Seaside Spring Break Cruise - March 30, 2019

[lcookie]

Hello all.  Well, we are back on land and back to our daily lives so I felt it was time to get going on this cruise review before the details started fading from my memory.  A little intro for those who have not seen any of my previous reviews.  We are a family of 3 from Atlanta (DW aka Mama, DD aka Teeny, and myself) that enjoy cruising on the regular.  We primarily cruise around Teeny's school calendar.  Last year we sailed on the Divina for spring break.  We had such a good time that we rebooked this year on the Seaside.  We also cruise with other families with the same break schedule as ours.

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Host Carolyn

[lcookie]

Vacation officially started on March 28th after I logged my obligatory 14 hours at work to leave things in a position that they would not implode in my absence.  The good news was that we were 100% packed up so all I had to do was get home and rest up for the drive.  The plan was to be on the road by 4 am Friday morning so that we would be well out of ATL before rush hour.  We were only 2 mins behind schedule so I was okay with that. 

 

 

[lcookie]

I like driving a night but the girls don't care much for it.  I don't know why because they always sleep 90% of the trip regardless if its day or night.  I made it down to Perry before I made my 1st pit stop.  No longer do I try the marathon nonstop driving expeditions.  I have learned to make the drive part of the adventure and to enjoy the ride versus fighting it.  By this time the sun was just starting to come up.  Teeny and I went on our 1st snack haul while Mama got reoriented with our current position.  After we go back on the road I thought I would have some company but that was short lived.  I looked to the right to see this -

 

 

I then looked back to see this -

 

 

 

Business as usual :-)

 

They pretty much slept until I pulled off for bfast in Gainesville, FL. 

 

[lcookie]

A little bit of insider info on us.  Teeny and I are total foodies and like trying off the beat and path places.  Mama is moreso along for the ride on this one.  I did a little google search and found a bakery that did breakfast dishes. They had great reviews so I gave it a shot.  The spot was "The Bakery Mill".  It was a total win.  Fresh baked sweets and down home breakfast dishes. 

 

 

 

 

 

Did I mention that they served country portions?  Well yes the do!!!

 

 

[lcookie]

The faces of happy campers -

 

 

More Nirvana -

 

 

 

[NumnuT]

following - great start!😎

[lcookie]

After breakfast we made our way past the turnpike to our next stop at Tom & Jerry's. I have been wanting to do one of these tours for some years so this was the day to check it off the bucket list.

 

 

 

 

Everyone is up and at em now.

 

 

 

 

[FMZ]

Excited to hear more of your Seaside adventure!! Thank you for taking the time! Great looking family! 

[lcookie]

The tour was nice, relaxing, and LOUD!  But man oh man could those boats cut over the water.  We got wide open a few times. 

 

 

 

 

 

[lcookie]

We saw one full grown gator, several birds, a couple turtles, and a buzzard sanctuary.  Would have liked to see more gators, but you take what nature gives you.  After the ride we took pictures with a baby gator.  The little one was having no parts of touching it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Hi Icookie,

Your review is “fixin” to be one of the best reviews I have ever read!  Please keep it coming...great pictures so far!

 

 

[styles27]

9 hours ago, lcookie said:

I like driving a night but the girls don't care much for it.  I don't know why because they always sleep 90% of the trip regardless if its day or night.  I made it down to Perry before I made my 1st pit stop.  No longer do I try the marathon nonstop driving expeditions.  I have learned to make the drive part of the adventure and to enjoy the ride versus fighting it.  By this time the sun was just starting to come up.  Teeny and I went on our 1st snack haul while Mama got reoriented with our current position.  After we go back on the road I thought I would have some company but that was short lived.  I looked to the right to see this -

 

 

I then looked back to see this -

 

 

 

Business as usual 🙂

 

They pretty much slept until I pulled off for bfast in Gainesville, FL. 

 

 

You must be a GREAT driver because they look very relaxed!!  I wish I could sleep while DH drives lol 🤔

 

Loving your review so far!

[Mellylucy]

You guys look so cute together. Great family!

 

 

[TrinaLC]

Keep it coming!

[nycfa]

Following along....

[SUSIEK]

Love this..... waiting for more!

[beachseasand]

Looking forward to this review.  Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[lcookie]

Thank you all for following along with me.  I love it when people share our adventure with us!

[lcookie]

After this stop over we jumped back on the Pike headed towards Lauderdale.  ETA 6:30. All was well until we got into Orlando.  Construction was underway and traffic was crawling.  By the time we hit Ft. Pierce ETA had pushed back to 7:30.  The closer we got the more time pushed back.  We decided to cancel our initial dinner plans and stop in West Palm Beach.  I would prefer to spend my time enjoying a meal versus sitting in rush hour.  We found a nice Peruvian restaurant - Ceviche Arigato.

 

Man-Oh-Man was this a good find.  From the outside this place looked a little dilapidated; however, when you walked in it was a fine upscale joint.  I knew it was going to be okay because between the time we parked and got to the door about 10 people had entered.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lcookie]

I had the chimichurri steak

 

 

Mama had the calamari

 

 

Teeny had the lomo saltada chicken

 

 

We washed it all down with glasses of nectar (passion fruit, mango, and peach respectively).  The food was so good we were even talking about how good the white rice was.  If you are ever in this area be sure to look this place up!

[lcookie]

Now we are full as ticks and ready to turn in for the night.  Within the hour we were at our hotel. 

 

 

It was at this point I realized I made a fatal mistake.  

 

Phones - Check

Gimbles - Check

Laptop - Check

Cameras  - Check

Power Cables - No Check.

 

Somehow I managed to leave the power cable to the laptop home.  The central point of my media hub is down or the count.  

 

No fear. After a few phone calls, some internet searching, and a trip to the WALMART, I was able to rig up a temporary system using my phone as a base station that would limp me through the cruise.  I am so used to Amazon Prime that I forgot how hard it can be to actually find stuff in brick and mortar stores.  Guess I just took it for granted that everyone should have surface chargers.  I was so put out that I just went to bed.  Mama stayed up to prep Teeny's hair for the cruise.  

 

Next stop - EMBARKATION!!!

[mimi7ccr]

We're on the Seaside in a couple of more weeks, so reading with great anticipation.  Keep 'em comin'!!

 

[lcookie]

On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 11:48 PM, mimi7ccr said:

We're on the Seaside in a couple of more weeks, so reading with great anticipation.  Keep 'em comin'!!

 

 

 

Will do,  Thanks for following along.

[lcookie]

Alright folks.  I am back to start the next chapter of this saga.  Going over my VLOG I realized I left out one detail from the drive down.  My friendly bank decided to lock me out of my funds.  Guess my expeditions through Florida got to extravagant for their taste.  

 

Not going to complain.  A quick phone call and all was well.  At least they are on their game.  

 

Back to our story - IT'S CRUISE TIME!!!!!!!

 

 

[lcookie]

Rise and Shine Ladies!   It's Cruise Time!  

 

We head out from the hotel around 9 am to link up with our friends we bailed on for dinner the night before.  After linking up we head to the offsite parking lot.  The kiddos are all smiles and the adults are ready to start the party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 20 mins we were on the shuttle headed to our "Floating Oasis".  

 

 

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Edited April 14, 2019 by lcookie