Today was another at sea day, so … eat, drink, walk around the ship, repeat! Tomorrow we arrive in Jamaica and have a shore excursion, so we will be fairly early. Good night!
January 12, 2026 - Falmouth, Jamaica
We arrived ashore about 8:15 for our 9:00 shore excursion and every one was early, so we were on our way by 8:30. It was supposed to be Montego Bay highlights and beach.
It was pretty disappointing – and not because of the damage from Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica on October 28, 2025. There were a few things we were supposed to go see, but they skipped them. Instead, we drove through neighborhoods and saw some of the big houses and stopped at a souvenir store. They did give us a traditional “patty“ (sandwich) for a snack. They were okay, but I would have preferred seeing the church and square we thought we signed up for!
I think this is the church we were supposed to tour.
In front of the museum:
We were dropped off at Doctor’s Cave Beach about 10:30am for three hours. Tobey and I walked the beach back and forth a few times (it was pretty short) before cooling off in the water.
This is some of the damage from Hurricane Melissa.
We were back to the ship by 2pm so we had a late lunch. We took some laps around the deck before showering and watching the ship pull out of port about 5pm.
We played cards before going to the 7pm show to see the magician again and then a late dinner. We did get treated to a beautiful sunset tonight – one of the first we have actually seen!
Tomorrow we arrive in Grand Cayman and have an early shore excursion. We need to get tickets for the tenders (shuttle boats from the ship to the docks) at 7am. The crew told us that people start lining up around 6:15, so it will be an early morning. Hopefully, we will be there early enough to get an early tender because that takes about 20 minutes, too, and we don’t want to be late for the tour.
January 13, 2025 – Grand Cayman – NOT
What a disappointment! First of all, I didn’t sleep well. Our neighbors had their TV on all night again and it woke me at 3:00am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I gave up at 5:45 and got up to get ready to head to Deck 12 to get in line for tender tickets to depart the ship. The waters around Grand Cayman are too shallow for a dock to accommodate cruise ships so you get into smaller boats (tenders) and they take you to the pier. There were three people ahead of me – Marcia was one of them. People began trickling in and when the ship representatives arrived, several people tried to cut in line in front of everyone. We all made a comment to let them know there was a queue and one woman was so rude, she just said, “get over it!” A few minutes later, the ship’s captain came on the intercom and announced that the seas were too rough causing swells at the docks making it unsafe to use the tenders, so the port was being cancelled! We did not stop in Grand Cayman. We did not get to snorkel. We did not go to Starfish Beach. We did not get to experience the stingrays swimming up to us at Stingray City. We did get to see our ship (and the other four cruise ships in the area) pivot and head back out to sea. Tomorrow was a day at sea, so now we have two.
We headed to breakfast before going back to our cabins for a while. Tobey and Phil did laps around the deck while I went to the cabin and went back to sleep until lunch time! This worker is tethered to the ship in case the ladder slips!
After lunch Tobey and I did some laps then went back to the cabin to read. We met up about 5pm and played cards before going to the theatre for the show. The show, a cabaret musical, was amazing tonight! The singers and dancers have so much energy it made us tired just watching them. At the end of the show, the cruise director brought several of the staff on stage from every aspect of the ship for recognition. The 900 crew members do a great job and it was nice they were acknowledged.
We had dinner reservations at Moderno, a Brazilian steakhouse at 8:30pm. It was a bit disappointing to us because it was so late and the restaurant closes at 9:30. We were some of the last people there and while the food was good, the service was SO SLOW and they were doing tear down and setting up for an event tomorrow! Not at all like everywhere else we have eaten on the ship. It was almost 10pm before we finished our dessert – not fun.
Today did not turn out at all like we had planned, but at least we get to sleep in tomorrow since it’s another day at sea!
