My whole plan was to take my laptop on my trip with me so I could fully write all of the posts I had planned on the cruise. A lot happened that prevented it! 1. Winter Storm Heather showed up. I got a text saying our flights may be impacted and with the forecasted amount of snow I knew it would be insane. 2. We left 2 days early. After getting the text I contact Southwest. I was willing to get out of SLC early to get somewhere and be in place to make it to Florida. The Southwest agent I spoke with was like, "I can get you on the 4:40 out of SLC to Denver then to Atlanta tonight. Then tomorrow you get on the flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale." We took it. 3. I went home and packed (little kids clothes were mostly packed, thankfully) myself and the final toiletries. I forgot pajamas. I did all of this in 1 hour and 30 minutes. If you are a mom, you know what I mean... I was packing for 3 (let's face it, Alex needed help, thankfully my mom was around to help.). In less than 2 hours we were on our way to the airport.
Needless to say, I forgot my laptop.
Which in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't have worked. The internet was very spotty on this cruise for us.
Alex turned 18 in December. Since June of last year I was trying to get him to decide what kind of trip he wanted. And he had no idea (not helpful kid) what he wanted to do. I suggested so many things. We settled on a cruise in October. Yes, nearly 5 months to decide. We booked one out of Florida because of the time of year we were looking at and we wanted warm.
At some point it became a whole family trip. And the world is made for families of 4, unfortunately. I got on the phone with Royal Caribbean to book our cruise since they don't let you book it online. We did a 4 night Bahamas cruise out of Miami. Our itinerary was Day 1. Embarkation Day. 2. Perfect Day at CocoCay. Day 3. Nassau, Bahamas. Day 4. At sea. And it was amazing.
The great thing about doing a cruise is there is always entertainment provided. The first day on the cruise we were able to board the boat at 11:30am. That gave us time to get on, do the essentials like the safety drill and check, get the lay of the "land" and sign the kids up for the kids club called Adventure Ocean. We found the kids splash pad and pool, the Flow Rider, and of course ice cream! That evening we set sail while we were eating dinner and we were off. After dinner we attended the Ice Skating show, which the kids loved.
We woke up the next morning at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's private island. It was everything we could have wanted. The sun was out, the temperature was perfect and we found our way to a beach to hang out for the whole day. The sand on this beach was unreal! It was perfection. With the cruise we were able to rent beach mats to float in the water, we didn't have to bring our own towels since they were provided. At this island our drink packages worked, the food was included, the water was kid warm but so fun and we really couldn't have asked for more. Alex even did the biplane tour of the private island and loved it.
That afternoon we headed back to the boat, but not after stopping for more ice cream! It was the formal night on the ship. We got all dressed up and went to dinner (Italian night!). Oliver wanted to go to "school" as he called it and we took Claire to the headliner show "Once Upon a Time." She was in love. Alex and I hung out after the kids went to go to bed with Scott. We went to some of the trivia shows. It was fun to hang out with him and laugh! While we slept that night we again cruised to our next port, Nassau.
In the morning we woke up and got ready, got breakfast and made our way off the ship to the cute town of Nassau. I had watched a few YouTube videos by Life Well Cruised so I had an idea of what to expect. I saw the new little market right at the port, but we decided to go in on our way back to the boat. We went in the funnest store right off the boat called Del Sol where everything sold in the store changes color in the sun. I just pulled up the website to link it and saw sunglasses that I HAVE to order. The weather got a little crazy with rain, but it was never cold! We shopped in a few spots, got some fun little souvenirs and went back to the port. We did stop at Parliament Square, but I didn't even grab my phone because it was pouring. We did walk through the market at the port and found a cute magnet to remember the trip! We got on the boat and the kids went to Adventure Ocean, Alex did his thing, Scott and I got some lunch and drinks then I went and watched him surf on the Flow Rider. Just before dinner we caught the Sail Away Parade and had delicious food. Claire wanted to go to Adventure Ocean, Oliver wanted to go to the Magic Show. Alex and I spent the evening doing some shows and even got Claire from Adventure Ocean to watch the Lip Synch Battle.
Our last full day on the cruise was a sea day. We got up, had breakfast and found our spot on the Lido Deck by the kids stuff. I had the opportunity to sit in the sunshine and read while the kids lived their best lives. We had our final dinner and the kids went to Adventure Ocean. Alex, Scott and I went to the final show and then to pack since we had to disembark in the morning.
We woke up back in Miami, got off the boat and headed to our AirBnB. When we were originally planning this trip we figured we would want another beach day, but after leaving 2 days early I think we were all ready to get home. But we went to the beach, relaxed with a show and went to bed. The next day we made it home without event and it was perfect. This cruise will be something we remember for a long time!
Comments