It was our last day in Bermuda, and with the ship leaving in the early afternoon, we decided to spend the morning, learning about the history of the island, with a free tour given by the Bermuda Historical Society actors.

The background of the Royal Dockyards… a small British outpost was built in 1814 and occupied in 1818 to replace the North American headquarters located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was felt that Bermuda was a more central location for both the Canadian and West Indies territories.

The outpost was expanded when a fort was built from 1820 to 1863. Convicts were brought from Britain and used as laborers. The marks on the fort walls are symbols for the more than 9,000 convicts brought over a 40 year period.

Our tour guide was a “British Naval” officer, who definitely enjoyed playing his part.

Scattered inside the fort, were examples of the cannons used at the fort as well as ship anchors.

We heard from one of the “slaves” that lived on the island about what life was like in the early 1800s.

There was a demonstration of keg construction. All of the keg material had to be brought in by ship, as Bermuda has very few natural resources.

Some of the original beams of the inner courtyard of the fort as still visible and outside the fort is the original navigational marker.

Just outside of the fort stands the Clock Tower building, which was built in 1856 as a warehouse. The walls are constructed of 3 feet thick limestone. In 2018, the building was converted into a mall in coordination with the new cruise pier.

Inside the mall, Jodi bought an original beach painting from Lisa- Anne Rego.

On our way back to the ship, we decided to stop at the Croffle Haus. It is a cross between a croissant and a waffle. It was delicious, like lick the paper delicious. The owner’s wife makes the cream from an old family recipe.

Our ship the Gem, had an early departure time, so we enjoyed a late lunch as we sailed away. What an amazing 3 days we had in Bermuda!!

The following day we had a Sea Day…Jodi and Cindy splurged on an afternoon at the spa getting pedicures. There is just something special about watching a pedicure at sea.

Sea Days are made for lazy mornings and afternoons of good food, good conversations, endless ocean views, and maybe trying your hand at the quarter slide machine.

One of our favorite parts on an NCL cruise, is after the final theater show…the crew comes out and sings. We even had the Washy, Washy, Happy, Happy, Smiley, Smiley group. The make sure our hands are sanitized before entering the buffet.

The sunset was beautiful, even without the sun and the hot tub made it a perfect ending to the day.