Cruise Stories

Folding Carnival Cruise’s Easy Towel Seal

Posted on December 17, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

towel seal

Ever since I posted How to Fold Cruise Ship Towel Animals, it has got more hits than any other blog I’ve ever written. Every day, every week I find that one at the top of the list of blog hits. So I know I am not the only one who likes towel animals. Looks like lots of people would like to make their own. When I took my last Carnival Cruise, I had a plan. Bring lots of cash to bribe, I mean tip, the cabin boy (whom I found out is actually called a Stateroom Steward) to make towel animals while we are in the room so we can take photos and videos for blogs.

We had a great steward, who some days would not even take the tip. I wanted to pay him though because I knew he had lots of other rooms to clean and he went above and beyond the call of duty to come back to our room and re-fold the animal every day for my blog photos. I also learned from this that flashes from a still camera disrupt the video footage, but we did not watch any of them until we got home. Sorry for the jumpy bits, but it still shows how to fold the animal.

He’s really fast so you might have to watch it a few times to get everything, even on this easy seal.

fold towel crosswise

First fold the towel in half, crosswise.

fold crosswise again

Fold the towel crosswise again. Flip it over so the open end is towards you, on the top, as in the picture below where he folds the corners over and the open bit ends up on the long bottom side of the triangle.

fold corners down into two triangles with the centers turned up a bit

Fold the corners down to the center like two triangles. Turn up the inside edges of your two triangles just a little bit. Fold the the two triangles together with the turned up bits sticking out just a little.

stand seal up and shape upper body and head

Stand towel up with smallest point at the top and the longer points of the triangles sticking out to either side like seal flippers. Bend top part back and shape into upraised seal chest and head. Add eyes to finish the seal.

finished seal

even the towel animals have fun on Carnival

This is the first blog in a series on how to fold individual towel animals. The second is the rabbit. Also up now: frog, gorilla, monkey, pig, crab, snakes, elephant, cake and more. Watch for new animals over the coming months. Future animals will include a better towel seal, cat, dog, elephant, stingray, and more. If you don’t want to miss the rest, there’s plenty of ways to make sure you find this blog again. You can follow it on twitter or networked blogs, “like” My Cruise Stories facebook page, or get an email subscription and have new posts delivered right to your inbox.

How to Find Free Jewelry on a Cruise

Posted on December 10, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Liberty

Ahh, shopping. People love to shop, and cruise ships love people who go shopping. So its win-win for everyone. Cruise ships have their own duty-free shops, with various items on sale at really good discounts throughout the cruise. You can get some excellent deals on some of the stuff there, but probably won’t get anything for free on board. So where do you get the free stuff?

free necklaces

Start with the handouts you get as you exit the ship at any given port. Often they have something free to offer if you go to the store mentioned on the ad. Of course they will try to sell you something as soon as you set foot in their store, but just say no and they give you the free stuff anyway. Anyone can get those with just the slight effort of finding that shop, which is not hard to do as you probably got a port shopping map delivered to your stateroom the night before. Odds are that is just one thing though, where to get more?

Enter the official port shopping guide. Most cruise ships seem to have one. The port shopping expert will give a variety of lectures throughout the cruise. Their job is to promote those stores that affiliate themselves with the cruise lines, but in between their shameless promotion of said shops they do have some useful tidbits of information. You might learn about new products, such as clothing and other items that change colors in sunlight or are made of interesting materials such as bamboo. They will also tell you where to find these and many other things.

Jewelry though is normally the main focus of the port shopping talks. In fact some are just specifically talks about jewelry. You can learn all sorts of interesting things at these lectures. Some will tell you how the value of specific stones is determined, complete with handouts explaining all the details. You might get some useful tidbits of information such as the human eye can’t tell the difference between a 1 carat stone and one of say .85 carats, but the price goes way up when you hit that full carat so you can save a lot of money buying the .85 carat stone and still have the same look.

Tanzanite case in ship's jewelry shop

You also might learn about stones you may not have known existed had you not gone on a cruise. Alexandrite is an interesting stone that changes from red to green depending on if it is daylight or night. Tanzanite is the biggie of cruise shopping though. This violet or blue stone comes from only one mine in Tanzania (hence the name tanzanite.) Once there were three mines, but only one has any tanzanite left.

tanzanite & diamond necklace with tanzanite earrings

They are not kidding when they say the tanzanite rapidly increases in value. Just in the few years since I first learned of it at the port shopping talks on a Norwegian cruise it has gone way up. Bracelets that sold for about $500 at that time now sell for nearly $2000. The biggest lesson I learned from that is if you find something you want made from tanzanite, buy it when you see it because if you decide to think about getting it later it will cost a whole lot more.

free tanzanite earrings for attending jewelry lecture

To entice people to come to the jewelry/port shopping lectures, there is often the offer of something free. Which usually turns out to be some sort of card that you take to a store in port to retrieve said free item (where they can try to sell you something else). Again, as long as you just say no to buying more things, you can get that free item and walk out of the store without spending any money. Sometimes you can get additional cards for collecting even more free things by visiting the port shopper at their desk at a specified time. Just by attending a couple lectures and visiting a few of the shops offering free items at a couple ports, I got quite a collection of free things on my recent Carnival Caribbean cruise. If someone made the effort to go to all of the talks and all of the shops offering free things, they would have considerably more. Of course you do get nicer things if you actually buy stuff, and they do have some really good deals. Jewelry and liquor tend to have really good prices both on board and in port, due to their duty-free status as well as lower overhead costs.

Jewelry booth in St. Thomas

Some ports also have local handcrafted jewelry, which is often inexpensive as well as pretty. You can find things there made of stones you wouldn’t find anywhere else. In St. Thomas we found Larimar jewelry at a booth in a local market. Larimar is a blue stone from Dominica found in jewelry around the Caribbean.

Buying on board or from the cruise ship approved stores means you get a guarantee backed by the ship on whatever you purchase, so in the case of jewelry you know you get the real thing. You can often find lower prices in other random stores though, so if cost is more important to you than the guarantee they are good places to look.

Free Jewelry

Without making any real effort on my last cruise I collected three necklaces, two additional pendants, a charm bracelet, and a pair of earrings from Carnival approved stores. The three necklaces came from the cards they give everyone as they leave the ship. The earrings, bracelet and crystal pendant I got through the one jewelry lecture and one port shopping lecture I attended. The pearl pendant came from one visit to the port shopping expert’s desk. If I had opted to purchase one charm for $5, additional charms for the bracelet could have been collected free at each port. I also got a loose stone which can be set into a ring or something from walking past a random jewelry store who used that to entice people to come in. If I had put any effort into it, I could have collected much more.

free pendants with chains from inch of silver sale

I had no problem finding chains for the loose pendants. The ship had inch of gold and inch of silver sales with chains starting as low as $1.00 per inch. They also sold clasps to add to the chains.

