Originally we were just going to relax on Roatan, since we had already booked so many things (including a long day tomorrow in Belize).  Carnival built a whole port and beach area (with of course the requisite shops and restaurants) on Roatan Island called Mahogany Bay, and ostensibly we could have done the whole day there for no fee, just relaxed on the beach and whatnot.  However, the more I did research and the more I thought about it, I really wanted to see the rest of the island and not just the Carnival part.  Plus the day before was a beach day in Cozumel, and I didn’t think Chris would like the beach too much (turns out in his “old” age he is much more amenable to lying around, but oh well!).  I learned we could book a private driver for the day and get a tour for a pretty reasonable rate (compared to other places, for sure) so I decided to do that.  I wanted to do some sightseeing and eat some authentic food.

There were a couple of companies on Roatan that offered similar looking products.  I decided to go with the highest rated company, Victor Bodden tours.  The only unnerving aspect was that we would have to meet the tour guide outside of the grounds and evidently it would be quite the walk up a big hill (this is Carnival trying to make it harder for you to book independently and just spend money on their property.)

The ship was scheduled to dock at 11:00 am and it was just a little bit early.  The odd thing is that the ship almost backs into the port.  I got up early and watched this all from the balcony.  We got off the ships shortly after 11:00 and walked through the port, Mahogany bay, up a big hill, down a big hill, and finally met our tour guide for the day.  His name was Frankie, and he was very personable.

Originally I didn’t know what we wanted to do.  I’ve never been there, so how would I know what to see?  I potentially wanted to zipline, but figured with a private tour, and having done parasailing and jet skis already that we had had enough adventure.  And this is something I should have thought of:  Victor Bodden of Victor Bodden tours owns his own zipline on his property (tourism is booming, I guess!).  It is also part of a place called “Monkey Business” which is a little zoo with birds and monkeys, a petting zoo of sorts.  I had said we did not want to do this, because Chris and I thought it sounded creepy and exploitative.

Frankie drove us around the island for a bit.  Like I said, he was very personable.  He pointed out many different places, took us through several villages, some VERY poor.  He drove up a very long hill/dirt road to the highest point on the island–you could see all around you.  Just to let you know, Roatan is a very lush, hilly island.  Grand Cayman is very flat–Roatan Island is the opposite.

After about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of driving around, Frankie took us to the Monkey/zip line place.  I guess we had to go there, since I thought we had already said we didn’t want to zipline.  However, we decided to just pay the $5 zoo fee and spend some time there.  It ended up being pretty neat.

After the zoo we went to West End Beach.  We could have stayed there for awhile, but we decided to just walk around a bit, and then we wanted to have lunch.  The water was beautiful!

The beach was pretty small but beautiful, and jammed with rustic looking restaurants/resorts.  Evidently the scuba and snorkeling are great, but we didn’t do any of that.  We had already had a good beach day, so a little walk was good enough.  We were quite hungry by this point, so we wanted to get some food.

Our guide recommended a place, and told us that his favorite food was iguana–a delicacy in the area.  We invited him to join us for lunch, and we ordered “off” the menu.  I forget the name of the restaurant, something to do with Creole’s something (should have taken a picture).  Frankie and I ordered the iguana and Chris went with the stewed chicken.  Both dishes came with rice and beans, and plantains.  Frankie was worried I wouldn’t like the iguana, but I ended up really liking it! (Plus I am just not a very picky eater and love to try new things.)

After lunch, we just wanted to do a little shopping.  We went to a gift shop type place where almost everything was “50 percent off!” (Pretty sure it was always that way…) We got some awesome smelling coffee and a beautiful wooden plate.  Finally our guide dropped us back off at the pier.  We said thanks for a great day and gave him a nice tip.  Overall it was a great tour, though I might try a different company next time as I felt like Victor Bodden had a little bit of a racket going on!

We walked around Mahogany Bay for a bit and poked our heads in a few of the shops.  We also tried coconut water (directly out of a coconut), which I had heard was really tasty.  For the record:  it was NOT very good.

Finally we got back on the ship.  We hit the gym (ran a bit…gah…so hot on the treadmills!) and then went out to the sun deck for a little while.  We just relaxed, had a frosty drink, and got ready for the show before dinner.

The show was “the Physical comedy of Max Winfrey”.  It was EXCELLENT.  He was very funny, did a lot of juggling, and some other stuff (knife throwing) all with a witty sense of humor.  I did not have high expectations, and I thought the show was just fantastic.

We went to dinner, and then after dinner there were two new comedians:  Dobie Maxwell and Eddie Capone.  We attended both “R rated” shows with our tablemates, and they were very funny.  I liked Eddie Capone the best–he would make fun of audience members and himself.

Next stop:  early morning in Belize, Mayan ruins tour!

