Second Stop
Belize

I had read alot about Belize in the few weeks prior to our trip. I was actually a little nervous about going there. It's a very poor little country. It's located right under Mexico, next to Guatemala. It has only been a country since 1981 when it won it's independence from Great Britain. The people there are VERY proud of their country and eager for it to grow and mature. We learned that from talking with them and hearing them give us information about it.



Mom & Dad ended up staying on the ship. We had heard there wasn't much when you get off the ship and that it isn't safe to travel outside of the immediate port unless you are with a tour group. I would have at least gotten off the boat, to say I had set foot in Belize. We tendered there, so they can't say that.



Andy & I chose to go to a private beach again, imagine that. It was still pretty windy and the tender boat ride was WILD!! It was as much fun as the time at the beach. Those boats FLY with their FOUR outboard motors over the water. (and I do mean OVER at some points) We came out of the water more than I care to mention, but it was so much fun. They're very big boats, carrying 75 people at a time. I took some video while we were on the boat trip and it is so funny, bumping up and down and nothing ever really in focus!





We went to Bannister Island which is a tiny (really really tiny) little island about 15 miles from the mainland of Belize. (The ship anchors 8 miles off the coast b/c the water around Belize is so shallow) It is complete paradise! It holds it's own against any of the cruise lines private islands that we have been to! It isn't quite as beautiful as Castaway Cay, but it's sure close.



(and for some reason my Mom wondered if we were still in salt water because we were between little islands and the mainland....yep, still the great big salty ocean.....*shake your head here and laugh*)

There is a HUGE bar area there with a ton of tables in the shade, enough beach chairs for everyone in the sun or shade, volleyball, paddle boats & canoes to rent, lifeguards around the edge of the water, super crystal clear water, more shells than I have EVER seen in my entire life, a little pier to walk out on, a few gift shops, a playground, floats to use for free, very nice restrooms and a grille where you can buy lunch. (It's pretty reasonable and typical "grill" food)

We were totally surprised when we got there that it was hidden from the wind, totally! There were other islands bordering us and keeping the wind away. It ended up getting super hot and we couldn't have been happier. The water was still pretty cool, but we were able to get in about waist deep without freezing.

The most amazing thing there was the shells. You had to be careful getting in the water b/c where it was ankle deep, the bottom was total shells. It wasn't like I'm use to...broken bits and pieces and searching for whole ones. It was total whole shells, they were so pretty! They were deep too and EVERYWHERE!! If you put your hand down in the sand and picked it up, the picture here is what you came up with. That is what I picked up, didn't pick any stuff out or throw any down. Wild!!



The fish there were pretty too. There were oodles of them around the little pier/dock. They were yellow & black, blue and orange. Darn those little suckers are hard to catch with a camera though.

We spent about 4 & 1/2 hours there and would have stayed longer if we had the chance. It was fabulous!!!!!

First Stop: Cozumel

Our first stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. I have been to Cozumel before, I flew there with a friend and her family in high school. Tons of fun, not as "touristy" as Cancun. I flew to Cancun with my parents in high school as well. I was anxious to return and introduce Andy to Mexico!!

We had already picked up on the fact that this trip was a little more "rocky" than typical. The wind was CRAZY. (when you see news people & their umbrella's are flying out of their hands in storms- yeah, like that) The wind followed us to Cozumel and it was the same way!! The sun was out and super warm, but the wind made it feel much cooler than it really was. ALL of the water excursions for the day were cancelled and some of the smaller ships weren't allowed to even dock there for the day.

Docking was interesting. I'd already seen pictures (thank you Cruise Critic friends) and knew that it was still under construction from the hurricanes in 2005. It was a shock to see in person though, they have alot of work to go...bless their hearts. There is a good bit of destruction everywhere that we went, but they are quickly recovering!

