Cruising on the Ocean

Our Carnival Cruise experiences

Cruise #1 May 2005

It was a cold December in 2004 and I saw this ad in the paper to take a cruise!  I thought, sure that will be way to expensive!  I called and could not believe what I was hearing!  We would go in May and it was only going to be about $1500.  After minimal discussion we agreed to book it.  We were going on the Holiday, the smallest ship in the fleet.  We made a quick 10 hour trip straight down 65 to Mobile. Alabama.  It was the best Vacation ever!!  The kids loved camp carnival.  We loved it all.

The boys at XCARET!  Heaven on Earth!   My favorite ever picture of Cole.  Hunter wanted a donut so bad and we were hesitant but he demanded and we gave in!  He ate every bite of it! LOL.

Cozumel.   The boys at Camp Carnival, which they loved and never wanted to leave!

The Knox Family.  We spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool and eating ice cream!

When we left the Ship Hunter cried out "I want to stay 100 more days".  I couldn't agree more!  We knew there would be more!

Cruise #2 May 2006

That more came a lot quicker than we expected!  When we returned him we told my parents all about it and they wanted to go.  We booked one for 2006.  Again we left from Mobile and were on the Holiday.  Again, it was an amazing experience.  My favorite memory was my mom!   I know she will love that I'm writing this.  Mom loved all the free food.  She thought she would experience all of it.  She ordered breakfast in her room, went to breakfast with us, ate snacks, than had lunch, had dinner every night, ate at the midnight buffet and so on.  Well she gained a few pounds and got sick!  On  the way home she was green and didn't eat for two days!  She experienced it all though!

The group in Costa Maya and at Dinner.

Dad and the boys sitting in the window in the room

 

We were at a private beach and the boys didn't have much experience with the ocean and as you can see Cole had a hand on one of us at all times and Hunter was never too far.  It was the perfect day!

Cruise #3  July 2008

Once again we returned and talked about our trip and Mikes parents became interested.  It took at bit more coaxing to get them on the ship but once there we never heard any complaints.  We left from NYC and headed north to Canada.  For July it was a bit cool and it was very foggy for the entire week.  After we got home I think we all had nightmares from hearing the horn blow every 60 seconds!

Leaving NYC.  You can see the Statue of Liberty in the background and of course Cole holding his ice cream torch!  The entire group in Canada.

Behind them is a lighthouse!  We had to get about 2 feet from it to see it!  Hunter had to get a Nova Scotia sweatshirt as it was in the  50's.

Mike and Sheldon with a showgirl.

The Knox Family on the Victory

Cruise #4  July 2010

My Mom and Dad couldn't wait to go on another cruise.  We talked my sister and her family into going, and our friends, the Powers.  We went to the Bahamas and the Private Carnival Island.  We had an amazing trip.  It was so much fun with being with a group of people.

The guys:  John, Mike and Greg.

Diva Ellie

The kids had a ball every night at dinner.

The kids and grandma with Fun Ship Freddy

Half Moon Cay and I must say Heaven.  The most beautiful place in the world.

Cruise #5 March 2014

We were lucky enough to have 4 families go for a total of 15 people!  We had a lot of fun. This was our first 7 day cruise.  I was worried that 7 days might be too long, but it wasn't.  It was perfect. 

Mike in Isla Roatan.  Beautiful beach!

Our entire group

Dancing the night away

Climbing the ruins at Altun Ha

Some things never change: Cole entertaining the entire dining room at dinner.

Cruise #6 March 2015

This was a last minute decision.  We wanted to get away.  We needed a break after a rough year.  We found a cruise out of  Charleston, SC that sailed on the dates we needed.  We drove and were able to stop at Biltmore on the way and Gatlinburg on the way home.

We opted for a day at a private beach in Freeport, Bahamas.  They had a lot of activities which included Kayaking.

Cole and our waiter I Komang.  He was wonderful and a lot of fun!

The nightly dance after dinner.

We have been to Nassau before so we opted to spent the day at Atlantis.  Wow is all I can say.  It was an amazing experience.  We toured a lot of the facility.  We went to both aquariums.  We went to the beach and enjoyed the amazing views.

The beach was just stunning

The family. As you can see the boys have aged since the first cruise.

Cruise #7 March 2016

We arrived to New Orleans and spent the day being tourists.  The next morning we watched the Easter Parade on Easter Morning than we boarded the Carnival Dream and headed for Montego Bay, Jamaica.  We had an amazing time.  Grand Cayman is by far by favorite port ever.

