day 5 - harvest caye - ncl joy

 woke up fairly early as I could faintly hear the fog horn.  I looked out the window and although it was still dark it seemed rainy.  I decided to let Chris sleep and went for a walk about.  Chris found me later and we went to the Horizon Lounge for coffee and almond croissants.  It was a great view watching the ship pull into the dock.  We walked a little more and decided to get breakfast.  It was still early so we went back to our cabin and played some cards while looking at the rain.  At 9:30, we went to morning trivia.  Today was the hardest day so far.  We only scored 7 points today and did not win.  The streak has ended.  
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We found our pub crawl pals and sat with them after trivia.  Somehow, they convinced us to stay for the journal making arts and crafts activity.  I really did not think it would be a complicated at it was.  The kits were very nice but complicated.  You had to sew the pages of the journal together in a fairly intricate, Japanese style.  Looking at the 36 plus step instruction manual, I was about to give up.  But, my new friends encouraged me so with help I started crafting my journal.  I had quite a few missteps along the way and honestly without the encouragement and help from my new cruise friend, I would have quit.  We stayed there past the allotted activity time to finish. Pictionary happened. Broadway trivia started.  Finally, I finished. I felt so accomplished and exhausted that I ordered drink.  My new pal’s husband, who was the one who said we should make these journals, didn’t even make one.  He disappeared to the bar!  We all went for some lunch together at the Local.  We had not had the chicken wings yet this cruise so we ordered some for lunch.  I tried a Matador cocktail and enjoyed that as well.  This rainy morning was not too bad!

It was still raining after lunch but Chris and I walked down the pier to see Harvest Caye.  It is a semi-private island off of Belize.  It is not like the typical private island where drinks and food are included.  It was pretty dead on the island because of the weather.  We looked in a liquor store, chocolate store and walked along the beach.   The rain was chilly so we walked back to the ship.  We made a detour to the Sugarcane bar on the Waterfront for the sustainable or “trash” (as I affectionately call it) drink of the day.  I was intrigued because it was a mai tai made with almond croissants.  Wow!  Best one yet!  We even tasted the syrup made from the croissants plain and it was so good.  The bartender explained how it is made with the broken croissants and they are not to use the term “leftovers” when describing these drinks.  I think it is a very good idea and would recommend all the ones I have tried so far.  

We put on our bathing suits and went to the Haven courtyard.  It was crowded on the first level and the hot tub was packed.  We went to then second level and found plenty of seating.  The rain wasn’t letting up for us to go outside to use those hot tubs. Instead, I wrote while Chris read his book.  When I decided to go back to the cabin, I peeked out to the sun deck and saw people using the outdoor tub in the rain.  It is pretty easy to make the most of a rainy day on board the ship. 

I was ready before Chris so I went the the Haven bar for a pre-dinner cocktail.  I ordered a Bombay Sapphire martini which was huge.  The only bar snack has been plain peanuts or spicy corn nuts.  I am missing the bar mix NCL had on my last cruise on 2019.  Everything has been excellent so far but one small detail I am missing from Crystal is the evening canapés before dinner.  We did get some cheese in our room from the butler and chocolate covered strawberries today.   I still though prefer a passed selection through the lounge but that is a minor complaint.  I chatted with some passengers until Chris arrived.  It was probably good we did not have much of a snack because we were in store for a rather big meal.  

Tonight’s dinner was in Food Republic.  It is an Asian fusion type restaurant served tapa style.  You order through a tablet at the table.  We used our meal package so we were allowed four dishes each.  Sharing eight dishes was definitely plenty!  Our cocktail was a Funky Monk which is a version of the Last Word.  It was very lovely.  We chose  spicy tuna sushi, Korean Fried Chicken, hamachi tacos, yellow tail sushi, tuna poke nachos, pastrami potstickers, Thai chicken lettuce wraps, and the liege waffle for dessert.  Each selection was very good and we are debating using our other credit for lunch here on the sea day but I don’t think we will use all eight for lunch.  It was our most filling meal so far.  

We went for a walk to the Cavern bar on the waterfront for an after dinner drink.  I had told Chris another NCL superstar was working at the bar, the famous Chocolate Cowboy.  It is very nice to sit outside in the cool breeze and still able to hear the music from inside and see it on the television screen.  We watched a couple stop by and bring him a plate of food.  He told us that he has known this couple a long time and usually has dinner with them one night.  Unfortunately, because of covid he is not allowed to dine with them.  They were so sweet to bring the meal he missed to him.  I know Crystal passengers are lamenting missing the wonderful crew but the crew here has been wonderful as well.  

At 9:30 a different comedian was in the main theater with his “adult” show.  We arrived about 5 minutes before the show and there were plenty of seats to pick from.  Sailing with 1500 passengers is truly a delight.  The material wasn’t that “adult” in my opinion and I didn’t think he was too funny.  I might have dozed a bit during the show with the fully belly, swaying ship, and cocktails.  I took my drowsiness as a cue to return to my cabin.  The clocks move up one hour tonight during our trip to Costa Maya.