Nieuw Amsterdam: Grand Cayman

Thursday this week is Thanksgiving. It is so nice not to have chores ahead of me to prepare a feast for the family. We are up early naturally having gone to bed so early. I think I’m caught up on sleep now after a very busy two weeks before vacation.

Thanksgiving Breakfast

We have coffee in the lido (where I managed to spill an entire cup of coffee on the floor). Later I was surprised when I noticed my husband in the omelette line; he didn’t ask and I didn’t tell him I wanted the dining room.

I picked the eggs Benedict station this morning and their special was a Mexican version which was a bit weird because they used a taco shell instead of a flat tortilla.

We then went to our room and got ready for the day ashore as the ship was pulling up to our spot off Grand Cayman. Other ships in port with us today were: Regal Princess, Carnival Vista, Carnival Sensation, and Silver Seas Wind.

Grand Cayman

We met the “kids” in the ocean bar waiting for our tender number to be called (D1). They were cleared later than expected so we didn’t get called until 9:05 and were ashore about 15 minutes later.

My son does not like posing for pictures

He did willingly post for group photos after exiting the tender.

I really dislike that I couldn’t get the photos without their designs.

We then found a taxi to take us to the Royal Palms Beach Club. After waiting for the driver to find another group of 5, we took off. It was $5 a person.

Entrance to the Royal Palms (after the entrance booth).

Since we had reservations, there was no entrance fee. We picked open chairs and once Steve opened the umbrellas the guy collecting money for them was over for payment. Then the RPBC staff came by to collect for the four chairs. I was able to charge all but wish it was one payment instead of two separate charges.

I was glad we chose loungers in the second row as the first row were in the water after an hour or two with no place to put their bags, shoes, etc. other than the lounger itself.

We were able to open a tab for the bar and bought a bucket of Caybrew Light for ($20) and a cucumber cooler for me (muddled cucumber, ginger, lime juice, and white rum). Very good!

The water temperature was perfect and we enjoyed it throughout the day.

The kids spent some time in the pool which was adults only.

I had another cucumber cooler before ordering my final one with a lunch of jerked chicken.

It was delicious! YS and SF stuck with beer and for lunch they got fish and chips and tacos.

We closed our tab about 1:30 pm to head back. There was not a wait for taxis as they were filling up fast with people heading back to their respective ships.

We got dropped at a parking lot and started walking to the tender area for the other ships before being redirected. There was a holdup getting off the tender as we bobbed around for 5 minutes waiting for one of the ones at the ship to leave.

Once on-board I ordered room service for us before jumping in the shower. The Chicken quesadilla, cheese plate and cookies with ice tea came shortly after I was out and dressed.

We then rested for a while before getting ready for tonight’s gala Thanksgiving dinner and didn’t make it to happy hour.

Thanksgiving Evening

They had a special Thanksgiving menu which had so many great choices.

Three of us started with crab and shrimp cocktail while SF had fried Brie.

Then she and I had the pumpkin soup while others had corn soup and salad.

We all ordered the turkey dinner and enjoyed it.

Steve had asked for a slice of ham to be on his plate which they accommodated.

Dessert had equally hard choices. I went with the chocolate pecan pie.

Others had the apple and pear pie ala mode.

YS had the thanksgiving sundae (no pic) and helped Steve finish the pumpkin cream pie he ordered.

I asked the waiter if we could keep one of the special menus for SF’s scrapbook and he brought each of us one. Very nice.

At some point during our meal the photographer came by and we took photos.

Steve and I picked up our books and went to the showroom. We enjoyed tonight show as it didn’t try to tell a esoteric story. It was all billboard number ones. Then we went to the BB King venue for one set.

Back in the cabin we had this dog awaiting us.