As we shared, our Labor day cruise was x-nayed when the hurricane brushed passed the coast of Florida. We rescheduled it to the weekend before Thanksgiving, and we took off that Thursday over to Tampa to get onto the Royal Caribbean cruise. And what a fun time we had! We parked right there at the port and walked ourselves onto the boat with our luggage which was super easy!
 |
| We're off! |
 |
| On board, ready to depart! |
We had a family ocean-view room - it was spectacular - super big with a big room an alcove off to the left as you walk in with twin bunk beds, a large living room with pull-out couch and then another large alcove that had the king bed in it. It was perfect for our family of 5 and we enjoyed (or I should say the kids enjoyed) hanging out and wrestling together in the room. Two doors down was Grandma and Grandpa, so we were close by and able to easily coordinate our comings and goings.
 |
| Behind the TV is the king bed and then further towards the door is the twin bunk bed alcove |
 |
| Poor Zach is under the dogpile |
Friday was a cruising day, and we enjoyed going to a spa education session for hair as well as a make-up education session. In addition to that, we headed up to the rock climbing kids hour, miniature golfing, and we played card games. Karis and the kids enjoyed the hot tub as well each day!
 |
| No fear in jumping off and letting the auto belay do the work |
 |
|
 |
| getting a foot analysis in the spa |
 |
| Mini massages |
On Saturday, we arrived in Cozumel Mexico. We had an excursion with swimming with the dolphins and manatees. We didn't know what to expect, but we were so delighted by how fun it was. The dolphins skin is so soft to the touch. We were able to do the Superman foot push, dorsal swim and then end with a "kiss" to our cheeks. It was such a fun memory - the kids were so joyful. Adventurous grandma did it too! It was definitely worth our time and we have passed along the recommendation to other friends since then. We went to Dolphin Discovery - check it out if you're ever there! After the dolphins, we were able to go to the Manatee section and Addison was super thrilled to be able to do hand motions and have it flip over based on her "command."
 |
| Superman foot push for Kaleb - look at that balance! |
 |
| A dorsal fin pull for Amy (she did it twice as she confused the dolphins with her poor superman waiting posture 😂 |
 |
| Grandpa petting the dolphins |
 |
| Addison flying along |
 |
| With Daddy showing them that even Dads can do it too! |
 |
| Sweet kiss |
 |
| Most adventurous grandma ever! |
 |
| Sweet moment with grandpa |
 |
| Zach is so high that his knees are likely at the surface of the water! |
 |
| We caught the seal lion show before our dolphin encounter - entertaining |
After Dolphin Discovery and lunch there, we reserved a taxi (when we got off the boat we just made arrangements with the van taxi that we found) to drive us around the island. It was quite a lovely island. We understand there is some great snorkeling there, so we will have to have that on our to-do list next time, along with the ruins on the mainland.
 |
| Going to walk along a few small shops as we looked for Coz Coffee for our friends! |
 |
Super fun day!
|
The Sunday was another cruising day, and the ladies headed off to do a cupcake decorating class. We made little frogs sitting on their lily pads.
We really enjoyed hanging out in the evenings in the Windjammer and playing cards -- which was conveniently close to a late night snack and ice cream too!
 |
| Uno and Skip Bo were the games of choice |
 |
| Amy's hair may look like a rat's nest but wow, so relaxing -- this was Addison's tactic to make Amy fall asleep and lose the game! |
 |
| Love their matching shirts - "cruising squad" |
We found a place where you could do puzzles, which we enjoyed doing together.
 |
| All done |
Zach was able to keep working out as well, which kept him happy. Plus there was football on the TV on Sunday! Kaleb was sick over the trip unfortunately so he laid low a lot in the room while we were out at sea, so he was happy for the company on Sunday! Zach kept us all entertained with playing the game "20 questions" - that became the theme of the weekend when we were at the table.
 |
| Kaleb getting out of the cabin to get some fresh air and sunlight. Thankfully it was fairly mild but felt bad for the poor kid. |
With any cruise there is lots of time to relax and we had an on-board credit so we let the kids get virgin mock-tails -- although the end of the cruise at the last dinner Kaleb got a "Miami vice" which is a blend of strawberry daiquiri and Pina colada....and he said "Mom, this tastes weird" so Amy took a sip of it, then Karis, then Grandma, then Grandpa as we all tried to decide if the weird taste was because it was a mix or if there was alcohol in it - we eventually confirmed with the waiter that there WAS alcohol in it. So now our virgin mouths have had a sip of that awful stuff! Amy was quite aghast - she'd never had any (other than Nyquil!) and now her 15 year old had a sip too! Just be careful peeps, be very careful.
 |
|
The evenings we ate in the dining room, so had the chance to have a lovely meal. Addison ate spaghetti with butter, Caesar salad, bread, and dessert every evening. Clearly we have opportunity to expand her palette 😏 The head waiter kept giving her a hard time about it and teasing her, so she ended up with a crown the last evening when she agreed to try some chicken parmesan (closest thing to spaghetti that was actually slightly different!)
 |
| She is a princess to us! |
 |
| Love you grandma! |
In the evenings, Karis and the kids went out to the hot tub while Amy and the grandparents lounged nearby watching the snowboard and surfing tricks that they were showing on the big screen.
We were thankful to be able to go on the cruise together and make some warm memories. We'd definitely go back to Cozumel, and Thanksgiving was the perfect weather - not too hot or cold!
