Cruise I: First Stop, Belize!

This year Cole and I could hardly wait for "Spring Break 2010." We've had to learn the tough lesson that once you hit the "real world," you don't get a spring break anymore... why didn't they warn us about that in college?!? Anyway, this year we booked a Western Caribbean cruise with some friends from Salina and March just couldn't get here soon enough!

We returned last Sunday to 6" of snow in Kansas City, and reality hit hard! We have both come down with some kind of sinus infection gunk, yuck! Seems like everyone around here has the same congestion... Memories of our warm vacation have eased the pain a little, though!

The cruise was 7 days long, with stops in Belize, Isla Roatan (Hondouras), and Cozumel. It was absolutely wonderful! Neither of us had any motion sickness issues, which was something we were worried about. The cruise departed a few hours later than it was supposed to, so we left New Orleans just at sunset, which was really very pretty.

After spending two full days on board our ship (the Carnival Triumph) with about 3,500 others, we were ready to dock. The first port was Belize - tenders came out to pick us up. We scheduled a "cave tubing" excursion, riding tubes through cave formations over a river. Afterward we shopped a little. I didn't get many photos in Belize, since our excursion was a wet one... Here are a few photos:

 The ferries picking us up were so tiny next to the cruise ship - it was amazing watching them pull up alongside!

Getting ready to cave tube - we also got to take a 30-minute hike thru the rainforest. Our guides taught us a lot about various trees and plants. 

Belize has over 200 small islands just off the coast - many were for sale. Cole thinks we should buy one. I think this one looks a little TOO deserted for me. :)