Trip Report - W. Caribbean on Caribbean Princess (Aug 10-18, 2018) with many pictures

[metairiegal]

Thanks for the review and pics. We did the western route on the Caribbean Princess this past July. Nice to relive it! :cool:

[SSMEX]

Enjoying your review! Is there a charge to ride the chairlift to the beach at Mahogany Bay?

 

 

 

It’s $5.

 

 

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[wismergirl]

Day 4 (con't) - August 14, 2018 (Tues) - Gumbalimba Park, Roatan, Honduras

This was what we saw on our way to Gumbalimba Park. It's very different from most places in USA or Canada.

 

The journey took 45 minutes. The excursion that we chose was clear kayaking & snorkelling at Gumbalimba Park.

The park was also famous for its zip line, birds & monkeys but we didn't have time for those. We paid US$3 to get a locker & started snorkelling right away. The locker was big enough for our duffle bag. We could also leave our water shoes and wallets in it. There was a key that we had to take with us in the water. For hygienic purpose, we always bring our own full-faced snorkelling masks. The ship had those for sales at the photo shop for $60, but they were not made by Tribord like what I have. Mine didn't steam up easily so it's very good.

 

 

The vendor provided snorkelling gears for free so we just used their fins. Everyone had to wear a life vest. I brought my own aqua socks to wear with the fins. They were very comfortable with non-skid padded soles so I could use them like aqua shoes while kayaking.

 

DH found some conchs. I quickly posed for a picture before putting them back in the water.

The water was very clear & the 2 guides were very responsible to take care of 15 of us. As I am not a good swimmer, I stayed close to Guide Kenfor & at times I could hold on to the float that he had. There were lots of corals but they were not as colourful as those that we saw in Bora Bora & Tahiti.

 

 

We spent about 30 minutes in water before switching to kayaking.

 

 

[wismergirl]

Day 4 (con't) - August 14, 2018 (Tues) - Gumbalimba Park, Roatan, Honduras

 

Here is a video to show some snorkelling, some beautiful corals and the very grassy ocean floor:

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/p1130221.mp4

After a 10-minute break, we went kayaking on a 2-person clear bottom kayak. The guide gave us safety tips on kayaking and told us to have the heavier passenger sitting in the front of the kayak.

 

It was an easy trip to the other beach on West Bay, with a pretty good view of different corals that we didn't see during snorkelling. It was great to have 2 guides leading and following us, so we knew exactly where to look for the corals. Again we spent about 30 minutes on kayaking, with a 5-minute stop before our return trip.

 

The guide also took good pictures for us.

 

There were a few fresh water showers on the beach so we could just use those to rinse off without going to the restrooms. After gathering all our belongings, the guide led us to the waiting area to wait for the minibus to take us back to the ship. We had to wait at the area that says "Bus to Princess" and not to Carnival or Norwegian. That was very well-organized.

 

On our way back we saw some typical lodgings for the locals.

When we got back, most passengers were on board and the Mahogany Beach looked totally beautiful with hardly anybody there.

Edited August 24, 2018 by wismergirl

[wismergirl]

Day 4 - August 14, 2018 (Tue) - Dinner at Steamers, Deck 15 Aft

 

It was good that we booked specialty dining at Steamers for 7 pm, otherwise it would be extremely rushed to eat at our usual dinner time at 5:45 pm. We got back to the ship at 5:30 pm, so we had time to take a shower leisurely.

 

When we arrived at 7 pm, we were surprised to see how empty it was.

 

Dinner at Steamers was amazing! The cover charge for an appetizer, a main course & a dessert is $12. To add a lobster tail & king crabs was an additional $10. Here is the menu:

 

We started with this delicious seafood and fruit appetizer on the house.

 

The service was excellent. The chowder was yummy. The fried seafood platter was above average but I would recommend paying the extra $10 for the mouth-watering lobster & king crab.

