Spring Break what to do... go on a cruise to the Western Caribbean

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

The plan was to leave around noon on Saturday, March 24^th and drive for about 6-7 hours. Well let’s just say we tend to not stick to “plans” too well. I will admit it use to drive me crazy, but now I am just use to it.

So, the van is packed up and we are ready to go.

My girls!

At this point DS and DH had not yet gotten into the van.

Finally the guys arrive and we pull out of the drive way and head out of our neighborhood, but before we get too far ds realizes we do not have the extension cord that we use on the trips so, all electronic devices can be charged and in use at all times. So, we turn back around and Steve runs into the house to get it.

Now we are really on the way.

:shh: Do you hear that?

Silence.

No: “I’m hungry”

“Can we watch a movie?

“Rachel won’t play with me.”

All three children have their own IPods and each one has head phones. So, they are settled in for awhile. I will tell you though that I am not too sure I liked this new way of traveling. Oh believe me I did not miss the constant questions and the bickering, but I did miss the family fun we would have while traveling. One thing we use to do when traveling during the day was to play Mad Libs. We always had a few of the books in the car. Of course dh and ds would make sure their responses were creative enough to drive me crazy, but not too bad to get more than a pg rating. In the end we would end up with these crazy stories that often left me with tears running down my face as I read them aloud. Sadly there would be no Mad Libs stories on this trip.

Now being that we live in North Alabama there are a few different routes we can take to get to Tampa. You do remember what I said about planning. Right? Oh good. Well the planner…that would be me. I had asked on here about the best route that people had found. Carol shared that she had tried all the different routes and found that going through Atlanta was the easiest. I shared this with dh. This was the same route we had taken to Disney two years ago so, I thought it was a done deal. Then as we get closer to Cullman the discussions starts:

DH: I wonder which route we should take.

Me: I thought we were going to take the Birmingham to Atlanta way.

DH: M (someone he works with) left for Orlando yesterday he never takes the Atlanta way. He goes through Dothan. Should we take that way?

Me: We could, but remember we will go through some areas were we will not be on the interstate so, it could take us much longer if we end up behind someone driving slow.

DH: So which way should we go?

Me: I would go the Atlanta way.

DH: Why don’t you look at the maps and see the roads we would need to take if we went through Dothan? Should we go through Dothan?

Me: If that is what you want to do. (Meanwhile wondering if the water I had put in to my water bottle would miraculously be transformed into wine. :wine: )

So, we tried a new route and went through Dothan. In this case it ended up working out well for us that we left later than planned as when we drove through Dothan there was hardly any traffic. We decided to get into Florida and stop for the night. We stayed at a Quality Inn located in Marianna, Florida. There was a Ruby Tuesday across the street so Steve and I ordered something from there. He went over and picked it up. We had stopped at a McD’s on the way down for the kids.

[dvccamper 32]

Great start, I can't wait to read about your cruise. We took one with the kids last year and we loved it. Looking forward to more!

[stefa70 205]

I'm in Yvonne! Excited to hear about your trip.

I remember Mad Libs, and as a kid we would make them as bad as possible. You know, boogers, farts, poop.....

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Yeah the memories that often stick with you the most are the ones that didn't go exactly to plan (and you laugh about them later).

[Live4FW 30]

OHHH, I love Cruise TRs' We have thought about taking a cruise out of TPA sometimeyear so I am looking forward to your impressions.

[MLM5.. aka Judy 97]

I'm here I'm here!!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I'm in!! Glad the Dothan route worked out for ya!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in!

I am pro ipods, and anti Mad Libs.

The next time you are in Marianna, visit Florida Caverns State Park. The caves are cool.

TCD

[campingpixi 11]

can't wait for the rest!!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

OK, you can't have forgotten about us already??!!! Update please!!!!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Great start, I can't wait to read about your cruise. We took one with the kids last year and we loved it. Looking forward to more!

Thank You for joining along. This was our first cruise, but probably will not be our last. Though dh did say he would like to go on some other vacations first such as trip to Italy (being planned for summer 2013), Grand Canyon trip, Colorado ski trip, etc.

I'm in Yvonne! Excited to hear about your trip.

I remember Mad Libs, and as a kid we would make them as bad as possible. You know, boogers, farts, poop.....

Glad you are here Stef! Hmmm sounds like you would fit right in with our Mad Libs games.

Yeah the memories that often stick with you the most are the ones that didn't go exactly to plan (and you laugh about them later).

This is true. I have to think God knew exactly what he was doing when he brought Steve and I together. Steve's lack of planning and my obsessive compulsive over planning seem to have ways of balancing each other out many times.