If you have a specific stone in mind to buy, do your research before the cruise. Check websites or stores for items similar to what you would like to buy. If you know what the price is at home, then you know when you find a good bargain. Value of stones such as tanzanite is determined by cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. A better cut stone reflects more light, giving it more sparkle. Clarity refers to flaws in the stone, a clear stone having more value. Deeper color also makes any particular tanzanite more valuable whether it is deeper blue or deeper violet. Carat weight of course refers to the size, obviously increasing in value as the stones get larger.

All tanzanite used to get set in gold, mostly white gold, but some in yellow gold. Now though with the prices of both gold and tanzanite escalating, some places have started setting it in silver to lower the cost of some jewelry. Diamonds enhance the sparkle of the tanzanite and are often found set around it, which increases the value (and cost) of any piece of jewelry containing them.

Posted in Carnival, Liberty, Randoms, Shipboard Life | Tagged cruise, free, free jewelry, jewelry, shopping | 5 Comments

Tulum Mayan Ruins

Posted on December 3, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Liberty in Cozumel

Shortly after the Carnival Liberty docked in Cozumel, we walked briskly down the dock toward the passenger ferry tied to the next pier. Everyone with excursions on the mainland boarded for a journey to varying destinations, ours the Mayan ruins of Tulum.

ferry to Playa del Carmen

Once on the mainland, we boarded the bus bound for Tulum while other passengers found the appropriate busses for their chosen excursions. On board our guide for the day, Angel, took up the microphone. He had all sorts of interesting things to say.

He started with the beginning of tourism’s popularity on the Yucatan Peninsula, an area where nobody spoke English. He was the result of a program intended to solve that problem. Growing up, he’d had a variety of English teachers sent to the area from the US to teach local children English so they could work in the growing tourism industry. From that he discovered that not all English speakers sound alike. His teachers over the years came from various regions of the US, and had a variety of accents. The same with French, those from Quebec sounding nothing like people from France. And Spanish of course sounds quite different spoken by someone from Spain rather than Mexico. Through it all though, he managed to learn to speak English quite well, along with French and the Mayan and Spanish he already spoke.

phonetic translation of Mayan characters to our alphabet

Mayan Alphabet

He had two Mayan grandmothers, and said that much knowledge the Mayans once had was only known through passing it verbally from one generation to the next. The early Mayans had a written language from which characters translate phonetically to match our letters. Spanish conquistadors in their determination to convert everyone to their religion destroyed anything they thought might have significance to a religion other than their own so much of what the Mayans wrote got destroyed.

obsidian turtles at gift shop

On the way to the ruins, the bus stopped at a Mayan crafts center where they hoped tourists would help support the local economy. Locals carved some of the items on display there from a type of black obsidian that looks gold in sunlight. Angel said upon first sighting Tulum, the Spaniards thought they had found the golden city of El Dorado. When night fell, all that gold turned into black rocks.

Mayan calendar

Mayan calendars in a variety of sizes lined a large section of wall at the store. We would find none at Tulum, Angel explained, because they made them of wood so the Spaniards had burned the ones originally there. The circular Mayan calendar has 13 months, as they used lunar months following the cycles of the moon. 360 days of the year are covered around the outside, one for each degree of a circle. The middle depicts a person carrying a heavy burden, signifying the remaining 5 days. Each successive year starts at the next equinox, ¼ of the distance farther around the circle than the previous one, accounting for the extra time we now put into leap year.

Angel said the big scare about Mayans predicting the end of the earth in 2012 is like another Y2K scare from people who know nothing about them. Just like our calendars end each year and start the new year with a fresh calendar, so is it the end of an era in their more complicated long count calendar system. Not the end of the planet, just time to reset the calendar. Often articles about the Mayans predicting the end of the earth are accompanied by a photo of a circular calendar with a sun in the center. Which is an Aztec calendar, not Mayan.

Mayan sized gate

When the bus reached the ruins, we had the option of walking to the entrance or taking a tram for a small fee. The walkers actually beat those on the tram, probably because of the time it took to buy tickets and load people on. After gathering the group together again, he led us down a path. We watched other people walk through a tall gate in the wall. “We’re not going in that way,” Angel said. Turns out that gate got rebuilt later by taller people. He took us farther down the path to a gate in the original height built by the Mayans, who stood somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 feet tall. Though tall himself, he said his Mayan grandmothers are both very short.

Once inside, Angel seemed quite eager to impart his knowledge onto our group. Besides the information passed through generations of Mayans, he had also done a college thesis on them, and possessed a wealth of information not found other places. Some of what he said about Tulum seems contrary to most internet sites have to say about it.

Mayan Pyramids are not crypts like those in Egypt, no old mummies lurk inside. Angel said that Tulum was more of a place of worship than a city. The scholars, thinkers and mathematicians lived inside of its walls, the farmers on the outside. Though the farmers had the wealth, they did not have calendars. The scholars told them when to plant and when to harvest.

Mayan ruins at Tulum

Mayans had very advanced mathematics, using a binary system similar to the computers of today. A 4-sided Mayan pyramid would have 91 steps on each side. Add that to the bit on top for 365, the amount of degrees in a full circle. The idea of the pyramids came from their numbers, which written form grow higher as the number grows larger. The Mayan symbols representing very large numbers resemble a pyramid.

Temple at Tulum

Everything in the layout of Tulum had a meaning to the Mayans. Temples ran east/west while living areas ran north/south. The large temple now called the castle is placed with an open area between each side of the main center pyramid and the part built on each side. One side frames the sun at the summer solstice and the other at the winter solstice.

Mayan Baby

When standing facing the temple, you see a smaller structure on the left side. This building depicts a baby at the moment of birth just over its door. I think that is what people refer to as the descending god, but Angel said that building and the placement of the carving over the door had meaning in the representation of a Mayan woman giving birth, and a baby coming out of the darkness into the light. Birth and death as well as the summer and winter solstice in the whole structure all tied into the cycle of life.

The number five had significance to the Mayans. Their weeks had 5 days, they divided their lives into 5 stages, and they lived to the average age of 35. During the five days at the center of their calendar the people gathered inside the walls of Tulum to fast and worship. Tulum had sewers, necessary for a gathering of that size.

big-nosed Mayan masks

Quite advanced in many ways, the Mayans also had plastic surgery. They considered big noses most attractive, and re-sculpted theirs to start high on the forehead rather than between the eyes where noses naturally begin.

beach view at Tulum with Temple of the Winds in the distance

The Temple of the Winds warned the Mayans when hurricanes approached. It still works. The winds of Roxanne whistled through its strategically placed holes in 1995 when the storm reached hurricane force.