Andy & I booked an excursion through the ship for a "beach break" day @ Playa Mia. It's a little private beach resort set up on the south end of the island. Anyone can go there, you just have to buy a ticket for the day. It was $29 a person and well worth it for us. There were beach chairs that you could use, a few gift stores, very nice clean bathrooms & showers, volleyball, a buffet (extra cost), a bar & grille (extra cost), a big pretty pool, massages (extra cost), water toys (included) igloo/basket ball floating game/water trampoline and something else but they were closed due to high wind..we were offered the "sand toys" for free in exchange. The sand toys typically have a fee and include a climbing wall, trampoline thingy and something else?! It was a $4 cab ride from the pier. We enjoyed ourselves big time.

Mom & Dad had planned on shopping. They were all wound up, shopping map in hand. It started with a wild taxi ride that they just couldn't enjoy. They swore that they were taken places that were scary, I don't know....I wasn't there. They also said that they weren't taken to the forum shops that they asked to go to on the front "main drag" of downtown. Again, I wasn't with them and don't know the whole scoop. I am not sure if they asked for the correct location or if they got a crummy cab driver. They didn't make it where they wanted to go though and after about 10 minutes of walking around, they got a taxi and returned to the ship. They were both disappointed. I was sad for them, but they assured me they knew what they were doing. What can ya do? Dad was in awe that "there were mexican's everywhere". Go figure~

We had awesome taxi drivers and enjoyed chatting with them. We found out that a cold front had brought the winds for the past 4 days and it was very unusual. He also said that it was suppose to be ending and that we should have beautiful weather in Belize, which is south. (He was right!) He was also a big Braves fan, funny!!



We returned to the ship for a fun filled evening and a huge magic show. "Justin Illusion" was ... ok. The drama & dancers of it all were pretty funny though. That night was late comedy night (adults only) and was hilarious. Happy Cole was there and we'd seen him before, great fun!! I think this was the night of my favorite meal, oddly enough it wasn't the lobster...but rather this yummy shrimp that I hope to get again sometime. Wowie! Good stuff and a fried soft shell crab was on the starter menu and although I didn't get it...I helped Dad with his. It was GREAT!!!!

Day at Sea

Our first full day was a day at sea. Andy got up super early and went to work out in the gym, what's he thinking?? After breakfast I went out to lay on the decks with my book. It was super duper windy and that made it feel cooler than it actually was. There wasn't alot of "sun bathing" that day, but it was a great relaxing day.

Here are a couple of the pools. The back pool (the darker photo) actually has a cover that comes over it when the weather is bad or it's night. This was right before they closed it. It's where a bar, hamburger/hot dog/fry grille & pizza joint all are!!

There is a pool up beside the slide area, the slide doesn't have a pool at the end. Then in the bottom corner of the picture you can see the "main" pool beside the bar, band and dance floor. Those little blue rocking chairs are perfect for hanging out with a good book!!



We went to a few shows, games, bingo, etc... Mom & Dad played in the casino and walked that ship over, many times! It was formal night and for us all that means is LOBSTER WILL BE ON THE MENU!! It was fantastic and Dad, Andy and I all ate TWO each!!! YUMMY~ I did salad & dessert that night though! Good stuff!! We saw a juggler/comedian that was hilarious and then had "Motown Night" It was alot of fun and then we got the shock of our lives when they announced there was a special guest on board who had agreed to come out for just a brief moment. And here is what we got.....

Bon Voyage
Saturday, November 18th!

We got up Saturday morning for the breakfast buffet and then after packing up we headed to Port Canaveral. Check in was pretty painless. We arrived were onboard, dropped off luggage in our room and eating "lunch on the Lido deck" all within 2 hours.

After a safety drill, we were off~

Here is part of the lobby on Carnival Glory!





The ship was already decorated for Christmas and it was very pretty!

We were on deck 6, the Upper Deck. Mom & Dad had a balcony room just down the hall from our inside room. Their room was pretty big and just like the one we had on the Glory in February. Our room was bigger than we thought and more than enough room for us! There is nothing like the comfort of a Carnival bed either, those things are amazing!! I've NEVER slept on sheets that were so darn soft! You can actually order individual parts or the entire sleep system. It's worth it for sure and we're planning on it!


