The Crown Princess Princess adventure in a word- BUSY!!
David’s dad Jim recently retired and for his retirement celebration, Jim & his wife Janie invited us to join them on a 7 day Western Caribbean Cruise on the Crown Princess! The 7 day cruise took us to the ports of Grand Cayman Island, the island of Roatan Honduras, Cozumel Island in Mexico, and the Princess Cays private island in the Bahamas.
We all had a blast together!!
As you may have already seen from our previous posts, David and I prefer to really immerse ourselves in the various cultures that we visit. The downside of a cruise is that you only get 4-8 hours max in each port so you really don’t have the option to delve into the local flavors too much. That being said, we did our best to scout out the most time-effective experiences to maximize our time on each island. Below are some tidbits from each island adventure!
Port of Call #1- Grand Cayman Island
Jim & Janie had found a Princess Cruise Lines Tour that included heading over to “Stingray City” as well as a swim with the dolphins at Dolphin Discovery Bay!!
The stingray experience was a blast. There were about 40 of us in a boat and we headed away from the island about 20 minutes to literally a sandbar in the middle of the ocean! The stingrays are very friendly and the guides that accompanied us were great about holding the stingrays for us to touch them and take picture with. Although I thought the whole experience way “way too cool”, I must admit it freaked the crap out of me and I did scream like a little girl when a stingray brushed up against me!! LOL, but wow, what a fun experience. 🙂
After this crazy experience, we headed back to the bay to play with the dolphins! The dolphins were all trained so it wasn’t in the wild or anything, but wow was it an unforgettable experience….we were broken up into groups about 8 to interact with our own dolphin. Our guy was named Nemo and man was he a flirt!! He kissed me WITH tongue!!
What a great time! We finished off our adventurous day at Breezes, a local establishment serving great appetizers and tropical cocktails along the main shopping streets of Grand Cayman. Off to Roatan, Honduras we go!
Port of Call #2- Roatan, Honduras
Roatan, Honduras was a gorgeous island!! It was a completely different feel from Grand Cayman. Whereas Grand Cayman is a flat island, Roatan is very mountainous, very lush, and very hispanic. Roatan is known for its incredible scuba diving and snorkeling but we decided to take advantage of the tropical forests on the island. We searched on TripAdvisor and found a company called Clip ‘n’ Zip. It was about a 5 minute walk from the cruise ship terminal so it was very easy to get to. The company did an incredible job with both an introduction of what to expect as well as taking extra precautions with safety harnesses. Total cost was $40/person.
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| The fearless 4-some! |
David and I were so impressed that his parents got out of their comfort zone and joined us on this wild excursion!! The total time was about 25 minutes and included 12 different rides connected by platforms where guides stood and helped with each transition. Truly a class act of an organization and the guides were super friendly and helpful!
After our zip line adventure, David and I took off in a cab to explore the rest of the island….away from the “cruise ship mayhem”. We wanted to get as deep into the Honduras culture as we possibly could, given the few hours we had left. Our cabby ended up taking us to their “downtown” area called Coxen Hole. We walked into the most authentic and local establishment we could find and ended up having one of the best meals we had all week! Tasty and fresh ceviche & grilled lobster, all washed down with local beer from Honduras for about $25 USD…..delicious!! The best part was that there was a stray cat just chillin the entire time…….lazy & happy as could be!
Port of Call #3- Cozumel, Mexico
Cozumel, Mexico was all about Snorkeling!! Like Roatan, Cozumel is known for its amazingly vibrant sea life. Since we are not (unfortunately) PADI certified yet, we decided to at least take advantage of the great snorkeling!! Let us first start off by saying that we miss good, I mean really good, Mexican food, so much!! Indianapolis is great, but does not even compare to what San Diego & Phoenix offers as far as mexican cuisine goes. So, we were super excited to get off the ship and stuff ourselves in Cozumel! Luckily, our cruise director recommended to us an local establishment on the island away from the hubbub of “tourist row” called La Choza. WOW!!!! Huevos Rancheros & cinnamon spiked coffee….a perfect way to start our day!
We went on TripAdvisor and found a great local & small adventure company called Cozumel Water Sports. The boat we took was small and there were 3 guides to 6 of us paying tourists. It was perfect! About 4 hours long, the boat took us to 3 different reef areas and had all the equipment plus beer, water, and fruit! A perfect day! (The only downside was the the weather was not cooperating so it was seriously rough waters and a bit on the cool side- thus the wetsuits)…….but so much fun nonetheless! Total coast was $100 for the 2 of us.
After our snorkel adventure, we met back up with Jim & Janie at Carlos & Charlies. WOW……we showed up and they had balloon hats on and were drinking these ridiculously huge margaritas….of course we joined in on the fun too:-)! What a great day in Mexico.
Port of Call #4- Princess Cays, Bahamas
Our last port of Call was the Princess Cays in the Bahamas. The Princess Cays are a small private island used exclusively by Princess Cruise lines. It was a fun & relaxing day at the beach….not much to do and we did not have near enough time on the island but we relaxed and had fun……
Messing around at Sea……
Funny faces & foolin around late night at the night club on board….
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| So embarrassing…..all this luggage for 4 adults!! LOL |
All in all it was a great week with family! One last thing we would like to say is a bit of a “review” of Princess Cruise Lines. The Crown Princess was a beautiful ship. The staff was very attentive and the accommodations were very comfortable. David’s parents were generous and got us a outside stateroom with a balcony. We wish we could have enjoyed it more but there was a guys next to us who never stopped smoking both his cigars and his cigarettes….note to Princess- section out smoking rooms and decks toward the back end of the ship so the rest of us don’t have to smell the stink!!!
The restaurants on board were very good, 2 of them required a bit of a “cover charge” per person due to it being more high class and more hands on- well worth it!! Those 2 nights at the italian restaurants and steak house were the best dinners of the week!
Beyond that, everything was clean and fun. On a personal note, the only downfall of cruising is that your time in port is very limited. We prefer to immerse ourselves in the cultures we visit and with cruises, you just don’t get that opportunity. The stops only allow 4-8 hours max in each port. It also caters to both the older crowd and to families with kids….fun times but would prefer more land time…..we both got a bit claustrophobic at times and antsy…..but that being said,
THANK YOU JIM & JANIE!!! We love u- xoxo:-)
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