Majestic Princess

Posted on February 3, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Majestic Princess

We boarded the Majestic Princess in Fort Lauderdale directly after disembarking from Symphony of the Seas in Miami. It used to be easy to do a back-to-back with one cruise in Miami and a second in Fort Lauderdale. After all the two cities are not far from each other. In the past we have just taken an Uber from one port to the other. After disembarking Symphony of the Seas in Miami, there were no Ubers available. We ended up taking a port shuttle to the Fort Lauderdale airport. We got lucky in that particular driver agreeing to drop us at the cruise port after he dropped everyone else at the airport. Apparently not all shuttle drivers would do so. Traffic into the port was horrible, taking an hour to go just a few miles so some drivers probably want to avoid that. The shuttle driver said there used to be a whole lot more Ubers in Miami, but there aren’t nearly as many now because a lot of the drivers got deported. After the Princess cruise we did finally manage to book an Uber out of the Fort Lauderdale cruise port, but it took nearly half an hour to get one and the taxi line wasn’t any better. Odds are a bunch of taxi drivers got deported too.

piazza

Majestic Princess is a royal class ship built in 2017. It is the third ship of 6 in that class preceded by Royal and Regal Princesses and followed by Sky, Enchanted, and Discovery Princesses. Ships of this class feature a large central atrium which is called the piazza. It features open space for 3 decks above the piazza on deck 5, with public spaces like shops, bars, and eateries ringing the edges of all 3 levels. A lot of the onboard activities like games and dancing are held in the piazza.

seawalk

Another feature of this ship class is the seawalk, a short walkway that swoops out along the side of the ship with clear panels in the floor through which people can view lifeboats and the sea beneath their feet.

picture in one of the hallways to cabins

Majestic Princess weighs 143,00 tons with a length of 1083 feet, height of 224 feet, and width of 155 feet at its widest point. It has 1780 staterooms and a guest capacity of 3,560 with 1346 crew. It has 18 decks with the top deck labeled as 19 as there is no deck 13. Passengers have access to deck 4 and above. Passenger areas on deck 4 are limited to the medical center and tender embarkation areas for ports where the ship is not docked. Decks 18 and 19 are not full decks, just smaller sports areas. The decks in between are either public spaces, cabin decks, or a combination of both.

pistachio loveboat heart

Princess introduced a new upgraded menu just a week or two before our cruise. The food was good and the menu still includes some Princess favorites from the previous menu. The chocolate loveboat heart that used to be one of the everyday desserts was only served once, replaced on the everyday menu by a pistachio one. which John really liked. He ordered it several times. I thought the pistachio one was a bit too sweet and prefer the original chocolate one over it. Overall the food in the dining room was quite good and Princess has the biggest and best buffet of all the ships we have sailed on. The ship also has lots of bars and some pay-extra eateries.

Hollywood Conservatory

Majestic Princess has very elegant decor. It had a glassed in area called the Hollywood Pool Club and Hollywood Conservatory that looked like the sort of space that would only be open to suite guests, but it was available to everyone. The other ships of this class we have been on did not have this feature. It was a very nice space that would have had a solarium type feel if it were warmer, but the temperature in that area was kept too cold for people to lounge comfortably on the many available deck chairs in swimwear, especially if they were wet from the pool or hot tub. The hot tubs on that ship were not hot enough either. The curtained off cabanas by windows in the conservatory area were free to use and available to anyone who could get one, which was quite nice since other ships tend to charge extra for similar spaces. There were also board games and tables to play them on in the conservatory area and a bar in the pool area making it a multi-use hangout space.

fountain pool

The ship also has outdoor pools and hot tubs. The raised central pool on the main Lido deck is called the Fountain Pool because it has short fountain shows in the evening where it has colored lights and fountain displays lasting about 15 minutes.

kitchen tour

Princess doesn’t have waterslides or anything like some ships do, but it does have things for kids to do. There are kid’s club activities for various age groups from young children to teens and they can also participate in scheduled activities that are open to everyone, like the galley (kitchen) tour they had one day. There are 2 arcades, ping pong tables, and mini golf. The mini golf is a small space on the very top deck that is more random holes to hit the ball into than an actual course. The ship also has pickleball and basketball courts as well as other games like cornhole.

hallway carpets

For anyone who is at least a little bit observant it’s easy to know if you are in the right hallway for your cabin on this ship. Besides having all of the odd numbers on the starboard side and even on the port side, it also has red hallway carpets starboard and blue port so even if you can’t see the tiny numbers from the elevator/stairway bay you can just glance at the carpet and know which hallway is correct.

Princess medallion in a waterproof bracelet

Instead of ship cards to open cabin doors, scan on and off the ship, and purchase things onboard, Princess has wearable medallions. They come on a lanyard, but other options are available to put them in. They sell a variety of things onboard, but you can also buy the waterproof bracelets on Amazon for a fraction of the price of buying it onboard. These are especially useful for cruises to warm places because you never have to worry about what to do with your ship card if you go swimming or snorkeling. You never have to hunt for a ship card when you’re wearing it either. It even unlocks the cabin door for you before you get there. Medallions also have a sort of creepy, but very useful stalking feature in the Princess app where you can see where your shipmates are in a map of the deck plans.

show with drone lights

We only went to one show on this ship. It was a production show called Fantastic Journey. It was a singing and dancing show with a bunch of fast paced short acts that had nothing to do with each other. Some of the acts had elements that appeared as if they were copied from shows we have seen on Royal Caribbean, most notably the drone lights. Indoor drone lights in cruise ship shows were first introduced in the ice show called 1977 on Symphony of the Seas. I had not seen them on any other ship before Majestic Princess. It’s a lot of work to program them because they can’t use external GPS on a moving ship so they have to be coordinated to a system within the ship.

O’Malley’s Irish Pub

Overall the Majestic Princess is quite a nice ship and we enjoyed cruising on it.

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Nuku’alofa Tonga Cruise Port

Posted on January 30, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Nuku’alofa, Tonga

The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian country in the south Pacific. It is made up of over 170 islands, of which about 45 have human populations. It is the only monarchy in the south Pacific and the only country there never to be colonized. The islands generally consist of rainforest with beaches and coral reefs around them. Some are of volcanic origin and others coral. There are no poisonous snakes or spiders. Currency is the pa’anga, which is worth about 42 cents in American dollars.

map of tourist attractions on Tongatapu from the visitor information booth

Nuku’alofa is the capitol and largest city in the Kingdom of Tonga. In Tongan the name means abode of love. It is on the island of Tongatapu. It has a deep harbor protected by reefs. The cruise dock called Vanu Wharf is within walking distance of town. The walk is mainly down the long pier because once you get to the end of the pier you’re in the town. At our visit there were vans offering tours near the dock. The main languages are English and Tongan. The climate is tropical with weather generally warm and humid. There are not a lot of places that will take credit cards, but most will take USD, AUD, or local currency. Independent tour operators may start out with high prices that can be negotiated down. Sharing transport with other passengers will lessen the per person price. It is a very conservative Christian country.