After an awesome dinner (I had steak and the best creme brulee ever) we headed to the "Welcome Aboard Show" and ended up laughing our heads off at our fellow cruise mates during a few games! It was time for bed and the gentle rock of the ship put us right to sleep!!!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!


We had planned to try to get to the party a little early, it's official start time is 7:00. After our rest time and supper though, we weren't very early. It was about 6:30 when we arrived and there were droves of people headed both in and out of the park. (It closes @ 7:00 if you don't have a ticket to the party.) I was beyond excited!!!

We walked down mainstreet and it brought tears to my eyes, but really...what's new with that? That always happens to me there. I'm such a sap! The Christmas music was playing, the lights were up and it was snowing!! How more perfect could it get??

We headed over to Tomorrow land and hopped into the Buzz line. It was crowded at this time and hard to tell what it was going to be like for the evening, 5 hours...what could we do with that time? You got an arm band when entering the park for the party and if you didn't have an arm band on, you weren't allowed on rides. (or anywhere else for that matter) They were checking for them as you went between sections of the park as well. It was all pretty organized and we were impressed by that. Our first line, took all of 10 minutes!
We decided we'd struck gold and were thrilled!


We don't do "Stitch" anymore, so skipped on by that. "Space Mountain" was about 25 minutes, so we decided to keep on moving for the time being.

We wondered on into Fantasyland and waited only about 10 minutes for the "Pooh" ride, not bad at all!! I could get use to this! We waited 10 more for "Peter Pan" and then decided it was time for round 1 of FREE hot chocolate & cookies. We were both expecting it to be watered down and maybe even luke warm, it was FANTASTIC stuff though!!!! It took about 10 minutes in that line as well. There were different places in the park to get it.


We skipped over to ride "Haunted Mansion" and walked straight in and on it, woooo.... Now that's fast! We hit parade traffic heading towards Frontier Land, so back tracked a little. We went back to catch "Space Mountain" where we walked again, straight through and RIGHT ON!! Wowie, that's never happened!! We came back through and caught "Snow White" & "Small World", walking right on both!! We usually skip Dumbo, Tea Cups & race cars...so that's typical for us.

The parade was over so we headed back to Frontier Land choosing to skip "Splash Mountain" for sure. (What were those people on it thinking?? I was finally warm in my jeans & sweat shirt and no stinkin' way was I getting wet) We rode "Big Thunder", yep...walked right through, moved the whole time and right into a waiting spot for the next train!! We had never ridden it at night and man that was AWESOME!! We were on it just in time for watching the fireworks while riding, I TOTALLY 100% recommend that!! Wowie!! That was our favorite ride of the night!!



We looked for a special bear friend of mine, who wasn't "on" during the particular half hour. We did catch some other bear friends though and they were hilarious! The little band was out there playing and the bears were cutting up with all the people and having a grand ole' time. I was SUPER SAD to find out that this year they aren't having a Country Bear Jamboree Christmas Show. That's one of my top 3 favorite things, the bears. What's up with that? I love the regular show, but had never seen the Christmas one and was looking forward to that!!!! We saw the regular show though and again, missed my beary friend. Ugh!



We walked on over (expecting a wait) to "Pirates" and found we could walk right into that too! Man, what a night! I LOVE the new Davy Jones feature, that's sooooo cool! I liked Captain Jack in his scenes too, especially the end scene. I wasn't thrilled with how they'd turned the song soundtrack down so much though. Obviously they want you to hear the comments about "Captain Jack" and have turned the music down for that. I think that STINKS and wasn't thrilled. All in all it's still the same ride you know & love though! Different areas had a few added things to buy just for the Very Merry Party and I took a minute to buy a reindeer!

