Yes, Marlene and I will be embarking on another cruise in just over a week. This is a 6-night cruise on the Carnival Paradise, going to several ports in the western Caribbean Sea, including Belize. We plan to take a rare shore excursion in Belize to do some tubing through caves.
The three ports are:
- Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Honduras
- Belize City, Belize
- Cozumel, Mexico
While I am not a fan of Belize City – it is a third-world armpit – the country of Belize is beautiful I am looking forward to the cave tubing excursion. The other two stops – Cozumel and Roatan – also rank high on my list of favorite Caribbean destinations. It should be a fun cruise. We follow the cruise with a one-week driving vacation.
Because this is both a cruise and an auto trip I will give it a trip designation: CV1 for “first combo vacation.” It is certainly not my first cruise that has an auto component, but it is the first one with such a long one.
The driving route for the CV1 is shown here. We start by driving to Tampa to board the ship (via Cape Coral FL where I have a medical appointment). We will park the car near the cruise terminal. When we return we have a very long day of driving up to Pigeon Forge TN. Partly because I wanted a break in the middle of this leg and partly because I wanted to take a route that avoided Atlanta, I decided to go via Savannah GA. After 3 nights in Pigeon Forge we will drive to Acworth GA to attend the high school graduation of Marlene’s grandson. Then we go to Orlando FL for one night to visit a friend, then two nights in Coral Springs FL to visit Marlene’s brother. Then back home.
13 nights (6 on the ship, 7 on land) and about 1,900 driving miles.