booth selling wooden carvings

Nuku’alofa gets about one cruise ship per month. Besides the many booths of local crafts for sale lining both sides of the pier, additional souvenir stands may be also found at tourist attractions on the island. There are also little stands selling fruit, coconuts, or peanuts in front of homes in residential areas. Many of the craft items sold by locals are made from natural materials that may be restricted if disembarking in Australia or New Zealand. Make sure you know what the country you disembark in allows before buying souvenirs that may be confiscated at customs.

view of the pier from the ship

Since the dock is right in the city once you leave the pier there are stores and restaurants. There are some interesting buildings in the immediate area, some of which can be seen from the ship. The king’s palace is right on the waterfront and can be seen from the ship, but it is not open to the public so people can only look at it from outside of the palace grounds.

crowd at the visitor information booth on the pier

On the day we were there the visitor information booth at the dock had signs for a bus tour around the island and for a diving excursion. They also had maps of the city and of the highlights of the island. The visitor information booth was the second closest booth to the ship. During whale season they may offer whale watching or swimming with whales tours, but the whales had already left the area when our ship came.

hibiscus flower on the island

On the walk down the pier we passed a sign that said lava tour with an arrow pointing toward a gravel lot, but we did not investigate where the actual tour was or what it was about.

busses and taxis at the end of the pier

At the far end of the pier there were a number of locals offering island tours. These tours went to more places than the ship’s tours. Unlike some previous ports that took any currency worth more than theirs dollar for dollar with no consideration for the difference in value, at this port they did charge less if you had US dollars than if you had Australian dollars or local currency. In USD for a bus of 39 people the island tour was $35 per person. For a van or mini-bus ranging from 6-17 passengers depending on which van you chose they were asking $50 per person. For a private taxi tour with just two people we paid $75 each, and it went to 5 places. A great deal compared to a cruise ship tour that for $70 and a whole busload of people only had 3 stops. Private taxi tours can go places where larger groups can’t and also have the advantage of being able to make stops upon request that aren’t usually part of tours.

dancers on the dock

When first disembarking the ship there was a group of local dancers to entertain the cruise passengers. Excursions offered through the ship at this port included a beach resort with a cave and several different island tours to various sites.

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Seattle Cruise Ship Ports

Posted on January 27, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger
Space Needle

the Space Needle is the highlight of the Seattle Center and the symbol of Seattle

Seattle

Seattle is the largest city in Washington State with a population of over 800,000. It’s nickname is the Emerald City due to the abundance of year-round greenery. Washington is called the Evergreen State due to its native evergreen trees. These include fir, cedar, pine, hemlock. and spruce. They are mainly on the western side of the state, but the drier east side does have pines and some fir trees. The term skid row originated from Seattle’s early days when logs were transported down a steep hill to the mill using a skid road of greased logs. Skid Road eventually morphed into the term skid row which is currently used to describe an impoverished area.

view of Seattle from a cruise ship

Seattle has a temperate climate where generally summers are not excessively hot nor winters excessively cold. Average annual precipitation is just over 37 inches so the city isn’t as wet as its reputation indicates. However the rainfall is often light so the 150-167 annual rainy days makes it seem a lot wetter. Some winters have snow, but some don’t and the snow doesn’t tend to stick around more than a few days most of the time. The average annual snowfall is 6.3 inches. Some years have more, others less or as previously mentioned none. The average annual precipitation of western Washington is much higher at 66 inches.

Mount Rainier

The Olympic Mountains can receive over 200 inches of rain annually. Some places on or near the coast like Forks (120 inches) or Sekiu (about 100 inches) have a lot of rain too, while other areas of the Olympic Peninsula like Sequim (16-17) or Port Angeles (25-29) have a lot less. The Cascade Mountains receive 80-150 inches of rain annually, with the majority of that falling on the west side of the mountains. The Cascade Mountains are the range where the state’s 5 volcanos reside. Mount Saint Helens is the best known for its 1980 eruption. Mount Rainier is pretty well known too since it is the tallest and home to a popular national park. It is also the closest to Seattle. The other three are Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, and Mount Adams.

pier 57 in Seattle

Seattle’s Pier 57 Miner’s Landing and Great Wheel

Seattle has lots of things for tourists to do. The Seattle Center is home to its famous Space Needle along with other attractions. The waterfront has its share of things to do as well including day cruises and the Seattle Great Wheel. Seattle has quite a variety of parks and museums. It also has theater shows, sports teams, and a symphony orchestra. A monorail transports people between downtown and the Seattle Center.

Seattle Cruise Ship Ports

Cruise ships in Seattle dock at either Pier 91 or Pier 66 on the Seattle waterfront. The cruise ship season runs from spring to fall with up to 3 ships in port on the same day.

Ruby Princess cruise ship

Ruby Princess at Pier 91 in Seattle

The main cruise ship terminal is Pier 91, which can hold two cruise ships at the same time. Most of the major cruise lines dock there for embarkation and debarkation. This pier is not near the main touristy waterfront area. There is parking nearby and shuttles take passengers from the parking areas to the port. Taxi’s, Ubers, airport shuttles, and other shuttle services also bring passengers to the port from other locations. When embarking in Seattle we have generally found the service good and the lines to move quickly. For disembarkation there are waiting areas for pre-arranged transportation, and often a line of taxis and other ride services available for people looking for last-minute transportation.

Royal Princess

Royal Princess at Pier 66 in Seattle (port stop, not embarkation)

Seattle’s other port is at Pier 66 in the heart of the touristy area of Seattle’s waterfront with space for one ship. It is within walking distance from the ferry terminal and also close to other attractions like the Seattle Aquarium and Pike Place Market and within walking distance of the Seattle Underground Tour. Ships making a port stop in Seattle that is not for embarkation or disembarkation are likely to stop at this pier. Norwegian cruises use this pier for starting and ending their cruises rather than pier 91 where most other lines go. There is a parking garage near this terminal, or people can park in cruise parking lots and take a shuttle to the pier. The garage closest to this pier is a bit more expensive than other parking options.

Boarding Carnival Luminosa

People are only allowed to register for a Carnival cruise online a couple weeks prior to the cruise, a couple days earlier for platinum or diamond guests. This is pretty inconvenient on land and even more so when doing back to back cruises. When you do your registration you also choose your boarding time and the earliest times go first so if you want to board as early as possible then registering as soon as you can is a necessity. Cruise ports tend to be crowded at the early boarding times though and don’t always disembark as quickly as expected so choosing an early time generally means either waiting in a long line outside or waiting in some sort of room inside of the port before actually boarding the ship. For a smoother boarding experience with far less likelihood of lines or long waits to board choosing a later time works well.