OHHH, I love Cruise TRs' We have thought about taking a cruise out of TPA sometimeyear so I am looking forward to your impressions.

Glad to have you along! Tampa is where we sailed out of. We were on the RCI Jewel of the Seas. I can't compare the port or ship to any others since it is our first experience, but we thought everything went smoothly.

I'm here I'm here!!

Yeah!!! You know I was going to just give up on this if you didn't join in.

I'm in!! Glad the Dothan route worked out for ya!!!

It did and Steve mentioned to people that we have lived here in Alabama for 10 years and it allowed us to see areas of the state where we have never been and most likely would never have gone. He seemed to like that way verses the Atlanta way. Kind of surprised me as he tend to have heavy foot when it comes to driving. Although he did have me drive the non interstate roads most of the time.

I'm in!

I am pro ipods, and anti Mad Libs.

The next time you are in Marianna, visit Florida Caverns State Park. The caves are cool.

TCD

Glad you are here. Oh I don't mind the Ipods (they did after all make for us much quieter trip) just realizing how my children are growing up and the things they bring along for the car rides are changing. My youngest use to pack the entire playroom for road trips this time I can't even remember if brought along even one Barbie doll.

The caves would be fun to check out. We need to get to the Cathedral Caverns here in Alabama. One of those places closest enough for a day trip for us, but we have yet to find the time to go.

can't wait for the rest!!

So glad to have you along! Ummm you are a patient person right? Not sure how quickly I will get this done.

OK, you can't have forgotten about us already??!!! Update please!!!!!

I know. I know. Realized in hindsight I probably should have waited until after Easter to start this. So much to do between now and then. I will try to get another update up tonight.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

As promised to Carol an update. :)

So, after a nice restful night Steve’s alarm went off around 9am and the girls and I decided to go and see what the hotel had for the breakfast offerings. Not too much really the typical cereal, pastries, biscuits and gravy and make your own waffles. Jessica decided on a bagel with cream cheese, Rachel had a danish and I had biscuits and gravy. The guys ended up missing breakfast, but did not seem to mind.

Finally around noon we got back on the road. I had already booked our hotel for the night. We were going to be staying at the Best Western in Wesley Chapel, FL. Our cruise would actually not depart until Monday, March 26^th. Steve and I had talked about what we wanted to do as far as parking. We could stay at a hotel that had one of the park and stay packages. Stay at a hotel right by the port and park in the garage or stay a bit farther from the port and park in the garage. We figured that we really only needed a place to sleep and did not need anything fancy so, decided that staying about a half hour from the port would work for us. Oh and Steve did not want to wait for a shuttle bus to have to take us somewhere to get the van after our cruise. We were going to stay at a cheaper hotel and use the money we saved to park in the garage.

Jessica was really excited about the drive.

After getting to the hotel and into our room the guys settled in to watch some basketball and I took the girls to the swimming pool.

Later we went to a place called Amici Pizza for dinner. The food was really good. Shared a large Margherita pizza and the guys each had a calzone which were huge. Sorry I forgot to take the camera with us. We were going to get dessert there, but the kids decided that they wanted Blizzards so we asked the waiter where the closest DQ was thankfully it was less than a mile away. Did run into a bit of an embarrassing moment when we went to pay though. Our credit card would not work. :panic: We ended up using the debit card instead. Learned a lesson that if you travel to an area where you do not normally travel it is best to let the credit card company know before you leave. They noticed the charges for gas and food in areas not near where we live and as I mentioned before have never been to so, to protect us they blocked the card. They did try to call us, but unfortunately the contact number we have listed is our home number only. In the end we got it all straightened out. :whew:

It was time for bed as tomorrow our cruise would begin.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Sounds like some good travel times!!! I know what ya mean about the credit card. It seems like the card my DH uses all the time puts a "cautionary fraud" block on his card twice a month. I know they are protecting us, but it gets rather annoying. We also have to call them every time we leave Madison County

[stefa70 205]

We had the same thing happen with our credit card on our way to NY. Yes, they had called (the house) and sent multiple emails (to the house) It is aggravating, but about 6 months later someone did get a hold of my cc and tried making charges that didn't match my spending habits, so they blocked them. :whew: So I guess it's not a bad idea.

Looks like the girls had a great time in the pool.

Can't wait to see the boat!

[campingpixi 11]

Sorry to hear about the card drama.. been there too in 2009 at the fort :banghead: when we went to get the golf cart!! Hope you are having a wonderful time!!

[dvccamper 32]

We have had similar issues with a credit card like that in the past. I usually joke and say "No, but that's the good card" (a line from the movie Best in Show), but no one ever gets it.

