We took a flight to Ft Lauderdale on Thursday before cruise and rented a budget rent a car and visited family. We drove on Saturday morning to the Port of Miami about one and half hour from FLL. Budget has a drop about 10 minutes from Port. The free shuttle starts dropping at ship on other end of pier so we were last off. Arrived at ship about 1125am. Embarkation: Smooth. Arrived at ship about 1125am. Checked bags with porter, entered cruise building, processed within 10 minutes and boarded ship.

Cozumel – Our first stop was Cozumel and we had arranged an all inclusive day pass at Playa Uvas. The resort is located about 15 minutes from the cruise pier and a taxi ride for $5.00 per person. The beach was not crowded and packed in. It is a bit rocky and more for snorkeling than swimming. No vendors. Our beach attendant was attentive and supplyed us with drinks from a menu. Lunch was excellent and we could have used a to go box. There was a good variety of food to choose from. They have very clean restrooms and a place to shower and change. You can check them out online. This was a first for us because this was about the 9th or 10th time in CZM and we usually just go into town and have Civiche at the Palms restaurant by the square and across from ferry terminal.

Grand Cayman – other than the tender problems, Grand Cayman is an interesting destination. The 7 mile beach which is not really 7 miles is a nice, while not very large beach. I had visited there years ago and there was only two hotels there. One being a Holiday Inn. With 6 boats in port, all beaches were pretty packed. We had reservations at Royal Palms on 7 mile beach . We were late getting off the ship because of high winds and the tendering process. Royal Palms had our beach cabana saved for us and it was well worth the $125.00 fee. It was a covered area with a table and 4 chairs plus 4 beach loungers. You can have up to 8 people and there is space for them, just pay $12.00 for each person over 4. The beach area was very crowded but the area around our cababa was open. Bar service was good and the food and drinks were reasonably priced. You can just take a taxi there and pay entrance fee of $2.00 and the $12.00 for beach lounger and $15.00 for umbrella. The beach cabana is $125.00 and a pool cabana is $75.00. It is best if you go online and reserve. Taxi or bus was $4.00 per person both to and from the cruise pier. There was plenty of transportation available from the resort and no waiting.

Jamaica – There’s nothing much at Falmouth. The only disadvantage of Jamaica is that the ship lands slightly far from any activity and there is some travelling time either way. About 1 hour to go to Ocho Rios, or 1 hour the other way to go to Montego Bay. We got off the ship and shopped in the enclosed area by the ship. The stores had anything you would want. We had been to Jamaica and had done Dunn’s River Falls before and other excursions so we did not go outside the immediate area.