Returning from Jamaica, October 2025

 The last morning. We opted to bring our own bags to the lobby, which totally confused the staff that was trying to set up what time the porter should come pick up our bags. We only had a carry on suitcase each. 

I popped into Crema for one last latte. 

Breakfast was for the birds LOL

We really hated this, but no one seemed all that bothered. You could tell the staff was annoyed but it was routine.

Finding out about our transportation was confusing. We were never told what kind of transportation we'd have. We didn't know if it was a private van again, or what. There were a lot of people in the lobby, including the couple from Toronto. At some point they told everyone the bus was here and we went out. It was still confusing. Apparently we were on a small bus type vehicle with about 20 people.

The drive was okay. The driver played Bob Marley music and I was really wondering if Marley and Shaggy were the only famous Jamaican musicians. Sometimes the driver would turn the music down and tell us some history or  a fact, but he didn't have a mic so it was impossible to hear him.

Some day I'll get to visit my bank while we're away on vacation somewhere!

We had been told on one of cruise ship excursions in Jamaica that KFC actually stood for "Keep from cooking" (as in, going there keeps Momma from having to cook).

We got dropped off at the front of the airport. It's not huge, but we had no clue where to go. Except the bathroom, LOL. There didn't seem to be any signs. There were check in counters by the doors, but not our airline. We walked down the hall and found a Club Mobay booth by the security. I watched videos, but things change. One video even said they take you through immigration when you leave. You do not go through immigration when you leave. There is also more than one lounge. 

There is a priority line for Club Mobay visitors for going through security. That's nice, but it wasn't particularly fast when you get stuck behind someone that is getting their bag searched. I couldn't believe all the things that were on the confiscated table behind the agent. I commented and she laughed and said she's always amazed at what people have with them. 

After going through security, we walked down the hall and saw a booth/sign that indicated which lounge to go to based on what gate your flight is departing from. We went to the one it said to, and were taken downstairs first.

We opted for lounge seats, though perhaps not the best choice for me LOL.  I needed a child's chair!

I got a rum and Diet Coke and it was the strongest drink I'd had all week. We checked out the buffet, but I wasn't terribly hungry yet, it was only about 10:45am.  Rob found stuff to eat. Then he went into a different lounge downstairs  to explore their buffet, and said it was better, so we moved. It was rather warm in the lounges and we decided to see what upstairs was like. It was really busy, but there were our friends from Toronto again. 

We heard our flight being called, so we went to the gate and they were rushing everyone through. They weren't boarding by zone, they said they wanted to get the plane loaded quickly. In fact, I was a bit ahead of Rob and a male flight attendant grabbed my carry on, asked me what row, and rushed my bag up and into the overhead bin! Usually they don't want to help lifting the bags! We knew that extremely bad weather was coming to Toronto, so we think they were trying to get going as soon as possible.

It was an average flight back. I don't like not having seat back screens though.

Apparently there's a new highway being built to bypass most of Montego Bay.  It would be nice if there was a more direct route to Negril/south coast, but I imagine traffic is important to the small towns between Montego Bay and Negril. 

South shore of Cuba

Rainbows in the sky! (Well, where else would they be?! You know what I mean LOL). This was over Cuba.

I love these little sandbars that grow into small islands. My dream is to one day sail around the Bahamas.

I instantly recognized Nassau and the cruise port.

You can see the new Royal Caribbean beach club right across from the cruise piers.  They were still working on it in October. It looks so bare, I can't imagine there's much vegetation growth before it opened.

And look! Some cruise ships!

Remember the bag of Doritos I grabbed from the catamaran trip? Finally decided to eat them! Why did they do this? When I went to Thunder Bay, Porter served HardBite potato chips and they didn't expand like this. 

We landed in Toronto, a much better landing than when we arrived in Montego Bay. It took awhile to get to our gate and get off. There didn't seem to be a storm though. 

Near the end of our week in Negril, Rob realized he missed a call from our transportation service. The message indicated they'd be picking us up at like, 10am (whatever time our flight out was). So he had been in a panic to get through to them before we left. We knew the owner was away, and hoped things got sorted out. Our ride was there promptly. We asked, and he said he doesn't work full time for this company but sometimes they contract him when they get busy.  He got us back, through a torrential rain (why does this seem to happen on every trip?), and that was it. Vacation over!