In Cozumel, we could have bought Mayan ruin excursions but chose to do very little. In Key West, we visited the John J. Audubon home, the Hemingway house and ate killer key lime pie. But you have too little time to really explore the ports of call, and you have other cruise passengers to contend with. In Grand Cayman, we were one of five or six cruise ships visiting that day. In Cozumel, we were one of a dozen or more.
Some passengers prefer to stay on the ship.
The Century, which can accommodate 1,700 passengers and 900 crew members, is basically a floating resort. Ranging the ship from deck to deck, fore to aft, is a bit like visiting a series of mini-theme parks. The ship is festooned with modern art. Paintings, lithographs, etchings and drawings are everywhere by the likes of Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol - and a considerable number of artists you never heard of. On-board auctions market work by artists famous and obscure, as investments.