A couple of years ago, we had decided to go on a cruise with our kids for a family vacation. The year we purchased the cruise was 2020...then there was this global pandemic "incident" that shut down life for quite some time and a cruise was the last place you wanted to be. It wasn't even possible for much of the time since covid exploded. With the health of the earth looking up and the industry opening again, we thought we'd chance it and book our cruise for Spring Break this year. We gave the trip to the kids as a gift at Christmas so we were anxiously awaiting April to come!
We had to get swabbed and receive a negative Covid test before we could board the boat. We were so nervous because a neighbor had a little niece get a false positive before their cruise while checking in and their entire party was unable to set food on the ship. We were determined to sail- so we found our lab, did some precautionary nostril cleansing and all tested negative! We had to stop by the lab that did our paperwork because we thought we were missing some information and didn't want that to hold us up, so we were rushing it at the airport. When we were unloading from our shuttle at the car park, we asked Harrison where his bag was and realized...we never even packed it in the car. It was still at our house. Oh snap. We were already running a bit behind, there was no way we could go back. Our rockstar neighbor, Susan, broke in our house and zipped that luggage to Dave with minutes to spare. And we were off! It was a hectic time followed by mixed up airline seats, hour plus wait at the car rental, but finally we were ready to set sail. Wahoo! Anchors away!
The staff wore masks but we were only asked to wear them when checking in. We booked this cruise just planning on chillin with our little family, but our neighbor friends, the Hepplers had booked the same cruise! They have kids one year older than each of our oldest three, so they spent a lot of time with their buddies. We met up with them as soon as we got on the boat and explored together.
This ship was incredible. I took every opportunity to do any latin dance class and got Harrison up there with me a bit. I was cha-cha- cha-ing every night away.
The kids loved the Flow Rider and Katelee even surfed with her broken wrist...unauthorized by me.
She just couldn't pass it up. Grant decided his neck wasn't ready for that after a fall that caused some pain, so I was happy he opted for other activities-which there were plenty!!
There was a teen club and Grant as well as Katelee especially loved that. They met a lot of friends from all over the world and spent time getting to know them with Cameron and Hailey Heppler. Brenna was on the young end of that so she and Harrison spent more time with us, which we loved. The pool deck had a splash pad, water slides, pools and all the fun for water loving folks. I loved to see the kids (Brenna in the first pic) go down the slide and wave and then continue reading my book. Haha! We camped out at a spot right under the 'toilet bowl' slide and it gave me the necessary shade I require.
There was a mix of weather with some rain and some sunny days. They took advantage of the sun whenever they could.
While I personally didn't get on these water slides, I heard they were great. I preferred the slide you had a mat to sit on that took you down the side of the ship- the Ultimate Abyss.
Brenna kept pronouncing it Ab-iss, so now I have to make sure I get that first syllable emphasized her way.
I was so fast some of the the rides, the lights and music didn't even turn on. I guess I'm pretty much a professional Ultimate Ab-iss rider. I give the Ultimate Abyss 2 enthusiastic thumbs up.
The evenings were spent every night together in the main dining room. We had the best waiter, Steven, from India. He remembered everyone's names, our preferences and kept us full and happy. Grant went for escargot the very first night, I mean we don't usually have restaurants around here that offer the buttery slimy goodness. He said they were fine, I thought they were great. No one else was quite as daring.
We got dressed up for our formal night dinner and then everyone quickly changed to more comfortable apparel. But we looked snazzy for a hot second.
After our dinner meal we would go see a show (sometimes all together, sometimes we'd run into the teenagers as they popped around), or participate in a game show like Family Feud...
I can't remember who won this challenge, but I don't think we were ever super stars. The kids were great at karaoke.
I was walking through the promenade one night and thought a voice sounded familiar and sure enough it was Brenna and a couple gals belting T-Swift. There was constant entertainment and thank heavens there was a Royal Caribbean app so I could make sure my people were still on the boat when I hadn't seen them for awhile.
Grant refused to attend a second ice skating show after we forced him to go with us to the first one, but we did get him and Katelee to the comedian and a singer. The musical was slightly painful, so I didn't blame them when they begged to sneak out and meet up with other cool cats. But what's not cool about this?
The best show was the water show, I think that was unanimously agreed to by each McArthur. So, yay, we had one consensus there.
Katelee, Brenna and Harrison all did the little zip line that took you across the middle of the boat. Harrison looked like he was hanging on for dear life,
the girls thought it was hardly exciting. There really were just so many activities and events offered and ones we participated in, I can hardly cover it.
Climbing, games, arcades, scattergories, hunts, shows, movies, kids club, merry go round, mini golf and lots and lots and lots of slices of pizza, ice cream cones and tacos.
We were sailing over Easter, so I got up and went to the church service. No one else in the fam wanted to attend Mass with me, but I wanted to think about Jesus on his day and appreciated others on the ship that did as well. I bumbled through the words, but my heart was in it. It was a great service and I maybe got holy water shot into my eye, but I'm sure I need a new vision...I was just getting some help from the priest.
Besides the days at sea and time on the boat,
we got to experience some cool excursions. We rode horses in St Martin. These were some skinny little horses, so Dave didn't ride one. He spent the time taking our photos and apparently talking a native into driving him to the grocery store. Our friends came to the tour after us and thought Dave was being absconded. Luckily he was brought back to us and had some local goods for us to sample.
Everyone got along well with their ponies
even if Brenna looked like it hurt in every single picture. We took a loop around the hills and then ended up walking through the water.
Once they hit the ocean, the horses just let everything out of their bowels, so there was floating feces all over. The guide told us its just nature and not to worry, but I was still trying to avoid the poops as much as possible.
Grant donned his tank tops the entire week and you can see his skin progressively getting more red and damaged as the days went on. By the time we got home, he was completely scabbed and blistered. But he still did not cover up- gotta let those guns out no matter the burn I guess. These four give 5 stars to horses in the Carribbean.
Our second tour was a snorkel in St Thomas. That was a lot of fun! It took some serious coaxing to get Harrison in the water but he did it and some of us even saw turtles. Yay for that!
The catamaran ride was quite a thrill watching the Londoners Katelee and Grant made friends with get pretty crazy. It must have been too much for Harrison because we looked over and saw him in this position:
The dude was totally zen. Dave snapped a pic and a gentleman from Ireland asked me who taught Harrison to meditate like that. The Irish man said he teaches meditation and yoga as a profession and was impressed with how "grounded" Harrison was. Really though, can't get much more calming than boating through tropical ocean waves.
The final port was on Royal Caribbean's little water park island called Coco Cay. Grant took the 2 younger kids to the water park
and Grant and Katelee hit it up with their friends. I spent the morning solo and getting a massage at the spa on the boat. I'm not sure if that masseuse knew I wanted a massage and not a beating, because I ended up pretty bruised. But hey, at least I got some alone time. It poured for a bit once they got on the island, but they still got plenty of time to play and came back happy.
That was our last stop before disembarking the next morning. We said goodbye to all the awesome staff that made our vacation exceptional.
Harrison came home with some impressive magic tricks with their help, Grant had a gnarly burn that scabbed and blistered, Brenna and Katelee both had corn rolls in their hair and I had came back with quite a few more pounds.
Before we flew home, we went on a swamp tour of the everglades.
There were gators all over the place. It was creepy and fascinating.
Katelee had the best gator vision and spotted a tiny baby in the trees near the shore.
Her phone was even borrowed for a gator show so she will always have memories of a giant reptile almost eating her beloved device.
Reflecting back on the trip, I would say it was unforgettable! So much to do, so much to eat, so much to take in. The goal was to make memories so that mission was accomplished.
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