2020 NCL Cruise Days 4-5

 Continuing our cruise aboard the NCL ship Norwegian Breakaway, Day 4 would bring us to Jamaica, my second visit to the island nation. This would be my first visit to Ocho Rios though, which translates to eight rivers. There are not eight rivers here. They think the name is a British corruption of the Spanish name "Las Chorreras" or "the waterfalls". This was the village name because it was near the famous Dunn's River Falls.

Here is Tom next to the ship upon our arrival and disembarkation.

I did get a photo of the village of Ocho Rios as we were docking. The sun had just risen and there was not a lot of activity on the water yet. It would be booming later as a few thousand people from our ship went ashore, including Tom and I.

I took this photo of the Breakaway behind the sandy beach and swaying palm trees. Since we had gotten off early, a lot of people were still setting up their wares for sale to the tourists.

Back then I still had a bucket list goal to hit all the Margaritaville's of the world. Luckily for me, there was one in this small Jamaican town. I found my seat at the bar and ordered a Jamaican beer, Red Stripe. It would be my first time drinking a non-imported Red Stripe, which I like as a beer in the USA.

The Margaritaville had a deck area looking out on the Caribbean Sea and our ship, the only one docked here. I guess the parrot has something to do with something. I know, Parrot heads are what they call the followers of Jimmy Buffett. I love Buffett's music but I am not a Parrot head.

I loved how the shadows looked on the beach so I took this photo. In the distance is a US Coast Guard ship, probably returning some drugs...just kidding.

After our visit to the town, which did have Wifi for use, we headed back to the ship. We did not do any of the excursions. That is the Margaritaville Parrot in the distance, same one as in the previous shot.

After a day in Jamaica, we set sailed for the next Port of call. This was a shot I took of a beautiful sunset over the island of Jamaica. End of Day 4.

Om Day 5 we arrived in the late morning at George Town on Grand Cayman Island. It was my second visit to this port. There are no large ship docks so the boat anchors in the harbor and we use tenders to get to shore. We caught one of the first tenders just before 11 AM. I took this picture of the ship name from the tender.

Since it was near lunch time, we went to the Hard Rock Café which I had never been to before. I always like to try the local beers on draft. This was called Caybrew. The bartender, who had a slight Spanish accent, was great. We found out that he was from Cuba.

Continuing with the visits to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, we stopped at the one in George Town. It was my second visit to this establishment so I knew my way around. I have found out that it did close down during the pandemic and is no longer there. It was all stores on the ground floor and restaurants and bars on the second floor.

There was an obvious drink to order at this place, and they salted the rim of the glass. I could not find the shaker though. Wasted away again in Margaritaville! I think Tom ordered a rum drink like a punch or Cayman Mama.

We found the cheeseburger, signed by Jimmy Buffett.

After a few drinks, Tom and I went gift shopping and found a few good deals off the main path. It was fun to see Tom teasing a male chicken usually called a rooster or cock. Does that make my brother Tom a Cock-teaser?

When we got back on the ship I took this picture of the local bayside street. There was a Harley-Davidson Bar Crudo, Blue Iguana souvenir outlet, and a Church of God. Drink, shop or pray!

The last tender was at 3 PM but we did not stay ashore that long. We did head up to the adult bar and the large screen TV was showing the NFL Pro Bowl which was being held in Orlando that year.

As Day 5 comes to a close, I took this shot of the sun setting into the water. I was hoping for a green flash, but did not see one. I should mention that the ship has 21 different bars. We did not get the drink package because NCL wanted $100 a day, or $1000 for the cruise. My bar tab at the end was $135.

Day 6 was going to bring us to places I had never visited before. I will share in next post.