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WESTERN CARIBBEAN CRUISE
February 24 - March 7, 2005

A 7-day cruise on the Grand Princess, Round trip from Galveston, Texas

Traveling: Glenn, Barbara, and Mark

Ports of Call: Belize City, Belize; Majahual, Mexico; Grand Cayman Island; and Cozumel Island, Mexico

Friday, Feb. 25 - In Galveston and at NASA Johnson Space Center
A gloomy day in Galveston--dark, angry looking Gulf and overcast skies. Our day's tour started with a drive along the beachfront north to the very end of Galveston Island. Along the way, it was a continuous strip of hotels, restaurants, etc. Many closed for the winter season. There were some very large beach areas, with restaurants, and no doubt in the summer they will be wall to wall with sun bathers. All deserted today.

At the very northern tip of the island were a little natural area, some wetlands, and a good view out over the channel where the cargo ships and cruise ships head to their piers in Galveston. No cruise ships in sight--they will get to Galveston tomorrow, but a steady parade of freighters and tankers was passing by the end of the island.

We drove back south along Harbor View Drive which took us past Old Galveston--the handsome buildings that managed to survive the terrible hurricane of 1900. The old buildings have been beautifully restored and are full of tourist-type shops on the ground floor. We also saw the county courthouse--very modern and standing up on exceedingly high pillars. The next hurricane can just blow sea water right underneath that building! We also found the location of our cruise ship pier, and an interesting museum devoted to offshore oil drilling, complete with drilling rig. We hoped to visit that museum later on.

But first things first--and today's main objective was to tour the NASA Space Center. This is always described as being in Houston (as in "Houston, we've got a problem") but the Space Center is actually about midway between Houston and Galveston. The Interstate goes almost right by the Space Center, so it was an easy drive north. A nice change in the weather occurred as we drove north--Galveston's overcast burned off and the sun appeared! It turned out to be a perfect day for an outdoor tour of the Space Center--slightly cool breeze and sunshine.

The Space Center is a tax-supported agency, but it is also very much into tourism. It appeared that the main Visitor Center, (a.k.a. "Space Center Houston") where all tours begin, was designed with the help of Disney. Multi-media hardly describes it! Very colorful, and all designed to appeal to children as well as adults. There were various tour options; we chose the basic one--admission to the Visitor Center and a 90-minute guided tram tour of NASA's Johnson Space Center. During the tram ride we would visit Historic Mission Control Center and the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. Before returning to the visitor center, we would have time to wander through Rocket Park, home of the massive rockets used in the earliest days of the space program. The buildings visited on the tram tour are real working areas of Johnson Space Center.

As luck (bad?) would have it, we got up to the ticket window just as 760 middle-school kids and their teachers and parents from San Antonio showed up! We never lacked for company at the Space Center or on the tram. Since all 760 kids chose to climb on the tram with us, we had a long wait in line. Later in the day, there was hardly anybody waiting for a tram! Oh well.(Good practice for cruise boarding and excursions, no doubt.)

We hopped on an open-sided tram, and moved quickly to the working side of NASA, about half a mile away. Our tour went past many of the buildings and intriguing items like satellite dishes and HUGE tanks labeled "Nitrogen." We only toured the interior of two buildings. The first one was Mission Control--the old version that dealt with the moon landings. The new Mission Control is in the same building, but that was not included in the tour. At some point in the past, when the new Mission Control was built, all the desks, computers, etc. from old Mission Control had been sent to a Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Then, somebody had a change of heart, and they hauled everything back to Houston and put it all back as it would have looked in the 1960's.

We went up to the floor which held the original glassed-in TV/news media booth. We could look down through glass windows to the floor of Olde Mission Control--complete with a shiny red telephone--did it once connect directly with the White House? On the wall was a replica of the flag taken to the moon by US astronauts--maybe the original still stands there on the moon, kept stiff and fully unfurled by the wire rods in it. The computer monitors looked pretty old fashioned by 21st Century styles, but they were good enough to land a man on the moon......and bring him back home as well. Back on our tram, we rolled by one very big building--rather square in shape. Mark toured NASA a few years ago, and he says at that time they were able to go in that building, which is a huge vacuum chamber, about 6-8 stories high, where they can suck out the air and simulate the airless environment of outer space.

Our second stop was the International Space Station Mock-Up Room. In there were all the various parts of the space station--some of which have not yet been shuttled up and attached to the Station. It is in this room that the astronauts (from many countries) can practice the maneuvers that will be needed to assemble the Space Station and do maintenance work on it. The various modules had titles printed on them in large letters and also the name of the country that is producing the module. The only thing I could compare this room to was that huge Boeing plane assembly plant in Everett, Washington. We walked along a glassed-in catwalk at one side of the big room. It was hard to appreciate the size of the modules until one saw a worker down on the floor, completely dwarfed by the gigantic structures. Very impressive!

However, there was one exhibit that I would find very alarming if I were among the crews going up to the Space Station. Right now, the only way for the astronauts to get back to Earth in an emergency would be to enter the tiny Russian Soyuz space capsule that was down on the floor. This only holds FOUR people, yet they are sending up 7 or 8 crew members now. Hmmm....someone is going to have to draw straws! The US has a nice, BIG emergency vehicle in development and they had models of it on display in the main Visitors Center lobby. But, I guess it won't be ready to accompany the next crew when they blast off from Earth in May for the Space Station.

Our last stop was at Rocket Park, home of the massive rockets used in the earliest days of the space program. Mark was disappointed that the huge Saturn 5 rocket building was not open for tours, since it is undergoing renovation. On the way back to the Museum, the tram rolled by a fenced-in area containing: longhorn cattle, burros and other critters that didn't seem to have much to do with space exploration! Would love to know the story of why they are chewing their cud smack in the middle of the NASA Space Center!

The next decision was: lunch or a movie first? Hunger won, and we joined the 760 school kids whose stomachs were also growling. There were several "stations" where various food items could be purchased. Each had a "spacey" name, of course. After munching our sandwiches, we headed for the IMAX theater (included in our admission) where we saw a very interesting movie, mostly devoted to the International Space Station. This was very pertinent right now, as NASA hopes to launch the next rocket around May 15. This will be the USA's first return to space travel since the disaster that met the last ship on its return to earth.

We tried our hands at landing a spacecraft in some of the many hands-on exhibits that ringed the outer edge of the museum. Sad to say, we were not hired on the spot to join the NASA team--perhaps this was because all of our spacecraft had a nasty tendency to bore a hole in the ground with their noses. Most of these exhibits were definitely oriented to kids--especially those kids who have grown up with the Sony Play Station. One exhibit we very much enjoyed was climbing into the nose of a space shuttle (replica, not the real thing). It even had the charred "tiles" on the skin of the shuttle which made it easy to realize the tremendous heat generated by re-entry.

Our final "adventure" was going into a room that simulated the sounds and shaking that would accompany the blast-off of a space rocket. This portion of the "adventure" was pretty underwhelming--Disney better come back and re-do it. However, after the "blast-off" we trooped into a comfy theater where a real-live NASA representative gave a very good slide lecture on the up-coming launch of the next space shuttle and best of all, she showed some marvelous pictures from the two Mars Rovers--hot off the press, since the pictures had just come in. The Rovers have managed to cover an impressive area, considering their size and the rough terrain they have to roll through. The pictures coming back from the Rovers are providing more evidence all the time that there HAS been water on Mars.

We left the Space Center very impressed and maybe with just a bit of sensory overload after all the bright lights, noise, and amazing sights.

Saturday, February 26, 2005 - Boarding the Grand Princess
Picking up on some Galveston cruise advice I found on the Internet last night, we decided to try to drop off our bags at the pier around 10 a.m. So, we headed over to Pier 23, which had been all quiet and empty yesterday when we did our reconnoitering.

What a different scene this morning!! Now, there were THREE huge cruise ships lined up along the pier. Three lanes of traffic were all feeding into the area in front of the pier. Big buses were hugged up next to the curb, and then came the smaller vans, and the passenger cars. I had checked on the cruise discussion boards last night for hints as to just which of the several pier numbers would be for Princess. Never found out that information, but I did learn that some earlier cruisers had dropped off their luggage with the porters "in the Hawaiian shirts." and returned later to check in. This is what we now attempted to do. By golly, there were guys with Hawaiian shirts wrestling with luggage for the departing cruisers, just coming off the ship. I jumped out of the car, and button-holed one Hawaiian shirt, who finally relented and said, yes, he would check in our bags for the Grand Princess. We pretty much threw them at him, as the pier cops were urging everybody to "move on."

We decided to do our sightseeing while still in possession of the car, so our next stop was just a few blocks away, at the drilling rig/museum called the "Ocean Star." It had been overcast and cool all morning; now it started to sprinkle. Along the ramp leading out to the actual drilling rig, we had close-up views of the handsome pelicans and cormorants drying off on rocks below. There were displays on four levels, and access out to the drilling rig on two of those levels. So, we got to see the lower part that would house the crew and computers, and an upper level where we quickly learned that the oil "roustabouts" who once did the dangerous jobs of setting the pipe, wrapping chains around them, etc. are gone. All the machinery used to move the pipe, link it to the next pipe, lower it, etc. is done by robots! Shades of the NASA Space Center! The earlier drizzle had now become definite RAIN.

After an hour's tour of the rig and displays, we hopped back in the car, and went back to the motel about 12:15 where we optimistically asked the desk clerk to call us a cab. And, that was the end of having things move along smoothly!

Several groups of people were climbing into waiting cabs as we settled in at the motel lobby to wait our turn. After those cabs departed, there was another little band of us cruisers scattered about the lounge, all hoping the next cab would be theirs. And we waited, and waited, and waited! Finally after an hour of too much coffee and frequent re-checks with the desk clerk, our taxi finally showed up. We zoomed along the highway leading to the pier...but as the cab turned into the road paralleling the piers, everything ground to a halt--we were in gridlock! We crawled past the other two cruise ships, then we had a long, long look at the Grand Princess as we crawled past her. I pleaded with the cab driver: "Can't we just get out here and WALK over to the ship?" "Nope," was the answer.