Then we headed out for a spot to watch the late parade. We decided to have our picture made first though, the castle had snowflakes projected on it and I thought that was cool. The first picture we didn't get snowflakes, they'd gone off for a minute. So, we hopped into another line when they came back on. Waiting for pics took all of about 5 minutes at each photographer, moved pretty fast. No complaints here!! (When you get home and view your pics online with your handy card..don't forget to do it that way, no reason to wait in those dang lines there at the parks now....you get to get one 5X& from the night for 1/2 off b/c of your party ticket)


We got hot chocolate and cookies again (round 2) in the Crystal Palace were there WAS NOT A SOUL and TONS and TONS of snacks laid out for you!!!
(they also offer apple juice & apple chips for the kiddos)

We had NO TROUBLE finding a spot for the parade, though it was only 5 minutes to show time when we decided to settle down. Now, that's unusual for a parade. We had a great spot and enjoyed it for sure!! I LOVE parades and Andy enjoyed this one too.
(mainly b/c we didn't sit and wait an hour on it to come by!)


When it ended we had about 30 minutes until the park closed. We had planned to leave right after the parade, but that is what several thousand of our closest friends were doing and it looked like a mad house headed out to the gates. Instead, we went back to Fantasy Land to catch "Philharmagic", that was the perfect thing to do since we had skipped it earlier. We walked on it and waited about 3 or 4 mintues for the next show to begin. That is such a cute/fun little 4D movie, good stuff! By the time we came out, it was time to go. We walked straight out of the park and ran up to the monorail to catch the one there waiting, hopped on and were off. The bus to "Shades" was there waiting on us at the TTC and we were back to the resort & in bed before we knew it! There was not a complaint in sight for the evening!!!

We rode EVERY SINGLE thing that was open that we wanted to ride! We were amazed that there were NO lines! Perfect!! We didn't see the 2 Christmas shows, but that was totally by choice. We didn't hit Toon town either...again by choice.

I didn't no what to expect from the party, I'd heard both sides of loving & avoiding it. For us, it was a perfect evening!! It was a bargain to buy a ticket and get to do all of those things! Much cheaper & more worth it than if we'd paid for a full day and then had longer lines. We WILL do it again. I can see that it might be a waste of money if you were staying for a whole week and had park hoppers for the entire time. After all, you get extra magic hours to yourself if you are a resort guest on another night. The "Christmasy" effects might not be worth the $40 ticket if you've already spent a day there during the week. (and had extra magic hours) All of the kids we saw were of course totally in awe though and having a blast! They said the crowd was a sell out and still, there were no lines. There were people there mind you, but enough stuff going on that it was spread out. I can't figure out how people that say it's too crowded complain, not sure where they are or what they are expecting?! We are already talking about doing it again. We can go down for a long weekend and play golf during the day, go to the park & party at night. Great fun!!

(and who doesn't love snow in Florida! can you see it in the picture?)

Shades of Green

We left on Thursday, the 16th after I got off of work. Andy picked me up and we headed to Mom & Dad's. Shoulda took a picture of the luggage. You have NEVER seen so much for 4 people to travel out of town for just over a week, NUTS!! I have NO IDEA how we got it all in the back of the Pacifica, but we did. Whew~ And I thought we'd packed so light.... We made great time, even with stops and were there at the resort in just under 8 hours.
Pretty good time for gas, potty & food stops!!

We have grown to kinda LOVE the military resort @ WDW, Shades of Green. After years of waiting on it to fill up so that we could get a discount at another Disney resort, we've grown super attached to this one after the past 4 stays there. We have always had a super awesome view of the golf courses from the balcony, the rooms are HUGE and so nice, the food at the buffets is pretty good and the place has alot to offer.

We woke up on Friday morning to find the wild turkeys trying their best to
GET OUT OF THERE
before Thanksgiving arrived!!


Here we are on the balcony, great views!!
As usual, Andy almost shed tears wishing he had his clubs!!


