Currency:
US Dollars and Mexican Pesos

Highlights:
Amazing food, beaches of Grand Caymen and Cozumel, free and illegal drinks, all day tanning

Our Adventure Summarised:
So in our true 'roughing it backpack style', we decided that we needed to go on a Caribbean cruise. Now you may laugh but ironically this did up being the cheapest way for us to explore the Caribbean as it was just about the same price for a 5-day cruise as it would have been for flights alone to most of the islands.

Being on a cruise is like entering an entirely different world and I'm not sure why more people don't do it. The only drawback I suppose is that you are surrounded by lots of other people all the time but you do get to escape them when you stop in port and for someone like my mom who loves people-watching, the number of people would actually be a bonus! But other than that, it's absolutely awesome and a great way to see the islands.

Our cruise itinerary went like this:
Day 1 - at sea
Day 2 - at sea
Day 3 - Georgetown, Grand Cayman Islands
Day 4 - Cozumel, Mexico
Day 5 - at sea

Our ship was called 'Enchantment of the Seas' and it is part of the Royal Caribbean fleet. It was a full ship which meant 2,500 passengers. We were amazed at how much there was to do on board - something for everyone - 3 swimming pools, casino, numerous bars (all with different forms of live music each night), library, bungee trampolines, shops, spa, gym, etc. We were also really impressed with our room - we were expecting something tiny and claustrophobic (I was thinking Sail Croatia for those who know those rooms!) but it was lovely - awesome big bed, cosy lounge, decent size bathroom and portholes with an ocean view. Victor, our stateroom attendant, also made sure it was in tiptop condition as he made up the room twice a day - including leaving us a towel folded us a different animal each evening and delivering our daily activity planners.

Our daily routine revolved around two basic activities - eating and soaking up the sun. The food on the ship was unbelievable!! There's basically food served all day long and you can eat as much as you want - breakfast, mid-morning snacks, poolside BBQ, mid-afternoon snacks, afternoon tea, dinner, midnight snacks!! Ooh - and free soft-serve ice cream all day! And the quality was also so impressive - especially considering there were only about 6 chefs feeding 2,500 people! There were a lot of 'anorexically-challenged' people on board and you knew they were just there for the food so they made our 3 meals a day look not too bad. We started off every day with a buffet breakfast at the Windjammer restaurant where they would have everything from fruit to omelets to pastries to all sorts of fried goodies. Lunch was buffet at the Windjammer again - cheese and cold meats, salads, pastas, burgers, roasts, etc. And then dinner was at the My Fair Lady restaurant where we would be served a plated 3-course meal of our choice.

So we all made the most of this but to try and compensate, we were very good about going to the gym though - but those early morning gym sessions were made a lot easier with the knowledge that tator tots would be the reward!

Day 1:

Before getting on the ship, we had to take care of a very important task - smuggling booze onto the ship as this is the only thing that wasn't included in our cruise cost and we had been warned about how expensive it was. So we consulted many different people on the best way to sneak it on (where are tot packs when you need them?!) and decided to go with Annie's theory of vodka in shampoo bottles. Luckily Walgreens was there to help as they had a pharmacy and liquor store all in one (who knew) so 4 travel-size shampoo bottles each and 2 empty Absolute vodka bottles, we were ready to go! We also made one more important stop at the South African bar, the Kalahari Bar, in Fort Lauderdale for some biltong that we had been craving for the past few weeks.

We boarded the ship just after 2 pm and were served our first buffet lunch. After that we explored the ship and got ready to sail at 5 pm. There was a live Caribbean band playing at the pool for the send-off and so many people were waving at us from the shores as they thought we were the Oasis of the Seas (the biggest cruise ship in the world that is due to make its maiden voyage soon).

Each day there were also loads of activities on board which you get informed about from a daily planner delivered to your room. On the first day, the guys went to lessons in the casino on how to play craps and us girlies headed straight for the spa as they had a draw for some free prizes. I was very excited when my number was the last to be called and I won a scalp massage! We then went to the welcome show which was extremely cheesy (think Dirty Dancing guest show) so we didn't so much make it to too many more of those shows.

And then we had our first dinner where we also elected to take out a little wine package where we got better rates if we bought 5 wines. So Venetia was our wine connoisseur each day and picked us out some superb wines to enjoy with dinner.

We were still in the participatory-first-day mood at that stage so we girls headed for the bingo tables while the guys went to the casino to try out what they had learnt. But we were the ones who ended up being taught a lesson in bingo! We arrived a little late so missed out on the rules but didn't think that was too important as bingo is bingo right? Wrong! We paid $22 for a sheet of 6 and were very confused about if we should be using all of them or just one of them and then added to that was the mystery number thing in the middle which we never did figure out. We started catching on about halfway through when someone shouted 'bingo'. Not to worry we thought as we'll get it on the next one - but no, that was it - $22 for one game - what a rip!