Cunard ship at Pier 91 in Seattle

We had a sort of early boarding time for the Luminosa in Seattle and arrived at our scheduled time of 12:30 to a very long and unmoving line even though it was past the time boarding was supposed to begin. Luggage collection didn’t have a line, but once that was dropped off it was a long walk to the back of the line for boarding the ship. It sort of intermingled with one for a Cunard ship, but at the point where they separated the Cunard line moved quickly and the Carnival one not at all so the smart ones from Cunard found a way through the Carnival line to the end of their own line rather than waiting behind all of the Carnival people to the separation point.

the line went way out into the second shelter back when we got there

Boarding the Carnival Luminosa was a lot slower than is usual in Seattle. The Luminosa’s line crept slowly forward for a bit, then stalled completely for quite awhile. The other ship was going to Alaska, which is where most of the ships from that port go. The Luminosa on the other hand was sailing to Australia. Despite many warnings from Carnival by phone, text, and email prior to the cruise about all of the documents required for boarding, a lot of people did not have handy things like proof of travel insurance which was required for that cruise or proof of the electronic visa required for entry into Australia. It’s always a good idea to print out any documents you might need to show before boarding so they are handy and easily accessible, or at least take a screenshot so you have something to show that you can find quickly on your phone. Rumor had it some people were denied boarding when they could not find the necessary proof of the required documentation. Apparently they ignored all the emails, texts, and calls warning them they needed it, or just thought like so many people do these days that the rules didn’t apply to them. Meanwhile they stuffed up the line by not having everything they needed ready to present.

view of Seattle from the ship

Once the line finally started to move we eventually made it up to the building where it separated into people who came at their assigned boarding time and a longer line for those who were early or late. By the time we got to that point it was actually past our assigned window of time, but since they realized people like us had arrived on time, but been waiting in a very long line for quite some time they let us into the on-time line. The only people given priority boarding on that cruise were suite guests because about 3/4 of the people were platinum or diamond. They couldn’t give so many the priority boarding they would otherwise be allowed and we had to wait in the main boarding line.

view of a marina next to the cruise port from our balcony on the Luminosa

When we eventually made it to the check in desk we found out that the holdup was indeed caused by all of the people who didn’t have the documentation that was required in spite of the numerous texts, phone calls, and emails from Carnival prior to boarding day warning people that all of those things were needed. We breezed through quickly and with no problems at all since we had printouts of the necessary proof as well our boarding passes and had our passports handy, all of which had to be shown to move on. Meanwhile other people were holding up the line scrambling through their phones looking for proof of insurance or the e-visa.

Once we got through that first check in point there were still more to go through because they were just screening people for the necessary documents before letting them in. Luggage screening and the actual check-in process awaited once inside, but we did eventually get through it all and board the boat. That was the longest it ever took us to board in Seattle, though it has taken longer when sailing out of some other ports.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026
Posted in Carnival, Luminosa, Port Cities, Ports of Call, USA, Washington | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Saint Lucia Cruise Port

Posted on January 23, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia is an independent country, but also a member of the British Commonwealth. It’s a volcanic Caribbean island in the Lesser Antilles with reefs, rainforests, and waterfalls. The capital is Castries, the official language English, and currency the east Caribbean dollar. Annual rainfall varies around the island, with more falling to the interior than on the coast. Temperatures are from the mid 70’s to the high 80’s F. Ships dock in Castries with larger ships generally docking at Point Seraphine in Castries Harbor. According to the internet it’s a 20-minute walk from there to Castries. The other dock is La Place Carenage, right in Castries. Ships may also tender at Pigeon Island, Rodney Bay, or Soufriere.

information booth at the port

The cruise port at Point Seraphine where Enchanted Princess docked is in a protected harbor so the sea is calmer at the dock than whatever the current conditions are out on the open ocean. Not enough better to prevent the docking crew from taking an excessively long time to get the gangways out though. It was 40 minutes past time to let people off the ship before they finally got the central gangway open, and even longer for the forward one. The lines to both gangways got so long they met in the hallway. We were kind of at the point where the two lines joined, but facing the one for the central gangway. We just turned around and went the other way when the forward one finally started to move since it was going faster. Princess is not that good about getting people off the boat in a timely manner. This is not the first Princess ship where we’ve seen very long lines to the gangway.

shops at the port

The port area when you first get off the ship is a little shopping center. It had an information booth and a booth for last minute excursions as well as shops. Many of the usual cruise ship shops found at pretty much every port are there along with some local shops, bars, and eateries. There are lots of jewelry stores, also liquor, clothing, and souvenirs.

port art

One of the shops had a hammock with a statue lying in it hanging on the side of the building.

maps of Castries

Castries has a market, a cathedral, artists murals and beaches. People enjoy panoramic views from Morne Fortune Hill.

Pitons (internet photo)

Saint Lucia has rain forest, mountains, and beaches so there’s something for everyone besides just shopping or walking around town. One of St. Lucia’s most famous attractions is The Pitons, a pair of volcanic plug mountains, formed when lava cooled over now dormant volcanos. There are trails in the rainforest and reef-diving sites, The island even has a waterfall and sulphur hot springs. The numerous excursions offered through the ship are an example of the many things available to do on the island.

Segway Excursion

Excursions offered through Enchanted Princess at Saint Lucia: Best Of St. Lucia: Sulphur Springs, The Pitons, Scenic Cruise & Lunch; The Pitons, Marigot Bay, Coastal Cruise & Beach; Local Connections Morne Fortune, Caribelle Batik, Rum & Marigot Bay With Distiller; Sulphur Springs, The Pitons, Marigot Bay & Lunch; Sulphur Springs, Marigot Bay, Lunch & Shopping; Marigot Bay, Village & Scenic Drive; Scenic Byways Of St. Lucia; Local Connections A Dip In Creole Traditions In St. Lucia With Restaurant Owner; Ladera Resort, The Pitons, Catamaran, Drive & Lunch; Castries By Trolley Train; Local Connections: Tale Of The St. Lucia Banana With Local Farmer; Local Connections: Lucian Fun Bus Tour With Local Personality; Volcanic Island Experience & Mud Bath; Warm Mineral Baths & Garden Tour; 4X4 Safari Scenic Drive & Waterfall Adventure; Rainforest Aerial Tram & Scenic Drive; Touch The Iconic Pitons; Rainforest Canopy Zipline Adventure & Scenic Drive; Rainforest Aerial Tram & Canopy Zipline Adventure; Horseback Ride To Cas En Bas Beach & Swim; Segway, Sightseeing & Beach; Whale & Dolphin Watching Cruise; Snorkel & Scenic Coastal Cruise

Point Seraphine cruise port

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Food on Viking Skirnir

Posted on January 16, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

coconut mango cake

Some of the food on our European river cruise on Viking Skirnir was quite good, but some not so much. Partly that’s the food, but sometimes it’s a matter of opinion. For example, the veggie burgers that were on the daily lunch menu – we thought they were great, but a friend we were traveling with thought they were awful. The sweet potato fries that came with the veggie burger were good too, but we didn’t like their version of coleslaw.

