Cruise Speakers With Their Families: Roatan, Cozumel, Costa Maya

First, a big thank you to Doc Brown for his roving reports on his first 14-day Brazilian cruise as cruise ship speaker. Excellent tips.

In coming months you'll be seeing reports from other SCF speakers as they cruise the world in luxury - free - just for using their mouths and sharing their hobbies, passions and interests as enrichment speakers. (If you haven't yet signed up for my Speak on Cruise Ships program you can do that here).

Now on to today's post...

I have not written a bunch on the subject of cruise speakers bringing their family with them. Usually, I speak about how cruise speakers get to bring one traveling companion with them who also cruises for free. But if you wish for more than one other person to cruise with you, you'll probably have to buy another cabin.

If this is the case, my advice is to:

1. Ask your cruise line contact whether the cruise line has any in-house travel agencies who can usually get you the best deal.

2. If the particular cruise line you're working with doesn't have an inhouse agency then it is best to find a cabin with a cruise consolidator who buys blocks of cabins at a large discount and then resells them at cut rates.

You might try CruiseDirect -CruiseDirect.com Home Page" src="http://www.tqlkg.com/image-2046851-9938947" width=100 border=0> or even Luxury Cruising at Travelocity.com


Either way you'll spend MUCH less on your cruise even if you have to buy another cabin. At least the cost of two passengers will be covered by your enrichment activities.


This last Sunday I returned home from a cruise with my wife Lanette and two sons Jeremy (Jem) and Jamey. I have uploaded a bunch of those pictures for you below. We cruised out of Galveston for Roatan, Honduras, Cozumel, Mexico and Costa Maya, Mexico. It was wonderful and we had blast both on and off the ship. Check it out...




We cruised on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas. When it was launched back in 1999 it was the largest cruise ship in the world. As such it has tons of extra features that most of the smaller vessels do not, ice skating for example. Here Jem gets ready to strut his stuff on the onboard rink. Yes, it is real ice.

And if ice skating isn't your thing you can try your hand at inline skating on the Voyager's outdoor track. Here Jamey (the consummate family athlete) does his thing. Oh, and you don't have to worry about bringing skates with you. The Voyager has a full stock of both ice and inline skates available for your use.

Here Jamey scales the rock climbing wall. Most of RCL's ships have this feature and it sure is nice to have activities like this when you have your children along.

Another unique onboard activity is a production ice show. One of the cool benefits of cruise speaking is all the little perks you get. For example, I got 4 VIP tickets to the ice show. (Start getting your perks.)


The show was fabulous, too. Most of the performers are from Russia. We were talking to a few of them and they told us that they had to practice months before actually arriving onboard on a tiny rink (the size they had on the ship). Once they perfected their performance on a much smaller than regulation rink they applied to skate for RCL.







Along with the extra activities like ice and inline skating and rock climbing RCL also offers more traditional activities like ice carving demonstrations. Here Jem poses with a swan ice sculpture that was created from a huge block of ice in 6 minutes!



Most of the master ice carvers come from the Philippines. The art is past down from generation to generation and it takes 8 years of apprenticeship to become a master carver. Hmm... master carver or law school? Its about the same time commitment after High School.








The ice carver also does all the other food carvings onboard. I thought that this was particularly adorable rabbit carver from a water melon.

Of course, almost all cruise ships have swimming pools. But comparatively few have...

...onboard water slides. Yes, that's me with arms flaying as I slip slide away.

Of course, fine dining is big part of your onboard experience. Here the family and I pose for a photo on the first of three formal nights.

Jem and I in the dining room. I believe this is on New Year's eve. Our waiters were great. Every night they had a glass of chocolate milk on the table for my Jem before we arrived. Jem was only allowed to drink it after finishing his vegetables (our rule, not the waiters).

Lanette and I under a moonlit sky. Jamey took this picture while we're out on deck playing a game of shuffle board. That's the other thing about cruise speaking because you essentially only work one hour on each sea day you have tons of extra time to bond with family.

Jamey and I goofing on one another.

Jamey has quite the photographic eye. On my cruises I take lots of promotional shots for future products and services. I thought I'd share this goofy shot taken on the helipad at the bow of the ship. Maybe I'll use it for a product called "Cruise Crazy". What do you think?

Of course, while the onboard activities are wonderful I love to cruise because I love to visit new places. Here Lanette and I take time out for a Cerveza Fria as I enjoy a fine Honduran cigar. On Roatan (an island 31 miles off the coast of Honduras) the family and I snorkeled a ship wreck. It was tons of fun...

Roatan has an interesting history. It was once a part of British Honduras (now Belize) but became a part of Honduras when Belize became independent. Subsequently, most everyone on the island is bilingual English/Spanish and most all the signs are in English.

We also made a stop in Costa Maya where we spent the day on the beach. Toward the end of the day showers broke out and a double rainbow broke out over our ship. Can you see them?

Apropos for my profession in cruise speaker education don't you think?

Oh yeah, and every night your state room attendant will leave little critters like this bat for you.












I'd really like to help you with becoming approved as an enrichment speaker. The first step is getting my Speak on Cruise Ships program and becoming a member of the Speakers Cruise Free Coaching Club.

Also, if you are already a member I want to remind you about the special training we have coming up on January 28 on becoming an enrichment speaker with the specialty line Cruise West. Watch your email for another reminder.