Grand Cayman...or not.

Thursday, March 5

Bob had a rough night with tummy troubles. He blamed it on the tacos he had for a late lunch yesterday on the ship, but in retrospect I think it was just a 24 hour bug.

For their first visit to Grand Cayman, J & K had reserved a stingray city tour. Having done that tour a couple of times on previous visits, we had just planned to go ashore later and snorkel at Eden Rock, not too far from where the tender docks. 

The ship didn’t arrive in Grand Cayman until around 10 a.m. and for some reason there was a major delay getting the tenders running. Since Bob was still feeling sub-par we made the decision to just stay on the ship. Both of us agree that out of all of the islands we have visited in the Caribbean, Grand Cayman is our least favorite. I know most people have the opposite opinion, but we prefer the more laid back feeling of an island like Roatan or Dominica.

After a little lunch, our afternoon was spent lounging in the shade on the port side of Deck 10. From there we had a fabulous view of the beautiful turquoise water surrounding Grand Cayman. The tenders were loading far below us out of Deck 0. It was well after noon and they were still calling tender numbers trying to get passengers transported to the island. (J & K told us later that the island was a zoo…so crowded with the thousands of cruise ship passengers on shore.) We made the right decision by staying onboard.

While Bob snoozed, I took my camera and roamed around the empty ship taking photos. This is the adult pool at the back of the Lido Deck. Not sure if you can tell by the photo, but the water was just a bit nasty looking...and wasn't the first time that week or the next that it looked like that. The following day (a sea day) we watched as they drained the pool (making it unusuable for quite some time) and eventually refilled it. Not sure why that can't be done at night or anytime rather than a sea day.

This painting was in the stairway that we took every day to get to the buffet. It caught my eye because the scene was Creek Street in Ketchikan, Alaska where we had visited back in June!

And this photo is Mt. Rushmore...from our part of the country!

Earlier in the week we noticed these cabins on Deck 9. I believe this area had formally been an open deck at the front of the ship but now cabins have been added. The cabin doors and hallway decor was different than the rest of the decks of cabins.

Later in the afternoon we put on our swim suits and relaxed in the hot tubs…the most strenuous thing we did all day! By dinnertime, we were showered and dressed for formal night, but although he wasn’t feeling too bad, Bob decided he should play it safe and not eat. So we switched back into our casual clothes and went to the buffet where Bob kept me company while I ate.

Usually towards the end of a cruise I am trying to cram in as many activities as possible, but knowing we still had another week ahead of us we both decided we just didn’t want to do ANYTHING after dinner. Bob watched a little TV…and I did a little organizing in the cabin. A day totally different than we had planned but nice. Yes...very nice.