Anyway, we let our card company know when we are planning on traveling now.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

It is about 9:30 am on Cruise Departure Day! Somehow my fellow passengers here with me do not understand the urgency of this matter. GET UP PEOPLE!!!!!

Finally we are on our way to the Port. The ride was very easy. Well except for the fact I forgot to write down the terminal from which we were leaving. No worries though it seems our ship was the only one leaving from the port that day and we found where we needed to go. As I mentioned we were going to leave our van parked in the garage while we were gone. The cost for that was $15 per day. For a few extra dollars per day we could have it valet parked. We decided to use this option. So, after the most kind and wonderful porters took our luggage and we took what we would need to carry on the ship we handed the van key over to the valet and we were on our way. The lines went quickly and we had no problems. The person checking my birth certificate (used those and picture ID for identification) was a bit perplexed though. She called over a manager and he commented that he had not seen one of these since he left Heidelberg about 40 years ago. My father was in the Air Force and I was born in Germany so, my birth certificate is a birth abroad one. He showed the lady how to enter it into the system and then we were on our way to have our “Welcome Photos “ taken.

By the time we got on the ship our room was ready. We decided to head there first and drop off our carry-on bags then go explore the ship for a bit. Our room was #7004 it was a family ocean view (could sleep 6) and it was located at the forward of the ship. We entered the ship on deck 5 and decided just to walk up the two flights of stairs to deck 7.

As you enter our room.

The bed for Steve and me.

Sitting room area

Sofa converted to a bed for Drew.

Bunkbeds for the girls.

A nightstand by the lower bunk

There was quite a bit of storage space (closet where you enter the room, closet by our bed, closet by the bunkbeds and two dressers in the sitting area), but I forgot to get pictures.

I can't remember if we went to eat first or explore the ship first. I think it was to eat. I forgot to get pictures of the Windjammer where we ate lunch, but I will tell you there is a self serve soft ice cream machine in there. Jessica loved it!! Also doing my research I found out that there was an outdoor seating area for the Windjammer so, that is where we decided to sit.

Really we did take our son along on the cruise too, but for some reason (thinking his age has something to do with it :banghead: ) we ended up with more pictures of the girls and the most of Jessica. Not sure what we are going to take pictures of when she stops posing for the camera :rofl3:

Off to explore the ship.

These pool tables are self leveling. We never actually tried them out though. Truth is we never actually hung out in the bars much.

The only time the kids were allowed to even walk through the casino.

Actually all the lounges were off limits to them and their Sea Pass cards were clearly marked with 2 punched holes showing that they were underage.

This was the centrum area of the ship.

The centrum lounge area where I had the drink of the day and Steve enjoyed a Fosters.

The pool area and the Sail Away party.

After this we went and toured the Adventure club for the girls and got them registered. Jessica was excited about this, but Rachel was not to sure about it and was wondering if she had to go there every day. Well let's just say by the end of the cruise they were both wanting nothing to do with Steve and me and were begging to to go to the Adventure Club. Rachel is extremely reserved and she loved it! Being a homeschooling mom I cherish the moments I have with my girls, but must say I did enjoy my free time. We did have the option to allow them to do self check-in and self checkout for the club, but we declined that. Drew our teenage son though was able to come and go freely. He for the most part hung out with us except in the evenings when he would play basketball. He also tends to be reserved like Rachel and by the time he found a group of teens to hang out with the cruise was about over.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

AWESOME UPDATE!!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Thank You Carol. I will most likely not post another one until after Easter.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

One thing I had forgotten to mention was that our room did not have a balcony, but we had two large bay style windows. It was the perfect place to sip a glass of wine, eat some breakfast or simply pose for pictures.

It was now about time to get ready for dinner. The travel agent that we used for the trip had booked us at a table that sat 6 people as she thought since this was our first cruise and there would be times where

we were going to be off in different directions we might want that time at dinner to reconnect. Now as I had read on the various boards of how rude it was to show up late for dinner we hurried as much as possible, but never-the-less end up being late. Knowing what had been requested for seating we thought ok it would not be too bad. However arriving at dinner, we found that RCI had placed us at a table with another family of 4 and also 2 ladies who were traveling together. Steve is not really a “social” person when he first meets people and had wanted to change our table the next day. I felt it would be rude and we left it as it was. Now I am also more on the reserved side (Judy and Carol could probably confirm this), but compared to the rest of my family I am outgoing. Thankfully being quiet person has always allowed me to listen to what others say and I was able to use this to my advantage by starting conversations by simply asking questions on topics that I knew the person would want to talk about. By about the third night Steve had finally felt a bit more comfortable conversing with our table mates. With all this we did come to the conclusion though that if we do cruise again we would not choose traditional dining. The girls are both under 13 and RCI has a rule that children under that age are to dine at the earlier seating. We had booked this thing called “My Family Time Dining” where the girls were suppose to have gotten their food first and then an Adventure Club member would pick them up and take them back to the kids club area. We only used that option 1 time and it felt way too rushed. Our thoughts are that in the future we would feed the girls in the Windjammer then let them go to the Adventure Club for the evening. For our son and us we would utilize the “My Time Dining” option. We felt that 6pm dinner time really made our day seem rushed.

