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Back to Back Cruises: March-April 2004
First Cruise - Norwegian Dream

Boarding The Ship
Once on the ship we found our cabin then went exploring, finding the restaurants, where the shows would be, the dance lounges, and the health club. We made our way back to the reception area and even though we already had independent plans for both Cozumel & Aruba we went over to see what they were offering for excursions. That is when we discovered we were not going to Aruba. The itinerary had been changed to Cozumel, Roatan Honduras, and St Andres Columbia. The change was made because there was a problem with one of the three engines and we could not have gotten from Aruba to Miami on time at the end of the cruise. The change was OK with us because Aruba was on the itinerary for the second cruise and we had never been to Roatan nor St Andres. We attended the mandatory lifeboat drill, had supper in the Bistro, went out on deck when the ship pulled out, attended the show, and went dancing.
Monday & Tuesday, March 14 & 15, were spent at sea. We made it to the health spa one day, saw a show and went dancing each night, and spent a lot of time relaxing on deck. Wednesday, March 16, we got up early and watched the sunrise. Then went to breakfast before preparing to go ashore in Cozumel. (Pictures)

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Cozumel, Mexico
Wednesday morning we arrived at Cozumel and were allowed to disembark by 10:30 AM. We had inquired about renting a car over the internet but had not received a reply so we went looking for the place. We passed a few rental places and found they wanted more than twice what we had seen at the place on the internet so we kept looking. We were about ready to give up and either do something in town or find a tour when we saw a sign for another rental company and decided to try one last time.

We were able to rent a "car?" for 400 pesos ($39.40) which included liability & collision insurance. The car we rented was a VW "convertible", there were two rectangular holes in the roof with a snap-down plastic coated tarp covering them. We had the salesman and his assistant roll-up the tarp and tie it down. When we got in Ernie went to adjust the rear-view mirror and discovered a hole where it was supposed to be attached. There was an outside mirror on the driver’s side which would not move. So with a very limited field of vision we pulled out into the crazy city traffic. Ernie discovered that there was no friction point on the clutch to ease the car into motion, the clutch was either fully engage or fully disengaged, so with a little bit of a jerk we were off. There was no power steering, but being so small, VW Beetles change direction easily anyway. We had decided to follow what passes for a highway that loops around one side of the island. The car was parked on the main street and we had to get turned around to follow the loop in the direction we had decided to go. It took about 15 uneasy minutes to get out of the city. Once in the open country we relaxed.

Our first stop was at a small Mayan ruins site. All the major sites are on the mainland, but we did not have enough time to go to one of them. There was one building uncovered and others that are covered by dirt and gravel with trees growing on top, the project to uncover them had run out of money. Some others are uncovered, but the only way to get to them was by renting a horse which neither Dale nor Ernie had any interest in doing. There were a few rickety sheds in which people had set up stores. We went into one and Ernie found a cow bone statue of an iguana climbing a tree to add to his collection of animal statues. We decided we needed some water and entered one of the other stores. The storekeep spoke about 6 words of english. Ernie tried asking for 2 large bottles of water and couldn’t get through. Dale was able to get us some water with her "Sesame Street Spanish" asking for grandé aqua and holding up 2 fingers.

After leaving the Mayan ruins we continued along the highway loop looking for a place to have lunch. We were driving along with a speed limit around 80 km/h (50 mph) when we suddenly came to a 25 km/h (15-16 mph) with a speed bump. The highway then made a 90o turn to the left. We had come to a beach area that came right up to the road. There was a place to eat so we pulled into the parking area and looked around. On one side was a nice beach and a bar. On the other side was Rasta’s Raggae Bar & Grill. We walked over to Rasta’s and found a waiter/bartender that did not speak english. We got across that we wanted to eat and he found us a menu painted on a board. It was in spanish, when he realized it he looked around and found one in english. He then showed us a table and sent over someone who could speak some english. We both ordered the chicken fajitas. They were the second best fajitas we have had, the best was in a Mexican family restaurant in Pecos, TX. We walked over to the beach and checked it out, it was a small but very nice beach. Unfortunately, we did not bring our bathing suits. Next to the beach was a dirt road with a sign for a lighthouse. We followed the dirt road about a mile to a building with some displays of the lighthouse and surrounding area. There we found out that the only way to the lighthouse was to take their tour. The tour was leaving in 15 minutes and would take about 2 hours. We wanted to have a leisurely drive around the rest of the highway loop so we did not go on the tour.

Back on the highway we saw some very beautiful scenery and stopped at a few places to enjoy it. We came to what promised to be a larger Mayan ruins site, but it was a few miles off the highway and we wanted to spend a little time in town before we had to board the ship so we decided not to go there.

On the outskirts of the city we came to the gas station the rental people told us about and put in the $6.00 of gas the rental agreement called for. Ernie did not want to deal with having to turn around on the main street so he found a parallel street and followed it far enough to be beyond the car rental company. We were able to approach the rental place without having to turn around on the main street.

Diamonds International offers a deal to people on cruises where they can get a free bracelet and charms at ports with a Diamonds International store. You get a card on ship and go to the store, they give you the bracelet with the Diamonds International symbol charm. They also give you the charm for the port where you are. You receive a card with a grid containing all the ports where you can get a charm, you bring the bracelet & this card to stores at other ports and receive that port’s charm. They check off each port as you get your charms. Cozumel is one of these ports, we walked over to Diamonds International and Dale received her bracelet and started her collection. We walked around the city for about ½ hour and it was time to head back to the ship. (Pictures)

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Roatan, Honduras
We had favorable currents and winds so we arrived at Roatan 1½ hours early on Thursday morning, March 17. Roatan is an island off the coast of Honduras. Though the national language of Honduras is Spanish, on Roatan English is taught as the main language and Spanish as a second language so communication is easier than on most Carribean islands.

