January 2025 Caribbean Cruise V

Mar 410 min read

Final fifth of my trip report for my cruise on the NCL Jade in January 2025.

Day 21 – at sea

Originally scheduled to be a tender port in George Town, Grand Cayman, the seas were too rough for us to visit. I’d booked the 5-hour excursion “Island Charm, Distillery & Beach Break” which I was actually relieved that it was cancelled. I’d been to George Town on the October transatlantic crossing, and other than the distillery, I wasn’t expecting much, and dreaded a beach stop. I had a light breakfast in the buffet and grabbed a crossword puzzle, sitting in Spinnaker.

Vicki walked in and we chatted, deciding to head to the Pacific for sit-down lunch. We ran into Joy on the way, so the three of us had a pleasant lunch. I had chicken noodle soup, a wedge salad and the risotto primavera with a glass of 19 Crimes, Vicki’s favorite wine. I headed to my cabin, but Yu was cleaning it, so I headed to Deck 12 aft to sit and read until 4. Back to Spinnaker, I watched Rico, part of the cruise director staff, lead a game of Celebrity Heads, and then Jacob, the dance captain, taught a Taylor Swift combination from the Eras Tour. Rico returned for Scattergories, which totally confused me.

The solos gathered and headed to dinner. Originally with 6 at our table, Brenda bailed on Andy, 3 Canadian women and me. My notes say I again closed Tankards, as we had a favorable time change overnight.

Day 22 – Roatan

With the “bonus” day at sea, it meant an earlier arrival in Roatan than the original 11am schedule. By 9 I was off the ship and on the pier, looking for my ship’s excursion: Delights of Chocolate and Rum (3hrs). Roatan is an island which sits north off the coast of Honduras and is known as a snorkeling and diving mecca. Not my interests, so I had very low expectations for this port stop. So low, I left the camera in the cabin and relied solely on the smartphone.

Boarding the jitney, we rumbled north over the ridge of the island, then along the coast west for 45 minutes and stopped at The Roatan Chocolate Factory. Across the road, waves were breaking and the Caribbean looked beautiful. We climbed a set of steps and were ushered into the production area. The talk covered the growth, harvesting, drying, roasting and grinding of the cacao beans. Heated chocolate, some with fruit or nuts, was poured into molds and set to chill. Bars are then hand encased in foil and an identifying paper wrapper finishes the product.

Out onto the sales floor, samples of each of the 11 options offered were in cups, along with bags of coffee, cocoa powder and other tourism trinkets. My takeaway was a wooden box with 5 bars of each of their dark (80% cacao) chocolate offerings: sea salt, passion fruit, island coconut, chile and coffee, in one of their souvenir boxes.

Having traveled west to the West End on the island, our driver continued to the again cross to the ridge, and turned southwest, taking us to Coral Reef Lounge. A restaurant and bar associated with a resort, we were ushered upstairs to the upper bar where we sampled rums. First, pure Tatascan Aguadiente, which seemed very like mildly diluted Everclear.

Next, a local medicinal infusion using the Tatascan and roots, herbs and spices. It would supposedly cure anything! Both were 60 proof. Plata, a Guatemalan rum, 60 proof and aged 4 years was the final “real” rum, but we were then offered tastes of several Ron Flor de Caña cordials: coffee, cacao and coconut. Most of us wandered the outer platforms, looking out to the rough coral shore and shoreline. This is close to one of the two towns established by Czech expatriates.

Once back in Spanish Town, the port, I wandered a bit, observing the native offerings. Deciding to get a meal, I walked into a random bar and asked for a table for one. As we cleared the bar area into the open-air dining space, Joy and Bill hailed me, and invited me to join them. They had finished their meal, but sat with me as I had the best jerk chicken ever! Looking around, the place was full of Pilipino crew – obviously the right place to eat in Roatan!

