Day 9: Falmouth, Jamaica

Jamaica, mon.  Again. We have been here, at one port or another, for three out of five cruises. Eastern, Western, and now Southern have all included Jamaica. We did a fabulous off-road tour in 2007, an interesting catamaran snorkel in 2011, and now this trip. Originally, this was to be a sea day, and the last day of the trip was to Key West, FL. That changed with the hurricanes, though other ships started going back to Key West shortly before our cruise. We weren't too excited about going back to Falmouth, although now the construction would be completed. We figured it would be another rest day. I would have liked to do an excursion, but with the incidents in the news about safety...so we made Magaritaville our excursion.

Not sure why we were in this lounge at 9:16am. I think Rob needed the bathroom LOL. This is the Ensemble Lounge on Deck 5 and was where we had our Muster Drill on the first day. A nice, quiet lounge, often with acoustic music, I wish we had used it more. 

We made it off the ship and decided to walk around and get our kids' souvenirs that we hadn't gotten around to getting. What a lot of junk in those stores. A lot of drug and sex references. I get that it's Jamaica, but really, it made it hard to find things for the kids. All they really wanted was Del Sol things (for the girls; Hugh is hard to buy for!). I took this picture because there was a boy in the kindergarten class with brothers living in Jamaica and he was a huge Usain Bolt fan. We were walking around the outer parts of the port complex. There are some nice garden areas if you want a bit more quiet from the marketplace. 

We decided to find Margaritaville for some refreshments. It's on the "port shopping map" the ship provides. But do you think we could find it? We could see what looked like a pool area, but we could not find the entrance, based on what the map showed. I should have known by this time to look at a REAL map before arriving, but we didn't have a on-board wifi plan. We found another restaurant next to the potential pool, and thought about going there, but Rob wanted to stick with a name he knew. He asked the girl at the Greeter's podium. She pointed to a little path between two buildings. WTH? 

Somehow, we found the back way into Margaritaville. Totally bizarre. And for some odd reason, it didn't occur to us to bring our swimsuits either. So we sat outside for drinks. I had a really hard time getting the wifi to log in, the waitress wasn't much help. Finally logged in and it kept dropping. But nice to connect with home for a few minutes. 

I was going to have a margarita, since well, we were in Margaritaville (again). Opted instead for drinks in the souvenir glasses. And then a different drink. And then Rob insisted we have one more. I was quite buzzed by the time we finished and got our bill for $9,554.13. Jamaican Dollars! LOL! I knew ever even thought about what currency Jamaica had. We could also pay $96.89Cdn. Wow, it was about the same price as an excursion! For 46oz of slushie drinks (each!), a souvenir glass, and a good buzz. A nice way to "end" the cruise. 

 As we left, we went out the "proper" way. Through the store, of course.

 Totally applicable, since we entered in through some obscure back path.

 This was for my brother and his girl; they have an iguana.

 Well, we were younger than most on the ship (It says "Mixed drinks for those who don't blend in")

 We headed back up to our room for a rest. It bugs us that the only way to view the TV is to lay on the bed. On our first (two?) cruises, the TV was across from the couch. That's a much better set up.

Couple Selfie! Coupie?

We had seen earlier in the week during port departure, a lot of officers and cruisers on the helipad. We finally got our invite to attend for this day. It stated that we needed close toed shoes.  I swear, one of the other guests was wearing slippers. I only had my clog like shoes that I had worn down. I actually did not bring closed toe shoes for this trip because I figured we were taking it easy. Who would have thought I'd need them to go to the helipad? On this ship, you access it through a door into the crew area, and then out to their outside lounge, and then go up some stairs. So that part was kind of neat. Once up there, you get a little fizzy drink and get to mingle with the officers and staff.

 This woman had bought this shark puppet and was getting her friend to take pictures of her "eating" things in the background. They were having a great time but her husband was mortified. I added to his embarrassment by asking if I could play along! LOL.

 What's that out there?

Wow, it's a little fishing boat. And Rob is afraid to take Bob into Lake Ontario!

See, Jamaica does have police. It's a safe place! :)

THe man on the far right is the Cruise Director. I went up to him and asked him if he used to work on Royal and he said yes. I said I'm pretty certain you were the CD on our first or second cruise! He was impressed we remembered him. I don't recall him having a sock fetish back then though...

Thanks for the photo, hubby. Once again, at an angle.

Jamaica really is quite a beautiful island.

That's a shot of Margaritaville. We could see that "volcano" but could not find the entrance!

We walked around and checked out the blown glass on display. The artist had talked about how this vase didn't go as planned, but she worked with it anyway. I think the flower was supposed to be on the bottom but got stuck to the side as she put it in

Awww. Sea turtle!

Glass rods they use for various things.Love the colours!

Vase and pitcher

There is a "Whiskey House" on deck 15 (shown as "The Porch" in the Celebrity brochure of the layouts). It seemed to always be closed. It appears sometimes they have tastings (the Daily Planner lists tastings at a few bar, but they were extra). I do recall going by once and it was packed. 

 Looking down into the library

This was an interesting space on deck 7. Called "Team Earth" there was a really neat table and all these screens and posters promoting the WWF and their work with shoreline and shallow water rehabilitation. I'm not really sure what the area was for though. There was also a Card Room on deck 9.  It was very popular.

I think I took this picture because there was nothing on the menu I wanted that night. 

And our, sometimes very stinky, hallway. Can you see Rob all the way down there? He's by our door. Really, it's not that far (compared to the Allure!!), but anytime you want to go to the room...

Anderson came to bed with me :) We didn't get towel animals, so Anderson was the next best thing. Okay, maybe better.
There was a stage production show. I'm sure it was good. I have no pictures or really any recall. They tend to blend together. I see in the planner that Sean Roach played in a lounge, but I have a feeling we were tired.

























I think this was one of the few nights where I didn't want anything on the menu. I probably had a Caesar salad and the grilled New York Striploin.