It was Sues ‘special birthday’, so as a surprise we decided to go on our first cruise, somewhere warm, away from the cold British winter weather. The Caribbean.

This was a Princess Cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess ship, booked through Iglu cruise it included return flights from Heathrow via Virgin Airlines with an initial night in Miami at the Miami Lakes Hotel.

January 16th. After spending the night in the Radisson Blu Hotel. We took the Virgin 09:40am flight from Heathrow to Miami, crew couldn’t be more helpful, with lots of food and drink, but it was nine hours in economy, where three out of four limbs in the seat are fine, but not four out of four limbs. It was an old plane with pretty poor entertainment system. But the return flight made up for it, on a two month old plane, where every seat appeared to be premiere economy with a wonderful entertainment, touchscreen with Bluetooth audio system.

Arrived at Miami International airport around 3:00pm, slightly late and queued for just over an hour to clear US immigration, which according to the nice lady from Princess Cruises was very quick indeed. We were then taken to the Miami Lakes Hotel, where we stayed overnight and received a full ‘complimentary’ breakfast the next morning.

Miami Lakes seems like a nice town, with its Christmas decorations still up. We had some fiery chicken wings and some craft ale in Millars Bar and Resturant, before retiring to bed.

Day One, January 17th. Fort Lauderdale.
Check in to the ship, the ‘Caribbean Princess’ at the port the next day was remarkable easy and efficient. Our luggage being taken from us at the hotel was then next seen in our balcony stateroom.

This was our ‘Balcony Stateroom’
“This impressive stateroom offers the added indulgence of a balcony and gives you more space than a standard stateroom. Enjoy your own private outdoor space with a table, two chairs, and a relaxing view of the inspiring scenery surrounding you, whether a beautiful sunset over the ocean or a new city to explore. It’s also perfect to enjoy cocktails before dinner or a leisurely breakfast.”

At the port we were given our medallion. What wonderful things these are, from opening our room, to ‘paying’ for our ‘free’ drinks, allowing us on shore and back to the ship. Ours were blue, but the more cruises you book with Princess, the colours change, giving more benefits, until you reach a black one, top of the pile, which gives you discounts on stuff. Potentially holding around 3,600 guests, it seemed less than that. Never see the same person twice.

Initial view from our belcony stateroom was promising.

Ship left port at 15:30, with lovely views of Miami beach.

View from our belcony window on our first night at sea, Beautiful.

Day Two, January 18th was a ship day.
Spent a lot of time on Deck 15, which is the swimming and sun lounge, open air movie deck with the World Fresh Marketplace. Finished it by attending a theatre presentation of Bravo, musicals, dancing and James Bond numbers. Fitting in the acrobat act – Les Dudes, as well.

Day Three. January 19th arrived at Amber Cove, Dominican Republic.
Meet Kenni, nice Asian chap at breakfast, who lives in Australia, but seem to spend most of his time on cruise ships. He’s been on heaps and a black medallion to prove it. As we hadn’t booked any shore excursions for this port, we all got a taxi and visited the Macorix House of Rum, then a photo stop of the historical centre of Puerto Plata, then visit to the beach, then back to the ship for lunch.

Day Four. January 20th was another ship day.
Quite like ship days, relax by the pool in the sun, cocktails. Do a few laps of the ship on the promenade deck, 2.7 laps equals one mile, cocktails. Panama Canal lecture, cocktails. Theatre to see a Whitney Houston tribute singer, cocktails, Dinner at the Crown Grill, cocktails.

Day Five. January 21st arrived at Cartagena, Colombia.
Had a shore excursion booked here.

First off, was a photo stop opportunity at the Castle San Feipe de Barajas, 10 minutes here.

Our next stop was the historical house of Rafael Nunez, who was the four times President of Panama. Here we were treated to some traditional dancing.  

After this, on to the church of San Pedro Claver, then to the navel museum.

Bus progress was extremely slow all day due to traffic, so viewing opportunities were some what limited, although the guide was very knowledgeable. If you wanted local people selling local goods in your face all day, this was the town to go. Before returning to the ship, we walked around a small nature reserve at the port where there were parrots, flamingo, tortoise etc. Finished the day with theatre comedy act.

Day Six. January 22nd arrived at the entrance of the Panama Canal.
The ship went through the three new locks and entered Lake Gatum, which was at the time the largest man made lake in the world.

We then were taken to the shore by a water shuttle boat.

The bus trip then took us to the new locks and former canal zone with a visit to the visitors centre at the new locks. The rest of the trip was traveling through some of the Panamaniac rain forest and through ex American military bases, some of which have now been turned in to new accommodation, some have been left abandoned. The ship had returned back through the canal locks and we were picked up in Colon. Dinner in the Coral Dining Room.

Day Seven. January 23rd arrived at Limon, Costa Rica.
No excursion booked here, so was just going to walk around the town, but got talked in to a taxi ride around the town and close countryside, two hours for $30 turned out to be a bargain. Visited the Cathedral Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, local markets and beach.

Day Eight. January 24th was another ship day.
Quite like ship days.

Day Nine. January 25th arrived at Falmouth, Jamaica.


We had a shore excursion here, stopping at Konoko Falls and Park over looking the city of Ocho Rio. Here they had a river garden, mini zoo and museum.

We then visited Ocho Rio, well at least the pretty bus station and souvenir shops.

Day Ten. January 26th was our last day.
This was our last day and a ship day, returning back to Fort Lauderdale, arriving around 8:00, got the coach to Miami airport before taking the 5:20pm flight to Heathrow. The flight only took 8 hours and we arrived back home Saturday at around 10:00am in the morning.