Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Way back in 2020, our family and Joe and Kym's family was scheduled to take a cruise together. Enter Covid-19 and the entire world shut down. Our cruise was changed and/or cancelled 4 times! The cruise cancellation meant that we got $600 of onboard credit from Carnival that we could use, so we were determined to still go. 

When things finally got back to normal this year, pretty much everything about the cruise had changed... the people going, the location, the duration, the time of year, everything! We decided to make it a couples only cruise and Mom and Dad decided to come along! We also decided to go to the Caribbean instead of the shorter California/Mexico cruise. Since I am working at the school now, we had go during fall break so that I didn't miss too much work. Despite all of the changes, we were so excited to go! Even better, it was already completely paid for, and we had extra bonus money for excursions! 

On October 14th, we flew out of Salt Lake for Orlando. We all had different flights (that all had delays), but we all made it late that night. We rented one hotel room close to the airport that fit all 6 of us to save some money. The next morning, we hired an Uber to take us to Port Canaveral. It was so nice to not have to rent a car and deal with all the hassle. The driver picked us up within 10 minutes, knew exactly where he was going, and dropped us off right at the door of the cruise terminal. It was slick.

After going through security, we got aboard for our fun vacation. During one of the many changes, the cruise line had switched our rooms without us knowing. We had originally signed up for a sixth floor room, but we ended up on the first floor. I was frustrated and called the company, but it turns out that since there were no more 6th floor rooms available, they upgraded us to a window room. It was a lot bigger and nicer, so we decided to stay there. It ended up being a great decision, and we loved the room!

There was a BYU vs Arkansas football game on that afternoon, so we all settled into our room and watched it. Unfortunately, the game ended up being really ugly, and we lost badly. After that we explored the ship, played some games, and ate dinner. We loved eating the fancy dinners with everyone. That ended up being one of our favorite parts of the cruise.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS

The next morning we arrived at Nassau in the Bahamas. Mom and Dad hadn't planned any excursions for that port, so they headed to a nearby beach. Joe and Kym and us had a bit of time to spare before our excursion, so we walked around the port area for a bit and grabbed some souvenirs. Then it was time to board a boat and head to Blue Lagoon Island. It was about a 30 minute boat ride. During the boat trip, the captain showed us the homes of all the famous people that live there... Oprah, Tiger Woods, Jay Z and Beyonce, etc. It was definitely a beautiful area. 

When we arrived at the island, we decided to get lunch first. Then we headed over to our dolphin swim. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins, so it was pretty exciting. The area was beautiful, and the dolphins were in a natural bay, not a swimming pool or other enclosure that I had seen pictures of. We got our life jackets on and hopped in. Our dolphin's name was Treasure. She was so smart and obedient to the trainers. Each person in our group (8 people) got to feed, hug, dance with, get pushed on a boogie board, and get a kiss from the dolphin. It was so fun! Afterward, we went to look at the professional pictures that were taken. I knew they would be expensive, but after I saw them, I wanted them all! It ended up being $99 for all the digital pictures, so I did it. They are such fun souvenirs of our experience.

When we were done with the dolphins, we got to go enjoy the lagoon for a while. The island was almost completely empty by that time, so we basically had the whole place to ourselves. The water was warm and so blue. It was the perfect beach getaway. 

PRINCESS CAYS, BAHAMAS

The next day, the ship docked at Princess Cays, Carnival's private island in the Bahamas. Our first excursion was snorkeling. We took a small boat offshore about 20 minutes and arrived at a little reef area. We got all decked out in our snorkeling gear and got to go for an hour. That hour flew by! There were tons of things to see, and the reef and fish were so colorful. We swam up and down the reef enjoying the experience before we had to head back. Once we got back, we ate lunch. It was a Caribbean feast with jerk chicken, fruit, and more yummy food. 

Then it was time for our sailing excursion. Jonathon has always wanted to go sailing, so I figured this would be a good time to try it out. The reservations said that we needed prior experience, but Jonathon watched a few YouTube videos and thought he would be good enough. I was definitely nervous about it, but he didn't seem worried. Little did we know that Mom was a professional. Apparently, she spent many hours of her childhood sailing with Grandpa Ogborn on Utah Lake. I knew that she had spent summers in Utah, but I didn't know how experienced she was. As soon as we got on the 4 person Hobie Cat sailboat, Mom and Jonathon took over and got us going. It wasn't long before we were sailing all around the bay. It was exhilarating! The water was the most beautiful water I had ever seen. It was bluish-green and so clear. My favorite part of the whole experience was watching my Mom so confident and happy in a situation I had never seen her in before. It gave me a whole new view of her. We sailed for an hour, and I enjoyed it so much more than I ever imagined. I even got to steer the boat for a while. Sailing was one of the highlights of the cruise for me!

