Family Cruise

Joe and Kym and Jonathon and I have been on several cruises together. We always have a great time! We have long wondered what it would be like to take our whole family on a cruise. Joe was definitely hesitant about the idea because that is his special time away from the kids. He finally gave in though, and for Christmas, both families got a cruise. We gave it to our boys in the form of an Escape Room. They were very excited, especially about the all-you-can eat ice cream. 

I must admit that the Escape Room was pretty epic. This year we set up the kitchen as the Escape Room and had lots of different types of clues, locks, and puzzles. The two boys got stumped, so we got Christian on the phone and had him help them. It was fun to see them do it together. At the end was a cruise ticket. It was supposed to be a surprise, but we had to ask Andrew if it would work with his school schedule, and Hyrum had overheard the adults talking. So, in the end, it wasn't a surprise, but it was still a fun way to give it to them.

When February finally arrived, we were more than ready for a break and a nice vacation! We got an evening flight out of the Provo Airport so that we didn’t have to miss work or school that day. The Provo airport was so sweet to fly out of. Ali Vigue dropped us off an hour early, and after 5 minutes going through security, we were at our gate ready to go. We boarded about 20 minutes before takeoff, so we had plenty of time to spare. It makes me never want to fly out of Salt Lake again because it was so much easier.

We arrived in Los Angeles 2 hours later and got an Uber to our hotel near the port. The cool thing was that the hotel was right next to where we went to the beach last year when we went to Disneyland. The next morning we headed to the port around 11 am. We got there and got through security pretty easily. Joe and Kym were a few minutes behind us, so they met up with us while we were eating lunch on the ship. The first 1/2 day was spent getting to know the ship, getting settled into our rooms, and eating lots of food! You will notice that is a common theme. 

Jonathon and I got a room with a window, and it was also a little bigger than the interior room that the boys were in. The room even had a couch, which was nice because our family was able to watch the BYU basketball game in our room without being too crowded. We even spotted some whales through our window. Super cool! The boys liked having their own room too because they invited Bridger and McKay over several times to watch movies in the evening. Overall, I think everyone was happy with the set-up. This was the second time in a row that we have gotten the slightly upgraded room, and I am sold!

The boat, Carnival Firenze, had some pretty fun things to do. The kids played a lot of miniature golf and ping pong, did the ropes course, went down the water slides, etc. They also went to the kid/teen club a few times, but they weren’t super thrilled about it. Most of the activities were a bit boring (mostly just video games), and there were a lot of other kids there, so it was often crowded. They definitely preferred the freedom of wandering around the ship with their cousins. When they weren’t hanging out on the top deck at the Sports Zone, they were eating ice cream all day, every day. They got pretty good at making giant soft-serve ice cream cones. As long as the boys were with someone else, and it was daytime, we let them roam around the boat without an adult. We asked them to check-in with us occasionally over the boat’s messaging system to ease my worries. I think they liked feeling independent and able to do their own thing. By the end of the week, they knew the ship way better than I did.

The first Sea Day was the Harry Potter trivia. I can tell I am getting old and my memory is getting worse because I had to think really hard about a lot of the questions. Luckily, with all of us: me, Jonathon, and Kym, we were able to work together to answer all the questions correctly. There were probably about 50 people playing the trivia game, and in the end, there were only 2 groups that got all the questions correct, so we had a tie-breaker question. How many staircases are there at Hogwarts? I wasn’t sure, but we guessed 117. The other guy guessed 20, so we were way closer. Do you know the correct answer? For winning, we got a big medal. It is actually pretty sweet, and made a good souvenir. {There are 142 staircases}

In the evenings, we had dinner all together in the fancy dining room. It is always one of my favorite parts of cruising. The food this time was only so so, but the chocolate melting cake was amazing, as usual. It was also fun to try a bunch of different things that I don’t usually eat. I think the kids preferred the food at the buffet/restaurants better. The ship did have a really yummy burger place, some delicious chicken tenders, and the best taco/burrito shop. We definitely ate too much food! I don’t think any of us were hungry the whole trip. The first few night in the dining room, we had two spills... one was McKay and one was Kym. Haha! After that, we couldn't be too annoyed when something went wrong. We took turns eating at the kid table or the adult table. The kids actually did quite well and loved being together. 