 

DH &I shared the food & we were so full that we just tasted a little bit of the key lime pie in a jar.

 

We went to the show by a passionate & energetic entertainer, Nathan Foley, from Australia. He was excellent but I'm not a big fan of Rock & Roll.

 

We spent the rest of the night at the Lobby Bar on Deck 5 next to the International Cafe. The bartender, Sawat, was awesome & went all the way to Deck 7 to get us nuts even after their closing time at 11 pm. We loved staying at the Piazza late at night as it's quiet down there, but we could still hear the remote sound of the vocal & piano player singing on Deck 7. Looking forward to Costa Maya tomorrow, our 1st time there.

[Dennis#1]

Like your review. Great pictures. Thanks.

[wismergirl]

Like your review. Great pictures. Thanks.

 

 

 

Thanks! More will come tomorrow.

 

 

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[happy cruzer]

So you shared the food and paid only one cover charge of $12 plus $10 for the lobster and crab? If you can do that, this is the place for us so we don't end up wasting food.

[CATGUY7]

Loving your review!

[voljeep]

if you can do that, SHARE at Steamers, we would definitely do that also;p

[FrenchPeach]

I highly doubt that they will allow you to purchase for one meal and share two. I think what she meant was that they shared but purchased one meal at $12 and the other at $22...

[wismergirl]

So you shared the food and paid only one cover charge of $12 plus $10 for the lobster and crab? If you can do that, this is the place for us so we don't end up wasting food.

 

 

 

We paid 2 cover charges, plus $10 of lobster tail & king crab to share. Cover charges were for 1 steamed mussels & 1 fried seafood platter. See my pictures for details. Total $34.

 

 

 

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[wismergirl]

Day 5 - August 15, 2018 (Wed) - Costa Maya

 

We had to wake up SOOOO early at 6:30 am because our ship tour met at 8:05 am in the Princess Theatre. We had breakfast at World Fresh Marketplace, then went down to check in & got off the ship right away. The walk from the ship to the tour meeting place was so long. Look!

 

For those who did not want to walk along the pier, there was a free shuttle like the Disney parking lot tram that you could use, as seen from the picture above. I did not take a picture of the tram, thinking that I would be able to see one when we came back, but there was none in the afternoon. The pier area at Costa Maya was beautiful but it was so hot & humid.

 

Signage was clear as to where we had to line up for the ship tours.

 

Under the big hut, there were so many people, lining up for different tours.

 

Luckily, we didn't have to wait for too long as our tour had the longest duration so we had to leave right at 8:30 am with a 5-minute walk to the bus.

 

We boarded a big coach with a bathroom on board.

[wismergirl]

Day 5 - August 15, 2018 (Wed) - Mayan ruins, Costa Maya, Mexico

 

Our excursion was about 2 Mayan ruins in the jungle: Kohunlich and Dzibanche.

 

It took over 2 hours one way to drive to the 1st Mayan ruin, Kohunlich.

 

Princess gave us a brown bag with a bottle of water, a banana, a chocolate bar & a bag of peanuts for our snack.

 

As we were entering the jungle, we sprayed a lot of insect repellent on ourselves. It worked well as we didn't get any mosquito bites at all. My husband paid US$4 to get the license for video-taping. It worked for both ruins for the day. You must have exact change.

 

This excursion involved almost 5 km of walking & steps climbing. I only climbed to the top of 1 ruin but my husband did all 4 so his legs were all sore & needed a massage on the ship.

 

The 1st one was the Temple of the Masks. This was relatively easy and there were ropes for us to hold on to. Some workers were doing restoration work there.

 

 

 

Here's a video showing how I got down from the top & how others climbed up the uneven steps:

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/51696d27-e3b1-4824-a054-1c0b0621252f.mp4

Then we walked past many other temples before reaching the Acropolis. Here's the route we followed:

 

DH climbed to the top of the acropolis & I just waited for him at the base.

