by Paula Johnson
So many friends and family were concerned about us cruising during hurricane season and the one forming around Jamaca. We have cruised enough now that I wasn’t even thinking of that as I dealt with all the issues of getting on to the ship.
One thing to be sure of is that cruise lines want happy cruisers. Hurricanes and dangerous ports are avoided at all costs. Just before boarding we received an email assuring us that we would be out of harm’s way. Two ports scheduled for in and around Jamaca were dumped and replaced with safe harbors.
Another thing I have learned and experienced again this trip was that hurricane relief improves ports of call. Cruise lines pour big money into their best ports. Several stops this cruise look and feel nowhere near what they were like even five years ago.
Our first stop was one of our port changes – Costa Maya instead of Jamaica. Wow! What was once a delightful native port was now BIG time! The little public natural pool was now a huge part of the center of town with a swim-up bar. The darling flamingo park was gone and now part of the big pool. Some native shops in the heart were also gone and replaced with a massive perimeter of shops around the pool housing Diamonds International and other jewelry shops, T-shirt upon T-shirt shops, and interspersed with stores of native items (made in China).
The one lovely event that they did keep was the traditional fertility dance, Dance of the Flyers. Four Mayan men climb a 100-foot pole, attach each other to a rope uniting them, fall backwards toward the pole, and circling around the pole as they descend. During the descent, fellow Mayan men play flutes and other instruments while the descents chant or sing. It is amazing, and I enjoyed it just as much this time as 5 years ago.
Our next stop was Roatán, Honduras. If I thought Costa Maya changed, I was stunned at Roatán. The small quaint area still exists, but only one cruise line stops there. The “new and improved” docking allows much more shopping, but also a huge area to enjoy their special white sand beaches.
Curt could take his scooter off the ship to explore, just as he could aboard ship. I left him alone for “just a minute,” and he went to the white sand beaches and got stuck in the sand. Don’t tell the scooter people because they left directions to specially stay off the sand.
A specialty of the Caribbean is the fish therapy. Bare your feet and put them into your individual tank where Garra Rufa (known as doctor fish) will clean your feet of impurities and dead skin. No teeth, just suckers. The exfoliating process by the fish also gives off a unique enzyme, Dithranol, allowing healthy skin to regenerate and leave your feet soft and clean.
Though our next stop was at Belize City, we did not go ashore because the ship anchored a distance out, and we would have to board tenders to go from ship to port. This would have been difficult for Curt, and we had been to the archeological site near the city. I am sure this place has improved since we were last there, too.
The final stop of this cruise was the ever-popular Cozumel. I have been going to Cozumel since the early 80s when it was a simple village with a town center and no T-shirts. That was the summer I went to Cancun and walking around the ancient temple at Tulum and swimming in Xel Ha are memories like nothing today could provide.
However, I still love visiting Cozumel. Today it has three ports to handle all the trade. It was in Cozumel that I bought the one and only T-shirt of the trip – for John. There was a Calvin & Hobbs shirt with the onery Calvin in several poses: “Every day of my life I’m forced to add another name to the list of people WHO PISS ME OFF.” He loves it!
This trip made me realize that revisiting old sites can be just as awe-inspiring as seeing new ones. Next week, we will look at “at sea days” and what that can be like. Will say: Sharing this cruise with you during these cold snowy days has been a savior.
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