Saturday, December 8, 2018

Breakaway from the Holiday- Belize City

All About the Adults
Belize City, Belize
Wednesday, November 21, 2018


Belize City is literally our least favorite port and we have been there numerous times so we decided to take a day and enjoy more of the gorgeous Breakaway.

Morning

We slept in a little more than the previous days and all woke up around 8AM. We made our way to the Garden Cafe for a buffet breakfast. The cruise director, Armon, was calling for tenders groups since 8AM but at this point only the platinum guests and those with specific early shore excursions were being called. TIP- The “normal people” were not called for tenders until around 9:30AM, so keep that in mind if doing a "3rd party" excursion or just getting off to explore on your own.


The Carnival Glory anchored on the starboard side of the Breakaway. 

Chris and I have been to Belize City 5 other times and decided we wanted to take a day to ourselves and enjoy the ship. We dropped the kids off at the Splash Academy around 9AM and then made our way to the lido deck where we spent the rest of the morning. We enjoyed some drinks and live music and eventually a nice cool breeze.


The kids waiting for the Splash Academy to open at 9AM. 

We spent nearly 3 hours in the hot tubs before a swarm of kids arrived and we knew it was time to get out and grab a bite to eat.
This was the 1st time I saw this on a cruise ship and thought it was interesting. 

Afternoon
We got out of the hot tubs and made our way to the Garden Cafe for a light lunch before spending the majority of the rest of the afternoon laying out on the Lido deck. We left the kids in the Splash Academy for lunch but this cost us $12. TIP- NCL charges $6 per kid for breakfast and lunch on port days. This was a little annoying as it is the same food (Buffet or O'Sheehan's) that we already paid for in our cruise fare. I guess it keeps parents from just dropping off all the time. I do prefer the way Carnival does it and does not charge for breakfast or lunch.

We decided to pick up the kids around 3:30PM and let them play on the Sports Deck again. Of course, Luke played mini- golf and Natalie did the Ropes Course for the 3rd time in 3 days. TIP- We arrived at the Ropes Course at 4PM when it was scheduled to open and there was already 50+ people in line. We did not make it to the harnesses, the front of the line, until about 4:45PM.
Luke waiting for us! 
He LOVED playing Mini-Golf every day! Often multiple times a day! 

We made it to the entrance!

Natalie and I did the Ropes Course together and after a day of relaxing, it surely was an eye opening experience. I enjoyed the Plank and the zip line, even though my heart was racing during both. I am not sure it is worth the hour wait but I would do it again!


Mother-Daughter Ropes Course selfie!

Natalie on the plank!


I made it out to the end of the plank... 


and then turned around REAL QUICK.
I now wish I would have gone further and put my foot over the edge like a real plank! 

We both walked the plank with pride! 


Time for me to zip line on the ship! 

It's the only way to get off the Ropes Course... It was FUN! 

Mother Daughter DUO! We killed it! 

Shortly after the Ropes Course, Natalie did the Breakaway Bungee towards the aft of the Ropes Course. This was a lot of fun for her but yet again, another line of about 30 minutes. She enjoyed it so that is all that matters.


This was a neat activity for the kids but you must weigh less than 120 lbs. 
The worker turned away about 5 teenagers while we were waiting. 


Natalie's Bungee Experience! 

Both of the kids did the Rock Wall on deck 16 as well. Luke, once again, got scared of the heights and only made it ½ way up the rock wall. Natalie did it AGAIN… and made it up all the way to the top and RANG the bell! Way to go Nattie Grace!


Luke did really well and made it up the Rock Wall about halfway before getting too scared!
I'm proud of you Lukey! 
Luke on the Rock Wall! 


Natalie made it all the way up the wall and RANG THE BELL! 


Natalie on the Rock Wall! 
You "gotta admit" this is pretty impressive! 

Evening
After both of the kids climbed the rock wall, Luke wanted an ice cream cone and since we were on a cruise… who cares if you eat dessert BEFORE dinner!
The Carnival Glory and the Carnival Miracle leaving Belize City. 


The cruise is literally halfway through!
I LOVE CRUISING WITH MY FAMILY! 


The Whip slides on the Breakaway!


More of the tiny islands near Belize City. 

We then made our way to dinner at Savor MDR. We arrived to the MDR around 7PM and we did not have to wait at all and got right in. The service this night in the MDR was the best of the cruise and we enjoyed the food tremendously. TIP- There was a typical lull between the main course and desserts but overall, we were in and out of the MDR within 1 hour and 30 minutes.


