Prima: Planning

Booking

I booked this cruise last April. I was a little hesitant about booking a Friday-Friday cruise out of Galveston. I prefer to save that sixth vacation day for a cruise that I need a travel day for. But I decided to do it since this offers me a chance to try one of Norwegian’s newer ships without having to buy a plane ticket. 

I booked a studio cabin for a total of $1,256. Since I used a $500 Cruise First Certificate that I paid $250 for, the cruise actually only costed $1,006. That includes the basic drink package, a specialty dinner, and $50 off each excursion booked through the ship.

For a comparison with Carnival, I’ve been paying $1,250-$1,600 for an interior room then having to pay another $500 for the drink package bringing the total to $1,750-2,100. That’s with no specialty dining or excursion discounts. That type of price difference is the primary reason I have been booking with Norwegian and Princess lately.

Since I hadn’t been in a Norwegian studio cabin yet, I’ve been booking different locations within the studio area. On Encore I booked a room at the top of the stairs that lead down into the studio lounge with no neighbors. It was a nice, quiet location I would definitely book again. This time I booked on the same floor as the lounge but at the end of the hallway with no neighbors.

Pre-Cruise Hotel

I like to stay within an hour of the port. For Galveston I normally find good value in the Webster area which is about 30 minutes from the port. This time I booked closer to Galveston getting the Quality Inn I-45 in Texas City for a total of $80 on Hotwire.

Parking

For parking I researched all options and ended up sticking with Discount Cruise Parking. All parking lots have increased their prices again and either don’t allow non-Carnival passengers or charge a premium for them. I’ve been paying around $90-100 with for Carnival parking. Now they’re up to $110 for Carnival and $160 for Norwegian. 

Onboard Purchases

I am sticking with the cheaper Wi-Fi for $110. Streaming can be added for another $70 but I don’t think I’m going to need it this cruise so I’m sticking with the cheaper plan.

Ports

Costa Maya

There’s one set of Mayan ruins that can be done from Costa Maya that I haven’t done yet. The ships don’t offer excursions to Dzbanche so I always check with The Native Choice which is the company I did Kohunlich with. Every time it comes back and says my port time isn’t right for it. I’ll keep trying.

We have a crazy port time this time. It’s 2pm-10pm but we are the only ship in port which is nice. I’ll probably just get off of the ship right away, enjoy some pool time, then get back on board.

Cozumel

I believe we’re going to be docking downtown in Cozumel. This will be a good time to do something there where I don’t have to pay $20-30 for a taxi. I’ve wanted to check out the Cozumel Museum downtown. I’ll do that this time.

Harvest Caye

In Belize I booked the Black Swan Electric Boat Cruise. It’s a $49 excursion so it’s free with the $50 discount. That’s just a 45-minute tour. I’m hoping to see some manatees on that one. Other than that I’m just going to check out the port area since this is my first time at Harvest Caye. When I come back next year on Escape I may look at doing some Mayan ruins here.

Roatan

In Roatan I normally use the free beach when I’m with Carnival. Since we aren’t going to be in the Carnival port I’m using this opportunity to do something different. I booked Gumalimba Preserve & Animal Sanctuary. That’s an $85 tour that I paid $35 for after the discount.

For those who don’t know there are some new laws in Roatan regarding tours that involve animals. Specifically touching and photographing the animals. Fortunately I’m not looking to hold a monkey or sloth or anything like that.

The enforcement of this law seems to be changing almost daily so I’m going to get to see first hand how they’re doing it now.

Post-Cruise

This is opening weekend for Major League Baseball and the Mets are opening in Houston so I’m taking full advantage. I got a ticket for Friday night behind home plate 16 rows up and Saturday night behind the Mets’ dugout 30 rows up. I paid $155 for each of those tickets.

For a hotel I booked Club Quarters about five blocks from the stadium for a total of $256 for the two nights and garage parking across the street for $36 total for the two nights.