Kicked off 2026 with our first trip of the year...a last minute cruise that we booked just about a month before departure. As mentioned previously, I went a lil' rogue with cruise matching in 2025 and ended up with our 4th 'free' cruise on 4 different cruise lines within 4 months. This cruise was a 'pre-game' chill trip before our hectic 3-month trip starting in February. Grateful for the beautiful warm weather in the Caribbean throughout our trip while avoiding the freezing weather back home.
10-Nights Caribbean Cruise (Dominican Republic, Aruba, Curacao, Jamaica, Grand Cayman)
19 Jan 2026: Tampa
20-21 Jan 2026: Sea Days
22 Jan 2026: Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic
23 Jan 2026: Oranjestad, Aruba
24 Jan 2026: Willemstad, Curacao
25 Jan 2026: Sea Day
26 Jan 2026: Falmouth, Jamaica
27 Jan 2026: George Town, Grand Cayman
28 Jan 2026: Sea Day
29 Jan 2026: Tampa
Booked this cruise last minute thanks to the 'free' cruise offer we received from NCL on 7 Dec 2025 (for all sailings up to 14 days till 31 Dec 2026).
18 Jan 2026 (Sun): Huntsville - Chicago - Tampa
Thanks MIL for dropping us off at the airport at 8.30am for our flight to Chicago at 10.19am. Booked our flights from Huntsville - Chicago - Tampa for 6,000 AA miles + $5.60 per pax. Our route didn't quite make sense as it took us north to snowy Chicago then south to sunny Tampa, but this was the route that was available using the lowest AA miles. :P
Our flight ended up being delayed by an hour but thankfully we made it to Chicago in time to connect to our 3pm flight to Tampa. Btw, we were very lucky to fly down to Tampa before all flights got cancelled over the weekend because of the massive winter storm.
Finally made it to Tampa at 6.22pm after a full day of travel. Had quick dinner at Tampa airport before taking the free shuttle to our hotel for the night.
Our hotel for 1 night was Fairfield by Marriott Tampa Westshore / Airport. Booked this hotel with our Marriott credit card free night certificate. There are many hotel options in Tampa (and I've stayed in quite a number of them) but I chose this hotel because they provide a free airport shuttle and free breakfast. I've traveled to Tampa a number of times during this time of the year but they were all for work, so it was funny that we had a view of the office from our room this time around.
19 Jan 2026 (Mon): Embarkation Day
We chose the 11-11.30am check in time for the cruise so we took our own sweet time to have breakfast and checked out of our hotel at 11am. Took a 20 min Lyft ride to Port of Tampa (Terminal 2).
Dropped off our luggage with the porter and stood in line for a bit before entering the terminal. Fortunately, the check in line moved pretty quickly. We were done with check in within 5 minutes and boarded the ship at 12.05pm. Tampa's weather was colder than normal for January.
This was our 2nd time embarking from Tampa, the last time was for Margaritaville cruise in Nov 2025.
Spotted Margaritaville and Carnival cruises also departing on the same day.
Had lunch at the buffet at 12.30pm while waiting for our room to be ready.
Went up to the pool area at 4pm for the sailaway party, burger and ice cream.
We enjoyed people watching more than joining in the party. I did notice that the song list for the sailaway party is pretty similar across different cruise ships. As you can see, the demographic of this cruise is mostly people in their 60s, so we were kinda out of place again.
Beautiful sunset sailing out of Tampa.
It was cool to see our ship sail under the bridge (missed this on our Margaritaville cruise 2 months ago).
Had dinner at the buffet before calling it a night. Hubby went all out with the self-service soft-serve ice cream...lol!
Ship Tour
Norwegian Star was an older ship with limited amenities and the service wasn't as great so we ranked it last among all the ships we've been on so far (Ruby Princess, Margaritaville Islander, Holland America Rotterdam). Overall it was still a good ship and we are thankful to be able to cruise around in comfort so I'm not complaining. And yes, I am aware that comparison is the thief of joy.
There were only two pools on the ship, no pickleball court, and the ping pong table was outdoor. We don't really care about water slides or entertainment so the lack of those didn't really matter to us.
