MONichols

Left the luggage outside last night. Took a chance and checked the rolling carry-on filled with Lencan pottery from Honduras, wrapped in dirty clothes. Disembarked about 9:00am, the bags were there, onto the waiting bus, and to the airport for a 3 hours wait for the ATL connection to Seattle. All went well until I got home and all the pottery wan broken, one piece shattered. There was a note from the TSA saying they had inspected my luggage. Was it the ship? Was it the longshoremen? Was it the TSA, or Delta Airlines? In any case, I feel bad that I probably won't go back to Roatan or have the chance to buy Lencan pottery again. Next time I will baby it and carry on, even if the airline tries to coax me to check ... read more

This morning I slept through the bridge tour I'd been invited to by the Captain at the Meet & Greet. Went to the Indian buffet, it was delicious, pretty and very informative staff. India is quite high on my "next list" so I gleaned as much information as possible from the dining room staff. When I returned to the cabin, I had received a note from the Shore Excursion director apologizing for the problem in Cozumel, with a coupon for cover charge in one of the specialty restaurants. I went to Le Bistro French tonight before the show, it was a "best meal" of the ship. Show tonight was Elements, all great except the magician, not my deal. My Spa treatments today were great, a little pushy trying to sell product, but it's the same on ... read more

So 11/11/11 not such a lucky day for me. We docked early in Cozumel, my shore excursion wasn't until 1:20p, so I hung out by the pool, read a lot, couldn't really sit on my balcony as it faced another ship (there were 4 in port that day), hence my not wanting to go into town. As noon arrived, the wind picked up, and storm was brewing, whitecaps, huge waves breaking on the seawall. Oh well, my America's Cup sailboat adventure ticket said it operated in any conditions, so headed out to the pier about 1:00pm. There were no tour company people there, but a few other people sitting, waiting. Eventually I went over and sat down with some, we chatted about sailing. Then a huge black cloud dumped on us. We sought shelter in the ... read more

Costa Maya is a Mexico Tourism town, built by the government after a devasting hurricane in 2007 to help these poor folks out of poverty. On the dock is a beautiful, huge swimming pool, which I might do another time, surrounded by shops, double the price of out of this village. Our tour left at 8:05am from the pier. An hour bus ride with a great guide. I learned so much about Mayan history and beliefs. In Belize the guide wanted to talk more about slavery and British colonialism (it's formerly British Honduras). Most of the Belezians were black, with West Indian lilting voices, here they were all Mayan, short foreheads large noses. NO need to speak Spanish here, everyone spoke excellent English. Many still speak the Mayan dialect, also used in Apocolypto, with subtitles. So ... read more

Belize is gorgeous, very flat, very tropical. I had been here before and done the snorkle thing, as well as another trip doing the jungle thing, so decided to do the educational thing this time to the Lamanai Ruins, deep in the jungle by boat. My shore excursion left at 8:05 from the lounge, then a 45 minute tender wait was figured into the tour time of 7.5 hours, leaving us just enough time to catch the last tender back to the ship (a 15 minute ride). We boarded the "air conditioned bus" for an hour drive north, about as far as the paved road goes in Belize, to the Old Belize river. A nice Palapa had been built to begin these boat trips to Lamanai, a major archaeological site discovered & excavated by a Canadian ... read more

Today we arrived in Roatan about 8:30am. Coxen Hole is a small town of t-shirt shops and the obligatory Diamonds International and Tanzanite shops built directly adjacent to the dock. My excursion left at 9:00am from the pier. We made 4 stops: Plaza Mall, where I bought some Lamanan (SP?) black and white pottery. It is an old custom recently revived to give single Honduran women skills . Other things to buy here are handcarved mahogany, everything from tiny boxes to carved doors ($2000 including shipping), the craftsmanship is great. Next stop was the Iguana Farm. 4 little guys welcomed us at the road, I grabbed my camera. Should have waited a bit, there were HUNDREDS, just roaming around free. We were each given a giant leaf, and put it down and they came running at ... read more

Day At Sea Slept in until 7:30ish and had coffee in the room (there's a coffee maker in mini-suites) and read The 19th Wife, good book, for Book Club. About 9:00 I headed up for an omelet poolside. Then off to buy a few items in Ports of Call. sunscreen, a thermal coffee/water mug. It is pretty choppy today, I'm glad I went for the mid-ship cabin. There are a few seasick people around, wrist bands and an herbal remedy are flying off the shelves. My Meet & Greet for Cruise Critic is at 11:00am. Lots to do today, I headed for Trivia, dinner at the Ginza Asian restaurant and Bingo. Weather isn't great for sunbathing, but will be doing lots of reading on my deck as well. Had dinner in Ginza, a Japanese named Pan-Asian ... read more

Early departure. Luckily the two hour ride to Limerick was quiet, no commentary, so we were able to sleep. We really lucked out on the weather today, it poured when we were on the bus, but was fairly nice whenever we got off. We finally figured out to do the outdoor activity immediately if its.not raining, then head indoors if it showers. We headed west, met up in Limerick with the day tour from Dublin. Milan, our guide today was excellent. We hung out with the Aussies today, Julia Fox and her Mum. Really nice women, the Mum a very recent widow of 80ish. Her daughter is with her for an Ireland tour before the granddaughters wedding in Montreaux during the Jazz Festival. We went by bus, still part of Railtours Ireland DH 06 tour. We ... read more

Today we boarded the bus right around the corner from the hotel for our trip around the Ring of Kerry. What a gorgeous trip! We made frequent stops for photos, shopping, toilets and more photos. First we stopped at the Red Fox Inn. There was a traditional village adjacent, with thatched roof homes, shops, period furniture, even sleeping cats on the bed. Then off for another tour at a sheep farm. The owner talked first about the types of sheep from all over the world. As we listened, his adorable dog stuck his head through the fence to watch. Then as we moved over for the herding demonstration, these two dogs listened attentively to the whistles and brought the sheep down from the hillside. It was an interesting stop. Each of those two side trips was ... read more

Early to the train station to begin our 3 day 2 night tour to SW Ireland. Railtours Ireland is a very nifty travel company. With many tours to book online, all from Dublin, you can do a 1 to 5 day tour using rail for the long hauls, buses meet you at the station and provide sightseeing. Today we headed straight to Cork by train, were accompanied by a guide. We toured Blarney Castle, time to kiss the Blarney stone, shop, have lunch, then on to Cobh. This is the port of Cork with a long shipping history. The Queenstown ' Story told of the famine ships, the Titanic, which left here after boarding passengers for its ill fated voyage. The Lusitania was sunk off the coast here and local fishermen headed out to bring back ... read more