We finally got near a parking garage catwalk that led to the pier, and the cab let us out. It was also pouring rain which added to every cruiser's misery, as they tried to either unload or load wet luggage. According to the cab driver, this misalignment of the stars occurs in Galveston twice a year--when three monster cruise ships all pull in and out together. Lucky us!

It turned out the catwalk dumped us into the Carnival ship's check-in area, but we got out onto the sidewalk and went a very short distance toward the Princess pier where we again ran into gridlock. This time it was a long, long line of fellow cruisers all waiting to board the Grand Princess. But the line DID move, albeit slowly and by 3 p.m. we had run the gauntlet of check-in, another security screening, the requisite 'Happy Cruisers Boarding the Ship" photograph, and had found our respective cabins. We found our balcony cabin to be just fine--not quite as nice as our inside cabin on the Sapphire (smaller closet--suitcases would only fit under the bed) but very adequate.

We found a few items waiting for us on that bed--first, the bad news that two of our four shore excursions had been cancelled. We suspect that Grand Princess is still trying to figure out the best route for this ship's itinerary through the western Caribbean. Apparently they have been chronically late in arriving in Belize.

Our Belize excursion was to have been a bus ride almost across the full width of the little country, to visit some interesting Mayan ruins. At five hours in length, maybe they weren't sure the ship would arrive in time to make that 5-hour excursion. No official explanation was ever given for the cancellations, so we just surmise that is what happened.

The Grand Cayman excursion cancellation was probably directly due to after effects from Hurricane Ivan, which struck the island on Sept. 11. Lots of the original tours were cancelled there because the tour operators weren't yet back in business. Even the famous "Atlantis" submarine excursion was cancelled--we heard that was because the sub sank!

Instead of heading to the buffet for a late lunch, we opted to go quickly to the Excursions Desk and try to find two new trips--before the rest of the cruisers got their cancellation notices and did the same thing. We were able to book a "jungle buggy ride to a Mayan cave" in Belize and a tour in Grand Cayman almost identical to the one that was cancelled.

Then, just when a very late lunch was sounding good, we had to scoot back to our cabins, grab our life jackets and go to our "muster stations." Princess continues to do this the wussy way--just having passengers go to some nice lounge (Glenn and I were directed to the Explorers Lounge, several decks below us.) where they are shown the proper way to dress for abandoning ship, told to quickly put on the lifejacket, and as quickly remove it and leave the Lounge. We much preferred the traditional emergency drill of the Holland America ships--where everyone has to shout out their cabin number and name while a crew member carefully notes that we did indeed come out to the lifeboat area.

Geez! Were we ever going to get to eat? Apparently not, because NOW it was time for the Sailaway Party up on the Lido Deck. Somewhere along the line, Mark made the first of his many long treks from his cabin, way, way up front, to our cabin, way, way in back Before we went topside for the sailaway, I made a call to the "Anytime Dining" desk and got us a reservation for dinner at 6 p.m. in the "Michelangelo" dining room. On the Sapphire we had our choice of FOUR "Anytime" dining rooms, but when they built the Grand Princess in 1998 they were pioneering this concept of allowing passengers to choose the time and the dining room, instead of eating in a main dining room at early or late seating.

On the Grand we had a choice--either the Michelangelo or the DaVinci dining room. They were almost indistinguishable and both served the same menu as in the main dining room. We found they were just fine, but we missed the individual decor and special menus on the Sapphire. An indication of how quickly cruise ships evolve to meet their customers' demands.

The rainy day in Galveston took some of the festivity out of the Sailaway party as it was still drizzling and looked anything but tropical! But we stuck it out long enough to watch our ship slip away from the pier, and go by the "Ocean Star" drilling rig/museum and other interesting harbor scenery. We then left the driving of the ship to Captain Andy Proctor, and went in search of the dining room.

Later, we headed for the Princess Theater and the opening show which included a comedian who managed to combine Arkansas dialect, a sermon style and a lot of funny zingers about the folks who live in those southern Red states. He also took a poll of the audience to find out where we all hailed from. A few (but highly vocal) Canadians, a smattering of refugees from the cold northern States, and the West Coast got pretty much lumped together, and then he asked "Who's from Texas?" Wow! The room erupted in hoots and hollers.

Galveston's rainy weather followed us across the Gulf of Mexico and apparently we had Force 7 (Gale) winds during the night with 6-8 ft. seas. This produced quite a bit of rocking and rolling and some of those very disturbing ship "shudders" that I recalled from the "Perfect Storm" off Vancouver Island last September. This seemed like a poor introduction to a warm weather cruise but fortunately, it tapered off late at night.

It seemed very appropriate that we had visited the offshore oil platform museum in Galveston, because from midnight on, we were sailing past the real offshore platforms--all brightly lit like gigantic Christmas trees. The captain had warned that we would be sailing through the platforms, with the ship carefully keeping to a "fairway" that is kept open for shipping. Really a beautiful sight and we came close enough to some to almost, but not quite, be able to take sharp pictures. Through our industrial-strength binoculars we had close-up views of the many levels on these multi-story structures. We were never to see them in daylight, but having sailed past the offshore rigs in the North Sea last June, we now had a good idea of what they looked like, day and night.

Sunday, February 27, 2005 - At Sea in the Gulf of Mexico

We established our breakfast routine this morning--meeting Mark in the Horizon Court buffet. The antiseptic hand wash dispensers were positioned just before the entrance to the buffet line. Enroute back to our cabin, Glenn and I took a quick look at the "Skywalkers Nightclub" which is perched at the rear of the ship and high, high above the top deck. All glass windows, and a strange glassed-in "tube" with a moving sidewalk that connects the nightclub with the top deck. All very quiet up there, but there was lots of neon tubing in the dance floor and running around the walls--must be pretty dazzling at night. We were never to get back there when it was hoppin'.

This is the ONLY place on the ship with a view of what is ahead of the ship--and of course, it is at the very back! The Sapphire also had a Skywalkers Nightclub, at the very rear of the ship, but it was sited right on the top deck--not perched high above it. I think this is a big flaw in all these Princess Grand Class ships. I miss the forward observation area that has been a fixture on both Celebrity and Holland America ships.

The captain gave us his noon update-we are now smack in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and sailing on top of 11,000 feet of blue water!! Just about the deepest part of the Gulf, sayeth the Captain. We will be nearing Cancun tonight, and should be able to see the lights of the resort city during the night. The temperature was well above that in Galveston yesterday-it's now 72 degrees, with a "stiff wind" blowing. Stiff enough, that we are cautioned to be careful when out on the open decks. Aye, Aye Sir!

Last night, at dinner, our persuasive South African (Durban) waiter convinced the three of us that what we would MOST want to do this afternoon is attend the "Princess Grapevine,"a wine tasting party in the Michelangelo dining room for $7.50 each. So, after a little nap to refresh us and our taste buds, we showed up at 3:15 for a very enjoyable tasting and background information on some wines. Unfortunately, the most-informed lecturer was so genuinely Italian that we could hardly understand him! But, before we were done, we were all very expert at swishing the wine in the glass and holding it up to the light while gazing upon it with a critical eye.

Two things resulted from the wine tasting beyond our new-found knowledge of wine: Glenn and Mark between them had ordered enough bottles of wine to see us through the rest of the cruise and we left the dining room clutching the cutest little aperitif glasses! These had been brought out for sampling a very sweet wine at the conclusion of the tasting and were ours to keep. Each tiny glass had a ball-shaped base filled with darling little bubbles and in lovely jewel tones. So, our $7.50 bought us a little discount on the wine we ordered and we all had this cute and darling souvenir! (Later these were offered free with an after-dinner drink and I'm surprised we only came home with four between us. Now, I'm sorry we didn't drink more aperitifs and get more little glasses--they are my favorite souvenir.

All mellowed out and not feeling particularly hungry, we decided to get some hot-tub time before heading to dinner. We tested out the "anytime dining" and found that it was only a short wait for a table, even if we arrived without a reservation. Glenn and I had noted two hot tubs just above the aft swimming pool and they were a fine location for watching the ship's wake and relax. We didn't even have to trudge to some bar for our happy hour beer. The nearby outdoor bar was happy to sell Mark a plastic bucket full of beer bottles. (Dos Equis). By the end of the cruise, Mark had an impressive collection of these buckets which he took home and made into planters for his deck!

Tonight was the first of our two formal dinners. It was also "The Captain's Welcome Gala Cocktail Party" which can be freely translated as "One of Your Few Opportunities for Some Free Drinks." Our plan was to be finished with dinner in time to catch the 7:45 party. However, our waitress was excruciatingly slow, and by the time we hastily departed the DaVinci dining room for the nearby "Grand Plaza Atrium" we were just in time to hear the final words of the captain's speech and cadge a drink from a passing waiter. Whew! That was close! After our abbreviated participation in the "Gala Cocktail Party" we found ourselves right in front of the casino! And the slots were in a generous mood. Were we having fun? I think so!

There were two other entertainment choices tonight: the Academy Awards were being shown on the ship's huge outdoor movie screen and the full troupe of Princess singers and dancers were performing in the Princess Theater. I'm glad we opted for the troupe because their show, "Curtain Up--A Salute to Broadway" was by far the best cruise show we've ever seen. Good show tunes and outstanding dances. A twist to the show--there was only one set on the stage, and the performers never left for costume changes. All was done right there--and done very cleverly as well.

At about 1 a.m., just before turning in, we took a look from our balcony, and as the captain predicted, we could see the lights of Cancun strung out on the horizon. We've sailed around the "corner" of the Yucatan Peninsula and are now steaming straight south, for Belize.

