Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Cruise {Part 2}

Thursday we docked at Isla Roatan, Honduras. Before we left on our cruise this was the port I was least thrilled about. Honduras just doesn't sound like a pretty place to me. However, this was our favorite port!
I decided to risk it all (my back) and do the ziplining.
I was so scared but it ended up being a blast.
We ziplined along 12 ziplines totaling over 1.5 miles long.
At first they were short lines but the more we did the longer they got.
Eventually we were soaring across pastures of cows upside down and hands free.
It was so fun and definitely the best excursion we booked. What a thrill!
After ziplining we went inside the Monkey/Bird exhibit and got to hold the sweetest little Capuchin Monkeys.
They were so adorable, they just sat in our arms eating sunflower seeds.
And then as soon as we walked into these guys cage they flew right onto my head. Let's just say they need their nails trimmed or something...ouch!
As long as they had sunflower seeds they didn't try to eat our heads. Too bad the lady was slow at giving them to them, hahaha.
And then these sweet birds very gently took sunflower seeds from our mouth.
Not Josh's though, he was still mad he had to kiss the sea lion!

And that completed the "zip" part of our tour and we were off to the "dip" part which took us to West Bay Beach.
I was amazed at how beautiful this beach was.
The water was perfect and crystal clear. And no rocks, just white sand.
We had just enough time to swim for a bit and relax and then we were taken back to the port.  I loved all the cute, colorful shops!
Definitely the funnest day we had!

And that night was the funnest night we had! It started off with Hasbro, The Game Show, then after that was 60 Seconds Or Less. Just like the show Minute to Win It. It was so funny watching the people do some of the competitions, like squeezing a quarter in your butt cheeks, walking to the front of the stage and dropping it in a cup. I was dying laughing! Following that was the Buy One Get One Free Bingo which was fun even though we didn't win. We were both 2 numbers away. After Bingo was the The Love and Marriage Show. They pulled up a newlywed couple, a couple together 20+ years and a couple together 40+ years. They asked them questions and then read their answers to see if they were the same. This was by far the best entertainment on the ship. We were laughing at all the answers, it was just hilarious. I was so thankful we weren't on stage that's for sure!

Thursday was the most fun day at sea for sure!!!
Friday we docked in Grand Cayman or I should say a little ways from Grand Cayman. This was another port we had to tender into because it was shallow water. This ride was much shorter than Belize though, maybe 5 minutes.
We ended up having a private tour around the island stopping at some of the popular spots. Grand Cayman is part of the British Islands so they drive on the opposite side of the road on the opposite side of the car. That would take some getting use to.
First we went to the Tortuga Rum Factory and bought a rum cake. We had bought some in Cozumel but this was supposedly the original company that made the small rum cakes perfect for souvenirs.
After that we stopped briefly in front of one of the original Grand Cayman homes and learned just how tough the little house was and how it's stood strong through several hurricanes. I love how most of the houses are lined with conch shells. We brought Haylee home one.
Then we were dropped off at the dock where we met up with a group of people to head to Stingray City. While we were waiting for the boat to leave we were checking out all the cool animals. The dolphins you can swim with through Dolphin Discovery, starfish, crabs and iguanas.
Grand Cayman was full of huge iguanas just walking around (and hiding in the trees) all over.
So then we loaded the boat for our 30 minute ride out into the middle of the ocean where we came upon Stingray City. A shallow sandbar full of wild stingrays.
They immediately swarm you because they are use to people feeding them.
They were HUGE though, definitely not the stingrays you pet at the zoo or Sea World.
They were very gentle and we held them, kissed them and they gave us back massages (or as I called it covered my entire back and flapped there fins around).
It was such an awesome experience. We fed them too and it was like a vacuum suction and there mouth felt like sand paper. Kinda scary.
I had so much fun though and would definitely do it again. I think the girls would love it!

After we were dropped back off we continued on to the Turtle Farm for the next part of our tour.
We got to learn all about the green sea turtles, see tons of turtles all ages and sizes and we even got to hold the sweet little babies.
They sure were flapping their legs so I tried to talk to him and pet his head to calm him down.
I would have loved to bring him home, he was so so cute!
Our final stop was Hell.
It was named after a cop who had to chase a criminal through the jagged rocks and when the criminal got away the cop shouted "this is hell!" and the name stuck.
Kinda lame but I guess we can now say we've been to Hell! That completed our tour and we were dropped off back at the port to shop. Our daily ritual :)

That night we went to the 3rd Playlist Productions show called Divas. Following that we went to 2 different comedy shows in the Punchline Comedy Club so we could check out the 2 new comedians. They weren't as good as the first 2 (in my opinion) but they were still funny.
Every single time we sat next to someone at a show we always heard them laughing about the same guy we were laughing about the entire cruise. I'm sure he was a nice guy but he was just awkward. I spotted him the very first day because him and his wife we making out during the informational show that told us all the fun things to do on the ship, totally not the appropriate place. But from that night on we saw him front and center at every show. His wife had a different wig every night and they always had their water bottle of a red substance they poured into wine glasses. They both wore a ring on every finger and he had this ginormous gold cross he wore too. Just odd. Oh and I can't forget about how he would close his eyes and twirl his pointer finger in the air as he sang along to the music. So it seems we weren't the only people who noticed him because everyone we sat by was talking about him too. He was the laugh of the Carnival Glory cruise!
Saturday was our final full day at sea. We spent the morning packing most of our stuff up and playing slots for the last time. This was when I won $120. It sure helped pay down our sail and sign balance. Did I mention it costs $1.99 a minute to call home. Ya, our balance was not very pretty. I can't even remember what else we did that day except some last minute shopping in the fun shops and then that night we took in the final Hasbro show and then one last comedy show from a comedian we saw the night before. And that was about it.
Sunday we left our room around 8:30, ate breakfast and waited for our debarkation number to be read. From there the process was easy, we got our bags, went through customs and called our transportation guy to take us back to the airport. However, I think we arrived at the airport around 1pm and our flight didn't leave till 8:20pm. So ya, long day at the airport. We finally arrived home at 11pm AZ time and were greeted by the sweetest little girls! They were so good for Grandma and Grandma even said they were great and it wasn't as bad as she had expected having them an entire week.

We are officially addicted to cruising now. It will definitely be our vacation of choice for awhile I think. My Mom originally wanted to go on a cruise in 2015 for her 60th Birthday but instead we're going next year. I am getting ready to book our 6 day cruise aboard Carnival Breeze in April 2014 to Grand Turks, Jamaica and the Bahamas. We are taking Mom and both the girls....and we can't wait!!!!!

0 comments: