This trip was about two years in the making. It was something David's parents wanted to do with the three boys and their families.
We flew from St. Louis directly to Fort Lauderdale, both of our kids have flown multiple times and were awesome on the plane. Noah even fell asleep at the end.
We had a night in Ft. Lauderdale before boarding the ship, the kids were exhausted and yes they did fall asleep this way. It only happened once during the whole vacation.
The next morning we were up and boarded on the boat before lunch time. The kids were amazed at its size. We were on Royal Caribbean's "Allure of the Seas", currently the biggest passenger ship in the world.
Once we were settled into our cabin the kids a few things they wanted to do..... like jump on our bed. We never let them jump on the bed, but hey, it's vacation! We had one big bed, and a fold out couch for the kids. It would get a little crowded before breakfast and after dinner but during the day when the bed was folded up we never had a problem.
The view from the upper decks was amazing.... this is looking down into Central Park. The ship is split up into different neighborhoods. After dinner the first night the kids saw their first character King Julian.
When we woke up the next morning we had docked at Nassau in the Bahamas. When we got off the boat, it was raining pretty hard. We hopped between overhangs and then hung out under one for 15 minutes while the rain passed. It was a quick trip but both kids found something to spend their hard earned allowance on before we got back on the boat (they had been saving up money for the trip for over 6 months and were very eager to spend it!) We went to two small straw markets and the kids both ended up buying a small turtle. Abby got a necklace and Noah got a t-shirt.
One of the kids favorite places on the ship was the boardwalk, an outdoor area that had a small playground, carousel, donut shop, and face painting. We rode the carousel everyday! Our ship had a partnership with Dreamworks so everyday you could catch up with the characters at different meet and greets around the ship.
At dinner Abby couldn't decide what she wanted so Dave asked if she wanted guacamole and cabbage...she said no. The server overheard this, and promptly brought her just that. She was not impressed. The guacamole was great - don't worry she quickly decided what she wanted after that.
That night after dinner we raced to the top of the ship to get a shot of the sunset....
And then the kids played some mini golf. David loves mini golf and was excited to show the kids. Noah had a hard time with controlling his ball and as soon as it would be within a few feet of the hole he got on his knees to push it in. It was quite a method.
Every night our room attendant would leave a towel animal for the kids - they loved it.
Day three - The kids found more snacks as they waited for the Dreamworks Parade. As you can tell Abby loved the desserts. Especially the chocolate ones.
The parade was pretty amazing, we had great seats right next to all the action. Believe it or not, this is actually inside the ship. There were huge windows above that let in plenty of natural light. This deck (the Promenade) is about ten decks below the top of the ship. Crazy.
After the show we took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon" the ice show, yes there is an ice rink on the ship. The show was great and the costumes were awesome.
One of the things we really wanted to try was the Flowriders on the ship. The Allure actually has two. One is for learning to surf and one for bodyboarding. I stuck with bodyboarding while Dave and his brother, Stephen, attempted to surf.... this is Dave's first attempts. He stayed up for a grand total of two seconds.
He tried two more times. The second he stayed up about 20 seconds and his third attempt he was up about a minute and a half. Each time he fell, he hit is head and The line was always long to try so he only did it one day. I was happy with trying the boogie board once and being done. I can say I did it and survived. We got up there early in the morning while we were pulling into St. Thomas.
We spent a few hours on the beach and had a great time. The kids enjoyed the water, but liked playing in the sand more. It was at this beach that both Dave and I got quite sunburned. We did put on sunscreen, but apparently not often enough. The sun there was just so much more intense than we're used to.
We got a cab/bus back to the dock and had to go through security to get back on the
boat. Dave went through the xray machine with Abby. They asked him to open up her bag. We had the seashells that the kids had just spent three hours collecting for the desk project back home. We had been talking for months about collecting seashells and the kids were so excited we got so many. She looked at Dave and said "no, no, no." She took Abby's backpack over to the trashcan and shook out all the shells. Abby was heartbroken. She held it together until
we got back into the ship a minute later and then lost it. We joked after that if we had known we would have stuffed them in our swimsuits!
The first half of the trip Abby was working on a very loose tooth. Her first one, and by Thursday it was ready so with the help of Dave and some floss, it was time. We really didn't think it would work. We tried 10 times, but apparently were pulling upwards too much.
Almost right away we saw a couple of sea turtles. It was SO COOL. The water was about 30 feet deep and crystal clear. We saw some turtles eating vegetation on the bottom, and then they would come up to the surface as well. Noah loved just floating around in the ocean. He says he could look through the clear water to see the turtles but I'm not sure if that's true. The kids wore life jackets around their waists. It was a blast. We saw sea turtles, a barracuda, tons of sea fish and small reefs.
The boat made three different stops, first for the sea turtles which was near a clothing optional beach. After snorkeling for about 20 minutes we went up on the sand to have drinks and play in the sand. There were some people taking advantage of the "clothing optional" part. We had to distract the kids so they didn't see!
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The third stop was a little island with a restaurant and more iguanas. Our excursion included sandwiches so we ate and played in the water for a bit before heading back to St. Maarten. The kids continued to collect seashells. This time we were smart and kept the shells in our pockets.