does not look like what we expect from bread pudding

Names of some dishes on the menu were in German or other languages and what you get is not always what you expect from the menu description. Sometimes the unexpected things were quite tasty and other times just odd which is of course a matter of opinion. People who actually knew what to expect would probably be happy with it. Sometimes even things with easy names did not look like the dish we associate with the name.

pumpkin soup

They did very well on soups. Most of their soups were very good. Some of the other foods could have been better, but others we liked quite a lot. It’s a good thing their every night chicken dinner was one of the good ones because there were several nights that everything else on the menu was either beef or fish, neither of which I wanted, though other people like them.

banana pancakes with extra syrup

Breakfast was always the same menu every day. First came pastries by the coffee machines at 6:00am, Then a small continental buffet at Aquavit Terrace which has seating outside, in the atrium where the buffet is, and in the lounge. Last to open was the main breakfast in the dining room. It had a bigger buffet than upstairs that includes an omelette/made to order eggs station, and a menu for ordering made-to-order options like pancakes, French toast, oatmeal, or eggs benedict. Their pastries were good and some of the made-to-order stuff like the banana pancakes were delicious, but most of the buffet part was somewhat lacking in quality as well as quantity of options.

grilled sandwich

Lunch time varied depending on day’s schedule, but was usually 12 or 12:30. One day at 11:30. The every day menu had hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burger, salad, and chocolate mousse. There were also always some additional items served for only one day that would include soup, sandwiches, other desserts, and sometimes pasta or other things. Occasionally they had a lunch option like lamb or steak that came out looking more like a dinner than a lunch. Some of the choices were very good, others could have been better.

spinach ravioli

Dinner was served at 7:pm, which just about everyone thought was too late. It was mainly a ship full of old people and a lot of old people eat dinner early. Plus it generally took an hour and a half to get 3 courses done so it was usually between 8:30 and 9pm by the time dinner finished. With such a time gap between lunch and dinner people tended to spend afternoons snacking on the cookies that were left out by the coffee machines for most of the day. In the morning there were breakfast pastries there instead of cookies. They had really good coffee machines that made a variety of fancy coffees as well as hot chocolate. The machines didn’t make tea, but there was hot water and several different options of tea bags available.

chicken dinner

Like the lunch there was an everyday menu at dinner. This one had steak, chicken, and salmon. There was also a one night only menu that would have different dishes each night. In addition to that there would be one each of starter, main, and dessert of a regional dish to wherever the ship happened to be that night. Mostly German dishes since the majority of the ports were in Germany. Most of these items had unpronounceable foreign names. Some of the one night only dishes did as well. Overall about 4 starters, 6 mains, and 6 desserts to choose from, though 2 of the dessert selections would be the nightly options of ice cream or cheese plate. The other every night dessert was crème brûlée.

afternoon tea

One day there was afternoon tea served in the lounge. Little tea trays with sandwiches and goodies accompanied by scones and tea. Similar to what some of the ocean ships have.

potato pancakes with an unpronounceable foreign name

One night there was a special German dinner where the male door greeters wore lederhosen and the females wore dirndl dresses. The waitstaff had shirts that matched the red checkered tablecloths and napkins that adorned the tables that night only.

table set for the German dinner

They had a selection of breads on the table and the option of either having a sampling plate of all sorts of things served to you or going to a buffet to select your own options of those items and more. There was also a desert selection with petty-four size cake bites of 5 different types of cake as well as an ice cream sundae station.

little cake bites

Since a good part of the cruise was through Germany everyone expected black forest cake to show up on the menu, but it never did. The closest thing was black forest cake ice cream sundae.

Black Forest ice cream

On Thanksgiving they served turkey with all the trimmings even though that’s not a holiday in Europe. A majority of the passengers were from the USA though so that’s probably why they had it.

breakfast buffet

Overall the food was pretty good, though not quite the high degree of excellence expected from a premium cruise line like Viking.

chocolate mousse

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026
Posted in Cruise Food, Europe, Skirnir, Viking | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Back on Symphony of the Seas

Posted on January 13, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Symphony of the Seas in Nassau

I was last on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas when cruise ships first started sailing again right after covid. At that time there were far less passengers onboard than what the ship can actually carry. Not so much this time around as the ship was pretty full.

pool and waterslides

Symphony of the Seas launched in 2018, the fourth of 6 Oasis class ships. It was preceeded by the Oasis, Allure, and Harmony, and followed by Wonder and Utopia with a 7th ship of this class due to launch in 2028. It was the biggest cruise ship in the world when it was new, but now Wonder, Utopia, Icon, and Star of the Seas are all bigger. Royal’s newest ships Icon, Star, and Utopia run on LNG (liquid natural gas) which is a cleaner fuel than the bunker fuel and marine diesel older ships use.

entrance to the ultimate abyss dry slide

Symphony of the Seas can carry over 6000 passengers and more than 2000 crew. It has 18 decks of which 16 are accessible to passengers. Tonnage is 230,000 and length 1,188 feet. Its maximum width is 215.5 feet. It has 2759 passenger cabins, some of which hold more than 2 guests including some that can hold up to 6.

top of the ultimate abyss 10-deck dry slide

Being such a big ship it does have a lot of places to go. More of them were open at the same time with the larger number of passengers so the ship didn’t feel as crowded as it actually was, though it was definitely noticeable that more people were onboard. This was most obvious when doing things like looking for a vacant table in the buffet, especially when you need one that seats 5 people.

Carousel

Symphony of the Seas has all the standard things people expect on any cruise ship like hot tubs. pools, kid’s clubs, shops, a casino, scheduled activities, and a whole lot of food and bars. It also has a lot more. It doesn’t stop at just things like waterslides and mini golf, though it does have those. It also has rock climbing walls, a zipline, a carousel, flow riders, 10-deck dry slides, and an ice-skating arena.

piano stairs

There’s also some piano stairs. Every stair worked the last time I was on Symphony, but this time a few of them stayed quiet. They aren’t actual piano keys, just designed to look that way. They have sensors that light up and play musical tones when people walk on them. If you are the only one on the stairway you can make the music play faster or slower by your speed on the stairs.

ducks in the duck machine at the arcade

The arcade has a duck machine where everyone wins a duck on every turn, but it costs $2.00 for each try so it didn’t get nearly as much business as the cheaper duck machines in the arcade on Carnival ships. These were different ducks than Carnival had with more variety. These all had the Royal Caribbean logo so they are nice ducks, just a bit pricey.

the outside promenade deck is a track

The inside promenade deck area is full of shops, bars, and eateries, but Symphony also has a promenade deck that runs all the way around the outside of the ship. This ship class has the best outside promenade decks ever because besides going all the way around they are set up as an actual track with a walking lane and a running lane.

promenade on Symphony of the Seas

Signs in the cabin bathrooms are a bit hypocritical saying to reuse towels to save the waves while the giftshop only sells chemical sunscreens that do serious damage to coral reefs if worn in the water. I haven’t seen a cruise ship yet that sold reef-safe mineral sunscreen. So far I’ve only seen one port shop that had any somewhere other than in Hawaii where all of the sunscreen we saw for sale was reef safe. Anyone cruising to the Caribbean or anywhere else that has coral can do their part to help by bringing their own reef-safe sunscreen. It’s a real shame the cruise industry doesn’t both provide it and educate people about the damage caused by chemical sunscreens considering the thousands of people they bring to areas with reefs daily while coral and the life it supports struggles worldwide.

