Since it was summer and most of the cruise lines move their ships to either Alaska or the Mediterranean in the summer, our options were limited to go to the Caribbean. I wanted a beach vacation, so we ended up going on Carnival. It was an 8 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. This was our first time on Carnival. We have purposely avoided it up to this point because of its reputation for being party cruises, with lots of kids, and a lower end service. (And while we had a great vacation and enjoyed being on a cruise, we most likely won't do Carnival again. The food, entertainment, activities and cruise staff wasn't anything to write home about.) Anyway...back to the vacation!
We upgraded to first class on the way to Ft. Lauderdale. Having all that extra room made having Max on our lap no big deal. It was a great way to start out the vacation!!!
Entertained on the plane
We had a private van pick us up at the airport and take us all to the port. Kimberly had flown in the night before and slept at the airport (crazy girl!).
Max enjoying the chilled towel service
We were getting on the boat right around nap time so Max was pretty tired and sad. Poor boy just wanted to be sleeping.
View from our balcony! That's right, I said "balcony"!!!
This was the first time we had done a balcony. We've always opted for inside rooms since they are the cheapest and we don't do much but sleep in the room anyway. I will say it was nice to have just that little bit extra of private space to enjoy watching the ocean (except when the smokers next door came out to smoke). It was also nice to have just a little bit more square footage in the room for the nearly 2 yr old to play in.
Kimberly was in an inside room basically across the hall from us. Officially we booked Max into her room since you have to have double occupancy but we got a crib and he slept in our room. So for her first cruise, Kimberly got a rare treat and had her own room.
We are ready for vacation!!!
Our armed escort out of the port. I always find the fact that we are escorted by a big, scary looking gun a little unnerving. This coast guard crew was pretty fun though and they were doing tricks and entertaining the crowd.
Max during the torturous, long, hot, crowded muster drill. It was awful. I think it was one of the worst we've had. You can't tell how sweaty he was in this picture but his hair was just wet.
We went to dinner in the dining room that night. Max did a pretty good job with the long meal. He really enjoyed the fruit, pb & j sandwich and chips, and chocolate chip cookies the waitress gave to him.
That night this pirate came around to do the nightly photo shoot. Max DID NOT like him and almost started crying.
The first full day was, I think, at sea. But I only have 2 pictures from that day so I'm not sure what we did. Probably just hung out and enjoyed the ship.
We sat in a different server's area this night and the service was awful. He didn't give Max any attention (or preference. Seriously...don't make the 2 year old wait for everyone else's entrees). We decided we'd go back to our first night server every night even if it meant waiting a little longer to eat. It made the experience so much better to have a wait staff that engaged with Max.
They look pretty cute together
The next day was at sea (I'm sure on this one). Max was too young to participate in any of the kids programs which was irritating. They have a rule that the kids have to be 2 years old. Because Max turned 1 on the day AFTER the cruise ended, they wouldn't let him participate. I had thought that, for sure, they would accept him since he was so close to 2 and so I didn't bring a bunch of toys with me. Bad move. They only had a couple of "open play" sessions throughout the cruise where the under 2 crowd could go play. This first day, he was the only one there.
He loved playing with the kitchen
Taking the stairs
Calling Aunt Kimi to let her know we were ready to go have brunch
We all met up for a late breakfast. Kimberly ordered soup. This was how her bowl came. I thought it was too funny. Not the best bowl of soup you've ever seen? Eventually they came around and poured in the soup.
Max got lots of practice with a big boy fork. He really loved all the fruit, especially cantaloupe and pineapple.
If you've read previous cruise posts from me, you know we like to play trivia. Fun for us. Not so fun for Max. However, as long as he got to play on dad's phone he had no problem with lots of trivia.
Time for a nap?...
...until dad went and got him an ice cream cone. He was in heaven. One of the good, and bad, things about cruising is there is always ice cream cones!
We were on going to go back to our room but got sucked into musical Disney trivia. The bartender gave Max some cherries. He loved them and was happy to let us stay and play.
That afternoon I went out and got some sun while Max napped and Peter did his thing. It was nice to have some quiet alone time but it was nicer when these two were back around again.
Where'd Max go...??
Peek a boo!
The dining room staff preformed a little song and dance that night. Max was entertained and clapped for them.
Kimberly got in on the dancing action. I did too, but the picture is AWFUL and I refuse to put it out in the universe. ;)
Each night we'd alternate who got to "babysit" Max while he slept. It usually ended up being the one that was tired or not interested in the nights activities. Originally I had thought we'd just have Kimberly do it each night but there were some nights that I (or Peter) was pooped and wanted to go lay down rather than go out. So it was nice because then Peter still had someone to go out with and I didn't feel obligated.
