Western Caribbean Cruise, May 1998

Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas 7 nights:

Western Caribbean Cruise to Haiti, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Mexico

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This was our first cruise and it did not disappoint at all.

Labadee, Haiti

Woke up, looked out of the porthole and could see the beautiful mountains of Haiti. We landed on the beach at about 10 AM for clear skies, beautiful green colored ocean and yes, a Haitian band. We went to the dragons rock fountain where the ocean has cut rock look like a dragon head. You can actually hear the dragon breathe. After exploring for a while, we decided to go to the lunch buffet that’s offered from Royal Caribbean.

We then walked down to the beach to pick out a painting. We asked one guy who said it was $80. I told him I can buy it in Miami for less, he then went down to $40. Then 2 other Haitian men started to show me paintings and said $30, but we said $20, and he said no lower than $25. I said I’ll think about it, and we went back to our blankets and packed up. I went and bought the picture for $25. It was a beautiful red orange scene with mountains for oceans and hats. This countryside was awesome. No traces of how poor the country really is.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

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The water in Jamaica is also a pretty green color with lots of mountains. They drive on the opposite side of the road in Jamaica because they were an English colony until 1962. The scenic Drive consisted of a 20 minute drive up the coast from Ocho Rios to Saint Anne’s Bay and he showed us a soccer field and Hydro plant for electricity, sugar plant, two schools, and a statue of Columbus who landed on Jamaica, and a statue of a guy named Marcus Garvey we still do not know what he did. After about 30 minutes in the van we went to River Falls, which is a natural waterfall that goes down to the ocean. It’s a pretty big climb. We walked all the way to the bottom and got in line. You have to hold hands with the person in front and back of you. You can’t believe how many people loved seeing our little 3 1/2 year old girl climb; many people even helped her and carried her. The water was freezing at first. We climbed and climbed, and she held on and gripped and walked up the falls. We went back to the van and got our backpack and changed in the dressing rooms. On the way back, we stopped off at a road overlooking a house with a pool that was used in the film “Doctor No”.  We decided to take all our driver to get some Jamaican beef patties. We walked across the street to a place called The Ruins at the Falls and ordered three beef patties, two red stripes and a Coke all for six dollars.

Cayman Islands

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The buildings in the Cayman Islands are all Art Deco and the city is very clean. A lot of construction is happening here and they drive on the opposite side of the street. We walked to the duty-free Tortuga liquor store where we sampled Tortuga rum cake. We walked down the street to see the big clock and went by Fort George where there are two cannons. This is a very expensive island. We got on the boat and headed for a stingray city. It is about 6 miles out and took 30 minutes to get to. The guides told us how to feed the stingrays (they eat squid). The water was clear and blue and was very cool. At one point the guy turned the stingray over so you could see its mouth. It spit water out of its mouth.

Cozumel, Mexico

We headed down to the city and went into a pub restaurant called Carlos and Charlie’s, this is a fun place where the waiters blow whistles, dance, and throw popcorn at you. The place also overlooked the ocean.