DAY 4 HARVEST CAYE BELIZE

Welcome to the beautiful Harvest Caye in Belize!

Just an FYI for those who have never been there. You will NOT be able to use your beverage or dining package here and you can NOT use your room card for purchases. You CAN use your card for any excursions booked there in port.

I know there are a lot of mixed reviews and thoughts on this place. I believe most of the negativity stem from not being able to use your beverage package here, no free food or lunch provided and not being able to use your key card for purchases. Otherwise, the reviews seem to be positive (at least what I had read prior to coming here).

I treat this place as if it is any other port. You'd pay for any activities you do using cash or credit card, you buy your own food and drinks, and you use your own money for "extras" you'd do as well, such as excursions. But, the other thing about this is you have the option to just head back to the ship to get your grub and drink on if you don't want to pay extra for this while in port.

So many people get upset that Harvest Caye does not include the food or beverages when it's a "private island". Well, although it's their island, it's not their actual "private" island like Great Stirrup Cay is. Member LeesaB here on Cruise Critic explains this situation best for those that don't understand it. She explains it like this (and I want to give her all the credit for this explanation):

Harvest Caye can be a bit difficult to wrap your head around, especially if you're used to a traditional private island from a cruise ship.

As you learned, Harvest Caye is not a traditional private island.

What it IS, is an island that (my understanding is) NCL owns, but they struck an agreement with the government of Belize in the running of this island.  NCL bought the island and paid for (most, if not all) of the construction of the island features, but it is actually run by the government of Belize, or more likely some sort of contractor company. 

Instead of like those private islands in the Bahamas where all the employees are cruise ship employees, all the employees on Harvest Caye are actually from Belize.  It helps their economy and NCL gets a nice docking port in Belize.

Yes, the island is essentially a giant touristy port, but without all the weirdness of "how do I get out from this maze of shops?"  If you buy something on the island, you're paying someone who lives in Belize for that product.

This certainly isn't explained well by NCL, which I think would help a lot of people enjoy their day at Harvest Caye better.  If a calm, touristy port experience doesn't sound like a fun day, then guests can make sure to schedule an excursion, take the ferry to Placencia, or simply stay on the ship.

So hopefully that wonderful explanation helps others out. 

This place is just beautiful. Whether it's man made, natural or whatever, a lot of thought and planning to make this a breathing taking place to visit has taken place here. The pool is absolutely gorgeous and HUGE...think bigger than the one at Grand Turk. So even on a crowded day, there's plenty of room to swim.

There is so much seating, either by the pool, away from the pool and at the beach....like A LOT. I can't imagine not having a place to sit.

We were just here 4 months ago on the Breakaway and enjoyed our day there and I had hoped that we would do the same again today.

We were in port from 8-5pm today. That meant getting up early or not would somewhat be an option for us. I was not in a hurry because 1) we were just here and there wasn't anything new to explore this time around and 2) there wasn't any excursion booked that we had to be there at a certain time. I believe I set the alarm for 7 or 7:30am and off we went for breakfast.

It really wasn't too crowded in the buffet and only 2 people ahead of me at the omelette station so why not? We ate breakfast in a non-rushed pace, which was nice, and there was plenty of seating.

Then we headed over to the towel hut to exchange our towels for some new fresh-fresh. 

This would be the only towel animal to be found during this cruise. I really hate they have decided to do away with the towels animals. Towel animals have been around for many years and well known to cruise lines. The excitement of coming back to the room to see what your room steward had left you each night was not only a tradition but left you feeling like a kid waking up on Christmas Day with a new surprise. Sakari always enjoys them too. I understand this task requires added effort and time for the room steward and some people don't care for them, but it's tradition for heavens sake! Not to mention, if it saves the room steward time in each cabin, do you really think they are getting off work early? I doubt it, they are probably just getting more rooms added to their job while cutting back the number of stewards needed on these mega ships...or they are put to work at another area/venue (since many of them already have 3 or 4 other jobs on the ship). GIVE ME BACK MY TOWEL ANIMALS!

After eating, I slothed back to the room in an untimely fashion, grabbed our bags and headed toward the elevators. It wasn't too crowded and the elevators allowed you to get off on the 4th floor, which was the gangway, this time where yesterday, it made you get off on the 5th floor and walk down the steps....NOT FUN for those with mobility issues! Do you realize just how hard it is to walk down stairs with a heavy boot that takes up more space than a step provides? Then factor in having to walk down them somewhat sideways, while holding onto the railing with both hands, all while trying to keep your balance with a herd of people coming down at the same time.

Out we headed to get our pictures taken. Sakari is no longer afraid of Pirates and knows that they do not realize she is really a mermaid and they won't harm her as she thought back when she was little.

To read my full review of our time here, click the following tab:

Once on board, we waited for the elevator to arrive and take us up to our floor. It wasn't a long wait and I suspect it was because we didn't come back at the last moment.

We took our things to the room and dropped them off and immediately headed to get something to eat. We ended up at the buffet. 

I had a salad and sandwich

Then Sakari had some fries, pizza, and mac & cheese. We both had some bread. It seems like bread is the number one thing we devour when cruising. Bread and butter with everything we eat. Sakari will sit and just get a plate of bread sometimes as a "snack". It's a cruising thing for some reason. Maybe it's because there is a wide variety of types of bread.

