paramedicduo

So exciting!! We are from Stratford, PEI...suburbs of Charlottetown. And just returned from a 6 nighter on Freedom last weekend. We took the kids with us for the first time (adjoining balconies since we're a family of 5) and ironically, when we returned, we left the kids with my parents for a few days and went to St. John for work meetings for dh.

I understand the scheduling conflicts with your son...we also have 10th grader, but with 3/4 of his classes being "shop" classes this semester, we said the hell with it. Each of the boys missed a considerable amount of hockey since we were gone 9 days total.

(We may be returning to a hockey tourney in Hampton this winter & will likely stay at the Amsterdam in Quispam).

 

Have a fantastic getaway!! It's the second Canadian live review of Freedom that I'll have followed in a month [emoji847]

 

 

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I forgot to mention that we the same thing with drinks/Voom package. Hubby planned to stay up to date with work emails and the internet was much better than on previous sailings! While you can only use it on one device at a time, it was great to be able to log in and out on each device and let me have my turn. I don't feel like we got our money's worth out of the drinks package this time, but only because the kids were not interested in the kids club and we spent much of our time at sea moving from one activity to another. But, I was still able to enjoy "a few" of of my favourite "Blue Hawaiian" drinks throughout the week :)

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So exciting!! We are from Stratford, PEI...suburbs of Charlottetown. And just returned from a 6 nighter on Freedom last weekend. We took the kids with us for the first time (adjoining balconies since we're a family of 5) and ironically, when we returned, we left the kids with my parents for a few days and went to St. John for work meetings for dh.

I understand the scheduling conflicts with your son...we also have 10th grader, but with 3/4 of his classes being "shop" classes this semester, we said the hell with it. Each of the boys missed a considerable amount of hockey since we were gone 9 days total.

(We may be returning to a hockey tourney in Hampton this winter & will likely stay at the Amsterdam in Quispam).

Have a fantastic getaway!! It's the second Canadian live review of Freedom that I'll have followed in a month [emoji847]

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Dh and I have gotten into the habit of collecting a model ship on each cruise, but, we didn't start until our second cruise - so we're missing one :( I've searched the internet (eBay, Amazon, Google search) and haven't been able to come across one. Is there a way to get one without going back on the same ship (or finding some generous, trusting soul willing to pick one up and ship it to us)?

Is the door between the adjoining cabins able to be left open throughout the trip? Do they have a way to keep it open, or should I bring a door stop? We will have adjoining rooms next month, but with younger kids. So, I would like to keep that door open.

We kept it open pretty much the entire time - only closed when they went to bed, but we were still up watching TV. It stayed open all by itself without any issue. If for some reason your door was a little looser or something, you could just pull the chair against it to prop it open.

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What a long travel day for all of you, glad you made it safe and sound.

 

 

 

My post was after you posted your formal night pics..

LOL - I love those sandals! I snagged them in the liquidation sale from Sears for $10 a few weeks before leaving.

We had a very long travel day yesterday - from the time we left the airport to arriving home was 14.5hrs...but the kids were truly amazing for the trip home & it was uneventful.

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This morning was weird:

I woke up to an animal in my bed...but it wasn't a towel animal. Then I pulled opened the curtains, and the view was not the Caribbean...finally, I decided to walk down the hallway for breakfast...gasp...no buffet!!

YEP...we're home, reality has hit!

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Well this was a great review, thanks for sharing.

 

You have a beautiful family.

 

I love those sandals!

 

Safe travels tomorrow.

Thanks! Pulled in the driveway at midnight last night!

Sandals??

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And we've arrived home!! It was a long 15hrs of travel, but the kids were legit troopers today!! 7hrs of hurry up & wait inside airports was tough when everyone just wanted to click their heels together and be home! We arrived home just shy of midnight, with my mom picking us up at the airport (she was only supppsed to drop off our vehicle, but we were happy to see her for the first time since August).

