Category: Travel – Cruise

Even though it was a sea day we had an 8am Character breakfast booked so we headed to the dining room. However, it was only when we were seated and eating breakfast that we realised the character breakfast was on the OTHER side of the dining room. Oh, well. We had a nice breakfast anyway.

We had a last look around the shops and the girls headed off to their activities. I went back to our room and sat outside on the deck for a bit, then worked on some packing (so sad).

At 12pm the girls came back and we went to lunch at Windjammers. We ended up sitting with Gerard, Jenny and Alannah which was very nice.

After lunch the girls headed off again (Christy to ice-skating with Allanah & Amy to the Teen Lounge). Kevin and I went to have a spa in the cantilever spa – which I had been wanting to do all cruise. It was the perfect temperature so a lovely relax.

We went back to the room via Windjammers where we got some afternoon tea. I then sat out on the deck for a short time (wish it could have been longer) before I had to shower and dressed.

The kids had a cupcake decorating class booked at 4.30pm.

While we waited Kevin enjoyed his very own cupcake.

Then it was time for the Dreamworks parade, which was pretty fun.

Then time for dinner – which we enjoyed with Gerard, Jenny & Alannah. We’ve really enjoyed their company.  Alannah & Christy are just two peas in a  pod and get on so well.  Amy & Alex were having a teen dinner later. It seemed odd not having her at dinner but I’m sure she had lots of fun.

Tonight I had the best dinner by far – Sweet & Sour “chicken” and Key Lime Pie

After dinner we said our farewells and headed back to the room to finish our packing. Always the saddest part of the cruise. We ended up having to stay up late in order to collect our

We were able to have a bit of sleep in this morning – except I was up at 5am and Kevin about 6am. Oh, well. We went out just after 7am to get some tea and coffee. We also picked up some treats – mine I enjoyed on our deck while watching the sunrise. It was the perfect way to start the day.

At 8.30am I went to wake up the girls (who had just awoken). Christy wasn’t feeling the best so was going to hang in her room. But we had only been in Windjammers for 10mins when she showed up. I love the breakfast potatoes but try to get a balanced meal – I add skim milk for my protein.

After breakfast we headed to the flow rider for the girls and Kevin to have a go. Amy had done it with teen club (or whatever they call it). Everyone enjoyed it, though Kevin complained of a sore knee after a few spectacular wipe outs. One day I’d like to give it a go. More sore knee gave me a good excuse not to make a fool of myself on this occasion :-).

The kids and Kevin had a quick swim/spa.

Then we went back to our rooms so they could get changed and so I could organised to send away some laundry – as we’re all pretty much out of underwear.

Then it was time to ahead ashore for our Historical Island Tour of Cozumel (an island off mainland Mexico)l. It was so hot waiting for everyone to arrive (even in the shade) but once out in the open there was a breeze which kept things a nice temperature.

We boarded our bus and began our island tour. Our guide, Alex (I remember his name because we all were stickers with his name on it – which I thought was a clever idea), pointed out places of interest and told us lots of interesting facts. He had a great sense of humour too. Our first stop was a replica Mayan village.

Here were saw how traditional Mayan tortillas are made, and got a sample which was delicious.

We learnt about the Mayan people and the Mayan calendar (and how NASA scientists have studied it and it’s almost 100% accurate – but Kevin has his doubts so please don’t quote me on that). We saw inside a house. And learned how tequila is made from the blue agave plant before getting a sample.

I didn’t have any but we let Amy try it as it’s not every day you get to have tequila in Mexico. She said she liked it but I’m too sure after watching her face. Don’t worry she only got the smallest samples.

We got a drink and some Mexican chips to get as we were getting hungry.

From here we drove to the coast (on the other side of the island). Very pretty here.

Then it was on to some Mayan ruins – turned tourist trap.

The girls were given leaf grasshoppers, even when we told the young man we had no money (later we got some change, so found him to give a tip). They don’t charge, but do things for tips – not quite sure what the difference is but often they will give things, or allow photos even if you don’t pay – which I think is pretty neat. In most places if you don’t pay, you don’t get.

There were some shops here and while you are eagerly invited into each one they aren’t as pushy as expected. But pushy enough to put me off wanting to go in them.

We got a refreshing ice block here. It wasn’t the best but did the job.

