It was Day 4 before we were allowed ashore since bad weather prevented a landing on Labadee. So we reached Ocho Rios and immediately were accosted a host of cab drivers who did not seem to take no for an answer. Some were downright nasty and they seemed to be every three feet. No one seemed to know how to get to the beach since it did not involve a cab ride. Hint: Just look for the 3 foot circular razor bobbed wire similar to that on Alacatraz and behind it is the beach. Bathrooms were of third world category and locks on the dressing facilities just did not work since the doors did not close. Want a shower? Not here, even though they are labled as such, there are no doors which are not needed anyway since the showers did not work. Shopping areas are terrible and I would not set foot in any of the restaurants I encountered.
Onward to Grand Cayman and the famed snorkeling/swim with the stingrays and lunch tour. Our tender was delayed as three masked doctors were deciding to remove and then reinstate only to remove and reinstate one passenger again. You see, unbeknownst to us, approximately 250 people and crew "the admitted ones" had the Norovirus. Since these people were quarantined for 72 hours, others who were sick refused treatment. Approximately 30% of the people in our group of 64 were sick ... some requiring hospitalization and insertion of IV's. Extrapolate that and some say about 1000 people were sick on this ship. As a result of the delayed tender our scheduled tour left and we were left to make our own way to find a man named Mason who got us on a rickety bus to the boat. This boat was captained by two incompetent females. Need to go the bathroom? Not here. It is "under construction." We were not informed of this until we were way off shore. Use the sea if you have to go, we were told, which is kind of difficult and I must say very embarrassing under certain circumstances. Very tricky too!. Water was so rough the tour behind us was cancelled due to the rough seas. Captain and Mate had no idea where their passengers were and as a result one of our passengers who struggling with the rough current and was yelling for assistance due to rough conditions had to be pulled in by another vessel who was itself disabled. His wife, on our vessel was frantic since our Captain and Mate had no idea where the man may have been.
The swimming with the rays area, which is about 50 yards from the snorkel area, looked like a scene when Vietnamese were escaping their country. I counted 15 boats anchored in a circle next to the sandbar where the rays and many, many, many tourists mingled.