Spring Break Cruise

***Beware, uber-long post to follow***

We had an amazing time for our family vacation this year.  We decided this would be the year for a big trip to celebrate our upcoming 20th anniversary.  (Woot woot!)  We picked a Western Caribbean cruise because I wanted to see ancient Mayan ruins, which were amazing.  We were able to get dates that worked perfectly with spring break at school so Bri and I didn't miss any class/work time.

 Day 1 - Saturday March 31. Flight from SLC to Miami.  Bri flew on a plane to see some friends in Washington when she was two, but she is not counting that, so this was her "first flight".  We gave her the window seat for the entire trip and she took about 100 pictures out the window at all the landscape below.  We connected through Dallas/Ft. Worth both directions.  It was a very nice terminal on the way there.  On the way back we were in an older terminal that was icky..
When we got to Miami we stayed one night in a hotel.  There were no restaurants close and the hotel room service had closed down so we ended up ordering pizza.  

Day 2 - Sunday April 1st.  Embarkation.  We had a yummy breakfast at the hotel and then took a shuttle to the cruise terminal.  We sailed on the Carnival Glory.  Checking in was similar to going on a flight.  We had to go through a metal detector and security.  We then stood in line to check in on a computer and then stand in line to board the ship.  As we got on the ship they took our pictures and gave us a "sign and sail" card which was our ID for the ship and also let us shop and charge to our shipboard account.  The best part of having my card was JT and I got soda stickers so we could have all the soda we wanted.  Bri didn't want one because she liked the juices and lemonade that was available without the sticker.  

Once we were on the ship we had about 1-1/2 hours before we could get into our room so we walked around the decks a little bit and then had some lunch.  Our first meal at the "Red Sail" restaurant...mmmm.  Our room was actually bigger than I had expected, but still smaller than most hotel rooms that we have been in.  Bri's birthday was the last full day of our cruise and we had paid to have them decorate the room for her special day the night before so it would be up all day on her birthday.  They got it all wrong and when we got to our room it was all decked out for her birthday.  Very fun and cute, but it would have been nicer to not have them up all week.  C'est la vie!

We set sail at about 4:00 in the afternoon and it was so cool standing out on our balcony and watching Miami pass us by.  Gorgeous weather and beautiful blue water.  We went up and soaked in some sun that first day and unpacked our things.

Day 3 - Monday, April 2.  Day at Sea.  We spent most of the day exploring the ship, eating and laying in the sun.  It was nice not being home in Utah where they were getting snowed on!  That night was formal dining night so we got all fixed up nice and got ready for dinner.  Right before we started eating Bri started feeling seasick and wanted to go lay down.  She missed a yummy dinner but after she got feeling better we took her to the buffet restaurant that is open most of the day.  From then on she kept taking the seasick pills that I had been taking too.  That night after Bri was feeling better we went to see a show in their theater, it was a song and dance type of thing with 60's, 70's and 80's songs.  Kind of cheesy but fun.

Day 4 - Tuesday, April 3.  Grand Cayman.  Our first port day.  We woke up as the ship was coming into the port and the sun was raising over the city.  It was amazing to watch the sunrise and see such a beautiful view from our balcony.  (We are spoiled and if we ever go on another cruise we will HAVE to have a balcony!)  We had to tender to shore, but it went quick and we were able to get to our excursion easily.  Their office was just across the street from the port.  We were doing a snorkel and Stingray City excursion.  We took a small bus to the dock for their boat.  It was basically at some guys house.  We asked to use the restroom before we left and they had us go around to the back of the house, into a back door of their home and use the restroom in their house.  It was kind of weird.  Anyway,  We went on the boat about 4 miles from shore where there is a reef.  They basically just gave us the gear and let us figure it out for ourselves.  It was not too difficult but since I have never done anything like that before it took a little getting used to.  Bri didn't really like it too much, she got water in her mouth one too many times.  After the first stop for snorkel we got on the boat and went to another spot that was not too far away.  By that time JT was feeling seasick and didn't get into the water.  He was able to get feeling better pretty quick though.  Bri and I went hand in hand around to see along the reef and it was such a fun experience that I will never forget.  Our last stop was at Stingray City.  It is a sandbar 4 miles from shore and when you get there you can get out of the boat and be in waist deep water.  The stingrays are accustomed to having people around and our guide said they are like pets, they like to be fed and they like it when you pet them.  They say that it is 10 years good luck if you kiss a stingray, so of course we had to do that!  On our ride back to shore our guide slowed the boat down and kept looking over the edge.  All at once he stopped the boat and walked to the edge and jumped in the water.  It was quite shocking.  A minute later he came up with a big red starfish!  We took pictures with it and then put it back into the water.  Biggest starfish I have ever seen!