Bionic Bar

It would be pretty hard to go hungry or thirsty on Symphony of the Seas with over 20 eateries and bars pretty much everywhere. It has a couple unique bars on the promenade, one being the Bionic Bar where robot arms mix the drinks and the other the Rising Tide Bar, which sits in a sort of half eggshell shaped elevator that is sometimes located in the promenade on deck 5 and at other times is accessed from the garden area called Central Park on deck 8.

Central Park

Central Park is an open area within the interior of the ship that has gardens with real live plants in the center and shops, eateries and a bar around the edges. Inside cabins on decks above Central Park have balconies overlooking the park so on this ship you can book an inside cabin and still have a balcony. We had one of those on Wonder of the Seas and liked it quite a lot.

highwire at the Hiro show

There is also an open area starting from deck 6 at the back of the ship called the Boardwalk. It has shops, eateries, an arcade, and a pub and sports bar on the outer edges. There are rooms with balconies overlooking this area as well. In the center there’s the carousel, the landing for the dry slides, and at the back the aquatheater. The aquatheater is the home for Hiro, a quite impressive water-based show that includes divers, dancers, an aerialist, high wire, and more. The ship also has a regular theater for production shows, but that’s not all.

ice show

In addition to having a couple of open skating sessions during our cruise where passengers could skate in the ice arena, it also is the theater for an ice show. Besides all the fancy skating the show also has a bit with a flock of lighted drones – which have to be tuned into the ship itself because they can’t do precision flying in a moving ship on normal GPS. The ice arena was also sometimes used for laser tag. There is definitely no shortage of things to do on Symphony of the Seas.

balconies on inside cabins with views of Central Park

A new addition since my last time on the ship is a small smoke-free casino. It’s unfortunate they didn’t trade places with the smoking and non-smoking casinos. The smoke-free one has just one entrance with double sets of doors so it would be easy to keep smoke contained within that one room. The smoking casino is open to other areas of the ship and you have to go to other decks to avoid walking through it to get from one side of the deck it is on to the other. Smoke from it drifts into the nearby dining room on deck 4 and sometimes up to other decks and into other areas of the ship as well.

solarium

There’s an adults only solarium at the front of the ship with a bar, hot tubs, and lots of deck chairs to relax in. The glass panels don’t fully enclose it though. They run in strips with open areas in between. It’s fine on hot days, but not so much when the weather is cold or rainy as it was for much of this trip.

one of the nicer stairway pictures

Like all cruise ships everywhere there is some pretty strange art to be found around the ship. Odd art seems to be a requirement on cruise ships. There is also some nice art, but that is harder to find.

gummy bandaids were not the only strange candy in the candy shop

Royal Caribbean is surprisingly good with getting people onto and off of the ship. With so many people onboard it would seem like the lines to get on and off in ports would be horrendous, but they never are. I’ve seen much longer lines on way smaller ships.

flowrider

Overall it’s a fun ship to sail on. Our granddaughter Hannah said that was her best cruise ever because of all the different things available to do. Symphony sailed out of Miami on this cruise, after which we had another leaving the same day out of Fort Lauderdale. In the past it has always been easy to do back-to-back cruises between the two ports. This time there wasn’t an Uber to be found and the taxi line was extremely long due to a lack of available taxis. We got lucky that one of the airport shuttle drivers was willing to drop us off at the cruise port in Fort Lauderdale after dropping other people at the airport there. The shuttle driver said there used to be a lot more Ubers in Miami, but a lot of the drivers got deported. Same with taxi drivers. The majority of both usually come from other countries.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026
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Punta Arenas, Chile Cruise Port

Posted on January 9, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of Punta Arenas from the ship

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas lies on the Strait of Magellan near the tip of southern Patagonian Chile. It’s often a starting point for those heading to Antarctica. It has a population of over 145,000 and is the coldest coastal city with a population over 100,000 in South America. The area was once called Sandy Point by early explorers and the literal translation of Punta Arenas means point Sands. The climate is subpolar oceanic. Temperatures range from average lows in July near −1 °C (30 °F) to highs in January of 14 °C (57 °F). Rainfall is highest in April and May. The snowy season runs all through the Chilean winter (June until September). Average annual precipitation is about 15 inches with about 150 days receiving some rain or snow.

another ship at Punta Arenas

The Chilean government established the town in 1848 as a small penal colony for the purpose of asserting their sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to increasing maritime traffic and trade and waves of European immigrants attracted by a gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s. Chile used its presence there to defend its claims of ownership of the Strait of Magellan, which was officially recognized as Chilean territory in a boundary treaty with Argentina in 1881. Punta Arenas remains important due to Antarctic access from there.

outside the port building

The language is Spanish, money is the Chilean peso. One US dollar was equal to 943.40 Chilean pesos when we were there. As the US dollar continues to decline in value compared to foreign currencies one USD is only worth 896.29 Chilean pesos now. It’s helpful to know at least some Spanish when visiting Chile as there are not as many locals who speak English as found in some other countries. Tour guides on cruise ship tours will generally speak at least some English.

Oosterdam and tenders

Punta Arenas Cruise Port

Punta Arenas is a tender port for a ship the size of the Oosterdam, which is nowhere near as big as the megaships, but significantly larger than the small expedition type vessels that dock there. In tender ports cruise ships anchor offshore and bring passengers to the dock in small boats called tenders. Cruise ships carry these boats onboard. Tenders are larger than the boats specifically designated as lifeboats, but would do that job as well if the need were ever to arise. The tender drivers from Holland America Oosterdam smoothly and skillfully docked both with the ship and shore in most instances. There were a lot of tender ports on our Antarctica cruise so they got a lot of practice. Most people probably took for granted that it’s always that way, but having experienced clueless tender drivers from the Noordam on a previous cruise that took numerous tries before they could get the boat near enough to dock and then had no idea how to tie it properly we were happy to see that the ones on the Oosterdam had some skills.

tender pier

The tenders dock right in town at the Muelle Prat tender pier. It’s a pretty short ride between the ship and the shore. You can see the dock from the ship and vice versa. The ramp between the floating pier where the tender docks and the taller fixed dock was quite steep, but the angle of that sort of ramp changes with the tides. It’s a bit of a walk from the tender pier to the port building.

walking from the dock to the port terminal building

The terminal building was big enough to have a couple large rooms, one filled with local merchants. The other had check-in booths for small expedition ships that start their cruises from there on the really expensive sort of adventure cruises where they have zodiacs that take people to shore in Antarctica. There were also restrooms available in the port building. Apparently the signage was not clear to everyone because one of the men from our cruise ship went into the ladies room without even realizing that’s where he was.

