Days 206 – 212: Cruising in the Western Caribbean

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Days 206 – 212: Cruising in the Western Caribbean
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands


Anyone who has seen my overly organised, some would say over the top, day planner for this year’s trip would notice we are in Jamaica this week. Well, you see we decided about a month back, flying there was too expensive and swimming there was too much like hard work. So, the outcome was to right it off and start our drive to New York. The thing is, I love my Dad and Jamaica has been on his bucket list since Cool Runnings came out. So, where there’s a will there’s a way. That way is to…. CRUISE THERE! There’s one good thing about cruising, justifying the money isn’t an issue. For us to travel to the Western Caribbean; Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Mexico over 7 days, all inclusive was in total $450 each. You couldn’t feed, transport, water and entertain yourself on land for that price. Why not make the most of Norwegian Cruise Liner’s (NCL) last minute specials, particularly when it’s the economically savvy option!

The Norwegian Pearl is a much much older ship than the last but the atmosphere, energy and entertainment is spot-on. The grand foyer has a sports bar and 6x8m tv screen for movies and sports games – very different from the last ship’s ballroom dancing. Dave’s been rock climbing on the 3pitch wall on the ship’s roof, played shuffleboard often, watched gameshows and given Dad the opportunity to put his other arm in a cast with ten pin bowling. It was right up his ‘alley’ so we couldn’t resist. Although if he was going to break his other arm on this cruise, it would have been sliding down the banisters on his tummy. The little roll onto the floor was hilarious though.

In a presentation, we learnt how to fold towel animals: rabbits, snakes, elephants, penguins, monkeys, dogs and swans, as seen at the end of our beds. Not our bed though. Our housekeeper wasn’t fond of giving us any towels at all. 99% of all staff on this ship are Philippine who work every day, the same sea route, for 8 months straight which may have been the reason for the service and food being a bit ho-hum.

When backpacking through third world countries, the locals often have less therefore your expectations are lower and simple things can become a luxury. Without realising it, the natural reaction is to be thankful for what you have or see. For that reason, I prefer travelling in those countries. I see myself as a better, more rounded person because I’m thankful for what I have and don’t wish for more. When in western environments, around western people (such as a cruise ship), natural reactions to situations are often fussier and more critical of surroundings, locals or staff. I can recognise the change in myself – a change I dislike. A prime example of that was at this cruise’s first port: NCL’s private island in the BAHAMAS ‘Grand Stirrup Cay’. Have you ever gone to a show and the host will say ‘are you having a good time’ and the expected answer is everyone screams ‘yes’ regardless? It was kind of like that. An island with a place for 6,000 people (2cruise liners at a time) to go and lay on their beach on their deck chairs, 100 across by 10 deep and have fun for the day, all laying in rows. Exploration around the island was prohibited. Snorkelling in the Bahamian waters was stunning, although mandatory vests were required. It felt as if we were sheep put in pens to sit there and enjoy our time because we were there, so we ‘should’. It lacked interaction with locals, personality and imagination. Back to my original point, the person I’ve become worries me, if a private island in the Bahamas is considered naff. You can’t help those automatic natural reactions, dictated by surroundings. I felt I needed to recognise this to ensure the sight of the bigger picture isn’t lost.

The most important day of the cruise was 3rd December, Dave’s 28th birthday. It was a sea day so we took the opportunity to play cards, a game of shuffle on the ship’s deck and of course drink beer in between. An art auction was an odd way to spend the afternoon but it’s what you’ll do for a birthday freeby right? We probably shouldn’t have but we now own an authenticated piece of art work with no home to put it in! As an apology from the art auctioneer for not being able to ship it to Australia, Dave was given smaller backpacker sized art and a bottle of champagne. This was perfect as we had something to drink over the free cake after dinner. The evening’s entertainment would have been better suited to mum’s birthday with 60s music, silk suits and a lot of pelvic thrusting in the cheesiest dancing ever seen. Mum who giggled the whole way through the performance was in her element, as were those, older than 28, who knew the words.