Monday, February 28, 2005 - Heading For, and Reaching Belize City
We all agreed to try out breakfast in our cabins this morning. Promptly at 9 a.m., here came a nice tray, with cereal, fruit juice, coffee and sweet rolls. We took the tray out to the balcony and dined just like the pictures in the cruise brochures! When out on the balcony we could tell we are moving deeper into the tropics. Muggy, muggy. According to the ship TV, the humidity is at about 98 per cent. Clouds but sunshine too, with just very tiny whitecaps.

For awhile, we could barely pick out a shoreline and surf, but then the clouds/haze thickened up and the land disappeared in the mists. Mark alerted us that getting to Belize City was a tricky proposition for ships. They have to negotiate their way through openings in the great barrier reef that runs from Cozumel to Honduras. He said it was a pretty trip past little and big tropical isles--all of the reef that shows above water. Mark has dived in Belize in the past--even in the famous "Blue Hole."

Captain Andy left all this tricky sailing to a local pilot who came aboard about 11:30 a.m. The ship moved very slowly through two narrow channels: the "English Cay Channel" and then the "One Man Cay Channel." It was a pretty trip and we could see small islands as we zigged and zagged through the channels. With the binoculars, we could make out a sailboat moored on one little island (okay, down here, they are "cays.")

It was almost 1:30 before our ship was anchored out in the bay with Belize City off in the distance. Princess had us gather in the theater for our excursion--and there were several other excursions waiting there as well. We all had our little sticky tag, saying that we were on the JT excursion, but that was the end of the organizational efforts.

From then on, it was mass confusion, but nine of us "JT'ers" managed to stay together even though we were sent to the pier on the wrong catamaran! We ended up on the better of the two buses that were going to the Jungle Tour area. All's well that gets you there, I guess.

There was a nice-looking pier shopping mall, but we had no time to investigate it. Just threaded our way through it and out to the waiting bus. Muggy yes, but the van's air conditioning worked surprisingly well. Mark chose to share a seat next to the great big spare tire! It did give him more leg room, but the tire tended to bounce around a bit when we got onto the stretch of road that our guide described as providing a "full body massage."

All the descriptions I had read of Belize City said it was a very poor little city, run-down looking and full of folks you'd just as soon not meet--in daylight, or a dark alley. It didn't seem quite that bad. Poor yes, and even the most modest homes were well guarded with heavy iron bars on the windows. The slightly upscale homes went even further--they had bars at the windows and heavy chain link fencing with piano wire coiled at the top!

Being afternoon, it was time for the school kids to be going home and they were all dressed in uniforms. Just about every Christian denomination seemed to have a church and a school in Belize City! And the local government had some too. Our guide said this little country gets a great deal of aid from many sources. They also must be very concerned about "AIDS" as we saw many billboards warning of the dangers of this nasty disease.

Belize City developed as the port where boatloads of mahogany were shipped to England, where it became the now prized Chippendale antique furniture. With an English heritage, English is the official language, but I'm guessing you would need to understand "Creole" if you wanted to live here. Our guide spent a good part of the bus ride trying to teach us a few words of Creole. We were not a very attentive audience, I'm afraid.

It was more interesting to just look out the bus windows and see the countryside. My main impression? Well, it's flat. There are mountainous areas farther inland, but the first part of our trip was on the coastal plain. One of the problems for Belize is that if you have no mountains to protect you, the hurricanes come roaring through. The last big hurricane pretty much leveled Belize City and even the government picked up and moved farther inland. On the outskirts of Belize City we did see newer homes, built after people decided to live dangerously and settle once again along the coast.

As we rumbled and rattled down the paved Western Highway for 31 miles, our guide tried to give us some insight into life in Belize. First--people may be poor, but they ALL have cable TV for $20 a month! They don't bother with movie houses--as they get all the premium channels right at home. If you eat big jumbo shrimp at Long John Silver's restaurants, you are enjoying Belize shrimp. One out of three lobster tails at Red Lobster come from Belize, and Tropicana orange juice is made from Valencia oranges--grown in Belize. AND, Hershey's chocolate comes from Belize.

Not too far outside of Belize City, the guide pointed out a big clearing next to the highway with a huge "palapa" in the middle. This is a newly-discovered Mayan ruin, and the archeologists are just getting underway there.

After the first 31 miles, our bus turned off onto the "full body massage" gravel road, well wash-boarded. The countryside gradually changed from coastal mangroves to a rather dry, grassland savannah studded with short palmettos and surprisingly, pine trees! Some areas had obviously been burned--apparently to encourage the growth of new pine trees. We began to see the "Maya Mountains" off in the distance. These are "karst" limestone mountains and showed the same interesting profiles that we saw in Puerto Rico and that make such great photographs from the karst area of China.

Near the end of this segment of the trip we also saw some very large orange groves (making Tropicana orange juice, no doubt). The guide said that this soil is low in nutrients--guess that is why it supports mostly grass, pine trees and the little saw palmettos, unless some big corporation comes in and applies lots and lots of fertilizer to make orange juice. Shortly after the orange groves, the bus driver made a turn off of the washboard road, onto a plain sandy, dirt road.

Almost immediately, he pulled up by a little concrete building, and our guide announced that we would now have a potty break and a bottled and chilled fruit juice treat. The concrete building contained very clean, well equipped bathrooms, with running water. Even a ramp for the handicapped. And, as we emerged from the toilet, the guide passed around a big aerosol can of "Off" so we could ward off the fierce Belizean mosquitoes. Gee! They thought of everything!

About three months ago, some enterprising souls had purchased a large tract of land out here and they are developing it for eco-tourism. Our guides all had attractive uniforms that would have been right at home in a Banana Republic store. (Well, hey! isn't this a banana republic??) The guides' T-shirts all read: "Bak-a-Bush Adventure Tours." I think some of the other ship excursions were somewhere else on this property--moving over the top of the jungle on cable "zip lines".

We hopped back on the bus for a very brief ride through the pine trees, then the driver pulled into a clearing and there was the jungle buggy! The tour company had purchased a couple old half-track US Army trucks, and welded a platform and canvas cover on top of them. Voila! A double-decker bus. They had built a wooden stairway leading up to the rear of the buggy, and we now all trooped up and found a seat. It was really quite comfy, and being up so high gave us a great view of the trees and plants--now down below us. Our guide grabbed one of the bars holding up the canvas cover, so she could stand up and talk, and off we went!

Our destination was one of those karst hills, perhaps three or four miles in the distance. As we got closer to the hills, the vegetation changed markedly. The pine trees disappeared but the plant growth became much lusher and yes, by golly, we were in a jungle! There were a few Bird of Paradise plants in bloom, but most plants were in seed. A "guanacaste" tree was pointed out to us.

I don't know when it had last rained in the area, but there were certainly muddy areas of the road, and really, really DEEP ruts, maybe a foot deep and probably cut down by our vehicle. The rutted road took an up and down course, so it was a bit like a mini-roller coaster ride. The guide kept a firm grip on her metal bar!

Finally, one last dip in the road and we came out into a clearing. Directly in front of the buggy was our log "gangplank" to exit this very tall vehicle. The driver pulled right up to the log ramp. Before leaving the buggy, we were all issued helmets. Only the favored few got a helmet with a built-in flashlight. We were not among that select group. Before we left the buggy a few people, Glenn and Mark included, managed to spot a monkey. It was too far off for tourist photo ops, but reassuring to know that our noisy vehicle hadn't scared off ALL the wildlife.

It was a piece of cake to depart the jungle buggy--we just walked right on to the log ramp. Just beyond the ramp was a nicely laid-out trail, covered with dry leaves, and bordered by log hand rails. It made a couple gentle switch backs and suddenly, there we were on a rocky ledge, at the mouth of the Mayan cave. I doubt we walked even a quarter of a mile.

Very interesting plants bordering the trail--even a fern that looked closely related to our maidenhair fern. At the mouth of the cave, the guide used her flashlight as a pointer, to show us a rock ledge, way high up, on the rock wall outside the cave. On that ledge we could see some clay pots that she said were placed there by the Mayans, long ago.

Protected by our helmets, we walked down a gentle incline into the cave--which might more correctly be called a big overhang--not unlike the Southwest Anasazi cliff dwellings. I could see what might have been openings to more remote portions of the cave. If there WAS more to this cave, we were not allowed to see it.

It was dark enough that aiming one's camera at a particular point was not easy, but really, the favored few with their lit helmets were hardly needed. There WERE impressive stalactites and stalagmites to show that in the past there must have been water dripping and carrying minute bits of limestone. Today all was very dry. Some pottery shards were laid out for us, as well as a couple complete pots.

If the guide went in to any detailed explanation of the cave's history, I missed it. However, such caves are apparently very common in these karst hills. I think the guide did note that the Mayans would have used this for burial ceremonies--not for living. But, this particular cave has been named for one of Bak-A-Bush's employees who took refuge here during the last bad hurricane.

After everyone had ample opportunity to use up some flash batteries and film, we retraced our steps to our waiting jungle buggy. At this point, I could see that we had managed to surmount the hazards and dangers of the cave and the ride to it. I don't think I even heard a single mosquito whining!

All the warnings and protective measures the tour company had taken seemed a bit overkill. I remarked to Glenn that a lawyer must have written up the guidelines for this "adventure." He certainly made sure the company was not going to get sued for neglect of the tourists! So, while a fun ride on the jungle buggy, the entire experience was, well, underwhelming. But, we did get to see a bit more of Belize than just the coast. I'm pretty sure that the excursion we originally booked, to important Mayan ruins near the Guatemalan border would have been far more interesting--and cost about the same.

The buggy took us back through a slightly different section of jungle and savannah. We passed a little pond where a beautiful white egret was carefully looking for his dinner. Later, a wonderful "photo op" presented itself when we saw a tree full of white egrets. Apparently the buggy driver thought we all had movie cameras, because he honked the horn loudly and that sent the egrets off in all directions. Communication between our guide and the driver down below was very direct--she just stamped her foot on the floor to get his attention!

