Golden Fleece: Signature dining aboard the Carnival Legend

I can't breathe. I'm choking on my champagne and the burning in my lungs won't stop. I had a split second decision to make: spray my champagne all over the table or breathe in and now it's in my lungs.

What caused this predicament? The waitress at the Golden Fleece, the signature restaurant aboard the Carnival Legend, repeating our dinner order back to us:

"OK, so you would like two escargots, one beef carpaccio, two ahi tuna tartares, one New England crabcake, two lobster bisques, one portobello mushroom, one caesar salad, two surf and turfs, one chicken, one lobster ravioli, one side of wasabi mashed potatoes and two sides of truffle macaroni and cheese".

The sheer greed of the moment dawned on me when the list of food for four adults seemed sufficient to feed a football team and with a mouthful of champagne, I wasn't able to laugh without inhaling it first. I can't believe this is how I'm going to meet my end, drowning in champagne. My face is going red and I'm punching myself in the back begging, pleading one of my dinner companions to help me out.

It was our fourth night at sea and we had already decided that the main dining room aboard the ship was not worth visiting anymore. Actually, we made that decision after the first night and had been preferring to eat at the food court on the Lido deck ever since.

There was another option: The Golden Fleece. A signature restaurant that costs an additional $30 per person. Fellow cruisers who had eaten there previously were all raving about the food, so Laina, Jared, Michael and I decided to lash out. In summary, the food was so good that we rebooked to eat there again two days later.

Thrilled by the revelation that we were able to order as many appetizers as we desired, we decided to try them all. The meal was perfect. It was hard to believe that we were on the same boat as the quality of the food was far superior to the main dining room. The escargot were delicious, the tuna tasty and firm (far exceeding my expectations based on Bourdain's "don't eat the sushi on a cruise ship" advice), the bisque rich and creamy and the steak was fork tender.

At the end of the meal, we were beyond full but that didn't stop us from ordering all the desserts on the menu that we could. We ended up having to take the cheese platter and gigantic slice of cheesecake back to the room to eat another day but between the four of us, we covered off most of the restaurant's menu.

For the cost of a few drinks per person, a meal at the Golden Fleece was well worth the expense and a wonderful evening with new friends.

Four very full diners after dinner

Roatan, Honduras

The third port of call was Roatan, Honduras. Today, we behaved exactly like the stereotype of tourists that I hate.

We walked off the boat and headed to the port (owned by Carnival), spent the day at the beach (owned by Carnival) and drank frozen cocktails at Fat Tuesdays. There was nothing adventurous, nothing insightful and we saw nothing of the real Honduras. As much as I'm ashamed, it was a wonderful day and exactly what we needed.

Laina and I were both exhausted. We had been tearing up the karaoke bar and dance club on the boat four nights in a row and a lazy day was just what was needed. It seemed that our new boat-friends had the same idea so the six of us spent the day together.

The Carnival-owned chairlift


The Gang: Gabe, Breanne, Tristen, Mike, myself and Laina

After some nachos and too many frozen cocktails, we headed back to the port and hit the duty-free shop ($15 of a bottle of Kalhua) before heading onto the boat.

Laina and I at the Carnival-owned port heading back to the boat

Belize

The next port of call on our cruise was Belize City. Determined to see some authentic part of Central America, rather than just beaches and US-owned themed restaurants, we elected to take a cruise on the River Wallace and a tour of the Mayan ruins at Altun Ha.

After being warned that the bus and river rides in Belize are very rocky, Laina and I both took Dramamine to ensure we wouldn't get sick. The unfortunate side effect, however, is overwhelming drowsiness.

After boarding our long boat for the trip up river, waves of sleep began to overtake me. Thankfully, our new friend, Jared, took plenty of photos for us.

Throughout the boat ride, we saw plenty of wildlife including dolphins, crocodiles, monkeys and various birds. Actually, more accurately, I should say everyone else on the boat saw the wildlife as I was asleep for most of the trip.

One of the many birds along the river

Asleep due to the dramamine

A Belizian crocodile staring at a boatload full of tourists for lunch


Still asleep

After about 2 hours heading upstream, we stopped for a traditional lunch of chicken, rice and beans before heading to the ruins at Altun Ha. Again, I slept on the bus. Snapping out of my daze upon arrival, we spent about an hour at the site, climbing the ruins and learning about the Mayan people.

Michael, Laina, myself and Jared atop the main building

Side view of the main building

After the ruins, it was time to return to the port by bus in order to make the last tender back to the cruise ship. Thankfully, because we had booked through Carnival, they held the tender for us even though we were running very late and were some of the last ones to reboard the cruise ship.

Time to wake up