Day 5 - Wednesday, April 4th.  Cozumel, Mexico.  We got into port at 10:00 in the morning and it was cool to see the ship dock.  There was another Carnival ship that went to the same ports as us and it was at the same dock as our ship.  It made a huge canyon between the two large ships.  Our excursion in Cozumel was "snuba".  I had never heard of this before, but before our trip I was researching and ran across a blog that detailed their cruise on the same ship to the same ports.  They did snuba and it sounded like a lot of fun. It is described as a mix between snorkel and scuba, but you don't have to be certified like you do for scuba. The air tank is in a raft at the surface and your air tube is about 25 feet long so you can swim to the bottom with a regulator.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever done!  We had so much fun looking around at all of the sea life.  Apparently there was a hurricane a few years ago that destroyed much of the reef, but it is starting to rebuild and there were a lot of really cool things to see.  Also, my daughter swims like a fish!  She did amazing and got the hang of it before either of us did.  When we got done with our excursion we did a little shopping at the port village that they have built there.
After dinner that night we went to a magic show.  It was mildly entertaining.

                                                

Day 6 - Thursday, April 5th.  Belize City, Belize.  The main reason I wanted to go to the Western Caribbean was to see some Mayan ruins.  I was definitely not disappointed.  What an amazing thing to see something so ancient, and so filled with history.  It made me want to read my Book of Mormon more and more.  What a treasure!  We got to Belize early in the morning and had to tender to shore again.  but this time it was a pain and a long wait.  The tenders were smaller and the ship had to be pretty far away from shore.  It was about a 25 minute ride to shore, but we had to wait in queue to even be able to get on a tender.  Once we got to shore we had to find our excursion meeting point. The moment we exited the port doors we were bombarded with locals wanting to offer excursions or sell things.  They were downright pushy.  There was one lady who I told her we were just getting ready to leave and I didn't have time.  When we got back 4 hours later she met me at the van and said that now I should have time!  Crazy!
Our drive to the ruins took about 45 minutes.  The guide we had was very knowledgeable and gave a great tour of the city and the countryside while we were driving.  Or at least he seemed knowledgeable...we joked after we got back that he could be telling us anything and we wouldn't know the difference.  See that tree there, it is a wabbawabba tree and it is used to make cranberry juice...  ;)
We visited the Altun Ha ruins that were discovered in 1959.  The oldest temple at the site dates back to 200 b.c.  We walked all around the area and even got to climb to the top of one of the temples.  When you are at the top you can look out across the jungle and see other mounds of jungle covered temples in the area.  There is just not the funding to be able to uncover them.  The city must have been huge.

Day 7 - April 6th. Roatan, Honduras.  Another port and another new thing we have never done before!  Roatan is a very lush green island that has thick jungle.  Our excursion there was to do a zip line in the tree top canopy.  We got into port at about 8:00 and walked to our meeting spot.  The drive went along the coast and through some amazing scenery to get to the zip line.  Once we got there they got us fitted with harnesses and hooks and had a quick demonstration.  We then went on a series of lines that zigzagged back and forth down a ravine.  They seemed to be about 100 to 200 yards each, with a few that were longer.  The view was crazy.  You are zipping over the top of trees and there were wild parrots flying around and gorgeous flowers and trees everywhere.  Once to the bottom they drove us back to the transport van and then they drove us to a beautiful beach where we swam and walked through shops set up at the beach for about two hours.
Back on the ship was another formal dinner and then we went to their comedy club which has a family friendly show earlier in the evening.  It was very funny.

Day 8 - April 7th.  Day at Sea.  Bri's birthday!  After a fun week of traveling and running around it was nice to have a day where we just chilled out and sat in the sun.  Bri had a fun day and we had lots of ice cream and food.  Unfortunately, she didn't feel well at dinner time and ended up staying in the cabin.  It is a shame because for dinner that night we had FROG LEGS for our appetizer! (They DO taste like chicken!)  We had ordered a cake to be delivered to the table for her birthday so instead we had it delivered to our room and we sang and ate cake after dinner.  The end of the night involved getting everything packed and ready to disembark the next morning.  They had to have our packed bags into the hallway before we went to bed so they would be ready to take off the ship in the morning.

Day 9 - April 8th.  Disembarkation and flights back to SLC.  It was sad leaving our super fun vacation behind and heading back to real life again, but I am so glad that we took this trip and had so much time together.
We got into Miami early and watched the ship dock.  Getting off the ship was pretty slick.  We had a CRAZY taxi ride and got to the airport by 9:30 in the morning.  Our flight didn't depart Miami until 5:00 that evening, but because we had carry-on bags we couldn't do anything but wait at the airport.  We also had to sit longer than anticipated in Dallas because our flight from there had been delayed by 2 hours.  We got back to Utah at about 1:30 in the morning and back home around 2:30.  The dogs were so happy to see us.  Yeager just stood at the top of the stairs staring at me like I wasn't real, then he almost flew down the stairs to greet us!  We sure missed them!