Montego Bay ocean view
Welcome to winter! It’s been crazy around here lately and this has taken me much longer to post this than I would have liked. I just felt so rushed with traveling, work and the upcoming holidays that I was unable to take the time I wanted in order to post this. Hopefully as I continue to write on here I’ll get better at that 🙂
If you were to tell me a year ago that I would go on a cruise ship and zip lining in my lifetime I would have told you that you were nuts. I never would have guessed that I would agree to hop on board a cruise ship AND then go zip lining on top of that.
Last spring a friend asked if I wanted to join her and a group of friends on this cruise. With all of the media attention that stranded cruise ships have gotten recently, I was unsure. As I contemplated going or not, I thought about the future. Would future me regret going, or regret not going? It was then that I knew I was going. It seemed unlikely I would regret going on vacation, but if I didn’t go, I’d always wonder, “what if?”
So I booked the cruise. A 7 day trip in the Caribbean, casting off from New Orleans. With stops in: Montego Bay, Jamaica; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Cozumel, Mexico.
Montego Bay
Jamaican Jungle
Our first stop was Montego Bay, Jamaica. My friend had chosen the activity for this stop: zip lining. It was way outside of my comfort zone, but it was an amazing experience. The zip lining course was 6 “zips” through the Jamaican jungle (high up in the trees). One of which crosses the Great River of Jamaica. Even now I can hardly believe I went through with it. The views on the zip lines were incredible, it’s something I’ll never forget.
Proof that I actually went zip-lining!
Whee!
After our zip lining adventure, our shuttle driver offered to drop us off in downtown Montego Bay. We stopped for a bite to eat at a Margaritaville. I should say that normally a Margaritaville isn’t my first choice when exploring a new country, but I was a little wary of Jamaican food, which is famous for being spicy, something I’m not a fan of! Instead I opted for a cheeseburger with American cheese and french fries. It was delicious.
After lunch, we decided we needed some beach action. We found a place a little ways down the road where you could pay for beach access. We paid our entry fee, changed into our swimsuits and hopped into the warm, bath tub that is the Caribbean sea. The water was the perfect temperature, I could have floated around in the water all day. I was sad to head back to the ship.
All of the restaurants are right on the ocean.
Montego Bay ocean view
On our way back to the ship, we were hassled by a bunch of locals asking if we needed rides. One guy was even pouring rum into his cola as he was offering us a ride. We quickly walked back to our ride and made it safely back on the ship. One thing I noticed about Montego Bay was how much poverty there was. It was really difficult to come off of this huge, extravagant cruise ship to see a bunch of people living in actual shacks on the side of the road and in parks. Even the buildings were quite run down.
Typical building style that was in Montego Bay.
My favorite photo I took in Montego Bay.
Even though there was a lot of poverty and we were hassled by the locals, I’m glad I got the opportunity to visit Jamaica. Zip lining was a awesome and Jamaica is absolutely a beautiful country.
Hope you all have a nice holiday break, thanks for reading!
-Amber
Be on the look out for part 2 of my journey: Cayman Islands and Cozumel
