Belize and Cozumel

 This was our third time in Belize and we have never gotten off the ship.  It's a tender boat ride which I thought we might do this time, but the weather was not great, so we stayed aboard and I went to the spa (which my travel journals says I have done each time we went to Belize)

 Cozumel had good weather and many ships, although not as many as when we were there two years ago.Click here  First came Oasis of the Seas---one of the HUGE ships--compare the balconies with Crown Princess below to judge size.  That open area is Central Park which interior rooms have balconies to.

 Soon, a Carnival ship came and parked beside us.  Look at the balconies on that ship---definitely older.  The painted over symbol on the side intrigued us.  This ship was designed to be a no smoking ship, but that didn't work out as well as Carnival had hoped.  Apparently smokers are gamblers and drinkers, too, so it was more profitable to allow some smoking in the bars and casinos.

Mexico and Belize have had some security issues with gang violence.  When on the Disney cruise in November, a Mexican military boat escorted us to port (see below).  This banner on the side might have been in every port since I saw it in Galveston, also (and, I don't consider it a particularly dangerous place).