towel animals.   I didn’t take a good picture.  I wanted to bring the kids back to see it but I forgot.   I let them sleep as long as possible.  We had another long day ahead of us.  

I did a lot of research for what to do in Cozumel.  We have been here many times.  We have been to Tulum and Chichen Itza ( not from cozumel but Progresso).   We have been To Chankanaab.   The last few times we went to Paradise Beach and enjoyed ourselves.  

I would like to try the Secret Underground River but I knew that would be way too much for our family.  Four days in a row of excursions is a lot and this one was a long one again.  So that was out.  I thought about doing one of the choppers/motorcycle tours to the other side of the island.  But my husband and kids didn’t want to do that.  

After talking to family we  were considering Playa Mia.  I thought it would be a good fit for all of our families.   It had inflatables, water slides, food etc.   But food got terrible reviews.  So that was my first hesitation.  The second was the cost.  We could just go to Paradise Beach for much cheaper.  

So for awhile the plan was to go to Paradise Beach.   I have been there three times.  We really do like it there.  But I just didn’t want to do it again.  So I kept researching.   I am on a Disney cruise site still and there was a post about Cozumel.  I often go and  recommend Paradise Beach to families.  A guy happened to mention El Cielo as an awesome place to visit.   For awhile it was known as the star fish beach.   It looked amazing. The water looks nicer than all of the beach clubs.   I then read you had to get there by boat.   The tours I found online got very mixed reviews.   Somewhere in my research for El cielo someone mentioned Fishing with Pedro.  He takes you deep sea fishing.  Then he will take you to El Cielo and to a snorkeling spot.  He doesn’t have a website.  He just uses the social networking site we can’t mention.  He has great reviews on trip advisor.  So I contacted him.

His wife handles all of the communication.  She got back to me very quickly and was very helpful.   I showed the kids a youtube video I found and some pictures.  Hayden really wanted to do it.  In fact that was the only thing he showed any interest in when planning the trip.  Amelia not so much.  But she is pretty easy going. 

So we decided we were going to book the trip.  One of my BIL loves fishing and we did invite everyone to come.  But everyone declined.  My SILs don’t really like small boats.  They get sick.   So they were all planning to go to Paradise beach.  Amelia wanted to go with her cousin to paradise beach but I already paid for her spot.  I offered it one last time to someone else but no takers.  So Amelia came with us.  Not too happily.  

On 4/24/2019 at 4:52 PM, sshhllcruise said:

Hi Guys,

           would you be able to provide which palaces you visited with Roney's private tour? I am heading out to Roatan with carnival in july and wanted to do the private tour.

This is what i am thinking to do visiting these places the Monkey & Sloth hang out, Iguana Farm, Roatán Chocolate Factory and such.

Then have little time at the beach and relax before heading back to the ship.

 

Thanks.

 

We just did a private tour with Ronys.  Brian was our driver and he was awesome. 

We stopped a good food view point and there was a store where we could get some drinks 

We we wanted to do the sloths.  We went to manawakie eco park.  This is a great place if you want to hold sloths monkey etc.  it’s not crowded so it’s a good experience.  

We donated supplies to some

school children

then we headed to west bay beach.  On the way he showed us a cool zipline.  Maybe next time.  It went down near the ocean.  

They will I’ll do whatever you want.  

Up next Cozumel...

I mentioned earlier that the rest our family decided to do an excursion to Goffs Caye.  We went a few years ago and enjoyed it.  We used Island Marketing and we were the only boat there.  The island was beautiful.   I didn’t get to snorkel because I watched the kids.  My husband did and said it was decent.  Here are two pictures from our day there.

you can click the link in my signature (Carnival Dream) to read about our day here.  I am not sure if the pictures are still up.

Our one brother in law is very into snorkeling so their family booked Goff’s Caye.  And everyone else followed and booked.   They didn’t do much research.  My mother in law hated it.  She complained how small it was and how boring it was.  And there was no chairs or free food.   I asked her if she even read the description of the tour before she purchased it.  I don’t think she liked that because I didn’t get an answer.  

