Celebrity Eclipse Cruise - Part 2

Click here for Part 1.
On Tuesday we stopped at St. Maarten.  Two years ago we had gone on a zipline adventure tour and we loved it so much that was one of the reasons we chose this cruise - so we could do it again. After about a 30 min drive with a tour bus into the French side of the island we arrived at the Loterie Tree Farm  It was just as much fun the second time!  We're hoping to be able to do the extreme version next time :)






Tuesday was also Valentine's Day.  We enjoyed dinner at the Moonlight Sonata and each woman received a rose.  After walking the ship and the shops, we went to the theatre for a Cirque de Soleil style theatrical circus - it was quite impressive!





Wednesday was our final port of call day and was our first ever visit to St. Kitts.  We took the "Essential St. Kitts Tour" and enjoyed a stop at Romney Manor (home of Caribelle Batik) which had amazing gardens and this huge tree.





Our next stop was the Brimstone Hill Fortress.  As we were driving up to it, Nathan recognized it from a documentary he had seen - it's one of the top 10 most impenetrable fortresses of the world!  He's into history so he definitely appreciated being able to see this fort in person.

We got back to the ship for a late lunch and lay by the pool for the rest of the afternoon (with an ice cream break in between of course!).  Nathan actually ran on the treadmill 5 of the days we were onboard.  Running on the ship makes me nauseous, so I happily declined and simply vegged by the pool reading.

For dinner we had reservations at the Tuscan Grille - the Italian steakhouse onboard.  This was likely the best meal of the whole cruise for me!  I had a mushroom ravioli appetizer, chop chop salad and an incredible filet mignon (also with mushroom sauce) for the main entree.  Dessert was an incredible chocolate fondue with berries, bananas. melons, marshmallows and a brownie.

That night's show was an incredible performance by Antonio Salci.  I have my ARCT (performer's degree in piano) and I was impressed.  He's definitely one very talented performer/composer/arranger.  I found this on YouTube .....




Thursday was an at sea day and we spent the entire day by the main outdoor pool.  We got up around 8:30 which was just early enough to snag some decent poolside loungers before heading in for a quick breakfast buffet and back to enjoy the sun.  We ate a quick lunch inside at the lunch buffet as well (I ordered a turkey burger from the Mast Grille poolside and brought it indoors for a little break from the heat), and then went back outside for the rest of the afternoon.



That night was the second formal night on the cruise and we ate at the Moonlight Sonata.





Friday was our final at sea day.  Thursday we managed to both burn ourselves, so we spent the day lounging poolside - but in the glass enclosed Solarium this time.  All the benefits of the sun with none of the cons. :)  Once again we ate breakfast and lunch at the buffet (turkey burger for me again!).  We had one final dinner at the Moonlight Sonata and thoroughly enjoyed the evening show which was encore acts from the best performer's of the week (and a performance by the Karoeke X Idol winner).

Saturday we got up for our final breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe, then read for a bit in the dining room while waiting for our turn to disembark the ship.  This is one of the few times our flights have left late enough in the day that we're not in a rush to get off the vessel.  Because of that, the crowds were definitely higher and we waited longer than ever before to get a taxi to the airport.  We had lots of time to eat (Chili's!) before boarding our flight back to Winnipeg (with a connecting flight in Chicago).

Sunday Nathan took Jacob to Sophia's hockey game while I took Emma & Olivia to church (not Sunday School though, we slept in!) - and it almost felt like we were never gone.  Was it all just a dream?!

The good thing is though, that because we've been on so many cruises by now, we had a similar feeling when we first got onboard - it immediately felt like we had been there for a few days already.

Can't wait till next year - already got my eye on 1 or 2 options! :)

Celebrity Eclipse Cruise 2012 - Part 1

Cruising has become a yearly event for us we love it so much!  We do also happen to get those trips for free so that sure helps too (from the CU MC points from Nathan's company - we get a $4,000 vacation for free every year and only have to pay a $25 booking fee, not even any taxes!).

So far we've done....
Western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale with stops in Key West., Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica in 2007
Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Legend from Tampa Bay with stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Roatan in 2009
Eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's large ship Freedom of the Seas from Port Canaveral (close to Orlando) with stops in Coco Cay (that one got rained out), St. Thomas and St. Maarten in 2010
Eastern Caribbean cruise on Holland America's Eurodam from Fort Lauderdale with stops in Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos; San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay (private island in the Bahamas) in 2011.