When Angel finished his talk, we all had free time to explore the ruins on our own or go down to the beach for awhile before catching the bus back to the ship. For ruins, Tulum is in pretty good shape. In Mayan, tulum means wall, and though the wall is a rarity among Mayan ruins, odds are it was not the original name of the place.

Chris and Liza went for a swim. They wore their suits under their clothes, which anyone wanting to swim on this tour should do. I had assumed we’d have a place to change. Other than walking back out to the restrooms near the tram stop by the entrance to the ruins, which we really didn’t have time for, there wasn’t. John never wanted to swim and didn’t bring a suit.

We took some pictures of the ruins and then checked out the shops. I really wanted some sort of jewelry made from the black obsidian that looks gold in sunlight. Just like the first shop we stopped at, none of these had any. Lots of knick knacks out of the obsidian, and jewelry out of other things, but no obsidian jewelry. One guy tried to sell me a pendant for $30. I talked him down to $10 and said if it turned gold in the sun I’d buy it. Walking out into the sunlight in front of his shop it stayed quite black. It stayed at his shop.

fish Chris saw snorkeling at Tulum

Chris brought his mask and snorkel and found a few fish to photograph. Most of the people got back to the bus and we began to wonder if he and Liza would make it. We felt quite relieved when we saw them coming, but then they didn’t get on. Turned out they’d asked if they had time to grab a fish taco before boarding, and though last on they did make it.

This tour pretty much takes the whole time in port. Book through the cruise line because if you don’t get back on time the boat only waits for their official tours. The price on the ship’s tour includes bus and ferry transportation as well as admission to the ruins, and costs far less than some private tours.

Temple of the Frescoes

More Adventures in Cozumel: Atlantis Submarine, Cave Snorkel, Palancar Reef Snorkel, Playa Mia Beach Park

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Liberty, Mexico, Shore Excursions | Tagged 2012, mayan alphabet, Mayan calendar, Mayan ruins, obsidian, photos, travel, Tulum | 8 Comments

Cozumel, Mexico

Posted on November 26, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Liberty in Cozumel, Mexico

Just off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula sits the island of Cozumel. The name comes from Mayan words meaning the land of swallows. At about 30 miles long and 9 miles wide, Cozumel is Mexico’s largest island. It has an average temperature of 80 degrees farenheit. Although a major tourist destination for divers, snorkelers, and cruise ship passengers, much of the island remains undeveloped. The island has some small Mayan ruins of its own, and sits close enough to Tulum and Coba to make day trips to those more impressive ruins possible. Tourists also enjoy Chankanaab National Park, whether diving on its sunken ship or visiting other attractions such as the gardens or wildlife sanctuary. Many enjoy swimming with the park’s dolphins, watching the sea lion show, or visiting the manatee exhibit.

Cruise ship passengers visiting the island have plenty of shore excursions to choose from. Cozumel has lots of opportunities to snorkel or dive, many of which include boat rides, beach time or swimming with stingrays. Horseback riding, parasailing, zip lines, or ATV’s offer more choices for island pastimes. Some guests prefer fishing, golfing, submarine rides or just shopping. Every cruise port has plenty of shops. Although the Mexican peso is the currency used there, most shops in or near cruise ship ports or where cruise ship excursions stop accept American dollars.

Cozumel belongs to the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Most of the island’s population lives in the main town, San Miguel de Cozumel, on the western shore. The highest point on this flat limestone island peaks at less than 50 feet above sea level. Centuries of erosion from seawater created deep water-filled inland sinkholes called cenotes. The top layer is freshwater from rain, with saltwater underneath. Cenotes link a vast network of underground galleries and passageways containing breathtaking formations including stalagtites and stalagmites.

Early Spanish explorers passed smallpox on to Cozumel’s resident Mayans, devastating their population. They also destroyed the Mayan temples which had existed on the island, once a place where Mayan women made a pilgrimage to their fertility god. Later pirates used the island as a safe harbor. During World War II Cozumel’s largest Mayan ruins were razed to make a runway. The current island population includes descendants of people who fled to the island in the mid 1800’s to avoid the war of the castes between the Mayans and people of European descent on the mainland. People from both sides of the civil war escaped to Cozumel. Most were devout Catholics, still the predominant religion of the region.

cruise ship dock in Cozumel

Walking up the dock from the Carnival Liberty, we came to the typical cruise ship shopping port. We couldn’t stop to look at anything because we had to catch the ferry waiting on the smaller dock. Everyone with excursions on the mainland boarded the ferry. After the ferry docked at Playa del Carmen, each person found the appropriate bus for their excursion. We chose to visit the beachside Mayan ruins of Tulum. Other options included the Coba Mayan ruins in the jungle, and some cave tours that included either swimming through caves or a 4 x 4 jeep tour. We saw some videos of the cave swimming on the return trip on the ferry. It looked like a lot of fun.

Chris & Liza at the Cruise Ship Port in Cozumel Mexico

We had just a small amount of time to spend at the shops by the cruise ship dock after returning from our excursion to Tulum. Ship’s time isn’t always the same as shore time, so the wise cruise ship passenger keeps their watch on ship time so as not to miss the boat. Passengers who board without watches never fear, the gift shop on board has plenty of inexpensive watches. Just about any watch costs far less than cab fare or a plane ticket to the next port.

Most cruises end up leaving someone behind somewhere. People often tend to miss the boat in Cozumel. Mostly those who have one too many at the bar and are not so alert when the time comes to leave. People who speak neither English nor the language of the port are also at risk. So are people on tours booked outside of the cruiseline. We left three people behind in Cozumel and two in Puerto Rico.

What happens to those who miss the boat? Often just before the scheduled departure time, the names of missing passengers get announced in hopes they will check in. On Carnival, if they don’t, the next step is to try and help them out. People from the ship will check their room for their passport. The safe is the first place they look, because most people keep it there. They have an agent on the dock waiting for the missing passengers with their passport in hand (assuming that the person brought it to begin with and the staff found it.) The agent will help them make arrangements for transportation to the next port, at that person’s own expense. It’s nice to know Carnival looks out for their guests, but it’s a whole lot cheaper not to miss the boat.