While we were sailing, Dad and Joe were surf fishing. They didn't end up catching anything, but at one point, Dad hooked onto a shark, but it ran away with the bait and got off. When both groups were finished, we headed back aboard the ship.

GRAND TURK, TURKS and CAICOS

The next day was our last port day in Grand Turk. We scheduled a dune buggy excursion. Before we got started, the instructor made a big deal about how much financial liability we would be responsible for if we crashed the side by side, so I was a bit freaked out the whole ride. Luckily, Jonathon was completely happy to drive the whole time, so I just got to enjoy the ride. When we left the port area, it was interesting to see what the rest of the island looked like. While the port was beautiful and modern, the rest of the island, was rundown and very poor. Pretty much the whole economy of the island depended on the cruise industry. The tour guide explained how much the pandemic had affected their island because cruises were not allowed to come. It was sad, but it was also a good look at the reality of the island. A few minutes into the ride, we went off road to a very rocky area where we drove down a pretty steep hill. I was holding on for dear life hoping our dune buggy wouldn't flip, but I shouldn't have been worried. It was very stable and handled very well. Then it was back on the road (they drive on the left) until we made it to the other end of the island where we stopped and visited the lighthouse. In the old days, ships used to come to the island for salt, and the lighthouse was important to protect them from the rocky shore. All around the lighthouse were "wild" donkeys that just roamed around the island. They were all over the island, but at the lighthouse, they were very close. On the way back to port, we went off-road again to some sand dunes by the beach. This was my favorite part. It was so beautiful to see the ocean in the background and get a good ride also. 

When we returned to the port area, we did some souvenir shopping. I bought a huge conch shell from a local vendor. I have always wanted one, so I finally bought it. Then we went to the beach to swim. The boys grabbed their snorkel gear and went out for a swim while the girls floated in the perfect water. What was particularly special about this beach area was the fact that the ship was docked right there. While we were swimming, the ship was right behind us. It made for some pretty stunning photos. Jonathon came back with a really cool shell that he found while snorkeling to add to our collection. It was a great day.

The last day of our cruise was a sea day. We slept in, ate meals together, played games (including lots of Skull King), Jonathon and Dad did the waterslides, and then we played miniature golf. It was extremely windy, so the ball was blowing everywhere, which made it very comical. That night we ate dinner and then went to the 88 Keys Piano Show. It was a very fun show with good music. Kym used some of her onboard credit to buy some fancy drinks that we got to share. Then we sat in the hot tub and watched the dive-in movie. It was a nice relaxing day. 

ORLANDO

We arrived back in Orlando the next morning and prepared to disembark. Joe and Kym got an Uber to go spend the day with her brother and sister, so Mom and Dad and Jonathon and I were trying to come up with something to do until our flight left later that afternoon. On a whim, I looked at the rocket launch schedule from Cape Canaveral. To our surprise, a rocket was launching that day in an hour! We were shocked at our good fortune. We have always wanted to see a rocket launch but have never gotten lucky on our previous trips. We got off the ship and saw a parking garage overlooking the launch site across the bay. We went to the very top of the garage and found a good viewing spot. Not long later, some other people also made their way up there. Jonathon found the live view of the launch with a countdown. We watched the stream and viewed it with the binoculars we bought on the cruise. The launch was really neat. We could hear the sound from where we were and saw the rocket go up through the clouds. It was definitely a bucket list event, and we were so thrilled to be there. 

After that, we grabbed an Uber and went to the airport. We had a few hours to kill, so we got some lunch, and Mom and I worked on a book she was writing. I helped her do the editing and formatting. It was the perfect amount of time to get it all finished. 

We got on our flight and headed home. Jonathon's mom and dad had taken care of the kids all week, which was so nice. When we got home, Christian had driven them all home, and they were asleep in their beds. It all worked out so perfectly. The cruise was exactly the warm, relaxing vacation we needed, and was so much fun! We can't wait to do it all again!

I made a fun video of the cruise to show at our Christmas party! Here it is: