Western Caribbean Cruise on the Holland America Nieuw Statendam

11/5/22 to 11/12/22

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Page 1 – Embarkation, Ship
Page 2 – Ship Continued, Cabin
Page 3 - Activities, Entertainment, Ports of Call: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Page 4 - Ports of Call: Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Bimini, Bahamas

Ports (Contd)

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

I always enjoy stopping at Grand Cayman, since it is a clean and more modern island than some; and there are many things to do there. We had originally booked a Segway tour that was cancelled. I enjoy Segway’s and I was looking forward to Cathy finally experiencing them. Instead, we booked the Cayman Islands Heritage Discovery tour. It was a good choice.

There was about a half hour delay in disembarking the ship due to issues with the port authority. Once again, we had to use a tender to get to the island. Because we met in the theater to have our digital tickets scanned and were given a sticker to put on our shirts, it was a significantly smoother operation. Everyone went together to board the two-deck tender.

When we docked, we all stayed together and boarded the small 22 seat bus that was waiting for us in a large area for the busses.

It was an easy and smooth process. Unfortunately, the half hour delay would cut into our time after the tour to explore the area around the dock. The 3.5-hour tour was supposed to end at noon and the last tender was at 2:30 PM. Not a lot of time without the delay. Our bus driver, Kent, was a real pleasure. He was very nice and told us things about the island as we were driving around. Since he isn’t a tour guide, it was a much more casual and enjoyable conversation, rather than just throwing out facts.

Our first stop was at a place called the Pedro St. James Castle. It is the oldest existing stone building in Grand Cayman having been built in 1780. It is also considered "The Birthplace of Democracy in the Cayman Islands". Being the largest home on the island at the time, it was the meeting place for the people that would become the first elected parliament of the islands in 1831. We met our guide for the tour, Trisha. She was a gem. She loved her country and enjoyed sharing her knowledge with us in a most entertaining way.

We first went into the modern museum building which had a small display area.

She told us about how the original building had been reduced to ruins after many years of neglect. The below picture shows what it looked like in the bacground. The stone is from the original building.

It was purchased by a businessman who renovated it in the 1960’s through the 1980’s turning it into a tourist attraction and restaurant that looked like a castle. It is still referred to as Pedro’s Castle. The below picture shows how it looked like a castle. After a fire destroyed it in 1989, it was again abandoned.

In 1991, the Cayman government purchased the building and restored it to its original grandeur. In 2004, category 5 hurricane Ivan did extensive damage to the island and castle. It took 1.4 million dollars to again restore it.

After looking at some of the artifacts, Trisha took us to the multimedia demonstration room to show us the history of the island and the building. It was a good presentation with lightning flashing, some light water spray and videos in the setting.

We then went outside to see the grounds and walk to the great house itself.

The first place we stopped was at a symbolic area made up of 12 stones that washed up during the hurricane that did much damage to the property, representing the 12 day of the month. There are also 9 seats representing the ninth month. They are made from a very old tamarind tree that sat on the property for over 100 years. The storm hit on September 12, 2004. This grouping represents the resilience and resolve of the Caymanian people to rebuild and recover from the devastation.

There was also a statue dedicated to the people of the Cayman Islands on Queen Elizabeth ll’s diamond jubilee in 2012. She visited Grand Cayman in 1994.

There are several buildings on the ground including a restored old Cayman kitchen.

We then went to the great house itself. It has three stories and is a fascinating place to see.

In addition to the main rooms of the house, one room was used as a prison. The original owner of the house was locked up there for 6 months before he came to trial for a person he murdered. He was able to pay a find for the crime rather than go to prison.

I really liked the large verandahs around the house.

When we came down from the top floor, I was able to take some more photos of the exterior.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and thanked Trisha. She made it a special visit.

The other stop on our tour would be at the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Park. As we walked into the visitor center, there was a photo of Prince Charles, now King Charles, when he visited the park in 2019. He was petting one of the very endangered blue iguanas that only live on Grand Cayman.

We met our guide for the tour, Hal. He was a wealth of knowledge and kept us moving so we could see as much of the park as possible. The park is made of several different gardens. While walking through the first one we came upon one of their blue iguanas. It didn’t look very blue from a distance. Hal told us that they aren’t as blue at this time of year, plus they need to be in bright sunlight for it to show.

We were able to get very close to take photos. When he moved into the sun, I was able to see some of the blue. Not what the one in the photo with Prince Charles looked like, but some blue was showing.

Hal took us into a fenced area where the park is constructing a children’s garden. We were able to see some of the statues that had been completed and one still in progress. This addition should make the park much more popular with younger families.

We then walked to the Sand Garden. This type of garden doesn’t have any grass. It reduces insects so that children can play there or people can meet without as many insects bothering them. In the center of this garden was a traditional Camian home that was over 100 years old.

The interior was interesting with all the antique objects from the period.

Behind the home was the detached kitchen to reduce the possibility of fire destroying the main home.

Also next to the home was the outhouse. It was a fancy one with two seats. The sign between the seats is the Outhouse Rules. It says, “What happens in the outhouse, stays in the outhouse”. I certainly hope so.

