We stayed at
The Inn of Last Resort in Roatan, Honduras on Sunday night. It was a really neat diving resort, with its own private snorkeling/swimming lagoon and a deck and restaurant that overlooked the ocean. In fact, it was so neat that David and I very well may end up back there on vacation sometime in the near future! It turned out the resort was not actually really open that night - they were in their "slow season" and were preparing to open for the "busy season" the following week. But, they prepared a room for us and really made us feel welcome.
Elizabeth really liked the 2 spider monkeys that were located in a cage in the middle of the resort, as well as the 2 parrots in the restaurant.
(Ed told us that the monkeys were going to a local zoo very soon, so don't expect to see them if you're visiting later!)
Roatan is a barrier island of Honduras. It is located next to the Honduras Barrier Reef, which is the 2nd largest coral reef in the world (next to Australia's), and the largest LIVING coral reef. The combination of beach, ocean, mountains, and jungle makes it truly beautiful. As of yet, it's also not very commercialized, so the entire island has a very laid-back atmosphere. I guess it's hard to have a fast-paced life when you can only drive 10mph on the dirt roads!
As I said, despite its name, the resort was very nice, once we got past the very bumpy, long dirt road that led up to it. (We were also informed that the resort is about to get a facelift and the driveway will be paved very soon as well.) The buildings of the resort were all made of wood and the landscaping made you feel like you were staying right in the middle of the rain forest. We truly felt that way when we woke up on Monday and found that it was raining - that was when we were informed that we had actually arrived right in the middle of the "rainy season." Sure wish they had told us that before we booked the itinerary! I forgot to take any pictures before the rain came, but here's one of Elizabeth right outside our room:
Ed gave us a personal tour of the island, both on our way to the resort from the airport, and when he drove us down to town for dinner that night. We ate at an absolutely fabulous little seafood bar/restaurant that was right on the beach. The food and atmosphere were magnificent (I got a huge king crab that was the best I'd ever eaten. Best of all - it was caught right on the island and only cost $14!) Ed even ate with us and kept up an interesting conversation that included some great local history and stories. Elizabeth really enjoyed playing with the owner's son in the sand right next to our table while we finished eating. All in all, it was a fabulous evening, and the best meal we had the entire week (and possibly ever). Definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
We were doubly glad we had an opportunity to spend extra time in Honduras when it ended up pouring rain all of the next day, which was our scheduled port day with the cruise ship. So, instead of having to do all of our sightseeing in the rain, we were just able to get on the ship, finally unpack, and start our cruise vacation. (Of course, before we could get on the ship, we ended up having to take one more surprise visit to customs to get our passports stamped again before we could leave, but at that point, surprises seemed to be part of the trip!)
Here are some pictures of Roatan from our ship balcony.
As you can see, it's mostly forest/mountains, with the towns/beaches located around the perimeter - very beautiful!
Once on the ship, we quickly started our vacation in earnest. Jonathan found his favorite position, with Wii controller in hand:
David and I just relaxed:
And Elizabeth decided she was ready for the beach!
The following day, we docked at Belize City in Belize. After a few stressful moments figuring out how to catch our booked shore excursion (which we though was through the cruiseline, but it turned out was separate - another lesson learned),we caught a bus to the Mayan ruins of Altun Ha.
After taking a brief guided tour, we had fun climbing on some of the pyramids.
See David and Jonathan all the way up there? Perhaps this will help:
Of course, Elizabeth wanted to climb her own pyramid:
Admittedly, hers was a little smaller. :)
During our tour, the guide pointed out an AllSpice tree on top of a large hill, and told us chewing the leaves would numb your mouth. After that, Jonathan decided he had to try it out:
He then got even more climbing practice while the rest of us chilled:
After that, it was back to the port to do a little shopping, then back on the boat for the evening.
The next day, we were at port in Cozumel, Mexico. David and I spent a week in Cozumel during our belated honeymoon, so we were excited to go back there again. I took Elizabeth to get her hair braided, to the beach and to do some shopping, while David and Jonathan spent the day snorkeling. Turns out the girls' day was much better than the boys', because they ended up having another mishap with the shore excursion connection. But, they did eventually get to do some nice snorkeling, and other than a tense hour for me when the front desk told me they had probably missed the boat (AGAIN!), the day turned out well. Here are some pictures of Elizabeth with her braided hair at the beach:
After Cozumel, we had a day at sea. It wasn't really what I had anticipated, which was mainly hanging out by the pools, because it turned out it was very breezy and pretty cold on the decks. So, while David and I did spend a little bit of time in the hot tubs, and Elizabeth got to try out the kids pool (where she absolutely loved the slide!), most of the day was spent indoors. But, the day was very relaxing.
Here's a picture of Elizabeth's brief stint in the kids pool:
We also spent some time reading:
Hanging out on our balcony:
And just watching the sun set:
The final day was spent on Norwegian's private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay. We had a wonderful time at the beach. We got to feed the fish, play in the sand, and snorkel.
During the evenings and during our day at sea, the kids really enjoyed the kids programs on the boat. Elizabeth's was really well suited for her age group - they had lots of parties! During the week, she got to go to a non-birthday party, a pirate party, and a pajama party! She ran into the room as soon as she got there and didn't look back!
Jonathan spent most of his time on the boat hanging out in the Teen Room (and everywhere else) with a bunch of the other teens. He seemed to really enjoy the freedom and lack of parental supervision.
In fact, the kids were gone at their programs so much, that David and I actually got a lot of unexpected time alone together. Talk about a great vacation!
We did decide that you have to take a "practice" cruise before you can figure out how to really do it right the next time. Things I would have done differently: travel to Miami the day before the flight leaves to allow for travel problems; make sure to book our shore excursions through the cruise line rather than independently; and bring my own hairdryer (the one they had in the bathroom was horrible). Also, all in all, we really liked the Norwegian cruise (especially the kids program!), but the food wasn't as good as we'd anticipated (although most of the passengers seemed to really like it, so maybe we're just snobs). I also would have preferred a cruise itinerary that would actually dock at each port, rather than having to use tender boats for 3 of the 4 port days, but I didn't see anything about that on the itinerary beforehand, so I'm not sure how you can determine that beforehand. Also, the whole cruise schedule was pretty rushed. I would have preferred more time at each port, but there's really no way to do it on a cruise. So, we decided you need to use the cruise to determine which ports you want to go back and visit again in more detail. So, I guess the ultimate conclusion is - we need to take many more cruise and land vacations!