 The kids LOVED having dessert every night! 
After dinner, we enjoyed some family time on the balcony before heading back up to the Sports Court to play a family game of golf and soccer. The boys won both games but it was a lot of fun! We spent a little bit resting on Lido deck before calling it a night and heading back to our room. We were all in bed and asleep before 11PM. We were tired!
Look Mommy- I can see the Captain and land!
Luke LOVED having a balcony! 

Me and my balcony buddy!

You can't tell from the picture but the water was a gorgeous blue! 

This day of rest and relaxation came and went but we enjoyed every minute. The 1st SeaDay was all about the kids so it seemed fitting this day was all about the adults.


Here is our Day 4 RECAP!

Once again, thank you all so much for following along! We are truly blessed to be able to take these cruises with our family and we love sharing our experiences with y’all!

Stay tuned for NCL’s private island… Harvest Caye, Belize.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Breakaway from the Holiday- Cozumel

Paradise Re-found
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Cozumel, Mexico

We LOVE Cozumel!

Good morning from beautiful Cozumel, Mexico. This day was filled with sand, sun and memories. We visited one of our favorite beach clubs in Cozumel, Paradise Beach. The kids enjoyed the beach and the waves and Chris and I enjoyed the gorgeous scenery and playing with our kids. It was another day for our record books.

Morning
Luke and I woke up around 7:15AM expecting to watch the approach only to find out that we were already in port and parked. Our stateroom was very hot, even though we did not have our balcony door open. TIP- Modern NCL ships have a shut-off valve for their AC systems. Anytime the balcony door is open for longer than 90 seconds, the AC system shuts off. This became pretty frustrating as the week progress. Keep this in mind and pack a small fan, if possible. Check this out for other packing tips! https://chrisandkelliedavis.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-cruising-non-essential-essentials.html

Once we all got up, we made our way to the Garden Cafe for our standard breakfast at the buffet. We ate breakfast around 8AM and it was not too crowded, which was surprising. We got a few mimosas and then got right off to make our way to the beach before the crowds. There were a total of 5 ships in port (Breakaway, Pearl, Brilliance of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and the Carnival Fantasy) so we knew there would be lots of people on the island.


Carnival Fantasy and Brilliance of the Seas making their approach to the island. 

As we got off on the pier, the kids loved getting to see the other ships. They also loved the Holiday Parade that was going on in downtown Cozumel.


Me and mini-me are ready for the day! 



We are not sure which Holiday this "Happy Holidays Parade" was for but it was an interesting sight to see! 

We made our way through the terminal and a random stranger came up to Chris and said “Hey, are you CRUISE LIKE A DAVIS?” This was totally random but is not the first time someone has noticed us in a foreign country, mind you. He explained that he and his wife booked their cruise on the NCL Pearl thanks to our blog and YouTube channel.


Paul… I hope you and your family had a GREAT CRUISE. Once again, thanks for following along!

This parade made the streets from downtown Cozumel to the tourist areas very busy but our taxi driver did a great job of getting us to Paradise Beach quickly. TIP- The Taxi ride from The Punta Langosta pier to Paradise Beach was $20. I did not have exact change so we had to wait for a worker from the beach club to bring us change. This was a moment I fully trusted a stranger and it paid off.


Mexican Taxi selfie... a #CruiselikeaDavis tradition!


A short 20 minute taxi ride from the piers and we are ready for a glorious day at the beach! 

Kenny, our waiter, made our change and then took us to our lounge chairs on the beach. We sprayed down the kids with sunscreen and we all made our way to the ocean. TIP- Paradise Beach is a gorgeous beach but has a “somewhat” rocky entrance. Bring swim-shoes if possible. Paradise beach has a $3 entrance fee and includes a chair and an umbrella for 2. They DO expect each person to spend $10 in the restaurant or bar but this is still a good deal if you do not need the all-inclusive. They also offer a “Play all day” wristband for $18.


The food is very good and decently priced for a la carte items! Our entire tab with drinks and food for all of us was $80 with tip. That is a good bargain for those willing to forgo the All-Inclusive of Mr. Sanchos or Chankanaab!

The kids LOVED it! 
Happy Anniversary to Gigi and Grandpa! 42 Years! 

Afternoon
We spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of the ocean and the beach club pool. The kids loved the inflatables in the ocean as well as the mats they used to float around. We all had a GREAT time once again at Paradise Beach and I highly recommend it for traveling families.





The kids enjoyed playing and racing on the beach! The beach was perfect. 
The kids had WAY TOO MUCH fun with this! I loved it! 


