Just got back from a week in the Caribbean aboard the NCL Spirit out of New Orleans. Four buffets a day for a week! I will wear that trip for a while. Left New Orleans Sunday a week ago about 5:00 p.m. and proceeded down the Mississippi until we popped out at the end of the river channel into the gulf and then high tailed it to the Mexican Riviera at bout 24 knots.
NCL Spirit Parked beside another NCL ship in Cozumel
Weather was beautiful for most of the trip and the accommodations on the ship were great. They had folks with spritz bottles all over the ship to spray your hands in an effort to keep down the “creeping crud”which runs rampant among highly massed concentrations of humanity. They tried,but in spite of that three of us in our eight person group came down with it before getting back. I picked it up on the fifth day of the trip and am finally getting better now after I started on antibiotic when I arrived home last night. Yep every one of those errant microbes is being chased all around my body by a host of units of Z-PAK!
First stop on the trip was “Riviera Maya” just south west of Cancun. Not exactly a fabulous port of call,but the beach was nice and they had a lot of tours available for those that chose to visit nearby Mayan Ruins,zip linning,dune buggy rides and the like.
Following that we proceeded to Belize City where the ship parked about five miles out in the water and we had to go in by tender. Once again they had lots of tours available for a price but in Belize City they insisted that visiting the local countryside was very hazardous. Apparently there has been a number of violent things occurring to tourists there recently. We found a cabby that gave us a tour of the high points of the City from the safety of a 14 passenger van. Interesting tour of squalor and bare 
subsistence lifestyles that would make the poorest of the poor in this country feel filthy rich by comparison. He showed us a number of the foreign embassys there and even they were nothing particularly spectacular. Even the churches had burglar grates over their windows. Not that there are not
All too common home in Belize City
lovely places there,but it is definitely not a great place to plan for the trip of a lifetime. There are other places in Belize such as Ambergris Caye and other of the northern islands of Belize are fabulous vacation spots,but Belize city sucks,big time.
Roatan's West Bay Beach
A couple buffets later we arrived in Roatan. Just off the coast of Honduras,Roatan is a nice little island that offers the traveler a lot of really neat experiences. Since our group had never been there before I insisted they spend the day at West Bay Beach and at the end of the cruise they indicated it had indeed been the high point of the trip. Roatan’s West Bay Beach is,according to the Travel Channel,one of the ten best beaches in the world and it surely fits the bill to me. Last time we visited,about four years ago it was a beautiful little beach with a half dozen hotels and small resorts along the shore. Today those are now solidly packed along the whole length of the beach. However,the beach itself is still open to all and is just as beautiful as ever. Now you just get to share it with a few thousand more of the rapidly sun-burning European tourists than before.
West Bay beach has one area at the end that the reef extends almost all the way up to the shore itself. You can wade out to where it starts then float above the most beautiful display of reef life imaginable. 
Here scuba is fun,but totally not required to view the spectacular displays. We saw a huge variety of colorful parrot fish,gold and black striped sergeant majors,French angel fish,blue doctor fish and others too numerous to list. An absolutely fabulous experience before returning to the ship to enjoy more great NCL buffets. The local town of Coxen Hole in Roatan is nothing to write home about.
We have spent several weeks there in years past and would definitely rate Roatan a “two thumbs up”place to visit. Especially if you love scuba diving or snorkeling as they are the prime attractions here. You have a choice of fancy resorts or tiny little inexpensive hotels to chose from if you are interested in an affordable longer stay. There are a number of inexpensive ones located in the community of West End where we stayed previously. We enjoyed watching two young ladies helping their dad to bury a friend here on the beach at West Bay. How nice that they placed a cup of “adult beverage”there with a straw that he could reach but sitting atop his buried body did seem a bit tacky. Oh well,it was all in fun and after all they did dig him out later. (Didn’t they?)
Our last port of call was Cozumel. Perhaps the Mecca of the Mexican fun, shopping,scuba and tourist destinations. Unlike much of Mexico that has a really bad reputation for violence due to the drug wars these days,Cozumel is a small island located about 20 miles from the mainland. The only access is by boat or by air. The local population is small and they know most everybody on the island. As a result,the likelihood of violent-minded folks getting caught plying their craft is high so Cozumel is pretty well left along by the cartels.
Cozumel is number one on my list of fun Mexican places to visit. If you want to find a fun spot where you can rent a scooter and drive about the island with the locals,and their pets,Cozumel is a good place to start. There is great places there to visit,good food and adult beverages and the people love Americans. I had one local tell me there that they love the cruise ships. He said,“They come in and spend money in the shops and restaurants,and then at 4:30 they go back to the ship and we have our town back. They don’t even use our toilets.” Apparently the word is out. There were five ships in dock when we were in Cozumel and I think we met most of their passengers in town that day.
Vista Del Mar hotel and mall
Right across from the cruise ship docks is a little hotel that we stayed in on a previous visit. The “Vista Del Mar”(View of the Sea). It has a mall downstairs and nice rooms on the upper floors. When we stayed there there was a birds nest of electrical wires outside our window that would give a lineman nightmares for a month. I took a picture of it here to show that has all disappeared with the upgrades to the street since the last hurricane.
Cozumel is by far the most popular place for shoppers and that’s what we did on this trip. My wife searched all around to find a replacement for a little hematite dolphin to replace the one on her earrings that she broke recently. Took a bit of trying,but she found it after asking several locals to help her track it down. A bad hurricane hit Cozumel a few years ago and as they rebuilt,they improved the waterfront area significantly. It is now really beautiful. They have smoothed the rough sidewalks and added beautiful statuary along the street by the sea. Really lovely.
Along the front street
Scuba diving in Cozumel is fabulous and is the most favorite place in the Caribbean to a lot of divers. Due to the strong currents along the edge of the reef you go out by boat and then drop down and just drift along while a continuous array of sights passes by. Many scuba divers who frequent the Caribbean think it is the greatest single spot for their hobby and for really good reason. Snorkelers on the other hand are better off on Roatan,but both are great places for a visit,or a day trip from a cruise ship. Our friends took a submarine ride in Cozumel that took them to 120 feet depth on the outer reef and had a ball!
Cozumel Waterfront
After leaving the beautiful paradise island of Cozumel the boat proceeded around the end of the Yucatan and into the Gulf for the trip home. By wake up time the next morning we noticed the boat was rolling more than usual. Imagine my surprise when I checked the on-board TV to see that the wind across the deck was 63 mph! Boat was doing about 20 and the rest was a 40+ mph direct headwind,and it was COLD! Bummer. Oh well,it was only one day and the wind was only a problem getting into and out of the hot tub on the upper deck in between fabulous buffets.
Arriving back in New Orleans on Sunday morning we were greeted with cold and windy conditions that I was totally unprepared for. While driving home the couple stops for fuel and potty breaks were really unpleasant. In a fit of stupidity I brought only short sleeved shirts and an insulated vest. That was more than needed on the trip down,but totally inappropriate on the way back,especially since I had caught a bad cold and that cold wind left me shivering uncontrollably waiting for the gas to fill the tank.
Back home now we have been welcomed with a mixture of snow,ice,and freezing rain. Whoopee! I am more than content to remain inside and watch the birds fight over the feeders from the warmth of my perch on the couch in front of the TV. My conclusion,if you get a chance to take a Caribbean cruise in February,take a freaking jacket! Never can tell what kind of craziness might greet you a week later when you get back.
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