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

[campingpixi 11]

Thank You! How is it going with planning your cruise? Are you all still planning on going on one?

Yes but for next year we are thinking about going in the spring!!

[campingpixi 11]

That water looks great but the wine looks even better!!

Great pics!!!

[stefa70 205]

That water looks beautiful!

You should probably start scouting out that bar now. If your teenagers act like brats, they are completely normal! :)

Great picture of you, your wine & your grasshopper!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Love the beach pictures!! I am now wishing for another trip to Cozumel! I feel your pain, with the grumpy DD. Mine went through that stage on a trip to Disney, that's where she got her nickname, Princess I Don't Wanna. :rofl2: Don't worry to much about it they seem to outgrow that stage when they near the end of jr. high!!

Can't wait for the next installment.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Thank you for continuing to read along. I was hoping to get the rest March 28th in here tonight, but got word that a friend's mother-in-law has suffered a stroke. Going to help tidy up the friend's house as as they are now preparing for extended family to descend upon them.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

:suspense:

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Looks like fun.

[Lou... 3,118]

Ya, ya, I'm here not reading this TR.

Tell hubby to smile, just a little.

And where is your other hand in that photo with the Mayan whatever he's supposed to be.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

:suspense:

Getting ready to update. I even have some food pictures of kitties for you.

Looks like fun.

Thank You it really was fun.

Ya, ya, I'm here not reading this TR.

Tell hubby to smile, just a little.

And where is your other hand in that photo with the Mayan whatever he's supposed to be.

Lou I know you hate for us to ruin your street cred and all, but this post was just what I need to brighten up my day. I am so glad you decided not to read my TR.

I will let hubby know what you said. He was chuckling when we were posing for the different pictures. He thought it was so funny how the photographers would be like: "Stand here." "Put your arm here." Put your head here." and so on.

Don't worry my other arm was in a safe respectable area. I mean after all my husband was only standing about a foot away.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Ok sorry guys. You are going to have to wait a bit longer for an update. Mom duties are calling. Taxi driver to the rescue.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Wow this was quite a busy day, but it is coming to and end soon.

Following dinner, it was our standard evening routine. I took the girls to the Adventure Club, Drew went to find much cooler people to hang out with than his parents. Steve and I were going to meet up after I dropped off the girls.

The Adventure Club was on the 12^th deck and it was taking forever for the elevator to come up there so, I decided just to walk down to the 11^th deck. I remembered I had not gotten any pictures in the Adult pool area known as the Solarium. So, I decided to get some. I don’t know why, but for some reason I never ended up spending anytime in here. Probably something I need to add to my list of things I must do on a future cruise. Apparently no one uses the pools at night even though they are open.

Steve and I met up at the main pool bar area and decided to enjoy a couple drinks. There was going to be a dance party and late night buffet tonight. I took some pictures of the buffet as it was being set up.

Just to make sure that the cruise ship got even more of your money there was a bar by the pool with these light up glasses that you could buy for your drinks.

The band was warming up.

It was time to go and get the girls. Steve went to see if Drew was going to come down and join us.

There were hoola hoops out for people to enjoy.

The girls and I decided to get in line for the buffet.

I was able to get a few more pictures of the buffet including this ice sculpture.

We had an excursion planned for the next morning so, it was time for me to take the girls back to the room and get some sleep. The guys came up shortly after us.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Love the buffet pictures!! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Food pictures, can't believe there aren't more comments after all no one on FF likes food. I think I would have to exercise after being on a cruise. :)

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Mmmm, that buffet looks good! I've always figured that if I ever take a cruise, I'll probably gain 10 pounds. Of course, that describes pretty much any vacation I go on.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

It was now Thursday morning March 29^th. We had an excursion to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins planned for the day. Initially we had signed up to take one of the tours offered with the cruise ship. It was going to include a tour of the ruins and then time at the beach including lunch and drinks. We decided we really did not want to do that and instead booked a tour to the ruins with a company called Native Choice. Our tour guide was Ivan. He said that Americans pronounce it (eye van), but really it is (ee von). He said most people associate (ee von) as a girl name though. Probably should have gone up and introduced myself to him, but I never did.