This year we chose the Celebrity Eclipse (their newest ship) from Miami with stops in Puerto Rico, St. Maarten and St. Kitts.

Our flight out of Winnipeg was scheduled to leave at 3pm Friday afternoon (the 10th) which was nice since I still got to send the girls off to school and then finish up last minute packing and tidying up before leaving for the trip.  Due to bad weather in Chicago (our one connecting flight), we were delayed about a 1/2 hr.    They had a ground stoppage order (which means they weren't landing any planes) in Chicago for awhile so we expecting a rough landing.  At first we could see the lights below us so we figured it couldn't be that bad.  But then, as we were descending, all we could see was driving snow flying past the windows and I started getting a bit nervous as it seemed we were really close to the ground and I couldn't see a thing!  But, it turned out we were just in some low lying clouds, and once we were below them we could see the ground again and it all turned out fine - the plane seemed to brake pretty hard, but we made it!  Our layover was long enough that we could eat supper at Chili's before boarding our connecting flight to Miami.  We had rented a couple movies from iTunes for Nathan's iPad and watched 127 hours on the flight from Chicago to Miami (it was really good, but I couldn't watch some parts!).  We arrived in Miami shortly after midnight, too late for the complimentary hotel shuttle.

We took a taxi to the Best Western Premiere Hotel and Suites - I had found a good deal at Hotels.com, and Best Western has an online price guarantee so they had to beat that price, so we stayed there for $113.  We slept in, ate breakfast at the buffet (slim pickings by the time we got there) and took the shuttle to the port.





Our ship was the last in line so we were the last ones dropped off by the shuttle, around 11:30.  It took us about 30 mins to go through the embarkation process and once on the ship we headed straight for the lunch buffet (OceanView Cafe - open all day, fantastic food, never had trouble finding a seat) located on Deck 14 as the staterooms would only be ready by 1.  After lunch we headed to our room (#8240 on Deck 8) - compared to last year's suite it felt small, but it was a typical size for a verandah stateroom - our balcony had super comfy chairs (which we rarely used anyway) and the bathroom had a fairly large shower for a cruise ship.  Our luggage hadn't arrived yet but, seasoned cruisers that we are, we had packed swimsuits in our carry-on so we quickly got changed and headed for the Solarium - an adults only glass enclosed pool.  The weather wasn't quite warm enough in Miami to be poolside outdoors, so the Solarium was a definite plus for that day, and any other day that would have less than ideal weather.

After lounging poolside and reading all afternoon (using our ereaders - perfect for trips - lightweight for packing, and the pages to flap around on windy days!).  At 5pm we went back to our room to watch the ship leave Miami, then we got dressed up and went to the main dining room, the Moonlight Sonata, for dinner.  The My Time Dining (come anytime for dinner) was on Deck 4 and that's what we signed up for.  The traditional set seating dining was on Deck 3 - same menu, but you have to come at the same time every day and sit at the same table.  We always choose flexible dining and always request to eat by ourselves. :)  We both had steak and it was delicious!  After dinner we did a little shopping (I bought DKNY polarized sunglasses for a great deal) and then went to the Welcome Aboard Variety Show at the Eclipse Theatre (Decks 3&4, om the opposite side of the Moonlight Sonata).

Sunday was an at sea day and we spent the entire day lounging, suntanning and reading by the main outdoor pool.  We had breakfast and lunch at the OceanView buffet.  For breakfast I usually had made to order omelettes or eggs and lots of watermelon.  For lunch I either had tacos (with chicken), pizza, subs or turkey burgers - and lots of watermelon. :)   Today was the first formal night at the Moonlight Sonata and we enjoyed another great dinner - I think I had lamb that night.  After dinner we did some more shopping (Nathan bought a Fossil watch and I bought a DKNY watch) and then we headed to the evening show, "Edge" performed by the ship's singers and dancers.

