I've been to the Cancun/Playa del Carmen/Cozumel area before and we love this area. Beaches are great, people are nice and there is a lot to see and do. We stayed in Cancun before and spent a full day at both Xcaret and Xplor. I highly recommend both. Unfortunately you need an entire day to explore each of them and we found out that on our booked NCL excursion to Xcaret - we only ended up with 3.5 hours in the park itself. This makes things very fast, unfortunately. Nonetheless we had fun and it's a great port. Better if you stayed a few days! :-)

Cozumel

I looked up Belize City and I saw beautiful white sandy beaches, lovely shops, a true postcard. At least that was what I was lead to believe. Here is the reality. You first must make a 45 minute tender ride to the Belize City port. We had no excursions booked because all we wanted to do is see some shops and hang out on their beautiful beaches. Upon arrival at the dock, music was playing and you see a rocky ship harbor coastline filled with a row of junky tourist shops about 3 blocks long. Once you pass these shops you must exit behind them, pass through a secured gated area and into the CRAPPY streets of Belize City. A wasteland of poverty and drug affected people. Don't even think about walking around the town and looking for trinkets. We sought out a beach but couldn't find one. We asked a cabby where one was and he replied that Belize City HAS NO BEACH! I said, Where are the beautiful beaches we saw on the postcards?" He replied."Oh, those beaches, you must take a one hour boat ride to one of the nearby islands... they have exquisite beaches...but none here. It is just a rocky harbor. But I can take you to 'Old Belize City' which is 5 miles away where there is a manmade beach. It is not very good but it is a beach." So we went as we had nothing else to do.The ride took us through town and you see how dilapidated the city is a and people is destitute. We arrive in the middle of nowhere at another harbor area with a restaurant. He says, "here it is." He gave a business card to call him as no cabs come by this area (red flag). So we see that all there is a restaurant with a green pond in front of it. That is the manmade beach. TOTAL TOURIST TRAP. W ate ate the restaurant and had fish. Prices for an entree were 20-30 US dollars. Very high! To use the beach/pond is costs you $10 per person and to use a towel - you must buy one as they don't rent. The water is warm and has a slimy bottom as it is not circulated. I regret going in. The beer is Belikin, a local beer, and is quite good. They sell a bucket of 7 beers for $26 or something like that. That is about the only thing I can recommend about this port.Had I know there was no beach (total FAIL on NCL's part of neglecting to tell cruisers,) I would have booked an excursion, as that is the only way you are actually going to see or do something here. So be wise and book ahead if you come to this port. My hope was that maybe Trujillo would have a nice beach? We went back to the cruise ship to tell them our dissatisfaction with this port and to see if we could book an excursion for ANYTHING in Trujillo. All booked up. So there we were, screwed. We decided to make lemonade out of lemons and just walk around on our own.

Belize City

Trujillo - blistering hot and intense humidity as you pull up you see beautiful dense mountains plunging into the sea but not much else. You tender 30 minutes to shore and are greeted with music. A few concrete shops are newly erected with only maybe 5 stores open. Several tables of t-shirts, hats and gifts are spread around. This area is is brand new and I'm sure you have read that our cruise ship was the second ship ever to come there. Once you leave the fenced off cruise ship port area you enter a poor community of dirt roads and weathered wooden shacks with tim roofs. There are a few bars along the beach but not the cool fun kind that you are thinking... these are more destitute. The beach sand quality is fair. Not rocky but definitely not fine sand. More coarse and shelly.After walking down several dirt roads, exploring, we had lunch at one of the few restaurants by the church on the hill. Friendly people, food was good, but don't expect to do any serious shopping as the stores as primitive and not ready for tourism.We did make it to the beach and the ocean water temperature was like bath water. Heavenly. No white sandy beaches but the water was great. Too bad this town is not ready for tourism. I could see it maybe in 15 years if it got itself together and actually had things to do. We talked with some local people and they were very friendly. I wish this town much luck as the people are nice buuuuut as of now, it is not ready as a cruise ship port.We heard from other guests that they took the excursion to the "starfish" beach area and they thought it was worth it. Great for kids.Back on the boat, 2 days of sailing back to Houston. It rained off and on but we expected that. Music was way too load around the pool area, so much that you can't hold a conversation. The drunk people seemed to not mind. :-)Back in Houston I was so ready to get home. I think this cruse missed the mark as only 1 of 3 ports are worth while. I did hear from another guest that they took a river boat ride in Belize and they thought it was really fun. I guess the point is that you need to be booking those excursions or Belize City and Trujillo will not be worth your time and money.

Banana Coast (Trujillo)

Cabin location is great, midship is less boat rocking. Not much noise at all. Balcony is great for morning coffee. The two twin beds pushed together makes a "Full" sized bed - not a queen. I'm 6'3" and my feet hung off the bed. On a normal sized queen bed they would not. Also be prepared that your knees will touch the wall in front of you while sitting in the restroom. Water pressure in the shower is surprisingly good and heats up relatively fast.

Come to find out that it is not delivered until the second day at sea due to regulations so prepare to buy a lot of drinks that first day you are on the cruise ship.I will also mention we pre-booked a bar set up in the room via online reservations: one 750ml bottle Cuervo Gold ($83.

Norwegian Jewel Review

Western Caribbean - Only 1 out of 3 ports worthwhile

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