Bill, whose interests involve rum tastings, proposed that we seek out more rum. Google offered Casa Ron, a walk of less than a kilometer, and we made our way along the shore road a bit before turning inland. Still in the flats, we crossed a bridge over a stream and found that this was a liquor store. We three wandered around for a bit, and made a few purchases, Retracing our footsteps, we returned to the bar we’d had lunch at and had tried three additional rums we’d not yet had.

Back to the ship, I dropped my purchases (no, they didn’t confiscate the smaller-than-a-half-liter bottles) in my cabin and climbed to the solo meeting after snagging a club soda with bitters. I had another specialty dinner to use, so Vicki and I headed to La Cucina. Pear and gorgonzola salad, fried calamari, salmon Fra Diavolo with a pasta side. And stracciatella with a glass of white port for dessert.

We dropped down to Tankards where I had one double of Spanish whisky. I chatted up with several of those at the bar while Vicki went off to dress and attend the Glow Party, which I skipped, heading to the cabin and crashing.

Day 23 – Harvest Caye

Nominally, we were in Belize. The ship docked at Harvest Caye, a private island that is part of the reef that runs parallel to the coast about 2 miles east offshore. Personally, I consider cruise line private islands as just another opportunity for the ships to get more money from their captive audience. At least on Harvest Kaye, NCL tells you that the businesses on the island (concessions, spa, bar) are all owned and run by Belizeans.

Well, in any case, I was up before 8 and went to breakfast for the fruit plate, oatmeal, juice and coffee. Collecting my hat, sunblock, camera from my cabin, I then left the ship and began walking the brick pavement on what I would consider a wide, long sandbar. Trees and overhangs provided shade, and there was a mild breeze. Moho Chocolate intrigued me, and I went in and sampled their dark chocolate. Impressed with their chili-flavored, I got a couple of bars. After passing through the zoo area (birds, butterflies, iguanas) I walked around the lighthouse, which was being used for a few mild ziplines, “superman-ing” over the shore. Baymen’s Spirits proved to be a liquor store, offering only tastes of fruit wines made on the mainland. I spotted a large golden iguana in the mangrove as I walked the long pier back to the ship.

A second lite breakfast in the buffet, I found a chair in the shade on the pool deck. Joy wandered by, and we had a late lunch about 1. I hung out in Spinnaker for the air conditioning, and at 3 there was a Q&A session. The singers and dancers sat with mikes on the dance floor, with the assistant cruise director moderating. There were probably a dozen questions, and I think I asked half. I walked down the stairs to Tankard, but Jay and Bryan were on break, so I headed to my cabin. I backed up the photos, and got cracking on “Hero” cards – attaboys for crew members who were doing a good or great job. (Best way to get their name – particularly the spelling and job title – is to take a picture of their name tag. And I told everyone at the first pub crawl when handing out cards that they should be doing one a day! I did.)

After changing clothes, I headed to Tankards for a whisky and headed to the solo meeting. It was just Vicki and Emilie, so the three of us headed to the dining room for dinner. Cream of spinach soup and goulash again for me, with stracciatella for dessert. My note says I spent the rest of the evening socializing in Tankards.

Day 24 – Cozumel

Not unusual, it turned out that I didn’t make any notes for Monday on Monday, but used my time the next day to write more than a page. With a late arrival of 11am in Cozumel, I was in no rush. Shashuka came up in the breakfast cycle again, so I was pleased. Heading up to Deck 13, I took a few pictures of our approach to the Mexican pier, watching as we maneuvered. We were situated well towards the end of a long pier, with another ship moored on the Y-branch, and two more on the pier closer to downtown. Having been to the port twice before, and having spent a week on the Costa Maya, I decided that rather than shopping, I’d do a little excursion tour. However, the tour began at 2:30.

Off the ship, I window shopped, or at least that was the plan. I checked in the local Effy for the ring I’d been lusting for, and actually found another I liked better, but it was too rich for me. I walked into two more jewelry stores, getting a tungsten ring and chain necklace. A heavy silver Celtic cross caught my eye, and I got myself yet another present. Surprised at my extravagance, I headed back to the rendezvous point and sat in the shade waiting for the start of the tour.