Monday was a port of call day but we were only scheduled to arrive in Puerto Rico at 3pm so we spent the first part of the day poolside once again!  Then we went ashore, walked the streets of Old San Juan, took the free trolley around the city, got off and walked some more, and I bought a purse at the Coach store for a pretty good deal, before heading back to the ship.  We had reservations at Murano's (one of 4 specialty dining restaurants on our ship) for 7.  Murano's is a fine French dining restaurant - Nathan had lobster which was prepared tableside, and I had the petit filet mignon trio - fantastic!  (Even with me being an extremely picky eater, there was always several choices of food I liked at all the restaurants - the food selection and quality on cruise ships is superb).  After dinner we did some more shopping (Nathan bought Oakley sunglasses) and then we headed to the evening show which featured the comedic juggling of Steve Rawlings.  He was pretty good, but a bit too hyper/weird for us.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Eurodam (Holland America) Cruise Review Photobook

I just realized that I never blogged about the cruise we took this past February! I also just realized that I had a Blurb Groupon that was about to expire. So, I combined the two, "quickly" made a photobook and did this post! Enjoy! (Click on the link below if you'd like to view a larger version)

MS Eurodam Holland America by February 4 - 12, 2011 | Make Your Own Book

Part 2 Caribbean Cruise Review - Freedom of the Seas

Finally I'm getting around to writing about part 2 of trip - I have a really bad memory so hopefully I can remember everything :)

Thursday, February 4th was Nathan's birthday and, fortunately for him, probably the best day of the whole cruise!

Port of call for the day was Philipsburg, St. Maarten and the weather was hot and fabulous!







We did the Loterie Farm Tree Top Zip Line Adventure excursion and it was the most fun excursion ever! Over 30 different obstacles including zip lines, suspension bridges and rope obstacles. It took a 1/2 hr bus ride to get there, and the course itself took about an hour to complete. It was so much better than the zipline course we did for the first time last year in Cozumel. An absolute blast!


After we got back we had a quick bite to eat and headed poolside to soak in some rays.












For supper we headed to Chops Grille ($25/person) for the most amazing dinner ever to be had on the seas.
I had steak










and Nathan had steak and lobster. Nathan said it's the best steak he's ever had - easily beating out The Keg (which we love!). The bread was better at Portofino, but everything else about this restaurant was top-notch. The atmosphere, the decor, and the food - oh, the food! Dinner was not the end of the delicious experience. The best was yet to come - dessert!!!


This was seriously the best dessert I have. ever. had. period. Later on in the cruise they had a Royal Caribbean cookbook for sale. I asked them if this recipe was in that cookbook - because I would've paid the $20 just for that one recipe, but alas, it was not to be.








After dinner we went to the show - magician Drew Thomas (star of America's Got Talent) along with the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. This was an absolutely amazing show - probably our favourite of the whole week, just incredible.

Friday was the first of our remaining two at sea days and it was a beautiful one. The evening show was a ship comedy musical called Once Upon a Time, and we had dinner in our regular dining room.





Saturday was starting to get a little cooler as we neared Florida, but was still a fun day. Freedomfest took place in the afternoon on the Royal Promenade - the entire walkway was filled with table displays - everything from learning how to fold those cool towel animals, to delicious samples.....



to fruit carving demonstrations. We went back to Chops Grille for more steak, lobster and oh so delicious chocolate mud pie! The evening show featured the comedy of Phil Palisoul and the aerial artistry of Agnes & Peter once again. We packed our bags and left them outside our door (making sure to keep out clothes and toiletries for the next day!).

We set our wake up call for our final morning at 4:30. Why? Because we were docking at Port Canaveral virtually at the same time as a rocket launch was scheduled, and it was even going to launch on our side of the ship so we would be able to watch from our balcony!! So, we were up at 4:30 and standing out on our balcony waiting for the 4:39 am launch. And then the captain came over the loudspeaker to announce that they had just postponed the launch minutes earlier. Ugh. So, we crawled back into bed for a couple more hours of sleep before we had to get up and get ready to leave.

Normally we book flights leaving around noon, but because there was an hour bus ride from the port to the airport, and we weren't sure how quickly that would all happen, we booked our flight for 3:30 in the afternoon. Turns out we could've kept our noon flight time. We were in the airport before 10am with lots of time to kill! Once we could finally check in our luggage we headed to Chili's for lunch and killed some more time till we could board our flights homes. Unfortunately our flight in Denver was delayed by about an hour, but we made it home - Sophia and Emma were there to meet us at the airport.

