Belize, but Not for Us

Hey, hi. I just looked and while we have a $20 delivery fee for our electricity, our rate is, at most, $.09 per kilowatt hour. Yikes!!

Since ship passengers have to tender in to Belize City, we didn’t make any plans for today. I wasn’t sure Mal would do a tender boat, and somehow, even though they’re bigger and carry more people, they actually do look scarier than the water taxi from yesterday (about which Mal asked, “Is this going to be safe?”). 

Instead, we planned to take it easy onboard and enjoy the practically-empty ship. That’s how it turned out, mostly, with the notable exception of about three hours of on-and-off tender ticket number announcements over the PA. If this had happened on the first day of the cruise, we could have had to charter a helicopter to come get us and take us home. Fortunately, Mal HATES it, but now gets that there are fun things to do, too, and we can hang out in our room and mostly not hear the announcements that aren’t emergencies.

We just chilled in the room until 9 or so, when Mal and I went to breakfast at the Windjammer buffet. Only half of it was open, but we had no problem finding a table (not always the case). James had lunch in the main dining room.

We’d worn our bathing suits to breakfast, planning to play in the splash pad after, but saw on our way to the meal that they’re doing some pretty extensive work on the splash pad. Fortunately, the main pool was deserted, and I talked Mal into TRYING to get in again. Just with his feet. Just to feel it.

It was probably 6 degrees warmer than it had been the first day we tried to get in. It was so comfortable! We swam for a couple of hours, when the frequency of the tender announcements sent Mal scrambling for the quiet of the stateroom.

James had joined us for the second half-ish of our pool party. By then there were a good 8 people in the pool. They’d opened the second pool, too, but for some reason no one was in that one.

I got in a shower, and attempted to go to lunch alone. James and Mal stayed in the room, then went to play and apparently decided it was time to eat, so they “found” me as I was finishing up my meal. We all hung out and I left to come back to the room to try to finish writing up about Roatan.

James and Mal came back as I was just about done, and I played with Mal a bit, then we all went back out to see if we could find the anchor. Since we’re moored off of the coast of Belize, we likely dropped anchor. We could see the Carnival Magic’s. And on Voyager of the Seas, D and I found where the anchor is stowed toward the front of the ship, an area that was closed when we were stopped.

But on this ship, we saw no such thing. We couldn’t see an anchor at all, though we realized looking at the Carnival ship that they wouldn’t have been able to see their anchor, either. We did enjoy a stroll around the promenade deck, including a much less windy visit to the helipad.

Back to the room for television and games, and lots of watching the tender boats, one set of which docked right below our room. Although the “all aboard” was 4:30, by the time we were leaving for dinner at 5:20, they were just unloading the last one. 

I’d love to have spent some time in Belize City; I think D would LOVE the animal park, and Mal would have enjoyed it. But watching people bobbing out in the ocean waiting for their turn to pull up to the ship, then having to wait while so many people unloaded… ugh. It looked stressful. I mean, if you’re the kind of person who finds waiting problematic. And I don’t, necessarily. Waiting with my little, though? No thank me.

Our server, Noel, and assistant server. Charmaine, are so sweet to Mal. After the second night, Charmaine started bringing Malcolm his own soda, which we are not paying for. And Noel cuts Mal’s chicken strips into nuggets. They are trying so hard to please him, and he’s really kind of a jerk right now. Very focused on what he wants, to the exclusion of politeness. That might be a typical 4-year-old thing, but D was quite gracious and appreciative as a youngster. It’s a trick not to be frustrated with Mal not just for being inconsiderate, but for making me look like a bad parent. I try to keep that angle out of things, but, goodness. We’re modeling all over the place and I’m ready for him to pick it up!

James had a crab cake and ahi tuna for dinner. I got the creamy mushroom soup and prime rib with au gratin potatoes. It was perfect. We both had the Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert, and it did not disappoint.

After dinner, James brought Mal’s left-overs back to the room while Mal and I visited the arcade. There is a circular bank of games in the middle of the arcade, which meanders a bit, and if Mal could run around that circle for hours a day, he would. He likes to play that he’s PacMan and I’m a ghost. 

We made sure the pool was open and came back to the room to change into our bathing suits. The water was still so warm and comfy. They were showing “Mary Poppins Returns,” and it might have been better for me if I’d seen it from the beginning. I wasn’t super impressed. But I had a great time swimming with Mal and the few kids who were out there. We got in during daylight and Mal noticed soon that it was dark. At about 8 o’clock, they closed the first of the two pools, so everyone had to get out and go to the other pool. For some reason, that pool was about 4 degrees cooler, and it was A LOT windier on the port side of the ship. We lasted all of 3 minutes in that pool before we decided it was time to return to the room.

It was so windy, Mal and I were almost dry by the time we got to the elevator banks. Now we’re all dressed for bed and getting ready to call it a night. The most relaxing day of vacation so far, definitely!