Day Six ~ Grand Cayman

We were awake at 6:30. No reason to be awake, but awake nonetheless. And then we opened the drapes...it's a game to see if it is sun or rain. Gray skies and drizzle this morning. Oh well. Beats Ohio in December. We lazed around until about 7.

Doug dried off the balcony chairs so we could attempt to have coffee outside this morning. And pre-breakfast pastries :) So I made coffee while Doug went to the WJ for pastries. He much prefers when we don't wake up until closer to 8 so he can just pop up to the Park Cafe lol. And...this is only the 2nd time I've had pre-breakfast raspberry pastries. I'm making changes LOL.


We were able to sit on the balcony this morning and we were discussing our day. Our plan was to stay on the ship and lounge by the pool all day while people were in port. It may not be a possible, so we were discussing Plan B.

We went to the dining room for breakfast, and my 2nd, and last, eggs Benedict. Oh yum. We were still 3 hours away from dropping anchor (it's a tender port) and were hoping the weather would improve.

Before heading to the MDR for breakfast, we got a bag of laundry together to leave for the cabin steward.  Then on to breakfast. We arrived after the crowds, and were the only two waiting, so we were able to eat alone. Which always makes me happy in the morning. I enjoyed my eggs Benedict SO MUCH. And a mimosa :)  Must have Vitamin C, right?

And then we headed to the Solarium to hopefully find loungers, and we did! Doug made a friend before I even met him, since I had gone to the room for the bag (with my kindle, sunscreen HAHA, sunglasses, the journal) and he was happily talking, talking, talking.

It is HOT in the Solarium. Of course they had the roof closed. So I went to the room to change into my swimsuit. I decided another mimosa was important, so walked to the pool bar before heading back to the Solarium.  Walking across the pool deck, it looked to me like it was clearing up. So I told Doug to change, and I moved outside and got a great chair, dried it off and settled in.

And not ten minutes later it started storming. So I moved back under the awning. The breeze feels really nice. And if I have to be in a gentle rain and thunderstorm, it may as well be on the pool deck in the Caribbean ocean, right?

We were ready to drop anchor. Doug was there with me. And I had a mimosa in hand. And it was starting to clear up! Hopefully it will stay clear and we can move back into the sunshine!  Joe and Sally were also on the pool deck, right near us, and it was nice to visit with them.

We had lunch and drinks and before long Doug was in the hot tub with Joe. They solved all of the world's problems that day lol. And then the sun came out WOOT WOOT!!

So we moved back up, and then got in the pool. Well, Doug did, and I sat on the side. He stayed in the pool talking to more Cruise Critic people, Scott and Tammy. More nice people! This was the best cruise!  I enjoyed the hot sun, my book and a margarita while listening to...Christmas Music! Which was a little strange. Heatwave plays at 4, and it wasn't quite 2, but the plan was to just be lazy. I was getting pretty good at that. We stayed on the pool deck until it was time to get ready for dinner. We had Chops reservations tonight....for real lol.

It was really nice being at the pool all day. After a while the sun was just too much, so we moved back into the shade again. David and Joan were at a table by the window, so we sat and talked with them. Doug took pictures. We listened to the band. Then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.

So back in the room Doug took more pictures and we got ready for dinner.

So we had pictures taken this night, then before Chops we went to the next cruise desk to check prices for the cruise we're taking next year. We really want to bring the kids with us. We keep saying next year, but if we wait for too many next years, there will be grandbabies in the mix. So why not this next year, right?

We then went to the Schooner bar for pre-dinner drinks. We have spent quite a bit of time in the Schooner bar, and Alex has become our favorite bar server. We were able to really talk to her about her family and life. She is the SWeETEST girl!

 

Then it was time for dinner at Chops. I LOVE Chops. I had the crispy goat cheese salad. It is SO yummy. And the 6 oz. filet with grilled asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. Doug had shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, the 9 oz. filet with mushrooms and cheesy tater tots (blue cheese, yum). We shared the sides. We had yummy, warm bread with anchovy mustard butter. Oh My Deliciousness!

Peter from the dining room came up to check on us. And then we had dessert. Warm chocolate cake with coconut ice cream for me, and coconut ice cream for Doug. Desserts didn't usually thrill him since they were mostly chocolate. He doesn't like chocolate! Can you imagine?