The girls did fabulous while we were gone - they loved it actually. Jacob, unfortunately, got sick right before we left. He had a fever and cough. He was fairly good during the first 24hrs for our first babysitters (my cousins - thanks girls!) and then needed to be held a lot when my parents were babysitting. By the time it was Nathan's parents turn he was feeling well enough to be crabby :) By the weekend he was good again, thankfully.

Well, there ya have it. Our trip in a nutshell. It was totally fabulous and we can't wait to do it again - maybe next year! Oh, and did I mention it was free? Yup. A huge benefit to Nathan's job - he builds houses and puts the majority of the materials on a credit card with a great travel plan. It maxes out at $4000 worth of travel per year. So, definitely a huge perk and one we are very thankful for.

Caribbean Cruise Review /Freedom of the Seas Part 1

We had an absolutely fabulous time on our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas!

Our trip started out with flying to Orlando the day before the cruise. Thankfully we had a great flight departure time (2pm) so we had a leisurely morning with the kids. We happened to meet 2 of my uncles at the airport so we got to chat with them as we waited for our first flight of the day. We had only one layover and everything went perfect. We got to our hotel (Country Inn and Suites Airport) and ordered in pizza for a late supper.

The next morning we caught the hotel shuttle back to the airport to catch our pre-paid Royal Caribbean bus transportation to Port Canaveral, about 45 mins away. I was a bit nervous about how this would go because normally they meet travellers in baggage claim as soon as you arrive at the airport, but since we had already arrived the day before, we would have to find them. Turned out to be very simple and I had worried for nothing - big surprise! :)

We arrived at the port around noon and we were onboard the ship in under an hour. Our room was 6374 (on Deck 6) and was in a perfect location. We were in the back of the ship, and virtually all the food was located in the back of the ship (on Decks 3-5 and 11 & 12). Due to the size of this vessel (we had over 4000 passengers compared to approx 2500 on our first Royal Caribbean cruise) there are 3 main dining rooms - Galileo's, Leonardo's and Isaac's. We were assigned to Galileo's which was on Deck 5 - a very short walk down only one flight of stairs. Deck 5 also contained the Royal Promenade which felt like a 6 deck high mall with shops, restaurants and bars lining either side. All food is included in the price of the cruise (unless otherwise noted) as well as coffee, tea and juice - soft drinks and alcohol are extra (we bought an "all you can drink soft drink" package). The restaurants included Ben & Jerry's (nominal fee), Sorrento's Pizza, Seattle's Best Coffee (nominal fee for specialty coffees) and Cafe Promenade which served coffee, tea, juice, pastries and sandwhiches 24/7.

The other eating options were located up on Decks 11 & 12. The Windjammer Cafe is the huge buffet restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and supper. Despite the huge numbers of people onboard this ship, we never had trouble finding an available seat by the windows, even on at-sea days. We ate breakfast here every morning and had lunch here a few times. We ate lunch here a couple of times, as well as at Sorrento's Pizza (on Deck 5) and we tried Johnny Rockets one day as well. There is a $4.95 cover charge to get into Johnny Rockets and then you can eat as much food as you want (including dessert), but you do have to pay for milkshakes, soft drinks or alcohol. The burgers were great, but they had fat fries (yup, I'm a picky eater and I don't like potatoes which means I only like skinny fries that don't taste like potatoes:). It was very good, and a neat retro atmosphere but we only went once.

For supper we ate in our main dining room (Galileo's on Deck 5) four times and the other 3 suppers we dined in the ships fine dining restaurants, an Italian restaurant called Portofino ($20/person) and the most amazing steak house ever called Chops Grille ($25/person).

There was also an ice cream cone machine located by the pool on Deck 11.

The food was delicious all around! Nathan had steak and lobster several times that week - and it's always all you can eat!

On the opposite end of the ship from our room is where the majority of the entertainment was. The Arcadia Theatre was on Decks 3 & 4 - all evening shows took place here, as well as numerous other activities (like Bingo!). The fitness centre, boxing ring, spa, rock climbing wall, FlowRider (surfing simulator), full size sports court, mini-golf course were all located on Decks 11 & 12.