We passed the orange groves at what must have been quitting time, because men were emerging from the long rows of trees, and piling into big trucks loaded with oranges. W reached the paved highway about 6 p.m., just in time to see a blood-red sun setting into thick clouds. The ship was scheduled to leave at 7 p.m. with the last tender going back to the ship about 6:30 p.m. Obviously, our little group was not going to make those deadlines, but we didn't worry too much about this--the big advantage of booking a ship's excursion is that they are honor-bound to wait for you.

Sure enough, it was dark when we got back to Belize City. The mall merchants were just closing up and there went any opportunity to buy souvenirs in Belize! Just as well. They had one of the speedy catamarans waiting for us, and it was pleasant to sit up on the open top deck and feel the cooling breeze and watch the lights of the city recede and our brilliantly-lit ship grow larger and larger.

We were back on board by 7:30 and the captain must have immediately ordered "anchors aweigh!" because we were underway by 7:45 p.m. We dined about 8 p.m. in the "Da Vinci" dining room. (The way to tell these two "anytime dining" rooms apart is--in the Da Vinci dining room, the wall murals are in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, while in the Michelangelo dining room....you guessed it! They are "sorta" after Michelangelo's style.)

While the assistant waiter was refilling our iced tea glasses, Mark spotted that the waiter's badge which said he was from Nepal. First time we ever noticed any cruise ship staff who hailed from that little country. We struck up a conversation with him. He proudly stated that he was the ONLY Nepalese in the entire Princess organization. (This proved incorrect, as we later saw another staff member whose badge also read "Nepal.") The waiter obviously was pleased to chat with someone (Mark) who had been in his country and I think he would have gladly spent more time talking about the nasty situation with the Mao terrorists, but before long, our main waiter came over and told him to "move along."

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - Majahual, Costa Maya, Mexico
The ship's log told me that we steamed south to Belize City at a pretty fast pace of almost 22 knots. They had a lot of water to cover between Galveston and Belize--911 nautical miles. But, last night when we pulled out of Belize City at 7:45 p.m. the ship could loaf along at only 13.6 knots--after all, it only had to sail north 122 nautical miles, just past the Belize-Mexico border. Anyway, they had no excuse for being late this morning, and they weren't.

By 7 a.m. the ship was ready to let passengers get off and we were waiting in the Princess Theater for the call to go to the gangplank. By 7:30 a.m. we were aboard a very colorful bus in Majahual--all bright yellow, with cheery upholstery. It looked brand, spanking new. Belize's clouds were gone and it was a sunny, sparkling morning in "Costa Maya."

We had an early start to the day--up at 5:30 a.m., and a buffet breakfast. It was a rather long walk or a short ride on the complimentary shuttle to get in to the brand-new port of "Majahual." We missed the shuttle, so hiked along the concrete pier and up to the colorful buildings that comprise the tourist part of this sleepy little Mexican fishing village.

Majahual is a work in progress. Back in 2000, a developer convinced the Mexican government that this isolated part of Mexico could provide much-needed tourist dollars and employment. Twenty-one million dollars is being spent to turn Majahual into a cruise ship port and ultimately a destination resort with a 1,000 room hotel. The first cruise ships docked at the new dock in December, 2000.

Now, if it's Tuesday, or Thursday, it must be cruise ship day--and thousands of us pour out of the big ships and take over little Majahual. (Today, the Grand Princess was sharing the pier with the Splendour of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean megaship.) New access roads, and electricity have been brought to the area, and our trek to the tour bus took us past the shopping mall and entertainment stages, all part of this new development just one-half mile north of "old" Majahual. Even with our early start to the day, the shops were open for business and the Mayan (Aztec?) folk dancers were in their costumes and about ready to perform for other cruise passengers.

As we started our 2-hour bus trip to the Mayan ruins of Dzibanche and Kohunlich our guide gave us more information on "new" Majahual. She said the new development was four years old, as of yesterday (Feb. 28). Right now, Majahual exists only for the cruise ships. As yet, there is no housing for the construction workers, or the guides, or the bus drivers. There is only one exit from "new" Majahual, so they have very good security. Almost everyone who is part of the cruise ship economy in Majahual lives elsewhere; our guide comes down from Cancun (Boy! SHE got an early start today--I think it's a 5-hour drive) and today, after he drops us off, our driver will take the bus back to Cancun.

About the two Mayan ruins we will see today: these ruins were hardly known until the 1990's. A lot of looting was taking place so the Mexican government decided to step in and do an archeological excavation of the sites. The ruins are pretty remote; our guide said we would probably have the place to ourselves today. She also warned that there were NO restaurants at the ruins--lunch would consist of what was in our provided snack bag.

Our route to the Mayan ruins took us first east, across the coastal plain with its mangrove swamps and wetlands, where a few birds (white egrets) were hanging out. Forty-five minutes after leaving Majahual, the bus turned due south, heading for the city of Chetumal. We were well inland now, and the trees reflected that. Much taller palms with the shorter saw palmettos mixed in. Much denser forest too, but the trees still reflect that this is their winter, dormant season. They do have a "dry" look.

We only saw the outskirts of Chetumal as the bus quickly turned east on to Highway 186. About two hours after leaving Majahual the bus left the main highway and turned onto a small, paved country lane, going north to our first stop, at the archeological site of Dzibanche. By now we were in prosperous-looking farming country and cattle ranches.

Up ahead we could see what looked like tree-covered outcroppings--these were not natural features of the landscape, but rather ruined Mayan pyramids. You can't tell a book by its cover in this area! Dzibanche is an OLD Mayan city--probably first established around 200 B.C., and became a great city about 200 A.D., when most of the major structures we will see today were built. Seven hundred years later, the city collapsed (why? I dunno).

During its heyday it was an important stop on the trading routes of the Maya between their big cities to the west and the north and the Caribbean coast. One Internet source even claims that the Maya dug canals between Dzibanche and the coast to facilitate moving goods. Apparently some of the ruins in this southern state of Quintana Roo were known to exist as long ago as the early 1900's, but little exploration was done. According to our guide, the ruins of Dzibanche were found by accident. Workers were cutting down chicle trees (source of chewing gum) and discovered the ruins hidden by the overgrowth of centuries.

An Internet source says the ruins were first mentioned in 1927; the first person to write about Dzibanche was an English doctor, who named many of the buildings. The ruins may have been known since the 1920's, but apparently no serious excavations took place until very recently--in 1993, and the site was opened to the public in late 1994.

This must have been a big city--it covered about 26 square miles, but only a small portion has been excavated so far. What was particularly interesting for us was to see Mayan ruins so different in architectural style from what we saw ten years ago in the northern Yucatan--at Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Those were built much later, as the southern Mayan cities were fading. Apparently the pyramids and temples of Dzibanche and our other destination, Kohunlich, are closer in date and style to famous Tikal, in Guatemala.

When our bus pulled into the parking lot at Dzibanche we could see that the guide was right--there was no sign of any commercial stuff--no sellers of souvenirs, and no restaurants! One woman was selling chilled bottled water and soda pop. There were some very clean bathrooms and a couple officials who collected the admission charge from our guide, and fees for using a video camera. Still cameras could be used free of charge. And--no other tourists besides the second bus carrying the remainder of our tour group.

We were well off the tourist path at Dzibanche. And, what a pleasant day for strolling among Mayan ruins! Gone was the humidity of the coast, just a light breeze, sunny skies and temperatures in maybe the high 70's or low 80's. We walked up a roadway which suddenly opened up into a lovely park-like area with pyramids of varying heights scattered throughout. We were promised 90 minutes to enjoy Dzibanche and the guide was true to her word. She led us to three of the major pyramids, and then we were free to roam about the site.

Many of the people immediately started climbing to the top of the pyramids. Remembering how sore my leg muscles were after climbing the great pyramid at Chichen Itza, I just took pictures of OTHER tourists going up and down those steep steps. (The Mayan stone masons cut the step blocks just as high here as they did at the northern Yucatan ruins, I noticed.) Glenn and Mark showed no inclination for pyramid-climbing either, so we strolled from one beautiful old structure to the next.

Only one of the pyramids had those distinctive "Mayan arches" with the pointed, not curved arch at the top. We remembered seeing a lot of these arches at ruins near Uxmal. During our earlier visit to the northern Yucatan Mayan ruins, our whole family had enjoyed reading the classic book, "Incidents of Travel in Yucatán", by those hardy explorers of the 1840's, Stevens and Catherwood. In the book's engravings, the ruins were always shown with great trees growing up through the stone. These ruins had many such trees still twining their roots into the pyramids so there was a sense of seeing Dzibanche much as Stevens and Catherwood saw Chichen Itza and Uxmal.

Our guide's theory on why these structures are not as tall as those in northern Yucatan: the trees here do not grow as tall, so the Mayans didn't have to build as high to get above the tree tops. Apparently archeologists are now very sensitive to showing where the restoration work starts, and the original Mayan stonework remains. We noticed emphasized lines of mortar running through the blocks--everything ABOVE the mortar is restoration, below it is original. A very clever and unobtrusive way to show restoration work.

After a pleasant hour and a half exploring the park-like grounds and pyramids of Dzibanche, our bus traveled about twenty miles in the opposite direction to our second Mayan ruins of the trip--Kohunlich...named for the Kohune palms growing throughout the ruins. Along the way, the bus slowed down to go over a bridge and we flushed up a group of pretty blue and green parakeets. Overall, wildlife is in short supply. Only a few trees were blooming, but among them was one with brilliant yellow blossoms--also seen during our northern Yucatan trip.

We arrived at Kohunlich about noon and another short walk through palms and more "jungle-like" growth brought us out into an open area with four large pyramids and some smaller structures flanking a "plaza." This site is about the same size as Dzibanche but perhaps because they have been working here since the 1960's more has been unearthed and so it appears to be much bigger.

After strolling past these first pyramids, we were guided to Kohunlich's main claim to fame-- the "Temple of the Masks", dedicated to the Sun God, Kinich Ahau. On the slanted walls of this pyramid were five large and beautifully-carved stone masks with a stucco overlay. Apparently Kohunlich's masks are one of very few examples of this fine art of plaster used as decoration. The best guess is that they were created about 500 A.D. Certainly, we were impressed!

