Caribbean Cruise

We had a great time taking our family on a cruise for spring break this year. We went to the Western Caribbean with some of our Jackson relatives. We had been looking so forward to this trip!! The kids had been counting down the days since they received this as their main Christmas present in December! We left Saturday April 2 and flew the red eye flight to Tampa Florida. My kids are finally at the age that they can pretty much entertain themselves. The flights were a breeze and once we got to Tampa we immediately boarded our boat. The kids were bursting with excitement. They thought the boat was huge, the rooms were cool, and their first visit to the lunch buffet was amazing. We quickly hooked up with our cousins (in-laws) and began to get settled. We set sail early that evening and traveled to Key West, Florida. We arrived in Key West early afternoon on Monday April 4. While in Key West we went to the beach, swam, walked around town, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine! We also ate Key Lime Pie at a local restaurant. We were told it was a must if you visit Key West. It did not disappoint!! The next day we were at sea the entire day. We just relaxed the entire day. We swam in the boats pool, slept in, played ping pong, and ate the whole day. By day two the kids were very comfortable with their surroundings and would visit the bufffet frequently and always get the ice cream. The big kids spent a lot of time in what was called the Loft. That's where all the teenagers hung out and they also had their own tanning deck.The kids also loved spending time with their cousins. Every night they would hang out together until the late hours and then visit the midnight buffet. A couple of the nights they all slept in one cabin!! That's seven bodies in one little room! They were also thrilled to know that they could order room service 24 hours a day!!!! So they would just do it because it was fun, not really because they were hungry!!!That evening was our first formal night. Everyone loved getting dressed up and going to dinner, except for maybe Mason! It was a very fancy dinner and we all loved it! Jon took several pictures of the little girls while I was getting ready!
The three musketeers!!At Dinner:Family Picture after dinner:The next day we were in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We first went on a small tour of the island. It was so warm and beautiful. The natives were constantly trying to sell something to us. Our taxi was even stopped by this man who swallowed fire!!We then went to a local beach where we played in the water with some of the locals, Brinley got her hair braided, and we just enjoyed the warm and sunny weather!!After the beach we went to Margaritaville. There we swam in their pool and went down the big water slide. The kids loved that slide! We did some last minute shopping before heading back to our ship. We got stopped by several locals that wanted to sell us stuff. We were late getting back to our boat and we got in trouble!!! That night at dinner Morgan and her cousin tried escargot! They were both nervous but ended up liking it!!!!The next day we were in Grand Cayman! The beaches and water there were the most amazing of the entire trip! Unfortunately this was the one day that I didn't remember to bring my camera!!! UGH! Temple and I took the little kids to the beach. We played there the entire afternoon. I sand was white and soft and the water was the most beautiful aqua blue!! Jon and his brother to the older kids to Stingray City. They were able to swim with some stingrays and take pictures with them! (I don't have any of those pictures yet) It was so warm that day that we all kind of got a little too much sun! Every night when we would come back from dinner or a show we would have a towel animal in our room! The girls' loved seeing what creation there and the chocolates. Brinley was soooo excited when there was a monkey! For some reason she loves monkeys and thinks that someday she will get a real one for a pet!?!?Our final stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. This was probably the funniest day ever! We went on an excursion where we got to ride dune buggies all over the island! We first went snorkeling! We saw some pretty fish and even Brinley and Maddie snorkeled for part of the time. We then drove along the beautiful coast for several miles. I kept on saying this is so awesome! Morgan was taking several photos of the scenery. It was amazing!We then had a yummy lunch and went to the beach to swim. It was so fun in to swim in the water, play in the sand and relax!!!Our last day on our cruise was spent "at Sea". We were traveling back to Florida. We took advantage of every last minute of relaxation and sun! We just swam, laid in the sun and ate lots of ice cream! That evening was our last fancy dinner. The dinner staff put on a show with singing, music and dancing. It was a fun way to end the evening and cruise!Our family after dinner that last evening!We had such a great time on this cruise! My kids loved every minute of it and still talk about it weekly! They want to go on another one next year! We'll see about that! We loved going with our cousins and creating some great memories!We got back to Florida on a Sunday but we didn't fly back home until Monday evening since the tickets were much cheaper on a Monday. It was great to spend almost two more days in beautiful sunny weather! When we got home at 1 am we were exhausted. It was worth it though for a great vacation!!!