We watched some bad karaoke after that and checked out an even worse singles evening (for Georgie's sake :) and then headed up to the Viking Lounge to shake some booty on the dance floor. We had met Chris and Dan down at karaoke and they turned out the be the best friends the 5 of us could have hoped for on the trip as they had an all-inclusive package on the boat meaning free drinks for them (and their new friends). We felt a little bad at first but then they told us that they had gotten the package as a work incentive - not too sure how thrilled General RV would be that we were also enjoying the package but we definitely got their money's worth!

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348489&id=713415257&l=27177fa5d5

Day 2:

Went to gym, ate, chilled, ate, fought for lounge chairs by the pool, tanned, watched cheesy hulahoop and men's sexiest leg contest, ate, early night for the girls and another casino night for the boys.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348492&id=713415257&l=edeb6543bf

Day 3:

We arrived in Georgetown, Cayman Islands early in the morning and had the day to check it out. Cayman is awesome and we all wished we could have more time there to explore. We could definitely imagine living there for a year or two like so many South Africans choose to do from London.
First stop before we could hit the beach though was to check internet as we refused to pay the ridiculous boat charges ($0.55/min). After milking the free internet we found, we set out for 7 Mile Beach and spent a very lazy day on one of the most beautiful beaches we had seen yet on tour - clear blue water and a long stretch of white sand.

There was a moment of panic though when we realized that the time on Cayman was actually 3 pm and not 2 pm (ship time). We had been told to be back on the ship by no later than 3:30 pm otherwise they would leave without us but luckily we found some crazy Caribbean driver to take us back in time (although we were only allowed out of the cab after saying the Lord's prayer). We still can't work out why they told us to change our time on the ship for daylight savings when Cayman doesn't recognize daylight savings but anyway!

I got to enjoy my divine scalp massage when we got back to the boat later in the afternoon - half an hour of pure bliss! That evening was pretty chilled as after dinner, we checked out the pool party and ice-carving demonstration before heading to bed.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348496&id=713415257&l=9a362fa02f

Day 4:

This day's stop was Cozumel, Mexico (we had purposefully not gone here on our previous Mexican trip). We had heard great things about the diving and snorkelling here and as much as we would have loved to have dived, we decided to reign in the budget somewhat and go for a snorkelling trip rather. We managed to save ourselves some cash too by not going through the tour organized by the ship and instead found our own small operator who charged us a quarter of what the ship would have. We went out to 3 different spots and while there were lots of fish to check out, it was more the incredible visibility that overwhelmed us - wow, we could see forever!

After exerting ourselves in the water, it was beach time again and everyone recommended Mr Sancho's. Georgie left us for some shopping downtown but the rest of us did what we do best - chilled out on the beach (with some serious snoring from Al and Shaun - we were worried they would disturb the wedding next door!). The Cozumel beaches again were absolutely stunning - the best water we have seen - perfectly calm and the most amazing clarity. We also enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we were leaving (unfortunately there were several mosquitoes that enjoyed it with us so our recently bite-free bodies were covered again!).

Back on the boat, we watched the Love & Marriage game show which was absolutely hilarious! They pulled 3 couples from the audience and asked the ladies questions while the guys were in the back and vice versa. Of course these took a turn for the worse with the classic chirp being in answer to the question 'What's the wildest place you've ever made whoopie?' - 'I can't remember what hole it was' (she was talking about a golf course but left out that part!). There was one poor Irish lady playing and she was so embarrassed - she kept on saying 'this isn't how we play it in Ireland'. This was followed by an adult comedy show - Tony Darro was the comedian. He's appeared on the Tonight show amongst others and was brilliant!

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348506&id=713415257&l=4c71894ea7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348518&id=713415257&l=92f57a0795

Day 5:

Our last day - sob! We celebrated it by indulging in as much tanning by the pool and general chilling as possible. That night we gathered for our final farewell drinks and dinner as it would be the last night the 5 of us would be together as a 'family' as we were all heading off in different directions after that - Georgie to Asia, V and Al to Dallas and us to California (we will be meeting up with V & Al again in Australia). At dinner, we reminisced about all the 'best and worst' places and moments from our trip - so many best!!

After dinner, we headed up to the Viking bar again for the rest of the evening where there was much dancing and shot-taking again with Chris and Dan. Everyone decided to ignore my advice (including myself) that we all go to bed at a decent hour as we would have to be up so early the next day to leave the boat (we only ended up getting about 3 hours sleep before we had to get up!).

It was worth it though to celebrate our final night and we take with us so many memories of an amazing 7 weeks spent together...

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348522&id=713415257&l=8d999c48c4

Lara + Leise