Day 4: Belize City, Belize 8am-5:30am

I have to admit, I’m not one of those that normally book an NCL excursion. After all, I’m a member on Cruise Critic where there is a wealth of information of places to go and things to do on your own for half the cost and a longer period of time to get your money’s worth.

Last time we were in Belize, we did the cavetubing with .bz and LOVED it. It was the greatest, informative tour ever. The food was good, the experience was a once in a lifetime for most, and just something you would never experience anywhere else (holding tarantulas, eating termites to name a few). But, things have changed since we went last September and they now have a height restriction on their tours (which means our now 4 year old can no longer do the tour again until she is “taller”…even though she is a “big girl” according to her).

So, after A LOT of research, we decided since this was a tender island, it just made sense to book an NCL excursion that took us DIRECTLY off of the ship and to where we were going. This meant that we would be one of the first to get off the ship, not have to wait in a line to tender to the main port then another tender to where we were going if by boat like this tour, and we would have our own tender with just the people that were going on the excursion.

We booked Bannister Island. A lot of people have said they enjoyed this place and how beautiful it was. Yes, I read all of the complaints about wearing your water shoes to the island because the sand was not the powdery soft stuff but instead it was the crushed up shells and would hurt your feet. This does not bother me; we wear our water shoes to each port we go to every time no matter what. No biggie. I figured it was worth a shot. I like to do different things...unless it's just one of those places I ABSOLUTELY adore and have to go again next time in port (so far, my "have to repeat places" have only been Maho Beach in St Marteen, Sapphire Beach in St Thomas & Chankanaab in Cozumel).

I viewed pictures of people sitting on the benches under the papalas IN the water…it seems to be “the” thing to take your picture there. I viewed the pictures of the really neat fan-like palm tree where everyone has to have their picture taken too. One of the biggest things that lured me to this island was everyone reporting that they managed to see starfish there. Also, others had reported it was possible to see a manatee or some dolphins at certain times. Who could pass this up? I had to try it!

We started our day (after eating breakfast) up by the Bier Garten to watch as we settled in to our “spot” in the ocean in Belize. I could see an island way off in the distance. Could this be Bannister Island? I ask one of the employees and he said, “Yes, that is Bannister Island”.

The Dawn had followed us in and I managed to get a couple of pictures of her. She circled around us and parked. We could see a Carnival ship that parked off in a distance. I guess they didn’t want to socialize with the NCL fleet over here. I meant to look on our t.v once we got back to the room that day to see if the bridge cam would show us looking at the Dawn (thinking people viewing the webcam on the boards would be able to see a ship in front of us) but I forgot.

I was excited to see her and have Sakari meet her since this is the "sister" of the Star and what we are going on next year. I explained this "sister" part to Sakari like her and her big sissy are sisters. So she called it the sister from here on out.

We headed for our meeting in the Stardust Lounge. We were told to be there by 8am and then they would take us down to the tender to board. People, when you are told to be there by 8, BE THERE BY 8! Everyone else is. Come on, it’s not that hard. If I can do it lugging a 4 year old around, you can do it when you are half my age and you’re just a couple (2 people). Geesh. I have never seen so many “late” young couples in all my life to ALL of the excursions they had going on. The 7:45am groups were held until 8:30 when he finally announced “Ok, everyone here is my witness…I waited an extra half hour on these people, we are leaving”. 8:30…REALLY? Then minutes later couples come WALKING in saying they are there for the 7:45 group. Really? NCL was doing a wonderful job on their walkie-talkies telling the group that already left that people are coming still and having one of their employees running them down the hallways to “try” to catch up to the group before it left. Some made it, some didn’t. I hate to admit it, but I don’t feel sorry for those that didn’t make it. It’s your fault. You held up everyone else that should have already been on their way to their excursion but waited around for you an extra 45+ minutes. Ridiculous.

So now it was our turn…yep, you guessed it. We waited around until 8:45am for a tour that was supposed to start at 8am. Ugh! This is only a 4 hour trip, which includes transportation to and from the ship! Do you really think I want to cut in to my vacation beach time that much? Especially for something THAT expensive? I was ready to take names and _______...well you get the idea. Once they gathered us up and we headed down to get on the tender can you all guess what happened? There were actually people running and pushing their way through our 8:45 line to try to make their 7:45am tour. HA! I don’t think so. You were left!

Once we got on to the tender they told us that instead of leaving at 12 noon (when our 4 hour excursion was over), they would allow us to stay until 12:30. Ok, so that made up for SOME of the time. I still think it’s crappy that you only get 4 hours on most of the beach excursions. Why do you have to leave at noon when the ship is there until 5:30pm and all aboard isn’t until 4:30??? There should be an option at least. We were told it was a 30 minute ride to Bannister and we headed off…in a different direction than the island I had taken pictures of earlier when an employee confirmed that was indeed Bannister Island. (Rolling my eyes now) They said they would be picking us up at the same place they dropped us off at and they would take us directly back to the ship. If we wanted to go in to port, we could then catch a tender from the ship.

To view my full report of our day at Bannister Island, click the tab below.

After our trip to Bannister Island....

They told everyone on the boat that they would be dropping us off right at the ship just as they picked us up. However, anyone who wanted to go to the port of Belize was welcome to stay on the boat and they would take them and drop them off there if they wanted. I'm not sure if anyone stayed or not. It was a nice gesture but we were covered in salt water and sand and with no running water at Bannister, we decided all we wanted to do was to get back to our room, shower, get clean clothes on, and go get some food.

