Huw's Travelogue: Caribbean on Regal Princess, December 2015

In December 2015 we did two back-to-back Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale on Regal Princess over Christmas and New Year.

Here are a few photos that will hopefully give you a flavour of the area and what we got up to.

Miami

Before the cruise commenced we had a day in Miami so headed to South Beach on the bus from the airport which is quick, cheap and painless.

Unfortunately it was incredibly windy to the extent that the beach was pretty much a sandstorm so we couldn't spend much time on it.

Chloe and Alice used to be glued to Miami Ink on the TV when teenagers so had to take a look at the studio where it was filmed.

Day 2 Nassau, Bahamas

It was (relatively) cold and windy for our our departure from Fort Lauderdale on December 20th but thankfully the weather was much better for our arrival at Nassau early in the morning.

See that tower in the picture above? This is the view from Fort Fincastle next to it.

We shared the port with three other cruise ships including the largest of the all Allure of the Seas. That's the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island behind it.

This was taken when sailing out of the harbour.

Day 4 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Disney Fantasy was also in port.

Cruise ships dock at Charlotte Amilie, the capital of St. Thomas

Looks like there's plenty of money about...

Chloe and I went snorkelling here.

Then to this beach. That's our catamaran, Castaway Cay.

Luckily we didn't need to follow the directions on this sign.

There's a cable car right outside the port gates that takes you to the top of the hil.. We were there at sunset. That's our ship in the foreground.

Day 5 St Maarten

Next stop, the half-Dutch, half-French island of St. Maarten/Saint Martin. The post is a short ferry trip away from the capital St. Philipsburg, seen to the right of this picture.

The most famous 'tourist attraction' on the island is the airport, or rather the beach under the flightpath. Unfortunately we were there in the morning as we were booked on a tour in the afternoon so missed all the long-haul flight arrivals. This was the largest plane we saw land.

The port, and island, is incredibly busy: there are probably some 15,000 people on these four boats combined, and I think there's room for a couple more.

Day 8 Fort Lauderdale

To accommodate Americans who generally only do 7 day cruises, we headed back to Fort Lauderdale mid-cruise. The waterfront properties, belonging to the rich and famous, cost a fortune.

Here's a great view of Fort Lauderdale beach.

Day 9 Princess Cays, Bahamas

Our first tender port: where the lifeboats are used to tender people ashore.

Princess Cays is the cruise line's private beach resort on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera.

Just to prove we've been there...

Chloe, Maria and Alice taking a dip in the warm Atlantic waters.

Day 11 Grand Cayman

In Grand Cayman I took a cycling tour to Hell and a turtle farm. Hell doesn't look so bad, does it...

The village gets its name from these hellish looking limestone formations

You can get hands on at the turtle farm, which raises the endangered Green Sea Turtle.

Day 12 Island Of Roatan, Honduras

Next stop, the purpose-built cruise ship port next to this beach on Roatan. We had a great day there, in a private cabana right on the water's edge.

This is the view from the side of the ship.

Day 13 Mahahual, Costa Maya, Mexico

Mahahual is in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing for 50 miles except for mangrove swamp. We too a tour to Mayan ruins at Chacchoben. Traces of the original red paint are protected under the canopy on the side of this pyramid.

Arguably the spider monkeys that live in the trees there were more entertaining.

Day 15 Fort Lauderdale

On our last day, before heading back to Miami airpoty we stopped at the Everglades Holiday Park which, as you can see below, is home of the 'Gator Boys' who appear in a Animal Planet TV show.
First, we watched a spot of 'Alligator wrestling'...