Balance in the house has been restored...the dogs were jumping & kissing and tails wagging, going crazy!

Since I am the packing queen & each bag was organized, I had everything unpacked & sorted in 30min...1 hamper for dirty clothes going to the laundry room & 1 hamper of clean (the ship's laundry didn't return until Friday evening, which meant most of our stuff returned home clean [emoji847]).

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Also from 2nd formal: Creme brûlée

Royal chocolate cake with ice cream

Arcade time...I was always surprised when walking through this area, at the number of adults playing.

Last night...dinner at Johnny Rockets

At the airport, having dinner on the way home, the 8yr old winks at me and says, "I'm single and ready to mingle!"

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Waking up next to Oasis

The cream of mushroom on puff pastry (2nd formal night)

Thai chicken on 2nd formal

Beef tenderloin on 2nd formal...notice the small sides

Baked Alaska from 2nd formal night also

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Well, we're on our final leg to home and I've got time to put together a few thoughts from the past week!

As much as they grated on my last nerve at times, I'm so happy we were able to take the kids on their first "real vacation" and even more excited that it was a cruise after hearing about ours each time!

I don't know that there will be another in their near future, but only because I really like my husband and really missed "our" town on this vacation. Our quiet mornings curled up on the balcony for breakie either as we docked at a new port or as we sailed through the Caribbean on sea days, our quiet time strolling new beaches, holding hands and chatting...strangely enough, usually about the kids (irony??). I missed getting a few drinks in the middle of the afternoon in a quiet, kid free area where I could read and he could just veg in a little shade. I missed our quiet dinners, talking about the craziness of family life at home, and as cliche as it sounds, our hopes & dreams. I missed the late night shows, stopping for drinks at various bars/venues and wandering the ship when it was almost empty.

The trip wasn't better or worse than previous ones...it was just different!

We got to experience the boys' excitement of their first flights & cruise, the excitement of visiting new countries, missing a week of school. Their excitement as they explored the ship; watching the teenager truly come out of his shell & make new friends - so many times on this trip I started to wonder if he was just a figment of my imagination since we'd routinely go 8-10hrs without hearing from him...having him creep in at curfew. Yes, the littles drove us crazy boycotting kids club...but shouldn't we be happy they still want to be with us?? It's just hard to think about that at the moment. They drove us crazy at times with their bickering back and forth over silly things (seems vacation is not all that different from home after all). But we saw the older of the 2 take care of the younger when he was crying for us to pick him up at kids club and then the youngest repay the favour when he saw "the look" on his brother's face in the WJ in time to prompt hubs to return him to the cabin before he puked in public...then let him choose what to watch while he felt so yucky.

Yes, I still believe that most days their entire goal was drive us bat sh-t crazy before bedtime (and oh so many days they succeeded, on others...they came alarmingly close!), but spending so much time with them this week, we were also reminded of just how entertaining, sincere, hilarious, intelligent, curious & just plain amazing they all are.

I still stand by an earlier statement that I cannot be friends with people who make it seem easy to travel with kids...they're either liars or a whole other level of crazy themselves...ain't nobody got time for that!

Regardless of the ups and downs of the week, it'll be a trip we'll talk about for a long time...one they'll relive over and over again when telling their friends and family and when enjoying all the photos.

There will be stories and memories to last a lifetime and by tomorrow, they'll likely even forget all the times we threatened them this week with grievous bodily harm...including, but limited to: being thrown over board, being thrown out of a moving aircraft, being thrown into the pool/ocean...I'm only sort of kidding too!

We all have tomorrow off to try to return to some level of normalcy! Hubs is traveling tomorrow evening through Wednesday evening for work, and if I can make their hockey schedules work for Nanny (my mom), I'm going to tag along for my own chance to return to normal (I don't return to work until Friday...so either way - I'll either be out of town with hubs or sending the kids to school each day while I chill on my own).