At dinner we mostly talked about booking the kids on our cruise next year and how to make that work. It's a 12 night Southern Caribbean voyage on Grandeur going to St. Thomas, St. Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.  I get excited just thinking about it!

After dinner we collected our pictures and headed to the deck party. The band was playing and people started showing up. At ten the DJ came and the cruise director staff took over and got the crowd up and line dancing. It was a fun, lively party. Tammy and Scott were there and sat with as, as did David and Joan. Saby came by and got Doug a drink. We stayed for a good while enjoying the party vibe. But it was getting really windy, and was lightening, and we decided to head inside.

First we hit up the Solarium Bar and Irenea for mudslides and headed to the cabin for the night. We watched the lightening while enjoying our drinks and then went to bed. It was another perfect, relaxing, quiet day. Tomorrow ~ Jamaica!!

Day Seven ~ Jamica

This morning we woke up at 6:30...right as we were backing into the port. I looked outside and saw the SUN!!! I opened the balcony door and it was comfortable!! Yay, coffee on the balcony while watching us dock. Doug got pictures and I caught up on journaling from yesterday. I'm excited for gorgeous weather!!

We were pretty low key about our plans today. We were going to have breakfast, shop at the port and hit up Margaritaville for the free WiFi and some food and drinks. Then back to the ship to relax by the pool.

We had breakfast in the WJ and then headed outside. This is a really nice port. I shopped around. Doug sat and took pictures. There was a band playing.

And then we headed to Margaritaville. We had drinks and Volcano Nachos! They were ENORMOUS! and Delicious. We saw Brian and Paula there, too. I don't know why we never had our picture with them or a picture of them. We took less pictures than ever this trip.  

Margaritaville had a beautiful pool with a waterfall. If we ever return to this port, we'll plan to spend the day at the pool.

We spammed Facebook with pictures and messaged the kids. They were either working or sleeping, so didn't get to message us back before we no longer had WiFi. It was so strange to not talk to them at all. We had always been in US ports and could call home on previous trips, but this time we weren't. I was feeling out of touch with them.

Then we headed back to the ship and to the room to cool down. It was HOT  and SUNNY! Which is awesome, but a little cool down in mid-day is also awesome.

And then we went to the pool deck to lounge around in the shade. I visited with Joan while Doug cooled off in the pool. And then I napped. I just love napping by the pool. Bliss. We stayed until about 2:30 at the pool having mudslides and relaxing. Then we headed to the Park Cafe for a snack and the Solarium bar for a drink and went to the cabin. We had lunch at 10:30 at Margaritaville so needed a snack by then lol. We relaxed on the balcony and waited to sail. And took pictures.

We decided that yes, we are going to book the kids on the cruise we're taking next year, so we headed down to talk with Mary at the Next Cruise Desk.  We put 2 rooms on hold because Mary wasn't sure if we could book people into rooms and get the perks if they weren't with us. Yes, we can, which I knew. But she was new and wanted to double check. So ok...we went back to the cabin. We opened the bottle of champagne that we brought on board with us, and I soaked in the tub and then we got ready for dinner. We also took pictures of the sunset. It was SO pretty! I love the reflection of the sun right in the middle of the wake.

While we were getting ready for dinner, Mary called to inform us that yes, we really could make those reservations. So we finished getting ready for dinner and headed back down to wait our turn. Mary was busy, but Danney helped us finish our bookings. We have 2 inside rooms on the same deck we are on, nowhere near each other so the kids can have space. Danney was kind enough to print two of each reservation and give us 4 envelopes so we could surprise the kids when we got home.  I really hope they can make the vacation work. If not, we'll just move them to a different time in the spring of '17. But I really would like to take them on this one!!

So once we finished up with that, we went to dinner. It was really fun. The food was awfully salty, but the company was great.  After dinner we collected pictures and headed to the Schooner bar to wait for Grahame to start playing.  

Tonight's plan was to listen to Grahame, go to the Love & Marriage Show (which is one of my favorites) and listen to Grahame some more.  But about 9:20, I realized I was just SO tired and was never going to make it up that late. All of this relaxation is exhausting me HA! So we decided to just go back to the cabin. First we grabbed Ben & Jerry's, which we've never done before. But we still have a LOT of OBC to use up. 

Once back to the room, Doug ran to the Park Cafe to see what he could see. I need food that isn't sugar. Then sleep. Labadee tomorrow! Woot! We had another fantastic day!!