Then it was back on the bus and back to the cruise terminal. Our 3 hour excursion had lasted almost 4.5 hours so we were rather hungry. We had smelt a Mexican place earlier this morning so we headed back there to get a hopefully authentic Mexican lunch.

It was sure was delicious. And rather different to what we get back home. And no Taco Bell (even though we enjoyed Taco Bell).

We then had to race back on board as Amy had a appointment at the spa for a scalp, neck and shoulder massage – which she had won playing Teen Bingo. I think she was very pleased to be the first one of us to ever use the spa services.

I spent some time working on my Smash album and Christy went to kids club, then later to the library to read!!!! We must have been too noisy.

Then it was time to have a quick shower and head to dinner. Once again we were not overly impressed with the menu but the company was good and we were amongst the last to leave the dining room – though Christy had headed off earlier to get ready for the kids club pajama party.

Amy also took off to the teen area and Kevin & I headed back to the cabin to relax as there was no show tonight. Amy popped in briefly to get ready for the Teen Prom Night – whatever that is.

Today we had an early start. It was everyone up and out of the cabins by 7.30am so we could have breakfast in Windjammers before taking a tender to shore – Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We managed to get on one of the first few tenders and arrive at Captain Marvin’s in plenty of time for our 9am tour.

After getting checked in and waiting for everyone to arrive, we were finally on our way to Hell. Yep, today we visited hell.

Hell is actually a coral formation turned into tourist trap.

 

But we got to mail some postcards from Hell, which was fun. And we can now say we’ve been hell and back :-).

 

Our next stop was the turtle farm where we got see some amazing green sea turtles. The farm is mainly for conservation and breeding but they do use some for meat.

 

 

They were so cute. We were able to hold some of the babies and their flippers were so soft.

 

 

We were then dropped off at their wharf ready for the next part of the tour. We boarded the boat and headed about 30mins off shore to Stingray City.

 

 

We have been here before but wanted to bring the girls again. This was an amazing experience. The rays were so friendly and tame. Happy to be held, and fed. We all loved our time here.

 

After hanging with the rays for about half and hour we got back on the boat and moved to another location nearby where we were able to snorkel over some of the reef. Lots of fish to see and the water is so warm it’s a pleasure to be in it.

We spent about another half and hour here then headed back to the shore. Isn’t the water an amazing colour?

Before the boat docked we got to see this awesome iguana hanging out in a tree. Such stunning colour.

There are chickens all over the island and Christy managed to capture this hen with her chicks. How cute!

Then it was back on the bus to the port. We just quickly checked out a few shops – but it’s so hard to shop when carrying around a heap of wet towels – before we caught the tender back to the ship. We still hadn’t had lunch so quickly went to our cabin to change then to Windjammers for lunch at 3pm.

In our cabin we had found a note to say our excursion tomorrow had been cancelled. We were not impressed as it’s too late to research another good option.

After our late lunch we headed to the ice skating rink. No-one was out too long though. Amy only did one lap before her feet were hurting (always my complaint when ice skating). But she’s been so adventurous this trip trying lots of new things like ice skating and the flow-rider. I’m so proud of her. She’s much braver than I am.

After our short ice skating endeavour, there was a stop at Ben & Jerry’s…

where Kevin and Amy shared this….

I had tea :-).

Christy then went to the pool and the rest of hung out in the cabin reading. I went outside on the verandah and actually feel asleep for a bit. Being awakened when Christy and friends plus Gerard who payed a visit to our room. The girls wanted to join us for dinner in Windjammers (we didn’t want to get dressed up for formal night tonight) so we got that organised and everyone went to get ready. There is an amazing gingerbread house display just as you enter Windjammers (it went up last night).

We had a nice dinner. Alexandra and Alannah are lovely girls and the four get on very well together. Amy & I found a lot more vegetarian options as well. Not sure quite why the main dining room can’t deliver them (or maybe they did tonight).

After dinner the girls all headed off and Kevin & I went to book something for tomorrow. We decided on a short 3 hour tour to some Mayan village, so at least we’ll learn some history and culture and see some of the island of Cozumel.
Then it was back to our room. The busy days are catching up with us so lighter day and then a sea day will be good before we hit Universal Studios back in Orlando.