To finish off my not-so-live review...I'll add a few photos at the end here of things I may have missed along the way.

Playa Mia Water Park in Cozumel:

Accosted by an Ogre:

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I honestly have no idea, I just know that when I woke up just before 7, we were already docked.

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The live review may have sh_t the bed...but I'll get it finished :)

The weather never did clear up yesterday - the one day I get perfect poolside loungers! The enjoyed the pool for a short time after breakfast, until big dark clouds rolled through with heavy rain (though it didn't last long).

We spent the day moving from place to place to keep the kids entertained & happy...they spent a long time on the rock wall before returning to the pool again late in the afternoon.

Each of the boys was promised some arcade money, so hubs spent some time wasting money in there, they watched some television in the room & then showered for dinner at Johnny Rockets. Apparently there was such a line up all day long, that they were out of ice cream - no ice cream, malts or milkshakes :(

After dinner we toured the inlaws inside cabin & they toured our adjoining balconies before we wandered the ship & gathered our photos from the photo gallery.

Like pretty much every other night, we "planned" to go to the show (adult comedy), but it never happened - we didn't want to keep the teenager from one last night with his new friends.

The entire cruise was a new experience...not better or worse...but definitely different from our others! For all those people who make travelling with kids sound easy...well, I can't be friends with them any more! Yikes it's exhausting!! I'm so ready for a vacation from my vacation!

Hubs and I are already looking for a short cruise for later in the winter - without kids...if we can make it work with a sitter plus their hockey schedules (and of course my work schedule since mine is a lot less flexible than his).

Disembarkation:

Of course everything was packed up last night, so it was an easy morning of showers & WJ for breakfast.

We left our room at 8:05, had our luggage in hand at 8:15, were through Customs at 8:35 and had our rental keys in hand (Budget on SW 17th)...a very smooth departure.

We don't fly until tomorrow, so we drove out to Sawgrass Mills to do some shopping/browsing before heading to Miami for the night (we got better flight times/cost out of MIA instead of FLL on the return).

Checked into Hampton Inn Miami Airport South (NW 57th) and got settled before taking the short drive to Dolphin Mall to have Cheesecake Factory for dinner & let the teenager spend more time shopping.

We fly tomorrow at noon, so there won't be a crazy rush in the morning...but at this point, we all wish we could click our heels together and just be home! Everyone misses the dogs at home!

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Our last day...and boy is the wind blowing!! We've had an amazing week of weather - hardly a breath of wind, but the weather God's appear to be making up with it now.

After not being able to get a pool lounger all week, I decided this morning I would head up when I woke & grab one front and centre.

Now, I'm sitting here, wrapped in my towel, waiting for my lazy family (it's 9:40) to join me. It's quite cloudy, but the forecast looks like it'll clear up a bit later - I still have to work on my tan!

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Day 5: Cozumel

We woke up this morning to see the Oasis outside our balcony...so close!

We're in port today with 7 other ships...2 of which are at the other port (wherever that is...we can see it in the distance) & Vision OTS is tendered close by, along with 3 Carnival ships (I only counted 2, but hubs said there was a 3rd behind).

The WJ was crazy by the time we got up there, but we were able to grab a table big enough & enjoy our breakie before heading out for the day.

I had used Shore Excursioneer to pre-purchase day passes for 5 of us, including the buffet for about $165US. I slipped up to the computer lounge, printed our tickets & headed of the ship.

So many people!! But, the lines moved quickly. We waited in line for a taxi, at which time we had about 90 seconds of rain (seriously, I don't think it lasted 2 minutes). We snagged a cab for the 5 of us...the kids freaked out that they put 5 of us in a 5 seater plus the driver...we're not in Canada now kids!

Playa Mia is a short 10min, $25 (for 5 people) taxi ride.

What a great spot!! We don't have many water parks at home & those we have wouldn't be comparable to this place...now, if you're used to extravagant parks, this might not tickle your fancy, but it was great for us.

