Port Review - Westerdam - Western Caribbean - December 11th through the 18th

Here’s my review of our port experiences on first cruise. We were on the Westerdam December 11th through the 18th doing the Western Caribbean itinerary of HMC, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Costa Maya (as a substitute for Cozumel).

HALF MOON CAY: Everything everyone says it is and more! Gorgeous water, soft white sand, plentiful chairs, beautiful blue-fin schools of fish in the water. We had the Orange cabana which, by the way, is not orange – it’s a deep pink Coral color. Our cabana boy was Renaldo and he was great! They no longer let the cabana attendants bring your food (except, of course, for the Butler service, which we didn’t have), but he was right there with our drinks and anything else we needed. He only had two cabanas, us and the light blue, and the light blue had ordered Butler service (fellow CCer Kelly J), so we had him to ourselves. I had forgotten to put our shoe sizes on the order form (for the snorkel fins), so I had to walk down to the shack and get them myself. Renaldo followed me down and carried them back for me. We did some snorkeling, and DS rode the Aqua Trax. Being 20, he wasn’t thrilled that they have governors on them, but loved them anyway – even if he did only barely manage not to get kicked off for not totally following the rules.

The only negative here – and be warned if you’ve never been there – is that they start closing the island down really early. All aboard was at 3:30 but by 2:00 everything was pretty much closed down. We were NOT ready to leave – but then I don’t know that we ever would have been.

One embarrassment was that when Renaldo left I forgot to tip him! I had to hunt him down on the ship with our waiter Chamdi’s help to tip him. In a way he lucked out though because I tipped him more than I had planned to make up for it.

OCHO RIOS: I know a lot of people hate Jamaica and I can sort of understand why but we loved our day in Ocho. We booked an excursion with Phil Lafayette and I 1000% recommend this! Phil is great, personable, very funny, makes the trip a blast and does whatever you want him to do. We were one of the first groups of the day to climb Dunn’s River Falls and enjoyed it a lot. I’m not at all athletic or into strenuous activity, but it wasn’t too much. Fellow CCers Don and Leslie (Peridiaman) and Wen and Lin (quarterlmm) were in our group. After doing the Falls, we went tubing down the river. We had a rest stop part way where DS got to jump off a cliff into the river which he said was amazing… he was the only one brave enough to do it. They also showed us several indigenous spices such as all spice and lime. Phil then took us to a place called BibiBips which is just above Magnolia Beach and has a breathtaking view. There we had a couple of Red Stripes, changed into dry clothes and he took us to The Jerk Centre for lunch. Just EXACTLY what I wanted – a hole-in-the-wall jerk stand with 20-alarm jerk and Red Stripe. PERFECT! This was followed by a tour of Ocho including Mick Jagger’s house and a stop where we saw a lot of indigenous plants, including wacky weed. All in all a wonderful, wonderful day!

We arrived back at the Island Village with barely an hour to spare before all aboard. We made the mistake of trying to grab a margarita in Margaritaville which took WAY WAY too long to get served, leaving us very little time for shopping. We bought our “must-have” souvenirs (coffee mug and Christmas ornament for me, T-shirt for DH and T-shirt and shot glass for DS) and that was about it. The only place I was offered weed was leaving Island Center, where I was offered a joint for $2. DS told me later he was offered it everywhere we went. He said they would intentionally catch him when we weren’t looking and go “pssst --- shhhhh –- come over here”.

Our only bad experience was in the straw market leaving Dunn’s River Falls. I had been duly warned, and you can easily exit without going through here, but DS wanted to see it, and I thought I was perfectly capable of handling it. WRONG! I wound up literally running out of there after about ¼ of the way. I expected a big open area, but it’s a narrow winding path lined with shops which sell mostly voo-doo type stuff and native clothing items. They would yell insults at you as you passed if you didn’t stop (and I’m talking insults I can’t repeat here on a family board). The final “straw” (pun intended) for me was when one guy grabbed my arm and literally jerked me over to his stall. I turned around furious and told him to get his hands off me that minute and I FLEW out of there!

One interesting, but sad, thing: As we were walking back to the Westerdam from Island Village, some people asked if this was the way to the Radiance of the Seas (the Radiance and the Norwegian Dawn were in port with us). We said no, it’s around the other way and they turned around. About that time, we hit a gap in the foliage and saw the Radiance pulling away from the dock! OOPS! I felt soooo bad for them – that’s my worst nightmare.