Worked out at the gym a few times during our cruise, but I mostly hung out at the studio area.
The buffet area didn't have enough seats and it was difficult to find a place to sit when it got busy.
One big positive on this cruise was the self-service soft serve ice cream machine at the buffet. You know what that means...I got to practice my soft-serve ice cream making skills...lol!
The ship also had an arcade area which had quite a few games but we didn't play any.
Room Tour
Our 'home' for 10 nights...interior room 9673 (Inside IB). The room was pretty tight with little room to move around but thankfully the closet was big enough to tuck away all our belongings. It was also nice to have shower doors (instead of shower curtains). The in-room TV/entertainment was weak. There was no live TV for football so hubby was disappointed. There were also no movies or shows we could select ourselves so we ended up watching "breaking news" on BBC, Bloomberg, and Fox most of the time. The lack of entertainment helped me catch up on my vlog backlog and I managed to finish editing all the videos from our Nov trip during this cruise.
We each had 150 minutes free internet on this cruise, which came in super handy as we had to contact MiL and our neighbor to help drip the pipes in our house during the massive winter storm that swept across the US just a few days after we departed. We definitely timed our cruise perfectly to escape the crazy cold weather.
20 Jan 2026 (Tues): Sea Day
First full day on the cruise was a sea day, which means lazy day for us. Just chill, eat, workout. It was windy and cold outside so we stayed indoors all day. Had breakfast at the buffet, lunch at O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill (like a pub), and dinner at the buffet.
This was a chill cruise for us so we didn't check out any activities they had onboard.
21 Jan 2026 (Wed): Sea Day
Another sea day = chill day. Had breakfast at the buffet (had to sit outside coz it was crowded indoors because it was chilly outside), lunch at the buffet, and dinner at Versailles dining room.
Had to wait a bit to get into the dining room for dinner so we headed to the buffet to get some ice cream first. As you can see, it was ice cream time all the time.
Dinner at Versailles dining room.
This was the one and only time we ate at the dining room on this cruise coz the food was served very slowly (not our style). We are buffet people...faster and more options.
22 Jan 2026 (Thurs): Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic
After chilling for 2.5 days, we finally made it to our first stop on this cruise! Our ship arrived at 8am but we took our time to enjoy breakfast before disembarking at 9.30am.
Dominican Republic was a new country for me but this is a port and sign stop for us. Our ship was the only ship in port so it was not too crowded. It was pretty hot so we didn't stay out for long.
We were surprised to find that port Cabo Rojo is pretty nice and there was a whole themed area called the Funtastic Village. Port Cabo Rojo is a new cruise terminal, featuring a self-contained, resort-like complex with free amenities like a lazy river, pools, and a Ferris wheel, alongside shops, restaurants, and entertainment.
Spent about an hour walking around the port area and it was time to head back to the ship at 10.30am to continue chilling.
Had lunch at the buffet then worked out and enjoyed using the internet while we were in port.
Had dinner at the buffet while enjoying the view and the sunset.
23 Jan 2026 (Fri): Oranjestad, Aruba
Arrived Aruba at 11am. Had breakfast before we ventured out to explore Aruba. Aruba belongs to Netherlands so not a new country for me.
Beautiful day and beautiful view of the blue waters from our ship.
Welcome to Aruba...One Happy Island! Disembarked the ship at 11am for a quick visit of Oranjestad, which according to ChatGPT is one of the easiest "walk-off" ports in the Caribbean. There were 3 ships in port so the town was busy.
We walked around downtown Oranjestad and saw some colorful Dutch-Caribbean architecture and historic buildings like Fort Zoutman.
Returned to the ship at 1pm after 2 hours of sightseeing.
The ship was quiet and empty as a lot of people were still out on excursions. Time for us to browse the internet and chill before we departed Aruba at 8pm.
24 Jan 2026 (Sat): Willemstad, Curaçao
Our next stop on this cruise after Aruba was another Dutch Caribbean island...Curaçao. For those who were following the Maduro news, there was certainly concern about sailing close to Venezuela (Curaçao is only 40-65km from Venezuela). But thankfully, our cruise was not impacted and it was still safe to visit Aruba and Curaçao. Our ship docked at 7am but we took our time to slowly enjoy breakfast before disembarking at 10.30pm to explore the town of Willemstad.
