This was our first time at Grand Cayman...I was excited..woke up at 4am, couldn't sleep. About 5:15am, hubby said I was driving him crazy..we walked out on the Balcony and could see the lights of the Island as we were approaching. After that neither of us could get back to sleep so we headed up to deck 10 to watch the sunrise, kind of a cloudy morning so over to topsiders for breakfast. The buffet is ok...didn't know there were omelets until we got to the other end of the dining room.
7:30am...Time to get dressed and get to the Walt Disney theater for the first tender to the island. We didn't have an excursion planned...so we caught a taxi with group of people and did the 2 hour island tour...$15 per person....it was great. Our driver was from Jamaica. He took us to hell, turtle farm, govenors mansion, the first gingerbread looking house on the island, past the beaches and around some of the nicer neighborhoods/bigger homes. He offered to drop anyone at the beach who wanted to spend time there, and then took the rest of us back to the shopping district.
We got our postcards mailed from hell, held and petted the turtles at the turtle farm. The turtle farm also sells stamps/postcards and has a mailbox right out front to mail them. So I mailed some from there as well.
After being dropped off, we stopped by all the shops we had circled on our shopping list and then headed to the microbrews/bars/restaurants we had passed on our taxi drive back to town. An easy walk and it was time for lunch.
The first was Rackham's. The served Stingray beer a light and dark version. Both very good. The food coming out of the kitchen looked and smelled delicious...we decided we would wait for the next pub because they had 5 microbrews to try. There is a great gift shop attached to Rackham's so we picked up some tshirts and stuff and headed to the next bar. Big Bamboo....there were five beers to taste there, again all very good. The menu was lighter than at Rackhams, so we wished we had eaten the full meal at Rackhams...although, the food at Big Bamboo was delicious...they grilled everything fresh right on the deck for you. The fish of the day was dolphin..spectacular. It came with some great fried bread and some very hot onions and peppers. There were limes to squeeze over the fish. The bartender was great, he was from South Africa..he was about to head back to South Africa to start college. Another guy who was helping everyone out Mother from Wisconsin, Father from Jamaica...very nice as well.
We can highly recommend either bar for sitting down and relaxing or grabbing a bite to eat. They are up a short way, oceanside as you get off the ship.
We walked back, stopped at hard rock and pirates grotto, then headed back to the ship. We went and played in the rainforest again for a bit. Tonight we had an early dinner at Palo.
Marko knew we were coming and met us at the door. He was a little happier tonight, as he had had a chance to speak with his family while we were docked in Key West. Marko filled us up with food, the prociutto pizza, calamari, warm shrimp salad and an assortment of breads/dips. That was only to start. Everything was wonderful. For dinner we both had the filet with gargonzola sauce..it was excellent. For dessert we both had the chocolate soulffle, Marko also brought us vianill and pistacio gelato and tirmasu. All Delicious. Marko is a wonderful server, very funny. We had a blast with him.
We picked up our pictures at shutters, had some more taken...lol. Visited with some of our tablemates who were in the Atrium. They had jst come from the castaway club reception. The captain told them that our cruise had the most returning passengers ever...700 on this cruise. When the magic comes out of dry dock...new ports will be announced.
Another great day!
7:30am...Time to get dressed and get to the Walt Disney theater for the first tender to the island. We didn't have an excursion planned...so we caught a taxi with group of people and did the 2 hour island tour...$15 per person....it was great. Our driver was from Jamaica. He took us to hell, turtle farm, govenors mansion, the first gingerbread looking house on the island, past the beaches and around some of the nicer neighborhoods/bigger homes. He offered to drop anyone at the beach who wanted to spend time there, and then took the rest of us back to the shopping district.
We got our postcards mailed from hell, held and petted the turtles at the turtle farm. The turtle farm also sells stamps/postcards and has a mailbox right out front to mail them. So I mailed some from there as well.
After being dropped off, we stopped by all the shops we had circled on our shopping list and then headed to the microbrews/bars/restaurants we had passed on our taxi drive back to town. An easy walk and it was time for lunch.
The first was Rackham's. The served Stingray beer a light and dark version. Both very good. The food coming out of the kitchen looked and smelled delicious...we decided we would wait for the next pub because they had 5 microbrews to try. There is a great gift shop attached to Rackham's so we picked up some tshirts and stuff and headed to the next bar. Big Bamboo....there were five beers to taste there, again all very good. The menu was lighter than at Rackhams, so we wished we had eaten the full meal at Rackhams...although, the food at Big Bamboo was delicious...they grilled everything fresh right on the deck for you. The fish of the day was dolphin..spectacular. It came with some great fried bread and some very hot onions and peppers. There were limes to squeeze over the fish. The bartender was great, he was from South Africa..he was about to head back to South Africa to start college. Another guy who was helping everyone out Mother from Wisconsin, Father from Jamaica...very nice as well.
We can highly recommend either bar for sitting down and relaxing or grabbing a bite to eat. They are up a short way, oceanside as you get off the ship.
We walked back, stopped at hard rock and pirates grotto, then headed back to the ship. We went and played in the rainforest again for a bit. Tonight we had an early dinner at Palo.
Marko knew we were coming and met us at the door. He was a little happier tonight, as he had had a chance to speak with his family while we were docked in Key West. Marko filled us up with food, the prociutto pizza, calamari, warm shrimp salad and an assortment of breads/dips. That was only to start. Everything was wonderful. For dinner we both had the filet with gargonzola sauce..it was excellent. For dessert we both had the chocolate soulffle, Marko also brought us vianill and pistacio gelato and tirmasu. All Delicious. Marko is a wonderful server, very funny. We had a blast with him.
We picked up our pictures at shutters, had some more taken...lol. Visited with some of our tablemates who were in the Atrium. They had jst come from the castaway club reception. The captain told them that our cruise had the most returning passengers ever...700 on this cruise. When the magic comes out of dry dock...new ports will be announced.
Another great day!