For $4 each, you can rent a locker & umbrella (an additional $4 deposit for each is required). The $$ gave us all access to 3 different pools - 1 similar to the H20 zone on onboard, plus 2 deeper pools...1 had loungers & cabanas around it, the other just had a few benches to sit at. Beside 2 of the pools were 2 water slides - nothing amazing, but enough to keep our kids happy. We did try swimming out to the inflatables on the ocean...which was originally what drew me to this place, but the wind & strong current made it impossible. After 30 minutes of swimming to get absolutely nowhere, I convinced the kids it was a lost cause & we headed back to shore. I knew that in order to be successful, we needed to "come at it" from the other side, but they were too tired out and discouraged to try again. They grabbed a volleyball to play beach volleyball before heading to the pool/slides.

We didn't venture into any of the shops, but there must have been at least 8-10 of them, along with cash bars, massages & restroom facilities. It was not nearly as busy as I expected with so many ships in & it was brilliantly clean and well kept. Hubs said the biggest bonus was not being accosted by anyone to buy anything!

Because of the traffic, our plan was to head back to the ship around 2...I guess plenty of people were planning to leave later because there was no wait for a cab & the traffic was light until we were back in the port area. We were wandering around for our Christmas ornament some time around 2:15.

The buffet was nothing spectacular, so we were hungry getting back - off to WJ to fill up.

With their bellies full, the boys decided they wanted to try ice skating...seriously boys, we're Canadians who all play ice hockey - we spend an average of 15hrs a week at the hockey rink and while in the Caribbean, you want to skate?!? Maybe they were suffering from withdrawal, I mean it's been just shy of a week since they've been on the ice - lol! Anyhow, long pants & socks and we were off to skate. They were none too impressed with the "plastic skates" - lol, but it was pretty cool to skate while aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean!

After skating we returned to the rock wall for the kids to take another turn - they're part monkey I swear! Each of them tried & completed each wall.

While I went back to the room to get ready for our 2nd formal night, hubs took the boys to grab supper in the WJ before kids club...ahhh...a kid free dinner! But, when I got out of the shower, they were all in the room! By this time, the winds had really picked up and apparently the 11yr old (motion sick guy) got really nauseous and needed to come back - he returned to the room to lose his supper in the toilet. Luckily, the teenager popped by and offered to watch them for us to have dinner! Yay! The 11yr old took a gravol and curled up to watch TV.

We met PIL outside the MDR for our 7:45 dinner.

I forgot to take photos of the dinner menu, but nobody was disappointed with what they ordered...2 Duck consumme, cream of mushroom soup on puff pastry & chicken noodle soup.

Coming from an island who's main industry is fishing, nobody was interested in what we would consider second rate lobster, so we were likely one of few tables this night that skipped out on lobster. 3 of us went with the prime rib & hubs ordered the Thai Chicken. My only complaint with the prime rib was the mediocre sides...I'd have preferred mashed or whipped potatoes over the croquettes.

The recommended dessert was Baked Alaska - which was ordered by 2, and the others were chocolate cake & cream brûlée...everyone left stuffed and content!

With a teenager wanting to head off to the Teen club's Prom Party, hubs and I stopped for a couple of photos & then made our way to the cabin to send him on his way.

We changed out of our dress clothes & took the other boys to the Promenade for pizza and cupcakes before bed.

Once back to the cabin, hubs & I were too full for drinks on the balcony, so we just chilled out there in the dark silence...minus the sound of the waves - it was quite rough!

Next up Day 6 - at sea...it's hard to believe the next time we touch land they'll be kicking us off permanently!

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A few posts coming here with the missing Cruise Compasses:

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Day 3: Grand Cayman...first port stop and the kids were excited to get started - even with the 6:30 wake up call!

