Jan 15th to 25th - Cruising

Jan 15^th to 17^th – Thurs/Fri/Sat

I was right about “a couple of weeks”! This is going to be one big entry.

We left for Houston bright & early on the 15^th in Bob & Sandi's Jeep. We stopped in Van Horn TX for the night – OK motel, crappy dinner. The next day we took a break in San Antonio and wandered around the river walk. We stayed in Schulenburg – better motel, great dinner at a buffet with intentionally crooked windows - which left a decent drive Saturday morning to Seabrook which is the location of a new cruise ship terminal near Houston. We had plenty of time to board the Norwegian Jewel, get drink package stickers on our key cards, find our room (9) – balcony and directly across the ship from Bob & Sandi – and have lunch and explore a bit before watching the ship leave the dock at 4. The props & side thrusters throw up “stuff” from the bottom and there were tons of birds having dinner. We checked out the casino, had dinner and went to the lounge/nightclub before calling it a day at midnight.

Jan 18^th – Sun

Today was a sea day. We met Bob & Sandi for breakfast (7), watched some line dance lessons (13) and we all took part in a slot tournament (6) where we did not get past the first round. The numbers in ( ) are levels in the ship and I put them in to show how much exercise we all got – yes, Terry included – by using the stairs ALL THE TIME! We had a light lunch and then Terry went back to the casino and I relaxed & read. Sandi & I went to a movie while the guys watched the Sea Hawks pull out a surprising win. We went to a steakhouse for dinner to celebrate Terry's birthday a couple of days early. The meal was wonderful.

 

Jan 19^th – Mon

We docked at Cozumel this morning and walked a short ways where we rented a well used (rickety!?) jeep and went touring. We stopped for a beer and pictures on the rocks and then made a second stop for nearly the same thing but added some chips & salsa. The circular peaked roof of the bar was entirely covered on the underside with T-shirts and there were fun signs all over. We missed a turn for some ruins so we backtracked, drove a couple of miles off the main road and then decided not to tour the ruins! We returned the jeep and did some shopping before returning to the ship.

We had a snack at the outdoor buffet to tide us over and went to the casino for a bit until the 7:15 show – a comedian named David Naster who was excellent. Bob & Sandi went to eat (Sandi had a very small snack unlike the rest of us!) and we went to watch some line dance lessons. The floor was jammed and we knew the dances so we just watched – and drank! The lessons were followed by a “contest” called “Dance Like a Norwegian” where 6 guests were paired with ship personnel in a dance contest. Lots of laughs.

Jan 20^th – Tues

During the night we traveled to Belize City. Due to the barrier reef, we had to tender in which was a good experience. Catamarans from Belize were used rather than lifeboats from the ship as all ships have to tender. We walked down the dock and joined up with couple from Florida for a private tour in an air conditioned van that could have held twice as many people. It was run by a church and the pastor was our tour guide. The outstanding impression of Belize City was poverty and lack of fundamental facilities in the majority of houses. We made the “mandatory” stop at a run factory and then went through a very poor part of town which was quite depressing.

We shopped – of course - on the main street and then in a duty free section in the dock area. We sampled some frozen drinks and had to buy one each – yummy. Can you say “head freeze”? We had an early dinner at Azura which is a complementary sit down restaurant and very good. Norwegian has “free style” dining so no reserved seating with the same people each night and suits us fine. The show was a Russian acrobatic couple who were excellent. The man was also a very good singer. Then we went to the lounge for a “Battle of the Sexes” game which was quite funny.

 

Jan 21^st – Wed

A night of travel took us to Roatan, Honduras. It is a little island – 38 miles long, 3 miles wide - just off the coast and very lush & tropical. We had booked a zip line excursion but not early so we had breakfast, then lined up on the dock and followed our tour guide to the bus area. She gave us lots of information on the way. We were all decked out with harnesses, helmets & gloves for braking. There were 12 zip lines going back & forth across a big gully for a total of 2 miles. There were 40 people in our group so it wasn't as much fun as the zip lines we did in Maui with a smaller group but it was OK. We piled into trucks for a ride back to the start and then had to wait for the 2 buses to get back to the dock area.

We shopped, had $2 drinks in a “rustic” bar and headed back to the ship. Once again we had an early dinner at Azura (not so good this time) so we could get good seats for the 7:15 show which was a magician/comedian and again very good. We spent some time at the casino before calling it a day.

Jan 22^nd & 23^rd – Thurs/Fri – sea days

Bob & Sandi enjoyed breakfast on their balcony (east side of the ship going back) so after we had another great meal at the buffet, we went back to the casino. We all met for lunch and then went for a talk/presentation (You just have to laugh) given by the comedian David Naster. It was really good. We watched a movie trivia game while we had a drink. We moved to another bar where Bob & Sandi took part in a martini tasting event and we continued to make good use of our “unlimited drink package”. We had to change into slacks for dinner at the Tzar's palace which was just OK.

The 9:15 show was Le Cirque Bijou where we were amazed to see dancers from a few nights ago now doing acrobatic acts above the audience. After the show, a parade of employees & officers were introduced and then exited so they could “meet & greet” the leaving guests. We continued on to the “White Hot Party” in the lounge which was very loud & crowded so we didn't stay too long.

 

Friday dawned with clouds & showers but 7 foot swells didn't budge the ship. We dawdled over breakfast, Bob & Sandi joined us at the casino for a bit and then we separated for lunch and some packing. Once again we went to Azura for dinner and this time the service and the food were not very good. I am happy that we got the good meal first or we would have only gone once.

The “grand finale” show was super. All the acts took part in some fashion and at the end 6 of the activities personnel did a hilarious “water spitting” act that Bob & Sandi have seen on previous cruises. The activity director was superb. A great end to a fun trip!

Jan 24^th – Sat – disembarkation (just had to use the word!!)

Norwegian has a “fast exit” process where those who can carry all their luggage can do so and disembark first rather than waiting for luggage with different colored tags to show up in the terminal. We were supposed to leave at 7:45 but an announcement at 7:15 said the gangplank was ready so we hustled out. There were lots of customs agents, the parking lot was close to the terminal and we were on the road just before 8. Breakfast at McDonald’s, a few gas stops, lunch at Subway and a Red Roof motel in El Paso. We went to Outback for dinner but there was a 45 minute wait so we went to Logan's Roadhouse where there was also a wait. We ended up at Macaroni Grill which was good. We were definitely ready to crash when we got back to the motel. Terry had turned on the heat before we left for dinner and we could hear a fan rattling before we opened the door. Luckily it was warm enough that we could turn it off for the night.

Jan 25^rd – Sun

We got an early start and drove for an hour before stopping for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. There was a bit of snow on the ground in Texas and quite a bit more in New Mexico. Bob & Terry took turns driving & napping and we made good time. We arrived at VVV at 3:10 to find a few friends waiting in the street as Gloria had sent a text when we were near Casa Grande and they had a pretty good idea when we would arrive. A couple of phone calls and others arrived. We threw our bags in the rig, got a drink and some snacks, put out chairs and enjoyed the party!

Home Sweet Home!!