Day 5 - Mahogany Bay (Roatan, Hunduras)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A DAY AT THE BEACH!
When we got up this morning we were surprised to be already docked - about an hour early! The view of the island was beautiful! It's the only port of the week that is mountainous. After a quick breakfast we changed into our beach attire and headed out!
We planned on spending the day at the beach right by the ship. We bought a package deal that was pretty reasonable that included all day passes on the "flying chairs" (I'll explain), a clam shell (shade) with two chaise lounges, and two floating mats. The beach is a little bit of a walk, so they have chair lifts you can ride if you want! They call them "the flying chairs"! What a kick!! It was really fun and you are right up in the treetops and can see all over - so gorgeous! So we spent a couple hours on the beach, then went back to the ship for lunch (it's so close) and then back to the beach for a couple more hours. We really, really enjoyed today! We even rode the flying chairs an extra round trip at the end, just for the fun of it!
DINNER
Only one other couple showed up for dinner, but this time we rearranged so that we were sitting across! Good idea! This couple had been at the other end of the table the only other time they were here so we had not had a chance to talk to them yet. They were easy to talk to, about our age, and like us, have a few grandkids, so there is always something to talk about! Dinner was fabulous as usual - no complaints about the dinners on this cruise! Tom usually does not order beef because he likes it well done - doesn't want any pink - and then he always finds it too "chewy". I keep telling him it wouldn't be chewy if he had it less done, but you know how those "no pink in my meat" people are! They don't change! So anyways, for some reason he took a leap and started ordering beef and EVERY time it was GREAT. No pink AND tender! I can't ever remember that happening before!
SHOW?
There is not a typical show tonight. Instead there is a Rock and Roll Laser show at the pool deck, complete with the singers & dancers. That is not until 10:45. Earlier there is a dance lesson: learn how to do the Michael Jackson moves to Thriller, and then a battle of the sexes Family Feud game. Then later the deck party and laser show. It's actually kind of nice to not have the traditional show at 8:30 (that's the time it has been for early seating dinner, except for first night). It feels like it opens up part of the evening and we don't have to feel like we are missing anything!!
We did not go to the Thriller dance class, but we did watch the Family Feud game, and that was fun. I will say their games are well organized and they do a good job with them! The cruise director as the game show host was right-on. Afterwards, we headed up to the pool deck for the Deck Party and laser light show. I guess we expected more out of the light show. They had some laser beams flying around shining on the crowd and they blew some fog for the light to get caught in. Not really a big deal. Nothing like the laser light shows at Disney, but then again, that's maybe an unreasonable comparison. It needs a different name to avoid the comparison - maybe just light show. Don't call it a laser light show? The dance party however was quite a hit, although we only watched from the sidelines (We are a little boring if you haven't guessed already). One thing we noticed about the pool deck is that there is more space devoted to the deck and less space for the pool, whereas Royal Caribbean has more pool space and less deck space. Carnival uses the deck space for rows of chaise lounges to watch the movies "under the stars" (like we did last night) and then on nights like tonight, they clear the chairs away entirely and have a HUGE space for partying! It was really pretty impressive to see so many people joining in, doing the electric slide, then a conga line, and so forth. A lot of energy and people were having a lot of fun! At 11:30 pm they opened up a Mexican buffet and the lines were unbelievable! Translation: The lines were a deal breaker!
