Bamatamb Takes a Cruise! (Part 1)

We went on a cruise!  Wahoo!  Bryan & I were hoping to book a cruise and give it to the kids for Christmas, but a really good deal came up for a cruise on Dec. 8-15, so we decided to snatch it up!  It was our first cruise as a family (and only the 2nd cruise for Bryan and me) so we were really excited to try it out.  First, we flew to Miami on Dec. 7th (Miles's birthday).  

Miles was great about traveling on his birthday and got a few perks too.  When we told the flight attendants it was his birthday, they immediately let us go into the cockpit to meet the pilots and take pictures.

And guess who sat right in front of me on the plane to Atlanta?  

Ute football coach Kyle Whittingham!  He was super nice when I asked for a picture and even wished Miles a happy birthday too.  We were surprised that he didn't fly first-class (his salary could definitely cover the cost!) but he seemed really down-to-earth, which was nice.

Here's a picture of the cake that the hotel had for Miles.  They really went above and beyond for us!

Day 1: Dec 8-Board the ship in Miami & Depart...

After we got our rooms settled we explored the ship.  We sailed on "Empress of the Seas" which is actually the oldest and smallest of the Royal Caribbean fleet.  It has been recently renovated and re-introduced.  I didn't mind that it was small.  (They said some ships hold 6000 people, while ours held about 1800.)  A smaller ship meant it was easier to get around and do what you wanted, while fewer people meant shorter lines and fewer crowds.  Sounds good to me!

There was a drawing on the first day to win $$ for the onboard spa.  And I won!  I got $75 towards any spa treatment, so I got a free pedicure.  Yay!  (Here I am collecting my certificate.  They made me do a dance in front of everyone in order to get it!  I felt like a big dork, but oh well.)

We swam a lot the first day.  (The pool had saltwater in it!)  Someone told us that if you get seasick you should just get in the pool--and it really did help!  (Bryan & I both got a bit seasick on our first sea day, but after that we were fine.)

The dining room is a big part of a cruise experience...  Usually we just ate at the buffet, but for dinner we went to the dining room each night for the better food.  It is a loooong experience each night (2 hours at least for every dinner!) but we sat with a nice family.  I had been hoping we'd have a table to ourselves, but we were assigned to a table with another family of 5 (mom, dad, 2 kids, and grandma.)  They were really friendly and easy to chat with during our long dinners.

The dorky ship photographer was always coming around taking pictures, which of course we were not going to buy, but we snapped a few pictures with our own cameras as well.

Here's a fancy watermelon-fish up in the buffet area.

They have a kids club onboard (called "Adventure Ocean").  I really didn't plan to use it at all and I just figured we would stay all together the whole time.  But as we toured the ship the first day, Bree got pretty excited about it and begged to go.  (She actually begged to go there on about 4 different nights of the cruise!)  It was the face painting that clinched it for her.  She loves to have her face painted.  Here's the tiger that she wouldn't let us wash off, which stained her pillowcase orange and black that night. :)

Day 2: Dec 9-Sea Day...

One of the most popular things on the ship (for our family at least) was the rock-climbing wall.  Tess, Miles, and Bryan spent lots of time there while Bree & I usually hung out at the pool.  They all improved a lot over the week of climbing and Miles had a pretty big blister to show for it.  Miles passed level 3, Tess passed level 5, and Bryan passed level 6 (the hardest level.)

Almost every night our stateroom attendants would make a little towel animal for us; we had 2 rooms, so 2 different attendants.  They were all cute (although there were a few that I really couldn't tell what they were...)  This night was a pig...

...and a cobra?  or maybe a goose/swan?  Either way, he was kind enough to hold our remote control for us. :)

There was a comedian that night and all 3 kids tried out kids club (Tess and Miles didn't go back again after this night; they thought they were too old for that!)  Bree was Wonder Woman (and we made her wash before bed.)

Day 3: Dec 10-Costa Maya, Mexico...

