Our ship, the Norwegian Sky, was almost new (commissioned in 2000) and the NCL staff treated us like royalty. Our voyage had 2300 guests and 900 staff members. We made 4 stops traveling around Cuba from east to west and up into the Bahamas. The seas were a bit rough a couple of days, and the weather was cooler than we expected, especially in Miami and at the private NCL cay in the Bahamas. We heard the Christmas week was worse though, so we were not unhappy.

At Grand Cayman Island we visited Stingray City, where we watched a diver play with some friendly stingrays. The ship anchored off shore and we had "tenders", small transport boats, to carry us to shore and back. The tour driver told us the docking fees are still very expensive and only a few ships can anchor at once. There is a 6000 foot dropoff just past the beachline. The Cayman Islands are the tops of mountains under the ocean and are surrounded by natural reefs on the north where stingrays like to breed and Sly Stallone is said to own a luxury home.

The tour bus stopped in Hell, Grand Cayman, which is really a northern section of beach area that is formed like the coral reef just offshore. It is named for the unwalkable, treacherous-looking, dark-pointy coral beachline. There is a weathered souvenir shop where you can postmark and mail from Hell, Grand Cayman and eat free samples of local rum cake. Then we visited Turtle Cove, where sea turtles are raised for replentishing the seas and for local consumption.

Here we are in Ocho Rios at the botanical gardens. We drove through Fern Gully forest with delightful local hostesses teaching us the Jamaican slang, like "Ya Mon" and "Irie" which means happy or good. Our ship is just behind us in the bay. I wished I'd ducked or moved to get it in. Oh well.... It also had rained that morning and here we noticed we got that drop on the lens that is in all the rest of my pictures - oops! Well, I am an amateur photographer, after all.

We started planning this trip about 2 years ago with close friends, Sarkis and Joen. Ken and Sarkis have been buddies since the third grade. Sarkis married his high school sweetheart, Joen, and I entered the foursome when Ken and I met some 15 years ago.

Well, I just can't help squinting in the sun, like always...

Joen walked up Dunn's River Falls with us. It was very crowded that day because several ships were in port. Everyone seemed to have fun except for a few kids that the guides took up quickly to safer paths, singing all the way. Sarkis took pictures from the walking path. Afterwards we walked the maze of souvenir shops to reach our bus, listening to "Hey Lady!" shouts, which helps me resist the urge to browse and bargain.

When we pulled into Nassau, the ships were lining up to dock. Our cabin was in the back of the ship on deck 9. Ken took this photo of me on our private balcony just before we left for our party boat to a private island beach, which turned out to be just beyond the lighthouse at the tip of Paradise Island over my shoulder.

As our little party boat left the peer, Ken captured this view of the Atlantis Resort and Paradise Island.

From our docked party boat you can see the bridge linking the Islands. We noticed the ships backed out and turned around when they left that night. Below: This beach is on a little island with just a Sandal's Resort on the other sides. It was still too cold in the water and we'd have needed sweaters if we hadn't consumed those rum punches on the boat. We all had fun, but Ken got caught on film!

On the way back from our party boat the view of all the ships in port is compelling. The "smaller" ones are parked two deep. But you can see the new ship that is the largest one built for the commercial industry, parked 2nd from right. It looks even bigger close-up. It has a rock climbing wall and at least 5 decks more than our Sky, with its 12 decks.

Our last full day was spent at lovely private cay in the Bahamas. Unfortunately the ocean was rough and the wind was strong and cool, so we covered up and drank our Bahama Momma's in covered cups.

We took the tender back early so the boys could watch football and we dressed up for our last dinner and show on-board. Of course the last 2 hours at the cay brought warm winds and less choppy seas, so we could have stayed to play. Oh well, we were cold!

I took a good shot of Sarkis and Joen anyway. Also we all had posed on New Year's Eve with the Captain and we purchased that photo from the Gallery on board. Sarkis was the only one with room in his suitcases, but I'll get it and scan it in soon.

We took the last shots in our cabin, showing off our wonderful room and view, and our faint tans.

"IRIE Mon!" Karen from the Bahamas

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