We had decided last night that it would work best to order room service & the kids could be eating and getting ready at the same time. I ordered for both rooms for delivery between 6-6:30 and just before 6:30, got a call that the food was on its way...only 2 out of 5 of the orders came...nothing for the second room at all. Meh...no big deal, the teenager and I slipped up to the Windjammer and came back with a couple of plates to split.

After breakie, we made our way to the theatre for our excursion departure. Inlaws we're on tender 2 & us on the 3, once we made it to the port, we were quickly whisked off in a van to Dolphin Cove. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't book this one & had no idea how far the drive would be...our 2 younger boys suffer from motion sickness, so I was happy it was just a short 10-15 minute drive and unlike a few other ports we've been to, the driver wasn't a maniac.

The first part of our excursion would be with the stingrays...which required a boat ride...now this felt like tempting fate after the van ride was uneventful. But, we made it out without issue, grabbed the kids' life jackets & literally peeled the 8yr old off my leg and dragged him into the water...after hearing the safety speech on the way out, he suddenly decided he didn't want to get into the water. He clung to me like a 3rd appendage for the first 10 minutes, then slowly started to get comfortable. What a mean mother eh? It was really windy, with a heavy surf, so I he'd be sick on the boat & I knew if he didn't do it, he'd regret it. He didn't touch any sting rays, but he ended up thinking it was super cool & pointing them out as they swam around.

We only spent about 30 minutes in the water before returning to the boat to head back to the dolphins. The ride back was quite rough & the 3rd time was definitely a charm...the 11yr old started vomited less than 5 minutes into the ride back! But, we always come prepared, we had a stash of vomit bags in our backpack & shoved one in front of him just in time! I know being motion sick sucks, but with this kid being so used to puking - he's mastered doing it without catching the attention of everyone around & once he's emptied his belly...he's pretty much fine. He laid his head on the bench, in the breeze, for the rest of the ride back & was recovered in time hop in the water again, for the dolphin encounter.

Now, I had no idea when this was booked, what we'd actually be doing, and since it was "just" an encounter, they immediately wanted to upsell us because the encounter doesn't include swimming with the dolphins - but I know my kids, at least 2 of them wouldn't have done anything more than we were signed up for...on to our "encounter". This included petting one as it swam by, down the line of us a few times, having it come up and stop to kiss us & be kissed, "dancing" with the dolphin, posing for a photo with it & some "dolphin education" from the trainer. The kids thought it was a pretty cool (but short) experience.

I'm "one of those" that falls for photo packages...these are all things we may never experience again, so to me, it's not a waste (though it certainly qualifies as highway robbery at $150). The process for ordering photos is fairly simply, it reminded me of the photo kiosks you put your SD card into at the pharmacy...the problem with the process is the payment & pick up of the CD. There had to be about 75 people on the excursion, with 1 person running the cash register, the line included those getting little trinkets, drinks & the photo packages...after we paid, we went to the pick up desk...chaos! 2-3 young ladies taking tickets and gathering the finished product, but they lollygagged around there like they had all the time in the world - just very frustrating when there's a bus load of people waiting for you in the parking lot!

Anyhow...back on the bus, back to the port. We were heading out just before 1 and a small group on the bus wanted to head to a beach, so they were dropped off about 10 min from the port at what was referred to as a private beach with a $2 admission fee.

Traffic heading back was quite heavy, not surprising since we were 1 of 4 ships in...Norwegian, Disney & Pull-something - someone on the tender thought it was the old Monarch of the Seas.

We walked across the street to a souvenir shop to buy a Christmas tree ornament (which do in every port) and our teenager wanted to get something for his girlfriend.

The tender line up was huge when we returned...thank God for all the tents for shade and the fact that each tender held more than 200 passengers, so the line moved quickly.

We were back on board, heading to the crowded WJ by about 2:00.

The afternoon's sail away party was to include Alex the Lion & King Julien, so we made our way to the pool deck with stops at the bar for hubs & I and the ice cream machine for the young boys...by this time, the teenager was long gone!