little booths selling stuff inside the terminal building

There’s not a lot right at the port to do for people who didn’t book anything in advance, but there are some things within walking distance. For those who want to venture farther there were taxis at the port and people with signs for last-minute van tours.

outside of the cruise port terminal building

There is shopping within walking distance for most people. Other things to do on your own include at 3/4 of a mile from the dock a maritime museum, a central square with a statue of Magellan, street vendors, and the historic Sara Braun House. At 1 mile from the dock there’s a hilltop viewpoint called Cerro La Cruz, and Captain Milward’s House which is the historic home where Sir Ernest Shackelton stayed while organizing the rescue of his Antarctic expedition crew – outside views only as the house is not open to the public. At 1 1/3 miles from the pier there’s the Maggiorino Borgatello Museum with highlights of the cultural and ecological heritage of southern Chile featuring native artifacts, flora, fauna, wildlife, and a replica of the Cave of the Hands. Less than 2 miles away there’s a cemetery called Cemeterio Municipal with ornate mausoleums of pioneer families and the gravestone of the last known Ona people indigenous to Tierra del Fuego. At 3.7 miles from the pier the Museum of Remembrance showcases regional history with antique farming tools, industrial machinery, pioneer housing, shearing sheds and a wooden-wheeled shepherd’s trailer.

vans and taxis for last minute tours

People can book activities pre-cruise for a variety of things to do through cruise ship excursions and outside sources. One advantage of booking through the ship rather than an outside source is that if weather or other circumstances dictate a schedule change the ship will change your excursion accordingly. The Oosterdam went to this port one day earlier than scheduled due to a storm that would have prevented tendering to shore on the scheduled day which would have meant missing the port – and winds so extreme nobody would have wanted to do anything onshore anyway. Instead we had a pleasant day onshore with weather that though there was some wind and rain it was not too extreme to allow tendering. The ship spent the next day doing scenic cruising in sheltered fjords while avoiding the worst of the storm.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026
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Cartegena Cruise Port

Posted on January 2, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

flamingo at the Cartagena cruise port zoo

Cartagena, Columbia

Cartagena’s tourist draws include the 16th century walled old town and its beaches. Temperatures in Cartagena generally stay with lows in the mid to high 70’s F to highs in the high 80’s to low 90’s year-round. Annual rainfall is nearly 43 inches per year with October the wettest month. The official language is Spanish. Money is the Columbian Peso. At the time we were there the exchange rate was 4099,45 pesos to one US dollar. Value of the US dollar compared to other currencies worldwide has dropped over the last year. Now one US dollar is only worth 3,768.63 Colombian Pesos.

Having been to Cartagena previously and finding that when you walk around in the town there are multiple cigar vendors and people who buy those cigars and smoke them on the spot, I had no desire to leave the port in that city. I’m allergic to tobacco smoke and was feeling very ill from all that cigar smoke everywhere by the time we got back to the ship on my previous visit.

Nieuw Amsterdam in Cartagena

Cartagena Cruise Port

In Cartagena, cruise ships dock in a container port. Unlike most container ports you can walk out of this one. The container area is separate from where the cruise ships dock alongside a very long pier. Other ships of various types are docked at that pier as well,  Busses for excursions wait right outside the ship, as do shuttles to the terminal. You have the option to take the shuttle or walk. We were told in cruise ship announcements the walk would take 8 minutes, but it took us less time than that. There is a pathway clearly marked for pedestrians that is the safe path to walk on from the ship to the terminal. That is the only place where people are allowed to walk. Straying from the marked path is not allowed.

macaws at the cruise port zoo

Excursions offered in Cartagena by the Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam included snorkeling, a cooking class, rum & coffee tasting, a beach getaway, sightseeing & local food tasting, a bay cruise with coffee tasting & a visit to the walled city or a bay cruise with old town & an emerald museum, best of Cartagena with a folkloric show, aviary and mud volcano, secrets of Cartagena, Cartegena by land and sea (harbor cruise with old town & fort), salsa dancing in the walled city, emerald crafting, jewelry making, a visit to a monastery & museum, a historical tour, sightseeing and museum visit, a ticket for the hop on hop off bus, or a visit to the old town walled city. Most of these excursions included a stop somewhere to walk around town.

entry to the eco-park at the Cartagena cruise port

Port Zoo

The port in Cartagena has a little zoo right at the port, something that I have not seen elsewhere. It’s called Port Oasis Eco-Park. The 10,000 square foot park and garden is designed to be a rehabilitation and recovery space for the animals, though there are some that are there voluntarily that can come and go as they please. Access for people is limited to cruise ship passengers docked at the terminal other than the people who work there. The last time we were there we just walked through briefly on the way to and from the taxi stand just outside of the eco park. This visit the zoo was the only thing we went ashore to see.

pathway blocking peacock

There are many free-range peacocks and peahens everywhere in that little zoo. They are on the pathways, in trees and on rooftops, and in the pens of other animal exhibits. The peahens just wander around and are neither afraid of nor trying to interact with people. The peacocks on the other hand often want to make themselves get noticed. They like to stand in the middle of the pathways and spread out their tails to gain the admiration of passersby. Sometimes one blocks the entire pathway, but they do like to turn around and strut their stuff in a circle to anyone or anything who might be around them so when they turn sideways to the path you can get by even one with a full widespread tail without ruffling his tailfeathers.

strutting his stuff when he’s got no stuff to strut

Sometimes two of them get into a fight. The losers of bad fights are running around the park without their big fancy feathers and not much of a tail to spread at all, but they still try to spread whatever scraggly feathers they have left. They probably don’t look any more impressive (or less pitiful) to the peahens than they do to the people. Some were just missing a few feathers, but others barely had any tail at all. There were a few white peacocks and peahens running around the zoo as well as the usual blue and green ones.

macaws on the fence of the flamingo pen

The second most noticeable birds in the zoo are macaws, which are all around the park in abundant numbers and various colors. These are also free-range, flying wherever they please. All of these birds probably stay there voluntarily due to the food they are given daily. Why work hard for it when somebody offers it up for free.

two flamingos want the food two other flamingos were eating

The first pen you come to upon entering the zoo has flamingos. All of the flamingos were in the pen. There weren’t any of them running loose around the park. Our ship docked early with people disembarking at 7am. This must have been feeding time as all of the creatures had something to eat. The flamingos had papayas, and there were some on the fence around their pen as well.

parrot

Parrots and macaws ate from the ones on the fence and flamingos from the ones in the pen. The food was up near the fence with some flamingos on it and others at the back of the pen.

two flamingos leaving while two others take over their food

Two of them were happily eating a papaya when two others came up behind them. The first two ran away and the new ones took over the food.

tamarin monkey

Tall trees towered over the little jungle area with branches spreading into one another making a canopy where tree dwellers could easily move from tree to tree. We saw two types of monkeys, some squirrels, and lots of birds in the trees. Mostly peacocks and macaws, but there were others too. There was a sign saying there were sloths in there somewhere, but nobody spotted any while we were there. Later back at the ship we talked to one crew person who had spotted sloths, but only because someone told her where to look. She had distant photos of them, but even in her picture it was pretty hard to distinguish sloth from tree branch. They blend in so well it would be quite easy to look right at them and never see them.