TIME OUT FOR CABIN COMMENTS
I said I would share my comments about our cabin later in the week, so here goes: We have just an ordinary inside room. There are three wardrobe closet doors, two with hanging space and one with shelves. I HATE the hangers! They are those hotel-style hangers that hook into a stationary bracket - but it's worse than that: two hangers share one bracket! So weird and inconvenient. But oh well - I would have loved more hangers but the truth is some of my clothes are fine folded and there are plenty of shelves (in the closet) & drawers (in the vanity). There is also plenty of room to store all the bathroom bottles and whatever you need to have in there, but unlike RCCL it is all open shelving. I decided I like this better. There is a shampoo / shower gel dispenser in the shower, but no conditioner. (Note: Products are usable but VERY watered down!!) Other impressions about our cabin: Nice newer flat panel TV, love that you can turn on and off all lights from the bedside, and the vanity is very generously sized. There is a stool that slides under the vanity and this is the only seating other than sitting on the bed. That was a bit surprising because I thought I had always heard that Carnival rooms are a little bigger/better than RCCL but this was not the case. On RCCL we always had a little bench seat, except on the oldest of their ships. This room does feel a little wider but we can't decide which we like better between this one and RCCL. I do give Carnival credit for better TV channels (several real channels), so maybe the advantage should go to Carnival.
Only one other couple showed up for dinner, but this time we rearranged so that we were sitting across! Good idea! This couple had been at the other end of the table the only other time they were here so we had not had a chance to talk to them yet. They were easy to talk to, about our age, and like us, have a few grandkids, so there is always something to talk about! Dinner was fabulous as usual - no complaints about the dinners on this cruise! Tom usually does not order beef because he likes it well done - doesn't want any pink - and then he always finds it too "chewy". I keep telling him it wouldn't be chewy if he had it less done, but you know how those "no pink in my meat" people are! They don't change! So anyways, for some reason he took a leap and started ordering beef and EVERY time it was GREAT. No pink AND tender! I can't ever remember that happening before!
SHOW?
We did not go to the Thriller dance class, but we did watch the Family Feud game, and that was fun. I will say their games are well organized and they do a good job with them! The cruise director as the game show host was right-on. Afterwards, we headed up to the pool deck for the Deck Party and laser light show. I guess we expected more out of the light show. They had some laser beams flying around shining on the crowd and they blew some fog for the light to get caught in. Not really a big deal. Nothing like the laser light shows at Disney, but then again, that's maybe an unreasonable comparison. It needs a different name to avoid the comparison - maybe just light show. Don't call it a laser light show? The dance party however was quite a hit, although we only watched from the sidelines (We are a little boring if you haven't guessed already). One thing we noticed about the pool deck is that there is more space devoted to the deck and less space for the pool, whereas Royal Caribbean has more pool space and less deck space. Carnival uses the deck space for rows of chaise lounges to watch the movies "under the stars" (like we did last night) and then on nights like tonight, they clear the chairs away entirely and have a HUGE space for partying! It was really pretty impressive to see so many people joining in, doing the electric slide, then a conga line, and so forth. A lot of energy and people were having a lot of fun! At 11:30 pm they opened up a Mexican buffet and the lines were unbelievable! Translation: The lines were a deal breaker!
I said I would share my comments about our cabin later in the week, so here goes: We have just an ordinary inside room. There are three wardrobe closet doors, two with hanging space and one with shelves. I HATE the hangers! They are those hotel-style hangers that hook into a stationary bracket - but it's worse than that: two hangers share one bracket! So weird and inconvenient. But oh well - I would have loved more hangers but the truth is some of my clothes are fine folded and there are plenty of shelves (in the closet) & drawers (in the vanity). There is also plenty of room to store all the bathroom bottles and whatever you need to have in there, but unlike RCCL it is all open shelving. I decided I like this better. There is a shampoo / shower gel dispenser in the shower, but no conditioner. (Note: Products are usable but VERY watered down!!) Other impressions about our cabin: Nice newer flat panel TV, love that you can turn on and off all lights from the bedside, and the vanity is very generously sized. There is a stool that slides under the vanity and this is the only seating other than sitting on the bed. That was a bit surprising because I thought I had always heard that Carnival rooms are a little bigger/better than RCCL but this was not the case. On RCCL we always had a little bench seat, except on the oldest of their ships. This room does feel a little wider but we can't decide which we like better between this one and RCCL. I do give Carnival credit for better TV channels (several real channels), so maybe the advantage should go to Carnival.
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