Cruising into Spring | Mommy and Me Monday | 681st ed
In December, we decided we needed a family trip. There had been too much staying put for school breaks and vacations. (Mr. Serious even carried over a week of vacation time).
Not recommended is waiting less than 3 months to book a cruise with a party of 6. We found a cruise out of Port Canaveral, but we didn’t feel like it was the one, so we kept looking.
Then we found one out of New Orleans and made it happen. Merry Christmas to us, we were booked for February break cruising.
Now, the pictures. And because I’m not fighting with the computer today, they are all in a block and then more text after the scroll.
On the road to Port New Orleans Waiting for the Carnival Glory to leave port. Comedy show time. Walking across the ship near the muster stations. At first we were told it was okay to walk here, then we were “casually” asked to come inside. Also, this was our formal night attire. Looking spiffy at our dinner table. We almost got a full window. Jamaica. Where we were suppose to excursion and then didn’t, but made the best of the empty ship. Family craft time in Camp Ocean. 
On the tender boat to shore in Grand Cayman. We found our own private (but really, it was public) beach for a swim and snorkel. The beaches were gorgeous and so was the water, but man there was a lot of trash…so much broken glass. Waiting for another comedian to start. 
Some down time watching a movie in the room on a tiny tablet. Pouty faces…except B who was very excited about her dinner! Yummy yummy desserts. Family scavenger hunt…congo line with more than 5 people…big family bonus! The prompt here for the scavenger hunt was “ocean”. Or as the oldest and E thought, “eat mom!” The sunset on the last night as we made our way back to the Mississippi River. Lots of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico here.
Our ports of call were Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico.
Our plan was excursions in Jamaica and Mexico, but well, best laid plans.
The excursion we booked for Jamaica left at local time, not ship time. And we missed our bus. After paying a ton for the excursion and transportation, we opted to not take $200 worth of taxis to our destination and decided to make the most of the ship being relatively empty for the first time in days.
Grand Cayman was supposed to be a chill on the boat day, but we decided to adventure. We had heard you could walk to the beach. Reports of how far and how long the walk was going to be were all over the place.
We were told from 15-45 minutes and 0.5miles to 2 miles. The funniest was when the locals looked at us and said “oh, it’s too hot today, I wouldn’t walk it!”
Challenge accepted. We were all ready.
It was less than a mile to the public beach we settled on. And it took us about 22 minutes to walk there in less than 80F weather. We’ve trained for this!
As you can see in the pictures, the weather, beach and water were amazing. There was surprisingly a lot of broken glass on the beach which was disappointing. But, we enjoyed some sun, the water and some snorkeling.
In Cozumel, we went to an outdoor area with a water obstacle course, kayaks and beach. It was fun, but very crowded. Not sure I’d do that one again.
While on the ship, we enjoyed the comedians, trivia, games and some camp activities with the family. We also watched some movies we pre-downloaded onto a tablet. And, I personally read almost 2 full books.
Our last day on the ship we had a fun scavenger hunt, but most of the day we just hung out and relaxed after our respective runs. Oh yeah, we all did our running plan on the treadmills the whole week, too!
We were sunburned and ready for home and less people-ing!
What did you do this week?
GET IN THE PICTURE WITH YOUR KIDS! Who cares what you look like? Who cares how you appear? Who cares what you are wearing? JUST DO IT! Come share your picture on the Facebook thread or use #MommyAndMeMonday!
It’s time again for Mommy and Me Monday. Pop out from behind that camera and capture yourself in action with your kids. Check out the inaugural Mommy and Me Monday for more information. Need another reason to participate in Mommy and Me Monday? Read my post about why I blog with words from a friend’s husband.
