DAY 5: GRAND CAYMAN

Well today we are back in Grand Cayman. Oh how I love Grand Cayman and we did a land vacation here a few years ago and had such a good time (review here). There's some great snorkeling and diving here and I wanted to do either one honestly and would be happy. However, having "Karl" with us we knew that it was a tender port. Again, not good planning on my part and still kicking myself for this. So, since it was a tender port we had the talk prior to coming about "Karl" staying on the ship while we went ashore to snorkel. But different plans would happen.

We would be in port from 7am-330pm

We were up at 6am and I was getting my shower. Today I would get to see the sunrise...something I seem to be missing this entire cruise. It did not disappoint today. It was going to be a beautiful day I could tell. (Notice how it predicted nothing but rain and storms prior to coming and we've had great weather).

Today I discovered this on our tv. How cute. It actually would show where we were at during our cruise with a picture of the Prima.

The Prima positioned herself and dropped the anchors as I would look on from our balcony and remembering the buildings I seen off in the distance and the cranes from our previous trip here.

I was scanning the shoreline to try to find Eden Rock, which is where we snorkeled at last time and even went diving there as well. I remembered the old building that we had first walked to thinking that was the place but it was shut down and Eden was in the opposite direction. I do recall people on the boards saying that it was a easy 5-10 minute walk from the port if you wanted to snorkel. After pulling in I'm looking at the distance and thinking it looked a little more than a 10 minute walk to me. I wasn't so sure about this.

Then tenders are already coming.

We rang the kids doorbell and called multiple times with no answer. Eventually the hubby and I decided to go ahead and go down to Indulge for breakfast. My belly was being impatient with me. Today we would eat at the booths in the area that looked like a bus. I thought this area was so cute.

We headed back to our room and still no kids. I guess it's time for a movie.

Eventually we heard a knock at the door at 8:45am. They were dressed and ready for the day. I told them to come back and get us after breakfast but they decided not to eat breakfast and wanted to go ashore instead. Hmmm, "they"....well, if "Karl" is going to see about going ashore, I was ditching the snorkel gear because we wouldn't be able to do that with him and I wasn't about to carry it around with me. If there wasn't a handicapped tender, we'd just come back and get it.

As we made it down to the 6th floor we would find others on people movers waiting for the handicapped elevator. Ok, I think this is a good sign? Yep, they were taking us down and the tender was handicapped approved. Man, I wish I would have known this ahead of time so we could have planned to actually do something! I had read that the tenders in GC were accessible but also read that IF the cruise lines used their own they would not be. Better planning was needed...AGAIN. I have failed my family this cruise.

Gotta take that first picture off the cruise ship. Everyone act excited to be here! Cheese!

With no plans all we could do was just walk around. Grand Cayman is definitely a port that I feel safe in. We headed down to the left and as we walked by would say "I remember this place".

I also didn't realize there was a small beach right outside the port. I never knew this was here or either it was fairly new. Had I known, I would have worn my bathing suit and we would have figured it out for the day. There was a restaurant that "Karl" could have hung out at and he could have just had his drinks and food. It also looked like a decent area to snorkel. Dangit!!!

Here's a picture I took of it from the ferry heading back. See how close it is??

We decided to cross the street and go back down that way toward the port. It looked like there were more shops on that side. "Karl" wanted to get a magnet and I wanted to browse.

It was hot out and we stopped at a small convenience store for some drinks only to find that every single bottle or can was expired. Ahhh, I remember having this issue when we were here. I opted to just carry on with my dry mouth and try another store. I wasn't about to pay those prices for something I would gag and throw away. Eventually we found another store with cans that still had a good date on it. However, "Karl" must have been afraid we weren't stopping to eat or at a bar and decided he'd get a drink here. He bought a Smirnoff and found a friend to drink with and we parked him there for the day.

Just kidding...we decided he'd be lost without us.

We came across an ice cream shop WITH A/C!! Yea, I don't care how much it cost, I'm cooling down!! We all ordered some ice cream and the kids got yep, you guessed it a drink. "Karl" had ice cream and a Mudslide and Sakari got a Mango Daiquiri. I had a Praline Crunch sundae and the hubby Pistachio ice cream.

