Dream Caribbean cruise
THOMPSON
Your plane has just landed d in sunny Montego Bay. It’s s 31oC, strains of reggae catch h your ear, ads for Red Stripe e Jamaican lager catch your eye.
But no sooner than you’ve arrived d in this Caribbean bliss, you’re off again n – on TUI’s 2,074-passenger cruise ship p Marella Discovery 2, bound for South h and Central America on the sevennight Pride of Panama trip...
arrived from Canada and the USA. USA Before you know it you’re on a bus heading to the port, where embarkation is slick.
Marella offers a “bonded luggage” service where you drop your bags at the airport and the next time you see them is outside your cabin (in our case a spacious Junior Suite).
We landed at 2.20pm, we’re on the ship by 4 4pm and d our b bags arrived id within the hour. By sailaway at 8pm we were unpacked and out on deck with a cold Singaporean Tiger beer (ironically ll the h ship hi h had d run out of fRd Red Stripe!) watching the lush Jamaican shore slip into the distance.
As cruise regulars we never bother changing cha on the first night and just hit the buffet before jetlag means me you hit the buffers. Cue an excellent exc curry in Islands, a nightcap nig and bed.
A Al lie-in, a chance to explore the all-inclusive all ship – not too big, not no too small – laze on the balcony ba and book speciality restaurants re and spa treatments vi via the easy-to-use on-board s smartphone Navigate app.
Dinner was in the swish c cover- charge Kora La Asian r restaurant on Deck 11 (where t there’s also a nice bar). It’s a mix o of Chinese and Indian cuisine and it just about works.
(526 nautical miles sailed to Colom Colombia from Montego Bay) Discove Discovery 2 is on the Caribbean coast of this South American nation and Santa Marta is one of the oldest towns on the continent – easily walkable