Grand Cayman Again!

Due to Hurricane Irma’s wrath on the Virgin Islands, our original ports of call, the ship’s itinerary had to be changed and thus back we were at Grand Cayman. We decided to take the opportunity to stay on board and enjoy the ship. My priority was squeezing in a massage. As part of the benefits of a previous cruiser, I received a 15% discount on any treatments on a port day. Bonus! Malcolm and the children meanwhile enjoyed the much quieter water slides and ropes course.

We rendezvoused for lunch at the Haven restaurant. The brie burger was excellent, but the clam linguine was ordinary. The staff did well to accommodate our request for a quick meal, so we could attend Flags of the world trivia. Alas, due to lack of recent revision, Malcolm failed to take out first prize and came a close second. We still got 2 free beer coolers and I suspect he would not ever forget the flag of Bermuda ever again!

We have been really impressed with the Escape thus far. Its dining in particular has been a far better experience than on RCL’s Ovation of the Seas. The Haven’s facilities and offerings were also a big plus. We stopped by NextCruise desk to put down some deposits for future cruises in exchange for $500 credit for the current cruise. Hawaii? South America? A second attempt at the Eastern Caribbean? Or anywhere really on NCL’s newest ship!

The next most important part of the day was the afternoon nap. One gets very tired when not doing much. I awoke to find Malcolm sharing Margarita recipes with the bartender. Ruby red margaritas were shared all around with the staff with great appreciation…It was dinner time at Cagney’s Steakhouse. Again, this was a very good meal. Our server took care of us very well. Who have thought Korean chilli butter could taste so good with steak! The truffle parmesan fries were also very tasty.

NCL advertise as having an “escape room” called Escape the Big Top. To be honest, it was a little bit disappointing for we were all expecting it to be locked up in a room but instead 10 groups of 10 people were all packed into a theatre. We were given a variety of tools to eventually find 6 magic words. Along the way we would find the combination needed to open a chest in the middle of thte room to read the magic words in the right order. Once the first team got to the chest, it was over for everyone else! Elliot was rather annoyed because we were just about to open the chest when another team beat us to it but they got the wrong words! And they were given 2 more attempts to get the correct words. Bah! The puzzles were actually quite good, they just need to fix the execution of the actual “escape”.