GRAND CAYMAN: There were 7 other ships in port with us: the Radiance of the Seas, the Norwegian Dawn, the Rhapsody of the Seas, the Jewel of the Seas, the Carnival Conquest, the Star Princess and the Holiday Dream (Pulmantur Line). Captain Harris kept warning us all week about this, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as we had expected, partly because of our excursion, I expect.

We took the Buccaneer with Capt. Bryan. Robert was our Captain, Dolan our hand, and Jody our photographer. We did Stingray City which was very crowded but there were tons and tons of stingrays and everyone got a chance with them, then did two snorkel stops, one each at the Barrier Reef and Coral Gardens. Lots of fish, great snorkeling, no one with us at the Reef and only one other boat at the Gardens. It didn’t start until 10:30 so we had about an hour to do some leisurely shopping (DH bought me some beautiful black coral). We arrived back at 2:45 for a 3:30 all aboard, so were very rushed trying to get in more shopping.

One thing DH didn’t like about cruising was that you only get a brief taste of the various ports. However, we got enough taste of Grand Cayman that we’re already planning to hop a jet within the next year and spend a few days at the brand new Ritz Carlton there.

COSTA MAYA: I was not expecting to enjoy this stop, and DH and DS were very disappointed we weren’t going to Cozumel. However, I think this was our very favorite day! One of my concerns was that Costa Maya is not a real place – it’s a cruiseship-contrived place. And if Puerto Costa Maya was all there was to it, I would never again get off the ship there. But if you take a short $3 taxi ride about 5 miles (or less) south to Majuhual, it’s a whole different experience. DH and I jumped on Cruise Critic that morning and did some additional research on the Costa Maya board and read about Pez Cuadro (you’ll usually see it referred to as Pez Quadro on the board) so that’s what we did. A day in heaven! Hot sun, cool blue water, and 3 Dos Equiis for $5 – what more could one ask? Lots of food stands with true Mexican food. You didn’t even have to shop – the vendors came to you, but were not at all pushy! Warning though: DS and I both got henna tattoos that were supposed to last up to 3 weeks if you didn’t get them wet for 5 hours. Both washed off about 90% in the shower 7 or 8 hours later – but they were beautiful while they lasted! We did all the hinky touristy Mexican stuff - $4 for a picture with a HUGE iguana, braided bracelets, etc. DH and DS rode jet skis for $40 for the two of them for ½ hour (after some bargaining) and stayed out for about 45 minutes. No governors here – they both loved it – and both had sore cabooses for the rest of the trip!

The biggest negative about the ports was that we didn’t have much time at all to shop, except in Costa Maya (where the shopping is pretty mediocre). We had tried to pick shore excursions that were less than 4 hours hoping to leave time, but it didn’t work out that way. Something for not-yet-cruised folks to understand before you go: plan your time as though the time in port were two to two and a half hours minimum less than you think. For example, if your ship’s in port from 8:00 to 5:00 (9 hours), plan on NO MORE THAN 6.5 to 7 hours on shore. By the time the ship docks, is cleared and you get off and/or tender in, you’ve lost an hour to an hour and a half. Since all aboard is always 30 minutes before sail time, and if you’re at all the kind who worries about missing the ship (DH is), you lose an hour at the end as well.

Interestingly enough, the hardest time we had getting off the ship was in Costa Maya where we docked. The Main Deck halls were crammed with folks trying to get down the stairs to A deck, and the folks who had come down the stairs and were trying to make the turn at Main Deck were having a rough time of it. Everywhere else, we got right on a tender or right off the ship.

As I think you can see, we are pretty much the type who are going to have fun and enjoy ourselves wherever we are, but we didn’t have to put much effort into on this trip – it was just plain FUN!

Donna, great write-up of your ports! Thank you! Have to admit my surprise at your desire to hop a jet to Grand Cayman. That is my all time least favorite island in the Caribbean. In fact, DH now won't let me book a cruise that stops there!:o

One of the fun things about cruising is that each time you return to a port you do something different and eventually you get to know each island pretty well. Sounds like you made the best of every single port! Last year on the Oosterdam we had the Turquoise cabana (right next to the orange) so you were right on "my" turf!!