 

After about 1 hour of walking around, we boarded the bus again. We were given an iced cold bottle of water and a ham & cheese sandwich for lunch.

Edited August 24, 2018 by wismergirl
words jammed together

[wismergirl]

Day 5 - August 15, 2018 (Wed) - Mayan ruins, Costa Maya, Mexico

We ate our lunch during the 30-minute drive to the 2nd ruin, Dzibanche.

Before we started the walking tour, we were dropped off at a restroom area that was 2 km away from the site. This ruin had better-preserved buildings than the 1st one.

 

We first stopped at the Temple of the Captives.

 

Then we passed by the Temple of Cormorants where workers were doing restoration jobs. We couldn't climb up this one.

 

Next we went to the famous Temple of the Owl. Again only my husband climbed to the top but not me.

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/img_8227.mov

 

The last stop was at the Temple of Lintels. This was a big one.

 

Coming down was a lot harder. It's better to walk sideways rather than sliding down on the bottom.

 

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/img_8244.mov

On this excursion, I walked for 4.7 km with 7,035 steps. My husband climbed 14 floors of uneven steps. He definitely needed a foot and ankle massage.

[wismergirl]

Day 5 (con't) - August 15, 2018 (Wed) - Costa Maya, Mexico

 

I forgot to mention that in Roatan, we DID NOT follow the local time but used the ship time instead for all excursions and all aboard time, so there was 1 couple that didn't get back on time & the ship's departure got delayed because them. In Costa Maya and Cozumel, the ship time and the local time were the same.

 

When we got back to our ship it was 4:30 pm and we had to walk around the maze of shops before getting to the pier.

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/vpai9698.mov

We walked and turned and walked and finally got to the port gate to do the pier marathon.

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/qgyn8049.mov

There was no free shuttle so some people were complaining about the long walk & there were some who had to take frequent stops to rest.

After taking a shower it was time for dinner. It's the 2nd formal night (the 1st one was on day 2) so it took me longer to get ready. The escargot was very good but the lobster tail was not half as good as Steamers'. The rice was not well cooked, it's hard in the centre. Don't understand how you could go wrong with rice!!

 

My husband said his Short Ribs were excellent.

The chocolate dessert was amazingly yummy!

 

After dinner, we went to the new Princess Show, A Fantastic Journey. It was very modern with lots of high tech add-ons, though there was no catchy melody. Then we went to the Piazza for the balloon drop.

We had a few drinks at the Lobby Bar before going to bed.

[wismergirl]

Day 6 - August 16, 2018 (Thurs) – Cozumel, Mexico

 

There was not much to write about today as we decided to relax on the ship. We didn't want to walk around Cozumel or stay on pool deck in the hot & humid weather.

 

When we woke up, I called the spa to book the $99 Top to Toe special massage for both of us. I added a mini facial for an extra $20. It's great that we could get lovely Makka again. Both DH & myself loved her hands. We gave her a big extra tip on top of the automatically added gratuity. I had mine at 9:15 am & DH's was at 10:30 am. There was no one at the spa waiting room when I was there.

I went to have brunch at the World Fresh Marketplace while waiting for DH. After lunch, I went back to the cabin to take a long nap while DH sorted out our Vienna pictures to post on Facebook. When I woke up, DH said he's hungry so he went to The Salty Dog Grill to get our afternoon snacks. We had those in our cabin.

 

It's open seating for dinner so we could go to any dining room but we just went to our set table. I had Scallop & shrimps, it was okay. Then we went out to explore the pier area as it was less hot after dinner.

 

Carnival Paradisejust started to leave when we were on the pier.

 

There were free pedicabs going back & forth the pier, but they expected a tip.

 

There was a ferry leaving for mainland Mexico.

[winncruiser]

Beautiful review. Thank you for sharing. I was onboard this voyage and you are helping me relive the wonderful cruise.