For our day in Cozumel, Mexico, we decided (in advance) that we would need to relax after our jet ski day, so I booked us at a private beach club called Nachi Cocum.  For one price, you would get all you wanted to eat and drink, beach chairs and a palapa (umbrella-like thing).   We also decided to reserve a parasailing time, since that was a decent deal.

The ship was scheduled to dock at 10 am, but by the time I woke up around 9:15 we were already there, so I don’t know when we got there.  We took our time getting off the ship as we wanted to feel relaxed.  I believe we finally walked off around 10:15, and it only took a couple minutes, no lines at all.  Luckily this was NOT a tender port.

Once you get off the ship in Cozumel, there is a long walk down the pier to get to the area with all the shops.  It was a very hot day, and this walk felt very long. I didn’t bring water along as I didn’t realize!  We made it and then had to worm our way out to catch a taxi.  There is a set rate to Nachi Cocum (along with other locations–all rates were advertised).

I had picked Nachi Cocum because people said it was very exclusive and had the best food.  Even on busy days (5 or more ships in port) they limit the number of people to 100.  We only had two or three (can’t recall) ships in port, and it wasn’t near capacity.

Upon our arrival, they had us put on sombreros and take a picture.  Later they tried to sell us this picture for 12, then 10 dollars, but we didn’t think it was worth it.  We looked funny, but my face was bright red and we were both very sweaty.

We paid the fee and then were shown to our chairs under a palapa.  You could also move them of course.  The water and sand were GORGEOUS!!  Clear bright blue….white sandy beach…it was going to be a great day!  I didn’t take that many pictures in retrospect, and I wish I had.  Oh well, we’ll just have to return.

Funny thing:  we ran into the family from our excursion the day before!  Guess we all had similar taste.

Chris and I were to have about two hours to relax before the parasailing.  We read, chatted, drank pina coladas, and dipped in the ocean to cool off.  The water felt fantastic!  Our waiter wanted to bring us lunch but we wanted to wait until after parasailing.

The parasailing left from a boat right nearby.  We got into the boat and quickly were taken out into the water.  There were two men taking us–one driving the boat, the other hooking us up to various straps and handles.  It was a bumpy ride!  We were hooked up to all kinds of lines, and then we went up into the air!  I brought the waterproof camera for those pictures as well, since I didn’t know if we would be getting wet.

It was a fantastic ride!  However, the seats started swaying back and forth, and I ended up feeling pretty nauseous.  I don’t know if all parasailing is like that.  I was ready to go back down, even though it was a fun time.  Afterwards we walked to the restaurant area to get a ginger ale or sprite for me, and then ordered lunch.

The food was delicious, and I started feeling much better.  You can see guacamole, seafood ceviche, shrimp with rice and chicken tacos in the picture.  It really was great.

After lunch we decided to swim in the pool for a bit and just relax.  Finally we took a cab back to the port (we could have stayed longer but we were ready).  We shopped a bit in the port then walked back to the ship.

I was tired and needed to lie down afterwards.  Chris went to the gym, and I ordered a pot of coffee from room service.  We had been invited to the “Past Guest Party” before dinner as we were returning cruisers.  It was in the Follies Lounge and they gave out free drinks and hors d’oeuvres.  We also had some sushi.

Dinner wasn’t that great tonight–I ordered veal parmesan and was unimpressed, and I felt tired the rest of the night.  Of course it could be that we ate off and on all day…in any case, I decided to go to bed early and Chris went with our tablemates after dinner to hang out and play blackjack.

Tomorrow:  Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Honduras

Finally!  The day I had hoped and dreamt about for weeks was upon us!  For those of you who don’t know my cruise history well, let me fill you in briefly.  When I was in maybe fifth grade, I was a huge fan of the Babysitters Club books (perhaps some of you remember them).  In one of the “super-specials” the whole club went on a cruise to the Bahamas.  Well, it sounded amazingly fun, and ever since, I had wanted to go on a cruise.  However, I didn’t get a chance until the summer of 2007 when my boyfriend Chris and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas ourselves.  It was a 4 day cruise out of Jacksonville which visited Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas, and had one sea day.  The ship was the Carnival Celebration.  We had a great time!  We had an oceanview cabin and ate in the main dining room, late seating.  It was a fairly last minute decision, and neither of us had cruised before.  We didn’t do much planning, and while on the ship we booked a snorkeling/clear kayaking excursion in Nassau.  What we didn’t know was that Freeport was not the sort of place you can just walk off the ship and have a good time at, whereas Nassau was.  In retrospect, we should have booked the snorkeling in Freeport.  But in any case, we had a fantastic time, and I couldn’t wait to go cruising again.