We hung out in the pool to cool off - it was so hot, the kids even decided to ditch the ice cream because it was melting faster than they could eat it.

I swear these kids can't/won't do anything for more than 30 minutes at a time...at the 30min mark, these started talking about what to do next, lol. Another frozen drink for the adults and we were off to mini golf - the kids played while we watched the flowrider folks. Up until this point, I had only ever seen the stand up attempts - which was what made me so nervous (and the reviews of broken collar bones, legs & tailbones that I had come across). Anyhow, these guys were just boogie boarding, so I told dh we'd definitely let the kids try that instead...but when they returned from mini golf they "didn't feel like it"...code for, we're too afraid/nervous. Once we find the teenager again, we'll get him to show them how it's done & I'm sure they'll give it a whirl.

After a short game of ping pong for the kids...we headed back to the cabin to get showered.

The boys horsed around in their cabin for a while...my apologies to the neighbours! And we eventually decided to just make our way to WJ for dinner.

As I mentioned earlier, "I'm one of those people" who buys the photos, so we headed to the photo gallery to purchase their "special" all inclusive package...we wanted to get the CD of photos & purchasing by today meant they'd include all the prints for no extra charge. Now, we just have to be sure to pose for every photographer we come across for the remainder of the trip...sorry boys! Lol

Since the kids refused to return to kids club, they were dragged along with us to the Magic Show at 9:00 - the 8yr old was super pumped about how cool it would be & the 11yr old was bummed that it be "stupid and boring"...turns out the 11yr old was right. The magician was Justino and it was really slow, with nothing exciting. He was flip flopping between telling jokes, doing magic tricks and telling stories/giving advice - it was weird...one minute we were laughing at his silly jokes, the next he was telling a story about not being able to get back time with his dead grandpa.

After the Magic show - it was back to the cabin, with drinks on the balcony for the adults, while the kids watched a tv show to wind down.

Still no sign of the teenager who thought the Teen Lounge was going to be "stupid and boring" (what is it with my kids?!?). I fell asleep waiting for him to return...apparently at about 12:30, hubs thought maybe he should go out and look for him since we literally hadn't heard from or seen him since about 2:15. He had just opened the cabin door to head out when he saw him coming down the hallways...seems the Teen Lounge is anything but stupid & boring.

 

Up next: Day 4 in Costa Maya with no solid plans. We'll head ashore to check out the port area & then likely back to just enjoy the ship.

 

 

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OOPS - posted the wrong notes!

Once their bellies were full again, we wandered off the ship. Originally, the plan was just to wander the shops & head back to the ship, but the teenager wanted to go to a beach.

We walked out of the port area & for $2 per adult, grabbed a 4 min cab ride to a beach - $10 per adult got us a table at to eat at & 2 loungers - we snagged a 3rd for the teenagers.

The water was mostly clear with some bits of seaweed floating around. Biggest problem...the constant peddling of everything imaginable - massages, chips, knit bracelets, cheap jewelry and a few drunken, obnoxious nearby cruisers. I have no idea what the name of the place was...but it was close to port (Freedom was our backdrop).

When we were ready to go, another cabbie brought us back...funny thing...he charged each person, first guy only charged the adults.

Another stroll through the port area to pick up our Christmas tree ornament and we were back on the ship around 4pm.

In hindsight, there was a Dolphin Cove right at the port, we could swapped our Dolphin/beach day and avoided the long commutes yesterday.

We have a late dinner tonight, 8pm, with the kids...so we grabbed them something to hold them over.

The teenager is going to chill out in the room tonight while hubs & I go to the Love & Marriage Show - hoping it'll be entertaining as usual. Then he can catch up with friends afterwards.

For now...looks like the littles want to head to the rock wall before it's time to get ready for dinner.

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Day 3: Grand Cayman...first port stop and the kids were excited to get started - even with the 6:30 wake up call!

