Geo: 17.4977, -88.1867As the only English-speaking country in Latin America, I have always been curious about Belize. It's known for its ocean reef and language, and that's about all I knew. It was British Honduras before it became independent in the 1960's.Because of the reef, no cruise ships visiting the port can actually enter the city. Rather, all the ships anchor off shore and people are tendered into town on smaller boats. We were eating breakfast outside as we pulled into "port," passing two other ships already anchored. It was all very impressive, but we couldn't even really see any of the city, other than a faint blur on the horizon. We'd booked a tour through the ship to visit the Mayan ruins of Lamanai (or Submerged Crocodile), and that meant we had to catch the ... read more

Geo: 25.006, -87.7148We loved the itinerary for this sailing, as it started and ended with "sea days," with four port days sandwiched in between. Having these built-in buffers on either end worked out great. Katherine and I started what also become a ritual, with a pre-breakfast walk on the promenade deck. Later in the morning, Anna and I won one of the trivia challenges. Go team! A good amount of the day was spent sunning on deck and around the pool. Multiple ice cream breaks during the day did wonders to keep us cool. ;-)... read more

Geo: 29.9537, -90.0778Getting downtown from the airport was no problem at all, and we were checking in shortly after 5:00pm. Having never been to NOLA, I relied on tour book recommendations and we elected to stay at the Crowne Plaza Astor, right on the corner of Bourbon and Canal Street, in the heart (or crotch) of the French Quarter. The hotel was beautiful, but when we had to listen to nonstop music from Bourbon Street ALL night long -- from the 12th floor no less -- I had some minor regret as to our choice.There were several conventions in town and the city was overflowing with visitors, so we used the hotel concierge to line us up a dinner reservation. On the condition that we changed immediately and walked right down, he scored us a table ... read more

Geo: 39.0516, -77.4831With our last few Spring Break trips being rather "intensive," in terms of level of activity and travel, we opted for something much more relaxing this year, and what is more relaxing than a cruise?! Back in September or so, when we finalized our plans, we had narrowed our choices down to an Eco-tour in Costa Rica or this cruise. Following a family vote, the cruise won out...and I'm glad in hindsight it did...though I had been the lone vote for Costa Rica. ;-) We had tried to find a sailing with a unique itinerary, and we settled on a Norwegian cruise out of New Orleans. Not only did it visit some great ports of call, but it left from New Orleans, which would be new for Anna and I.Even though Anna has now ... read more

Geo: 25.729, -80.2374The day we docked, Hurricane Earl was skirting New York City and Boston, and I feared he might hose up flights up and down the coast. We had a flight booked for around 2:00pm, as I was worried how long it might take to disembark more than 4,000 guests. Plus, we had to get from Miami back up to Ft. Lauderdale airport. Fearing for the worse, I had us get up fairly early and be ready to disembark as soon as the all clear came from U.S. Customs. It was, without question, the easiest and most organized disembarkation I've ever had on a cruise. At 0900 we were told we could get off. Our bags were right there, we cleared Customs, met our van, and we were in line at Jet Blue in Ft. ... read more