John having fun in the cruise ship port

More blogs about Cozumel: Tulum Mayan Ruins, Atlantis Submarine, Cave Snorkel, Palancar Reef Snorkel, Playa Mia Beach Park

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Liberty, Mexico, Ports of Call | Tagged Caribbean, Carnival, Cozumel, cruise ship passengers left behind, cruise ship ports, Mexico | 2 Comments

Carnival Funships 2.0

Posted on November 20, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Overlooking the Lido Deck, Carnival Liberty

In 1972, Carnival bought its first ship, the Mardi Gras, which began life as a the Empress of Canada. With that one refurbished ship they had a dream of starting a new era of fun and affordable cruising for everyone. On its maiden voyage out of Miami it……well Miami has no ice bergs, but it went aground on a sand bar. This could have ended Carnival before it even got started, but the owner decided to throw a big party on the lido deck. As other ships left port, their passengers watched people on the Mardi Gras having the time of their life. The Funships were born!

Through the years Carnival grew from a one ship cruise line to the largest cruise line of all. Now, nearly 40 years later, Carnival has begun Funships 2.0 upgrades starting with the Liberty. Carnival has teemed up with well known brands and celebrities to bring branding and improvements to both the entertainment and the food. With new training for DJ’s and comedians, upgrades for the shows, and a multitude of new spaces, the 2.0 upgrades mean more fun for everyone. Liberty was the first of 14 ships to get the new upgrades. Over the next 5-10 years other ships will have their turn, and all new ships will have the upgrades as well.

NEW SPACES

Guy's Burger Joint

Guy’s Burger Joint

On the Lido deck near the pool we found one of the most popular new eateries. There’s always a crowd at Guy’s Burger Joint when its open. People love it. The menu offers several burger choices including chili burgers and one with a patty made entirely of bacon, but many people just order the “straight up” regular Guy’s Burger.

Guy Fieri, 2006 winner of The Next Food Network Star, created the menu and personally trained the cooks for Guy’s Burger Joint. Between Guy’s and the Red Frog Rum Bar sits a kiosk of burger toppings. Guy’s is one of many free eateries passengers on the Liberty have to choose from.

There are no drink stations in the outside eating area, so anyone wishing to eat near Guy’s might want to pick up their iced tea, lemonade, coffee or tea inside Emile’s buffet before venturing to Guy’s to order the burger.

As non-beef eaters, John and I expected Guy’s Burger Joint to offer some sort of chicken, turkey, or veggie burger. We felt a bit of a letdown seeing the menu had no such options. We did suggest to the Maitre D’ that they add a veggie and either chicken or turkey burger option. He said he would pass that information on to higher management, although they cannot change the menu without Guy’s approval.

John decided to make his own substitute one day. He picked up some chicken at the Blue Iguana, where the workers happily accommodated his request for meat only. At Guy’s though, he had to plead his case like a lawyer, backed by the rest of the people in line, just to get them to give him a bun with cheese and some fries. They tried to insist he had to take the meat even though they had a tray of buns with cheese sitting right there. The backs of their shirts say Have it Guy’s way, not your way, and apparently they mean it.

Chris does eat beef so he gave the Guy’s burger a try. “It’s a good burger, but not more spectacular than some others I’ve had. A bit too salty,” he said. Actually we found much of the food on the Lido deck too salty for our taste, but we use far less salt than the average person so other people may not agree. The judges on any competitive Food Network cooking show continuously complain about wanting more salt on food that already has way more salt on it than we would ever use. On some of the how to cook shows, people put more salt in one dish than I’d use in several months. So I’m guessing the average person would not find any of the food too salty for their taste.

Blue Iguana Cantina

Blue Iguana Cantina

The Blue Iguana also sits near the Lido pool, opposite Guy’s. There is no extra charge for any of the food places on the Liberty except Harry’s Steak House on deck 10, Starbucks, and the Jardin Cafe. Blue Iguana offers a choice of tacos or burritos. For the burrito, pick a tortilla, choose your meat and beans and start adding the extras like rice, cheese, lettuce, veggies and things. Top with salsa, sour cream, and/or guacamole. Portions look a bit small on each item as they dish it up, but perhaps that is so that the burrito still rolls up after they are all added instead of being too fat and overstuffed to roll. Once you add all your toppings, it is plenty full and big enough.

There’s often a short line for the burritos, tacos normally have no waiting. They serve 2 tacos with a choice of several meats. They don’t start out with much else, but there’s a whole salsa bar with additional toppings. We’ve suggested they add some chips to the salsa bar as well for people who would just like chips and salsa. The tacos are a bit messy to eat, but taste quite good. The Blue Iguana also serves breakfast. I tried their delicious breakfast burrito one morning.

As with Guy’s, pick up your free drinks first because the outside eating area has no drink stations unless you want to buy something from one of the bars. It does have swirls soft ice cream stations next to both Guy’s and the Blue Iguana though.

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

The Blue Iguana tequila bar sits next to the Blue Iguana cantina on the Lido deck. It opens later in the day than the Red Frog Rum Bar. The Blue Iguana hosts a Mexican Fiesta one night each cruise. The Blue Iguana cantina stays open for the fiesta, and Emile’s serves an upgraded Mexican buffet that day as well.

Red Frog Rum Bar

Red Frog Rum Bar

One of the new Funship 2.0 upgrades, the Red Frog Rum Bar, sits on the Lido deck, next to Guy’s Burger Joint and across the pool from the Blue Iguana Bar and Cantina. The Red Frog has some other alcohol besides rum, and has the ship’s own Thirsty Frog beer on tap. According to my son Chris, the beer connoisseur, thirsty frog is the best beer on the ship. The Red Frog opens at 8:00 am. The Red Frog hosts a Caribbean party each cruise. Musicians staged at each bar alternate playing times throughout the evenings.

Alchemy Bar

Alchemy Bar

Located on the promenade deck near the dance club and piano bar, the alchemy bar serves a host of interesting concoctions from its trained mixologists. Passengers sometimes have the option of creating their own potion to drink.

Hot & Cool Nightclub

Hot & Cool Night Club

The former disco got a makeover and reopened as the Hot and Cool nightclub. It has different sorts of music starting at different hours to give people of varying musical tastes a chance to dance to their preferred music. The music each night is tailored to the taste of the crowd in attendance within the scheduled theme. Passengers under 18 are not allowed during nightclub hours, but may have their own party scheduled there earlier in the day sometime during the cruise.

Punchliner Stage

Punchliner Comedy

Plans for the punchliner comedy club include having George Lopez train and mentor young comedians for the Punchliner Comedy show. It is currently open some nights, normally with a few time options for the 1/2 hour shows. Several different comedians come and go during the cruise. Some evenings offer family friendly shows early and most nights have late night adults only shows for passengers who enjoy a raunchier act. Photography is not allowed during the shows. Eventual plans include a comedy brunch.