After dinner I dropped the girls off at the Adventure Club. Then I went exploring for a bit, but forgot to take the camera. I had to pick up the girls by 10pm and when I asked them how they liked the kids club area they both told me they loved it and wanted to go back. Jessica had wanted to go swimming earlier, but everything seemed so rushed that we had convinced her to wait until tonight after we picked her up from the Adventure Club. The pool was much emptier then and she enjoyed it.

One of the benefits of cruising is ordering Room Service. My children have had room service a couple times before when we have stayed at the Westin in Kansas City, but it is not something we do on a regular basis. Needless to say we got pretty use to using room service while on the cruise. It did not cost us any extra money except to tip the person delivering the food. The only time that a small fee ($3.95) was added was if you ordered between the hours of midnight and 5am. We ended up ordering something each night and always had a simple breakfast of pastries, fruit, juice and coffee for the morning delivered. I actually did remember to take some pictures of our first room service order.

Cheese plate

Caesar Salad

Turkey panini

Chocolate berry pear tart (Drew apparently liked it as he ordered it every night)

Chocolate chips cookies and milk

Spinach and artichoke dip

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Enjoying your TR. I'm a Diamond Club cruiser with RCI but have never been on the Jewel. She is beautiful! And that food looks wonderful!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great updates!

That ship is beautiful, and I can't get over all the space you have in your cabin.

One of the things that you always hear about DCL is how their cabins are so much larger than the industry standard. I think that may have been true when the Magic and Wonder were launched 10+ years ago, but I think the industry has caught up, and maybe in some cases, passed, DCL as far as cabin size goes.

I knew that RCCL was sailing out of the Port of Tampa, but I didn't know the ship they were using was this nice.

You have got me to thinking.

TCD

[campingpixi 11]

wow the cabin looks to be a good size and the food looks great!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Enjoying your TR. I'm a Diamond Club cruiser with RCI but have never been on the Jewel. She is beautiful! And that food looks wonderful!

She is a beautiful ship. Not as large as some of the other RCI ships, but being that it was our first time cruising this was probably best for us. As it was I felt we didn't get a chance to explore every thing anyways couldn't imagine trying to do and see it all on a much larger ship. Talking to some people we were cruising with us they did mention they liked the activity areas for the larger ships (full court basketball verses the 1/2 court they had on the jewel as an example).

Great updates!

That ship is beautiful, and I can't get over all the space you have in your cabin.

One of the things that you always hear about DCL is how their cabins are so much larger than the industry standard. I think that may have been true when the Magic and Wonder were launched 10+ years ago, but I think the industry has caught up, and maybe in some cases, passed, DCL as far as cabin size goes.

I knew that RCCL was sailing out of the Port of Tampa, but I didn't know the ship they were using was this nice.

You have got me to thinking.

TCD

We got to peek in at some of the regular balcony rooms as they were open when we walked by sometimes. We had thought about booking two of those, but could not secure two connecting ones. I know some people like the idea of having two bathrooms, but for us having the one bathroom worked fine. Now in a few years when my girls are older and in the full fledged teen years I may rethink that. :clint: The balcony rooms were much smaller than our family ocean view. Even looking at the pictures of the DCL family ocean view Fantasy I liked the RCI one better. The bunk area is completely separate from the sitting area (curtain divides it). The pictures I saw for the Fantasy had a bunk bed over the couch and then another bed next to the couch.

Not sure how long the Jewel will be sailing out of Tampa. On the cruise boards there is a discussion about how she will be going back over to England for a bit and then some say she will be returning to Tampa the fall of 2012.

wow the cabin looks to be a good size and the food looks great!!

Thank You! The food was great especially those chocolate chip cookies. Steve didn't really care much for the panini.

[LORNADUCK 261]

The ship looks really beautiful. So glad you had a good time. I am so sorry we didn't get to meet, life keeps getting in the way.

Any change of you coming to Stone Mtn, for the GG

I can't wait to read more of the TR