From our balcony Room L215 on Deck 15, we explored the
ship for 2 sea days where we enjoyed some amazing live entertainment on stage,
viewed Movies Under the Stars – complete with blankets and popcorn - and ate
until we were almost sick. On the third
day we reached Roatan, where we spent a gloriously warm day on a beautiful
beach (referred to by local tourism promoters as “paradise personified”). We also experienced a jungle zipline –
featuring 18 stops assisted (thankfully) by John, Winston and Ernie, who
accompanied us and acted as our “brakes” on this perilous, crazy, upside down
adventure through a lush Caribbean rainforest!
In the evening, we conned Ed into taking part in “Peer
Factor,” the on-board game show which had selected passengers matching their
skills with Crown Princess crew members!
Ed faced off against a casino dealer - dealing and shuffling cards and
stacking poker chips. Then his “team”
stuffed as many balloons as possible into an oversized jump suit worn by one of
the other team members. Ed didn’t want
to do it, but – as always – the showman in him came out, especially when it
came to doing a line dance with some cute and shapely CP dancers!
On our fourth day, we were transported to Belize by boat
from our ship – an adventure in and of itself – where we were among 14
passengers in a 12-passenger van looking for Maya ruins! Like sardines in a can, we traveled for an
hour to Altun Ha (which translated means “rockstone water”) which dates back
thousands of years. At the height of
its population this recently discovered (1956) community in the middle of the
jungle may have had as many as 200,000 residents. An interesting bit of trivia: the Mayas were the only “ancients” who had a
written language . . . and books! (Mosiah
24:6)
Day 5 found us in Cozumel, Mexico for snorkeling, another
Maya ruin and shopping in an interesting small city which has taken tourism to
a new high among 3rd world countries. The city of about 90,000 boasts beautiful
shops and dozens of photo opportunities right off our ship - one of 5 cruise ships
in port that day!
Day 6 was another sea day heading back to Galveston and our
flight home. Lots to do on-board, but we
had only a chilly, windy high of 72° in which to do all our planned activities!
The week was great fun.
We made new friends. The food was
good and plentiful. We enjoyed gorgeous locations
in the Caribbean – and we have the
t-shirts to prove it!!!
