I was very overwhelmed and nervous at the size of the port once we arrived. I had never gone on a cruise before so I felt a bit intimidated. Once my sister and I boarded the ship, I had felt like I just belonged in a magical place. It was surreal!! The design of the ship, the staff, the layout was like right out of a movie. Within the first hour of trying to find our rooms to finding own little “spot” on the H2O Deck, everything fell into place. We were meeting people every minute. The drinks began to flow and friendships were being formed so fast. By 6:30pm we found like 6 large groups that would become our “besties” for the week. The staff didn’t know a stranger. The first couple that we met were from North Carolina and the second was from Pennsylvania and they were down to hanging out all over the ship. The funniest group we met were from Chicago and they were staying in the Haven. My sister and I went down to another restaurant where there was a quaint smoking section and we sat there, just the 2 of us when 6 guys walked up and sat down next to us...it was just like we were all old friends. We were asked to head out to dinner with them and unfortunately I got sick because I had some of the drinking water so needless to say, that was a bad time and I excused myself and was brutally ill until the next day. When the waiter was told that I had gotten ill. They sent a steak to my room to replace the one that I didn’t eat. It was just a great feeling to know that they cared. The housekeeping service attendant became such a good friend and was there whenever I needed him. By the way, even though you may have already prepaid the gratuity before you boarded, you will want to give them more because they do everything for you, they are amazing!! The excursions were nice, but there is so much on the ship that you can’t get to all of the activities. We got to go to Honduras and have monkeys climb all over us. We got to hold macaws. I had a person in Roatan braid my hair for $15 and I got an hour massage on the beach for $20...amazing! We did the dolphin swim and it was so cool. The dolphins didn’t seem sad, I got to have one pick me up and carry me across the water, you need to do it!! One of the best times on the ship had to be the 80’s night. Everybody was into it! I wish it could have lasted until the sun came up. We go back in January 2019 and I am going to make sure I sign up to take the “thriller” dance class so I’m prepared for the epic dance for the night and I am going to make sure that I have an epic outfit for the glow party.

I hit you with some of the highlights but there are a few things that I feel you need to know. You get charged for the drinks that you were drinking before you actually disembark, I believe it’s the taxes but still it’s because you’re within the ports range and although it was only a few dollars it’s still a good idea to take note of that. Most of the ports we were in were 3rd world type lands. Very sad to see starving animals in the streets, constant begging from local merchants. While you are out making memories, you are seeing teal life struggles that we never see here in the U.S., not to this magnitude. As far as the stop to Belize, well it’s not Belize at all. It’s actually an island that is owned by NCL. It’s basically a private beach with every business being owned and operated by NCL and the staff live in Belize and are chartered over daily. We had a drink in a bar and I turned to my sister and said “we can drink on the ship for free so I don’t know why were paying $8 for a drink at this bar when it’s the same drink we can get off the ship” so we headed back to the ship.

As far as the food....We never got tired of the food because there was so much to choose from. You can eat all day every day. Whatever floats your boat, they have it and they will specialize it upon request. Read more