After a visit to the breakfast buffet, we headed out resort hopping! We took a bus over to the transportation and ticket center, hopped on the monorail and headed over to the Contemporary Resort. I LOVE that place, it'll always be my favorite I think!
How lucky we were to stay there twice.
Here were are...we have several pics of this place from different trips now...



Then we got on a boat and road to Fort Wilderness where we didn't get off and then to Wilderness Lodge, where we did! We walked around there for a little while and Dad reminded us that this was his favorite place and he was ready to stay there. The tree was beautiful, but this picture doesn't do it justice. (cheapo baby camera) The decorations were great,
the lighted tee pees were too neat!



Then it was on another bus and off to Downtown Disney! We shopped and had a snack in the Marketplace and then walked over to the West side. Walked around over there, ate a fantastic chocolate covered strawberry (my #1 fave food of all time) and went back to "Shades" for some rest and dinner before our night of fun!!!!



This classic toy tree was my FAVORITE!!!!!!! Check out the scrabble letters, lite brights, tater heads, barrel of monkey monkeys and the games at the bottom...too fun!!!


I guess I should add this, it was coooolllll and brrrreeezy that day!! Andy & I decided that we were "tuff" and could handle short & short sleeves for our day in Orlando! It was warm on our balcony, but that was all a trick! We spent the day freezing and with chill bumps. The sun was out and beautiful, but the wind was like in a blizzard! It was soooo windy!
We lived to tell about it though and all was well!
We were in the "happiest place on Earth" ...
ya can't really complain about anything, now can ya??

Bon Voyage~
Talk to ya soon!!

-picture in Costa Maya, should look just like that for us when we
are in port there on Wednesday!~

Fall In Georgia .. 'nuff said~

11 Days and Counting!

You had to know it was coming, right? A blog about our upcoming trip! There she blows, the Carnival Glory. The same ship that we took in February to the Virgin Islands will again become home for a week. We LOVE this ship!!

We leave on Thursday, the 16th. Mom, Dad & Andy will pick me up after preschool and we'll be off! We are spending Thursday & Friday night in WDW @ the Shades of Green. I've told you before how great it is there, beautiful place!! Dad's looking forward to his balcony on the golf course again! Friday we will either resort hop or head to downtown Disney during the day. That evening Andy & I are headed to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and I'm sooooo excited!! Here's I picture I borrowed of someone else's trip to the party...looks like fun to me!!! A great way to begin the holiday spirit!!


Then on Saturday the 18th we are off to Port Canaveral. Mom & Dad have been packed for WEEKS already, I am getting started this weekend. We will make stops in Cozumel, Costa Maya, Belize & Nassau. It is our first cruise with 4 stops, very exciting. There will be 2 days at sea.

I went to Cozumel when I was in high school with a friend's family, it will be my parents & Andy's first time there though! (I did also go with my parents to Cancun in high school, but we flew in. Andy's first time in Mexico period) Costa Maya & Belize will be brand new to us all!! We've all been to Nassau now, but that's fine.

We haven't decided for sure what we're going to do in ports yet. We have it narrowed down to top favorites. There is a jeep/beach adventure that I'm pretty sure we are going to take where you drive a regular jeep through the jungle and then to the beach, spend a few hours on the beach and drive back. Sounds like fun to me!! I think that is in Belize.

I think I've talked Andy into snorkeling with sting rays in Nassau, I'm sure we'll be just fine! We went to the beach where they did this last time and it looked so fun, I want to go back there again! Mom & Dad are going to head to Atlantis again, on there own this time... no tour groups! Dad is also convinced he can talk a taxi into taking him to find Tiger Woods' house. So....if my parents get locked up and don't return....we're leaving without them!! Ha ha ha----

After some of our let downs with Royal Caribbean, we're excited to share "our" Carnival Glory with my parents! The rooms are so much bigger, the ship is just huge and gorgeous, there's tons to do and the people are super nice!! Andy is already looking forward to "lobster night" and eating until he pops!

We can't wait, we can't wait, we can't wait!!!!