JAMAICA YEAH MON! I can’t tell you how much we had hoped this place would live up to expectations – and it totally does! The locals really do sound like they’ve jumped off the set of Cool Runnings. “Yeah mon” is used in every day sentences, for any gender, as a substitute for hello, thanks or anything else appropriately close to the renown phrase. “No problem mon” is equally often used as they don’t have ‘problems’ in Jamaica, they have ‘situations’. We had many, many warnings from all walks of life about Jamaica’s safety and strongly advised to either visit by cruise ship or only go to an all-inclusive resorts. To some extent that’s probably true in some parts. Fortunately where we visited was completely safe but the downside of that is only experiencing the port we docked in, not the entire country. The town of Ocho Rios has got some stunning beaches and a world famous waterfall, Dunn’s River. Its 180 feet (55 m) high and 600 feet (180 m) long. What makes this gigantic beauty one of the most amazing things ever experienced is the waterfalls are terraced like giant natural stairs. It’s so big it takes over an hour to climb. Several small lagoons are interspersed among the vertical sections of a series of falls. The jungle intertwines all away along the fall making for natural serenity. It’s truly an incredible experience walking up a waterfall. There is no way climbing a waterfall of that size would be allowed in western countries. Normally waterfalls finish at a river before hitting the sea. At Dunn’s River Falls, the lowest fall actually falls onto the white-sand beach before being swallowed up by the Caribbean Sea. Jamaica is a truly beautiful place, the people more so.

GRAND CAYMAN – Wow. In our opinion, the centrepiece of the Caribbean. This British colony has only 50,000 locals. It is really well organised for a tiny island. You begin to appreciate this when only on an island for the day. It felt like only 100 tourists were in the capital, George Town, yet there were 6 cruise liners in, with well over 20,000. More importantly, if I ever utter the words “best snorkelling”, remind me of the Grand Cayman Islands. Although I enjoy fish life, fending my way through 5 foot long fish, centimetres away from my face was rather full on. Their huge faces so close to our faces were so intimidating that I ‘rode’ on Dave’s back to get past them and into the deeper water where the smaller colourful fish were. If that was intimidating, I’m surprised I enjoyed the next experience as much as I did. Grand Cayman is known for its stingrays at Stingray City, a sand bar 10km off the mainland. We stood, apprehensively, shoulder deep in the middle of the ocean’s nowhere while black shapes circled us. We didn’t swim with one or two stingrays in a SeaWorld-like setting, it was HUNDREDS and in their environment. I swear they haven’t heard of Steve Irwin, otherwise it’d be illegal. As it’s in the ocean, the waves meant we were continuously losing our footing and stingrays went right under our bare feet. There were so many and they were so tame. They swam all around us, between us and under us. Can you image a family of 6 huge stingrays swimming straight at you, and you have to move for them? We held them, we kissed them and their soft skins rubbed our backs. It was seriously incredible. I wish, wish, wish I could rewrite every time I write “clearest warmest turquoise water”, because I can’t express the waters off this is
land any other way. The same goes for the phrase ‘most amazing experience’. There are no words good enough to explain today, hopefully the pictures will speak 1,000 words.

Ola Amigos, we’re in Mexico! The ship docked in Cozumel, an island off mainland Mexico. This island has the world’s second biggest reef so it’s a snorkelling haven. We’ll be returning here with friends in February to explore the under water world and immaculate beaches. Although a touristy island, it has a great island feel to it. To avoid a double up in experiences, we opted for taking a ferry to mainland Mexico for the day. One of the things we love about travelling is the locals and the food. Often, it’s hard to get the authenticity of either in tourist hubs but in Playa del Carmen we nailed both. A Mexican from the north suggested we order nachos with real beef and black bean and enchiladas with sweet moley sauce with Coronas for only $1.50. We’re both looking forward to exploring Mexico thoroughly at a later date.

After 3 weeks on cruise ships, we have seen 12 ports in the western and southern Caribbean from two very different ships. Both ships and destinations had their positives but I couldn’t help but enjoy seeing Dad continuously smiling, ear to ear, listening to steel pans daily. We were grateful that NCL did entertainment well as it was Dave’s birthday this week. High energy Caribbean sail away parties occurred every time we left any port, followed by an interesting selection of nightly performances. The Caribbean, particularly the western side, is definitely a highlight of this world. It’s got it all, from the Jamaican vibe, Mexican food to the translucent waters of the Grand Cayman.
For us it’s time to leave the excessive amounts of food, roll off this ship and start our drive north into the snow.




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