January 14, 2026 - At Sea
Tobey and I slept in and had a late breakfast at the Versailles Restaurant. The hostess, Christine, is so sweet and she remembers us. They were very busy and were handing out buzzers to call when tables were ready. We had been asked if we would share and said okay. When our buzzer went off and we checked in with Christine, she asked if we would prefer a table for two and happily provided that for us! We met up with Phil and Marcia and did laps around the ship then read for a while before lunch. After lunch we did more laps and came back to the room. The show this evening is early – 5pm – and we have dinner reservations at 7pm. We will meet up with Phil and Marcia for cards around 3pm, then after the evening events, finish packing because we leave the ship in Tampa in the morning.
We were back to the ship by 2pm so we had a late lunch. We took some laps around the deck before showering and watching the ship pull out of port about 5pm.
We played cards before going to the 7pm show to see the magician again and then a late dinner. We did get treated to a beautiful sunset tonight – one of the first we have actually seen!
Tomorrow we arrive in Grand Cayman and have an early shore excursion. We need to get tickets for the tenders (shuttle boats from the ship to the docks) at 7am. The crew told us that people start lining up around 6:15, so it will be an early morning. Hopefully, we will be there early enough to get an early tender because that takes about 20 minutes, too, and we don’t want to be late for the tour.
January 13, 2025 – Grand Cayman – NOT
What a disappointment! First of all, I didn’t sleep well. Our neighbors had their TV on all night again and it woke me at 3:00am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I gave up at 5:45 and got up to get ready to head to Deck 12 to get in line for tender tickets to depart the ship. The waters around Grand Cayman are too shallow for a dock to accommodate cruise ships so you get into smaller boats (tenders) and they take you to the pier. There were three people ahead of me – Marcia was one of them. People began trickling in and when the ship representatives arrived, several people tried to cut in line in front of everyone. We all made a comment to let them know there was a queue and one woman was so rude, she just said, “get over it!” A few minutes later, the ship’s captain came on the intercom and announced that the seas were too rough causing swells at the docks making it unsafe to use the tenders, so the port was being cancelled! We did not stop in Grand Cayman. We did not get to snorkel. We did not go to Starfish Beach. We did not get to experience the stingrays swimming up to us at Stingray City. We did get to see our ship (and the other four cruise ships in the area) pivot and head back out to sea. Tomorrow was a day at sea, so now we have two.
We headed to breakfast before going back to our cabins for a while. Tobey and Phil did laps around the deck while I went to the cabin and went back to sleep until lunch time! This worker is tethered to the ship in case the ladder slips!
After lunch Tobey and I did some laps then went back to the cabin to read. We met up about 5pm and played cards before going to the theatre for the show. The show, a cabaret musical, was amazing tonight! The singers and dancers have so much energy it made us tired just watching them. At the end of the show, the cruise director brought several of the staff on stage from every aspect of the ship for recognition. The 900 crew members do a great job and it was nice they were acknowledged.
We had dinner reservations at Moderno, a Brazilian steakhouse at 8:30pm. It was a bit disappointing to us because it was so late and the restaurant closes at 9:30. We were some of the last people there and while the food was good, the service was SO SLOW and they were doing tear down and setting up for an event tomorrow! Not at all like everywhere else we have eaten on the ship. It was almost 10pm before we finished our dessert – not fun.
Today did not turn out at all like we had planned, but at least we get to sleep in tomorrow since it’s another day at sea!
January 14, 2026 - At Sea
Tobey and I slept in and had a late breakfast at the Versailles Restaurant. The hostess, Christine, is so sweet and she remembers us. They were very busy and were handing out buzzers to call when tables were ready. We had been asked if we would share and said okay. When our buzzer went off and we checked in with Christine, she asked if we would prefer a table for two and happily provided that for us! We met up with Phil and Marcia and did laps around the ship then read for a while before lunch. After lunch we did more laps and came back to the room. The show this evening is early – 5pm – and we have dinner reservations at 7pm. We will meet up with Phil and Marcia for cards around 3pm, then after the evening events, finish packing because we leave the ship in Tampa in the morning.
2 comments:
We are north of Tampa and are expecting temps in the 30's tonight. Tampa: https://www.fox13news.com/weather
Yikes! It was 59 here in Denver when we arrived home today! Supposed to be cold tomorrow, but then back up in the 50s. Very unusual for Colorado!
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