We had decided last night that it would work best to order room service & the kids could be eating and getting ready at the same time. I ordered for both rooms for delivery between 6-6:30 and just before 6:30, got a call that the food was on its way...only 2 out of 5 of the orders came...nothing for the second room at all. Meh...no big deal, the teenager and I slipped up to the Windjammer and came back with a couple of plates to split.

After breakie, we made our way to the theatre for our excursion departure. Inlaws we're on tender 2 & us on the 3, once we made it to the port, we were quickly whisked off in a van to Dolphin Cove. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't book this one & had no idea how far the drive would be...our 2 younger boys suffer from motion sickness, so I was happy it was just a short 10-15 minute drive and unlike a few other ports we've been to, the driver wasn't a maniac.

The first part of our excursion would be with the stingrays...which required a boat ride...now this felt like tempting fate after the van ride was uneventful. But, we made it out without issue, grabbed the kids' life jackets & literally peeled the 8yr old off my leg and dragged him into the water...after hearing the safety speech on the way out, he suddenly decided he didn't want to get into the water. He clung to me like a 3rd appendage for the first 10 minutes, then slowly started to get comfortable. What a mean mother eh? It was really windy, with a heavy surf, so I he'd be sick on the boat & I knew if he didn't do it, he'd regret it. He didn't touch any sting rays, but he ended up thinking it was super cool & pointing them out as they swam around.

We only spent about 30 minutes in the water before returning to the boat to head back to the dolphins. The ride back was quite rough & the 3rd time was definitely a charm...the 11yr old started vomited less than 5 minutes into the ride back! But, we always come prepared, we had a stash of vomit bags in our backpack & shoved one in front of him just in time! I know being motion sick sucks, but with this kid being so used to puking - he's mastered doing it without catching the attention of everyone around & once he's emptied his belly...he's pretty much fine. He laid his head on the bench, in the breeze, for the rest of the ride back & was recovered in time hop in the water again, for the dolphin encounter.

Now, I had no idea when this was booked, what we'd actually be doing, and since it was "just" an encounter, they immediately wanted to upsell us because the encounter doesn't include swimming with the dolphins - but I know my kids, at least 2 of them wouldn't have done anything more than we were signed up for...on to our "encounter". This included petting one as it swam by, down the line of us a few times, having it come up and stop to kiss us & be kissed, "dancing" with the dolphin, posing for a photo with it & some "dolphin education" from the trainer. The kids thought it was a pretty cool (but short) experience.

I'm "one of those" that falls for photo packages...these are all things we may never experience again, so to me, it's not a waste (though it certainly qualifies as highway robbery at $150). The process for ordering photos is fairly simply, it reminded me of the photo kiosks you put your SD card into at the pharmacy...the problem with the process is the payment & pick up of the CD. There had to be about 75 people on the excursion, with 1 person running the cash register, the line included those getting little trinkets, drinks & the photo packages...after we paid, we went to the pick up desk...chaos! 2-3 young ladies taking tickets and gathering the finished product, but they lollygagged around there like they had all the time in the world - just very frustrating when there's a bus load of people waiting for you in the parking lot!

Anyhow...back on the bus, back to the port. We were heading out just before 1 and a small group on the bus wanted to head to a beach, so they were dropped off about 10 min from the port at what was referred to as a private beach with a $2 admission fee.

Traffic heading back was quite heavy, not surprising since we were 1 of 4 ships in...Norwegian, Disney & Pull-something - someone on the tender thought it was the old Monarch of the Seas.

We walked across the street to a souvenir shop to buy a Christmas tree ornament (which do in every port) and our teenager wanted to get something for his girlfriend.

The tender line up was huge when we returned...thank God for all the tents for shade and the fact that each tender held more than 200 passengers, so the line moved quickly.

We were back on board, heading to the crowded WJ by about 2:00.

