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When I made my list of haunted travels in store for Haunt Jaunts in 2011 I didn’t list any cruises. I didn’t think we’d be taking a cruise this year. I was looking forward to Vegas, but now it looks like Vegas is a no go and instead we’ll be taking a spontaneous cruise to the Western Caribbean.
WHY THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN
Wayne’s vacation got revoked in December. He still had two weeks due him, but a big project came through at the last minute. (Surprise, surprise. Story of our lives!)
Since we didn’t exactly have set vacation plans, his firm had no qualms about asking him to work. He was supposed to take his two weeks starting this week, but, again, since we were just going to putz around here they said, “Hey, we got this one deal brewing…can you help us out on it?”
That’s when we both said, “If we don’t plan to actually get away somewhere, you’ll never get to take time off.”
About that time Carnival sent us a brochure for a five day Western Caribbean cruise leaving out of Mobile for $279 per person. Since it’s been a real winter here in Nashville, suddenly the idea of getting away to warmer climes and his job seemed super appealing.
FIVE DAYS TURNS INTO SEVEN
However, as I got to looking at the cruises more closely, I came across one that I knew would appeal to Wayne. It was a seven day leaving out of New Orleans (which appealed to me) with port stops in Belize, Isla Roatan, and Cozumel.
Yes, it costs a bit more than the one that first caught our eye, but not that much more. Only about $200 per person more. And the ports sound more exotic. One of the things Wayne wanted to do this year was go somewhere else. Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rice…anywhere Latin with beaches. This one cruise definitely fits that bill.
PICK A PORT
Now we just have to nail down a date, which will determine which port we leave out of.
As much as I’d love to embark from New Orleans, that’s the cruise that’s farthest away date-wise. (February 26th. Wayne wants to leave tomorrow!) Most likely we’ll be sailing from somewhere in Florida.
Which is fine. If that happens, we’ll get another port added on to our itinerary because those cruises add in either Grand Cayman or Costa Maya as well.
MAYAN RUINS
Say we stay with a five day cruise from Mobile to Cozumel and either Progresso or Calica (depending on the ship). Guess what? I’d have the chance to see ruins. Mayan ones at that!
Even before all the hubbub surrounding the 2012 Mayan prophecies I’d wanted to see Mayan ruins. It’d be neat to see where those fabled people once roamed and the amazing architecture they left behind.
Anyway, I’m kind of excited. As you might know if you’ve followed my blog for a while now, I love cruising. I never really considered the Western Caribbean before, but I’m glad we looked into it. Because not only will we maybe get to see ruins, but we might get in some good snorkeling. Something else I love doing! (And am hard-pressed to do much of in Tennessee.)
Hopefully I’ll also be able to dig up some neat haunted places while I’m at it. I haven’t covered that region very much.
So…hello 2011. This was a nice first surprise of the year you threw my way!
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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The trip sounds great. I can’t wait to hear how it went. My hubby and I talked about taking a cruise for our 30th wedding anniversary. We want to go on an Alaskan cruise. Everyone we know that went on that one said it was fantastic.
30 years, eh? That’s awesome! When is your anniversary? You should do the Alaskan one. It IS awesome! If you visit Skagway or Ketchikan you will find some interesting haunts too… (My fave port was Sitka. Such a pictureesque town! You’d have a field day taking shots there.)
LOOKS LIKE FUN GOING ON A BIG BOAT. AND SEE LOT OF DEFRENT PLACES. IWISH I HAD LOT OF MONEY TO DO THAT. GET WAY FROM COLD AND SNOWY WHTER. AND GO SOME WHERE WARM.
Oh don’t let me fool you, Andy. We don’t have a lot of money. We’ve learned how to cruise CHEAP! We pick sale cruises and then use Wayne’s frequent flier miles from his job to get us to the ports. Oh, and we never upgrade our rooms. We always stay in an inside cabin. So…we get to see some neat places but we sure don’t pay for them!
Achhh! I just wrote a really long comment detailing what we did in those ports when we went on the Goth Cruise on the Carnival Legend in Oct. ’09, but I screwed up the CAPTCHA code and my comment got deleted. Phooey. So, I’ll just cram this in quickly:
Grand Cayman has Cemetery Beach a 30-min walk north of famed 7-Mile beach, BUT you really MUST do a Stingray City excursion. I recommend Moby Dick Tours, they’ll ease any fears and drop you off at 7-Mile beach afterwards. Then take a cheap taxi back to port.
Cozumel: Shop for Dia de Las Muertos items, and walking around the city is nice. Parasailing was a good value, the Atlantis sub was a disappointment- there was really not much to see underwater but smooth sand.
Belize: Was torn between seeing Lamanai’s jungle-y Mayan ruins and the in-a-field Altun Ha Mayan ruins. Lamanai meant we may not make it back to ship in time, so we did Altun Ha. And Alatun Ha was fine and satisfying…and less stress.
Roatan : Pirates of the Carribean Zipline (regular, not the Extreme version.) I did my research and picked the best zipline on the whole cruise route. Fantastic. Bonus was a detour afterwards fro a free cocktail at a beautiful new resort, Parrot Tree Plantation. Amazing place. You might also like to snorkel at a shipwreck in Roatan, they can be seen close to shore.
If you have any questions, I’d be glad to answer.
THIS PAST TUSEDAY. ST.LOUIS MO. HAD A ICE STROM. THE MOVIE THEATER WAS CLOSED. IT WAS THE FRIST TIME . IN MY 11YEARS WORKING AT THE MOVIE THEATER. GOT A DAY OFF.
Hi Andy! I’ve been wondering about you and hoping you didn’t have to go anywhere. You all sure had quite the weather! Glad to hear you’re okay.
HI trickortreat!
OMG! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR MARVELOUS INSIGHT INTO THE VERY CRUISE WE’RE HEADED OUT ON!!!!!!! How freaking cool you know about all the ports!!!! This info was amazing and I’m so sorry your 1st comment got swallowed up, but I sure do thank you for taking the time to type it all out again!
I’ve really been torn about what to do. There’s so much in each port. (Well, I think Isla Roatan may have one of the more limited selections, but still a lot. Just limited compared to the other ports.)
I think we’re going to try and get on the Tulum excursion in Cozumel, but that’s the only one we can agree on so far. I’d really like to snorkel and see shipwrecks if I could. That would be neat. And the zip lines sound fun. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Was the Goth cruise on Carnival? Or another line?
I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. (May have already said that, but was worth repeating.)
Whoops. I see it now. Carnival. Duh. Memory retention is shot. I was so excited to read about the Cemetery Beach I focused on that and didn’t see the rest. Sheesh. Sorry!
Oh, and I forgot to mention Hell. It’s a place in Grand Caymen with odd rock formations and it’s own post office, so you can have your mail sent with a postmark from Hell! (I went there on a previous cruise; the tour also took in a turtle farm. I did not realize until later that it wasn’t a turtle *sanctuary*–the turtles are there being raised to be eaten. Poor turtles!)
OMG! I would love to visit Hell! (Except the turtle farm would make me cry. I love turtles! I even have one on my credit card!!!) Our route doesn’t stop at Grand Cayman, tho. Nuts! Oh well…sounds like a good excuse if we like some of these ports to go back again some day. LOL