They had an ice rink located in the middle of the ship on Deck 3, Casino Royale was on Deck 4 (and 5? I don't know, we walked through it once but never did any gambling), photo gallery was on Deck 4, and numerous other lounges and bars (karaoke!) were scattered throughout the ship. Deck 15 was a small wedding chapel - there was at least one wedding that took place while we were there - the bridal party ate dinner in our dining room that night.

Deck 11 also contained the 3 different pool areas. The kid pool was located near the Windjammer cafe.







The middle pool was for both children and adults (this is where the ice cream machine was).







The far pool was for adults only (for quiet reasons not for any other activities:) The adult pool also had way comfier poolchairs!








The adult pool also had two whirlpools cantilevered off the sides of the ship!








Sunday was cold in Florida and we spent the day familiarizing ourselves with this huge ship. We were onboard by 1 and the ship left at 5. (Picture is taken from our balcony as we depart the pier at Port Canaveral) It is laid out extremely well and I found that I didn't get lost nearly as often as I have on previous cruises - not sure if that's due to layout, where our cabin was located, or simply cruise experience - but it was nice all the same!

We went to Galileo's for supper Sunday evening. We had signed up for "My Time Dining" which meant we could show up whatever time we wanted to! They also had the regular 5:30 and 8:00 seatings, but we love the flexibility of My Time. Some days we like to eat earlier and some days later depending on what we did during the day, so this was perfect.

After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard Show (there was a high quality show every evening in the Arcadia Theatre and we went every single night). This show featured comedian Rodney Johnson and the aerial artistry of Agnes & Peter - they were amazing! After the show we went to the Party Around the World parade (left picture) they had on the Royal Promenade and then we went and had coffee (well, I had tea) like we did every evening at Cafe Promenade or Sorrento's.


Monday was supposed to be our first port of call at Coco Cay, Bahamas - Royal Caribbean's private island. I was looking forward to this stop a lot as we had planned to go on the hiking trail and then just lie on the beach all day - the only free beach day we could have. At normal ports of call you can purchase a beach excursion (often for $50/person!), or you can hire a taxi yourself, but they you still need to pay for a beach lounge chair and you have to make sure you can find a taxi to drive you back in time to catch the ship! Anyway, as Coco Cay is RC's island, there's no one else there and was the perfect opportunity to go to the beach.

Unfortunately it rained....all.....day. So that was disappointing. But, the one good thing about being on a ship is - you can leave! So we left early to try to find some sun. By later in the day it had stopped raining but it was a bit of a write off as far as beach or poolside was concerned.

That evening we ate at Galileo's for the first of two formal nights, and then took in the show which was The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers in a production show called Marquee. They did a great job.

Tuesday was an at-sea day. The weather wasn't as hot as we had expected yet, but still nice enough to lay by the pool - though we were a deck higher than the pool as the poolside chairs were all taken. We ate lunch at Johnny Rockets. In the evening we had made reservations for the Italian restaurant Portofino.



Nathan had lobster tail and I had Pappardelle Mantecate con crema al Mascarpone, Funghi arrosto e timo - aka ribbon pasta with roasted mushrooms and fresh thyme lightly tossed in a mascarpone cream sauce. It was delicious!


After dinner we went to the show - Bowzer's Rock 'n' Roll Party (formerly of Sha Na Na), followed by a dancin' in the street 70's style party on the Royal Promenade.

Wednesday was our stop in St. Thomas! Because we left Coco Cay early on Monday, we made it to St Thomas 3 hrs earlier than originally expected so we were there for almost 11 hrs! We went onshore and took a tram called the Skyride to Paradise Point - 700' above the town of Charlotte Amalie.




It was a beautiful spot to take pictures and had restaurant/bar as well as the requisite gift shops.

The afternoon was spent lying by the pool in the hot, hot sun!


In the evening we went to the Freedom Ice show which was spectacular! The ice surface is 1/5 the size of a regular skating ice surface and there were up to 10 cast members performing tricks at the same time. There was also a guest entertainer, Alexey Sirota, who performed crazy tricks on a German Wheel.

Well, that's it for Part 1 - stay tuned for Part 2!