Roatan has only been trying to build up it’s tourism business for a couple of years. Because of this you can not rent a car nor could the cruise director tell us what there was to do on our own, so we signed up for the beach-break excursion. There is not a big enough dock for the ship to pull into so we met for the excursion in one of the lounges on ship and went ashore by tender (small boat).

We got on school buses for the ride to the beach. There was a 16 year-old girl that was the tour guide. She was one of the best tour-guides we have ever had. She told us about what we were going by and about life on Roatan. They go to school in shifts, kindergarten/elementary go in the morning, middle school in the afternoon, and high school in the evening. There are no high rise hotels, what there is for hotels are houses converted to rent rooms. They are building condos and soon will have their first hotel, but they have put a restriction that buildings can not be taller than 3 stories. We stopped at a spot to enjoy the view, it was beautiful.

We arrived at Tayanna beach and were told where everything was. Lounge chairs were provided and we found a spot under a tree. The water was beautiful and warm enough for Dale to go swimming. The beach was spotless and unlike Carribean beaches where tourism has taken full hold, there was no one coming up to you every 5 minutes trying to sell you something. There were some girls that had chairs set up where you could get your hair braided and a couple of stands where you could buy a souvenir, but you had to go to them, they did not chase you around. There were some young men with a couple of parrots that for $1.00 they would let you hold while they took a picture with your camera. There was also a spider monkey tied to the top of a pole. He had been free to roam around in the trees, but someone teased him and got scratched so now he is tied-up.

The beach-break included a very good cookout. We had chicken, spaghetti, fruit, and fruit punch. There was also hot dogs & hamburgers. When it was time to head back the bus took a different route and we got to see many homes that were obviously those of very poor people. But no matter how bad of shape the house was in, almost everyone had a garden. Virtually no one has air conditioning, but the houses are built on stilts with large screened windows and since there is always a breeze, the houses are relatively cool even on the hottest days.

Along the road near the dock are stands set up that sell mostly items made on the island. We went into one place and they had this beautiful chest that was hand carved to look like houses built on a hill. Dale loved it, but we had no way to get it home. Ernie noticed a box on the shelf that was a smaller version of the chest and we bought that for Dale. Walking along the street we came to a street/alley that went up to some houses. Where this met the main street there were a couple of stands that ran down along the smaller street. Ernie was looking at the houses and a boy of about 8 said "Come on in." Ernie smiled at him and the boy said "It does not cost anything to look." Ernie laughed and told him he was a good little salesman. We went into the first stall, but did not see anything that interested us.

We went over to the dock to wait for the tender and got a little nervous when the pilot hit the dock a few times pulling in. He hit the dock again pulling out, but after that the ride was fine.

Many people complained that the island had no real stores or bars and nothing to do, but we loved the island for it’s rustic beauty and the friendliness of the people. We thought the beach-break was the best one we had been on. We were glad that we had this opportunity to visit the island now before tourism really takes hold of it and the people. (Pictures)

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St. Andres, Columbia & Days at Sea
Thursday, March 18 we spent at sea. At lunch time we went to the buffet just before it was going to shutdown, so the food was not the freshest. Ernie had a few small pieces of pizza two of which had some type of seafood. At supper time we went to the Italian restaurant and for some reason the food was not up to the standards of the rest of the ship, it was cold and did not taste very good. We assume that one of these meals was the reason he became ill that night. We arrived at St. Andres, Columbia Friday morning. Unfortunately, Ernie was still ill and Dale was nervous about going ashore alone so we stayed on the ship. Ernie spent most of the day in bed and Dale was in and out of the cabin finding things to do then checking to see how Ernie was doing. Dale did get a couple of pictures of St Andres. St. Andres is another island that is just starting to take a big interest in tourism so they also do not have a dock big enough for the cruise ships. We anchored out in the bay and people went ashore by tender, that is why the pictures are taken at a distance.

We spent Saturday & Sunday March 20-21 at sea. Ernie started feeling better on Saturday but still spent a lot of time sleeping. Dale went to the show that night because it was an act we had seen on a previous cruise that we really enjoyed. She thought they were even better than when we had seen them earlier. The act is known as the "Power of Two". It is a husband and wife team, Rudi MaCaggi and his wife Christy. Rudi comes on first and does a comedy routine which is G-rated with a lot of slapstick, he gets the whole place roaring with laughter. Christy comes out and sings a song while Rudi changes. When Rudi comes back out they do a balancing act where they hold each other at what appears to be impossible angle, it is amazing to watch.

Ernie was feeling much better Sunday morning and went up on deck early in the morning to see if he could get a glimpse of Cuba as we passed. He could make out a lighthouse and a couple of other lights. He could see a dark line which he assumed was the island.

There was what appeared to be a tiny cruise ship or gigantic fishing ship off in the distance. One of the crew members told Ernie it was the Crown. That is the ship we were going to be getting on in Miami. The seas had been the roughest of any cruise we have been on and Ernie hoped they would get smoother before we got on to the Crown.

Dale joined Ernie on deck to see the sunrise. After spending the day relaxing and joining in on the trivia games we went to the farewell show, packed our luggage, and put the luggage out to be picked up during the night. (Pictures)

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Last updated:   may 01 2017