Carnival Cruise Rewind / (*Not) Live / Solo

[sid_9169]

Since I'm bored to tears from sitting around the house, eating and drinking, and watching TV, I thought I would take a little "trip" back in time... I have a few old cell phones that contain the only pictures from these old sailings. Sadly, the phone I had on my first three solo cruises no longer exists, so I'm going to have to start with my birthday cruise back in 2015...

 

I don't have wifi at home, so I'm currently standing outside of my workplace, as we're currently "laid off" for the time being.

 

Hopefully, I can provide a little bit of entertainment while we're all trying to get through this difficult time. The most difficult thing for me being that all the ships are currently parked, or out in the ocean, sailing in circles.

 

I will have to try to piece this thing together as I go, from the pictures on my rusty old Motorola Droid Maxx...

 

 

[sid_9169]

These images and narrative go back to September of 2015, on my fourth solo cruise on the Carnival Glory. It was pretty much a do-over of my very first solo cruise in 2014, also on the Glory...

 

The first picture on my phone is from Miami, prior to setting sail...

 

 

This was my very first time sailing in an inside cabin, as my first few I was lucky enough to score a great rate on balconies.

 

Home sweet home for the week...

 

 

 

 

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Looks like the next set of photos were sunset pictures from the deck...

 

 

 

 

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The next few appear to be a shot of Cuba in the distance...

 

 

 

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This was also the week of some kind of phenomenon known as the super moon... It was very cloudy, but I got the best shots that I could...

 

 

 

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When we arrived in Cozumel, I had an excursion to the East side of the island with the Cozumel Bar Hop. I had visited many of these same places prior on my solo cruise on the Breeze in 2014. I hired a driver named Crescencio to drive me around. He has since become my "regular driver" whenever I visit the island.

 

I was doing the Bar Hop for the very first time, and I would return for a few more visits on subsequent sailings. This first set are from Coconuts, the highest point on the island of Cozumel... Also, what I would later find out to be my least favorite margarita...

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

If you've never been to Coconuts, just be forewarned if you decide to look at their "family photo albums"... There are several, and let's just say that I don't think any of the employees are related to any of the people in the photos. However, if you enjoy pictures of drunk, topless women, you'd probably enjoy having a look...

 

The next series are from the last stop on the tour, at Rastas, sometimes known as Bob Marley Bar... If you ever make it there, be sure to ask for some of their peanut butter tequila. Yes, it sounds gross, but I swear it's addicting.

They also have great whole fried fish as well as awesome coconut fried shrimp.

 

 

 

 

 

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In the parking lot at Rastas, there's a small building they call the chapel...

 

 

 

Inside, you'll find a mural on the ceiling...

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

Since this was my birthday cruise, I really wanted to blow it out big-time, so I booked an excursion in Belize called shark ray alley by air though a local excursion website. I would first need to tender over to the mainland, then catch a cab to Belize Municipal Airport. From there, I would fly over to the island of Ambergris Caye. Here's the tiny plane that would be my chariot over there...

 

 

On the flight over, you get a spectacular view of the reefs in the shallow water below...

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

Upon landing, a guy met me at the tiny airport on Ambergris Caye... When I say tiny, I mean literally a small aluminum shed next to the runway. We walked from the airport over to the beach, where we would board a tiny boat for our trip to shark ray alley. It turned out that I was the only one to book a tour this day, so it was just the one guy and me on the tiny boat.

 

We left the marina and headed what seemed like a pretty good way to our first stop, Hol Chan marine park. The guy hands me a mask and a snorkel and says "ok, jump in"... Well, I did use the mask, but there was absolutely no way in heck that I was about to put some strange snorkel that had been who knows where in my mouth. I decided that I would just hold my breath...

 

There were lots of great colorful fish everywhere, and also lots of great coral formations.

 

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We next headed over to shark ray alley for another swim. I wish that I had saved more pictures from here, as it appears that I only have one.

 

I do remember that once the boat stopped, he dropped anchor in the shallow water. Next, he chummed the water with some fish and squid. Pretty soon afterwards, dozens and dozens of nurse sharks surrounded the boat. I mean, they were everywhere. Next thing, the guy says "ok, jump in" so I did. The sharks themselves are very docile, and accustomed to human interaction. The only thing they're after is the chum...

 

 

[sid_9169]

When we returned to the island, I still had a couple of hours until my flight back to Belize City. I walked around the town there and took dozens of pictures. This was the furthest I had ever ventured out from the ship, and I hoped that I would make it back before the ship left me. The guy said that the flights were very reliable, and I would make it back in plenty of time...

 

 

 

 

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There aren't really any cars in the town of San Pedro, and everyone gets around on golf carts. They're pretty much the only transportation besides bikes and on foot.

 

 

 

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A few more from my walkabout in San Pedro...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ok, I'm going to take a pause for the cause for awhile... I'm still just standing outside my work, which isn't opened... Hopefully, my little adventure is a decent enough escape from the confines of self quarantine and social distancing...

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Before I go, I'm going to try and post a link to my very first topic started here on Cruise Critic... It was right before my first solo cruise on the Glory in 2014. This predates my ability to upload photos, and is just a text that I posted prior...

 

 

[MzOhioLady]

Thank You So Much for doing this!! I love your pictures.

[clarkg]

I love your pictures.

[sid_9169]

According to my pictures, our next stop was Roatan. I had hired a driver through Victor Bodden tours, and I was going to try and see as much of the beautiful island as I could. Many of the people who visit here on Carnival ships stay within the Mahogany Bay complex, and are really missing out on this magnificent island.

 

I told the driver that I wanted to see the "real Roatan" so he took me down into some of the poor neighborhoods. You can see below, in the picture with the pink house, there's a little girl... She had a bucket full of sea shells that she had collected. She gave me one, and I gave her a five dollar bill. You would have thought by the look on her face that it was a thousand dollars... Her mom came out of the house and thanked me.

 

I told the driver to stop whenever we saw some kids, so I could also give them some money. I had brought an envelope full of five dollar bills for just this sort of mission. We have so much here in America and we don't even realize it until you visit somewhere that has much less than we do. I believe, that especially in the situation that we're dealing with now, that we'll come to appreciate things a whole lot more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jerseygirl1416]

Thank you for the distraction! I needed it😊

[sid_9169]

We continued our way around the island, with no particular destination... It's like a jungle in parts. Something like out of Jurassic Park...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

I'm so glad to finally get all these vacation pictures off my phone and out into the world, where they belong... Hopefully, some day down the road, we'll all be able to cruise again, but until then, it's fun for me to relive this journey...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

We'll just let the pictures do the talking for a minute...

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

So, it looks like we're leaving Roatan now... Next stop: I guess we'll all just find out together, as I have to look at the pictures to figure out what's going on...