Enough had booked the excursion that we filled three trolley cars. The operator was at least smart enough to send each to a different start point, so that we avoided crowding as well as boarding the wrong bus. Our first stop was a beach used by the local residents, on the opposite end of town. A small stone pyramid was across the street from a tourist junk concessionaire, with facilities up towards a closed church.

After boarding the bus, we rode for a bit into downtown, where we were given 45 minutes to shop. I had a task, to purchase some OTC meds for a friend in California, and picked up several promotions for myself as well. This time the rendezvous point was St Michael’s Church, the oldest church on the island.

Our next stop was Corpus Christi Church, which is the largest church on the island of Cozumel.

Then our final (fourth) stop was for a tequila tasting. Five different offerings, azul (clear), anejo (gold), jefe (premium), and two flavored. I liked the anejo and jefe, but found them too pricy. At the same stop there was a chocolate tasting, with a cursory demonstration of the making of the confection. The presentation was fair, and much of the samples were just okay, but I did like the chili-flavored.

Returning to the ship, I had to hustle. I got cleaned up, changed and headed to Deck 6 to meet Vicki for dinner at Le Bistro. As always, I started with the escargot, but tried the endive salad next. A delicious tenderloin for my main was better beef than what I had a Moderno by far, and even Cagney’s. Getting ready for heading home, I opted to get the cheese plate. Back at Tankards, I hung out with the two Dutch couples. When I got to my cabin, a note indicated I needed to head to the Credit Desk in the morning.

Day 25 – at sea

After my oatmeal breakfast with Sue (solo, PA) and a couple from north of Tampa, I headed to the Customer Service area and, after a short wait in queue, was direct to the desk at the end, which had a very small wait. There I learned I had two credits: $182 was refundable, probably due to cancelled excursions, and $152 non-refundable OBC. I collected my cash and stated my intention to use the non-refundable either in the shop or for a CruiseNext coupon. After perusing the shop and finding nothing that I needed, I went to the CruiseNext desk and explained my intent to use my non-refundable credit. The staff person (who was disliked by almost every passenger for his unfriendly and aggressive sales push) tried to get me to get more, but I said I just wanted one, expecting a charge of $98 on my credit card. Apparently, I should have known or been advised that the non-refundable cannot be used this way, and I should have purchased the two bottles of whiskey in the shop and lugged them home. I am still annoyed at NCL.

Lunch was served at the Pacific, so I had a bistro salad and a Monte Cristo sandwich, with a glass of rosé. Back to the cabin, I had an hour laydown, and then began packing my large roller so I could go out that evening. One last meetup with the solo group, I had dinner with five of them in Pacific: cheese ravioli, strawberry spinach salad, chimichurri sirloin steak and pear and blueberry jubilee. We passed around a sheet for folks to share their email/contact information (each capturing it on their phones.) My last notes for the trip were my food choices at dinner.

Departure Day

Relying on my memory from nearly a month ago, I had arranged for the neighborhood car service to collect me from port debarkation at 9am from the garage across from the terminal building. Based on the horrible confusion I’d experienced in Galveston off the Regal Princess, I was walking my small roll-on over the gangway at 8am, and was across the street within 20 minutes. An absolute breeze, leaving a ship should always be this easy and smooth.

Bobby still arrived at 9 and I jumped into the car after we stowed my two pieces of luggage. Out of Tampa, over the Howard Franklin and then the Sunshine Highway (which we’d sailed under sometime in the early morning), soon we were speeding down I-75 and then heading towards my home. By 11 I was unpacking, dumping laundry into the washer and figuring out what I needed from the grocery store. My accumulated mail was delivered to my door, and I was pleased to be home, so that I could begin refining and completing the itinerary for my next trip in two months.