Grabd Cayman, VOS 7/16/04 sailing

[babchia]

Day 6, and Grand Cayman.

The Voyager of the Seas ended up being anchored between the Carnival Sensation and the Carnival Inspiration. Both of these ships were large; however, the Voyager of the Seas was obviously bigger and better.

“babchia” really wanted to do a submarine tour. I was more willing to consider one of the partial sub boats (i.e. you are in a boat that has seats and windows below the water line). After some consideration, we had decided to take the Atlantis Submarine. This submarine seats a lot of people, is air conditioned, and has 25” portal windows to look out of. It goes down to about 90 feet. We booked it through the Excursion Desk. (NOTE: You don’t have to go through the cruise line. If you look to the right of where the tender drops you off, you will see the building for Atlantis. (It is about across from the Hard Rock Café.) They run people out to this sub about every hour, and had plenty of seats available when we went. They, also, offered a $25 deal if you wanted to go a second time.)

Because our submarine ride was for 11:10AM, we took the tender over early and did a little shopping. When the time came, we were told to go to the Atlantis building. There, we exchanged our excursion tickets for a boarding pass. When the time came, we went on their boat. During the boat ride to the sub, they went over the safety instructions (just like on a plane). The boat took us to where the submarine was. We watched it surface, then unload the people that were on it. Next we got in.

The seats on the sub were a little small for us larger people, but since there was some room, we were able to take a little extra space. Each pair of people shares one of the 25” portals. The sub went underwater, and we headed out towards the famous Cayman Islands drop-off.

The tour guide would look out the windows with us and point out various things to see. Usually, we ended up being on the wrong side. Despite this, we did get to see a lot of fish, coral, a barracuda, a turtle, a mermaid, and a sunken boat. We were underwater for about 40 minutes (and almost 60 pictures on my camera), and got to see so little, yet so much of the real thing. Visibility was limited (this is the ocean), but we could see enough.

Once done, we surfaced, went back onto the boat, waited while the next group went into the sub, then waited and watched while the submarine dived below the surface. Definitely an experience I won’t forget. (And, they gave us certificates to acknowledge having gone.)

Afterward, because we were hot, we went to the Hard Rock Café for a couple of sodas. Next, we went back to shopping.

A few notes about shopping: Of the two stores that carry the sun changing items, Del Sol is better than Touched by the Sun. Neither is large, and the selection is limited; however, Del Sol has more, including hair clips and fingernail polish.

Also, I was interested in possibly getting some coins from some of the sunken ships. Two stores carry these coins. Most coins are mounted in jewelry mounts for wearing as necklaces. Of the two stores we were told of (Artifacts, and The Cayman Treasure Coins Company), I would recommend Artifacts. Not all of the coins are mounted. Most are identified. Also, the store carries other coins and interesting items. I saw several bills that were issued by private U.S. companies from around late 19th to early 20th centuries. They were priced very reasonably for what they were. In addition, “babchia” found the store carries a selection of high quality trinket boxes. The store also carries a number of other antique and interesting items, too. And add to that, the owner was very willing to share his knowledge and discuss what he carries. (I ended up buying a couple of low priced U.S. coins. I decided against the bills, and some Roman coins, but was really tempted.)

We did some more souvenir shopping. I, also, made it to a bank where I was able to exchange some U.S. money for Cayman Island money. Interestingly, one of the better items we got was a freebee from the bank. They had a map of the Caribbean printed on paper about 18” by 14”. Their intent was for customers to use it to track hurricanes. But even as a map, it was fine.

We didn’t get very far within George Town, but got to see a lot of stores. Once done, we headed back to the tenders (another crowd), and to the ship.

Even though George Town was a little more expensive, this was my favorite stop. (Although Labadee was a great beach stop.)

That evening, before dinner, we went to the theater to see special artist Michelle Murlin. When she got on the stage, she seemed comfortable, even though she hadn’t had much of a rehearsal with the band. She would talk to and complement the band and stage crew, while singing various songs. The music she sang is not the type of music I normally listen to (showtunes, various classics). She was able to take these songs and show she could sing them well. She kept up a conversation with the audience, and even went into the audience to shake hands while singing one song.

I will admit that I have not seen lot of live singers in my life. Despite, or because of this, I can say she was the best singer I ever heard.

After the show, she was outside the theater meeting with people, and signing her CD that was being sold. She even ran out of CD’s and had to run down to her stateroom to get more (and this was the first show!). She was really friendly to each and everyone she talked to. It turns out she lives in the Harrisburg, PA, area. She is married to a former member of the Lettermen (and he is, also, touring on cruise ships).

While waiting for our turn to meet her and get our CD signed, we overheard someone else say they were from Bethlehem, PA. Of course, we had to say to them we were from the same county. Later, after dinner, we saw this person getting her picture being taken by the ship’s photographer as a part of a large group. “babchia” yelled over, “Hey, Bethlehem!” This woman, and the rest of the group waved back. Just at this moment is when the photographer took his picture. (We wondered how this picture would turn out, but never heard.)

After the show, we went to dinner, and had another wonderful conversation with our tablemates. Tonight was Italian Night. At one point during dinner, a bunch of ‘pirates’ arrived and took over the dining room. (Actually, they were younger members of the Adventure Ocean children’s program.) It was an entertaining experience.

A little while later, the waiters went into the kitchen, then came out dancing to some Italian music. They worked their way around the room, then to the front and the stairs. At that point, they sang, ‘O Sole Mio’. It had an interesting sound, considering there were people from 86 nationalities, and only one person was Italian.

Our plan was to go to see the Battle of the Sexes. We didn’t make it out of the dining room until after it started because of our talking. We decided to skip it.

We went up to Deck 11 because it was another Dancing Under The Stars. We found another group doing a line dance. We decided to pass.

We did go to High Notes this night. We had heard that the Royal Caribbean Singers would be singing with the jazz band, there. It was crowded, but we were able to eventually find reasonable seats.

The first people singing were the two Caucasian singers. Both really shined in their singing. It was fantastic! After a short break, the two African-American singers had a turn. Again, fantastic singing. Seeing this show, alone, was worth the trip.

One fun part of this performance occurred when it was time to sing a love song. If you remember from before, one of the female singers had become engaged. So, when the time came for this song, the male singer said he could no longer sing this duet to her. This was especially true because the new fiancée was in the audience video-taping the show. So, the male singer took the fiancée from his seat and placed him in front of the female singer. (The camera was passed to someone else.) The male singer picked an older woman from the audience. Then, they sang their duet, but to their respective partners.

We made it to bed late that night. The towel animal that night was the Stingray (with chocolate mint eyes). (Later, I replaced the eyes with nickels.)

[babchia]

I have copied and combined all of the parts of this review after Part 1.

Sorry about this mess.

Read the entire review at:
[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?postid=1744631[/url]

DH of Babchia