Our 2016 Trip - part 1 the Cruise

We have been home for a few days. I needed some time to let this trip settle. It was a lot. We went on a 4-night Bahamas cruise then 3 nights at Walt Disney World. Over all, it was a good trip. We  had fun and it was lovely to be away. There were far more good parts than bad. But travelling was not as fun this time as our last trip. I feel very tired and didn't really relax much.

We flew down to Orlando the night before the cruise, our flight left at 1pm and we had to change plans in Newark. That was ok. Jackson does not like flying (or landing) and by the time we got to Orlando he was feeling a little sick. He did not throw up, thank goodness, but wasn't himself. We traveled just with carryons so no need to get bags, just called the shuttle and went to wait. Got to the hotel, it was nice, sufficient for one night any way! There was a McDonalds in walking distance so we went there for supper. They serve 24 hour breakfast and Jackson was excited to get a sausage egg mcmuffin. Which did not "taste right" and we were off to a great food start... He barely ate dinner but did drink his OJ. When we got back to the hotel he wanted to go swimming so we did that. The water was nice, no one else was out there, and we had a fun time. Breakfast was free so we went down and ate. He had a muffin. He tried a few other things, but didn't like anything. We took another muffin back to the room and watched some TV while I repacked a few things and got us ready to catch the shuttle to the cruise!

The shuttle was great, picked us up on time, had two other pick ups after us but we got to the ship in great time. Made our way through a few lines. We did get bumped to the quick line for check in, but still had to wait for our number to be called. We cruise with Royal Caribbean this time, on the newly refurbed Majesty of the Seas. The process was different than on Carnival, not sure why, but we got on eventually and went to get some lunch. The buffet was nice, Jackson had a hot dog and fries, tried some lemonade. I think I had a hamburger, they were close to the hot dogs and I didn't want to wander too far with our carry on bags and everything.

We signed Jackson up for the kids club, then were able to go to our room. Our bags weren't available yet but we had our swim suits in the carryons so we got changed and went to swim! They have life vests on the pool deck which was great. I took his puddle jumper of course, he's not able to swim on his own yet, but this meant we didn't have to grab something else when we went up to swim. Before the muster drill we went to get changed again, one bag had arrived and we met the room steward, he was nice. We asked him to separate the beds, which he did before dinner.

The muster drill was actually fun because there were dolphins jumping around beside the ship, it was pretty cool! Then we went up to the pool deck to get a drink and sit and watch the land fall away. It was pretty nice. He was very excited and yelling at people on the shore who were waving at the ship. It was pretty funny. After that we got ready for dinner, our second suit case had arrived, and we went to dinner! We were sat in a corner at a table for 4 but no other people came. There was a lady at the next table on her own, so we invited her to join us the next night. Which she did. She was pretty cool. She works on the ships making costumes and was very nice. Jackson liked having someone else to talk to.

He had steak for dinner 3 of the 4 nights, the other night he had mac n cheese, with french fries. He tried dessert the first night and didn't like it so didn't have it again until the last night when they had the sorbet he likes. I ate well, I can't remember everything but I did get my escargot once and ate seafood of some sort every night. The lady we ate with mentioned that she gets the cold fruit soup everyday in a glass, it's like a smoothie! So I tried that as well and it was nice and refreshing.  About an hour after dinner Jackson would say he was hungry so we'd go to the buffet. He'd have a cheeseburger, and I'd get a second dessert :-)  We ate well on the cruise! Breakfast he had bacon every day, I had a full breakfast. He ate some fruit. And lunch was at the buffet most days as well.

Our sea day was good, we went swimming twice. It was very hard to get him out of the pool, there was a lot of attitude and I ended up picking him up and dragging him away. He refused to go to the kids club, so I had no down time, which was a little much. But he fell asleep every night watching the TV and without complaint. So that was good! He tried rock climbing on the first day and I think he'd probably try again in another year or two. He got a medal and was quite proud of himself. He is not a daredevil by any means.

Almost at the first bell

We had two beach days, Nassau and Coco Cay. Both were great. He spent about 6 hours in the water in Nassau, but the day at Coco Cay was shorter. He got tired I think, and wanted to go back to the ship to eat lunch instead of eating the same food on the island. It was very fun, quite a bit of walking in flip flops, which was not comfortable. He got a lot of stuff in Nassau, that straw market, those ladies are good at selling to kids... and a mom who can't say no to that kid. 

Ready to swim!!

On our last night I packed up the bags and put them out in the hall way. We had a 9 am disembark time, which ended up being later. The shuttle was very crowded, and he couldn't sit beside me, but he had his own seat so it was ok. He fell asleep on the way back to the airport. We had to go there in order to get to the Magic Express. The shuttle was good, and quick. It was easy once we got to that point.

Over all the cruise part was lovely. I think another sea day at the end to relax a bit more would have been ideal, perhaps a 5 night cruise? If he'll agree to go again I may try that. I think I would pick either Carnival or RCL, both were more the same than different. I may lean towards Carnival simply because he preferred the kids club and it is a nice break for me. I have to say that the RCL ship was a little more kid friendly, with the splash area and the pools seemed bigger and more family friendly. There was no problem getting a chair on deck any day. I think it would come down to price and where the cruise is going. There are some ports I want to visit, many in fact, but we have time, we'll get there! I will note that I did not feel the ship move at all on Majesty, either we had really smooth seas or the captain/ship did a great job with the stabilizers. I saw some waves and felt nothing, anywhere on the ship. Neither of us was sea sick as we had been on Carnival. 

next... Disney.