I loved this day!  Lots of people told us that the Costa Maya port was lame, but I thought it was great.  These cool people in traditional costumes were right there on the dock to take pictures with.

These beautiful parrots were just hanging out in the port shopping center.

We had the best luck shopping that day as well.  I'm really not a big shopper, but I do love trying to get a good bargain at each shop.  I like to haggle!  At our other ports the shops were mostly all "fixed price" which took the fun out of it for me.

Our excursion was to the Mayan ruins at Chacchoben.  We rode in a van for about an hour to get there.  We stopped along the way in a place called Pineapple Town.  

Chacchoben was really interesting.  (Not quite as impressive as Chichen Itza but still so neat.)  Archaeologists believe that the Maya who lived there, in Chacchoben, were there about 800-1000 years before Chichen Itza (from about 200 BC to 800AD -ish.)  And, they believe that the people in Chacchoben used up too much of their natural resources, for building temples and feeding all their people, that they eventually had droughts and were forced to move.  So they went north and settled where Chichen Itza is now.

When there is a tree stump and you're 5, you just have to hop up and strike a pose.  Even if your dad is teasing about tickling your armpit.

When you are a big brother and you're 9, you just have to make fun of your little sister.  And if you're a dad who never had a little sister of his own to make fun of, you just have to join in.

While we were there we got caught in a downpour!  Most days of our trip were cloudy and a little drizzly, but not too bad--mostly just a misty rain in the humidity.  But this day, we got drenched!  Everyone was standing under trees as best as we could but we were still soaked.  The whole rain only lasted about 10 minutes though, thankfully!

Here is a picture of a "strangler fig" tree.  It is a parasite that grows all around another tree until it kills the tree inside.  It ends up as just a hollow shell after the inside tree rots away.  It'll grow around anything.  Our guide showed us this black handle (he said it was a machete handle...I don't know if that's true or not, but good for the story) that was dropped and left behind.  Eventually the tree just grew all around it, and now nobody can get the handle back out.  (Who knows what happened to the blade...)

After the hard rain, the butterflies all had wet wings and couldn't fly very well, so this one let Bree get very close to it.  Beautiful!

Back on board Bryan took a picture of Miles pretending to push Tess overboard.  A little morbid.

Our towel, a stingray!

Day 4: Dec 11-Roatan, Honduras...

Honduras was beautiful!  I love the jungle, and the trees and flowers everywhere.

Our excursion was zip-lining!  Super duper fun.  There were 11 lines, and most of them were really long, zipping through the jungle rainforests.  Our guides had us all do this silly pose, upside down.  It was pretty fun, but looks a little weird in the pictures, if you know what I mean.

Bree did an awesome job too; she was never scared.  (I think doing our small zipline when we go camping has made the kids very brave.)  Bree didn't do the upside down trick, but they did let her go all by herself on her very last zip.  She loved it.

Bryan & I got to go together once.

After zipping, they had some pet monkeys for us to hold.  This is Bingo and he kept playing peek-a-boo the whole time.  Cute little guy.

When we were done ziplining we went down to the beach (West Bay Beach) for some snorkeling.  The 2nd largest coral reef (behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) runs parallel to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras.  The water is clear and warm and there are lots of fish.  So much fun!

Honduras was lots of fun.  But the feeling there wasn't my favorite.  A lot of the people were very pushy (about shopping, buying taxis, etc.) and even downright mean if you tried to walk away from them.  The city felt pretty unsafe to me too, which was kind of disconcerting.  Being with our guides at the zipline was just fine, but being on our own to snorkel made me a little more nervous.  I was glad to be back on the ship.  Plus it started to rain so I was getting cold.  We all snuggled in the big bed when we got back.

Now this animal towel is a mystery to me...  a koala bear?  a monkey?  the kids say elephant, but those ears just aren't right for an elephant... any guesses?

This post is already extremely long, so I'll do our last 3 days in another post. :)