We had not been to Grand Cayman prior to this cruise, so this was our first time. We originally had booked a shore excursion thru NCL, but cancelled it right after boarding. The butler, Totaram, was able to take our tickets and return them to the Shore Excursion desk for us and we were assured we would get a refund if they were returned prior to 8pm the first evening. 
We decided to just get off the ship and walk around. Grand Cayman is beautiful. Very clean. Gorgeous blue water. It is a tender location (where you take a small boat {tender} from the cruise ship to land). The tenders held quite a few people and were fast. It only took about 5-6 minutes. There are the obligatory shops right after getting off the ship (like every other port) that sell jewelry, tshirts, alchohol, and local things. We walked to the first Tortuga Rum shop, sampled some rum cake and bought a Pineapple rum cake to take home. A little while later, we stopped at another one that sold alcohol only, and sampled some Tortuga rum. I put back a shot of banana rum and it cleared out my nostrils! My hubby was laughing at me, so I said "go ahead - you try it". He did and proceeded to cough right after swallowing it. That is some good stuff! We liked all of the flavors, except for the Mango, and walked out with a $10 bottle of banana rum and a sideways step, lol!! 
After walking thru all of the shops (and finally being able to walk straight again), we decided to purchase a tour from one of the locals. For $15 each, we were able to go to the Govenor's mansion for a photo stop, to Hell (it has a post office, three small gift shops, and the rock formation), to the Tortuga Rum Factory (where in this instance, it was good we had already bought ours in town, because there were alot of people here), the Dolphin Discovery center (again very busy), an optional stop at the turtle farm (didn't do this), and then if you wanted, on the way back, you could be dropped at Seven mile beah for the rest of day or go back into town. We chose to go back to ship and then enjoyed the rest of the day on our huge balcony, sunbathing. 
The weather was great - sunny and 91 degrees. I hope we stop at Grand Cayman in the future. 


Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

We booked a day pass at the adults only Wyndham resort. I did this seperately, not thru NCL. It was $100 for both of us, was good 9am to 5pm and included an all-you-can-eat buffet, and all of your drinks. There were two swimming pools, beach access, and unlimited use of the non-motorized beach toys. You could use the motorized things for an extra fee, as well as access the spa for an additional fee. 
We docked in Cozumel and were off the ship by about 10:15am. We walked up past all of the shops, to go down past more shops, to catch a taxi. It was warm, but slightly overcast. There were peeks of sun at times. The captain said to expect rain in the afternoon. On the way to the resort, it was just starting to sprinkle very lightly. The cab driver proceeded to tell us that we had made the wrong choice by going to the Wyndham. He went on and on about how the cruise ships are ruining Cozumel. He said people used to come and stay for a week or even longer, now thousands just come for a day or less. He wanted us to skip the Wyndham and let him take us on a "real" tour of Cozumel. He said we were missing too much of the island by just going to the resort. He also stopped in the middle of the street at one point, called someone over to him, handed that guy a baggie of "something" and then continued on the journey to the resort. 
We arrived at the Wyndham at about 11am. They were just starting to prepare the lunch. We got our day pass bracelets, cards that we exchanged for towels, and then walked around to check the place out. It was nice. Beautiful beach with a great view. We got two sodas and then found two loungers in the shade next to the pool. I sat down to put my feet in the water. At about 11:30, it started to rain. We were lucky enough, in the spot that we picked that the rain didn't bother us. The wind was blowing away from us, instead of at us, so we weren't getting wet. Everyone else however, scattered for cover. At about noon, the wind switched and then we started getting wet, so we too, looked for a covered area. We found a nice couch, with a little table in front of it, outside one of the resorts specialty restaurants. I waited while the hubby went to get us some lunch. He had a hamburger and I had a hot dog, both of us had fries. He ate all of his hamburger while I finished my fries. I asked him how it was and he told me, "well, I think it still had the marks in it where the jockey was whipping it". I had two (small) bites of my hot dog and had to put it down, it didn't taste quite right. He asked me, "can you still taste the collar on it?", and I said, "yes, I think so". It was about 12:30pm and still pouring out, so we made the decision to go back to the ship and hope that the pools and hot tubs weren't busy. 
We caught a taxi with another couple. They had been staying at the resort for the last week, but the lady had gotten so sick, a doctor had to be called in for her and she was quarantined to her room. From her symptoms, it sounded like she had a case of norovirus. She proceeded to tell us to "be careful what we eat". Thankully, I only had two bites of the hot dog!!!! The cab charges are supposed to be $15 for four people, but when we got back to town, before I was able to get out of the cab and remind the hubby it should have only been $7-$8, the cab driver had already said $15, so basically he ripped us off. The bathrooms here were dirty and smelly compared to Grand Cayman. Cozumel and Mexico have always been our least favorite places to stop and again, the same held true for this trip. 


Cozumel

Forward Penthouse #9500:

Great view, huge room, huge closet, vanity area, sitting area, dining area, incredibly large balcony, somewhat windy, very windy at times, can be noisy at night when there are shows and/or music in the Stardust theater, it is all the way forward, so have to walk a ways to get to most things (not necessarily a bad thing), you do look at the STYLE pool (for the crew) and the crew does go to the space in the bow to smoke, make phone calls and sunbathe (again not necessarily a bad thing).

However, on a typical day, the following were available for Breakfast - Blue Lagoon (fast food type food) 5:30am to 7am; Garden Cafe (buffet) 7am to 11:30am; Venetian (main dining room) 8am to 10am.For Dinner - Garden Cafe 5:30pm to 9:30pm; Aqua (main dining room) 5pm to 10pm; Venetian 5pm to 9:30pm; Teppanyaki 5:30pm, 7:15pm and 9pm; Cagneys Steakhouse 5:30pm to 10:30pm; Le Bistro (French) 5:30pm to 10:30pm; Bamboo & Sushi Bar 5:30pm to 10:30pm; Impressions (Italian) 5:30pm to 10:30pm; and Salsa (Tex-Mex) 5:30pm to 10:30pm.

Norwegian Dawn Review

5-Day Western Caribbean on Norwegian Dawn

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Penthouse with Large Balcony

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