Western Caribbean Trip 2008

First, let me preface this with the fact calling this trip a "Western Caribbean" cruise is Norwegian Cruise Line's idea, not mine... I guess it's because it is, technically, the "west" side of the "Caribbean" Sea, but if you ask me, it's a bit misleading, as I had originally envisioned this as a trip to the islands, not the mainland. Nevertheless, I looked forward to getting to climb some Mayan ruins.

Also, several photos on here were stitched together using AutoStitch, a very awesome, free tool that takes several different photos taken from a single vantage point and stitches them all together, making one contiguous panorama. This works really well when making panoramas of distant objects, but for closeups, this tends to apply a distorted, fish-eye lens effect, most noticably on the stelae in Quirigua. I tried to fix this as best I could in Photoshop, but there are likely still defects. Suffice it to say, some of the wobbles in otherwise "straight" lines are the result of 1000-year-old Mayan ruins... and some of them are my fault.



Day 1: Saturday, December 6, 2008

Not much happened today. The parents, grandparents, and I took a rented van from Georgia to New Orleans, while my sister drove down from Houston. We had lunch at a Shoney's somewhere along the line.

The hotel itself was about 300 yards from where the ship was docked, but there was a large convention center in between the ship and us, making the trip closer to a mile or so. The biggest difficulty was actually finding and parking at the hotel. It was poorly marked on the side of the hotel we initially approached, and once we found it, it took us about 5 minutes of driving in circles down one way streets before we found the one pointing *toward* the hotel.

Dinner was at the Sun Ray Grill down the street from the hotel. I had a steak and bleu cheese quesadilla that was... different.

Day 2: Sunday, December 7, 2008

We woke up and ate a rather late breakfast in the lobby, and then caught a shuttle over to the dock. It took about an hour of standing in lines to get checked in and fnally board the ship. We headed to the main dining area to wait for them to finish cleaning our rooms, as they had just finished up another cruise and I can't imagine cleaning some 1000 rooms goes all too quickly.

The ship left port around 5:00 p.m. and sailed all night through the Mississippi River waterway, headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

Day 3: Monday, December 8, 2008

Today was spent all day at sea. We bummed around the ship playing cards and familiarizing ourselves with the ship. We had lunch at Henry's Pub, one of the theme restaurants on the ship reputed to have fantastic fish and chips. The ones who ate them weren't as impressed, and the chicken strips I had weren't anything to write home about, either... but here I am doing it anyway.

Day 4: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 Costa Maya - Kohunlich

We arrived at port in Costa Maya, Mexico around 10 a.m. We were a little behind schedule, as the boat was down an engine, so our original shore excursion was delayed by a couple hours. We disembarked and while the grandparents went to the Mayan village of Chacchoben, the rest of us went to Konuhlich.


Click the image above to go see photos of Kohunlich.

I'm not sure if it's the village itself or the tourism industry that's responsible for this, but the port for most of our stops had fancy, modern-looking fascades for their up-front shopping district, while the rest of the town is only exposed if you take any of the shore excursions out of the dock.


Day 5: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Santo Tomas de Castilla - Quirigua

We were already in port when I got up, so I have no idea what time we actually arrived. Everyone disembarked and we all took the shore excursion to Quirigua.



Click the image above to go to see photos of Quirigua.

On the way back from the site, we passed an iguana preserve, and the bus driver slowed down to let us snap a few photos.


When it was time for the ship to set sail, several people from the port city came out to send us off. Several emergency vehicles showed up, lights flashing, and there were a few dancing groups, as well.


Day 6: Thursday, December 11, 2008 Belize City - Altun Ha

We had to tender in to port when we arrived at Belize.

As we had a planned excursion, my mother and I got off the boat early to make our bus. My father and sister wandered around the city, and the grandparents got off the boat briefly.

Click the image above to go to see photos of Altun Ha.

Miscellaneous Photos


Day 7: Friday, December 12, 2008 Cozumel

We had plans to go snorkeling today, but the seas were too rough. Instead, we just wandered around the city, going in about five thousand tourist shops. We did stop and enjoy a few cheap beverages along the way.


The grandparents took a bus tour of the island, while the rest of us were wandering about.


Day 8: Saturday, December 13, 2008

Today was at sea all day, while we cruised back towards New Orleans. Mostly just bummed around the ship and played cards again.

Day 9: Sunday, December 14, 2008

We arrived at port early in the morning and disembarkation took less than an hour. The sister headed off back to Texas and the rest of us started driving back to Atlanta. The only thing really remarkable about the trip back was that lunch was spent at the same Shoney's we ate at on the way down. We got back early afternoon and I headed back to my house. Fun trip.



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