I booked a horsebackriding excursion with El Rancho Barrios Dorcas. A private driver picked us up from the dock which took us to the Ranch, which is directly on the highway. The ride took us through the West End, and it was a great way to see the town. We passed so many cruise travellers crammed onto buses and vans who looked at us longingly, and I bet they wished they could take in Roatan the way we did. While on the horses, we bought coconuts from an old man at the side of the street who just used a machete to take the top off and pop in a straw. Delicious! After the ride (which really was the highlight of our entire vacation), our driver took us to Foster's in West Bay where we spent the afternoon at the beach. 
People were extremely helpful and friendly in Roatan, and it was certainly my favourite port of call on this trip. 


Roatan

We booked an excursion through NCL, and I did kind of feel like I was cattle being herded. I think this was probably due to the tendering we had to do. We waited in the Stardust Theatre and was herded onto a crammed tender where we arrived at a crammed port. We did the New River Safari and Lamanai Ruins tour, and that was a great experience. It was a half an hour drive, then about an hour boat ride. The ruins were gorgeous, but the experience was slightly tainted by how crowded it was. My fiance and I are more independent travellers, and only did this excursion in such a large group because were were nervous about making it back to the ship on time. As it was, we only had five minutes to spare and was on the last tender back with the crew. 
Even though we saw the ruins (which was the highlight at this port), I felt that we got a very glossy and almost fake look at Belize city. I definitely recommend booking your own excursions so you can get what you want to get out of it. 


Belize City

We had planned to take the bus into the beach town, but it was raining hard the day we arrived. We spent some time in the tourist town and bought some tequila, and then headed back to the ship. The merchants were extremely pushy, but don't be afraid to haggle and be pushy back! 


Costa Maya

We rented scooters in Key West and had a blast! 
As you exit the ship, there are workers in information t-shirts who are very helpful and hand out maps. We asked one the best place to rent scooters, and after putting down a deposit, we had a driver pick us up and bring us to the rental place. It was $35 per person for a single scooter. I've never ridden before, and we got a very scanty lesson and was asked to do a lap around the block. You get the hang of it very quickly, and we shot off to the Hemingway House. We paid the entrance fee of $12, and I spent most of my time there chasing and petting the polydactyl cats. 
We had lunch at a little clam shack and spent the rest of our time scootering around and having crazy fun. I loved seeing the semi-feral roosters and chickens amble about on the side streets. My only complaint is that we had to depart at 3pm, and I would have loved more time in Key West. 



Key West

Our cabin was 9155, an aft inside stateroom. I believe there was a crew corridor right next to us. On the first night, there was this curious knocking noise that continued into the night from where the corridor would be. I couldn't figure out what it was, but it didn't happen again. I can only guess that something had come loose in the crew area and was fastened again after that first night.

Otherwise, it was a great place to be. We were very close to the elevator that took us straight up to the Garden Cafe and straight down to the Summer palace, and was nice and quiet for being so close to elevators.  

The cabin was thoughtfully laid out and we never felt cramped or that we needed more space.

We peeked into the first one, and the singing was so bad we left quickly.I was kind of skeptical with the roast chicken, but it was so moist and delicious my fiance had it four nights and even on the lobster night.

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