This place is made for tourists wanting to buy 'cheap crap.' I only use that term because that is actually what one of the vendors said to us as we passed trying to get our attention. "Lots of cheap crap here!" I found it funny. Do not pay the price they ask. If you walk away, they will cut it by half or MORE every time. 
We booked the Bio Maya Zip Line excursion but NOT from the ship. We paid $30 LESS each person by doing this. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this trip!!! Here is why: 
you pay $129 a person through NCL. they take you in a big group of 40 people by giant travel bus to the zip line place (1 hour away). 
By booking through the company, I paid $89 a person and we were taken by local Taxi to the Zip line place. We got to see the military check point up close. We also got to stop and buy fresh pineapple by the little girls selling them at the speed bumps (Mexico's version of speed control). Also, as soon as the excursion was over, we got back in the SAME taxi and got back to port faster. 
The Zip Line itself was so great. Some people complained that we only did 3 lines, but they were all like 1000 feet or MORE EACH...and all about 100 feet in the air. I was scared, but excited and it was never unsafe. The entire crew had us locked into safety equipment every step or zip of the way. 
Best part: David, the local guide. His English was not great, but he was so enthusiastic about 'his jungle' and 'his zip line' and 'his restrooms.' It cracks me up to think about his stories about jungle trees and animals and Mayan civilization--you only understood every 3rd word, but I didn't care. His earnestness in wanting you to ENJOY yourself was so pervasive I gave him a hug before we left. Oh yeah--the free flying Macaws were AWESOME too! 



Costa Maya

OK--second port is NOT Costa Maya--it is Santo Tomas in Guatemala. This is a container port--all those train cars or 18 wheeler containers are moved and stored here. Kind of cool to see the cranes moving every thing. We had not booked an excursion for Guatemala before hand, but booked the Eco Kayaking through NCL the morning we got there. 
Basically, ALL the exciting excursions in Guatemala take place at the Amatique Bay resort. To get there, you have to ride a small boat with about 30 people to the resort. It goes VERY fast and bounces a lot and sprays a lot of water. It takes about 15 minutes to get there. I found it exhilarating and not scary at all. We did a rare afternoon kayaking trip. All kayaks hold 2 people and you row through a brackish river with a couple of guides. A boat follows you at a distance in case someone can't make it kayaking. We didn't get any instruction on how to row and struggled some, but we made it. Not a whole lot of animals to be seen (bats, crayfish, birds), but lots of interesting (to me) plants. We enjoyed it a lot even though we are not good paddlers. :) The resort itself was very nice. Good food, cold beer and a nice pool. You can do all sorts of different things here if you like--horseback riding, lounging, etc. 
Note: The BIG excursion people go on here is the Waterfall thing. What they didn't tell people who went (at $125 a person!) was that the waterfall DRIES UP IN THE WINTER. So no water to be seen. Glad we didn't do that one. Our trip was really pretty neat. 



Belize is lovely. Everyone speaks English, so it is foreign, yet not too different. We booked an excursion to see Altun Ha. We did NOT do it through NCL and I recommend you do this way as well. Here is why: 
We rode on a school bus with cold cold air conditioning and a great local guide named Jenny. She pointed out interesting items along the way out of Belize City. You ride for 1 hour. The last 15 minutes is on an old highway that is kind of a one-lane-ish road with really bad pavement. Kind of bumpy--but exciting too when another vehicle comes your way--whichever is smaller has to give way. 
Anyhow, the ruins were FABULOUS!!!!!! Trinkets to buy on the way out and then we stopped at a LOVELY place called Mayan Wells. It has a restaurant where they fed us absolutely delicious rice and beans and stewed chicken. Doesn't sound all that scrumptious, but wow! Not too spicy, just goooooood food! Oh yeah--you owe it to yourself to try a Belikan Beer too. After eating you had time to walk around and feed the howler monkey and the toucan and look at the butterflies. This was just so beautiful, I can't recommend it enough!! 
If you book the Altun Ha excursion through NCL you go in a Travel bus and you do NOT get to eat at Mayan Wells--and it costs more. 



Belize City

Well, we had booked a Catamaran Snorkeling adventure NOT through NCL. But the day we arrived (Christmas day) the seas were rough and all water excursions were cancelled. Too bad for NCL people--they had to go back on ship to arrange some other over priced thing to do!! 
We walked to where we were supposed to leave from and found out that it had also been cancelled, but the man was so helpful--he told us to rent a jeep and drive to the other side of the island where the water was calm and we could snorkel there. 
So we rented a jeep for $70 bucks, drove the beautiful highway around and found Chen Rio beach. I rented snorkel equipment (mask and tube) for $10 and we had a BLAST of a day!! There were reefs right there and we saw tons of fish! Wear water socks/aqua shoes though--lots of stuff to get banged up on! 
We ate at a restaurant on the way back, but can't remember the name. Really good fish tacos and ocean views! 
It worked out that the jeep and all was the same price as the catamaran trip--and you got to see the local flavor of Cozumel so much better. it might be a better way to do snorkeling if you are a first timer. We loved it! 




Cozumel

our cabin was fine. (8510) It had a large window.  The walls were metal, as was the door.  We decorated with magnets and some static cling items to decorate for Christmas...with not issues.

We were in the middle of the hallway, port side, far forward. The only noise was when docking--the thrusters or something were really close and it made some noise, but we were already awake.

I had read everything I could on Cruise Critic before we left, knew what to expect and we had a great GREAT time!!We had such a fabulous time we paid the deposit for a future cruise.

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