As I have mentioned before we are not morning people so, we called to arrange a wake-up call and also made sure to have room service deliver our breakfast between 6:30-7:00am. I was so worried about oversleeping that I end up getting up before either of those things happened. The others got up and we grabbed some sunscreen, water and a pool towel (just in case we decided to go to a beach later in the day). We had a short walk to the Native Choice office.

There are actually different tours you can take so, based on your tour they give you a wrist band. We were just going to take the tour of the ruins. The other options they had were a tour of the ruins followed by a Mayan Experience. You go to the home of a Mayan Family and the mother teaches you how to make tortillas and then you have traditional Mayan lunch. Also another option is the Extreme tour. You go to the ruins, but then also spend time at the Bacalar Lagoon. We were only going to do the ruins tour though and then go to have lunch at this place called 100% Agave.

The drive to the ruins was about an hour and Ivan shared a lot of information with us during the ride. I found it rather fascinating. Having never been to this area of the world we were not sure what to expect. We had forgotten that Costa Maya had taken a direct hit from Hurricane Dean back in 2007. I sit here trying to come up with the best words to describe what Ivan said and what we could clearly see as we looked out the bus windows on the way to the ruins. I truly wish I had brought along pen and paper to take notes while he was talking as my mind has forgotten much of what he said. I will tell you some of the things I do remember though. Very few people have televisions, their views of us are based on what they see on television (they go to their “cousin’s house” to watch tv) so, basically we all live a very glamorous life as television shows would have one believe, there is no money for schools, and there is no post office. As I said there was much more and I really wish I had written it down or at least taken some pictures.

Ivan actually grew up at the Chacchoben ruins so, having him as a tour guide was a bit like getting a family history lesson. Again wish I had brought along pen and paper or even a tape recorder. Since I am having such a hard time keeping up with this report and remembering a lot of it. I will just include some pictures that we took during the tour.

Following the tour we had about 15 minutes to do a little bit of shopping. Along with the trinkets we bought, we also bought some pineapple to eat on the way back. Some with chili powder and some without. The fresh ground chili powder was different, but quite addicting. As Ivan pointed out when he initially brought it up what may seem weird to us is normal in the Mayan culture and things that we find normal like putting peanut butter on bread seems strange to them. I do tend to agree with them on the whole peanut butter and bread thing.

We had arrived back at the port safely and I wanted to go to 100% Agave's for lunch. I had been reading up about it and had been looking forward to it. We were going to have to take a taxi to get there. Steve was not too happy about this as he had not brought a lot of cash with him for the day. In the end though, I won and we crammed (literally as they put us in a five person sedan) to get there. We found the restaurant, but could not eat there. Fernando's gas was not working so, he could not cook. He was so apologetic though. He took us over to another place called The Iguana Beach Club. Steve and I were given a complimentary drink and we shared some tacos (fish and chicken) and some nachos. Following lunch we walked around for a little bit.

I made a new friend.

Jessica got her feet wet (she had wanted to go swimming, but it was getting late).

Then we headed back to the ship.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

We made it back to the ship around 3:00pm. Steve went to return the pool towel. Jessica and I decided to go down to the helipad for the sail away. Drew and Rachel did not want to do that so, they just stayed in the room.

Looking over to the port area from the helipad.

Pictures of the island and the beautiful blue water.

The two lowest windows that you see on the right side are the two windows in our room.

We actually saw a few dolphins, but I didn’t have the camera turned on to capture a picture. Of course once I did turn the camera on, we did not see anymore.

Guess what we made it to dinner on time!! Tonight was lobster night. Of course once again I find myself apologizing for not taking pictures. We had debated about taking the girls to the buffet and then having Steve, Drew and I eat at one of the specialty restaurants, but when we realized it was lobster night that idea went out the window.