Stage Shows

The Funships 2.0 upgrade also brings changes to the main stage shows in the Venetian Lounge. Carnival now flies comedians and other performers in and out mid cruise to upgrade the quality and increase the variety of their stage shows. We saw an excellent comedy juggling performance with spectacular tricks by Edge, He did some amazing stuff, but unfortunately photography is not allowed during any of the shows.

Serenity Adults Only Deck

Serenity

A quiet comfortable retreat for the adults on board, the serenity decks offer plush deck chairs, hot tubs, and cushioned hammocks behind a no-kids-allowed fence. Located on decks 12 and 14 (somehow they seem to have forgotten to include deck 13) these decks also offer quite an excellent view. Sitting in the hot tub, one can see over the top of the ship to whatever scenery the current location of the ship has to offer. People (including us) loved this space.

EA Sports Bar

EA Sports Bar

The EA Sports Bar is another new branded space. Watch whatever is current in the sporting world in comfort whether it is football, baseball, or even the world series of poker. This bar has the Thirsty Frog beer on tap.

Cherry on Top

Cherry On Top

This colorful shop sells everything from m&m’s to chocolate mice. It also has a small collection of sunscreen products and other non-food items. They can help celebrate special occasions with cabin decorating or party arrangements. Welcome aboard gifts or presents for other occasions can be ordered online pre-cruise. They also can send flowers or other gift items to passengers.

Behind the Scenes

Carnival’s 2.0 upgrades don’t stop with the new and remodeled spaces. More 2.0 upgrades happen behind the scenes as well. Starting from the very moment the guests step onboard the ship. Where a piano player or other musicians used to play set scores, now a DJ reacts to or with boarding guests. If a wedding party comes onboard, he can play wedding music. If guests come with musical requests, he can grant them. It’s not just random DJ’s. The new program includes training with DJ Irie of the Miami Heat.

Entertainment received upgrades as well. The production shows by the crew’s entertainment staff have new and better sets. Carnival is also making an effort to bring in higher quality entertainers for the nights in between the production shows. The entertainers used to stay on a ship for long periods of time, but now they may not even stay for an entire cruise, but rather fly out at a port stop and someone new comes in. This gives passengers more variety and access to quality acts by guest entertainers who don’t live on the ship for months at a time. It’s better for the entertainers as well since they can spend more time at home.

Coming Attractions

More planned improvements include teaming up with Haasbro for game show style contests the passengers can participate in and comedian training done personally by George Lopez.

Posted in Carnival, Cruise Food, Liberty, Shipboard Life | Tagged Carnival, Carnival Funships 2.0, cruise, cruise ships, fun, travel | 3 Comments

Carnival Cruises Chocolate Melting Cake

Posted on November 12, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Cruise’s Chocolate Melting Cake

Food is a huge part of every cruise ship experience. Of course, just about everyone loves dessert. People love some desserts more than others. Carnival has a dessert so popular random people talk about it on facebook. They love it, and can’t wait to cruise again to taste it one more time. Warm chocolate cake with the center all gooey and melty. Mmmm, what’s not to love? People like this dessert so much that instead of just appearing once on the dessert menu during a cruise, it has become Carnival’s signature dessert available as one of the dessert choices every night. Another great dessert from Carnival is the Bitter & Blanc Brioche Bread Pudding. I have a gluten-free version of the chocolate melting cake in a different blog.

I discovered the chocolate melting cake through conversations on Carnival’s facebook page. At the time I had awhile to go before my cruise when I could finally taste this marvel for myself.

Finally time came to embark on a Caribbean cruise on the Liberty. First night’s dinner I tried the chocolate melting cake. Warm and chocolaty with a not-quite set center that oozes chocolate. They must make thousands of them every week for another horde of hungry vacationers. I ordered it again another night, but that time the center was close to cooked through so it wasn’t as good. Lest any would-be melting cake makers try to overbake their melting cakes, don’t. Overcooking takes all the melty goodness away and it just becomes yet another ordinary chocolate cake. However, if you do accidentally overbake it, you can redeem them by poking a hole in the middle and filling it with hot fudge or other chocolate ice cream sauce.

I didn’t just try the cake, I got the recipe. For all the chocolate melting cake lovers, or those would like to become melting cake lovers, here it is:

Carnival Cruise Line’s Chocolate Melting Cake

7oz semi-sweet chocolate

7oz butter (1/2 cup + 6 1/2 tablespoons)

6 fresh eggs

3oz sugar (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)

4oz flour (1 cup)

Melt chocolate and butter. (I use a double boiler.) Mix half the eggs with all the sugar and whisk for a few minutes, then add flour. Add the rest of the eggs. Blend egg mixture with melted chocolate mixture. Pour into 8 ramekins cups. Bake at 200 degrees C (390 Degrees F) for 15 – 20 minutes. Do not overbake. Their given time is longer than it has ever taken any I’ve made. Cake is done when the outsides are cooked through and the middle remains somewhat gooey. If you look at them in the oven, it should look done around the edges with a darker shiny not-quite-done spot in the middle. The bigger the shiny spot, the more melty goodness in the center of your cake, so cook it until the shiny spot looks about the size you want the melty center to be. Although Carnival’s recipe does not mention dusting the top with a bit of powdered sugar, they do serve them that way. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Makes 8 servings.

I tried this recipe at home and baking them the 15 minutes at the low end of the range in Carnival’s recipe cooked them all the way through with no wonderful melty center. Baking 13 minutes they turned out pretty well. To test for the best baking time for your oven and the size of dish you are using you could try baking just one. Start with a fairly low baking time like 7 or 8 minutes. If the top has stopped looking too doughy at that time, take it out and see what the center looks like. If the top still looks too doughy give it another minute or two. When you find the right time for your preferred doneness then bake the rest. It can vary so be sure to check the tops for the dark spot in the center that tells you the outside is done, but the middle still gooey.

They are better underbaked than overbaked. Extra melty deliciousness in the center tastes much better than none, though it does need at least some cake part around the edge. They also taste great topped with whipped cream instead of ice cream. I even tried making them with half as much butter to cut down on fat and calories and they came out fine that way too.

You can make these ahead of time and then put them in the refrigerator until you want to bake them. They’ll even keep in there overnight so you can bake some one night and the rest the next if the recipe makes more than you want to eat at one time. You usually need to add a minute or two to the bake time with cold dough.