Thatched palm roofs now protect the portion of the pyramid where the masks rest. But, the only reason the masks are in such great condition is that the early Mayans carefully covered them over with earth. That worked until 1969 when looters found the site, removed the protective outer covering, and got away with one mask. When the theft was discovered, the Mexican authorities took steps to protect the entire site and archeological excavation got underway.

But here....let's let my Internet sources tell you all about Kohunlich!:

"Kohunlich is a large site about 25 kilometers east of the Rio Bec region, and about 65 kilometers west of Chetumal on Highway 186, and 9 kilometers south of the road. The site covers about 21 acres, surrounded by dense sub-tropical rainforest, and it contains almost 200 mounds, that remain largely unexcavated.

The city was elaborately planned and engineered, with raised platforms and pyramids, citadels, courtyards and plazas surrounded with palace platforms, all laid out to channel drainage into a system of cisterns and an enormous reservoir to collect rainwater.

The site was settled by 200 BC, but most of the structures were built in the Early Classic period from about 250 to 600 AD. Many of them are still covered with thick vegetation and overgrown by trees. The city appears to have functioned as a regional center and stop along the trade routes through the southern Yucatan from Campeche and Rio Bec area to the west, and the cities along the east-coast and to the south, in the Peten region of Belize and Guatemala.

There is less known about Kohunlich than most other sites - even its original name is lost (Kohunlich was corrupted from the twentieth century explorers' coinage of Cohune Ridge). Part of the problem is a lack of serious investigation. What little archaeological work has been done, has revealed only a general time frame of occupation. The city apparently rose to prominence in the Early Classic when there were important ties to the cultures of northern Belize; this has been deduced from the style of the god masks. The city was first explored in 1912 by an American called Raymond Merwin, but was quickly forgotten again for another fifty years.

The activities of looters finally drew the attention of the authorities who undertook the restorational work from the 1960s to the 1980s. On either side of the pyramid's main stairs are a series of five stone, coloured masks (one of the original six was stolen). The faces are all representations of the sun god Kinich Ahau, although slight differences between them have suggested that each is also a portrait of a deified ruler.

The masks have conspicuously large lips and noses and are adorned with ornaments and headdresses. The original coloured stucco is still in evidence. Altogether, these masks are unique to Mexico, apart from two less impressive examples at Edzná, suggesting there was once some connection between these cities."

And, here's a slightly different version:

"Each mask has an elongated face and wears a headdress with a mask on its crest and a mask on the chinpiece, essentially masks within masks. The top one is thought to represent the astral world, while the lower one represents the underworld, suggesting that the wearer of this headdress is among the living and not in either of the other worlds. Note the carving on the pupils, which suggests a solar connection, possibly with the night sun that illuminated the underworld. This may mean that the person had shamanic vision.

It's speculated that masks covered much of the facade of this building, which is built in the Río Bec style, with rounded corners, a false stairway, and a false temple on the top. At least one theory holds that the masks are a composite of several rulers at Kohunlich.

The masks, actually enormous plaster faces, date from around A.D. 500 and are on the facade of the building. Recent excavations of buildings immediately to the left after you enter uncovered two intact pre-Hispanic skeletons and five decapitated heads that were probably used in a ceremonial ritual. Scholars believe that Kohunlich became overpopulated, leading to its decline."

But, enough about masks! Kohunlich was a place that deserved a lot more time and understanding than our brief excursion allowed, but at the end of the trip, when we rated our shore excursions, this day was No. 1, for sure.

One other area that was of special interest was the ball court. We saw nothing like that at Dzibanche. This would be small potatoes if set next to the ball courts at Chichen Itza and Uxmal, but it did indicate that the tradition of this (sport?) (war game?) existed long before the northern Mayans took on the game.

Our guide had an artists' rendering of what Kohunlich's pyramids and temples would have looked like in their heyday. The buildings were all painted (or plastered) a brilliant red! We could believe this, because there were still some faint vestiges of red paint on the stone steps next to the masks.

About 1:30 p.m. we were enticed us back on the bus with the promise of beer and Pepsi. As the bus retraced its route, we enjoyed ice cold beverages and cracked open our "snack sacks. We had the two-hour drive back to Majahual to observe the countryside from the bus window. In contrast to yesterday's view of Belize from the bus, this part of southern Mexico seemed much prettier, lusher and a tad more prosperous. Lots of sugar cane fields.

The locals in this area still often live in the round or rectangular Mayan houses, called xanil nah. The exterior wall is made of poles--young trees with the bark stripped off, which are set in a stone foundation. Two doorways placed directly opposite each other allow for the free flow of air. A thick palm thatch roof tops the structure, and our guide said the Kohune palms were especially prized for their long fronds which made excellent roofing material.

The little homes in Belize were mostly concrete, and their yards usually were bare of flowers. Here most of the homes have some Bougainvillea vines, colorful Croton bushes, etc. growing in their yard. I was surprised to read on the Internet that much of what we saw along the highway was empty land until the 1960's and 70's. Then the government encouraged landless peasants from other parts of Mexico to settle here in colonies. We had heard the same thing about the area between Uxmal and Akumal on the Caribbean coast. So, why was all this "empty land?" The Internet is not giving me any answers.

One thing for sure: we are grateful that today's excursion to the Mayan ruins was not cancelled! Again, our excursion was probably the last to get back to the ship--we must be picking the longest excursions every day!

Once back on board we decided this was a good time to jump in those nice hot tubs at the rear of the ship. But, the first tub we jumped in was not hot at all--almost tepid. Combined with the brisk breeze that was blowing it was too chilly to be called a "tropical treat." Just as we were ready to give up and go back to our cabins, a couple ship technicians came and opened up the other hot tub, which proved to be exactly that--hot. So, we snuggled down in the relaxing water while chugging down more beer from Mark's never-empty plastic bucket. We had a nice view of "sailaway" from Majahual, leaving the other cruise ship still at the dock.

Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - Grand Cayman Island, British West Indies
Today was about the midpoint of the cruise and what does that mean? Time to wash the dirty clothes, of course. Mark brought his contribution to the laundry bag; we tossed it all in the handy self-service laundry and went off to breakfast while the clothes enjoyed a good sudsing. We've had reason to be less than happy with several things about this cruise, but the laundry is not one of them. A spotless room, with two washers, two dryers, laundry tub, soap dispenser, steam iron and ironing board. And, all worked perfectly.

Probably the blackest mark on our Holland America Baltic cruise last June was the absence of self-service laundromats. We had to send out a small bag to the ship's laundry on that cruise, and everything came back pressed with a very hot iron--which cooked the waistbands in our undies, leaving no stretch in the elastic. Also it was VERY spendy as contrasted with this laundromat which cost $1.00 per load to wash and only fifty cents for the dryer.

By 9:30 a.m. our ship was a mile off Grand Cayman Island, being held in position not by anchors, but by using the ship's "LIPS Dynamic Positioning Position." I haven't the faintest idea what that is, but it sounded like the ship's side thrusters were being turned on and off, as needed to hold the ship steady in its assigned place.

The crew were ready to start sending passengers into the port by 10 a.m. and Mark opted to go in early and see downtown Georgetown. The water between the many cruise ships out in the bay and the piers of Georgetown was a beehive of activity, with tenders and catamarans going to and fro. From our balcony, we could see at least three other cruise ships: A Costa, a Carnival, and a Royal Caribbean. If we were looking out from the other side of our ship, we'd see even more--seven cruise ships are at Grand Cayman today.

Our excursion today wasn't scheduled to leave until 1:30 p.m. Glenn and I chose to just loaf. One more item of business--we had to go to the Purser's Desk and buy some Grand Cayman postage stamps. Why? Because we will visit Hell on our excursion, and it is part of the Tourist's Code of Conduct that if you go to Hell you must send postcards back to yourself and to all your friends, with that infamous postmark of "Hell" on them.

Mark returned to the ship after his stroll around Georgetown, we met him for lunch and then headed for the tenders and our short trip to shore. We were quickly herded to an air-conditioned Toyota mini-bus and headed for Hell. Actually, we saw a lot of Hell before we ever got to Hell.

Poor Grand Cayman Island! It is just a little island, 22 miles long and 8 miles at its widest point, and the highest ground is just 60 ft. above the surrounding sea. Looking out at the island from our balcony--we could see the ocean on the other side! On Sept. 11, 2004 Hurricane Ivan came to visit, and it overstayed its welcome, not leaving until about 14 hours later. It literally blanketed Grand Cayman and by the time it blew out, the entire island was a mess. And, much of it still is.

What trees are still standing have either no leaves or very shredded ones. Workers were busy everywhere, repairing roofs and in some cases, having to put most of a luxury hotel back together again. Obviously, the first priority is to get the tourist facilities up and operating--along with the offshore banking (over 500 banks on this little island!!). Tourism is a major employer.

So, as we drove along Seven Mile Beach, described in the tour guidebooks as "one of the world's most beautiful beaches," where tropical trees used to line the road, we saw block after block of uprooted trees--in one case, a sailboat was still sitting in the middle of the torn tree roots!

Our driver and guide said that his uncle was one of the few killed in the storm. A fisherman, he went out in the storm to try to secure his boat and lost his life. As the driver put it, "It was horrible." For starters, the entire island was without electricity--Georgetown got power back on in 3 weeks, but some parts of the island endured darkness, sweltering heat and molding homes for over 9 weeks. Older buildings fared much worse, often losing their entire upper story. Over a third of the cars on the island were destroyed. Right now, the cruise ships are a great boon to the island's tourism industry. We cruisers spend the day (and our money) on Grand Cayman, but they don't have to house us.

The little hamlet of "Hell" shows the power of advertising and picking the right name. A small area of jagged black rock formations on the northwest side of the island once inspired a local official to exclaim, "This is what Hell must look like." That's all it took, apparently! Today there is the requisite curio shop, and a Hellish gas station, and of course, a statue of the Devil overlooking the rocks, so all the tourists can have their picture taken with him.

