Today is our last day exploring a foreign country and we’re in the Cayman Islands! According to our destination expert, Grand Cayman is one of the richest areas in the Caribbean. It’ a very safe place making it a popular destination to visit. We explored the Caribbean Sea attractions, but the lack of street side sellers made me want to spend more time on land.
It was a busy day in Grand Cayman! We arrived at 7am and we were the only ship here. Ships cannot dock here and a water shuttle is needed to go ashore. Even though we have water shuttles available from our ship, the agreement with the Cayman Islands is that we must use their shuttles. We booked a third-party shore excursion and it was a little stressful this morning. We needed to gather a water taxi ticket to join the line to go ashore. We rushed downstairs and we were already at group 5. Since this is the first port with this sort of arrangement, I had no idea how quickly they would move through the groups. We waited about 30 minutes until our group was called. Our directions for our shore excursion was that we needed to meet at the Royal Watler Terminal. Once we arrived to land, it was obvious that we were at another terminal so we exited and walked. Our meeting time was 8:45am and we walked up to the appropriate check-in at 8:44am. We made it!
Our excursion is called, “Stingray City, Barrier Reef and Starfish Beach Shore Excursion.” We waited about 15 minutes until we departed the terminal by bus. It was about a 15 minute bus ride to the marina and then we loaded into a boat. There were 40 passengers for our boat which made it pretty crowded. The only communication about our journey was when we stepped onboard. We were told everyone needed to remove their shoes while on the boat. Once everyone was loaded, we rode off into the Caribbean Sea. We obviously knew the tour was to snorkel and see stingrays, but there wasn’t any communication on the order of events of how much time it would take. It ended up being about 35 minutes to our first stop. Snorkeling was up first and once we anchored, the crew scrambled to get flippers and gear to everyone. We were told we would be here for 30 minutes, but it took about 15 minutes to get the gear. At first I felt frustrated because it seemed like we wouldn’t have much time to actually snorkel. My son threw a fit because he didn’t like the goggles and I forgot to bring his. I had brought them on our trip, but with the stress with the water shuttle situation I forgot them on the ship. Our 15 minutes to snorkel was more than enough time for me. The water was rough, I kept getting hit by other people’s flippers, and it was challenging to navigate with my son. My son and I both had life jackets which was against the norm, but I’m so glad we used them! We lasted about five minutes before we wanted to go back on the boat. Communication improved greatly after snorkeling and we were told we were headed to Stingray City next and then to Starfish Beach.
Stingray City was a large sandbar and when we arrived several boats were anchored here. This is where you can see our captain’s skills as he backed into a small gap and anchored. The crew then jumped off the boat to gather stingrays and we began unloading. Despite it being crowded, it was really interesting and cool. There were stingrays everywhere! Most of the time the stingrays stayed away from people and I was 100% happy with that. The captain from the ship next door went to catch one of the stingrays next to me. It flapped quickly to get away from him and ran into my legs. I like seeing wildlife from afar and did not like this. I went back to the boat. Oh have I told you I don’t like snorkeling or being by sea creatures in the ocean? Such a strange excursion to have picked, right? Brian and my son loved it.
Next stop was Starfish Beach. This was the least crowded of the three stops and was the most enjoyable. My son held a starfish and then bolted to the beach. He spent most of the time playing in the sand with the other children from the excursion while we enjoyed the sun and salty air. There were several starfish here and they were really neat to hold and see.
We spent a decent amount of time here and then it was time to go. It was about 35 minutes back to the marina and then the same bus ride back to the port. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. They did an awesome job sanitizing all of the snorkeling equipment and it felt new and clean when we were given them. I am allergic to mold and really appreciate when proper sanitation is practiced! The boat was crowded, but so was almost every other one out there too. It’s a popular excursion!
The water taxi back took a long time despite it being a very short journey. The water taxi they use is huge and they wait until it’s completely full before taking it to the ship. It took 45 minutes from the time of getting in line until we cleared security on the ship. This was the first time I returned to ship by water taxi so I’m not sure if that’s a normal amount of time or not. Ports with docks are so much better!
Every evening there is a dedicated space for the Captain’s Circle. This is basically a happy hour if you have a high enough status with Princess. I decided to check it out. The space is on deck 19 and has a gorgeous view of the ocean. There was a small buffet with appetizers and the service was fantastic. They had chicken skewers on the buffet and I asked if there were any red pepper flakes used in the seasoning. The chef there told me yes. This sounds simple, but it is so rare to ask chefs at the buffet if a food item contains your allergy and they can give you a quick answer. This has happened several times on this cruise. This tells me the people serving the food are also the people making the food or at least involved enough in the process to know. I love this!
Dinner tonight was at the same place as always. There is the option to switch dining rooms, but we have kept our routine. We pre-booked our dining times a couple months before our sailing and I’m so glad we did! I’ve heard other people onboard complain about late dining times. If you want to eat early, you should book your dining ahead of time. For dessert tonight, Brian and I both ordered the Creme Brûlée. When our dessert was delivered, we were given our dessert choices and an extra slice of chocolate cake. We were both so full and although it was nice they brought the extra, it was more than we needed. Brian and I both look at the slice of cake and I give a look of yeah no way I have room for that. Brian then takes his fork and talks about taking one bite out of respect for them bringing it to us. Five seconds later he starts to grin as he pulls the plate towards him and proceeds to eating the entire slice. It’s a brownie disguised as chocolate cake! The servers are very tactful in telling you that you ordered the wrong dessert.
Comments