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Pictures From Rocketman trip to Balize and aboard ship..

R

rocketman

Guest
Well IÔÇÖm back from another adventure on the high seas, this time to Balize and Cozumel, aboard what turns out to be the biggest class of passenger liner in the world. Let me tell you this thing was HUGH! At over 1100 feet in length and 15 decks above sea level, it had 4 restaurants, around 8 bars and nightclubs, a promenade over 500 feet and 6 stories tall, two pool decks, a two story theater, and ice rink and casino, holding 3100 passengers and a crew of 1200, it literally is a floating self-contained city. It took me almost 15 minutes to walk the perimeter of the ship on deck 4, which is at the level of greatest circumference.

In Balize we visited a ruins of a ceremonial place of the Mayans, but didnÔÇÖt get to see much of the city. But what we did see instantly told you, you werenÔÇÖt in Kansas anymore. With only 4 major highways, that in the US would not even measure up to a 2-lane back road, very few vehicles, and not much in the way of industry or infrastructure as we know it, it has a long way to go. Yet even so, it has come a long way since its independence in the 80ÔÇÖs, the people were very friendly and animated, the food was tasty and they hold a great deal of pride in their heritage, both Mayan and the many races/cultures that comprise this small country, Jeanne and I both hope to return. This trip also adds another contentment to places I have traveled, with only Antarctica, South America and Australia left to go!

So here are some pictures..

First off a few of Belize, there are more coming but for now
Two extremes of homes, most fall somewhere in-between, with the majority being on the lower end

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A school house all schools are run by the Catholics but are funded by the government and education is mandatory

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some pics of the gardens at Casers Palace, one of the few up-scale eaterys shopping centers, geared mostly toward tourists

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Some remains of wall paintings in the Mayan Palace in one of the sleeping chambers, it was shots like these where the G9 really shines with the IS, since you canÔÇÖt use flash inside the structures.


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And a bunch from around the ship, mostly un edited

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The next were all taken with the G9

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end of part one

RM
 
part three...

even more G9 photos...

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this is one of my favorites its actually a reflection with the top part of image reflected by the mirrored ceilling of the stair way going round the light sculpture

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the far end of the main 6 story promenade which ran about 500 feet down the center of the ship..

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playing with images of the water while at dock side in Cozumel

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RM
 
Wow--you live large, dude. Those cruise ships (I've never been aboard one) are a whole other world. . . .

They're all good, but I especially like the few of the ships themselves, both on board and off. They are just mammoth structures.

Thanks for sharing all the fun. Glad you're back on land!
 
Nice trip!!:dance My folks went on one once, and although Dad dislikes cruise ships, he had a good time too. Maybe one day....
Quick question about the artist of this sculpture, if you remember, was that Romero Britto or Clemens Briels that made that??

 
I saw this ship profiled on the Travel Channel last week. It looks amazing!

Great pictures!!! Thanks for posting them.
 
Nice trip!!:dance My folks went on one once, and although Dad dislikes cruise ships, he had a good time too. Maybe one day....
Quick question about the artist of this sculpture, if you remember, was that Romero Britto or Clemens Briels that made that??

I don't remember, there were so many great art works aboard ship. some really nice photographs as well. Perhaps i can find out.

RM
 
I saw this ship profiled on the Travel Channel last week. It looks amazing!

Great pictures!!! Thanks for posting them.

Thanks, some are better than others and I'm going to do some editing since these were just from a batch conversion of the RAW files. going thru 581 (so far, and I still have the last days shots to download from the SD cards!) is going to take some time, even after culling out the weeds!

The ship generates something like 14.5 MegaWatts of power to run the engines, lights, AC, water filtration system, etc, completely self-contained. took 2 years to build. I'd love to tour the inards of the ship and see how it all works.

oddly enough Jeanne and I decided this is in some ways TOO big, in 5 days we didn't get to do everything there was to do or visit all of the clubs/bars, Dang it!:laugh Just so many people...... I liked it best in the early AM before everyone got up, that's when most of the pictures were taken.

Our next trip this fall will be on a smaller one and with more time at our destination. the day trip on Belize was just too frantic and we spent most of the time traveling to the site and back. but they are fun.
 
Thanks! But I found out it is 'Les Dances Nicoises' by Clemens Briels...
 
Thanks! But I found out it is 'Les Dances Nicoises' by Clemens Briels...

Kool, as I said there were tons of art on board, I figured most (if not all) were originals, whomever designed the interior (I'm sure it was more than just one person working this!) did an amazing job of it. I've been on several differant ships and different lines, but this one was most deffinately the most spectacular.

RM
 
a few more from the last night/day on board ship, again all taken with my G9

dessert from the final night at the Italian restaurant, mmmmm chocolate...

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a reflection shot on the upper pool deck at night

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a plant in a bay window in one of the bars looking out at sea. Its interesting that you can see a bit of curvature on left side, this was taken at widest setting of the G9 set at 7.5 mm

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a funnel cloud which is often the precursor to a tornado or water spout that I saw forming the last morning, it dissipated shortly after

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and finally two sunrise photos at dock in Ft. Lauderdale, the first is a "colorized" version from photoshop
and then one that I staturated while it RAW format

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RM
 
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