Our guide didn't tarry here, but I had enough time to hurriedly buy some postcards, affix those Grand Cayman postage stamps and deposit them in the convenient mail box. Mark's envelope came back to him days before we got ours, and I was starting to plaintively say, "Well, where in Hell are our postcards?"

After surviving Hell, our van headed for the Cayman Turtle Farm. The Farm left me with mixed feelings. Yes, they are successfully bringing the green sea turtle back from close to extinction but the adults' ponds seemed terribly overcrowded, with the poor things pretty much having to crawl up on some other turtle's back to gulp some air and perhaps take a peek at the tourists.

Apparently somebody has been trying to make money from turtles here for a long, long time. Back in the 1600's and 1700's the Cayman Islands became a provisioning stop for vessels sailing the Caribbean because of the abundance of green sea turtles. The animals could be caught and kept alive on board as a source of fresh meat. By the early 1800's they had pretty well caught their last turtle around the Cayman Islands and the "turtling" industry moved on to Nicaragua's Miskito Coast.

This Cayman Turtle Farm is now attempting to both release turtles back into the sea and make a profit. Apparently this is not easy! The farm got its start in 1968 with US and English investors who hoped to supply the world with green turtle products and also increase the wild population. Well, just about the time they figured out how to do this, regulations designed to protect the sea turtle prevented the sale of even the farmed turtle product in the U. S. and many other countries! With close to 100,000 turtles to feed and care for and unable to sell its products to continue a cash flow, that first company, Mariculture Ltd., went bankrupt in 1975.

A group of German investors then bought the company, and renamed it Cayman Turtle Farm Ltd. The new owners intended to operate the farm more as a non profit organization, funneling any profits from the sale of products back into sea turtle conservation and protection projects, using the site as an international sea turtle research facility. However, export restrictions continued and after 8 years the new company gave up.

At this point, in 1983, the Cayman Islands Government purchased the farm and has since operated it as a private company. The goal is to produce enough turtles to supply the needs of the local market and continue releasing turtles. Meanwhile, the farm has become one of the largest tourist attractions on the island, attracting over 340,000 visitors a year. I guess the tourists would rather see live turtles than eat turtle soup!

So we saw big turtles and little turtles and Glenn was brave and picked up one of the little guys who flailed all four flippers in a frantic attempt to leave. Who said turtles are slow? That little guy was fast! We were then herded across the highway to Grand Cayman's third major industry--making rum cake! Who knew! We got to sample all we wanted, and whew! they certainly didn't stint on the rum in those cakes. We passed on buying an entire cake, settling for an inexpensive refrigerator magnet souvenir.

Our van (driving on the left side of the road, by the way) now headed back to Georgetown and let us out not far from the cruise ship tender dock. Here, we boarded a "semi-submersible" ship for an opportunity to view some tropical fish from the big picture windows, just below the surface. The famed clarity of the waters off Grand Cayman weren't all that clear today. The boat guide said, "We can always tell when a storm is approaching, as we get some turbidity in the water." Our lucky day!

The sub sailed over two shipwrecks that were almost right in the Georgetown harbor. We got murky views of both, but funny stories about them: In 1944, during World War II, a ship was coming into Georgetown, carrying a cargo of 20,000 tons of rice. At this point, the engine blew up--blowing a hole in the side of the ship. That was bad enough, but then the sea water met the rice, which swelled up and literally popped the ship apart! The other wreck was a lumber ship with a brave captain who made sure all the crew got safely off and then declared he would go down with the ship. He was even SEEN going down with the ship. However, he was spotted a couple days later, on the beach somewhere, very very drunk. He claimed he really did go down with the ship, but then grabbed a piece of lumber and floated back to shore on it!

Then, the sub headed for "Cheeseburger Reef" (named for the nearby Burger King restaurant). Saw some interesting brain coral and other types. The water was clearer here, and the fish concentration increased mightily when they sent a diver down to feed them. Suddenly, the ship was surrounded by swarming, hungry fish and we actually got some decent still and movie shots with our digital cameras.

That was the finish to our time on Grand Cayman. We headed back out to the ship about 4:30 and went to the area at the rear of the ship with the small pool and hot tubs. We hoped for a pretty sunset, but the sun chose to just sink into a thick cloud bank. However, there was now a bandstand over the pool and the ship's main band, the "Oasis" set up shop and provided some good music and singing. They even got quite a few passengers up on their feet, dancing. The nearby bar provided another bucket of beer bottles for us.

We ended up having a rather late dinner--well after 8, and then entertained ourselves for awhile in the casino--watching our money go back and forth.

Thursday, March 3, 2005 - Cozumel, Mexico
No early starts for us this morning; the ship did not reach its Cozumel pier at "Puerta Maya" until just before 10 a.m. and our excursion, "Flavors of Cozumel," did not leave until 1 p.m. So we all slept in late and met Mark for breakfast in the Da Vinci dining room--the only one kept open for breakfast and lunch. Rather pleasant to let someone else go fetch the food for us, rather than grazing through the buffet.

It took a little longer to get our excursion gear together today. The trip around half of Cozumel Island includes an opportunity for snorkeling, so in went the mask and tube for me, and mask, tube and swim fins for Mark. Mark and I wanted to find a cybercafe in downtown San Miguel, a short cab ride away, and Glenn thought he'd prefer to look around the interesting shopping mall that now graces the end of the Puerta Maya pier. We had walked down to this pier on our last visit to Cozumel, but the shopping mall didn't exist then.

Mark and I caught a cab (about $6. each way) and told the driver we needed an Internet Cafe. Along the way, we spotted the resort hotel where we all stayed ten years ago--it appears to be adding a whole new section and is now called the "Park Royal." Mark also recognized some of the hotels where he stayed over the past twenty years when he came down here with friends for the diving.

The cab driver dropped us off directly in front of a cybercafe in "old town." The hand-printed sign on the door told us who patronized this place--it said Call Home" and then listed the prices to call places such as: Croatia, Slovenia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. This is where the ship crews come to call home. There were both multiple phone booths and multiple computers. No rates for accessing the Internet were posted, but it must have been quite reasonable. I spent about a dollar, which covered glancing through our "ton" of new e-mail messages, and also gave me time to send out an e-mail to our daughter with copies to others.

I also learned that the Mexican computer keyboards are even worse than the German ones! It was REALLY hard to find the @ symbol or the shift key to make capital letters. I was grateful to Yahoo for letting me store all my e-mail addresses on their servers, so I could just type in the addressee's name and let Yahoo fill in the rest of the address, including the elusive @.

Our next stop--one of the famous Mexican pharmacies. Can't go home without some cheap Mexican drugs! However, the spendy statin drug that I take wasn't even available at this pharmacy because "it costs as much here as in the USA."

Another quick cab ride and we were back at the ship's pier. We returned to the ship for a quick lunch in the buffet and then headed back to the shopping mall where we met our tour guide. Once again, our group got split, for reasons unknown. We ended up in group of seven who comfortably filled up a nice van. MUCH nicer than the big bus we expected.

Our driver/guide said his name was "Velio" and his nickname was "Owl." "Velio" turned out to be our best guide on the cruise. While he did not try to keep up a running patter all the time, he gave us lots of interesting information. Some of the things we learned from Velio:

Cozumel's electricity comes from the mainland via cable. (I envisioned the world's longest extension cord!) However, a diesel-powered combination water desalination and electric generation plant is now under construction on the island. Presently there are two desalination plants. The local water is no longer used for drinking. Apparently it got too salty as the fresh groundwater "lens" was pumped out and replaced by ocean water.

The last hurricane blew through Cozumel ten years ago. But, it was a wimpy thing compared to "Gilbert," considered one of the strongest storms ever in the Gulf of Mexico. It had winds up to 220 miles per hour and left the eastern side of Cozumel pretty much scraped clean of its palms and other trees. It was another September storm (Sept. 15-16, 1988)--just like "Ivan" that smacked Grand Cayman so hard last Sept. 11-12. [Note to self--do NOT plan trips to Caribbean in September!]

There are 3 Pemex gas stations on the island--all owned by one man who charges $3. per gallon. Later, during our drive along the northwest shore through handsome homes and resort hotels, Velio showed us the mansion of this gasoline monopolist. Most of the locals prefer to get around on little motor scooters or bikes.

The local folk were farmers until 1960, when Jacques Costeau came to Cozumel and discovered the magnificent "Palancar Reef" which extends all the way to Belize. He publicized the great diving, tourists started to come, and before long, the farmers all turned to tourism. The northern half of the island is pretty much growing back as jungle now.

About 70,000 people now live on the island full-time. About half of them are the descendants of a little band of Indians who took shelter on Cozumel during a nasty war on the mainland. The island welcomes 50,000 to 60,000 people per week from cruise ships and unemployment is ZERO.

Snakes? The island had only a single harmless one, until a movie company brought in boa constrictors from the mainland for a movie--then turned them loose! The boas are thriving and very hard on the local birds--because they eat the eggs. The good news? The island has very little trouble with mice and rats.

Eighty per cent of the local people were born on the island. They really don't go to the mainland very often. Velio drove us through the "local" part of town, and said that crime is pretty much non-existent, except for drunkenness. With 300 bars on this little island that's easy to understand. They even tolerate the drunks, unless they harm somebody else. Then, they are thrown into jail and have to work off their fine by doing public service such as road or sidewalk improvements. If kids "tag" buildings with graffiti, they are sent to the local schools and do clean-up work. Everyone in the van applauded the Cozumel justice system!

You can't get a job on the island unless you have completed high school. If you HAVE a job, your employer has to carry health insurance for you and the coverage is very good. Should your health problem require that you go to a specialist in Mexico City, the insurance would pay for your transportation and treatment there. Not employed? NO health insurance.

Road construction is a slow process--it only seems to get done during election years!

