Day 3 – Monday – Grand Cayman
For Grand Cayman, we didn’t have any excursions planned. Tracy and I had done an “Island Tour and visit to Stingray City” when we were here on our honeymoon cruise (with Carnival), and didn’t see a need to do it again. My mom just wanted to shop.
Grand Cayman is unique among the ports that we visited on this cruise because it requires what is known as “tendering” to get ashore. Basically, there’s no pier capable of docking a large (cruise-ship sized) ship, so instead, they will stay off-shore, drop the anchor, and use small boats known as “tenders” to get the guests ashore. (“Small” is relative, each tender could hold about 150 people).
Everyone who booked shore excursions through DCL was given instructions on where and when to meet, and they said that everyone else should go to the Walt Disney Theater to receive their tender tickets, and be escorted down to the loading area, once a tender had pulled up alongside the ship. It made for a very organized system, and we were able to wait in the theater until they were ready for us, rather than just waiting in a crowded hallway for a boat to pull up.
So, we met in the theater at about 10:45, and were taken to the tender at about 11. We boarded our tender, and about 10 minutes later arrived on shore. There is a large waiting area where people on excursions wait for their transportation, and other tour operators try to sell excursions. There are a few large tents to shield from the sun/rain. As we get ashore, it starts raining. Hard. So, we decide to gather under one of the tents to see if it will let up a bit. After a few minutes, it slows to a drizzle, so we wander out.
The area near the port in Grand Cayman is basically a tourist-driven shopping area. Lots of places that sell really expensive items, like brand name jewelry, watches, and sunglasses, and a few cheap gift shops. Once we got a little further away from the port, we found a local craft market, where Tracy purchased a painting of a turtle (her favorite animal). We walked around a bit, and after 3 or 4 expensive stores (with no purchases), and a few little gift shops, it was about 2pm, we were all hungry (my parents had eaten breakfast, Tracy and I didn’t wake up early enough for that), and wet (it had been raining off and on all day). We decided to catch a tender back to the ship, and grab some lunch.
Back onboard, after a quick shower, Tracy and I went to the quick service place to get food. We split an order of chicken tenders and a cheeseburger. The burger was a little on the dry side (as all Disney burgers tend to be), but the chicken tenders were really good.
Tracy and I did something called the “Art of Theming” tour, which talked about how the Imagineers themed various areas of the ship. The tour guide was pretty knowledgeable, and I learned some things that I didn’t know before.
After that, we did “50’s and 60’s” Music Trivia. We teamed up with another couple that was sitting near us in the bar, and we actually managed to win. One point for the song title, and one point for the artist. I think we ended with 44 out of 50 possible points. Our prize was Disney Cruise Line hats. Yay for Disney giving away free stuff!
The big show that evening was a comedy hypnotist. Tracy and I skipped it. My parents said it was alright, but they preferred the Disney shows. Dinner was at the Enchanted Garden. The restaurant is themed like the gardens of Versailles, and over the course of the meal, the lighting effects will transition from “late afternoon” to “night time” … I didn’t find it all that impressive.
I don’t remember what we did after dinner.