I'm trying to play catch-up...let's see how this goes! :)
Mike and I got the great chance to go on a dream vacation. We went on a Carnival Cruise for 8 days, out of Houston with destinations in Hondurus, Belize, and Cozumel. Holy cow. How great this was!! We went with our good Friends, Wes and Nicki Jenkins, and after weeks of planning and prepping we were finally ready to head out! Brielle came to town and was willing to stay with our babies while we were gone, and Mom and Dad took them on the weekends. We are really thankful for their willingness to help us out!
This will be the photographically condensed version (we took thousands of pictures) but I just want to get this down before I forget so here it goes... :)
We flew out of Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon (after a morning spent running a HUGE fundraiser. It was a crazy day!). We got to Houston late, rented our car, grabbed some dinner at a sketchy all night Denny's and checked into the hotel. Sunday we didn't have to be on the boat until 4:00, so we tried to catch church. We got lost and confused, only to find the building and find they were changing their schedule for the day so we missed Sacrament meeting. We tried to hit up a Spanish meeting, but couldn't find it and so threw in the towel. Back to the hotel to check out and head to Galveston. There was some rental car stress, but we got it figured out and made it to port.
Our first two days were at sea. It got a bit boring, but there is lots to do on the ship--and LOTS to eat! Truthfully, the food looked better then it tasted, but it was always on hand, always the right temperature, delivered right to our tables, and always kid free. Superb! We had an interior cabin ---so dark at night! It was perfect!-- but Wes and Nicki were kind enough to let us hang out in their balcony room with them often. What a view! The ship had hot tubs, swimming pools, water slides, chess, ropes coarse, exercise equipment, running track, and food-food-food. It was awesome. We had a lot of fun, despite all the drunk people. ;)
Leaving port we saw Dolphins!
Our first port stop was Roatan Honduras. We came into port early in the morning and we got off quick. Our shore excursion was ziplining and monkey tour. We were also hoping to get some shopping in... ;) Our tour guide was great--my big advice would be to book through trip adviser, not the ship. We got off the boat a bit later then the carnival people, but we saved tons of money and had SUCH great experiences. I wish I remembered all their names--I really need to update my reviews!
From Honduras, my favorite things were:
*the beautiful foliage
*the FUN zip-lining--these folks let us go tandem, upside down, backwards. It was super fun!
*the memory of our tour guide truck, with totally bald tires, sliding backwards down the road in the rain
*the beautiful beach and fun soda bottles at lunch
*the HUGE crack of thunder that just about knocked us off our feet--and got us promptly off the beach!
*the shopping and our crazy statue we bought on a whim
Our second shore excursion day was Belize. This was my FAVORITE day. I was nervous about Belize--I had heard it was super scary and dangerous, but things went off without a hitch and we had a great experience. Once again, our tour guide was UNBELIEVABLE--I think we had a much better experience then those who booked elsewhere.
We had to tender to get off the boat. We waited a while, but still had plenty of time to do all that we wanted to. The excursion for the day was zip-lining and cave tubing. When we booked our cave tubing, the company was running a special that included zip-lining for like $10 more. We booked the double excursion, and I'm so glad we did! We had a whole tour group, but they dropped the 4 of us off at the zip-lining place and told us we would hook up with them later. I was a bit nervous that they were leaving us in the middle of nowhere and wouldn't be back, but in the end, we met up with our group right at the start of the river. They took an extended walk through the forest--and I don't think we missed a thing! You want to see beautiful forest, go zip-lining hundreds of feet in the air!
In Belize, my favorite memories were:
*the views of zip-lining. This zip-lining was higher in the trees and longer between stands--it was breathtaking.
*swimming in the river, in-between the caves
*our guide who coaxed a wild tarantula out of a hole in the ground...and held it!
*the authentic Belizian lunch they served us
*the scary shopping--serious haggling happened here, all amongst armed guards. I still regret we didn't buy a couple more of these BEAUTIFUL bowls and statues they were selling.
Our last shore excursion was Cozumel. This was Mikes favorite day! I wish that I had practiced snorkeling a bit more as all the salt water and boating made me a bit sick--but it is incredible to think about all the wildlife that lives in the ocean! One of the coolest parts of today--besides all the cool things we saw--was spending time on a private beach where we picked up gigantic conch shells, enjoyed a homemade snacks from our guide, and spent time in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I regret how wild my hair was this day--I don't have any great pictures of Mike and I in this beautiful place cuz I look like medusa! Ha! When our computer is back up to snuff, I'm going to add the go-pro pictures of everything we saw in the ocean--sharks, turtles, fish, coral....it was amazing!
My favorite parts of Cozumel:
*the unbelievable part of the Island we had snacks at. The water the the prettiest thing I had ever seen.
*walking the beach with my love
*seeing a SHARK in the ocean
*swimming with the sea turtles
*the yummy homemade guacamole
*the crazy drunk people behind us in the line to get back on the boat
*holding a sea urchin
*seeing Mike like a kid in a candy store while snorkeling
Our last day was a sea day. We tried to get in everything we hadn't done yet on the boat, and only got a little bored. I'm glad we only had one sea day on the way home, not two, as I was ready to get home to my babies!
Knowing what I know now, we would have booked a sooner flight. We got off the boat much quicker then we had worried, and got right to the airport--only to wait for like 8 hours. It was long. But still kid-free--so great! :)
Favorite memories from the boat:
*winning the bean bag toss
*the funny comedian
*the melty-chocolate cake
*the food...all the time the food
*the nasty hot tub
*exploring all it had to offer
*dinners with fancy food and good friends
*the glass elevators
*stairs were always faster than the elevator
*the scavenger hunt
Loved our trip! I think we need to do another pronto!