Following dinner I took the girls to the adventure club. Then I came back to the room and did this :sleep: . The worst part of it I had to wake up to pick up the girls from the Adventure club at 10pm :banghead: . I tell you I lead such an exciting life. :rofl3: As soon as I got the girls back to the room I told them to get to bed and then I resumed my previously scheduled activity. At some point the guys came in and I could hear them watching tv and ordering room service, but I was too tired to even acknowledge them. Thank goodness tomorrow was an at sea day. I was planning on sleeping in as late as possible. I just wanted to make sure I went to breakfast in the dining room. We had not done that yet.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Cool pictures!

When you were walking around the Mayan ruins, did you happen to see any calendars? Now that Dick Clark is gone, I'm getting more worried there may not be a New Year.

[stefa70 205]

Love the pics of the ruins. Do your kids enjoy that type of thing, or do they get bored? I think the older you get, the more you can appreciate that kind of stuff.

Good for you for squeezing in a nap! I wish I could do that more. I usually come home needing a vacation from a vacation. I run around like a crazy woman as I'm always afraid I'm gonna miss something. :)

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Great pictures of the ruins! This report is making me want to take another cruise!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Sorry I haven’t been in here to update this. Our wifi is acting up :puter: and for some reason disconnects whenever any of us go on the computer. Most of my FF time has been via my Kindle or our I Pad lately. But, I decided that tonight the rest of the family is just going to have to suffer with no wifi and I will get an update done.

So, after my restful night’s sleep I woke up around 9:00am. Today was our last full day. We had already had dinner in the dining room each night, had eaten breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer, but had not had breakfast or lunch in the dining room. I wanted to rectify that today. I tried to get the others up to go with me, but no one was budging. I went down there myself and was seated with some very nice people. I must give a huge shout out to this board because if it was not for all of you I probably never would have felt comfortable doing something like that. You all have been so amazing and welcoming that it has allowed me to step a bit out of my normal comfort levels. :heartsmiley: The waiter came around to take our order and decided on an omelet with ham, cheese, tomatoes and green peppers, and some wheat toast. About 2/3 of the way through my delicious omelet I remembered it was Friday and it was Lent. :pope:

After breakfast I walked around for a bit and checked out the sales they were having in the stores. Steve had taken the girls to the Adventure club and I met them there. They were going to participate in a talent show, but apparently they arrived too late to do that. So, when I met them the girls and I decided to watch the talent show and the guys took off for awhile.

Then we met up for lunch and went to the dining room. I had heard about the awesome salad bar on this cruise and wanted to try it out. Steve had initially been reluctant to go to lunch in the dining room, but afterwards even he admitted the salad bar was amazing. We had it in addition to our meal. I can’t remember what I actually ordered for lunch. I think it was some sort of meatless pasta or something.

The girls went back to the Adventure club for the afternoon and I was going to do something that I had not taken the time to do yet. I put on my swimsuit, grabbed my Kindle, my large pool bag, stopped to get a pool towel, grab a drink at the :Bar: ,found a lounger on deck 12 and read the 3^rd Hunger Games book that I had purposely waited to download until just before the trip. Ahhh life was good.

We had decided to all meet up at 4:00 to play miniature golf.

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

Sounds like a perfectly relaxing day!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Tonight was our last night to eat in the dining room and the girls had been begging to do the “My Family Time Dining” so, I signed them up when I dropped them off earlier. What this would mean is that the girls food orders would be taken quickly and the food brought to them so that they could be at the front of the dining room by 6:40pm. We had to let our waiter know we were going to do this. So we did. The girls decided to just order off the kids menu that night. It was mac and cheese for one and cheese pizza for the other. I tried to get them to go ahead and tell our waiter what they wanted for dessert then too, but of course they had no idea. They ended up ordering dessert after they ate. One ordered a brownie and the other ice-cream. However, it was getting too close to the time that they had to be at the front to meet the Adventure Club guide so, they did not get to enjoy their desserts. But, the two boys who were part of the other family did. So, at least it did not go to waste.