We hung out here for quite a while...to the point that we were actually getting cold and the kids wanted to go outside in the heat to finish.

We continued on down the road and down toward Eden Rock.

If you want great picture opportunities, this is the place. You can get some good shots of the ship from here.

I definitely remember this area and walking along the street when we were looking to go snorkeling. I had decided to just walk all the way to Eden Rock however there was definitely something going on there. They had so many ambulances, fire trucks, police and rescue trucks that the whole street was blocked off and it was right at Eden Rock. I could see people out back that had just came back from diving. I decided to do a search, and this is what I came up with:

Police are investigating the water-related death of a 71-year-old American man who had gone snorkeling in the water off South Church Street in George Town.

Police and emergency services responded to a report of a person in distress just before 11am on Thursday, 9 July.

In a press release, police said that the man was visiting Grand Cayman on a cruise ship and “was observed experiencing physical difficulties before becoming unconscious in the water. The man was pulled from the water, and chest compressions were administered by members of the public.”

Emergency Medical Services also provided further medical assistance before the man was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

I watched a news report and it showed them giving chest compressions and putting him in one of the squads and our ship was in the background. We were the only cruise ship in port that day so he had to be one of our passengers. 😞

Since there was so much going on down that way we decided to just head back to port and do some shopping.

Do you all remember numerous reviews of us having issues with security because my little artist always brought her ginormous eraser in her carry on at the airport and we would get pulled out of line? Well, I found a bunch of them AND I found huge pencils to go with it. She said "NO MOM!"

"But they come in all different kinds of colors!" Again "No MOM".

I did end up finding a cute little magnet for $3.00 and Sakari bought a pair of earrings for $5.

Then we found this...

Yep, "Karl" had his own corner. How cute. He was also getting burned so we knew we had to head back to the ship. I will tell you that they DO ask for your ID and ship card here.

As we waited for the ferry to come, the workers allowed us to sit under their tent and out of the sun. They even gave me a chair to sit. VIP status I tell ya. Then it was time to load up and go.

Now I remember any other time we've tendered here and it takes around 10-15 minutes. I felt like we anchored pretty close and I timed our tender ride and it took a total of 2 minutes.

We made it back to the ship at 12:30pm and headed to our rooms to cool down. We were extremely hot. I cranked the air on as low as it would go and decided to take a cold shower. Once again, I was sprayed in the face. Ok, I've caught on to this now. I will not be turning the water on again without checking it. Why would they turn it toward the door and bathroom floor when they clean it each time. I'm not understanding this concept???? I would also notice that he must have been changing the pillow cases and decided to leave it for me to do? 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Before leaving the room I decided to pack our dirty clothes for our free bag of laundry to be sent out...making sure to take pictures of everything sent because of the past and them not being able to find a shirt that was sent to them. Sakari said they didn't need anything washed. I would also start to pack our beach bags for tomorrow and start charging the batteries for the camera. It was going to be a big day.

We decided it was time to eat...a real meal. I'm sure the kids had to be hungry after not eating breakfast and Sakari just having a drink. So we headed to The Local for a sit down meal in the restaurant. I had my first cheeseburger of the cruise (usually I'm a few in by now) and today....today Sakari would order a cheeseburger as well and eat ALL OF IT. Yep, she must have been really hungry to do that. Plus, she hardly ever eats cheeseburgers which was weird. "Karl" had sausage sliders and a salad and I believe the hubby had a cheeseburger as well. It was all good but we did have issues getting our pop. We waited forever. Our waiter didn't tell us what the hold up was and at one point I had to stop him and ask. He mentioned they were having to go to a different floor to get them? Why? After more time passed we ask again and he said they were waiting on the bar to open up because the one here wasn't. I got up to go to the restroom, which is in the hall by the bar at The Local and yes it was open and crowded as can be. Um ok...I could have went down to the self serve and back several times at this point.

On the dessert menu today...carrot cake. The hubby and I both agreed that it was yummy.

