Jan 5th, 2023 Day 3 of 128

Falmouth, Jamaica

A day late, but as you know life gets crazy on the ship. Today we pulled into our very first port of this 2023 World Cruise adventure. We pulled into Falmouth, Jamaica around 10:30 am and were ready to disembark and go on our excursion. We took a bus over to Ocho Rios, about an hour away from the port. We had a lovely tour guide that shared a lot of local information about Jamaica and its history. Thank you, Stacy for giving Megan her history lesson for the day. We visited Dunes River Falls and got the opportunity to climb them. I hadn’t been there since 1993 so much has changed in 30 years. They actually scrub the rocks down now, but it was still a challenge and I was worried about one of us falling and injuring ourselves on the first excursion of our trip. We both came out relatively unscathed. A few bumps and bruises but it was a wonderful morning. Next we journeyed to a a touristy spot called Mystic mountain. There we got to “bobsled” down the mountain in a contraption where you get to control how fast, or slow you descend. Megan and I turned the brakes off, put it in full throttle and barreled all the way down the hill. We also had an adventurous ride on a type of roller coaster where your individual car swings to the left and right as you whip around the curves. In a few spots it actually swings you out and over the side of the cliff where the coaster is situated to increase your heart rate even more. We had lovely lunch of traditional style Jamaican jerk chicken and red beans and rice. (If anyone has a good recipe for Jerk Chicken, I’d LOVE to have it) I purchased a Red Stripe, the official beer of Jamaica, and enjoyed cooling off after all our adventures. So our excursion adventure lasted a bit longer then originally expected as there was a delay for about half the passengers that were also on our tour bus. They were zip lining and the locals are still on holiday which caused the lines to be longer than anticipated. You know it’s not a good sign when they board the tour bus at 5:15pm and you are supposed to be all aboard the ship by 5:30pm. And remember, we were an hour drive away. Let me now emphasize the importance of booking your excursion directly through Holland America. I can argue the pros and cons of this but this was definitely the biggest argument in favor of doing this. The ship waited for us. They delayed the departure of the ship as our driver made his own lane and tried to break the land speed record to get us back to the ship as soon as possible. We felt like VIPS when the bus pulled directly up the pier to the gang plank of the ship. As Megan and I always sit the back of the bus, we were among the last to get off and get back onto the ship. They pulled the gang plank up right behind us. We missed our 5:00pm seating time at the dining room, but we were too tired and in need of a shower to feel like getting dressed for the later seating. We enjoyed a delicious, casual meal in the Lido and I was on bed by 8:00pm. I walked over 7 miles yesterday between the morning workout, our hike up the falls and all our other adventures for the day. All in all a fantastic first day off the ship. I do also want to add that last night we received a very nice letter from Holland America apologizing to use for the stress and chaos that the excursion delay may have caused us. I know that this was completely out of the control of the excursion team and they even reimbursed us for the cost of our day. I feel that was way above and beyond and I want to recognize the level of customer service that we receive on this trip courtesy of Holland America staff and crew. Tomorrow is a sea day and we will enjoy all our normal activities that I will tell you all about tomorrow. To all our CA friends and family, please stay safe and dry. Love and Hugs to you all.