March 13, 2025 Belize City, Belize

We climbed up to Deck 10 for the Oceanview Café buffet breakfast. The temperature was already hot at 28°C, humid and windy. Today was the only tender port. Instead of using the ship’s lifeboats to transport people to shore. Local 175 to 225 person catamaran two decker boats were servicing the Constellation, but also the anchored ship Caribbean Princess and Carnival Liberty.

We needed to meet tin the theatre at 8 a.m. to get tour stickers then be taken to Deck 1 to the waiting tender boats to travel to the cruise port and meet the bus for the six hour excursion through the Belize River Valley with a covered 125 passenger boat journey on the New River Lagoon to see some of Belize’s Lamanai Mayan ruins and enjoy a Belizean-style lunch at AyinHa Eco Park.

The tender ride to the port was about 15 minutes long. The cruise port area was busy with passengers from three ships heading out on a variety of tours and shopping at the many souvenir and retail shops. Our tour had more than 100 people who were divided into smaller groups. On our tour bus of 34, we were among the oldest passengers with the average age about 56. (On the waiver form that was passed around you had to list your age.) We were all sitting on the bus by 9 a.m. The fluffy clouds had a gray tinge to them and one of our guides mentioned it could rain later. As we reached the outskirts of Belize City, Lindberg Field was pointed out. In 1927 aviator, Charles Lindberg, landed there looking for places to use for a Central America mail route.

Belize was a British colony since 1840 and a Crown colony since 1862. Belize is thought to be derived from the indigenous Maya word 'belix', which translates as 'muddy water' and accurately describes the Belize River. Belize was known as British Honduras until June 1, 1973 and achieved its independence from the United Kingdom on September 21, 1981. It is the only mainland Central American country which is a member of the British Commonwealth realm. (Some other members, besides Canada, are Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands, which we will visit in January 2026.) Belize City lost its status as the capital in 1970 when Belmopan became the capital. Belize City still had to recover from the 1961 destruction caused by Hurricane Hattie.

Belize’s jungle areas are home to Mayan ruins. The Mayans inhabited Belize, Yucatán, Mexico, Honduras and Guatamala for thousands of years and abandoned their sites over 900 years ago. Belize has over 400 islands called Cayes, some so small only a single palm grows on the coral which form the Belize Barrier Reef that is part of the Mesoamerican Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Iguanas are a meat choice in Belize and Honduras - it tastes like chicken. It is a common meal for the locals several times a month. The official language is English, but many locals speak Creole. The American Sent water crocodile called the country home. A common tree with many practical and medicinal uses is called the Soursop.

While travelling the 80 minute bus ride, our guides Yolanda and David gave each person an orange wristband for Lamanai, the Mayan archaeological site, that we will be visiting, and a 550 ml bottle of water. When we arrived at Ayinha Adventures, the boat that was to transport us and two other bus loads was still at the ruins pier 30 minutes away which delayed our visit. David used the time to explain the local plants nearby including a light purple crepe mortar and hibiscus flowers. He explained some of the medicinal qualities of the plants.

Once the boat was filled, it entered a channel for five minutes before the water opened up into the New River Lagoon for a 25 minute ride averaging about 38 kilometres per hour on my GPS unit. We had a site guide at Lamanai, who walked us to the excavated or partially excavated buildings during the 90 minute tour. The temperature was over 30°C and the humidity was high. While waiting for the group to assemble and meet our site guide a small harmless Green-headed Vine Snake was sunbathing on some bush branches. We walked about 2.6 kilometres usually on a four meter wide small stone path or grass, shaded by tall trees as high as 45 metres. We could hear howler monkeys loudly calling as we walked the paths.

The first ruin was a 20 metre high Mayan pyramid temple which featured two metre by two metre three dimensional masks carved into limestone and repeated in several places on the temple. Like the other buildings we visited, the temple was built around 500 A.D., then different kings added more height. This one had five additions in total. Next we saw a wall the protected the royal palace and had spouts on it to drain the royal compound after a rain. There are more than 700 buildings to the town, but only 10% of the area has been excavated.

