I would definitely recommend booking excursions similar to NCL's but doing so privately. We not only paid half as much but we got much more personal attention in much smaller groups. In Roatan we went snorkeling on a small boat with 10 passengers and two crew. We had the whole side of the island to ourselves it seemed while the NCL groups crowded on the other. 
We were greeted by dancers in island costume who danced as the ship docked. We walked past the main areas and found our van driver holding up a sign for us. He missed another couple who had booked the excursion but it would have been crowded with 14 on that small boat as well as cramped in the van that took us to and from the port. The tour company was upset about this mistake and booked the couple for the afternoon tour instead. 


Roatan

Belize is great and if I retire as an expatriate it might be here. They speak English and it's beautiful but litter along the roads is a big eyesore. The main drawback to Belize is it's not a deep water port so it requires tenders. That meant if you didn't book a tour through NCL you had to wait until everyone who had was off the ship. 
Here we went cave tubing and it was fun but not great. The drive out and back was fun with a lively and entertaining band of guides who kept telling us they were "just keeping it real for you". That seemed to be a trademark phrase. We hiked to the top of the river, carrying life jackets and tubes, then linked up in groups of about six to a guide. They seemed to hold us back to answer questions and show us cave formations, I assume the 45-minute trip could be done in a third the time if you were allowed to just float along. My only complaint here was that the headlamps provided were out of date and dim compared to the very bright LED lamps the NCL excursion had. They traveled in larger groups and had to wear hard hats which was amusing but without being able to see much the experience was lackluster overall. There were some "rapids" that required you to keep "Butts Up", another catch phrase of our tour guides (cave-tubing dot com). 


Belize City

This stop was my favorite and convinced me it's better to book your own excursion instead of going through the cruise line. We were told to take a taxi into Majahual, a small village, and were to meet the tour guide at a small bar there. We took a bus due to some confusion but negotiated the same fare as a taxi, $2US. We had to have someone at the bar call the tour operator and wait a short time, then he got our driver and we set off to tour the Mayan ruins of Chocchoben. We were the only couple in our air-conditioned van and though our driver spoke little English he was helpful in showing us some points of interest and helping us buy some fresh pineapple along the way. 
At the ruins we had our own guide who was very knowledgeable and patient as I asked him many questions. The other groups seemed to be 40 or more people per guide so I was very glad to have booked privately. The ruins are interesting and some are mostly as they were found - overgrown and partly buried. There was a fair amount of climbing and hiking but nothing strenuous and with our own guide we moved at our own pace and lingered where we wanted. We booked this via the internet from costa maya tours dot com. 
We missed NCL's private island, Great Stirrup Cay due to rough seas and had to lounge on deck instead, until even that got too chilly. I don't mind days at sea so I wasn't as disappointed as my wife. 


Costa Maya

Back in Miami. We booked the Everglades Tour through NCL before the cruise and I'm glad we did so. We got expedited debarkation so we could meet our tour guide and driver which got us off the ship in much less time than on boarding. The tour was fun and educational, we saw a few gators even though it was unseasonably cold. If you take this tour and suspect it may get chilly I recommend taking along something more than a sweatshirt like we did. Even a parka would have made sense that day and the locals were dressed like it was going to snow. 


Miami

So good my wife felt compelled to buy their CD afterwards.Too bad the main restaurants don't serve such good food.

Norwegian Jewel Review

A fun cruise with lackluster food on the NCL Jewel

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