A few pelicans had made their home near the entrance, which was an interesting this to see as they dove for fish frequently. 


Goodbye Paradise... Until next time! 

We left Paradise around 3PM to make our way back to the downtown pier. TIP- REmember that the traffic back to the ship is usually a bit longer than the traffic outbound. Allow at least 30 minutes to get back to any of the 3 Cozumel piers from the tourist beachy areas (Such as Paradise Beach, Mr. Sanchos or Chankanaab).

As we got back to the Punta Langosta terminal, we did a little shopping and enjoyed taking pictures with trained birds before getting back on the ship.




This is right at the entrance to the terminal area. We made a donation of $10 and the trainers took about 30 pictures. We were able to hold these birds and learn about them for about 15 minutes. It was a neat experience for us all. 

Hello Breakaway! 


The Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Breakaway!

We went straight back to our room to watch the Pearl sail away and our own sail away. The Pearl set sail at 4:15PM towards Roatan and the Breakaway set sail to Belize City around 5:30PM. Chris and I had dinner reservations at Cagney’s Steakhouse at 6:30PM so the kids had to eat an early dinner since NCL does NOT offer to feed the children on Port Days. (I am not a fan of this at all. I appreciate Carnival offering a time for the kids to ear with the Kids Club, in case we have dinner reservations). Chris took the kids to the buffet as soon as it opened at 5PM to eat their dinner on the balcony as we all watched sail away.


Been there... Done that 
(and quiet frankly... LOVED IT! Kinda missed her in this moment!)

Our Norwegian PEARL blog! CHECK IT OUT!

Goodbye NCL Pearl! We will see you in Costa Maya!

HERE ARE SOME GREAT TIPS FOR NCL PEARL! THE GREAT OUTDOORS!

Check this out when you sail the PEARL. 

We loved watching the departures at each port!

Luke had to CAREFULLY sit on the small table or one of the chairs to see over the railing! 


This was at 4:45PM. The all aboard time was 4:30PM. 

8 minutes before we were supposed to set sail! 
Hello Mega-Ship!

Evening
We watched sail away and then took the kids to the Kids Club around 6PM. TIP- Reminder, NCL has a limit on the number of kids (55-60) it will take into the kids club at any given time.  The kids got right in and there was space for them at this time. That was NOT the case later in the week so I would suggest putting the kids in the Splash Academy early if you have plans or reservations.

We dropped off the kids, grabbed a few drinks at the bar and made our way to Cagney’s for our dinner reservations. TIP- The bar at Cagney’s/ Moderno is not crowded at all this time of night, unlike the Atrium bar.


The entrance to Cagney's and Moderno on Deck 8 aft.

Cagney's Dinner menu!
COME HUNGRY!


I LOVED this new feature. Cagney's offered an interactive iPad that helped you choose a wine selection according to what you would order as your meal! This was very high tech and it allowed me to try a new wine, which I loved. 

We enjoyed our dinner as we reminisced about our past cruises. Cagney’s service and food was phenomenal, as usual, and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.

Cheers to US! 13 years of marriage, 2 kids and 15 cruises later... We are still in love!

After dinner we made our way to the Headliners Comedy Club for the PG-13 comedy show. We had reserved tickets the previous day so were guaranteed a seat; however, there was a line about 40 people deep for standby tickets. TIP- You can come and stand in the “Standby Line” at any and all of the shows but once the seats are filled, the show is then sold out. Even with 40 people in the standby line, we still had great seats and even empty seats beside us. The bar service was great and some of the best of the trip, oddly enough. TIP- NCL does their comedy and their comedians a little differently than other cruise lines and has a set of 2 comedians  and an opening act the entire cruise. NCL spreads out the comedians and their shows but we learned that by the end of the cruise, both comedians do the same show as night 1-3. We prefer the way Carnival does comedy by switching out comedians in the middle of the week.


This is a view of the Comedy Club for a 9PM show at about 8:58PM.
Keep in mind... There is still plenty of space!


We waited out the rest of our Kids Club time until 10:30PM at the bar and enjoyed the sounds from the musicians in the atrium before going back to get our kids for the evening.


Goodnight... We are exhausted! 

This day was filled with both sun and fun and we all had a great time in our Caribbean Second Home. The kids enjoyed the Splash Academy and Chris and I enjoyed a romantic dinner and an evening to ourselves. The next day would be a day spent exploring the NCL Breakaway and we could not wait.


Our Day 3 Recap Video! 

Up Next… Belize City and a day on board the Breakaway!


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)