Carnival's chocolate melting cake recipe

Baked at home, 13 minutes

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2011

Posted in Carnival, Cruise Food, Liberty, recipes | Tagged baking, Carnival, Carnival Cruises Chocolate Melting Cake, Chocolate Melting Cake, recipe, special dessert | 11 Comments

Carnival Liberty – Before the Cruise

Posted on November 5, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Chris Photographing Destiny Leaving Miami from Balcony of Liberty

February, 2011: We’ve tried the late booking from a cheap site, so this time we went with the early booking from Carnival cruise line’s own site. Well actually through phone and email with cruise line personnel. Always looking for a new way to save money. We did look at Sky Auction, where we found our Holland America Caribbean cruise so cheap last year. This early, they did not have rooms so cheap, but they did offer room choice, which they had not on the cheap one. Without our media discount, Sky Auction would have been slightly less, but besides the room assistance for relatives, by booking directly through the cruise line we will be able to take advantage of any rate reductions that may come along between now and when the ship sails.

Looking at the Liberty’s deck plans, we saw a few rooms at either the bow or stern ends listed as the same class as those around them, but with either much larger balconies or slightly larger rooms and balconies. We tried to book one, but even this early they were already booked. Wow, must have to book as soon as the schedule comes out to get one of those.

This time we went with the 2 week option where you tie two one-week cruises together to make it two. Holland America calls that a collector’s voyage. I haven’t found a name for it at Carnival yet. Even though we will have to return to the starting port midway through, we felt this was our best option for this cruise as we can have other family members join us that may not want to cruise for the full 2 weeks. My son and his wife have already booked for the first week. Carnival was kind enough to give them the cabin across the hall, and to extend the media discount to them as well. We wanted the luxury of the veranda cabin this time.

We normally go cheap and book the inside room, but the one time we did have a veranda on a Holland America poker cruise to Mexico, we loved it. I spent a lot of time sitting out there with a good book. On our previous Carnival Mexico cruise with an inside cabin I found quiet nooks near windows for reading. Now I find if I have any spare time away from the multitude of activities the ship offers, the computer gets a lot more of it than books do.

April 2011: We got our tax return and paid off the cruise. Then all we have left is plane tickets and shore excursions. And maybe a hotel if we stay a night in Miami. I’ve looked at the shore excursions a bit. So many interesting sounding things to do including zip lines, pyramids, and snorkeling. I’m particularly intrigued by the cave tubing.

May 2011: When we took the cruise on the Spirit, I discovered their laundry rooms, which they call launderetts. I have not seen them on any other cruise line that I have sailed on so far. Since this is a 2-week cruise I would find a launderette quite handy as it costs a fortune to have the crew do laundry, so without it we would either need to pack a lot or hand wash things in our bathroom sink. I posted a question on Carnival’s facebook wall asking if anyone knew if the Liberty had the launderettes, and got replies back both from former passengers and Carnival staff stating that all of their ships have them. Good to know, now we can pack lighter.

June 2011: Still intrigued by the cave tubing, I did a little research. I posted a question on Carnival’s facebook page asking for info from people who had done that excursion. The comments ranged from it sucked to best excursion ever. They ran about half and half as to whether they loved it or found it somewhat OK. So I did some further research online and found there are multiple tour companies offering that tour. Again the comments varied from you save money and get more freedom and possibly a longer tour booking on your own, to book through the ship because tours in Belize have a reputation for returning guests to the ship late. Of course if you return late the ship does not wait, except for official tours booked through the ship. The cost of transportation to the next port would far exceed any difference in cost between booking through the ship and self-booking.

August 2011: John mentioned fishing in Belize, but the rest of us are still mulling over the cave tubing idea. A longer, better, cheaper ride sure sounds good, missing the boat doesn’t. Perhaps they have more than one tour per day, in which case if we booked the earliest one we might be OK. I guess I need to start on the registration process so I can get the exact schedule and see how long we stay in Belize.

Horses pretending to swim at Half Moon Cay

One comment in particular on one of the cave tubing reviews worried me. The person praised how the guides’ greatest concern was safety of the guests. So I wonder if they act as annoying as the horse guides and life guards at Half Moon Cay. “Safety” gone awry there pretty much ruined our day on our last cruise, except for the parasailing which had wonderful boat guys.

Parasailing by the Holland America Westerdam

Parasailing at Half Moon Cay

I did find out that the cave tubing tour involves a long bus ride and a hike through the forest to get to the river. The tubing part involves a relatively shallow stream, and part of the 45 minute or so tube ride takes place outside of the cave. The guests remain linked together throughout the ride as well. At least now if I choose this excursion I have some idea of what to expect. I’m going on this cruise with 3 other people so at least it will be a group decision.

July 2011: I keep seeing comments on Carnival’s facebook page about the chocolate melting cake served on Carnival ships. No indecision on this one, they all love it. Can’t wait to give it a try.

October 2011: Chris, Liza and I have pretty much decided to do the cave tubing, booked through an outside source. We might add a zip line to that as the combo tour there is less than just the cave tour through the ship and the website says that particular company always returns guests to the ship on time. The boat is also there pretty much all day so if we book an early tour we shouldn’t have a problem (I hope). I’ve never booked a tour through an outside source before, this should be interesting. John is still up in the air as to whether he wants to fish or come with us. The cave tubing excursion involves a hike through the jungle, and odds are we’ll do some walking at other ports too, so I am now equipped with new Merrill shoes. Everyone who has them says are the best.

merrell shoes

I found some interesting news on facebook recently. Carnival has big plans to upgrade many of their ships to what they call Funship 2.0. Liberty gets renovated first, and is in drydock now, so we will be among the first to experience the new upgrades.

I’ve pretty well finished with the online registration for the cruise now, and we have our flights booked. Now we just need to print out our cruise documents and luggage tags and book a hotel for the night before the cruise since we arrive in Miami the evening before the boat leaves. We’ve recently joined a condo travel club, which promises big savings on most travel needs, so we’ll get to test them out with our Miami hotel. We’ll get to stay in timeshares for less than the people who own them as well as discounts on hotels, camping, resorts, etc, and most importantly, CRUISES!!!

Not long now until our cruise. The Liberty launched today with all the new upgrades. I can’t wait to see them. I made reservations for the cave tubing in Belize with an outside company. Something new to try. They asked for a cash payment after the tour and said if it rains or something and we decide not to go we just don’t show up at the meeting point.

We’ve done the random tours that hover near where passengers disembark waiting for people with no plans before, but never actually booked something not through the cruiseline. We’ve also looked through shore excursion options at other ports and think that the ruins of Tulum at Cozumel look interesting.

