It wasn’t nearly as sweet leaving Wisconsin last week knowing that the weather wasn’t awful.. I’m terrible, I know.. Ha! But in any event it was pretty magical getting away for a week full of sunshine, relaxation, and being on the water! 

We sailed the Carnival Dream which is one of the newer ships and she’s beautiful!! Our ports included, Routan, Honduras (Mahogany Bay), Belize, and Cozumel! I figured I’d share a little bit about each port and some photos!! I realized I took like 1 photo inside the actual ship but Carnival’s website has some pretty ones if you’re that interested! 🙂 

We embarked out of New Orleans (which always smells like creole to me! HA!) on Sunday the 6th. We had two full days at sea (personal favorite!!) & then the three ports, then one more day at sea before home! 🙂 

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Honduras – My first time here and hopefully not the last! I know, I know what you’re thinking. Cait, Honduras is known for their mosquito born illnesses and the drug/crime issues.. Don’t fret, I only walked away THREE mosquito bites on my back.. I miiight have just slid past the whole illness part though, phew. 
Anyway, realistically it’s beautiful. Carnival created Mahogany Bay which has local vendors but is safely located off the main land. They have a beautiful beach that let’s you swim a stones throw from the ship and it’s the perfect relaxation type of day! My mom and I were talking about mermaids (& I totally believe they exist.. Not Ariel style but we’ll save that for a different post) and I was sitting on the beach (you know, washed up whale style) & I put my hand down in the sand & pulled out a pretty antique ring!! Totally a gift from the mermaids.. & yes, carnival puts out paperwork if anyone is missing anything important.. But this ring was IHaveBeenInSaltWaterFor5Weeks looking! 

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Belize – My second time here.. Funny story.. Since we went out of New Orleans.. The ship was about 99.8% southern accents. So in Belize you have to take a tender to the shore which is about a 25 minute ride. Anyway, we’re sitting on top of this tender (with about 15 people) & there is this guy who is wearing a Packer shirt.. So we were like, “Packers huh? Where you from?” and he goes.. “Yeah.. Um my wife and I are from Madison, Wisconsin..” WHAT?! No way!! So we’re chatting and then the lady + 2 daughters sitting next to him go.. “We’re from Milwaukee!”.. So there you have it folks.. the .2% of northern people were all sitting up top this tender… & we never saw them again! – So Belize is semi-okay! It’s not a oh em gee let’s go back next week kind of place but it’s nice. It’s basically a little shopping community off a pier with some local vendors and a whole lot of Diamonds International.. I took no photos. 

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Cozumel – One of my favorite stops ever. The port is SO beautiful & the locals (a little more pushy then in Honduras & Belize) are very nice! My mom & I opted to take a cab ride to Paradise Beach which is MY FAVORITE PLACE EVER. It’s a $15 cab ride which is a little pricey for it’s 5 mile jaunt but the beach is $3/person to use & you get a chair, access to the ocean, and the pool! Food is a little pricey but the nachos are delicious! The photos of the pool not on the ship is the Paradise Beach pool. So pretty! 

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Well that’s it folks. It was a beautiful week and I’m sad it’s already come and gone! Photo time! Some are edited and some are not but they were all taken with the iPhone – I (a few vacations ago) realized how stressful it was to lug the big camera not because of how expensive it is but because of weight and you can’t just throw it around..So I made the decision that unless I was going somewhere like Hawaii, Australia, London, Ireland.. You know, BIG places.. I was going to leave the camera behind and utilize the phone. Which does pretty darn good. 

Read my 5 tip for Cruising HERE