This was the great picture I got of the Star and her "sister" the Dawn, when we were coming back.

Are those orbs around the Dawn? Is it haunted or anything I need to know about? I think i recall the haunted stories about that ship and the person that died on there. Her spirit is still there and people see her all the time that stay in the same room as her. LOL (Nah, I'm sure it's just a water splash from the boat).

Back on the ship, we did the normal; shower, get dressed, and the go eat thing. You see the pattern now right?

I took a few photos of the Dawn, since that’s the next ship I want to go on. The sky was beautiful again and I couldn’t resist more Dawn pictures. I took a lot. I promise I will only share a couple.

Sorry the above picture is tilting...I must have been draining the water out of my ears from so much snorkeling today when I took this picture.

The munchkin begged to go visit with her friends (kids club) and we obliged since she had a full belly and we had planned on going to see a show tonight. The acrobat duo was performing tonight (Maria & Demtri) and I was pretty sure we had seen them last year on the Spirit and they were WONDERFUL AND AMAZING! The show is called the “Duo Acrobatique”.

We killed a little time in the Casino since its right around the corner from the Stardust. I had snuck two twenties in to my purse without the hubby knowing and when we came walking through the casino on the way to the Stardust, I slowed down, I looked at him, he looked at me, and he immediately knew I wanted to play “my” game….which is Cave King. I LOVE THIS GAME! Not many people know about it. They seem to have only 1 on each ship and you can’t “just find it”…you have to know where to look. It’s on one of those machines that has 4 different games on it and once you are done playing any of the games, it returns to the Sirens game and most people have no idea there’s other on it and just play the Sirens game. (It also has Noah’s Ark and another). I have won on this game every cruise we have taken. I didn’t win big this time like I normally do, but let me tell you that I “redeemed” myself this night (after not doing too well the other nights) and I walked out with a smile. The hubby thought it was funny (and if you want to know the truth…I think he was a little jealous that I was taking away from his winning streak that he had been rubbing in my face).

We headed for the Stardust and took our seats. I have to say the way that the seats are in this theater kind of cramped my style. Like “Kev” had mentioned in his review, there is no place to sit your drink and the chairs are tight. There is no room for anyone to go past you unless you either stand up and lean back or completely empty the isle. OR option 3, which I DON’T recommend because I tried it out several times…just turn to the side of your seat and let every person that passes you 1) put their toush in your face within inches 2) hit your knees pushing you back in to the chair more than what you are able to go 3) make sure that their purse slams you in the face and last but not least 4) have them step on your toes with their heels. Number 4 will definitely make you stand up the next time it is needed.

So, it was time for the show to begin “For the safety of our performers…DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OR VIDEO TAPE” comes on and out comes the couple. Yep, the same couple that was on the Spirit. I knew it was going to be a good show.

During the show, there would also be a couple that came in very late, it was dark, and they couldn’t see or find a place to sit. So, they proceeded to stand RIGHT beside me. The entire time they were touching me and the dude was rubbing all over his “woman” and all I wanted to do was yell “get a room, not an acrobat show”. I got so tire of it because they were hitting my arm non-stop the entire time…yep, you guessed it, I elbowed the heck out of them. They got the picture and left. Sorry, I’m usually not a mean person but it was not only distracting me, they were IN my personal space, AND touching me, and starting to block my view.

These two are amazing and for those that have never seen the show, you will love it. They are a couple who are from Russia and was in the Russian ballet. I seriously think Maria is made of silly putty. She can’t be human by the way she bends. They do their show on the floor, in the air…just amazing. But, the show was exactly the same as it was on the Spirit. I was kind of hoping that they might have a new routine or something. She even says the same thing that she said on the Spirit: “I know there are a lot of women out there who want to touch my husband. Well if you get the chance….do it! Just remember…I’m watching you!” They have a son that performs with them too. He is now 7 ½. His portion of the show has changed a little bit as he develops more “skills”. He is a lion in the show. So adorable.

After the show, they were outside the Stardust selling their videos. We did not see many people there purchasing them. They had a few people come up and ask to take their picture with them. I ask to take a picture of just them. (Please make note…I found the “beauty” setting on my camera BY MISTAKE and had no idea it was on at the time. I had noticed this setting before and sometimes when I was taking pictures I would look down and notice it was on this setting and I would change it back to the vivid settings or food settings. So now…look at what this “beauty” setting does….hmmm, they look like they are plastic Barbie & Ken dolls to me.)

We went out on the upper deck to sit for a while to take in the day we had and for some reason all of a sudden I remembered someone saying about a year ago that the Star (I thought but wasn’t sure) had windows across the men’s restroom on this deck by the pool. So, I ask my husband about it and he said yes. Now tell me why my husband, knowing how much I like details and pictures, had not mention this to me??? I handed him the camera and sent him straight to the restroom for a picture and told him not to return until he proved it to me. I guess it was a good thing that there wasn’t anyone in there right? This would be the same night that I got stuck in the women’s restroom on the opposite side because I had to see if we were provided the same luxury of windows (which I knew that no one had mentioned this being the case in the women’s restroom).

We picked up the munchkin and went to the Blue Lagoon to have dinner. I had been craving one of their cheeseburgers all week and I’m not sure what took me so long to have one. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I think I could have eaten two of them delicious! So delicious that I completely forgot to take a picture. The fries were yummy like always.

Then back to the room, packed for tomorrow, set the not-so-loud phone alarm for 6am and off to hard-bed-no-sleep land we went.