Monday, July 31, 2017

Breezing Through Summer- Roatan

Here Comes the Rain Again
Mahogany Bay, Roatan
Thursday, July 20, 2017



"Falling on my head like a tragedy".
(You know you're singing it in your head)
The day started with scorching heat and humidity and then out of nowhere came an island storm and it rained, and rained, and rained. This was the first day of continuous rainfall. Before this every other day was blistering hot, as proof in Luke's face, Natalie's arms and legs as well as my shoulders! But this rain would not drive us away from this gorgeous destination.

Morning
I set the alarm for 8AM so we could enjoy as much of this destination as possible. We all got ready and ate breakfast at an unexpectedly crowded buffet and were off of the ship before 9AM. The Carnival Breeze was the only ship in port which made the pier and surrounding area to the beach much less crowded than usual.

We LOVE this island!

Gangway Photo #1

Gangway photo #2

Selfie stick and sun fail... we missed Nattie's face.

The kids LOVED this port!

We had pre-purchased a excursion through Carnival called "Relax on the Beach and Snorkel". This included 4 beach chairs, a clamshell covering for 2 chairs, unlimited ride passes for 2 on the Gondola ride to and from the beach, as well as 2 large floats and 2 sets of snorkeling gear. It is priced at $67 and covers 2 people. We purchased 2 kids gondola tickets for $14 total making this an $80 excursion day for all FOUR of us!

We got on the gondola to the beach and the kids just loved it! We got to see Mahogany Bay and the Breeze as well as our actual beach from the sky! We even saw a large iguana on the pier! As we got off the gondola we were greeted by our server from the beach who immediately got our wristbands, chairs and equipment.

Magical Flying Chair selfie!


A view of the walkway to the beach!

We saw an iguana on the pier from the gondola!

We love you  Roatan!




I love Luke's face!
We lathered everyone up with sunscreen and headed out to the beach with our floats. Luke was hesitant at first but fell in love with the float. All four of us just floated in the open ocean for a long time before coming back in for more sunscreen. My shoulders were just too burnt from Cozumel a few days back so I had to put on a shirt as the sun was fierce and it was blazing hot!

Mr. Water boy was MUCH more comfortable in Roatan!

Family Selfie... One of only a handful of pictures of ALL FOUR of us!


Luke is so silly!

My boys in the ocean!

Even after 12 years, I still LOVE YOU CHRIS DAVIS!


Natalie LOVED the floats!

The floats were a very good purchase!



This is an EXCELLENT shore excursion for families! Be sure to check it out!
We re-applied sunscreen and Natalie and I went back out with the snorkel equipment to see if we could see anything but the water where everyone was floating and swimming was just too murky. We decided that all 4 of us would float out to the long pier where you could jump off to see the coral reef and have better snorkeling. Chris stayed with the kids while I snorkeling for about 30 minutes and then we switched. I saw some amazing fish and once again this coral reef did not disappoint. This was our third time to this reef and we love it EVERYTIME!

Natalie was not sure about the snorkeling! The life vest was especially bothering her!

But she faced her fears yet again and had a great time!

A view of my family from the snorkeling pier before I jumped off and snorkeled!


Not a great video but you can see some of the coral and fish!

As I was floating back to the beach with the kids the rain started to fall. It was light at first and we all laughed and had a good time but as soon as the wind and thunder came Luke was done! He yelled, screamed and cried the whole way back, which was pretty far! In fact, it was raining so hard they had to call in the snorkelers and Chris had walk all the way back from the pier.


 My silly kiddos!

The was the most perfect picture... I had BOTH of them looking back at the ship but this is the only one that turned out! Still great!

Natalie and Chris went back into the beach with the rain while Luke and I stayed under the clamshell! After a while the rain got lighter so Luke and I ventured back into the ocean with Natalie and Chris.

Luke and I waited the storm out in our clamshell!

Afternoon
We stayed out in the ocean for about another hour before Luke had enough of the rain and said he needed a nap! In fact, there were a few times he tried to fall asleep floating on my back! We got all of our soaking wet towels and stuff from the rain and rode the gondola back to the cruise terminal. We had planned to do the nature trail but it was still raining steadily so we just went back on the ship for lunch.

I really could stay there forever! LOVE that port!


Natalie's favorite place on the ship!

We got back on board and decided it was time to do laundry as the wet clothes were taking up too much space in our cramped room. Natalie was a huge help and helped me with the laundry but my card was not swiping correctly. I tried Chris's card too and it was not working either so a very nice Texas passenger helped us out and paid for our washing machine. I ran back to the room quickly and gave her $5 then we ran up to the pasta bar minutes before it closed to get our pasta to go! Thank you fellow passenger! Tip- You can always get this pasta "to go" to eat with your family in the lido buffet area OR they can bring their buffet food up to the Cucina del Capitano! This worked well since Natalie loved this place and we didn't always want pasta!