Posted in Carnival, Liberty | Tagged Carnival, cruise planning, facebook, funship 2.0, Liberty | Leave a comment

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Muffins

Posted on October 29, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

gluten free coconut lime muffin

Awhile ago I wrote a blog about coconut lime muffins, a recipe inspired by the best muffins I ever ate. One morning while cruising on Safari Quest of American Safari Cruises , on a mission to test the itinerary for InnerSea Discoveries, the chef served coconut lime muffins for breakfast.

Long after the cruise, I could not stop thinking about those muffins. Wanting to taste once again the best muffins I ever ate, I started with a basic muffin recipe and experimented until I came up with muffins I liked. I should have asked for the original recipe, but since I didn’t it was the best I could do.

Later I tried a sugarless version. These were not as good, but sugarless things never are. But still, a large and ever-growing group got left out. A lot of people have to eat gluten free these days, and finding good gluten-free recipes can get tricky. I hear from members of my extended family who have to eat gluten free just how hard they try.

For this gluten free recipe, I started with the last rendition of my regular coconut lime muffins, the rich version of the basic muffin recipe I began with when I made them, and a bread recipe from a co-worker on a gluten free diet who bakes his own bread. I haven’t tried his bread, but it looks a lot better than the stuff they sell in stores. If he hadn’t said it was gluten free, I’d have thought it just looked like really good bread.

I thought my gluten free muffins turned out very well. They might even be the best of the three. Perhaps due to the extra butter and sugar. Once cooled, they come nicely off the cupcake papers, and they taste moist and delicious, not dry as gluten free breads often are. I think the trick is in several key ingredients.

My friend from work mentioned using a variety of flours. I found Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all-purpose baking flour, which has a combination of several flours in one bag. Since these are coconut lime muffins I also added coconut flour. The next key ingredient is xanthan gum, which my co-worker uses in his bread. It helps to bind the ingredients together, which is what gluten normally does.

I added a couple tablespoons of butter to counteract the tendency toward dryness. For those on dairy free diets, margarine or a couple extra tablespoons of oil could substitute for the butter. The last key ingredient is a bit of vinegar. I noticed that my friend had it in his bread recipe. It reminded me that while on a Holland America cruise I went to a cooking demonstration. The chef there made apple strudel, and mentioned vinegar as the key to holding the dough together while he stretched it ever longer and thinner.

The last important thing is adding plenty of liquid. The coconut flour specifically said to add more when using it. The dough did seem runny at first, but thickened up before I even got it all spooned into the muffin cups.

After I finished taking photos I tried one. It tasted so good I skipped dinner and just ate muffins. What, there’s nobody else here today to tell me what I should eat. You definitely don’t have to be on a gluten free diet to enjoy these tasty muffins.

The next day I took some over to a neighbor. She said they tasted very moist and delicious. Some gluten free baked goods dry out quickly. These were slightly drier than the previous day, but still plenty moist and quite good. She shared with her son, who is on the gluten free diet and said these muffins tasted so good he’d like to make them. They both said they did not taste gluten free at all.

By the way, nobody pays me to put in a plug for Bob’s Red Mill, they don’t have a clue I even exist. I just like their products.

Some other gluten-free recipe ideas from this blog are: chocolate melting cake, brownies, rollable pie crust, and pavlova.

ingredients

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Muffins

1 3/4 cups Bob’s all purpose gluten free baking flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

3 teaspoons xanthan gum

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 heaping cup flaked coconut

zest of one lime

2 teaspoons gluten free vanilla

1 beaten egg

1 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup lime juice

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vinegar

Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake papers and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Zest a lime and squeeze out the juice. Add more lime juice to make 1/3 cup.

Stir together in a bowl all dry ingredients plus the coconut and lime zest (first 8 ingredients.) Add everything else and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Never overstir muffins. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Just keep piling more on each muffin until the batter runs out. Sprinkle tops with coconut for toasted coconut topping.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

mmmm, muffins

Posted in Cruise Food, recipes | Tagged coconut lime muffins, gluten free, gluten free coconut lime muffin recipe, gluten free muffins, lactose free muffins, recipe | 3 Comments

Bohol, Philippines

Posted on October 22, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

snorkel boat in Palawan

Chris and his wife Liza continue their vacation in the Philippines, diving and snorkeling in Bohol.

Vest Pension House

The morning after leaving Anilao, we flew to Bohol. There we stayed at the Vest Pension House. The airport was a little way away from the hotel so we hired a tricycle to take us to the hotel. They will try to rip off unsuspecting travelers at the airport. Most were trying to charge us 500 pesos but we found one that charged us 25 pesos. Later we found out that if we had told the hotel our arrival time they would have picked us up for free.

tricycle - common transportation in the Philippines

Again once we arrived we had lunch in the dining area where we would be having many of our meals. This hotel was not as difficult to get in and out of as the Outrigger. To do anything you had to go somewhere else to do it so we did eat other places for about half our meals when we stayed here. The food was great, especially the mango float. It’s kinda like a layered cake with mango. It was so good we ordered it several times. The room was about the same size as our room in Outrigger Resort but nicer. The staff was also very friendly. The only bad thing about staying there is that it wasn’t close to anything. It was over half an hour by tricycle to get to the beach about 10 minutes to get to the mall and if you wanted to go to places like the Chocolate hills or Danio Adventure Park it was an hour or more by van.

Chocolate Hills

The chocolate hills are a geographic formation of nearly symmetrical mounds of limestone covered in grass, which turns brown in the dry season. Seen in some photos, they almost resemble a row of thatched roofs protruding from a village of underground huts.

Chris at the Chocolate Hills

After about half an hour in the tricycle from our hotel we would arrive at Alona beach. It’s a very busy place with many restaurants bars merchants of different kinds and of course dive shops. There are also many hotels (most with dive shops) on the beach. If we were to go back we might spend a little extra to stay in Serra Madre on the beach. We booked all my dives through them and got a deal for it. I did 8 dives while we were in Bohol on three different days.

school of trevally fish

On two of the days we went to a smaller island nearby and did our first two dives near but outside of a marine sanctuary there. I saw a sea turtle on three out of four dives I did at that island and also saw the largest school of fish I have ever been in the water with. There were thousands of jack fish in a school that seemed to be passing by for 5 minutes before it reached the end. I also saw a lot of nudibranchs around that island.