Our new niece

Let me introduce to you our new niece - Taylor Cheyenne. Nathan's youngest sister Linsay and her husband Shaun are the proud first time parents of this darling bundle of joy. She was born Saturday, Jan 31st (just barely - 5 mins before midnight), 12 days early and she weighed 7lb 6.5oz. The delivery was rough (forceps!) but she's healthy and beautiful!

And, if you were noticing the date - yes, she was born while we were still on our cruise! But, we did make it home in time to visit them in the hospital - so other than "the phone call", we didn't miss it, thankfully!

Here are some pictures....

Our Cruise!

OK, I'm finally getting around to posting about our cruise. I put pictures up on Facebook already, but don't worry, I'll include a few here too. :)

Saturday was a little difficult for me to leave the kids. The previous times we left for week long holidays we left really early while they were still sleeping, which was a lot easier. This time, it was Jacob's nap time when we had to leave, so I put him down for a nap and we left. I have to admit to being a bit teary eyed. But once we were gone I was fine. Once we're actually on our holiday, Nathan always misses the kids more than I do - probably because I appreciate the break so much more!

Our flights were very smooth. All our airport connections served to remind us just how bad our City airport is - the restaurant selection especially leaves much to be desired! Our first flight was slightly delayed so we thought we'd be pretty rushed to catch our connecting one, if it was going to be ontime. And we checked the boards and sure enough it was on time - so we quickly went to Domino's and wolfed down some personal sized pizzas, raced to the bathrooms - only to find out that our flight was delayed by an hour.

Our hotel in Tampa was excellent! We stayed at the Mainsail Suites - I managed to get it at a steal of $100! The week before we left the price had gone up to $250, so yeah, good deal! It had a 24hr airport shuttle and an amazing "continental" breakfast, with custom-order omelettes and everything.


Sunday morning after our delicious breakfast we took the shuttle back to the airport and caught a taxi from there to the port. (Our hotel was the opposite direction from the airport so it would've been more expensive to take a taxi directly from there, so we took the free shuttle back to the airport first - yes, I am Mennonite:).

Tampa is a pretty small port - our ship (Carnival Legend) was the only one leaving that day. It took approximately 30 - 45 mins to go through the line to get onboard the ship. We tried requesting a complimentary room upgrade (hey - the worst they can say is "no" right?!), but all the rooms in the ship were booked. The ship can hold over 2600 people, this time it was 2200 (depends how many people are in each cabin).

Last time we cruised with Royal Caribbean and we were expecting a lot more young people on this ship due to Carnival's "party ship" reputation. However, it was the exact opposite! I'd say on our RC ship approx 65% of the guests were seniors, on this ship it was probably closer to 85%! On one of the tours we took we were literally the only non-seniors on the bus! That's ok though - we're not partyers anyway so it was just fine with us. We spoke to one couple and found out this was their 23rd cruise - crazy!

Anyway, this time we had booked a balcony room and we are so glad we did - it was wonderful! The room itself was bigger, we had a huge balcony (more than 12'x5' I'm sure), and the room simply felt large because of the beautiful large patio doors looking out to the ocean! Instead of waking up to pitch darkness (like our previous cruise with the interior room we had - no window!) and having no idea what time it was - we could now wake up to the site of the ocean flowing past our window. Yes we left the curtains open - who's gonna look in? Here's a picture of our room (I know - forgot to open the shades!) and Nathan on our balcony.

Before we left port in Tampa everyone had to participate in the mandatory emergency procedure drill. After the ship set sail we explored the boat, ate dinner (ribs!) at the main dining room - Truffles, followed by a short welcome aboard show in the theatre - Follies Lounge.

The ship had 2 restaurants. There was the big buffet restaurant (The Unicorn Cafe) where you could eat at every meal if you wished, plus it had pizza and ice cream available 24/7, burgers and hotdogs poolside at lunchtime. It was up on Deck 9 with the pools - one loud pool (music blaring so loud you can hardly talk to each other) and one quieter pool (that's the one we hung out at:), and a kids one and waterslide. The main dining room was called Truffles and you could also eat every meal there if you wished, at certain set times. It was located on Deck 3 along with the stores, some lounges and the upper level of the theatre. We ate most breakfasts and suppers at Truffles and most lunches at the buffet.