tortoises

We found one pen full of little tortoises. Not the giant sort unless they were all babies, but they didn’t have any water to swim in so they were more likely that then turtles. Turtles probably would have been given some sort of water feature in their pen.

black swan and a tortoise in the aviary

A couple of enclosed aviaries held some different sorts of birds than the ones that were not inside of enclosures. We saw several different types of toucans, some black swans, a few types of ducks, birds that sort of resembled a larger version of sandpipers, and some that looked like brightly colored bin chickens (ibis). All of the ibis we’ve seen before were always white. Bin chickens are what they call ibis in Australia because there are wild flocks of them there that like to hang around garbage bins. Google says they come in other colors though so that’s probably what they were. There is a type called scarlet ibis.

scarlet ibis in the aviary

One pathway we walked down had a couple little green parrots standing on it, speaking to each other in Spanish. Or at least they were both saying Spanish words so it quite looked as if they were having a conversation whether they actually were or not.

macaws

A tree next to a structure that was probably intended for macaws to roost on and as a place to feed them made an easy entrance for monkeys and squirrels to run down and steal food from the macaws. We saw both do exactly that. A sign said those were red howler monkeys, but none of them howled while we were there. The other fluffy little monkeys were a type of tamarin.

red squirrel

The squirrels were just called red squirrels. They were very fast.

anteaters

We saw a couple of giant anteaters in a large pen, but only because one of the park workers we passed by on the wooden walkway pointed to their pen and made it plain there was something worth seeing there even though we couldn’t understand much of what he said since it was all in Spanish. They were hard to spot. When we finally found them, they were asleep looking a lot like logs.

iguana

On a road at the outskirts of the park area where cars leave the port there was a huge iguana next to a garden. It sat there posing for photos until a worker came by wheeling a noisy bin that scared the iguana back into the bushes.

rabbits run around free in the park

We also saw cats and rabbits hanging around in the park. A little pickup came by trying to leave the port area on a road full of peacocks, but it didn’t have to dodge them for too long because a worker came out and chased them off the road telling them to vamoose.

cat in the eco-park

Besides the animals there’s also a coffee shop, restaurant, and gift shop in the port. At one point near the taxi stand that is just outside of the zoo some cigar smoke came wafting through the air so even there we weren’t entirely safe from it, but at least it was just that once in all the time we were there and not constant or everywhere.

toucan

The little zoo is a nice place to spend some time on a port stop in Cartagena as well as a way good way to avoid all of the cigar vendors in town. It’s also free unless you decide to buy something. Port stops can get expensive on a cruise with a lot of them like our Nieuw Amsterdam Panama Canal cruise had so it’s nice to find one with something fun to do for free.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026
Posted in Holland America, Nieuw Amsterdam, Port Cities, Ports of Call, South and Central America | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Amsterdam Canal Light Tour

Posted on December 31, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

canal tour boat

There are a lot of canal tours available in Amsterdam in a variety of tour boats. We saw a lot of the sort we went on in Copenhagen with the glass tops and sides that hold a whole lot of people on benches running across a wide, low boat. The one we booked in Amsterdam was called a luxury light tour, which ran after dark and included snacks and something to drink.

inside the canal boat

Canal tours in Amsterdam start from various docks and are run by numerous different companies. We booked ours online rather than at the dock so then we had to find the right dock and the right boat. The booking didn’t clearly say which provider so we followed google maps to the address given. It turned out to be at a dock across from Central Station. We asked someone near the booths selling tickets if they knew where to go for that tour. He said go down to the middle of the dock and look for the people in orange jackets. Their boats said Flagship on them and the company was called Flagship Amsterdam.

canal boats by central station

We first had to check in with the orange coated people at the top of the stairs who gave people a glow stick of the color corresponding to where they were to line up for the particular boat they were booked on. There were two lining up when we went down, one had a red light with a glowing red line on the ground and the other yellow. Our glowsticks were yellow so we went to the yellow one.

canal at night

The red one had more people and a bigger boat. Ours was a small boat that had a bench running around the outer edge with tables full of snacks spaced alongside. I’m not sure of the exact number of people who fit in there, but I’d guess somewhere in the neighborhood of about 15.

building by a canal

The snacks were mostly crackers with some pretzels and a few cookies. Drinks offered were wine, beer, soft drinks, and ice tea. The only hot beverage available was glühwein, which just means mulled sweetened hot wine with some spices. Considering it was a cold night it would have been nice if they’d also offered tea or hot chocolate for people who don’t drink wine.

rock thing

Canal cruises during daylight generally point out the sights of the city as they pass by. That is exactly what this boat would have done had we gone in the daytime, but this was an after dark light tour.

light arch

What a light tour turned out to be was cruising past various exhibitions of art done in lights along the canal. Entry into the light tour was through an archway made of light. Each light sculpture along the way was different.

star light

Most of the things could also be seen from shore if you happened to be walking in the area where they were located. Most were placed in the water, but not all. Some of the light displays were on both sides of the canal and some just on one. Some were not positioned where a photo would turn out and others another boat interfered, but I did get pictures of some of them. One was a giant spoon next to a bridge. We had walked past that one earlier in the day, but it wasn’t lit up then. At the time we thought a random spoon sculpture in a canal was a bit odd since we didn’t know about the whole light tour thing then.

a canal boat passes the giant spoon

There was a fountain made of geometric shapes in the mist. Like some of the other things it was on the wrong side of the boat for a photo. When we passed it on foot it was also on the wrong side of a very busy street. Other good things on the wrong side were one with crows, which was both light and movement, and the 7 bridges view where there were 7 bridges all lined up with one another that each had lights around the arch of the bridge over the water. There was one boat-oriented light display that consisted of rows of different colored lights under a bridge so the boat passed through all of the different lights while sailing under that bridge.

people walking

Many were just lights, but some had movement, like one of people walking in a line who would vanish when they reached the far end, but then other light silhouettes of different people would appear going the opposite direction.

children at play

Another one with movement was of children playing with the light display projecting onto the side of a bridge.

fish

Others were stationary such as a giant white fish made of lights and what looked like a giant shrimp or fishhook in mermaid colors that they called a mermaid. Other than the colors it did not resemble a mermaid at all, at least not in the angle seen from a boat.

Mermaid? It looks more like a moon or a shrimp

In a different area there was one display alongside the canal that was intended for people walking through it rather than the ones sailing past. It was a row of archways of lights that changed color inside the arch as people passed through, but just looked like rows of lights from the water. Sort of like the one under a bridge but for people on foot instead of boats.

light tunnel on shore

The boat wound its way through a whole bunch of canals, passing under many bridges, some of which a boat any bigger than this little one wouldn’t have fit through. A lot of the canal cruise boats were bigger so they would have to take a different route. Our boat went through different canals going back than it did on the way out so we saw all new things rather than passing by the close side of things that had been on the far side on the way out. The tour lasted an hour and it was quite a nice tour.

