Spring Break 2023 Part 1

 The day of the cruise came! We packed up our camp site that morning and headed to the Ft. Lauderdale cruise port. Lee dropped us off and he found our parking area.  It was kind of weird, but he got it figured out with the cash and parking. This cruise was with Royal Caribbean to Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico. Getting on this cruise was so much nicer than the last one.  Maybe because we didn't have all the COVID tests and checks, and there weren't hundreds of people waiting in line outside to get in the cruise ship terminal.

We waited right outside the entrance for everyone to meet us.                                       

We made it!!!

We loved exploring the ship and of course having all the fun food. We were with the Bunkers and Ereksons.  Amazingly enough we were able to all have rooms next to each other.  We all booked our rooms about the same time, but for sure days apart and not the same hour. Amazing that it worked!

Mini golf!

The climbing wall.  Though it wasn't opened while we were docked. Another bonus was the weather.  No rain, just warmth and sunshine. 

Very fun seeing the city in the background. 

Swim time. Sadly the fun pool area wasn't very big. 

It takes awhile before you can go to your room.  When we finally did I enjoyed unpacking and decorating our two doors. 

Time for the boat to leave! And time to take some Dramamine. 

Once we got out to see we could do the climbing wall. 

Deb or Lena's room.

We loved getting the endless ice cream!

Another door, Deb or Lena's. 

The dining stuff wasn't very clear. The website information made it sound like we could show up whenever to eat. We were able to get some reservations though in the dining room. 

Day two was a full day at sea which we were excited about. We felt like our last cruise was kind of short and we didn't have a lot of time to just hang out on the ship. Elden and Hyrum each ran a mile on the treadmills.  Nice!

The kids signed up for the youth center and went there everyday I think.  Overall they had a good time there. One kid was a bit out of hand and I even talked to one of the youth directors about it.  I told her it wasn't fair for this kid to act out, be violent and rude to the other kids.  But she said she couldn't kick him out. That's a bad policy!

The ocean color was so pretty.  Lee and I also saw some flying fish!

Fun ship interior! Saying hi to family across the way!

Lee learned picklball and had fun playing. 

We dressed up this night for dinner which was really fun. 

It's really fun ordering whatever you want on the menu and however many of that item you want as well. The food overall was really good.  They didn't get all their baked goodies just right, but we found that was the case on the other cruise ship as well.  

Lena and Mike enjoying some swing dancing. 

Shanna, Haley and Alyssa and Regan doing a scavenger hunt for Optix. 

Day 3 we went to Grand Cayman and visited Crystal Caves and the beach. 

Look! It's our Fit! We saw a lot of Honda Fits on the island. Our friends the Waters were there at Grand Cayman as well which was super fun. We didn't see them, but were at the same place the same day. 

The caves were really pretty. We went in 3 caves I think....can't remember now!

I don't remember what they are called, but the guide pointed out vines that grow around the trees, eventually crushing them and they die.  

It's easier to see in this photo below.

One site I saw that something similar was called strangler figs in Australia. Not sure if this variety is the same, but they look the same!

The caves were really fun. The only part I didn't like was an inappropriate remark made by the tour guide.  So unnecessary. 

Love seeing the different modes of transportation around the island. 

Gotta have the chickens!

We stopped at the 7 Mile Beach.  Thankfully the driver for the Crystal Cave tours was bringing a group back to a hotel right by the beach, so we didn't have to pay extra to get there! The water was so pretty!  We just hung out here for about an hour. The other downside to this stop at Grand Cayman is that it was so short.  We had to be back on the boat at around 4pm. 

It's always fun coming back to the room all made up!  The crab and other towel animals were awesome.  We really liked our cabin attendant. 

I didn't exercise on the last cruise, but I did on this one.  One of the days I was running the boat was docking at a port and it was very wobbly on the treadmill!

We had fun watching part of this magic show.  Sadly his humor was also inappropriate for any age, so we left.  Too bad. I wanted to see the rest of the show.  But Chris Dugdale is very talented at magic.  Just not at humor. 

At nights we would mainly hang out in this area, eat goodies and play games.  The kids would check in with us here. It was really fun. Mainly me, Lee, Deb and Matt.  One night Chris Dugdale came in to get some water or juice or something so we talked with him.  He's a really nice guy.  He saw we were playing rummikub and told us how he plays that with his mom when he visits her.  Fun to meet him. 

I don't normally eat breakfast, but it's sure fun to eat on the cruiseship!