Hal moved to a different garden showing plants that are used for medicinal purposes, as well as some fruit trees. We next went to the prettiest garden, the Colour Garden.

It was quite a beautiful garden, even with it not being springtime when everything is in bloom.

While in the garden, Hal told us that he wanted to see if the largest Iguana in the park was in a spot outside of the fence. He had a name for him that I forgot. It might have been Bruce, or something like it. He knew where he normally hung out. Sure enough, Bruce was there. Hal chased him out from under a building. He then blocked his path to stop his progress. Hal then walked over to a tree and pulled off some fruit to feed him with. Bruce and Hal were buds, and he knew Hal would be giving him some food. We watched him eat both fruits and were taking lots of pics of Bruce.

We continued our walk through the Colour Garden with Hal stopping to tell us about each of the plants we were seeing. He knew his stuff and was anxious to share it with us. He was hurrying because he knew that we were running longer than he was allowed.

We saw a different blue iguana as we were moving to a different area. Hal didn’t even point it out since he was in a hurry to get us back to the bus.

Hal showed us an area where weddings take place as well as another area on a pond with a small waterfall. Our bus driver, Kent, was waiting in one of the gardens to let Hal know that we had to leave.

Before leaving, we stopped at the visitor center for a quick restroom break or souvenir shopping. Outside the center was a large statue of a blue iguana, showing what the color can look like.

As we left the visitor center, a real blue iguana was lying just outside the doors to say goodbye to us. He never moved as everyone walked by him. Lots of photos were taken with him on the red brick.

The tour was originally supposed to be back at the ship at noon, and we were just now leaving the park at 12:30 PM. The traffic in one area was very slow due to some road construction. The ride back took 50 minutes. So rather than the 2.5 hours we had hoped to spend in town, we only had an hour.

We were hungry for lunch, but didn’t have time to eat some local food, so we got in the long tender line to go back to the ship. By the time we got back on board and up to the buffet, it was close to 2:00 PM. It was a shame that the tour had started late, but it had been a most enjoyable one. I’m sure that we will be back in Grand Cayman again and be able to spend more time there enjoying the lovely island.

Bimini, Bahamas

When we were told that we would be stopping in Bimini rather than Key West, I wasn’t pleased about it. But after thinking about it, I realized that the only time I had been to Bimini was over 35 years ago on a liveaboard dive boat trip. I would still have preferred Key West, but I was curious about the island. We were pleased that Bimini had a dock, and it was a very long dock. My first view of it was from the upper decks of the ship. Bimini is a small island chain of 3 islands. We were on the largest, North Bimini. It is 7 miles long and only 700 feet wide.

We were told that there would be small shuttle vehicles to either take us to the end of the dock, the Resorts World hotel where there was a beach or to Fisherman’s Village (a small shopping area) where we could get taxis or rent golf carts to explore the island. The dock was actually in three sections. We walked the first one and then turned left on the next section to walk to the shuttle waiting area.

The shuttles came regularly and were quickly filled up. The last section of pier was the longest one.

A lot of people got off at the Resorts World hotel. The ship sold time at the hotel’s beach, or one could book it on their own. Cruise Director, Kimberly, also mentioned that it would be free if you walked to the beach slightly away from the hotel.

When we got to Fisherman’s Village, there were some boats there, but it was mainly a parking lot with lots of golf carts to rent and a few taxis available. The shopping center portion was off to the side. When Cathy went in when we returned, she said that it was mostly vacant other than a restaurant. Probably due to Covid.

Holland America didn’t show any excursions for Bimini on their website prior to the cruise. Once onboard there were a few, mainly beach time at the hotel that were available. In doing my research, there wasn’t a lot to see or do on Bimini other than some great scuba diving or beach time. The one place that I was most curious about was the Dolphin House Museum (https://dolphin-house-museum.business.site). It is an ocean inspired museum that was built by an award-winning author and retired schoolteacher, Ashley Saunders. Here is a most interesting bio about him - https://www.historyofbimini.com/bio. In addition to receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, he did graduate work at Harvard. He even had a poem from one of his poetry books performed before Queen Elizabeth ll in 2014. He is quite an amazing man with a very impressive bio.

He began construction in 1993 using only recycled, salvaged or donated materials. Most of the work was done by him personally. The reviews of the museum were glowing and the photos I had seen made me very curious for the visit. I had at first thought about renting a golf cart to go to Alice Town where the museum is located. The cost was $100 for the day, but since we were only going to one place, it made more sense to get a taxi at $5 per person each way.

It just took a few minutes to get to the museum. We arrived a few minutes before the 10:00 AM opening time. I walked around taking photos of this unique most unusual building.

As we were looking at the exterior a car drove up and dropped off the owner/builder, Ashley Saunders. He pointed out different things on the exterior that you see but don’t appreciate until he tells you about the objects, where they came from and how he built them into the building.

He used a lot of conch shells in the construction, but we were surprised he used crushed conch shells to make the mortar that he used in the construction.

