And then we were in the Cayman Islands.
We'd been here before, in 2010. And once you've been to Hell and back, there really isn't much to see on Grand Cayman, so we decided to make it a leisurely shopping day.
So we started with a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room. What a pleasure to have someone serve breakfast, instead of grabbing it from the buffet. And the Pirate King was ecstatic, he ordered his favorite Eggs Benedict.
And then it was time to head over to Georgetown. I've read that the government of the Cayman Islands recently approved building a pier dedicated to the cruise ships that make port here, but for now we were compelled to board a tender.
We spent some time exploring the shops, looking a jewelry and watches and inexpensive clothing. I just loved seeing chickens and roosters run around the street of downtown Georgetown.
Got a really good view of our ship, sitting alongside a Carnival ship:
And then we found ourselves over by the courthouse. Sort of a "busman's holiday" for me. The Pirate King is a high school teacher, and history is one of his subjects. There's a mural on the courthouse wall, painted in 2003 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Caymans, portraying all the major events in Cayman history, some details of which fascinated the King so much that he'd shared the stories with his students.
As we tendered back to the ship, I noticed that the seas were rougher, the wind had picked up, clouds were rolling in. And then the tendered...stopped. We just sat out there, on the water. And my mind drifted to a horror story I'd read on Cruise Critic, how one of the tenders took over 45 minutes to dock with the ship in bad weather.
It seemed like an eternity, but it really was only about 15 minutes, and then we were docking with the ship.
Musical Cue: CCR, "Who'll Stop The Rain?"
It started to rain just as we got back aboard the ship, and I found myself singing....
"Long as I remember the rain been comin' down
Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun.
And I wonder still I wonder who'll stop the rain?"
So yes, another rainy day aboard Freedom of the Seas.
Musical Cue: Lovin' Spoonful, "Do You Believe in Magic?"
Johnny Rockets is one of our favorite hamburger chains. We love the feel of the 1950's diner, the oldies music playing while you eat. We knew we'd end up in Johnny Rockets eventually, so a rainy afternoon was the perfect time for a burger and fries.
The only seats available when we got there were at the counter, but we didn't want to wait for a table. Good thing we chose the counter --- within a few minutes after we sat down, there was a long line of people waiting to come in.
And then we noticed that the musical playback was caught in a loop, playing the same song over and over again. "Do you believe in magic in a young girls' heart..." they didn't fix it until it was time for the wait staff to do their line dance.
The menu here is a bit more limited than in a typical Johnny Rockets, but there were plenty of items to chose from. We ordered burgers, fries and onion rings. And yes, some of the waiters made the ketchup smilie face to serve with the fries. Everything tasted as expected, except for the cheese sauce -- the sauce was bland, almost tasteless.It was the second formal night, and lobster tail was on the menu! The waiters will bring you as many servings of lobster as you can eat. But the couple at the table next to ours shared a rumor that Royal Caribbean is planning to drop lobster tail from the main dining room menu....
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Musical Cue: The Monkees, "I'm A Believer"
The show that night was called "Once Upon A Time", and was a reworking of various fairy tales set to pop hits. Rapunzel's Prince sang "Hair", Sleeping Beauty was serenaded with "Mr. Sandman", and Red Riding Hood's wolf sang...you guessed it..."Hungry Like the Wolf". It was a high energy show, much more creative than the Broadway show earlier in the week. We really enjoyed the performances.
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