Cruise recap – day one to three

It’s now a week since returning home from the cruise, the amount of food and alcohol consumed reduced to a minimum and jetlag is history. After a week on all inclusive, there was a certain need to go on a diet and the water wagon. The trip has created memories we will never forget. We are extremely lucky to have travel companions like Joy, Eddie, Linda and Derek.

Day 1 Embarkation

The cruise started really stressful. The ship, Norwegian Escape, is one of the biggest cruise ships ever. No wonder there was bit of chaos when 4200 passenger was to embark the ship during a few hours and cabins not ready until 3pm. The thoughts that came into our minds that day, was what in hell have we voluntarily entered? Don’t remember who had the idea, but someone suggested to have a seat in the Irish restaurant immediately inside the entrance. Got a table for 6, had lunch and sat there until the cabins were ready at 3. This was the first time on this trip, we realised that the Americans in general are terribly loud. We have some of the species on our neighbouring table. No one of us had the need of a hearing aid.

Cabin was ready at 3, checked in to it and the baggage was delivered in time. We now started to understand that the cruise line had all experiences in handling big crowds. Linda missed one of her suitcases, but it appeared during the evening.

We set sail in the afternoon, and the view over Miami and the surrounding islands was nothing more than breath taking.

After watching Miami, there was time to start investigating the bars. There were several, always one open ?. The ship had a large area with pools, tubs, water slides, zip lines, entertainment areas with stages etc. No need to say there were some noisy areas.

Found a restaurant during the evening and had a meal together, all 6 of us. Decided that this restaurant was not to be used again, a band started playing from a stage inside the restaurant and it was hard to have a normal conversation. This was when we found we had to be more selective when choosing our meeting points. However, found a real goo wine to go with the food ?.

After the meal, found a bar where we sat down and talked until it turned into a discotheque. Once again we were surrounded with this immense noise.

Day 2 At sea

Day 2 involved just sailing thru the Mexican Gulf onward to our first port in Honduras. Happily, after investigation the ship, we found a quiet area. This was the upper sun deck . Not only was it quiet, it also had its own bar. The first of, I have to admit, several frozen margaritas, strawberry daiquiris etc was consumed. What a life on an all inclusive ship. Go to the bar, present your plastic card received during embarkation, an off you go. One drink here, one drink there, life smiles at you ?.

Nothing more actually happened during the second day, apart from relaxing and dining together in the evening. This time we knew what we were looking for and got a quieter restaurant.

Day 3 Roatan Island, Honduras

Our first port call was Roatan Island, a small island outside Honduras. We had a pre booked excursion with a minibus waiting for us. This trip really showed the poverty in Honduras. We were not really happy with the driver and guide as he only talked during stops.

During our ride, we stopped at a wild life sanctuary. During the stay, Derek and I opted to walk into one of the cages holding monkeys. It was an amusing event to have monkeys jumping and landing on your head. Problem is that monkeys by nature is extremely curious. There were loud shouting from Linda when one of the monkeys tried to nick Derek’s hearing aid. The monkey were frightened and jumped on to me, still curious. In just a second, he/she managed to get a hand into my pocket and took the cap of my nitro bottle.

We also got to hold and cuddle a sloth and have ara parrots land on our heads.

After the wild life sanctuary, we drove on to the north of the island, to a resort named Anthony’s Key Resort. The place was lovely, with bungalows for rent. Price was reasonable, 1200 dollars per week, all inclusive per person. See https://anthonyskey.com/

The last place of the tour, was to a beach. At this time of year, it was not crowded at all. Weather was cloudy this day, and during the hours staying there, we spotted an enormous twister out in the sea. Luckily it stayed out there before dissolving. We were told they had a similar one the day before.

We found it odd that the beach had armed guards, but this is Honduras, not Norway or England. Also found quite irritating with all people patrolling up and down the beach with different goods to sell. Normally, you have one offer and they walk away when your answer is negative, but here they repeatedly returned.

At last, back to the ship for more frozen drinks and eventually a nice dinner.

Stay tuned, more to come ?