The water along Belize is very shallow. Because of this the Cruise ships have to drop anchor 3 miles away from shore and everyone takes a 15 minute tender to shore. We were able to get right onto a tender just as it was about to pull away. And then we were on our way.
After our long ride we finally made it to shore. We came to shore to see if we could find something to buy. However since we did most of our shopping already in Cozumel we didn't exactly know what we were looking for. Kiera has gotten a new purse on our last 2 cruises so we thought maybe she could find one here. Especially since many people said that Belize was the place to go if you want a fake purse. I thought there'd only be a handful of shops selling them. So needless to say I was amazed when every single shop in the Cruise area was selling them.
I had heard the Belize was the place to go for knockoff purses. However I didn't know that the place would be knockoff city. I have never seen so much fake items in one location in my life. And the thing I got the biggest kick out of was that they would really try and pass it off as the real thing here. For example this was the first time i've ever seen fake Oakley sunglasses that have Oakley tags on them. To take it a step further they were even locked in an Oakley sunglasses case. I also laughed at the Hard Rock Cafe Belize shirts when there isn't a Hard Rock there. We looked at almost ever shop we came to that was selling purses. And although the prices were good and pretty much each shop and women buying purses like crazy, Kiera never was able to find one that she liked so she ended up not getting one on this trip.
As I mentioned earlier we were strongly encouraged (by not only cruisecritic.com but also the cruiseline itself) to not venture out of the Cruise terminal on our own. Only leave it if you are with an excursion or tour guide that you booked prior to the cruise. I guess Belize City can be a pretty scary place. Even scarier then Jamaica (which we didn't think could happend lol). The country is very poverty stricken and because of that the city has alot of shady people. Most of the best excursions take you out of Belize City which once your out of the city the country is very pretty and the people very nice (I really, really wish we could have gotten out of the city). I was very shocked though with how many people outside the gates were yelling at us trying to get us to come take a tour with them. These guys where everywhere. Holding up signs, climbing walls, peaking thru holes in the fence trying to get you to take a tour with them. I'm sorry but if you have to go to those type of extremes I don't feel comfortable going with you.
Needless to say it didn't take long before we had walked thru almost all of the Cruise terminal shopping area. Kiera was able to find some cute baby girl dresses where she got two of them for $5 (we didn't know what we were having yet). We then proceeded to the other side of the shopping area where they had some more shops and eating areas. They also had an area that had some Mayan writting on the pillers which was pretty cool.
After walking around, resting, walking around some more we decided that we were almost ready to go back to the ship. I decided to grab a Belize made Coke first though and our postcard before we headed back first. We didn't notice as the weather was nice the whole time we were on land. However as we started to head back to the Tenders we noticed that there were some very dark clouds out where the Carnival Dream was anchored. So dark in fact that you couldn't even see the Dream sitting out there like you could when we first came to port.
We loaded on the Tender and we were soon on our way back to the Dream. What started out at the sunny calm port area slowly turned more and more yucky. The weather got worse the furter away from shore we would get. The waves got ruffer and then the rain started. This prompted the workers to quickly try to close off all the windows as we were all starting to get wet with the rain blowing into the boat. There was a little girl that looked about 2 though that seemed to love the rain blowing in as she kept laughing each time the rain would blow in and she would try to eat it. It was so cute to watch her.
With all windows closed we continued on towards where the ship was at. But not long later the tender stopped again as the workers proclaimed. "We're Lost. We can't find the ship". The fog was getting thicker, the rain was coming down faster and harder, and the waves were getting bigger. I won't lie that it was kinda scary for a minute. Those who were sitting outside in the back of the boat had now climbed inside the boat and a couple of the workers had climbed outside to try and help guide the driver and find the Carnival Dream.
After wandering for an additional 10 minutes they started cheering. We could finally see the Dreams funnel thru the Fog. We found the ship. We promptly pulled up the the ship and were more the ready to get off of the tender boat. The ride took nearly twice as long as we were lost in the storm and many of us were now soaking wet from the rain. But it was nice to step foot back on the Dream.
The waters in Belize are absolutly beautiful. Especially after the storm cleared out. With how shallow the waters are you find them just as beautiful as you would at shore. Except your in the middle of the ocean with water completly surrounding you. The color was unreal and so amazing to see in person. The pictures really don't do it justice. Also leaving Belize was amazing as we spent 2 hours weaving in and around a bunch of smaller islands surround by the same gorgous water. Some of the islands looked like they had private homes on them. Likely owned by some very rich celebraties.
So what were our thoughts on Belize. Well unfortunatly it was our least favorite port of the cruise. Of course I credit that only to the fact that its the only port where we didn't really do anything. Yeah the lost boat ride was fun but other then looking at knock off shop after shop there wasn't anything else that we did. I'd love to make it back to Belize some day. Its diffenitly a port i'd give a second chance to because we didn't get to leave the city and cruise port and really see the beauty of the country. I hope to try out cave tubing some day as well.
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