Our most recent cruise was after Thanksgiving last year, on the Norwegian Escape out of New Orleans. The timing is pretty common for me. It’s easier to be out of the office, and if you plan carefully, you can avoid holiday surge pricing. We flew on Thanksgiving morning and back 10 days later, well after the Thanksgiving rush. We had a couple days in New Orleans, which will be a separate post, before embarkation on Saturday.
Itinerary: The ship stopped at 3 ports — Harvest Caye, Belize; Roatán (Bay Islands), Honduras and Cozumel, Mexico, with 3 at-sea days. Originally it was supposed to call at Costa Maya, but due to ship speed issues, they had to skip it.
Chichén Itzá
A cruise seemed a reasonable way to see Chichén Itzá. No matter how you travel to the Yucatan Peninsula, if you stay in the main tourist areas (Cancun, Cozumel, Tulum), you’ve got a long ride to the interior to see the ruins. Granted, we didn’t have as much time at Chichén Itzá as we would have if we could set our own schedule, however the tour guide was excellent and we were pleased with our choice. And lucky. Our guide told us that the previous week, the water was too choppy for the ferry from Cozumel to the mainland.
It was a full and long day but I highly recommend. You start and end the day with the ferry from Cozumel to the mainland. If you squint, you could call that a harbor cruise. Then it’s a short walk through the town to the mini-bus. During the ride, the guide gave us a tablet to read up on our destination. On site, he took us through the main areas of the ruins, and at the end we had about 30-40 minutes to wander on our own. We were more interested in the ruins than the marketplace, but if shopping was your thing, there were MANY options.
If you’d like a shorter Mayan adventure from Cozumel, the cruise line also offers excursions to Tulum, and should your itinerary include Costa Maya, there are options from there as well.
The excursion from your cruise or explore on your own?
I almost always do the shore excursions from the cruise line. I like the predictability of it. If the ship is late to arrive, they wait for you. If there is a delay during the excursion — provided you make it to the transportation on time — they wait for you. When you are on your own, you are just that – on your own and if your taxi doesn’t make it back in time, the ship is leaving without you. It almost happened to someone at one of the stops on this cruise. If you are just going to hang at the beach or shop, near the port, you’re probably fine on your own. With something like Chichén Itzá, which is a full day, you are much better off with the cruise line option. Our guide met us when we disembarked the ferry in the morning and at the end of the day, walked us back to the embarkation point, so we didn’t have to worry about a thing. That’s what I want on my cruise vacation — no worries.
Harvest Caye, Belize
I joke that we didn’t actually go to Belize; we went to Fauxlize. When i originally booked our excursions, we expected to have a full day in Costa Maya before the day at the NCL “private island” Harvest Caye, so instead of a sightseeing excursion, I booked a private cabana poolside for the day. The little shops in the “village” were mostly touristy stuff – magnets, hats, t-shirts, souvenir “stuff” — but I did find a nice jade jaguar charm at the Jade Maya shop, similar to this necklace. The chocolate shop was also a nice stop; we brought home a couple bars.
Roatán (Bay Islands), Honduras
We did a full day excursion that started at Gumbalima Park, where we saw macaws, white-face monkeys and iguanas – pretty up close! We ended the day at Tabyana Beach Resort, with an included barbecue lunch that was pretty good. The beach was lovely but crowded and my daughter left early to go back to the ship. If I ever did this itinerary again, I might just spend the day here at the beach.
Warning: on the shoreline there are many vendors hawking all sorts of services & products from massages to t-shirts and fresh fruit. Security at the Resort prevents them from coming into the resort’s area, but if this sort of commercial activity bothers you, be forewarned. You can also visit West Bay Beach, of which Tabyana Beach Resort is a part, on your own, but it’s quite a ways from the dock, and I like the security of cruise-line provided transportation.
NCL docks at Coxen Hole, the capital city, and you get a pretty nice tour of the island on your way to and from your excursion. The cruise port itself is nice, with many of the same shops you will find in other cruise ports — clothing boutiques, jewelry stores, T-shirts and magnets galore. I picked up some t-shirts as Christmas gifts at Del Sol, which is a pretty ubiquitous shop in cruise destinations.
The ship: Norwegian Escape
Overall I like Norwegian. While the cabin on the Escape was on the smaller side compared to the Sun a few years earlier, the bathroom was generously proportioned with plenty of storage space for all my junk, our suitcases fit UNDER the bed and there were plenty of hangers. These small things make a difference.
Amenities: Even though neither my daughter nor I drink, we do like our mocktails. I also had read that NCL now had zero-alcohol wine options so I bought the Beverage package and a Specialty Dining 3-meal package. We got our money’s worth on the beverages, especially once we discovered the Sugarcane Mojito Bar, which had zero-proof versions of most of the drinks.
Dining: Norwegian offers freestyle dining, which means you don’t have a set table or time for your meal. And you have lots of options. Included in your cruise fare:
- the 3 main dining rooms — the large Manhattan Room, and the smaller Taste and Savor restaurants. I found the Manhattan Room just too big for my taste so on nights we we didn’t have specialty dining, we ate in the smaller restaurants. I know the food in both is the same, with the same kitchen, but without fail, we preferred Savor to Taste.
- the Garden Cafe buffet — we don’t tend to eat our meals at the buffet but it’s a great place for an afternoon snack or quick breakfast. They had cream tea in the afternoon (scones, jam and cream) which I loved.
- two sandwich places — O’Sheehan’s Bar & Grill and the American Diner. Nothing special but good for lunch if you don’t want to deal with the restaurants.
Specialty dining is an extra cost or you can buy a dining package as we do, and you should reserve it as soon as reservations open up, especially if you have a larger group. On this trip, I went for Le Bistro (French), Bayamo by Ocean Blue (seafood) and Teppanyaki. Other options include Italian, tapas, a steakhouse, Brazilian barbecue, a supper club (with entertainment) and Asian fusion. Le Bistro and Bayamo were outstanding but we were disappointed in the Teppanyaki, which we have enjoyed on other cruises. The food was just okay, and the service wasn’t very good at all. Were I to cruise on this ship again, I think I’d go for Cagney’s Steakhouse or Food Republic, the Asian fusion restaurant. If you have a big appetite though, definitely try the Brazilian barbecue. We did it on the Norwegian Sun in 2019. SO MUCH FOOD AND SO GOOD.
Adults-only Spaces: We waited too long to reserve the adults-only Vibes Beach Club, which apparently can be booked in advance, although I am not sure when, and sells out right away. If you have at least 2 sea days, or plan to spend part of your port days on board, it might be worth it if your goal is to work on your tan while imbibing a beverage.
Instead, since we had 3 sea days, we bought passes for the Thermal Suite at the Mandara Spa. So worth it. Plunge pool, whirlpool, sauna, steam room, snow room and these amazing thermal recliners that looked so uncomfortable and were most definitely not. I also did a massage, which was delightful.
Entertainment and bars: I’m an early-to-bed early-to-rise traveler, and I don’t drink or gamble, so I can’t provide any insights on the bars or casinos, other than I appreciated that the Escape didn’t make us walk through a smoke-filled casino to get everywhere. I also like to eat around 8pm when I travel which doesn’t work so well for the shows, however, if you travel on the Escape, I do recommend The Choir of Man. It was quite good, not just “good for a cruise” good.
Final word — New Orleans NCL cruise terminal was pretty organized. Long lines at arrival but that is almost always the case, and departure was very smooth.