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Nuku Island and Swallow’s Cave Snorkel Excursion

Posted on December 26, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Vava’u

I was happy to see that Holland America’s information on our transpacific cruise on the Noordam for this excursion from Vava’u, Tonga specified reef-safe sunscreen and that there was no mention of insect repellent. So many snorkel excursion instructions say to bring insect repellent even though there are no mosquitos on the reefs and insect repellent kills coral. It also said to bring your own snorkel gear as none would be provided, but at least half if not more of the people on the excursion were lucky that they were wrong about that because gear was provided and a lot of people needed it since they did not have their own. All of the stops on the tour were for snorkeling. Sometimes the actual information about excursions is lost in translation between the provider and whoever writes the blurbs for the cruiseline.

snorkel boat at the dock

The excursion information also mentioned that the swallows cave was home to an abundance of sea birds, but apparently none of them were at home because there were not any birds in the cave when we went there. Vava’u is a tender port so after meeting in the theater for the excursion, everyone on it took the same tender to the dock. Just beyond the tender disembarkation area people on shore met with each excursion and then led the group where they needed to go. For us it was a walk to a boat dock several blocks from the port.

tiny beach

The first of four snorkel stops was near the shore of an island with mostly steep cliffs rising straight out of the water, though there was a small beach near where the boat anchored. There were a couple smaller boats at the beach and some people walking around on it. Most of the coral near where the boat anchored was dead, but there were some small live patches, lots of fish, some big purple starfish, and some long black things that looked something like sea cucumbers.

black sea cucumber

Swimming down the shoreline a couple hundred yards or so from where our boat anchored down near to a different boat brought me to a lot more live coral. The dead coral strewn about the bottom looked like it had been far bigger than anything currently living there. Perhaps it was all broken and destroyed in a big storm or something and now starting to grow back as all the living coral was small and likely young.

snorkel boat at the first stop

All those people snorkeling around near the shore must have woken a large bat up from its daily sleep because it came flying out of a tree on the shoreline. I don’t know what sort of bat it was, but it looked like it was as big as the flying foxes of Australia. It was also flying too fast to get a photo of it.

ghost net on the reef

Unfortunately there were also things in the water there that didn’t belong – a plastic bottle trailing fishing line and a ghost net hooked over either dead coral or a rock formation. It was impossible to tell which through the algae-covered net. Old fishing nets that have been lost continue to kill sealife for many years until somebody removes them. There was a pretty strong current at that site so it was good that the guides recommend wearing fins. They definitely made swimming back to the boat against the current a lot easier.

nearly bare rock

The second stop was in a pretty little cove. There were some beaches at the shore, but it would have been a long swim for anyone to get there from where we anchored. A lot of the bottom there was a desert of dead coral, again looking like pieces from what had once been quite large corals. Even a lot of the rock formations didn’t have much life growing on them, though there were some places in the cove with live coral. It had a lot of fish and one lady said she saw a lobster walking along the bottom.

bunch of lunch

The guides said lunch was supposed to be first at that stop, but one person asked if they could snorkel first instead and everyone else followed suit. They brought a pile of individually packed lunches with one for everyone onboard. Each included a sandwich, a muffin, and some fruit. There were cookies too, but I don’t remember if they were in the lunches or handed out separately. There wasn’t any refrigeration, the lunches were just sitting on a ledge in the interior of the boat. It did have a bathroom.

entrance to the swallows cave

The third stop was the Swallows Cave. The boat anchored near the entrance to the cave. Swimming to the cave from the boat the water was fairly shallow, but once you swim over the underwater rock formation at the mouth of the cave the depth drops down quite deep. It wasn’t the sort of cave with any stalactites or stalagmites, but it did have some interesting rock formations.

cave fish

Quite a large school of small fish with a neon blue glow in the dark stripe on their sides swam around in the cave. That is the only place I have ever seen those particular fish. It was too dark to get a good photo of them glowing, but I managed a silhouette in the light by the cave opening.

cove in the cave

I noticed a little cove off one side of the cave so I swam into it to explore. It didn’t go back too far, and had an opening at the top that let light in. Probably also a back door for the birds if any actually lived in that cave. The rocks that protruded from the water didn’t show any signs of bird poop and the water was clean and clear so it didn’t look like a residence for birds. There were some rock formations both in and out of the water in the cove.

underwater rocks in the cave

I would have liked to explore both it and the main cave longer, but soon noticed that everyone else was at or beyond the mouth of the cave heading back to the boat. I had to leave without further exploration and was the last one back to the boat without even anyone else still in the water waiting for their turn to go up the ladder when I got there. Although that was the place promoted in the title of the excursion it was the shortest stop of the day. Too bad because it had a lot more to see than we had time to look at and was also the most different both from any other stops that day and most usual snorkeling places.

coral at the first stop

A lot of the people must have mostly kept their heads out of the water in the cave because I only talked to one other person who had seen the glowing blue fish, yet there were tons of them and I saw them several times during our short stay in the cave.

coral at the first stop

Some people only stayed briefly in that cave and then went to another smaller cave nearby. I would have liked to see that cave too, but had no time to go there since everyone else was already on the boat when I came out of the first cave. I like caves and we hardly ever get to see them. We did go cave snorkeling in Cozumel once where all of the snorkeling was in a cave, but that was the only time we ever got to do anything like that.

starfish at the last stop

Our last stop was near a beach that must have been where some of the land & beach excursions went because there were people onshore with Holland America towels. Some people didn’t bother with their snorkels and just swam to the beach while others snorkeled around in the water and stayed off the beach. Nobody wore the fins at that stop, just the masks and snorkels. The water was pretty calm there.

coral at the last stop

Most of that area was sand and seaweed with some dead coral, but there was one large patch of live coral with lots of fish and some other smaller bits of live coral. I found a rather big flat underwater rock covered in large snails. The area surrounding it had more of the snails.

rock with life at the second stop

Other than the cave that had its own different fish, all of the other areas had more reef fish than reef. Lots of fish mostly ranging from small to tiny, but there were a few somewhat bigger ones. A lot of them were brightly colored, but there were some plain black ones and some whitish ones that blended into the sand.

brain coral at the second stop

It’s too bad the snorkel boat couldn’t have just picked us up and dropped us off at the ship because the dock the tender took us to was in the opposite direction of the places the excursion went. We passed by the ship on the way out and back. Not so bad on the way there, but on the way back the que to get on the tender was nearly an hour long. That would have been a lot of time not spent standing in line if we could have gone directly back to the ship from the snorkel boat – and that many less people in line for everyone else waiting there. I have seen water-based excursions picked up directly from the ship in Belize, but the tender run from ship to shore there is extremely long. I’ve not seen that done anywhere else.

long line for the tender

Overall it was a fun excursion, though it definitely would have been nice to have had more time in the cave.

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