New Orleans

We went to Dunn's Falls and climbed up the falls,  It was really neat.  We spent the rest of the day at a private beach.

Our next stop was Grand Cayman.  We went on a shore snorkel.  It was fantastic,  The water was stunning.

.  Our third stop was Cozumel.  Cole enjoyed the dining room every night.  The Group we went with.

 Cruise #8 March 2018

We leave from Port Canaveral Florida and headed out.  Out first stop was the Domician Republic.

We arrived in Amber Cove Dominican Republic and took a Catarman out and went snorkeling,  Cole loved it, the rest of us not so much!  The water was a bit rough but it was still the perfect day for it.

We headed to St. Thomas were we went to a private beach and spent the day on the beach.  We were able to snorkel and enjoy the water.

 We spent the day in Grand Turk.  We spent the entire day in the water.  It was crystal clear and stunning!  We eat at the famous Jack's Shack.

Our last stop was St. Juan, Puerto Rico.  We visited the fort and toured the city.  We enjoyed some mofongo.  They were still recovering from a huge hurricane.

Great Trip

Cruise #9 Coming 2020

Summary:

 Why are cruises so great?  The cost is truly affordable.  The kids have had fun at every stage.  Cruise #6 was different then Cruise #1.  On Cruise #5 the boys were busy doing their own thing.  We shared some experiences but they weren't forced to do boring stuff with the adults.  One night the entire group watched the Hunger Games on a big screen outside and ate popcorn!   When we come home we are relaxed and truly feel rested.  There is no worries about getting a room for the night or finding food everyone will eat.  Disconnecting from the world is a wonderful thing in this way to connected world.  I never imagined we would be such big fans of cruises but we are.  To be honest, I cant pick a favorite one. They were all my favorite for different reasons.

Are we raising a generation of wimps?

 

It was pretty cold this morning.  It was 1 degree when we left for school.  We were on a two hour delay.  I have never been able to grasp the 2 hour delay for the cold.  If it is dark then I think it is a good decision.  Otherwise the temp is almost the same and the kids still wait outside, etc.  The concern I have always had is that some kids actually have more risk with the two hour delay as their parents have to leave for work and leave them home alone.  What happens if the bus doesn't come or they go out to early.  There are a lot of possibilities.  I don't make these decisions so I have to live with them.  Its scary to think I only have 6 more years to even care about this.

Of greater concern is that one of my kids had a basketball game tonight.  But, it was cancelled yesterday because of the cold tonight.  When we got the text message one of the parents wrote back and said, "are we playing the game outside".  That was my exact thought.  We could be playing basketball right now and it is 22 degrees.  I can not see any reason why this game would have been cancelled.  It is Jan in Indiana and it is cold outside.  There is no snow on the ground, there is no precipitation falling from the sky, so it clearly does not make sense.  This is why I continually find myself asking, "are we raising a generation of wimps?'.

Recently I made a remark on facebook with the same words and was land blasted!  I really about died with all of the negative comments.  I'm going to start sounding old with the comment, but in my day...we went to school.  No, we did not walk barefoot, or up hills both ways but we went to school in the cold.  As a teenager I had jobs and when the weather was bad my dad took me to work as I was an inexperienced driver.  I was taught that I had a responsibility and I needed to take care of it.  I went the college and I can not honestly tell you that IU was ever cancelled in my time there.  in 1994 Indianapolis had a lot of snow and it was well below 0 with wind chills deep into the negatives but nursing clinicals were not cancelled.  Why, because healthcare is not cancelled in bad weather.  When I was a young nurse working in Indianapolis in the winter I never missed worked for bad weather.   Sure some of you are thinking well that's not the same.  Well actually it is the same.  I learned responsibility and it stayed with me.

This morning my child asked why they didn't cancel school.  I asked why and he said well its cold.  He will never ask me that again as he received quite the lecture.  So child, when you are an adult and its cold what are you going to do?  Stay home?  He received quite an ear full and he gladly went to school on a 2 hour delay this morning with no further questions.

This is only one small thing but it's a symptom of a much bigger issue.  Our kids are becoming wimps.  Stop it with your children before its too late!

I know you have an opinion please share it.  If you don't agree with me I'm ok with that just tell me why you don't agree.