When our tour of "old town" and the northwest resort and university area was done (Cozumel has two universities: one government, one private) we drove on the only paved road that circles the southern half of the island. This road cut straight through the island, and we got a good look at all the new jungle where the boas hang out. We also passed several jeep caravans--another popular way to see the island.

Two of the other occupants of our van were Grand Princess crew members. It was interesting to get an idea of life on a cruise ship from one of the staff. These two will finish their 6-month contracts in a few months. I was never sure if this excursion was for their own personal pleasure or whether the ship sends people out now and then to check up on the excursions. Either way, they were enjoying the ride as much as we were.

When we reached the east coast of the island, it had an entirely different appearance. For one, there was only one little cluster of restaurant and curio shops where the cross-island road met the east coast road, which only ran southward. On the map this was called "Mezcalitos."

On this side of the island, the waves were much bigger, there were interesting rocky points jutting out into the surf and even some "blowholes" to add interest to the scene. I think our vanload much preferred this side of the island, and Velio said this is where the locals come for family outings. The ocean scenery reminded us of the Oregon coast--but the water was more colorful and no doubt a lot warmer. Not a good area for swimming though--lots of bad undertows.

We spent about fifteen minutes at "Mezcalitos" and had our beer/soda pop break, courtesy of Velio and his cooler. Driving south on a now much narrower road, it was easy to see what Hurricane Gilbert had done to the island in 1988. Most of the trees were of exactly the same height--and not very high at that. Every so often, there would be one solitary palm tree standing way above the rest--apparently a survivor of those 200 mile per hour winds.

Our second stop was at "El Mirador," a pretty beach that gets its name from a little observation tower/gazebo. This beach boasted lots of rocky headlands and even a natural bridge where the waves had carved out an open arch. We had great fun trying out the movie feature on the digital cameras to catch the breaking waves on the rocks.

At the southern end of the island the road got significantly better and abruptly turned west. There was even a nice bicycle/motor scooter path paralleling the highway.

We soon arrived at our final excursion destination: "Playa Mia" Grand Beach Park. This was indeed a "grande" park--with all sorts of amusements: a big open-air restaurant covered with an enormous palapa thatched roof, bars at the restaurant and the freshwater pool, volley ball courts on the sand, and hundreds of sun chairs. The party boat from the cruise ship area was moored at the park's dock, and out in the water, we had our choice of swimming out to an artificial "iceberg water mountain, " renting a kayak, OR snorkeling out to their underwater "Mayan City." Mark and I chose the underwater Mayan city and after a visit to the muggy changing rooms, we headed out into the water. Glenn was left in charge of bikini-watching, which he declared to be MUCH better than on the cruise ship.

The water did not have that crystal aquamarine look I assciate with Cozumel--probably because the bottom was all sand, not coral rocks. There was no clear indication as to just where the heck we would find the Mayan City, but Mark said "Just link arms with me, Mom, and I'll tow you out." So, away we went, with me throwing in some ineffectual kicking from time to time which mostly just hit Mark on the leg.

Suddenly down below, by golly, there was a concrete replica of the famous Mayan god, "Chac Mool," holding the sacrificial bowl on his tummy. And, apparently the little fishies liked the protection of the sculptures as we saw several schools of bright yellow fish, and more solitary but colorful other species. We eventually found most, if not all of the sculptures, including one of the great pyramid at Chichen Itza. At that point, I signaled to Mark that I was satisfied and ready to go back. So, we retraced our paddling and except for one moment when Mark lost a fin, all went well. He dove down, retrieved the fin and we were soon back on the beach.

There was just enough time to catch my wind, and we all cashed in our complimentary drink tickets for a rather small Margarita in a plastic glass. Then, back to the changing rooms for a quick shower and a tussle with my clothes. Not easy to get dressed in a very hot and muggy bathroom! After we left Playa Mia it was a short drive back to the pier. As we strolled through the Puerta Maya mall, we stopped to watch the lively scene at an open-air bar. Give people a few shots of tequila or rum and it is amazing how loose-jointed they get! All in all, Cozumel still impressed us as the best of all the Caribbean ports we've visited and we think we could easily enjoy a week on this little island.

Back in our cabin, we quickly called Room Service for crackers and cheese so that we could sit out on the balcony with Mark, sipping cold beer from the frig with our snacks. This we did, watching the sunset which was not too spectacular. Just after six the ship was underway and our cruise was definitely winding down.

Tonight was our second "formal night" and also the night to accept Captain Andy's invitation to attend the "Captain's Circle Cocktail Party." Since all 3 of us have now reached the exalted status of a "gold" ship identification card, (having sailed 2 to 5 times with Princess) we wanted to take advantage of another evening of free drinks. The cocktail party was held in the Explorer's Lounge and we did indeed get one drink and some hors d'euvres--supposedly Rum Punch, but all we could taste was Punch. In spite of trying to catch the waiter's eye, somehow, he never got back to our row again. We did see some REALLY big spenders get honored for having taken some incredible number of cruises with Princess.

We then headed for tonight's dining room and the super duper menu item--lobster! (From Belize, maybe?) We also cashed in the travel agent's gift of Mondavi Pinot Noir--very good! On to the casino, where we made modest gains. Glenn chose to catch the 10:30 show in the Princess Theater, "Rhythms of the City" with a few of the dancers. He said it was o.k. but couldn't match that first big production we all saw.

Mark and I had been waiting for a good movie to be shown on the big outdoor screen by the pool. Tonight it was "Spider Man 2" and we thought that might be a winner. The deck chairs were all fitted with comfy red pads and a blanket was handy if the tropical night air should cool down. The movie wasn't all that interesting, and we gave up after half an hour. But, the quality of the picture on that huge screen was very impressive. If anything, it was almost TOO bright--at least at night. Perhaps they have to overdo the brightness at night to compensate for the sunlight in the daytime.

Friday, March 4, 2005 - At Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico
This was our day to relax and then start the preparations to leave the ship. We had room service breakfasts, then Mark made his usual long trek from his cabin to our cabin and we all went to the casino. Not a good idea! We all lost money.

Mark decided to try the adults-only forward pool area that is sheltered by the Lotus Spa area. A perfect day to do this--about 72 degrees, bright sunshine and a light breeze. He logged some time in the sauna, steam room and then the hot tub. Glenn and I followed a bit later, and happily settled for some "down time" in one of the handsome teak deck chairs. It's been interesting to visit so many ports in just one week, but what has been missing is that "down time" for which cruising was supposedly invented. Lots of sun worshipers were around us and on the deck above us--all catching up on their "down time" too.

By 1 p.m. we were ready for lunch and decided to once again let a waiter haul our food to us. So, off to the Da Vinci dining room for a pleasant, slow-paced meal. The lunch menu was heavily weighted toward Italian, so Glenn had spaghetti (very salty), Mark had a 4-cheese pasta dish (also salty) and I tried the Milanese Aspereggio. Tiny asparagus spears on a bed of grated Parmesan cheese, and topped with two over-easy fried eggs. Why! I think I could make that dish at home!

At 2 p.m. Mark and I took in the "backstage tour" of the Princess Theater. Our group was split in two sections, with our section led by the woman who is the director of the dance troupe. She took us downstairs, where we trooped into the dressing room. Well-lit, of course, with costume hats on overhead shelves, glittery costumes on hangers at one side, and a long "trolley" that ran up five decks, with 1500 garments dangling below it--just like the "trolley" at your local dry cleaners. There were no chairs to clutter up this room--the dancers just stand up to do their make-up, hair, etc. Not only are they responsible for all that, they also have to take care of their costumes, mend any tears, and hand-wash the delicate fabrics when needed. There ARE seamstresses who come on every time they change the entire dance troupe. Many costumes then have to be taken in, let out, and otherwise made to fit different-shaped dancers. A Hollywood designer named "Sylvia" does all the show costumes. She also designs Cher's shows and she did the costumes for the movie "Chicago."

And how do you get to be in a Princess dance troupe? You audition in Los Angeles. If chosen, you train there--learning the same routines you will be doing on the ship. Then, you board your ship with a six-month contract. Normally there are 15 members in the cast, but for a week or so the new and old casts overlap. The newbies take part in just one performance at first, then they do more, and the old troupe does less. The entire troupe stays together for those six months. At the end, many of the dancers will scatter--to other ships, or other opportunities.

By the time it was our turn to go back up onstage and hear about lighting, and general production of a show, the ship was really rocking. As we braced ourselves against a firm piece of scenery, we couldn't help but wonder how the heck the dancers ever learn to perform tricky dance routines with a stage floor that rises and falls!

When the Grand Princess was built seven years ago, this Princess Theater was truly "state of the art" and way ahead of any other cruise ship. Princess invested many, many millions in the technology here. We did glean a few facts and figures:

The area under the stage extends down two decks, while the area above the stage goes up five or six decks.
All scenery movement is run by a computer. There IS a human sitting at the computer console but machinery does all the heavy lifting--and this scenery was VERY heavy.
A portion of the stage can also be moved up or down--all controlled by computer.
I guess none of us will bother to apply for the dance troupe--even if we were talented, we would not make the age range: 19 to 41 years. Most are through with the dancing part by the time they are 30.

We spent the late afternoon packing, and packing and packing--or so it seemed. But, the few souvenirs we picked up didn't add much bulk to our suitcases. The paper that Princess has been showering on us for a week--the daily newsletters, and miscellaneous sheets that I might later use in writing this log accounted for the additional weight that was going home with us. Eventually, all was zipped up and the suitcases were placed outside our door. The next time we looked--both were gone. The NEXT time we opened the cabin door--my suitcase had come back again! Hmmm. But a later peek showed that it, too, finally slipped away in the night.

We walked around the ship a bit as the sun was sinking in the west, and this time we were rewarded with the most colorful sunset of the cruise. A really lovely day and the rough seas subsided by early afternoon.

