My holiday away part 2- The Cayman Islands

After Fort Lauderdale, we joined the Caribbean Princess in Port Everglades, to sail for 7 nights around part of the Caribbean. We honestly love Princess cruises , we went on Caribbean Princess a few years ago around the Norwegian Fjords, my sons who are 12 and 14 prefer this ship to all they have been on, (not every child needs water slides or rock climbing it seems).

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. But its gorgeous clear waters and coral sands still lure visitors and we could see why. The sunbeds and umbrellas were so cheap and when you are done for the day , there are showers and buses every 10 minutes returning the ship for just $5, the beach is known for its beauty, recently receiving the honor of “The Caribbean’s Best Beach” from Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine. This was just our first port of call and in just one day my children had experienced so much, it was actual paradise. One thing Grand Cayman is known for is Rum!  We finished the day off with visiting Grand Cayman Rum Cake Factory and stocking up on rum cake for the family as gifts when were home. For over 30 years, Tortuga Rum Company has been making rum cakes, reasonable in price and delicious. Its worth noting at the port, there’s lots of shops , bars etc, so you don’t have to go off exploring but i cant recommend enough this beautiful island.

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 [email protected] or call me on 0800 408 6107.

Haydn