Where's the head? (look closely)

One day we went snorkeling on a boat that took us to the same island where I’d gone diving. They didn’t tell us that it’s illegal to snorkel inside of the area marked off with a line of buoys (but the guides that take you to the edge of the sanctuary are standing on any coral large enough to support their weight). I got caught by an official who told me to swim over to a large boat while I was snorkeling in the sanctuary. Once on the large boat the guy in charge told me they were going to take me back to the mainland to pay a 1000 peso fine (just over $20) then I would be free to go. I had to talk to him for about 10 minutes before I could convince him that I needed to get my wallet and wife before I went off to pay a fine and he let me swim back to the boat I came on. Once I got back to the boat and told our boat man what happened he said “don’t pay.” He called my wife back to the boat, pulled up the anchor and we left. For a few minutes we thought the big boat was following us but it turned out they were just leaving with a lot of people to fine at the same time we were.

sea urchin

When we headed off to our next destination that boat kept going to the main island. We went to an even smaller sandy island kinda in between Bohol and the island we had been snorkeling on. I tried snorkeling there but there wasn’t much to see. Once you got more then about a foot and a half deep there was sea grass and I only saw some urchins in the sea grass. If you got past the sea grass the water was more cloudy in that area then it had been anywhere else I have been in the water in the Philippines so I couldn’t see the bottom very well. We walked around the island and found many starfish and people selling urchins to eat right out of the shell. We passed on the urchin eating.

starfish

I did some snorkeling right off of Alona beach but I was always cautious while snorkeling there. There was a lot of boat traffic. There was some coral to find if you went out past the sea grass but in the sea grass I found many sea urchins of different kinds including some very large and colorful ones. There was a good amount of starfish to see there too. I found a sea snake once too. Usually sea snakes are not interested in people but this one took an interest in me. It started following me around and if I faced it it would swim around me. We swam around each other while I moved back away for five to 10 minutes before it stopped following me. I like seeing sea snakes but I’m a little worried when they are as interested in me as I am in them.

rose coral

For the dives I did that didn’t go out to the nearby island we took a small speed boat to dive sites near Alona beach. There are marine sanctuaries on either side of the beach and as long as you don’t go inside the buoys you’re allowed to dive there. I saw more nudibranch and corals and many fish. I saw a few moray eels too.

coral

Sounds like they had a great trip. After reading Chris’ blogs and seeing all his pictures, I’d like to visit the Philippines too.

Philippine carabao, a type of Asian water buffalo and the national animal of the Philippines

Posted in Guest Blogs, Uncategorized | Tagged Chocolate Hills, coral, fish, Philippines, photos, scuba diving, snorkeling, travel | 5 Comments

Diving and Snorkeling, Anilao, Philippines

Posted on October 15, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Philippines

My son Chris recently took a trip to the Philippines with his wife, Liza, who is from there. He was kind enough to share the story of his trip in a guest blog. He sent photos from both that visit and an earlier one. Some of the places in the photos have an ethereal beauty almost bordering on magical.

Nature's Surreal Beauty

My wife and I spent just under three weeks in the Philippines. The first part of the trip we spent in Anilao with her family. At the end of the trip just the two of us went to Bohol. Both places have great diving, as do many other places around the country. On a previous trip we dove at Boracay and Coron.

firedancer in Boracay

towel animals found somewhere other than a cruise ship

When we arrived at the Outrigger Resortin Anilao, my wife was immediately upset by the long stairway leading down to the hotel. She worried about her 68-year-old mother going up and down that many stairs. It seems she worried about the wrong person though because it turned out to be her older son who actually got tired walking up all those stairs.

lizard

We checked in and had lunch in an open restaurant where we ate all our meals during our stay. The food tasted great and the view was even better. At night small lizards ran around on the roof. A mango tree growing behind the restaurant occasionally dropped a mango on the roof with a loud thump.

Our room had plenty of space and was right next to the water. We happened to be there at just the right time for what I believe was a small shrimp spawning time. Every morning enough small shrimp washed up on the beach outside to turn the water pink. By evening they died and turned white. It was interesting to see, but unpleasant to smell.

The hotel provided many activities for guests to do including a swimming pool and a pool table. They had kayaks, paddle boats, snorkel and scuba gear for rent and life jackets free to use.

lionfish

Many small corals made up the most part of the coral just off the rocky beach at the hotel. Some areas of coral had a bit of damage, but still a good variety of life to view and probably the most lion fish of any single area I have ever seen. I did three beach dives there and although not the best diving I did during my trip, it was the cheapest. All the other diving required a boat to get to the dive site. Here I could do beach dives and only needed to hire a guide and a tank. (I always travel with my scuba gear.) It was still much better than the mud holes I dive in at home in Texas.

Liza snorkling

One day we did hire the boat and took all the family to a nearby beach for snorkeling. They feed the fish at this snorkeling site and you can feed the fish too. There were many fish to see but everyone learned the fish are not careful about what they eat and if you have a handful of bread in the water they will bite your hand to get at it. The parrot fish are one of the best looking fish but they had the worst bite. Their natural food is algae that grows on the rocks and coral and they are able to take a bite out of hard coral to get it. No one got seriously hurt but there were a few sore fingers for the people who didn’t keep the bread above the water.

parrot fish

I also hired a boat and spit the fee with another person staying in the hotel one day for diving. We did two dives around a nearby small island called Ligpo Island. It’s just big enough for the Ligpo Point hotel that sits on it. It had some great diving around it with better sea fans then Yapik in Boracay that is known for it’s sea fans and the second dive was on a different side of the island where it was a bit shallower. It had the most soft coral and some of the largest soft corals and barrel sponges I have ever seen. For our last dive we went to the same place we went a few days earlier for snorkeling but just a bit deeper. The area just past snorkeling range had the most giant clams I have ever seen in one place. I have seen bigger ones in Australia but there you would see one or two on a dive and in this spot I saw about 30.

soft coral

All to soon our time in Anilao was over though and we took a van back to Manila where we would catch our plane to Bohol. On the way back we stopped for lunch at Gerril’s grill overlooking Mt. Taal. It’s an active volcano that sits inside of a lake that is actually a larger volcano. At the time there were tourist advisories saying that Mt. Taalwas becoming more active no one was allowed on the mountain. As far as I know there hasn’t been an eruption sense our visit though.

yes this is a starfish

undersea pillar

Posted in Guest Blogs, Uncategorized | Tagged diving, Philippines, photos, travel, vacation | 5 Comments

Cruise Stories

Folding Carnival Cruise’s Easy Towel Seal

How to Find Free Jewelry on a Cruise

Tulum Mayan Ruins

Cozumel, Mexico

Carnival Funships 2.0

Carnival Cruises Chocolate Melting Cake

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2011

Carnival Liberty – Before the Cruise

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Muffins

Bohol, Philippines

Diving and Snorkeling, Anilao, Philippines

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