Thursday, March 14, 2019- Grand Cayman

Thursday, March 14, 2019- Grand Cayman

The Regal Princess arrived at Grand Cayman with plenty of company.  We had breakfast in the buffet as the ship dropped anchor, along with 4 other cruise ships including the Celebrity Equinox, Holland American New Statendam, Carnival Vista and Carnival Sensation.  Once we got ashore via the tenders, the cruise port was a zoo full of passengers trying to find their excursions and tour providers.  We were booked on a Segway tour with 8 other Regal Princess passengers.  It turned out that there were also 8 people from one of the Carnival ships that were also doing the tour.  

Since we had done a prior Segway Tour in Seattle, we were looking forward to zooming around Grand Cayman to see the sights.  Unfortunately, all we really did was drive along the Main Street in a van as the driver pointed out the oldest church, and the beach resort that we would be stopping at later.  Then we pulled into a strip mall where we suited up (helmets, sweaty knee and elbow pads) and received basic instructions in riding the Segways.  Then we lined up and played follow the leader behind one of the guides.  There were Vox box transmitters and receivers so we could have received commentary about sights to be seen, but all we heard was “watch out for the shrubs on your right and lean left as you go down this driveway...”.  We basically just drove the Segways a mile down the sidewalk, then across a street to a newer commercial development with a pedestrian mall and office tower.  We dismounted and went up the “tower”, which was 4 stories tall, with a view around the island.  There was some very nice tile mural work on the walls of the tower depicting underwater scenes and wildlife.  Then we remounted the Segways and reversed course.  

We did take the Segways down a public beach access, where we encountered a parking lot of beach lounge chairs covering nearly every square inch of the beach, including the supposed right of way that the Segway’s are supposed to have access to.  It took a long time to find a route through that obstacle course.  The tour operator had initial given up on letting us ride the Segways on the beach because of the access trouble, but Janet and I, who were in the lead, managed to work around a beach umbrella and chair that had been planted in the middle of the right of way, and then could run the Segways a few hundred yards up the beach and back for some pictures.  Running the Segways on the beach was fun, but very limited by the tremendous crowd and all the holes dug in the sand by children that were like Segway traps.  But at least we got to ride them on a little of the beach. We would have been extremely disappointed if all we got to do was drive them up and down a sidewalk.  

After we got off the Segways, the tour operator took us to a private beach resort, which had free wifi, but everything else was $$.  We managed to find a little shade next to a private beach cabana where we could sit and not have to pay extra. Ben went for a bit of snorkeling.  The water and sand were nice for splashing around and swimming, but all the coral was dead, and there wasn’t much in the way of fish to see.  

Getting back to the ship took a very long time with a long line to board the tenders.  We got back in time to get cleaned up and have afternoon tea.  

This was our last formal night.  Even though there is another sea day ahead, it will occur as we head to our disembarkation at Fort Lauderdale, so all luggage will have to be out in the hallway by dinner time.  We did manage to attend an afternoon trivia, which we came in second place again with.  We also attended a Beatles trivia.  Another team beat us by 2 points, but the host neglected to notice there were 9 people on that team when the maximum is 6 per team.  But the prize was a bottle of ship champagne, which we really don’t care for.

We attended another Captain’s Circle reception and met the woman with 1900 days on Princess.  Janet managed to get the waitress to bring her two Ultimate Cosmopolitan cocktails, but she concluded that she preferred Moscow Mules.  Ben just managed to get one Manhattan before the wait staff disappeared, ending the free cocktails. 

We attended another showing of Beatle Mania, this time getting good seats in the middle of the theatre.  The later shows seem to be much easier to get into than the early shows. There was still a large crowd of passengers in the Piazza at 11PM for the balloon drop and dance party.  We’re not used to seeing so many people out and about after 10PM on our prior Princess cruises.  Usually, everyone is in bed by 10PM, so this Spring Break effect has really altered our experience on this cruise.  

Tomorrow is our last port of call before the end of our cruise.  We have never been to Cozumel, Mexico before, although many years ago, we did do a family vacation on the Yucatán Peninsula, staying at Chichen Itza for several days.  Most of the ship’s excursions head to the mainland (a 50 minute ferry ride each direction).  The ship does offer a Chichen Itza excursion for $169 per person, but you spend 6.5hrs on a bus getting there and back, and only 1 hour on the actual Chichen Itza site.  We’re glad we did a land based tour for that.