Western Caribbean Cruise

I can check off another trip for 2019.

My friends, Debbie and Robin, met me in Fort Lauderdale the day before we anxiously boarded our ship for our 7 day Western Caribbean cruise.

I think ships are getting better with the boarding process. Either that or we're getting to the pier at the right moment to check in and walk right onto the ship. As soon as we boarded, we headed to the buffet for food. What is it about cruising and eating? They seem to go hand in hand.

Then it was off to the sail away party for drinks and exploration of the ship.

After a day at sea, our first stop was Roatan, Honduras. I've been to the Western Caribbean before and absolutely don't remember it being so impoverished. We were told there was better shopping that would take us about 5 minutes to walk to. So off we went only to find the area kept getting poorer and poorer. A cab driver pulled up next to us and said he knew of a great place to shop. Since we were all 3 together and he spoke English very well, we figured we'd be safe. But when he turned onto a dirt road, all our eyes bugged out of our heads. He was actually taking us through his village where he grew up before taking us to the shopping mall. He was so proud of these run down shacks. We finally convinced him to take us to the mall which wasn't much better.

I was able to find a rather decent commemorative shirt. Oh, and the mall, just one store but at least it was air conditioned. Our cab driver did wait for us, thank goodness, and suggested other areas to explore. I kept saying "No" to every suggestion he made. We finally made it back to the pier and I would have run back to the ship but I was having knee problems. But I was limping back at a rather fast rate of speed.

Our next stop was Belize which was even worse than Honduras. I was so disappointed, I didn't even take one picture. I was able to find my Belize shirt which I wore while walking around Costa Maya - another disappointing port.

Now Cozumel was a different story. Plenty of fun stores and restaurants. You'll have to excuse my grubby clothes. The weather was so hot and humid that I couldn't bear wearing anything other than sleeveless tops and flip flops. Our last day was at sea. By this time I was so disappointed with the entire cruise I didn't even think of taking any more pictures. While the company was great, I believe this is my last cruise to the Western Caribbean. My next cruise is in February through the Panama Canal. Fingers crossed it will be much better.