For dinner they had a 6:00 seating, an 8:30 seating as well as Open Dining. We chose Open Dining which meant we could simply show up for dinner any time between 5:45 and 9:30 - pretty much like a restaurant. They always ask if you're willing to sit with someone - and we always said no. :) We really like the waiter we had the first night - Clive and his assistant Made (Maddy), so after that we always asked to be seated in their section. We ended up sitting at one of the same 2 tables every time. Every night the dining room staff put on a bit of a show - singing and dancing to a popular song. The last night they sang "Leaving on a fun ship" - a variation of Leaving on a Jet Plane of course!

Monday was an at sea day (no stopping at any ports of call). We had a great time exploring the ship and lying out in the sun ondeck. We had dinner at Truffles Restaurant. I had strawberry bisque for an appetizer (delicious!!) and for the main course I tried duck but it was gross, so they brought me chicken instead. Nathan had lobster tail. I had Warm Chocolate Melting Cake with ice cream for dessert - hmmmmm! The show in the evening was called "Jazz Hot" performed by the Legend's singers and dancers.

Tuesday was our first port of call - Grand Cayman! It's too shallow for the cruise ships to dock at the pier so we had to tender (take a smaller boat from the ship to the pier) in for our tour. We took the Best of Cayman Island Tour. This included touring the city with a stop and tour of the Turtle Farm. This was actually extremely interesting - we learned all sorts of neat things about them. Our tour guide was really pumped about turtles! People can actually control the sex of the turtles by keeping the eggs at specific temperatures. If the eggs are kept hot they will become females, if they are kept cold they will become males (or the other way around, I can't remember!), so they keep them at the middle temperature so that it ends up being a 50/50 split. Approx 10% of the turtles are for consumption, 20% for conservation (they release them back into the ocean) and 70% for reproduction. I even held a small turtle! The underside of the turtle was not as slimy as I expected it to be - but when it would move it's arms/legs, not only would those parts touch me, but I could feel it moving underneath it's "belly" - and that was kinda gross! After the turtles we went to the town called "Hell", named for the black coral formations that apparently look like hell. After our excursion we went back on the ship for lunch (burgers, chicken fingers, fries, pizza, ice cream cones!), lying around by the pool on the Lido Deck (9), dinner at Truffles and a show (a comedian) in Follies Lounge.

Wednesday we stopped in Cozumel, Mexico. We went on a zipline excursion!!! This was by far my favourite thing that we did on our cruise. It was soooo fun. The zipline was done using manmade towers - next time I'd like to zipline over the jungle instead - I bet that would be even better! After ziplining we went back to the ship for lunch, changed into swimwear, went back out to Cozumel to do some shopping, then went back aboard to swim and sunbathe. Later on we had dinner at Truffles (Nathan had steak, I had pork chop), we went back to our room and watched Law & Order, then we went to a show - it was a balancing act which is really quite amazing in itself, nevermind doing it on a moving ship!

Thursday our port of call was Belize City. We had to anchor offshore again and take a tender in - this time it was at least a 15 or 20 min boat ride - I think they said we were about 5 miles offshore. We took a City Tour - which is probably hit and miss depending on who you happen to get as your tourguide. We had 2 women tour guides - the first one was very hard to understand due to her accent being really thick, but the 2nd one was better. The city is a very poor city. The nice area is like a lower middle class area here. One thing that was neat - she was describing the different people that lived in Belize and all of a sudden she started talking about the Mennonites that lived there! There were two different groups of Mennonites - one very conservative (still using horse and buggy, etc), and the other more "liberal" - many of whom worked in construction and other trades. I wish I would've caught that on video tape! After our tour we did a little shopping, took the tender back to the ship, had lunch and then went out and sunbathed by the pool again. Dinner that night was also at Truffles where Nathan had steak and I had pork chop. For the show that night there was a juggling comedian - it was probably the best show!