The boat ride to and from the three stops was awesome! It was a speed boat. On the way back, Dave sat with his feet hanging off the front of the boat and had an awesome time.
That afternoon the kids and I went to the back of the boat and watched the Allure leave port.
Some nights the kids went to kids club for a while. They wanted to go more, but there were so many other things to do that they didn't want to miss. So, they didn't go as often as we initially planned on.
There was a different theme every night, and their favorite was Pirate night. They learned a bunch of pirate songs and made bandanas. They invited the parents in after dinner for a show. It was cute. Abby was near the front singing her heart out while Noah hung near the back barely singing along.
More desserts and towel animals after their big performance!
The next morning we went to a character breakfast with the cast of Shrek. It was chocolate themed, everything from chocolate shakes to chocolate pancakes, and chocolate eclairs. Crazy amounts of chocolate were consumed by these four kids. The characters take their time at each table getting as many family photos as needed.
For some reason Noah was obsessed with Puss'n'Boots during the ship. He loved that cat. He was so happy to see him time and time again.
I really don't know how Princess Fiona balanced that massive head on herself. It looked so awkward. It was great to take a picture with the princess. She is actually the godmother of the ship.
This was everyone minus Julie and Stephen who skipped the breakfast.
After breakfast they had open skate at the ice skating rink. It was pretty hilarious watching these two try and figure it out. They've never ice skated before. You can only skate for 30 minutes at a time and believe me that was plenty long enough. Noah and I made it around the rink about 4 times before he was tired of being dragged.
Abby fared much better at skating than her brother. I think they stayed out the entire time. It helped that she could hang on to the edge on her own.
That afternoon we saw the world premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon 2" in 3D, yep they have a 3D theater on the ship! Noah was amazed, he barely moved during the entire show. Neither kid has ever been to a movie theater so this was a very cool first experience for both of them.
That night was the second formal night on the ship. After a long day and a short nap Noah had a tough time understanding why he needed to look so handsome for dinner. He's usually such a happy kid, but it was not his night. He fussed and cried over nothing for a good 30 minutes. While we were waiting in line, Dave was trying everything possible to get Noah to be happy. Nothing was working. Our turn was getting closer. We were next in line. And then a miracle happened. I don't remember what he said, but something did it. It was like a switch flipped in his head and then he was the happiest little kid around. I've never seen anything like it. He took the cutest picture imaginable. The picture on the right is him after the picture. Dave asked "why were you such a pain earlier?" He gave the cutest "I don't know" answer I've ever seen.
That night at dinner they served lobster and Dave and I both tried escargot for the first time. I really liked it and he kinda liked it. You have the same wait staff all week so the kids got to know our server very well by the end.
Because our kids never sleep-in we were often up and had eaten before many activities began. Even getting in a swim on the ship before they were crowded for the day.
I didn't rock climb on our last cruise but this time I did it and I'm glad. I rang the bell! The kids were proud of me. Dave and his brother Stephen entered a climbing contest sponsored by the ship.
It was a speed competition. Fastest to the top wins. Dave's writing: There were about 15 competitors. I asked the worker was the fastest time ever on that course was. He said he held the record at 17 seconds. I was talking to some of the other competitors. Many of them were bigger guys who all expected they would win. They looked at me like I had no chance. Several of them went, and the record was 28 seconds. I was hoping not to embarrass myself and get 30 seconds or below. I went towards the end of the pack. I started my climb, and it was going well. I knew I had a pretty good time going. When I got near the top, I knew some of the others wasted some time only a couple feet away from the bell. When I got there, I jumped straight up and reached for the bell. Luckily I just barely got the bell. When I came down, they told me my time was 23 seconds! I was so excited. The look on the other guys faces was a mix between surprise and pissed off. It was pretty funny. They looked at me like "who is this guy?" My time held up, and I got first place! Unfortunately they were out of gold medals, so I got a silver.
This day was so hot, everyone felt like they were melting and it was the only time they had a Madagscar water show. The kids sat in the front with Tom while the adults tried to hide in the little shade we could find. Thankfully the show only lasted about 30 minutes.
And before our time onboard came to a close we had to play a few more rounds of golf.
This is Arie, he was our room attendant. A saint really. He took very good care of us all week. He had been working on the ship for 9 months without seeing his family. Our vacation was his last week before a 24 hour journey back to his wife and two small boys in Indonesia.
This is Dave showing off his first place medal (actually a silver) from the rock climbing challenge.
The kids went to kids club for the last night, it was super heroes. They had an obstacle course and made caps.
I wish the lighting had been a little better because its hard to see in this picture but they had huge smiles on their faces.
Once back on land we spent another day in Fort Lauderdale. We did some shopping, eating and spending more time in the sand.
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Dave loves the movie Forest Gump and even got the kids to make the same expression. We ate there that night.
The weather was great for spending some time in the surf. The kids loved getting back on the beach one more time before leaving Florida. Our hotel was across street from the beach so we had quick and easy access to get to the beach. I think we brought home half of the beach with us.
On the day we left we woke the kids up extra early to watch the sunrise except that it was too cloudy to see much it.
It was still beautiful despite the clouds.
Last family photo before leaving town.
It was an amazing trip. So many thanks to Tom and Nancy for taking the entire family on this amazing vacation. The best news is we already have another cruise scheduled for three years from now!
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