 

 

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[EastBay Cruisers]

Your photos are excellent ! Thanks for this great review.:)

[happy cruzer]

We paid 2 cover charges, plus $10 of lobster tail & king crab to share. Cover charges were for 1 steamed mussels & 1 fried seafood platter. See my pictures for details. Total $34.

 

 

 

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Thank you for the clarification. And for the great pictures and review.

[Grover_]

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[wismergirl]

Beautiful review. Thank you for sharing. I was onboard this voyage and you are helping me relive the wonderful cruise.

 

 

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Sorry we missed you at the Meet and Greet.

[wismergirl]

Subscribed. I'm really enjoying your informative review and the photos are great. I hope you'll keep it going!

 

 

Great review and photos!

 

 

Your photos are excellent ! Thanks for this great review.:)

 

Thanks for your excellent pictures and posting style....:halo:

 

...But now it looks nice. Thanks for the pictures.

 

Thanks for the review and pics. ..:cool:

 

Thank you for the clarification. And for the great pictures and review.

 

Thank you all for reading my review! All photo and video credits go to DH.

[wismergirl]

Day 6 (con't) - August 16, 2018 (Thurs) – Cozumel, Mexico

The waterfront had a big sign of the port's name.

 

The area was beautiful with the lights.

 

We bought a few souvenirs.

 

I went to Del Solto check the price of the sunglasses that I bought in Grand Cayman. All 3ports, Roatan, Costa Maya & Cozumel has the price of $69 but I bought them for $50 so I was very happy.

 

We spent about 45 minutes at the terminal before walking back to the ship. Beautiful Caribbean Princess looked gorgeous with the lights.

We came back to watch the Mexican Folkloric Festival. The singing was just average, the band was not together & the dancing was repetitive. I'd rather watch the ship's production shows.

 

We went to the photo gallery to buy our embarkation picture ($25) before going to Club Fusion to watch the country singer/songwriter Rockie Lynne. The vocal trio was well-harmonized. It was a good 45-minute show.

 

Then we went to the International Cafe to get snacks & coffee. There were still 5 coffees that we had to use up before the end of this cruise. We were told that once Medallion is on, we won't be able to use those paper coffee cards any more.

We took our food & drinks to our stateroom and watched the movie "Eddie the Eagle". That was a great relaxing day!

[wismergirl]

Day 7 - August 17, 2018 (Fri) - At Sea

 

I couldn't believe it's the last day at sea. Tomorrow we're going to bid farewell to the beautiful Caribbean Princess.

 

We woke up just in time to meet our Cruise Critic friends for a 2nd slot pull at the casino.This time we didn't win. There went our $15.

 

Before lunch I spent some time in the dining room on deck 5 for the grand 50% off sale &bought 2 swimsuit cover ups for $10 each. Then we went to Steamers for Ramen.

There were lots of ingredients like scallop, shrimp, chicken, mussels, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots to pick, then I added noodles & the waiter added the broth for me. Delicious! I'll post the Ramen picture again here.

 

Before I took an afternoon nap, I did the online check in for our flight tomorrow. Then we went up to the Skywalkers' Elite Lounge to have some snacks.

 

During tonight's dinner, the waiters did the Baked Alaska Parade.

 

The show in the Princess Theatre was very good by the Princess Entertainer of the Year 2018,Tom Franek. He was highly entertaining & had great piano skills with various piano stunts. Since there was nothing much to do, we went to watch him again at 9 pm after packing.

 

We sent extra tips to our dining room waiter Joseph, Lobby Bartender Sawat & our stateroom attendant Ramon, then we spent the rest of the night at the International Cafe, sitting at The Piazza, writing my blog & listening to the piano player singing at Crooners Bar. There's still one more coffee on the coffee card for tomorrow. We don't have to get off the ship till 9:30 am. We have a light blue 5 tag.

 

This was a fantastic & relaxing cruise. We only did 2 long excursions out of 7 days. Spa treatments were wonderful & I took so many naps! That's a true vacation!