We chose the Michelangelo dining room for our last dinner aboard the Grand Princess. According to cruise traditions, this should have been the night for the parade of flaming baked Alaska desserts. But it never occurred. I think the "anytime dining" feature has made it impossible to have such "shows" since the diners come and go as they please. Perhaps the parade went on in the main dining room, with its two definite seatings. The Michelangelo Room did come up with a patriotic theme in the dining room--red, white and blue balloons on the tables, red, white, and blue vests on the wait staff. That was a little salute to "guess who."

We had a nice dinner, but the portions were rather uneven. Mark had sea food and could have enjoyed a bit more, while I had turkey and there was enough on my plate for four! All very tasty though. An after-dinner nap seemed imperative, and we told Mark goodnight. We'd next see him at 7 a.m. when we met for breakfast. There was more unnecessary confusion for us passengers as Princess did not seem able to give us definite times for when we would be called to go through US immigration (done on the ship) and what time breakfast would be served. After asking three different staff members in the Pursers Office about this--we got three inconsistent answers! We made our own decision: eat about 7 a.m., and expect to be called into Immigration (held in the Explorers Lounge) about 8 a.m.

An hour's nap left us feeling sprightlier and a farewell visit to the casino seemed in order. At first we see-sawed back and forth, winning, and then losing. Finally, with Glenn as a witness, I started winning. I even ran the poor slot machine out of nickels and they had to pour in more, so they could drop into my waiting bucket. What a nice finish to our gambling on the ship!

By 11:30 p.m. we were back in the "fairway" going past a steady succession of brilliantly-lit offshore oil production platforms. Some of them were just monsters! One was close enough that I could see the huge tubes holding up the ten-story high platform. We had another cruise ship sharing the fairway with us for awhile--both of us heading for Galveston.

Saturday, March 5, 2005 - Leaving the ship at Galveston
We needn't have bothered rushing through breakfast. We sat in our cabin until 9:30 a.m., waiting to be called for the Immigration line. Once through that, we moved off the ship quite rapidly. Finding our luggage in the Luggage Mixmaster Room was no problem; locating a porter and a rolling cart was a bit tougher. But Mark did find one without much trouble.

A funny anecdote was told by the porter as he wheeled our luggage cart over to the final Customs checkpoint: One day he accompanied a man up to that checkpoint. The Customs officer on duty was an older, gray-haired woman. When the Customs officer asked the man the usual question, "Where are you from?" the man replied, "I haven't got time for this, I'm a very busy lawyer with a big law firm." The Customs officer replied, "Well, Sir, I'm afraid I have a much bigger law firm behind me, and you will stay right here." At that point, other Customs officers appeared and shackled the man, hand and foot! The porter said the busy lawyer was still waiting there, fussing and fuming, five hours later!

With this cautionary tale in mind, we certainly gave the Customs officer no sass. The officer showed no interest in anything we had, and waved us right through. With the porter leading the way, we went out to the taxi stand. By 10:30 we were back at the motel where Mark's car was patiently waiting for us. We packed up Mark's trunk and part of the back seat, took advantage of the hotel's bathrooms and cappuccino coffee machine one last time and were headed south on Galveston Island by 10:45 a.m.

Mark chose a different route back to Austin so we could see a bit more of this part of Texas. Traveling down Galveston Island, there was an abrupt end to the hotels and retail businesses, but the shore was lined with beach houses--many of significant size. What immediately struck us was that they were all up on stilts! Mark said that is the usual way of keeping your house from flooding in the hurricanes and storms which only generate mild flooding. Not the sort of vacation home that would appeal to seniors with arthritic knees, was my first thought.

At San Luis Pass we crossed over a long, high bridge that connects Galveston Island with Follet Island. Apparently a toll bridge, but no one was on hand to collect our two bucks toll this day.

Once on the mainland we were in the middle of Brazosport--a nine-city community at the mouth of the Brazos and San Bernard rivers. Its claim to fame: it is home to the largest basic chemical complex in the world. And, that was easy to believe from the amazing tangle of pipes, stacks, tanks, refineries, etc. that we drove past.

Before long, we were off the coastal plain and into the gently rolling hills--all golf course green in this wet Texas spring. As we crossed the bridge across the Brazos River we could see that the stream was carrying a heavy load of silt--must have had a lot of rain recently. All remained rural, with cattle in the fields and a few small towns along the way. A few roadside wildflowers were peeking out--the highways should be ribbons of color from blooming wildflowers in a few weeks.

About 30 miles out from Austin we began to see the brand-new suburbs that are springing up. The billboard signs advertising these communities showed prices for fairly modest homes at about $100,000--those within gated communities--the McMansions with tiny lots and big houses--were priced at $150,000 to $200,000. Considerably less than West Coast prices, for sure.

A few days later, after an enjoyable visit at Mark's home, we boarded a flight in Austin for PDX. Another beautiful day in Oregon! The warm, dry weather we left on Feb. 24 has continued. Not a drop of rain while we were gone. It was a little difficult to rave about the warm Caribbean weather when the folks back home could make the same claim.

With the passage of a little time since we came back from this cruise, the annoyances have faded and our pictures remind of us of the many neat experiences we had. Coincidentally, an acquaintance here in Salem just returned from the same cruise and he never did get to Belize! Someone broke their hip on the ship while it was heading across the Gulf and the captain had to turn around and take him back to Galveston! In Majahual they had high winds and rough seas, so all water-related excursions were cancelled. (Let's see now.....what was it that I didn't like about this cruise?)

Actually, it really was a Bon Voyage!

Barbara Halliday
March 31, 2005
Salem, Oregon

APPENDIX I

Ship's Particulars for the GRAND PRINCESS

Builder: Fincantiere, Monfalcone, Italy, 1998

Port of Registry: Hamilton, Bermuda

Gross Tonnage: 108,806 Tonnes (Well, it's British-owned, you know)

Length Overall 951 ft.

Height above waterline: 185 ft.

Maximum Draught Aft: 28 ft.

Propulsion type: 2x Siemens Electric Main Motors

Diesel Engine: 6 SulzerGMT Diesel Engines.

Maximum Power 92,500 HP

Full Sea Speed: 22.1 knots

Stabilizers: 2 Fincantieri 90% Roll Reduction @ 18 knots

Number of Passenger Cabins: 1,296

Passenger Capacity: 3,100

Ship's Crew: 1,060

Cruising Speed: 22.5 knots

Top Speed: 24 knots

Total distance sailed on this cruise: 2,447 Nautical Miles = 2,814 Statute Miles
(Nautical Mile = 1.15 Statute Miles)

APPENDIX II

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF THE CRUISE

THE GRIPES

No. 1 Peeve--trying to sell us a lousy mini-suite and blaming it all on the travel agent's oversight of the fine print. Sounded like "bait and switch" to us.

No. 2 Peeve--the incredible mess in Galveston, with three cruise ships unloading and loading at exactly the same time. If Princess has one really big problem, it is logistics. They can't seem to figure out how to move large groups of people around. We know it can be done--there were just as many people on the Holland America Westerdam last June in the Baltic and we NEVER encountered the confusion that seemed to go along with every boarding, tendering, assembly for excursions, etc. on the Grand Princess.

No. 3 Why was the party for honeymooners and the Golden Wedding celebrants held at 5:30 p.m. on a day in port, when many people would be off the ship? Since we didn't dock at Belize City until after 1 p.m.., why couldn't the party have been held in the morning? They had lots of the what-to-buy, and diamond and gemstone seminars taking place.

THE GOOD STUFF

No. 1 The itinerary with four interesting ports was what first attracted us to this cruise, and it was indeed a nice variety.

No. 2 The excursion personnel were very good. Friendly, knowledgeable and added a lot to the excursions. It was just getting from the ship to the excursion that was difficult--and that was Princess' fault.

No. 3 The food was very good. Was it really gourmet? Maybe not, but then, neither are we.

No. 4 Anytime dining! Best thing that has come along since our first cruises. SO nice not to feel we had to rush to dinner just because an excursion was late. If we wanted to change our plans at the last minute, because the band or the sunset was worth lingering, no problem. The other good thing about anytime dining--one formal outfit was plenty--we were never seeing the same people at dinner anyway. Cut down a lot on the packing.

No. 5 Great dancers and singers. Their big production number was the best show we've ever seen on a ship.

No. 6 Princess is making good use of the Internet--Long before the cruise took place, we could read all about the possible excursions at every port and make our choices Also, we could tell them our preferences for robes, fruit, etc. on the ship--although I'm not sure that was always communicated to the stewards. We like the "bridge cam" feature on the Princess website. You can tell friends to watch and see where you are each day.

No. 7 The self-service laundromats. Inexpensive, spotlessly clean, conveniently located on several decks. Also cut down on the amount of clothing we had to bring.

APPENDIX III

INTERNET WEB SITES
WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ON MAYAN RUINS WE VISITED IN COSTA MAYA

Good websites for information on Dzibanche and Kohunlich:

http://www.mayanbeachgarden.com/dzibanche.html

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/chetumal/0949010025.html

http://www.geocities.com/atlantis01mx/yuc_pen_south/kohunlich.htm

http://www.geocities.com/atlantis01mx/yuc_pen_south/dzibanche.htm

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/chetumal/0949010025.html

http://www.shawnk.com/mayans/kohun.htm

http://www.mostlymaya.com/Dzibanche.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE MAYAN RUINS

Our guide for the Dzibanche & Kohunlich Mayan ruins tour provided a good bibliography about the Maya, their history and deciphering the Mayan writing . Among them:

1843, John Lloyd Stephens & Frederick Catherwood, "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan"
1946, Sylvanus Morley, "The Ancient Maya"
1967, Ralph Roys, "The Book of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel"
1970, Eric Thompson, "Maya History and Religion"
1976, David Kelly, "Deciphering the Maya Script"
1980, Anthony Aveny, "Sky Watchers of Ancient Mexico"
1985, Dennis Tedlock, "The Popol Vu"
1989, Ronald Wright, "Time Among the Maya"
1992, Michael Coe, "Breaking the Maya Code"
1993, David Freidel, Linda Schele & Joy Parker, "Maya Cosmos"