He pointed out the Bahamian flag on one wall

He lives on the first floor of the house, with the second floor being the main rooms of the museum. He is working on the third floor, where you can see the exposed cinder blocks.

We walked around to the side of the building where we would walk up the steps to the second floor to see the interior. The mosaic walls are quite pretty.

He was also proud of the outdoor shower he had made to use when he returns from the beach.

As you walk into the main room, you don’t know where to look first.

Once again Ashley tried to keep us focusing on individual objects and sections rather than trying to look at everything at once. As you focus on what he is showing you and telling you about where the items came from or how he made them, you are amazed at what he has been able to accomplish.

As he was pointing out different things and telling us stories, another couple came in wanting to tour the museum. We told Ashley to catch them up while we looked at some of the other rooms on the floor. We looked at a bedroom that had a closet area covered in license plates from all over that Ashley had found and others that had been sent to him by guests who had visited the museum.

Then we moved down the hall to a different bedroom and bathroom. There were so many things to look at. Most were plain objects, but Ashley had been able to build them into museum and make them pretty and interesting. He is quite an artist.

Like everything else, the bathroom was also quite unique.

We continued looking around the second floor with the other couple.

When we had all seen all we wanted to, Ashley took us to the stairs to go up to the roof. As we passed by the entrance to the third floor, Ashley asked his assistant, who was doing some work on the 3rd floor, to open the area where we could see it when we returned from the roof. That would be a nice preview of what his future work would look like.
When we reached the roof, we could see Ashley’s Beacon of Hope. It is a solar powered working lighthouse. Everyone took turns taking photos with it. The lighthouse is used in marketing photo shoots for companies.

The view from the roof is very nice. We could even see the Nieuw Statendam in the distance between the trees.

He had marked the compass directions on the roof to allow everyone to know where they were facing.

While on the roof, some more people showed up. He told them to wait downstairs, since we would be finished soon. We headed back down the stairs to the third floor to see the new edition.

There was a lot of clutter from the construction tools, supplies and debris; but the place looked amazing.

It is going to be a very nice addition and popular with the visitors. He had even added the shovel that he had used to build much of the original museum into a corner of the wall.

After looking at everything, we went back to ground level. Ashley took us to the front of the house to show us his little shop with souvenirs and copies of two of the Bimini history books he had written for sale. We looked through the books and they looked most interesting and well done.

He then took us to the office next to the shop. He showed us business cards that he had received that had been pasted all over the walls. I gave him one of mine. He said he would put it in the new area.

It was also time to pay the $10 pp entrance fee. It was well worth the price to see Ashley’s unique and most interesting creation. Being able to see the Dolphin House Museum made our Bimini port stop most worthwhile. I have a feeling that other cruisers who read this review that have been to Bimini without stopping there will be disappointed that they missed this attraction.

We decided to walk to downtown Alice Town, since it was close by. I was able to get a photo of the museum with the lighthouse on top.

The museum was right across the street from gorgeous Radio Beach, so we walked along road enjoying the view.

We got into the center of town, but there wasn’t a lot there to explore. There was a small shopping area that backed up to a harbor where rum runners would stop before taking rum to the US during prohibition.

We weren’t interested in getting any souvenirs, so we went back to the beach to see if we could find some conch salad. We stopped a one of the bar/restaurants and ordered some conch salad and conch fritters. We only got one order to share, since it was a bit early for lunch and we would eat later, on the ship. Both items were quite tasty.

When finished, we walked out to the street wondering where we would find a taxi. The driver who brought us had given us his card to call him if needed. Immediately a taxi pulled up to us and asked if we needed a taxi. Well, that was great timing. He dropped us back at Fisherman’s Village where we picked up the tram back to the ship.

Before leaving to return to Port Everglades, I took a few photos of the homes on Bimini. I was very surprised at how many of them were only one story. Most homes along beaches are built on stilts with a garage under them for a first floor. With this being such a low and narrow island, I would think that the houses would be flooded easily by tidal surge from either direction.

The cruise was almost over, and the remnants of Hurricane Nicole were far away from Florida. Being on the Nieuw Statendam was a great way to ride out a storm. We had been very lucky and had thoroughly enjoyed our cruise.

Disembarkation

We had a very easy disembarkation process. Passengers seemed to comply with not jamming up the halls near where we would exit the ship. When we left, there was a very short line. We retrieved our luggage from the terminal and then had to get into what looked like a very long line for immigration. It did move surprisingly fast. When it was our turn, we saw why it was so fast. We looked into a screen where our face was scanned, rather than having to have an agent look through our passport book. Facial recognition worked great, and we were cleared and outside quickly where two Park’n Go vans were waiting for passengers to take them to their cars.

Recap

My main reason for taking this cruise was to experience the ship. I’m so glad that we did, since it is a beautiful ship with lots of entertainment and an excellent crew. It was interesting to see how they have utilized new technology to reduce cost and, in many ways, improve the cruise experience.

Even though I had been to the ports before, I hadn’t expected to enjoy some of the sites as much as I did. I guess it just shows that there is always a new adventure even in places you have visited many times.