Thursday was our 3rd and final port, Grand Cayman. Just like in Jamaica we had nothing but problems with our planned excursion. We arrived at Dolphin Cove early just to be told they didn't have a boat going to Stingray Sandbar. Umm that's what we scheduled and paid for. After some phone calls, and taking a cab here and there we finally boarded a boat (that had to wait on us as we were rushed all over town) which was going not only to Stingray Sandbar but 2 other snorkel spots. We were so not prepared for that but since my Mom had really wanted to snorkel in Grand Turk and didn't get to she was happy about this. So first stop was Stingray Sandbar.
Josh and I had visited here last May on our cruise and had to bring the girls back, it's totally awesome.
Since the girls don't like salt water and the rays kept flapping their bodies and splashing it took the girls some getting use to.
Not to mention the rays are bigger than the girls.
At one point a rays tail brushed up against Natalee and she freaked out thinking it stung her. When it was our turn we got to hold and kiss the stingray and then get a back massage as well.
The best experience ever!
We also had free time petting them and feeding them if we wanted. I'm not a fan of that but my Mom fed one of them.
After we got back on the boat we were taken first to the Barrier Reef and then to the Coral Gardens.
Only my Mom and Josh snorkeled and I stayed on the boat with Haylee and Cranky.
My Mom said the first stop had beautiful coral but not a lot of fish.
The second stop had a ton of fish which Josh fed and also a stingray.
After that one of the guys from Captain Marvins brought up 2 star fish for people to take pictures with. They were huge.
Then it was back to Captain Marvins with a taxi ride to Dolphin Cove. Of course when we got there we had missed our dolphin swim (imagine that) since we went on a 3 hours snorkel tour instead of just a trip to Stingray Sandbar. But we got our own private session with Esperanza and she was the sweetest. We gave her kisses, she kissed us, we played ball with her, she did tricks, talked and danced with us. Natalee wasn't too sure of her at first but eventually warmed up to her. I just absolutely love dolphins. They are such amazing, gently creatures. We ate lunch there and then got a taxi to the port with 45 minutes to spare. Well instead of taking us directly to the port we got a scenic tour around Grand Cayman as he picked up and dropped off about 20 people. Come to find out we flagged down the city bus and not a taxi. So ya, he dropped us off exactly when the last tender boat was due to leave. We ran to the boat and made it in time but didn't get to shop once again.
Back on the ship, we passed out for about 3 hours. When we woke up we went to eat dinner and then went to the theatre to see Latin Nights- my favorite stage show. It was Miami Vices all around again.
Back in the room Josh and Haylee and fallen asleep while my Mom was out shopping for souvenirs and pictures. Natalee passed out shortly after she returned so my Mom and I ordered room service at 1am. It took almost 45 min to arrive and I was exhausted by then. Too tired to eat my cheesecake but Mom said it was delicious.
Earlier that night we found a monkey hanging in our room!
Friday was our last full day on the boat. It was a sea day and we made sure to cram in everything we've been wanting to do. We ate breakfast and Haylee wanted to go to CC while the rest of us went to the Future Cruise Presentation.
After that we went to the theatre to see the towel animal puppet show. It was so cute and since Haylee was there with CC, Natalee decided she wanted to go to CC too. Us adults went shopping in the Fun Shops and then to the casino where my mom won $80 playing video poker.
We ate a Fat Jimmy's Seaside BBQ which was super yummy and then took the girls back to CC so they could get there picture taken with Freddy (and us too!)
They also got a book from CC all about Freddy and Freddy wrote in it.
After that we went to the last stage show- The Brits which definitely wasn't as good as the other 3.
Then my Mom, Haylee and I went to the Thrill Theatre to see Planet Earth which was also a disappointment.
The seats barely moved and basically water just squirted us in the face a few times. Next we had to go back to our room to pack our bags since we had to have them outside our room by 10:30pm. This is when Natalee became devil child and it didn't end till we got home :(
She threw the bathroom towel in the toilet and flushed it. Thank God it didn't go down.
The girls both went to CC for their farewell party and then we went and had our professional cruise pictures taken.
There must have been 25 pictures and it was so hard to chose which ones to buy.
I decided on 3 and I absolutely love our family picture and the way Natalee is posing.
We ate dinner in the dining room that night since we were as fancy as we were getting and the food was a lot better this time.
Josh went to the comedy club to save us seats while we checked the girls into CC. When we got there we found Josh and no seats. He said he saved them till it started uh huh. So went to get the girls and headed back to the room where we found our last towel animal and chocolates.
Saturday we ate breakfast then went to the theatre till they called our number to disembark. We got a taxi to our hotel where we had to wait a couple hours to check in. Natalee was still being a hellion and by the time we got a room we were so done. Neither girl would nap, neither would listen. It was a long afternoon. We ordered pizza again and went to bed early since we had to be up at 4:15am!
Sunday we made our way home. 2 flights again, uneventful and the girls were good. They watched Frozen on the second flight so that helped.
We made it home safe and Kona was happy to see us. It was such a wonderful week. We absolutely LOVE cruising and I am already getting ready to book our next cruise for next March!!
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