Friday was our last port of call - Isla Roatan off the coast of Honduras. This was probably the most beautiful place we went. We had a beach day - which was quite the rip off price-wise, but it was very relaxing and we enjoyed a 20 minute drive of gorgeous scenery to get there. It was a private beach called Tabyana Beach - and for only $36 per person we got a ride there and back, the use of loungers and complimentary water, lemonade and iced tea. Snorkeling and the lunch buffet was extra! You'd think that would be included for $36. Oh well. We left at 12:30, shopped a bit (though there wasn't many options - apparently it's a pretty new port of call) and went back to the cruise ship for a free lunch, followed by more lying out in the sun! For dinner that night we went to The Golden Fleece - a classy steakhouse onboard (you had to pay extra) the ship. We both had steak of course! After dinner we took in another show - the Legend singers and dancers performed again and it was excellent!

Saturday was another at sea day. This was our only day of not great weather. It was extremely windy, clousy and therefore rather chilly. We spent most of the day in our cabin (thankful for the balcony!) where we read, watched a movie and napped. We went to Truffles for our last dinner - we both had ribs. I wasn't feeling overly well - I was a bit seasick from the bad weather but hadn't noticed due to all the lying around we did. I took one of their seasick pills and by the time supper was over I felt great again. Nathan's dad lived in India for 3 years before he got married and our waiter was from India, so we chatted with him a bit about that. The crew members onboard sign up for 6 to 8 month contracts - they literally work 24/7 for months on end without seeing their families. Our waiter Clive said he had a wife and 9yr old daughter waiting back home in India and he wouldn't be seeing them till the end of March. I can't even imagine! We missed our kids so much after 1 week, nevermind 6 months!

After dinner we were chatting with a couple we'd seen almost every day but hadn't talked to before - too bad for Nathan - he found out it was Bruce Hood! For those who don't know (myself included!), he was an NHL referee for about 20 years, so Nathan was happy to visit with him, and disappointed we hadn't ran into them earlier in the week. Oh the stories he could've been told!

The last show of the cruise was really good. I think it's a bit of a Carnival tradition or something. Earlier in the week the cruise guests had the opportunity to try out to sing in the show - there were 10 people picked to be 10 different famous singers (Elton John, Brittney Spears, Garth Brooks, Aretha Franklin, etc). It was very entertaining!! The Legend singers and dancers were the backups for them. The guy that did Garth Brooks actually did a very good job! Some of the others on the other hand...... seriously, were they the only ones that tried out for that person or how did they possibly get on stage?! We're talking brutal American Idol audition quality here people. But still - very entertaining!

Sunday we had to meet immigration onboard the ship at 6:15am!! After that we went for breakfast, finished getting ready and, because we had an early flight we were sent to wait in a lounge and were some of the first passengers off the ship. We had been concerned about making our flight in time - it was at noon so we needed to be at the airport by 10am. Yeah, we needn't have been worried - we were at the airport by about 8:45am already! The flights home were all good, with minimal delays. We actually arrived back in the City about 20 mins early - but then we had to wait 20 mins on the tarmac for a plane to leave the gate we were suppsoed to be using. So it all evened out in the end. The kids were not at the airport to meet us as originally planned because the weather wasn't overly great, so just Nathan's dad came to pick us up. I was a little nervous about how Jacob would react to seeing me again, as I've heard that at that age they can be mad at you for leaving them! So I had prepared myself, hoping not to dissolve into tears should that happen, but I was still very thankful that as soon as we walked in the door he had a huge grin on his face and held out his arms to come to us. The rest of the evening he was so cute - he would hold his arms out to me, then as soon as I was holding him he'd see Nathan and want to go to him, then as soon as he was holding him he'd want to come back to me - back and forth like that all evening!

We had an absolutely fabulous vacation!! We absolutely love cruising and highly recommend it! We've stayed at Mexican resorts twice and cruised twice, and we prefer cruising hands down - no contest! We find it to be the best of both worlds - you can be as relaxed as you want, or as busy as you want. You can eat amazing food, be entertained by amazingly diverse entertainers from onboard and flown in from Vegas. Pretty much anything you want to do can be done on a cruise. You can see several different countries and yet you only have to unpack once! So, if you're at all considering a cruise for your next vacation - go for it - you'll love it!

Isn't God's creation breathtakingly amazing? What a mighty God we serve!


"He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. By his power he churned up the sea.... By his breath the skies become fair.... And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! How then can we understand the thunder of his power?" (Job 26:7-9, 11-14)