The afternoon's sail away party was to include Alex the Lion & King Julien, so we made our way to the pool deck with stops at the bar for hubs & I and the ice cream machine for the young boys...by this time, the teenager was long gone!

We hung out in the pool to cool off - it was so hot, the kids even decided to ditch the ice cream because it was melting faster than they could eat it.

I swear these kids can't/won't do anything for more than 30 minutes at a time...at the 30min mark, these started talking about what to do next, lol. Another frozen drink for the adults and we were off to mini golf - the kids played while we watched the flowrider folks. Up until this point, I had only ever seen the stand up attempts - which was what made me so nervous (and the reviews of broken collar bones, legs & tailbones that I had come across). Anyhow, these guys were just boogie boarding, so I told dh we'd definitely let the kids try that instead...but when they returned from mini golf they "didn't feel like it"...code for, we're too afraid/nervous. Once we find the teenager again, we'll get him to show them how it's done & I'm sure they'll give it a whirl.

After a short game of ping pong for the kids...we headed back to the cabin to get showered.

The boys horsed around in their cabin for a while...my apologies to the neighbours! And we eventually decided to just make our way to WJ for dinner.

As I mentioned earlier, "I'm one of those people" who buys the photos, so we headed to the photo gallery to purchase their "special" all inclusive package...we wanted to get the CD of photos & purchasing by today meant they'd include all the prints for no extra charge. Now, we just have to be sure to pose for every photographer we come across for the remainder of the trip...sorry boys! Lol

Since the kids refused to return to kids club, they were dragged along with us to the Magic Show at 9:00 - the 8yr old was super pumped about how cool it would be & the 11yr old was bummed that it be "stupid and boring"...turns out the 11yr old was right. The magician was Justino and it was really slow, with nothing exciting. He was flip flopping between telling jokes, doing magic tricks and telling stories/giving advice - it was weird...one minute we were laughing at his silly jokes, the next he was telling a story about not being able to get back time with his dead grandpa.

After the Magic show - it was back to the cabin, with drinks on the balcony for the adults, while the kids watched a tv show to wind down.

Still no sign of the teenager who thought the Teen Lounge was going to be "stupid and boring" (what is it with my kids?!?). I fell asleep waiting for him to return...apparently at about 12:30, hubs thought maybe he should go out and look for him since we literally hadn't heard from or seen him since about 2:15. He had just opened the cabin door to head out when he saw him coming down the hallways...seems the Teen Lounge is anything but stupid & boring.

Up next: Day 4 in Costa Maya with no solid plans. We'll head ashore to check out the port area & then likely back to just enjoy the ship.

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Would love to see your first formal nite pic

We've already told the kids they're not coming to tomorrow night's formal night - so this is it for them.

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Popped up to WJ for a little lunch...didn't they just finish breakfast?!? And have a pretty cool view of Oasis & the Norwegian ship beside us. Oasis is the last Royal Caribbean ship we sailed on.

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In with today's cruise Compass was the laundry special...all you can stuff in the laundry bag for $34.99. For us, it was easier to pack light than it was to pack something for every day, so I knew I'd be taking advantage of this!

I used the same trick I use when packing the suitcases - everything got rolled. I managed to stuff 17 tshirts, 12 boxers, 12 pairs of socks & 6 pairs of shorts into the bag [emoji847]

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Oasis is an awesome ship!!

 

 

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We sailed on Oasis with my inlaws a few years ago...it'll be cool for the kids to see it.

I think Allure is in Cozumel with us tomorrow - last time I checked, because of the changes in itineraries, there will be a total of 8 ships in [emoji15]

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Day 4: it's 9:15am and I'm still the only one awake! We don't dock until 11am, so I guess everyone is taking advantage of the time in bed!

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Costa Maya has a cool pool that is free for everyone to use if you walk past all the shops. Good cocktails and you get to meet people on the boat.

Cool - thanks for the info!!

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