Our first day was a glorious day at sea, the best we have ever had, the sea was calm the temperature was boiling and the sun shone all day. I noticed a real difference for the first time doing this cruise how doing a cruise with an itinerary having such glorious weather made the bars, lounges and restaurants so quiet as so many were up on deck. The only criticism or should i say suggestion to Princess would be some sort of shaded area up on deck, the sun was absolutely scorching and unless we went down into deck we couldn’t get much shade. I know umbrellas would be impossible with any wind or breeze they’d be out to sea but something would be great.
My sons absolute favourite part of Princess, is movies under the stars, they do it better than any cruise company I know, my children would agree. current films, plenty of seating, blankets, pop corn , milk and cookies, whilst lying under the stars watching Avengers in the middle of the Caribbean sea, it was bliss!
We were all looking forward to today, we have never been to the Caribbean before and the first port of call was the Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. We arrived by tender, and when do arrive if you haven’t booked a ship tour you are literally bombarded but nothing threatening , just lots of options for excursions, we took our time browsed, and chose a tour of the island which incorporated all the things we wanted to see at a really reasonable price. The mini bus took about 16 of us and cover the islands highlights. We visited ‘Hell’, which is a group of short, black, limestone formations located in Grand Cayman, located in West Bay, it is roughly the size of half a football field. In my opinion probably an over-rated tourist attraction, but the post office was a bit of fun and hey, we have been.
Our next stop was to see the Dolphin Discovery with has the best experiences of the Cayman Island. Here your dreams will come true! Swim with Dolphins if your budget and time allow, alternatively its free entry and you can just watch until your hearts content all the dolphins. They really were amazing, a great gift shop and i loved that it was free entry, a real highlight. Directly across the road is Cayman Turtle Centre, its a conservation facility and tourist attraction located in the West Bay district of the Cayman Islands. It is used for raising the endangered Green Sea Turtle, not free entry but certainly an experience, you can get in the water with them, hold them, the perfect place for families to learn about the turtles.
The absolute best part though for us, we decided to abandon the tour at the famous 7 mile beach! In all my years of travelling I’ve never seen sand so white and waters so clear, my sons were in the sea quicker than i could say shall we stay for the day. Situated on Grand Cayman’s west shore, Seven Mile Beach actually now measures only 5.5 miles.
Our next port of callis Roatan, Honduras, I’ll catch up with you all next week on this port! If you have any questions or queries as always just contact me on haydnj@cruise.co.uk or call me on 0800 408 6107.
Haydn