The following summer I was able to–my sister Leslie and one of my best friends Sarah went on a cruise out of LA to the Mexican Riviera.  This was a Royal Caribbean Cruise on the Vision of the Seas, 7 days, and the three of us split an interior room to save money.  We had three sea days and three ports–Cabo San Lucas, where we rode horses, Mazatlan, where we did a cooking and salsa excursion in addition to touring the old town, and Puerto Vallarta, where we just wandered around and then hung out on the beach.  It was a wonderful time!  The weather was a bit cool and foggy while on the ship, but there was plenty to do, great service, great shows and entertainment, and delicious food.  The ship was much bigger than the Celebration and Chris was very jealous of my pictures.

Which brings us to the present day.  We chose the Carnival Legend for a variety of reasons:  itinerary was the first one–the itinerary visits what they call the “Exotic Western Caribbean”, which includes:  Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; Isle de Roatan, Honduras; and Belize City, Belize.  I had been interested in this itinerary because of the variety of activities possible, ranging from beach activites to Mayan Ruins and jungles.  There were several ships that did a similar itinerary from several ports–we decided on the Legend since Tampa is easy/cheap to fly to for us and because the cruise was the cheapest option as well–plus it only cost a bit extra for a balcony room and that just seemed like a great idea.  I became obsessed with planning out our port activities, spending many hours on cruisecritic.com getting people’s ideas and booking tours/excursions through local companies.  I knew that hurricane season could end up affecting our cruise, and that we might end up having to skip a port or worse due to the weather.  Chris was just hoping to relax and that the Legend would be more like the pictures of the Vision of the Seas rather than the Celebration.

So here we are, morning of Embarkation.  We woke up fairly early and hit the breakfast buffet for the last time.  Our waiter, Jesus was shocked that we weren’t in our workout gear, but we told him we were going on a cruise.  We needed to return the rental car to the airport and then take a cab to the port.  The whole process took under an hour and soon we were in line to board the Legend!  I don’t remember exactly what time we got onboard, but I believe it was between 12 and 12:30.

We weren’t allowed into our staterooms yet, so we just wandered around, checking out all the different things onboard.  We found the spa/gym area and found ourselves on a tour of the facilities.  We visited the various bars, the Follies Theater (where the shows would be held), the dining room (we found our table, which we were told would be with two other couples our age), and a variety of other places.  Chris was very impressed by the size and decor of the ship (very shiny and filled with urns), and I was just excited!!  We eventually ended up at the Lido Deck eating lunch from the buffet.  We are not big buffet fans, and I absolutely hate waiting in line, but the food was decent.  There was a nice salad bar which I frequented, plus a deli line (which I avoided), an Asian station which just seemed to have generic Chinese food, a pizza station, a grill station, and a “Taste of the Nations” station which featured a different type of cuisine each day.

Finally we were able to get into our room, and it was bigger than we expected!  Also it had a balcony, which was AWESOME.  We had to do the muster drill (safety procedures) which was okay–you no longer had to bring your life jacket with you so it wasn’t terribly uncomfortable, and then it was really vacation time!

We each got a drink, and hung out in the room waiting for Sailaway, which happened around 4:00.  We were on our way!!

I watched from our balcony for awhile as the ship sailed away.  After awhile we decided to go to the martini tasting at one of the bars.  You could sample five of the martinis for one price.  We decided to split this, and tried five different ones, and then hit up the sushi bar for a snack.

Our assigned dinner time was 8:15, so we just relaxed and listened to music until it was time to go.  On my past cruises, dinner has been my favorite thing–it’s like eating at a really nice restaurant every night, and we had always been fortunate enough to sit with some really great people.  We hoped our table would be interesting enough!

We got there and were seated easily.  Then we learned that three large nearby tables were all for ONE family group.  Uh-oh.  Our waiter quickly became overwhelmed.  Another couple joined us then, and we were chatting a bit.  Then one more guy showed up and sat down, but then his girlfriend or wife came over and pulled him up, telling him they had been reassigned.  I was starting to get a little sad, but we salvaged the evening by having a good time chatting with Jason and Michelle, who had JUST gotten married (eloped) on Friday, and we were the first people they had told!  They were from Manhattan and the Bronx.  In any case, the service was difficult that night, but the food was still pretty tasty.

After dinner Chris and I went to the Welcome Show in the Follies Lounge or Theater.  The musicians were great–no strings on this cruise, but trumpet, flute, saxophone, piano, drums, plus a few singers and quite a few dancers.  We were highly entertained.  We then went to the comedy show, an R rated show by a comedian named Thomas Brown-very funny!! We ran into our tablemates there and sat together on one couch.   After the show, I was exhausted, so we headed our separate ways and went to bed.  Tomorrow’s paper (each day they give you a paper telling you what is happening on the ship that day) was in the room along with the first of many towel animals.