Our First Cruise

 

Our First Cruise

We are in the car on our way home from our first cruise and I wanted to write down memories of trip while they are fresh on my mind. First, let me say, the kids had the time of their lives! Sumner even told me this was his favorite vacation ever. All three kids said they enjoyed this better than Disney! I’d say that’s a WIN! 😊

 

We almost didn’t get to go on our trip because Matthew and I had a serious communication issue…. He thought I had gotten our birth certificates and I thought he had. So, on the Friday evening before we leave for our cruise on Monday, we realized we had all three of the kids’ birth certificates, but mine and Matthew’s were nowhere to be found. Of course, every where was closed until Monday morning so there was nothing we could do but hope we could get to the health department early enough to get new copies and be at Port Canaveral in time to load the ship. We had originally planned on boarding early, but at this point we were just hoping to be there before it set sail!

 

Monday morning we hurried up and got to the health department when it opened and wouldn’t you know, their internet was down so they couldn’t get online to retrieve the birth certificates. We waited (not so) patiently for the internet to start up again, and finally it did.  Once they got our certificates printed, we went to pay and guess what? The debit card machine wasn’t working either… So, we hurry to the bank and withdrawal cash and hurry back. Finally, we are on the road.  I called Royal Caribbean and told them we wouldn’t be there in time for our scheduled arrival. The gentleman on the phone told me as long as we were there by 2:30, we would be fine. I panicked again. I was under the impression the ship set sail at 4, so as long as we were there by 4 we could get on… Nope!  So we told the kids we had to drive straight there and we couldn’t stop unless it was an emergency.  Thankfully we pulled up to the port at 1:30! An hour to spare!!! Whooohoo!

 

Once we boarded the ship, we changed into our swimsuits and went to the pool deck.  Afterwards we explored. Sumner found the huge water slide and the girls found this really neat playground.  We played outside until about 5 and then went back into our room to get showers and get ready for dinner. 

 

We ate dinner every night, except one, in the dining hall.  The kids loved the fancy atmosphere. The food was amazing and the entire staff were so friendly and made you feel like you were royalty. In fact, that’s how it was the entire time. Everywhere we went we were greeted with friendly faces who went out of their way to make us feel special.

 

We spent our days swimming, soaking in the hot tub, playing mini golf, climbing rock walls, jumping on trampolines, sliding down water slides, watching (not participating 😊) people on the FloRider Surf Simulator, and eating. Oh boy, did we eat!

 

Matthew said it wouldn’t be healthy for us to go on more than one cruise a year because of how much we ate.  Anna Ruth estimated she ate 30 ice cream cones while we were gone. And that doesn’t even count the ice cream she had at night for dessert or the endless chocolate chip cookies she got during lunch and dinner. I cannot forget to mention the “all you could eat pizza”!  I don’t know what was so special about the pizza, but it was delicious! We’d stop by all throughout the day for a slice. Anna Ruth loved it so much she’d even ask to go get one more piece after dinner. I am not sure where she was putting all the food, but she always seemed to find room for one more piece of pizza, one more cookie, and one more ice cream cone. 😊   

 

Our first port day was Nassau, and we took a smaller boat to Blue Lagoon Island for a beach day and dolphin encounter. The kids loved snorkeling and swimming in the beautiful turquoise water.  The highlight of the day was the dolphin encounter. They were able to get in a pool with one, pet it, give it a hug & a kiss, and watch it do tricks.  It was SO much fun!

 

The other port day was Coco Cay Island.  We all visited the island, but the girls wanted to go back to the ship instead of stay.  Since just about everyone got off the ship, they thought it would be fun to have the entire pool area to themselves.  Sumner and Matthew stayed and did some snorkeling. They said it was a lot of fun and they saw a ton of beautiful fish.

 

Not only did we enjoy swimming and all the outdoor activities, we also had a blast watching an ice skating show and a world famous juggler. Sumner was even called to go on stage during the juggling show. That is a memory I know he will never forget!

 

The morning we left the ship, Abigail actually cried.  She kept saying how sad she was to be leaving.  Sumner and Anna Ruth were sad, too. All three of them told us over and over again how thankful they were to us for taking them on such a fun vacation. The ONLY thing that could have made the trip better would have been if Milly was with us. We all missed her a lot. However, we are so thankful for close friends who are more like family that loved on her and cared for her while we were away.