I tried out their cheesecake topped with caramel and it was pretty amazing! I do have to mention that with all the years I have cruised with NCL, all I ever read was constant complaints about how NCL did NOT know how to make deserts. I complained as well. It had to have been the most bland thing I have ever eaten anywhere. Just plain gross. But, I think they must have stepped their game up. The last 2 cruises have been pretty good in the yummy department (at least what I have tried). My belly and hips are proof! Or  did that come from laying in bed for 2+ months and in a wheel chair for 3+ months?

I'm not sure if this would be considered our lunch or dinner that night so we'll call it linner just to be safe. I don't recall eating anything else and I don't have any pictures of having dinner.

We wanted to catch a show tonight. Tonight's scheduled showed "Comedy Magic of Chris Blackmore" in the theater. I figured that would be something that Sakari would like as well. We don't go to a lot of shows because quite frankly, we don't care for the song and dance shows or anything Broadway related. But give us a comedian or magic show and we're there.

The show started at 8pm and we had several hours before it was time to go. I was a little wore out and we decided to just hang out in the room and on the balcony.

The sun was setting and I was busy playing with my camera and checking out some of the video Sakari did with the GoPro.

The water was so calm and we had perfect weather so far. I was really worried because I get on a kick were I'm checking the weather every day a week before our cruise to see what it's going to be like despite knowing that the weather could change at any time...even that day. But it's  just something I do each time. Well, the weather showed nothing but thunderstorms each day in port all week. Not just rain but the lightening bolt with rain icon on the weather channel on my phone. It really looked like it was going to be crappy weather the entire time and I let Kendra know this and told her that should make her feel better about her backing out and not going. Her reply "YEP!"  So now, I couldn't wait to break it to her that the weather was nice instead and she was missing out. Nah nah nah boo boo.

One of the great reviewers on cc is Gambee. I love his reviews and he has a camera that takes these weird photo's that makes them look like a painting...well kinda. I have always wanted a setting on my camera like that. Although this new camera has somewhat of a setting like that, I don't think it's quite the same as his. But, I would mess around with a few of the paint-looking settings and found this one to be a little neat.

My foot was a little swollen from the day but I was taking my mind off it by enjoying the review. I have to admit that I was loving having a balcony this time around. I normally could care less because we are just not in the room long enough to make it worth it. But this time, we spent more time in there than normal. I needed to make this somewhat of a relaxing cruise and less of a mitsugirly style cruise. 

People always respond to questions about getting better by saying "getting better by the day". Well, that doesn't hold true for me. My reply would be "getting better by the month" because that about sums it up for me. I have a major milestone about once a month. My milestone for the month was my foot swelling went down tremendously...the first day of the cruise! I couldn't believe it wasn't swollen like it normally was...all.day.long!  It swelled, just not a lot and usually only after A LOT of walking or activity or by the end of the day. Before it was all day. Propping my foot up, whether it be while sitting or above heart level, does nothing for me...not for the pain, not for the swelling. As a matter of fact, it makes things worse for the pain and my entire leg up to my buttocks will be numb within 10 minutes of propping it up. The ONLY thing that works for me with pain and swelling...I have to be laying flat....ahhhhh However, I can't say that my ankle or leg has reduced in the swelling category. Maybe that's my next monthly milestone.

Because it's hard to keep a girl like me down, I just had to get up and find something to do. I told the hubby I wanted to.....are you ready????? Go buy some Cruise Next certificates. #gasp  On the Breakaway 4 months ago, I refused to buy anymore. But, this time I owed Courtney a certificate since she transferred hers to me AND I knew I would want to get one for my kids and I know there's several new ships out I haven't sailed yet. So....off we went.

We arrived at the CruiseNext counter and told the consultant we wanted to buy some certificates. He said he would explain to me how the program worked. I already know how it works...I've been on enough NCL cruises and bought enough of these in the past. BUT...he told me something I didn't know...you can now use 2!!! TWO!!! certificates to book any balcony room from here on out and sometimes an interior as well during specials. Hmmm....well that puts an entirely new spin on things! I'll take 8!  GASP went the husband. Yep....8! I'm sure I'll use mine within 4 years so no worries and it saves money on the room.

Then off to the show we went. Now they do have a handicap seating area at the top. It is roped off and states it's for handicapped. We were able to get a seat but I would watch people coming in late to the show, looking for a place to sit, and hear them say "let's just sit here...it'll be ok". Grrr

During the show, I was almost certain that I had seen this comedian (or at least this show) in the past. It starts off a little bland with him acting like he was going to do something amazing, but it doesn't turn out...only to find out he did do something and it left you scratching your head. There was audience participation and the normal "can I borrow $100 from someone", which seems to be a "normal" thing for these comedians to do. But, it was a good show and Sakari enjoyed it as well. Don't forget all the plugs they do during the show "I have my greatest tricks on a CD for the low price of.....".

I was pretty tired by the time the show was over and we all just decided to head back to the room to shower, relax, and watch a little t.v.  At some point I would pack our bags for our next adventure in Costa Maya the next day.