This was another easy port for DIY exploring. Walked along the coast to the Queen Emma Pontoon bridge and the colorful buildings along the waterfront. The colorful houses reminded me of Nyhavn in Denmark.
Our timing was good as we saw a big ship sailing by and after the ship sailed past, the pontoon bridge swung back to allow pedestrians to walk across.
Another beautiful day for sightseeing. Headed back to the ship at 11.30am after an hour of sightseeing. Had the rest of the day to catch up on the internet and enjoy ice cream before continuing our journey to the next port.
25 Jan 2026 (Sun): Sea Day
After 3 consecutive port days, it was time for another chill day as our ship made its way back up north to the next stop. Chill day means eat, workout, hang out in the room to read / edit videos / watch TV. Had breakfast and lunch at the buffet, and dinner at O'Sheehan's because hubby wanted to watch football.
26 Jan 2026 (Mon): Falmouth, Jamaica
Jamaica was another new country (#65) for me. This was a port and sign stop for us because we weren't comfortable walking around the town ourselves.
Disembarked the ship at 11.30am. The port area was controlled and nice so we just explored the cruise port village and enjoyed live reggae music and cultural performances.
Returned to the ship at 11.50am after walking around the port area for 20 min. Went up to the upper deck of the ship to enjoy the ocean views and panoramic view of the town.
We could see the impact of the damage from Hurricane Melissa on this town in Oct 2025 as a few buildings were still missing roofs.
Spent the rest of the afternoon chilling on the ship and catching up on the internet.
27 Jan 2026 (Tues): Georgetown, Grand Cayman
Welcome to Cayman Islands. Cayman Islands was supposed to be an easy port to visit where we could just walk off the ship for a quick stroll around Georgetown. Unfortunately, our ship couldn't dock at the port due to strong winds and had to 'park' further away, requiring an additional boat and bus ride (costing $20/pax) to get into town. We didn't have much planned for this port and didn't want to waste time and money going all the way to town so we decided to just chill on the ship for the day. Besides, Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory so not a new country for me.
Told ya this was a chill cruise for us.
28 Jan 2026 (Wed): Sea Day
Last full day of our cruise was yet another sea day. Our last day of chilling and being lazy before heading home. This cruise was truly an eat, sleep, chill vacation for us, which was intentionally planned for the calm before the storm. We've been trying to be anti-social on this cruise but somehow hubby kept bumping into random aunties who wanted to chat. Chatted for 30 min with a lady from Charlotte at the gym, then another retired lady saw his Margaritaville t-shirt and asked if we also live in Margaritaville village, then on the last day 2 Canadian-Italian aunties 'tumpang' our table at breakfast and ended up chatting with us for 30 min...lol!
All the 'paper' collections throughout our cruise.
29 Jan 2026 (Thurs): Tampa - Charlotte - Huntsville
We opted for the self-assist check out option (i.e. carried our own luggage off the ship) as we wanted to disembark the ship early at 7.30am and head to the airport to catch our flight at 11am. Had breakfast at 6.40am, checked out of our room at 7.25am and were off the ship by 7.35am.
Scheduled our Lyft ride for 8am and made it to the airport at 8.30am. We've had good experiences embarking and disembarking at Port of Tampa for both Margaritaville and NCL.
Unfortunately, our flight from Tampa to Charlotte was delayed by an hour which resulted in us missing our connecting flight (got off the plane at 1.35pm and our connecting flight departs at 1.49pm). AA automatically rebooked us on the next flight at 4.48pm. Booked our flight from Tampa - Charlotte - Huntsville with 6,000 AA miles + $5.60 per pax.
The delay made our travel day slightly longer but we were able to hang out at the Club lounge in Charlotte with my Priority Pass.
Finally made it back to Huntsville at 5pm.
So how much did we pay for this 10-night cruise?
Total cost for this 10-day cruise: $760 for 2 pax ($38/pax/day). Not as cheap as some other ones we got previously but still not bad.