Another few dance classes were about to take place in the atrium and you know that means Sakari was going. They learned some line dances that everyone does on the ships (the wobble and so on) and she had a blast.

Then it was time for family charades. The atrium was split into 2 different sections of "family" and we competed against each other. They would ask for volunteers to come up, look at the screen and they had to act out what MOVIE it was. Oh geesh. There was a guy on the other team that seemed to know all of them...some which people hadn't even heard of before. Who is this cheater? Was he planted in this game? Geesh. Hey, I did get one of them no one could figure out. #patsselfonback

Anyone up for more dance classes? Yep, ok...now it was going to be a salsa class and they had the worse instructor. He was confusing everyone. Everyone knows that salsa is about moving the hips and feet and it looked like he was stomping his feet with no hip movement. They should have let the regular lady (who was awesome at dancing and really got into it with the class) prior to him do this class. He was stiff as a board. But eventually the hubby joined Sakari with the class. I just wasn't feeling it after all that walking today, my foot was pretty swollen.

"So what do you guys want to do now?" "Karl" screams "CASINO". 🤦‍♀️I had $40 on me so why not kill some time before seeing a show tonight.

"Karl" was determined to win back his money but instead he ended up donating more. I had fun and it kept me playing for quite some time and at least I walked away with $59, which is a profit. 😁

Tonight was the Red White and British show in the theater. I wasn't sure I was going to like it but I have to say the show was AMAZING! The 4 people they had as their singers (especially one of the girls) was the best ever. Usually on ships they have singers that just aren't the greatest, don't harmonize or can't hit the right notes but this girl....WOW! You have to see this show.

Tonight we were using another one of our meal coupons and headed to Los Lobos for a little Mexican Fiesta. We went back to the room to get dressed up then headed to dinner. Gosh so grown up. My little baby.

Did you know that if you order guacamole that they come out and make it at your table?

The food was fabulous and it was a good choice for the night. We also got our free bottle of wine again. We would be saving this for another dance party.

At one point someone came around asking how we liked our food and if we enjoying our night. He said he was the head person of Los Lobos. He asked if we were interested in some Margarita's. When I ask how much they were he said $18.50!!! Yikes! I replied "No thank you...I'll wait until I'm in Mexico again". 😅 Then "Karl" said "I'm just being honest, would you allow me to get a drink?" The reply was "If your parents say it's ok for you to drink you can". At that point they both perked up and said "Strawberry Margarita" while Sakari did a little wiggle and clapped her hands.

Time for dessert and it was yummy as well.

The head guy came back over to ask the kids if they enjoyed their Margarita's and let us know that it was "On the house" and we would not be charged for it. Wait what? I'm kicking myself for not ordering one now.

When we got the "bill", which really isn't a bill but something showing you don't owe anything for the coupons, Sakari had to draw on it of course.

Now it was time for more dance fun...because Sakari can't get enough of it...and they were having a 90's dance party tonight. Again, not something I would normally go to but she insisted...and once again I LOVED IT. I really enjoyed it HOWEVER....

We waited and waited and waited to get in when we got there. We weren't sure what was going on. I headed upstairs to take a look at the bleachers were stuck! They could only get them to go back and it only left a small area in front of it. I wasn't sure how this was going to work because the halls were lined up with people. How is this going to be enough room? Well, it wasn't and people could barely move.

We were pretty much pushed against the roped off area in front of the stage and really couldn't move too much. It was just too hard to dance in such a small area with so many people. "Karl" wasn't able to spin and do wheelies so it was a bust for him as well. We ended up only staying for around 1/2 an hour before giving up on this party. It would have been so much fun. Again, they were playing good music. It's too bad it turned out this way.

We all decided to head back to the room so that we could get some sleep for tomorrow. It was going to be a big day for all of us and I warned the kids...it's not one of those ports that you can get up at any time you wanted. We had to be up, bellies full and off the ship ASAP.

Here are our white boards for the day. I think most of our answers were from the kids passing in the hall as I spotted them stopping to look at todays question as we were coming down the hall.

Going to bed and dreaming of fishies! 🐟🐠🥽💤