On October 18th, my husband, our 29-year old daughter, and I drove from Kansas to take a 7 day cruise on the NCL Jewel out of Houston. Our ports would be Cozumel, Belize City, Belize and Trujillo, Honduras. Settle back with a cup of coffee or, if appropriate, a glass of wine, as this review is a long one.

We arrived the evening before our cruise and stayed at the Springhill Suites in Seabrooke, just a few minutes drive from the cruise terminal. I highly recommend this hotel which is clean, comfortable and offers free breakfast.

We arrived at the cruise terminal at about 10:45 AM the morning of our cruise. We parked just yards from the terminal entrance. Parking is $75 per week, paid in advance through the port's website, or $80 the day you sail. The drop off of luggage and parking is a very well-orchestrated process. We were through security in about 10 minutes. If you want to haul them around, you can take sealed bottles or cases of water or soda through, but your wine, a 750ml bottle, is subject to a $15 corkage fee if you choose to carry it on. You pay for this once you get through security. We were directed to a large waiting room and given a group number. While waiting, we had a bright idea: Checking the vending machines we found that 20-oz bottles of soda were $1.75. A 12-oz. can is $2.10 on the ship plus %15 gratuity. We purchased 8 bottles and threw them in our carryons. Read more