If you missed Part 1 of #VE2023: A Pre-Cruise Visit To New Orleans you can read it here <—
If you missed Part 2 of #VE2023: NCL Breakaway you can read it here <—
When I booked the Vlogger Extravaganza Cruise, it was 100% for the group and not the ports. I wasn’t excited about visiting the Western Caribbean ports and if it had not been for this group cruise, I don’t know that we would have sailed this itinerary. Upon our return, I won’t be going again. If for some reason I find myself in any of these ports in the future, we will either hang out on the ship or book an excursion. My advise to anybody traveling to the ports is to book an excursions. There isn’t much to do at the port. Sadly, we missed our stop in Belize. More on that later.
NCL Breakaway left New Orleans with a sea day to start us off. Our first port of call was Costa Maya.
Costa Maya has the best port area of the three cities we visited. It has shopping, a beach, and pool. You have to partake in eating/drinking to sit in the lounge chairs around the pool and after wondering the port area for a while, all the spots in the shade were taken. We popped into a restaurant to grab a bite to eat but the prices were so expensive. Our group shared some chips and guacamole along with a beer before getting back on the ship to save money.
A really neat part of this stop is the Mayan hanging guys that twirl around a pole. I have no idea what they are called but it was really neat to see.
There is also a dolphin exhibit and a bird exhibit. If you want to take a taxi to the nearby townsite, Phoenix and Stacey said there wasn’t much to do but food and drinks were a lot cheaper. The taxi ride was just $4.
Since we wanted to save money and neither of us were prepared with our beach attire, Kenyon, Wanda, Michael, and I boarded the ship and spend the afternoon by the pool watching the beautiful blue water and drinking blended drinks.
Our next port of call was Harvest Caye Belize, which is NCL’s private island. Due to 35 mph winds, we were unable to safely dock and thus, we ended up with an impromptu sea day. The biggest bummer was that it was my only opportunity to have a beach/pool day and the only reason I would try this itinerary again. The plus side is we had beautiful weather for our sea day and the drinks/foods were included on the ship which they are not at port. So in hindsight, we saved some money.
The third port of call was Roatan, Honduras. This day I wasn’t feeling well and the nearby townsite was…gross. I hear Honduras is beautiful and has some of the best beaches which is why booking an excursion would be worth the money. The port area has shopping, food, and drink and with a Royal Caribbean cruise also in port with us this day, it was packed!
We set out on foot and it was just bad. There was so much honking with everybody wanting you to take a taxi and if they weren’t honking at you, they were hounding you for a tour. It was a mess. We parted ways with Phoenix and Stacey who took a cab to a beach and enjoyed their day. Wanda, Michael, Kenyon, and I went to a restaurant we could see from the ship when we ported for a local beer and some food. I just wasn’t 100% so we left Michael and Wanda to spend time the room to rest.
It was a total bummer being sick on vacation!
Our final port of call was Cozumel. This is the only port that had an entire town right off the ship with lots to see and do including a ton of restaurants. The port area is huge with tons of shopping. Once you exit, you are right in town. I got a Mexico Starbucks mug for my collection and we walked around town in search of local tacos.
We found a town square with shopping and art and stopped into Woody’s for their epic margaritas. We said goodbye to Wanda and Michael and the four of us continued to wonder finding a restaurant right on the water with 2 for 1 drinks. Afterwards, we left Phoenix and Stacey in search of more tacos and made our way back to the ship in the rainstorm.
In hindsight, I wish we had booked the #VE2023 group event at Paradise Beach because it looked like they had blast. I wasn’t feeling the best so I’m not sure how much fun I would have had but it sure sounded like fun and I was sad I missed out.
We had a final sea day before porting again in New Orleans. By then, Kenyon and Michael had some down with the intestinal sickness I was experiencing so we hung opted to hang out in the outlet mall area before we caught an Uber to the airport.
And that wraps up our cruise. I wish I could back and do a few things differently and of course, I wish I didn’t get sick. That would have made the last half of the cruise a lot more fun. I also wished we had spent money on group excursions so I would have mingled with the Vlogger group more. Maybe next time!
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