After lunch Natalie and I decided we would get back off the ship to go shopping and collect our DI charms. Before we got off I went to change the laundry and someone had already put our clothes in the dryer so they could use the washer and paid another $3 for our load! Thanks again, fellow passengers! Then I took Luke to the Camp Ocean while Daddy took a nap.

Natalie and I got back off the ship around 3PM and worked our way around the shopping area of this beautiful pier area. In fact, Natalie insisted we go into every single store! She and I stayed out in the shopping area for over an hour before going through the Nature Trail near the terminal and then getting back onboard! We got back onboard around 5PM for a 5:30PM all aboard time and oddly enough there wasn't a very long line, which was surprising to me.







 We LOVED this mother/ daughter time! This may become a new tradition for us!



We loved this little nature trail and know Luke would have too!

Be sure you check this out if you are in Roatan!

Evening
Natalie and I quickly cleaned up for dinner and then went for a walk around the ship before dinner! We wanted to see sail away but the Breeze left Roatan late so we missed it!

There is ALWAYS time for golf!

A view of our beach and the Roatan harbor from our ship!
The beach area was between the furthest two piers. The snorkeling was PAST the last pier!
You can see the gondola as well as the bridge to get to the beach!
So easy and so convenient to and from the ship!

A view of the cruise terminal area! Love this sign!

Goodbye Roatan... Until next time!

 We took the kids to the kids club dinner and signed them up for the Night Owls Caribbean Party from 10PM-1AM. Then Chris and I went to the 555 Steakhouse. Tip- This is an additional fee dining venue but is well worth the $35/ per person cover charge. This $35 includes tips as well and some of the absolute best food we have ever eaten, on land or at sea!



THE BEST food I've ever had at sea!
TIP- Be sure to check out the food blog for more detailed tips, tricks and of course FOOD PICS!

We each enjoyed our favorites from this exquisite menu and enjoyed each other's company and the tremendous service this venue provides. Plus we got to do all of this on a "cruise casual" night instead of the elegant attire the steakhouse requires usually. I mean the last thing I want to do after a long and tiring day ashore is take 1.5 hours to get ready for dinner! Tip- We were told from the steakhouse manager that "cruise casual" night is usually night #5 on a 7 night cruise! Even dress/ golf shorts are allowed! Be sure to come back for the FOOD BLOG where I will highlight every dish we ordered and give more tips and tricks for this amazing dining experience!

After dinner we crashed in the room for nearly an hour before our favorite show of the cruise... the LOVE AND MARRIAGE show! We have seen this show on every Carnival cruise since our 2nd Conquest cruise and have been dying to get on stage. We know the questions and when and if we ever do get on stage we will be ROCKSTARS as we will certainly make the show FUNNY! They always choose the newest married couple, the longest married couple and then 3rd couple is chosen by the audience but you have to do wild and crazy stuff to get onboard and Chris just wasn't up to it! But the 3 couples who got on stage DID NOT DISAPPOINT! In fact, this turned out to be the best Love and Marriage show we have ever seen! Frank the Tank and Jen-A from Oklahoma were just hilarious!

The absolute BEST Love and Marriage show we have seen to date!

Then we meandered up to the Lido deck for the 80s glow party but again Chris was not feeling the dancing and participating so we watched from the side line! Then we went to another great adults-only event called The Quest. We first learned of this on our 2nd Conquest cruise in 2013 and look for it in the FunTimes ever since. This adult scavenger hunt is pretty R rated but we do not participate, well not this time! Tip- Look for it in the late-late section of the FunTimes day 5 or 6. Not all cruise directors do this event but it is worth going to at least once in your life! Again... YOLO!

The 80s Glow Party from our comfortable seats!

Roscato and The Quest, a perfect match!




We picked up the kids from the Night Owls party at 12:45AM where we learned Natalie got a medal for dancing and the kids LOVED this program. Tip- Night Owls is usually $6.75/ hour per child but for parties like this it is a flat rate of $15/child for the full 3 hours. This was our 1st time to utilize this offering but it will certainly not be our last as not only did it provide an additional 3 hours of fun from mom and dad but they also gave the kids trinkets like notebooks, pens and other small items. If you don't mind paying a little for this type of service, look into it! We finally called it a night well after 1AM and the kids and us were exhausted!

It was 1AM and they were wide awake and ready to keep on playing!


It was a long day at beach and then on the ship but it was time to start sailing home. We still had 2 full days onboard this beautiful ship and we couldn't wait to explore even more!



Thanks for following along! Be sure to check back for our final 2 days at sea!



God is good... ALL the time!

Click on a link to see our past cruising adventures:
Our Cruise Ship Experiences 2006-present

 Carnival Dream- 2017


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