MagnoliaBlossom

True on NCL as well as Carnival. Thank goodness - no straps to trip over, no one blowing their wistle in your ear, no extra trip to the room - woohoo.

I'm glad there was more to the quesstion than "how many cruises is enough" - I mean is that even possible for us ?! No! But as to the Caribbean -I'm in the "play it again, Sam" crowd. Probably because we live in driving distance to Galveston and N.O., it is just so easy to hop in the car and be at the port in 4-5 hours. Although we've been to Cozumel about 24 times, icluding on-cruising trips, we continue to love the island. We rent a car and go to the quiet, windward side of the island. In many ports we sta onboard and enjoy the quiet of the ship. We have broken out and done some other areas - Alaska x 3, Baltics x 2, Mediteranean, British Isles, Mex. Riviera, Hawaii and have one Carib, one Hawaii on the books and the Greek Isles waiting for 2012 dates. We enjoy those wonderful far away places, but in truth, they are much less relaxing. Air travel is not much fun anymore - and certainly not cheap, so there's a lot to be said for US gatewas.

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At some point in the future NCL is dropping Guatamala and replacing it with Roatan I am not certain of the effective date though. We have done this cruise several times - here are my comments. Cozumel - hurricane Wilma flattened the ruins that were on the island. They have been reconstructed but they are not the originals, in case that is important to you. They have ice beaches our favorites are Chankanaab national park and Paradise beach. Grab a cab, it's about $10 for the trip. All the cabbies speak some english and are safe. Snorkelling gear is for rent at the beach. Chankanaab charges about $10 entrance fee, Paradise used to be free, but I have heard they too charge a fee now. Both have good restaurants with safe food (don't drink the water!), clean restrooms and showers. If you want something a bit different, rent a car and drive to the leeward side of the island. It is rough, rocky and isolated. It is not a place for swimming (current and undertow) but great for beach combing. There are 5 or 6 cafes and our day is like: stop at first cafe, get beer, walk beach, pick up sea shells, smooch, gaze out at sea Drive to cafe two - get beer, walk beach . . . well, you get the idea At the last stop they sell a grilled, fresh caught seafood platter that is out of this world. Feeds 4 easily and is $50 - lobster, shrimp, fish, scallops, veggies and lots more. Yum. Santo Tomas - go with the ship excursions but a trip to the water falls is beautiful. Roatan - head to Tabayanka beach. Usually the ship excursion is onl about $5 more than DIY. Includes a buffet (burgers, chicken, etc) and the shuttle runs about every 30 minutes. The have cheap massages on the beach and a zip line nearby. Belize - you will tender at this port. Snorkelling here is wonderful. The most fabulous corals I've ever seen were here. The town is nothing special and you will want to skip the city sights and zoo excursion. There is a pharmacy at the pier run by a pharmacist from Baton Rouge, LA and you can buy darn near anything from her - diet pills, viagara, valium, ambien, antibiotics, retin-A, etc. I am not endorsing - just informing. The do a bustling business so plan on standing in line a while. We love the Spirit and being a New Orleans native, I'm a bit partial. The trip down the mighty Mississippi is interesting. Cruising past the quarter and the battlefields is quite a sight. Then on the way home you will see the "Christmas trees" (oil rigs) offshore. Enjoy!

I am not a fan of karaoke, but most other folks seem to enjoy it. I am frequentl puzzled by the venues. Several times we have seen karaoke held in the larger show bar with only a small crowd, whereas the larger crowd who wants to dance is crammed into one of the smaller bars.