Thanks again for both your review of the ship and this on your ports. I really enjoyed reading both of them.:)

Donna, great write-up of your ports! Thank you! Have to admit my surprise at your desire to hop a jet to Grand Cayman. That is my all time least favorite island in the Caribbean. In fact, DH now won't let me book a cruise that stops there!:o :)

Thanks for the kind words, Heather. To be honest, it was my least favorite port as well (relatively speaking), but DH absolutely fell in love with it. I have no idea why. I think he saw some real potential if you're not on a cruise itinerary and can take some time just to find a quiet beach or hang at the Ritz Carlton resort. If you've ever been to a Ritz Carton resort (we go to Amelia Island's RC resort from time to time) you know you don't have to leave the resort to have a wonderful time!

One other thing I forgot to mention: we had blue skies and VERY smooth seas the entire trip!

............. If you've ever been to a Ritz Carton resort (we go to Amelia Island's RC resort from time to time) you know you don't have to leave the resort to have a wonderful time!

 

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You're absolutely right, of course. But we do enjoy renting a car and "exploring". There's always the chance we didn't give GC a fair shake since we've only seen it as a port visit.

We're just so fond of the more volcanic islands in terms of beauty. But I have to admit our recent stop at Aruba (as flat as a pancake except for the garbage dump) really enticed us to book a week there just for the beach alone ...:)

Donna, great port reviews. I wish I had known about Costa Maya before my first cruise several years ago. I didn't know about Cruise Critic then and we had a very blah experience in CM. My DB said "never again." Well, if we had only known! Oh well.

Heather - we were in the Turquoise cabana for the Dec 4th sailing of the Westerdam. Tet was our butler. Loved the experience! I have to ask you though, did you find that (because of the shade) people nearly boxed you in at the bottom of the cabana stairs? We had folks put their chairs literally within a foot or two of our stairs and found ourselves having to pick our way through the sea of chairs in order to get out of the cabana. Others we were with who had a cabana did not experience this so I was thinking it was likely because of the shade.

Laura

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Heather - we were in the Turquoise cabana for the Dec 4th sailing of the Westerdam. Tet was our butler. Loved the experience! I have to ask you though, did you find that (because of the shade) people nearly boxed you in at the bottom of the cabana stairs? We had folks put their chairs literally within a foot or two of our stairs and found ourselves having to pick our way through the sea of chairs in order to get out of the cabana. Others we were with who had a cabana did not experience this so I was thinking it was likely because of the shade.

 

Laura

We didn't have that happen! We had a clear path for several feet before the chairs were lined up. However, people did "park" just to the left under the tree which irked me because we were there after the hurricanes of 2004 and they had put up flagged wire around the vegetation so it could grow back. People just trampled over that and put their chaises right on top of the area they were trying to preserve. I spoke to one man pointing out that they were trying to let the dune grasses and beach plum grow and he could have cared less. What else is new?:)

Enjoyed reading about your excursions for the ports you visited.

It is always interesting to read someone else's views for ports that we have visited.

THANK YOU!!!

your reviews were so detailed and wonderful!

I am glad you told me what you did and the amount of time you felt you had!

You have no idea how excited i am after reading your post!!!

thank you thank you thank you!!!:D :D :D

How do you make contact with Phil Lafayette? Is this a private driver? We usually just hire a taxi at the ports but it would be nice to have knowledge before hand..

How do you make contact with Phil Lafayette? Is this a private driver? We usually just hire a taxi at the ports but it would be nice to have knowledge before hand..

Yes, he's a private driver. He contracts his bus from JUTA (Jamaican Union Tourist Authority) and it's spotless clean and well-maintained. You can reach him at phillaf@cwjamaica.com. Tell him Sarcastic Steve, Dynamite Donna and Jammin' Jeff sent you!

Katie, I'm replying to the question you asked on the Balcony Mystery thread here, as this is where it's on-topic.

We took the Ocho Highlights tour. Don't worry about Margaritaville - you don't *actually* stop there. It's in the heart of Island Village so what happens is after everything else is done he drops you at IV with instructions to return to the van at a certain time and he will take you to the dock. However, your best bet at that time is just to tip him and bid him adieu, as it's a short walk back to the main pier or to James Bond Pier from there.