Day 4 - Wednesday 3 April

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Now to the matter in hand.

As you know, today is Grand Cayman day and, as dawn broke it was clear that the ship was slowing down and the man up in the crow's nest shouted "Land Ahoy" so we knew we were about to arrive in that British Overseas Territory and well known tax haven that is the Cayman Islands.

Some people can be so blasé about arriving in the Cayman Islands

We were up early with the clocks having gone back an hour so we got down to breakfast and decided to go ashore as soon as we could.  They don't use the ship's tenders here but seem to use a local company with large people carrier boats to ferry passengers back and forth.

It doesn't get any better and we're getting close now ....

We got to shore and looked around for some possible local transport, either to the Botanical Gardens or to Seven Mile Beach - which is actually Five Point Nine Mile Beach as one of our recent Canadian acquaintances pointed out when we bumped into them ashore.

The only offer for the Botanical Gardens was via taxi and the tour operator we approached made a sharp intake of breath and pointed out that it was 40 minutes away.  So that was a non-starter, it seemed - these desert islands can be bigger than you think!

Carnival Horizon was also in port

We then realised that Five Point Nine Mile Beach had loads of stops on it and getting off at the right one might be decisive in this matter.  Moreover, the sun was getting fierce by now and we wondered as to how much shade there might be, so chickened out as we were about to board the minibus and pay our money.

We've been to Grand Cayman before, including on a tour to Hell and back, so we decided we'd have a wander along the only slightly attractive sea front until we got either (a) too hot or (b) too sick of the traffic fumes that we would go back to the ship and selfishly enjoy the pleasures of life on board while the hordes of snorkellers, 'sting ray encounter' and 'feed the sharks' type folks were enjoying either being stung or eaten. These last two certainly sound great excursions to take your worst enemy on.

A photo from 2015 - and to think we don't look a day younger now!

We looked in vain for the bar where we had ourselves been stung last time we were here, but we did see the dancing policeman on point duty, something which had been missing from our last visit.

We got back on board ship and were fairly disappointed to see that we hadn't quite got the place to ourselves as we weren't the only ones to have decided not to go too overboard on the Cayman Islands.

The Mother Ship

A few blog posts ago I left readers hanging in suspense as to why we had been upgraded to Elite class without seeing it coming.  Several days on and we've realised how it has come about.  Now these things don't happen by accident.  The cruise lines don't elevate passengers to some almost godly status just like that.

Carnival Horizon from the shore

The answer is that we're now Diamond Class with Royal Caribbean.  Many of the cruise lines are now in family groups and they have this slightly incestuous relationship whereby getting to a particular high status with one cruise line gives you enviable status within a sister company.  And they talk to each other behind passengers' backs so that these things can creep up on one unexpectedly!

Dancing Policeman

But he'd stopped dancing by the time I was ready to do some video!

While we've never enjoyed the extra perks that come with being Diamond Class on Royal Caribbean ships, we're enjoying our celebrity status on Celebrity.

Now we had one of the two occasional problems that intrepid travellers get on jaunts like these.  The first one is what the hell can I find  as a memento to take back for Auntie Nellie that won't cost an arm and a leg.

The second one is trying to get that vital photo to show to a particular friend or colleague to prove that "I were 'ere"!  Today it was the photo one, so we started looking in earnest at every turn.  I hope you enjoy this selection to show that Mr and Mrs A were absolutely definitely and without a shadow of a doubt on the Cayman Islands today ....

These extra long selfie sticks do a fantastic job!

I hope you agree that these ships can be quite photogenic ...

And to round off our time ashore I'd like to leave you with a photo of a Cayman Islands post box.  I know that my mother-in-law is very loyal to HMQE and I know too that she will love to see the EIIR crest on it!

The ship was fairly deserted when we first came back and Mrs A was delighted to find that fish and chips was on today's lunch menu at the cafeteria.  What's more, the queue to get some was longer than for any other type of meal .....