Following dinner we said our goodbyes to our table mates and head back to the room to pack up. We had to have everything that we were not going to carry off of the ship outside our room that night. Once we had all that done, I decided I wanted to check out the show in the theater.

The Royal Caribbean farewell.

I picked up the girls at 10pm and got pictures of them with a couple of the Adventure Club guides.

We had promised Jessica she could go swimming that night so we went back to the room so she could get her suit on. Then we met Steve at the pool.

Making daddy chase her!

We were going to have to get up early so, I took the girls back to the room to get them to bed.

As I have mentioned before Drew is very reserved and as such by the time he found a group of teenagers to hang out with the cruise was coming to an end. Royal Caribbean has a curfew for the under 18 passengers which was 1:30am. We never had to worry about that with him as he had not really hung out with anyone the entire trip and was always back in the room before midnight. Well tonight was another story. 1:30am came and went. Steve went to go look for him. He even went to guest services to get the search party activated. :popo: :siren: Oh and apparently that curfew is really not enforced as Steve said he saw plenty of teenagers roaming the main area at this time (some running up and down the stairs screaming). :argh: He came back to see if Drew had shown up, but he hadn’t so he wanted me to call down to the desk. As I did Drew showed up. :whew: Being a teenage boy he could not understand why we were worried. He and some of the new friends he had made were in the theater talking. He eventually saw our side of things as we explained how we really just wanted to know where he was and that we had to get up really early the next morning.

I really wish it was not so expensive to use cell phones on cruises because texting each other would have been really helpful. We didn’t purchase the all-you-can-drink soda package because we thought it was a waste of money as the kids don’t really drink that much soda anyways. I think what the cruise lines need is to rent out phones you could use to text others on the ship. I know we would definitely pay for something like that. Now that everyone safely back in the room we went to bed.

The next morning I did something I had never done before and I have to thank TCD for motivating me to do it.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Cool pictures!

When you were walking around the Mayan ruins, did you happen to see any calendars? Now that Dick Clark is gone, I'm getting more worried there may not be a New Year.

They did have some in fact we bought one. Our tour guide was sure to point out that it was all just a money making scheme though.

Love the pics of the ruins. Do your kids enjoy that type of thing, or do they get bored? I think the older you get, the more you can appreciate that kind of stuff.

Good for you for squeezing in a nap! I wish I could do that more. I usually come home needing a vacation from a vacation. I run around like a crazy woman as I'm always afraid I'm gonna miss something. :)

I think Steve and I liked the tour more than the kids did. Drew probably liked it the best out of all three of them. This did make us realize that for our trip to Italy which we are hoping will be next summer we will leave the girls behind with relatives. It would cost waaay to much to take them to have to hear, "I'm booooooored." most of the time.

That nap or rather early bed time really was a blessing. The next day I felt great.

Great pictures of the ruins! This report is making me want to take another cruise!!

Steve was just talking about taking another cruise. I think it is one of those vacations that you really do not fully appreciate it until you have stepped away from it for a bit. I wouldn't mind going on another one, but I would like it if we were on it with some other people we knew. I think being with a large group would be a lot of fun.

Sounds like a perfectly relaxing day!

It definitely was and made me wish we had taken a 7 day cruise instead of a 5. By the time I had everything figured out the cruise was coming to an end.

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

I really wish it was not so expensive to use cell phones on cruises because texting each other would have been really helpful. We didn’t purchase the all-you-can-drink soda package because we thought it was a waste of money as the kids don’t really drink that much soda anyways. I think what the cruise lines need is to rent out phones you could use to text others on the ship. I know we would definitely pay for something like that. Now that everyone safely back in the room we went to bed.

The Disney Ships (at least the Dream (and probably the Fantasy), have something called wave phones, two per room, but I think you could request extras. They were the size of small wireless house phones, and you could dial other rooms on the ship, and other wave phones in your room, and they had texting. Very nice. They worked all over the ship and on Castaway Cay. Rick and I and the other Fiends used them a bunch to keep up with each other.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm getting cruise fever again just reading this ... great TR!