So the wedding was great...Perfect actually. Sadly we had to leave the beautiful island early in the morning. (Well, 9am is early for newlyweds I suppose). We were going on a cruise and the ship left from Ft. Lauderdale, about 4 hours north from where we were. The Island boat took us back to the mainland and we met mom to get her car for the drive up.
We were going to cruise on the Star Princess, through the Western Caribbean, stopping in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Montego Bay and Princess Cay.
Boarding the ship was fun in itself. There were people everywhere making sure you were in the right place, you never went 20 feet without someone pointing you to the next place...A huge place, but impossible to get lost. What a relief. After being greeted by what felt like the entire staff, I finally made it to my room, Allen was returning the rental car, so he was behind me by about 45 minutes.
The room was ornately accented, but quaint in size. The bed was the worst bed ever - two twin beds pushed together with no physical connection or accommodation for the painful ridge at the junction. This was unfortunate - but we made due.
The boat is a floating city with its 2,800 passengers, 1,300 service staff, and all the entertainment needed for each person. It was amazing how we never feel like 2,800 passengers were around, but it's true. The cruise experience was absolutely delightful. The food was not only good but abundant. The service was amazingly attentive. As eat-anytime-option passengers we often were asked to share a table with others, this was not a problem for us, meeting new people is always fun. We dined with folks at our table in all but one of our meals. Surprisingly, we only ate one meal with another American family. Guests we sat with were Canadian English and Australian. One of our worst longstanding fears is getting sucked into speaking with fake British accents while in England. Well, England came to us, and I was good. I only let one English-accented word out while speaking with the Englishmen, and we escaped unscathed.
Cozumel was our first stop. We chose to participate in a sail-and-snorkel excursion. It was fun, we sailed (via motored boat) to a reef that was unfortunately destroyed by the hurricane, and then we were off to a sunny sandy beach for fun on the sand. After the excursion, we finished out our stay by renting an old VW bug from Alamo and cruising around the island for an hour. After discounting the excursion guide's victory speech over hurricane Wilma, we witnessed what he was speaking about. We saw a city destroyed by a 64-hour siege of hurricane force winds. Roofs were caved in, capitalism was limited to tourism, and the people lived is minimal protection from the elements. It is apparent that the touristy areas received most of the rebuilding funds at the neglect of replaced windows and patched roofs for the island's people. We were refreshed to see the kids getting out of school in their white and blue uniforms with relative joy in their faces, playing on the now ruins, and so full of life, they seemed as though nothing was going to get in their way of having a good time.
Next stop was Grand Cayman. Here we donned scuba gear, took a quick scuba lesson and then a guided tour of another reef. This one flourishing, full of fish, life, even a baby sea turtle came to check us out. The Cayman Islands are beautiful. Scuba diving is loads of fun, neither Allen nor I are certified, but we plan to be soon. We have got to do that again! We wandered around the town for a bit, the people of Grand Cayman were wonderful, waving and smiling as they passed us on the street (they drive on the wrong side ya know). They were kind to offer directions or help us find something fun to do. They are great people. We ate lunch at a local divers hang out - Dolphin burgers and local Brew. And then it was on for some shopping and back to the boat for some well needed rest.
Stop three was Montego Bay, and we took an excursion to the canepes for some traversing. wow, that was a trip. You put on this harness, clip yourself to this highwire thing and fly through the tree tops. whew, what an experience. Jamaica however is not the paradise that we thought it would be. After the excursion we went into the touristy part of town, but then we wanted to wander around and see the real people of Jamaica. and we are sorry we did. They weren't friendly. THe streets were filthy, the people lived in indescribable filth and ruin. it was, to put it honestly, disgusting. If you have the chance to go to Jamiaca, DON'T leave the resort!
We bought sugarcane and a coconut from a street vender and some local lunch from a place we saw loads of school children pile into. Overall it was a nice day.
Our last stop was at Princess Cay. Princess cruise lines private Island in the Bahamas. They had loads of stuff to do on the beach and in the water, kyaks, snorkeling, sand volleyball, food, and plenty of places just to lounge. Allen and I took a long walk down the beach, looking for seashells, we didn't find any. They fed us lunch and there were plenty of kiosks for gift shopping.
We were a couple of beach bums, a trait I know well, and Allen is learning to love.
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