Feb. 4, 2016 a day at sea Feb. 5, we visit Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

We had a sea day after our visit to Cozumel which gave us the day to go to lectures, sunbathe, chill out and just have good time. We attended the port lecture for our next port, Puerto Limon so we could choose an excursion. Evidently we will be docked in an industrial section of the city and the surrounding area is not geared up for tourists nor too safe. The recommendation from internet sites and the ship is to take an excursion or stay on board ship.

We opted to take the excursion to the banana plantation, river cruise and railroad ride along the banana plantations.

As usual we boarded our bus and the drive took us through some really run down parts of the city and onto a road out to the banana plantation. The area was lush with green vegetation and houses here and there. Once we got to the plantation we got out and the guide explained how bananas are picked, cleaned and processed before being boxed up for shipment for export.

As you can see from the photos, the bunches of bananas are  first sprayed to kill bugs and spiders, then dipped in a wax solution to stop the ripening process, labeled and then boxed for shipment. Every banana has a label for quality control. Should there be a problem with a banana or cluster of bananas the label has the info on when they were picked, where processed and when processed.

This planation is run by Del Monte or a contractor to  Del Monte. After our tour our bus drove through the banana plantation to our next destination, the Tortuguero Canals. The canals are a series of waterways in the lowland rain forest.

We arrived at a wharf which had shops and food which we past to get onto the small river boats. The weather was cloudy and as we cruised up and down the canal it started lightly raining. The guide pointed out different forms of wildlife- sloths, caymans, species of birds. After our cruise we stopped at the wharf for people to get a fruit drink, shop and listen to the band.

We boarded the bus again and took a short drive to the train stop where we boarded a train for a short ride through the banana plantations to observe wildlife. The train cars are original but in pretty good condition. The train ride itself is short but the engineer stopped along the way for the  guides to point out birds and monkeys for us to see and photograph. At the end of the ride we got off and boarded our buses for the ride back to the ship.

At the port there were some buildings that housed a flea market- individual stalls with different types of local goods and souvenirs and clothing. This was the only opportunity to get locally made souvenirs or clothing.

After a tour of the stalls we headed back to the ship.

This along with Cozumel was a port we do not need to visit again. The cruise port on the other side of Costa Rica - Puntarenas- is more developed for tourism and has activities ashore if one does not want to take an excursion.

Feb.3, 2016 Cozumel Mexico and why we took this cruise.

We signed up for this cruise because it went to the Western Caribbean and we have not visited several of the ports on the cruise- Cozumel, Panama City, Puerto Limon Costa Rica and Grand Cayman.
We have been to Cartagena before but will explore on our own on this visit.

It also included 4 sea days which gave us time to rest since we just returned from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land several days ago which left us exhausted.

Today we visit Cozumel and it is port where the ship will dock at a pier near town. Most of the excursions/ activities were water related ie snorkeling, swimming, boating etc and this was my impression of Cozumel- great place for these activities with nice resort hotels.
The other options were to visit the Mayan ruins but that involved taking a 45 min. ferry ride from the island to the mainland and we were not that interested in taking a ferry to and from the mainland.
Turns out the weather was bad and the water rough and the cruisers on the ferry got sick.

We signed up for a tour of the Discover Mexico museum, Mayan Cacao Co.,  a small traditional village and tequila tasting with the option to stay in town for shopping.

The Discover Mexico Museum was compact- had a short video, art museum,  models of ancient pyramids and a dance of the flyers;.  There was also a cafe and bar but the prices were exorbitant not that we had time to eat or drink anything.

The dance of the flyers was the most interesting part of the tour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danza_de_los_Voladores.  After the performance some cruisers posed with the performers and gave them a tip.

Next stop was the Mayan Cacao co.  where we walked the scenic garden, visited a traditional Mayan hut and saw a demonstration on how Cacao is made. After the demo., we went into the gift shop to see all the cacao items for sale and we bought some cacao bars for home.

Next stop was the traditional village which consisted of an old Church, souvenir stores, temple replica and the Tequila factory store.  We had 10 mins. free time before we gathered to hear the history of tequila and sample some of the flavored and unflavored tequilas.

For some reason we were running late and our guide gave us the option to stay in town for 45 mins or go back to the ship. We opted to stay and have lunch at one of the recommended restaurants and barely finished our meal before it was time to get on the shuttle and to back to the ship.
I don't know if the restaurant Americanized the food or it was authentic but it was good.

On the way back to the ship we saw the downtown stores and they looked run down. The big jewelry store had armed guards outside of it. Not too reassuring for being safe downtown.
By the port there were stores and fast food restaurants as well as a Hard Rock Cafe.

I think one visit here is enough and no desire to come back...

Caribbean Cruise from Ft. Lauderdale Feb. 1, 2016- Greek Celebration Cruise - 170 in the group

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 31- a day early- to get ready for our Caribbean cruise of the Eastern Caribbean. This time we selected to stay at the Ft. Lauderdale Hilton which was across the street from the beach.
Our flight on Virgin America was smooth and pleasant and arrived on time. We took a taxi to the hotel and got to see the beach on the way.

We had a nice room on the 7th floor with an ocean view and a veranda. We had dinner at the hotel and chilled out so we would be rested for tomorrow.

Today Feb 1, 2016 we went out for breakfast and then walked along the beach. The weather was cool and sunny. After our walk we got ready for the taxi to take us to the cruise port to board the ship.

Fortunately the cruise port is very close to all the big hotels including ours- 15 min. ride tops. We got out and the porter took our  bags to load on the ship.
We checked, got our photo taken and boarded. Since we arrived at noon we were in time for lunch and hung out until 1:30 when the cabins were ready for all the passengers.

We found our cabin, met the stateroom attendants, and unpacked. We walked around to see the ship and at 4:00 attended the life boat drill.

We had our dinner at 6 with members of our group- some we knew and met new people. Per our trip organizer there are approximately 170 in our group..

There was an opening night show in the theater- one of 3 big production shows on the schedule.
Tomorrow is a sea day which is great. Gives us a chance to explore the ship and rest up for the upcoming excursions.