Thanks for all the reads and upvotes on Part 1. As I finished up my second week of cruising, I wanted to share some more thoughts, observations and highlights.
As mentioned in the previous post, Princess has stringent safeguard in place which do (modestly) affect the cruising experience. The first week of my trip, we had just 2700 guests out of a possible 3700 the vessel could support. Cruise ships are generally quite full, so I had no way of knowing if those numbers represented restricted capacity due to Covid or Princess simply couldn't fill the ship due to lack of interest/fear (or a combination of both). As a Covid test was required two days before, I suspect at least a few would-be travelers had to cancel due to positive test results, though I would suspect that number to be pretty low. It also seems there would likely be at least a few changed minds for worrisome cruisers dwelling on the new omicron variant. But still, 1000 below capacity seemed a big number - and you could definitely feel it on the ship and it was great.
But for the second leg of the trip, it seems inability to fill the ship had to be the prevailing reason for low occupancy when I learned there were only 1700 passengers this time around - less than half the guests the ship was built to carry! Aside from Covid, I can't imagine this has ever happened before or will again once we're through the pandemic. I must admit, it made for an especially uncrowded time on this second leg. There were actually more staff on the ship than guests and it felt like it. Aside from the first feature show of the night (of 2) and the casino right after that show, nothing ever felt remotely busy.
So, it should come as no surprise that the best piece of advice I can give is this: If you like cruises (or were thinking of trying one) and you don't mind dealing with Covid protocols, it's a great time to partake! It's also a time for killer deals which I suspect will last well into 2020 and possibly longer as the industry tries to claw its way back to pre-pandemic levels and popularity.
Now onto the fun stuff and some insight into my stops along the Western Caribbean.
Costa Maya, Mexico was the first port. This is an interesting stop in that it's a small 'village' essentially created by the cruise ship industry. The nearby town was originally just fisherman and their families amounting to just a few hundred souls. The ship companies, wanting a southern-most Mexico stop, basically built this small complex you see below. It's a nice little stop, but this little collection of shops, bars and restaurants is pretty much all there is to do and see aside from a quaint beach unless you want to take a ride to a handful of other modest offerings within a few minutes or a few hours of the port. There are day trips to Mayan ruins and a water park that looks interesting not too far away, though that will have to wait for a later trip for me.
Most visitors seemed to limit their day on shore to that enclave just off the ship. Plenty to do for a few hours, especially if you bring a swimsuit. There's a large, saltwater pool with swim-up bar in the center of the complex with chairs and chaises around it - all free to use for the guests. There's a bird sanctuary built into/around the complex. There's a small area where you can swim with the dolphins (for a fee, of course).
I haven't seen enough of the surrounding environs to know if Costa Maya would make any kind of decent week-long vacation prospect, but it's a nice enough little stop for a handful of hours during a cruise and very much worth getting off the ship to explore and enjoy.
Roatan, Honduras was next. Honduras is a poor, dangerous country. Roatan is a relatively safe destination because it's an island, but I regularly visit Costa Rica which shares a border with Honduras and the dangers of that country are well known - including criminals coming across the border to victimize Costa Rican visitors (including kidnapping on rare occasion). But, as I said, the island of Roatan seems a safe place for tourists, especially just spending a few hours off their ships.
I spent a couple of hours at a wildlife preserve. The highlights were a bird sanctuary and an indigenous monkey population. It seems I got there a bit late in the day for the fullest monkey experience as, by afternoon, the local critters had been bribed with so many bananas that they weren't too tempted with their bellies already full. I had read that the early visitors to the park were often swarmed by dozens of the creatures, but by the time I got there, there was only one monkey who could still be banana-bribed to come out and pose for pictures.
Belize City is someplace I've been wanting to check out for quite some time. Actually, it's Ambergris Caye, Belize that I want to visit as that's supposedly a prime resort destination in the country. Belize City, the capital, wasn't much to look it. In all fairness, it's not touted as a tourist destination and doesn't make for a good cruise ship port.
One thing you experience and evaluate when cruising is the ease with which you can get from the ship to land. In most cases, long piers accommodate these giant vessels dropping anchor a couple/few hundred yards off the shore so visitors can step off the ship and either walk (or ride) the relatively short distance to the town - which usually includes a tourist trap area designed to catch all the visitors before they even hit the town proper. However, there are some places where the bottom of the sea is simply too shall for too great a distance and a dock doesn't work. In these cases, tenders are required. These are simply smaller boats that carry everyone from their cruise ship to the port. It's a hassle and can be time consuming - especially when you have 3000 people wanting to get to shore and your average tender only holds 100-200 people. Tender stops are always a bit of a pain in the ass, but with Belize City, the boats dropped anchor 4 miles off shore! The tender seemed to take 30 minutes all by itself. Not ideal by any means.
I did take a trolley tour through the city to get a feel for it, but there just isn't that much to see. However, my impression of the capital has in no way deterred me from wanting to spend a week or two in Ambergris Caye in the near future any more than a few hours in Mexico City should dissuade you from wanting to visit Cancun or Cabo. (When I do finally make it to that delicious resort island, I'll be sure to share it with you here on Hive!). After this, there was one final stop before the jaunt back to Fort Lauderdale.
It wasn't my first time to Cozumel, Mexico. That being the case, I limited myself to the shops and restaurants around the port, found a couple Christmas gifts had a couple drinks, and went back to the ship to get a massage and hang out in their spa which was understandably empty while most of the already sparse guest population were off the ship.
I did like seeing the Three Amigos cantina with the small prop airplane above the sign. I think it's a mail plane - if you get that joke, we can be friends... :)
So, that was my latest trip and the second week in that 14-day vaca. I have several more cruises planned for 2022, so I think I'll continue to chronicle my adventures here on Hive if people seem to be interested. February 2022 is a 20-day Caribbean cruise and March is 15 days to Hawaii. Late September is 15 days in Europe with the highlight (I hope) being Ocktoberfest in Germany! Very much looking forward to it and sharing it with you all here!
Safe travels, Hivesters!