There was a small Mayan ball court where they played Poc-a-poc (or something like that). But the rules are vague. It is known the the ball was made from the sap of rubber trees formed into a ball, about the same of a softball, and during the game could only be touched with elbows, hips or knees.

In line with the length of the ball court was the main temple, Grande Betty N9-56, is over 33 metres high. Its first version was built around 100 B.C. Again more levels and decoration were added by kings. There are 13 stone masks and nine stairways. Both those numbers are sacred to the Mayans.

Only the Babylonian, Hindu and Mayan mathematicians knew of the concept of “zero” and how to use it. Those civilizations also had the most accurate yearly calendars using 365 days.

Grande Betty N9-56 was first constructed in 200 B.C. and the foundation of the temple is still underground. Additions continued until 1300 A.D. About 45 A.D the limestone masks were added. Originally pained red, the colour changed with new kings. The town was estimated to exist for over 2,000 years. The last two families left for the Mayan community in southern Belize in the early 1970s. The 952 acre site became an archeological dig in 1974. At its height of power it was a trading hub with a population of close to 60,000 people. The Spanish arrived in the early 1500s and forced the Mayans to build a church, which they soon destroyed by fire. The Spanish were angry and made the Mayans build another church. However, this time they hid small figurines in the walls and columns. While the Roman Catholic priest led the prayers the Mayans were praying to their own “hidden” gods. The Spanish left the area in 1556 and never returned. More than 175 years passed before the British arrived and claimed the land calling it British Honduras.

When we returned by boat to the main building of Ayinha Adventures, everyone was ready for the Mayan buffet lunch. It was 2 p.m. The buffet was black bean and rice, potato salad, fried chicken pieces and fried plantain and an optional spicy hot sauce. Fruit Punch was the beverage. Once people were finished eating, we climbed into our air conditioned buses for the 70 minute ride back to the port. The first 10 minutes was on a dirt road where we creeped across several tiny creeks, then into pavement, but only wide enough for two small cars to slowly pass each other. The road was much smoother than the road in Costa Maya a few days ago. Within ten minutes we were driving on a regional highway , before joining a national highway for the final 40 minutes. As we reached the outskirts of Belize City there were speed bumps by schools and intersections with traffic circles.

We arrived at the shopping mall cruise terminal just before 4 p.m. It took less than ten minutes to walk to the pier where the boats were waiting. Other buses were rolling in so it took only eight minutes for our boat to fill. The ride back to the ship took about 15 minutes. There was at least one more boat to take passengers back to the ship. All aboard was 4:30.

On shore we noticed the white and red Baron Bliss Lighthouse.

The captain made an announcement just before the 5 p.m. departure that Cozumel was the next destination. The ship would be travelling at 16 knots to arrive at 9 a.m. tomorrow and stay until 7 p.m. Also the clocks go forward overnight to Mexico (Central Daylight) time. Our guide explained today that neither Honduras nor Belize use Daylight Time, there is no need for changing time, being closer to the equator..

After a quick shower, we went to the Rendezvous Lounge for Happy Hour where Pesta Pora was playing. Then went to dinner only to find two women seating at out table for two. They were eating their appetizers. They said they were shown that table. It was a prefect opportunity for us to talk to the couple at the table for six next to ours who had only had companions for one day. It was fine with them and our waiter to sit there. Dennis and Akeisha were still our servers. They were a nice couple, who like to cruise. We did not exchange names. Their tablemates did not like the location of the table after the first night and were given another table, leaving four vacancies. Tomorrow they have reservations at Le Petit Chef but will be back on our final cruise evening. As the two women finished their dessert they apologized to us for taking our table. We found out that they were part of the table for ten that were only all there the first night, before changing their plans. They came this evening because they had seen one of the party eating alone one night. We invite them to dine with us to make up a table of six, they said they would. So we hope they come tomorrow evening.

The evening show was illusionist, Ryan Joyce, who had a great show. He will have a matinee show on the final cruise day.

After the show we were sitting the Rendezvous listening to Celebrity orchestra playing a slow foxtrot, when the cruise director, Sarah, stopped in front of us and complimented us on our dancing. We had a nice chat. After she left, we remembered that we had danced at the Captain Club Welcome Party on Monday, where she was the MC.

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