1 months to 12 months

Samuel

Tyler 

Amelia 

Western Caribbean Cruise | Royal Caribbean

Caribbean Cruise 2019

Travis and I decided last year that we needed a getaway with no children and figured a cruise sounded good, plus neither of us had been on one. We decided that once Amelia was one we could go. We left the week after she turned one. :) The kids got to stay at grandparent's so they were having a great time as well.

It worked out that my Jared & Tiffany (my brother and his wife) could come with us, which was so much fun. We left out of Tampa, Florida.

We spent the first afternoon on the boat just exploring everything.

Rock climbing on the boat. Day 2 was just a day on the ocean. We slept in, relaxed out on the deck, ate food and watched the sunset.

Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico. We had a beach day planned with Jared & Tiffany. We got a taxi and headed to paradise beach. It was so nice to not have an agenda. We played on the toys in the water, kayaked, tried the paddle boards, (Travis fell off and banged up his knee) & relaxed under the palm trees. On our way back to port we stopped at a flea market and picked up a couple souvenirs for the kids. We called the kids at every port. 

We had a couple of formal nights at dinner. We were able to reserve the same time and table every night so we had the same waiter. 

Second stop was Belize City, Belize. Travis & I went to see the Lamanai Mayan Ruins. I went to the same ones with my parents 7 years ago. Not long after I met Travis actually. We took a bus ride, then a little boat ride to the site. It was hot and muggy, but so neat to see again. I loved hearing about the history and the things they were able to learn about the culture and people from the things that they found. We also made some friends, James & Jenny from Florida, on this excursion.

Every night on the ship they had different shows and games. Tiffany was the winner of the finish the lyrics game show. And she and Jared were selected to compete for the twist dancing competition. Jared wasn't terribly thrilled about that.

Also, the food was so good. Especially dessert. The souffle and cheesecake were probably my favorites. I miss not having to cook. :)

Third stop was Roatan, Honduras. Jared served his mission in Honduras (which is why we chose this trip) and he was quite excited about this stop. He had coordinated with someone on the island to pick us up and take us out snorkeling. It was just the 4 of us for most of the trip. They took us out to 3 different spots to snorkel. Jared had wanted to try and find some more traditional Hondurian food, so our driver stopped on the way back to port at a place we could get some. It was fun to experience that. Also, Jared hasn't been exaggerating when he talks about how crazy it is to drive in Honduras. It gets a little scary. People just kinda do what they want.

This was a cashew tree! They look like little, angry gnomes.

Oh, they also took the boat by this little zoo place and we could see a couple tigers. This one below is the white tiger.

Jared & Tiffany had a little go pro and got some shots under the water.

We had the option to do a beach break after snorkeling, but it was a little rainy and Tiffany really wanted to see the sloth. So we went to see the sloths and monkeys. I hadn't planned on holding a sloth or having a monkey on my head, but that's what we did.

Our last stop was Costa Maya, Mexico. This was the nicest looking port. They had flamingos and dolphins and a ton of nice swimming pools. 

Travis & I went floating down a river/lagoon. It was gorgeous! And the water felt so nice on such a hot day. We got a meal afterwards right on the side of the river.

Spent our last day on the ship doing a lot of relaxing outside. We loved the shows they did. Except for the last comedian, he was mean and lame. But everything else was well done.

We were sad to go home, but excited to see the kids. We missed them a lot.

After 8 hours in the Tampa airport we got on the plane and made it back to our house after midnight.