I guess the water was a bit choppy and after snorkeling in Roatan, it just wasn’t as good.  And they said island was crowded.  There were several tours there.  So I think that didn’t help their experience.   The tour got them back a bit late and they were on the tender before us.  So that was a bit stressful for them.  They also didn’t like having to tender in and then get on another boat to the island.  Then take that boat back and tender in.   I did warn them about that.   I also told them it was not going to be comfortable boat.  Sister in law for some reason seemed to think they would be on some luxury boat?? Also all of the kids were  tired from the other beach days.  So it just wasn’t good a day for the rest of our family.   So just some things to consider when booking Goff's Caye.   Two totally different experiences.   

We went up on the top deck and watched the sunset.  

Amelia wanted to try to get some pictures.  We got this cute one. 

Later there was no line for pizza.  But there were no slices already made. They were doing made to order pretty much.  So I got some quattro formaggio slices.  They were good. 

I also checked out the desserts at the buffet since I didn’t like mine in the dining room.  They were ok.  Not great but better than the amaretto cake.

Not sure what we did the rest of the night.   I think everyone was tired. 

I had the chicken soup

and the crab cake for appetizers.

Both were fine.  They aren't my favorite .

Most of the table at the filet and everyone enjoyed it.  They were all cooked the way ordered.

Husband also got the shrimp.

I tried the amaretto cake.  I didn’t like it.  It was dry.  SIL didn't like it either but enjoyed the caramel sauce.  

The teens discovered that the kids menu had banana splits for dessert and got those the rest of the cruise. 

i have one in my signature.  its a few years old though...

The bar by the aft pool had pitchers of spiked lemonade on the the Magic a few weeks ago.

Back on board…It was formal night again.  We didn’t get super dressed up.   I tried for a family picture but it didn’t turn out at all.  Here is Amelia and I before dinner

Here are the menus for tonight.

Final thoughts on our Ruins Excursion:

I was surprised at how good our experience was at the ruins.  The kids were really good which I am so thankful for.  The tour was well organized.   The site was nice.  Like I said before I wish we had more time there.  But I knew going in it would be rushed.   But it was a good experience for the kids and our family.   The time on the bus just watching the tablets really helped the kids relax and they seemed refreshed instead of exhausted. 

Back on the bus we rested again. I offered a reward if any of the kids took a nap.  I guess I fell asleep because hubby has this picture of me!  

Hayden fell asleep like 5-10 minutes from the tenders.  Oops.

We made it back and the area was busy.   We headed to the tenders and the line was long.   Luckily some of it is covered.  The kids enjoyed sitting on the swings in line. 

Amelia found a fun sign.   

We ended up getting on the last tender.   We rode the tender to our ship and had to sit there for bit because they were unloading another tender.  So we sat and looked at the pretty water until we were finally able to board again.   It was a little rocky so they had to stop boarding a few times.

On 4/23/2019 at 1:06 PM, kimba9615 said:

I am loving your review so much! I love how transparent you are about your struggles with your kids. I have a highly spirited daughter who I struggle with exactly like you do with your son. It takes everything I have in me sometimes to just make it through the day. I do the same as you and focus on the good times. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

Thanks its so nice to hear that I am not alone.   I sometimes hate social media because everyone posts only the good things and it sometimes can bring others down.  I try to be real.  It can help knowing others are going thru what you are going thru.  

But it was time to go.  We got back across using the ferry again.   We grabbed a drink from a vendor and some fried plantains that we all enjoyed.   It was just a couple of bucks for drinks and snack.

We drove back into the local town for lunch at Hode's Place. Our lunch was chicken, rice and beans and cole slaw.  I have read that people didn’t like the portion size but we thought it was fine.  The food was good.  Both kids ate their chicken and rice.  

We also bought some bottled pop (soda).  Coke for me

Orange for the kids

We were given a half hour to eat, use the bathrooms and look at the small shops.

I let the kids get some souvenirs because they were so well behaved.  Amelia got a beaded unicorn. 

Hayden got sucked into one of those things you put water in and blow into and it sounds like a bird.   I didn’t argue with him.  His other choice was a knife!!!  I bought an ornament.

After the ball pit it was time to go.  My husband ran ahead and climbed another structure real fast with the kids while I kept an eye on our tour.   He just didn’t want to leave yet. 

You can see them at the top 

Here is a selfie they took

Here are some misc pictures