Kevin and I were awake about 6am. I worked on some blog posts. We had some room service delivered for breakfast.

The girls awoke around 9am (we let Amy stay up till 1am so she could attend a teen disco) and went off to have breakfast at Windjammers. I sat outside (in the shade) for a while until we arrived in Falmouth, Jamaica.

Just as we were about to disembark we were told we needed photo ID, so Kevin had to battle all the crowds and go back to get our passports (of course, they were never needed). When we finally got off the ship we set of to find our guide, which we did since he was holding a sign with my name on it.

I had booked a private tour with Real Jamaica Tours and not long after we set off in the mini bus, I got phone call from the lady I had corresponded with to welcome us to Jamaica – which I thought was a very sweet touch.

It was rather a long drive to our first stop but our guide/driver was very good about pointing out interesting things and I was honestly just happy to back in Jamaica – it is such a beautiful country.

Our first stop was to go river tubing down the White River. When we arrived there was a man doing tricks with fire who invited us for photos. We explained we had no money (smallest note we had was $20) but he was happy to have photos taken anyway.

Our river guide, Vivian (a guy so I’m not sure how it’s spelt) got us in our tubes and on our way.

This was just amazing. Fun, scenic, thrilling and relaxing. We all LOVED it. And Vivian sang lots of songs to us as we floated down the river. I’ll definitely share some video when we get home because it so amazing.

About half way we had a “tourist stop” for a photo and the opportunity to buy. The girls ended up buying a necklace each. Then got have a swing in the river.

WHile here another group arrived and with them a local dog swimming along. It was so funny to see. Later the dog took off down the river all by himself. When we set off again we saw him on the banks with a friend. Finally our trip down the river came to an end. This was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever done and when I come back to Jamaica (one day) I’ll be doing it again.

From here we drove to Dunn’s River Falls. It was much more crowded here and when I saw the actual size of the falls I got rather nervous about climbing them. Then we had to walk ALL the way down to the beach to start our climb up. Not easy when going down is the hardest with my knee. When I realised I didn’t have to climb the whole way I decided to at least do one section.
Which I did. And which was quite enough for me. With my sore knee and weak ankle (from a break 10 years ago) I wasn’t game to climb all the way. Amy did one more section and Kevin and Christy made it all the way to the top. Parts were just crazy and we actually saw one woman climbing holding onto a child less than one – which was just plain mad, and stupid.

It was getting on to 2pm so we asked our guide if we could have a stop for lunch, and he stopped at this cute little outdoor cafe.

There were enough vegetarian options for Amy and I, and bread for Christy. We loved how the receipt came with pictures. And do you like the prices? It looks so wrong doesn’t it? Christy was worried that it really cost that much. Actually it converted into just over $20 and feed five of us (including our guide).

We enjoyed our lunch. Amy had shared some sweet potato and had a corn cob each. The corn was very different to what we’re used to – much more chewy but it was still good.

After lunch we had the long drive back to the ship, getting held up in rather a lot of traffic (both cars and pedestrian) at markets near the dock. One thing I remember that stood out last time we were here was how well dressed everyone was – and it’s still the same. They might not have much money (most live in small one room houses) but they take pride in their appearance.

Once back through security and under the protection of Royal Caribbean (apparently the sellers in the shops just outside are particularly aggressive), we explored some of the shops and made a few purchases. Including this very beautiful tanzanite ring Kevin bought me for our 20th Wedding Anniversary. I love tanzanite and I had one before but the stone fell out. The three stones represent the past, present and future so very fitting for an anniversary ring.

We headed back on board at 5pm which didn’t give us long till dinner so we quickly got changed then headed to the dining room. Arriving early for the first time all week. Kevin decided to wear his new t-shirt so everyone would know he’d been to Jamaica :-).

Tonight I enjoyed Minestrone Soup and some Rissoto Balls (which were an entree I ordered for the main). For desert we shared birthday cake, as it was one of our table mates birthday (a few weeks ago).

After dinner the girls went off as usual and Kevin & I went to play Name That ’80s tune. We did much better tonight and got 12/15.

We picked up a few supplies at the shop then went back to our room, though I ducked out to get a drink and cheese plate from Windjammers. I enjoyed my snack, painted my nails and wrote up todays blog entry.