During our time on the ship, BYU basketball played two games. We were able to watch them both… one on the computer and one at the sports bar area. We played Kansas State and #23 Kansas and won both games. We pretty much decimated Kansas which was a shock to everyone. It was pretty fun beating them by 34 points! McKay joined us to watch the games, which was fun. It was a good memory to cheer on the Cougs in the SportsZone of the ship. Other than that, the sea days were pretty low key. 

Our first port was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. As we approached Cabo, there were humpback whales spouting all over the place. We probably saw 30+ whales from the ship. We were eating breakfast on the Lido deck and watching the whales spout every few minutes. It was pretty crazy and cool! We also talked to Christian on Facebook Messenger while all that was going on. It was an eventful morning.

When we arrived in Cabo, we split up to do our own excursions. Joe and Kym took their family to the beach, Jonathon and Andrew rode ATV’s through the desert out to the beach, and Hyrum and I swam with dolphins. As we were planning, Hyrum knew right away he wanted to do the dolphin swim. Andrew, however, is not really a fan of animals, so we decided to try two different options to make everyone happy. I think it worked out because everyone had a great day. 

The dolphin swim was amazing! The Cabo Dolphin facility was super convenient because it was so close to the port. It only took us 5-10 minutes to walk there. After checking in, we went with a group of 6 other people to the pool. Our dolphin’s name was Latwani, and he was so well trained. We got to hug him, let him give us a “kiss,” pose with him, etc. I think Hyrum had a great time, even though he was a little nervous at the beginning. At the end of the experience, Hyrum’s dream came true when he actually got to ride on a dolphin. Each person got to decide if they wanted to go for a ride on top of the water or under the water. We both chose the surface ride. Latwani flipped over, and we got to hold on to his fins as he swam us around. It was super cool! Even though I have swum with dolphins one other time, I had never done that, so it was a new experience. I had done my research and knew that the pictures were going to be extremely expensive and over-priced, but I also knew that Hyrum really wanted them to remember the experience. The pictures and videos turned out so darn cute that I couldn't pass them up, but they were way more expensive than the previous excursion. As I was trying to decide what to do, they lady pulled me aside and said she would give me both the photos and the videos for the lower price if I didn't tell anyone. Haha! I knew the game they were playing, but I took the deal anyway. It was $290 after tax! Eek! I was definitely a sucker and fell right into their trap, but I don’t even care because the smile on that kid’s face was priceless! Looking back, I would do it again. It might be that we have a little more money now or that I am getting softer with age, but either way, we have pictures and memories that will last us a lifetime. Worth it in my book!

Andrew and Jonathon went with a group that rode 4-wheelers. They met at the location at the port, got their equipment, learned to drive the ATV's, and then followed the leader through the desert. They passed huge cactuses and other desert flora and fauna on their way to the ocean. When they finally reached the ocean, they got to take a break and look out over the water. They both seemed to have a good time!

Our second port was Ensenada, Mexico. The actual port area was nothing to write home about. It wasn't very pretty, and there was nothing around. I am so glad that we booked an excursion. We arranged to go with Joe and Kym’s family on a zip-line tour. We purchased the excursion through a third party, and got a great deal on it. We met our driver for the day just outside of the port area. He was really great, and interacted well with the kids and adults, and best of all, we all got to ride together in a big 15 passenger van. Believe it or not, I am not super adventurous, and I am pretty darn scared when it comes to ziplines. I had to be brave for my kids, though because they were a bit nervous too. There were 5 different ziplines and 5 rope bridges that we had to cross. The last zipline was 1600 feet long, 180 feet off the ground, and reached speeds of up to 30 mph.

I was definitely nervous at the beginning, but by the end I was comfortable and had a great time! I felt very safe on all the obstacles. It felt much safer than the previous zipline excursion we had done. We had harnesses and were attached by 3 different cables. The workers there were very professional and stopped us at the end of each line with a special rope so that we didn't have to do anything. That made me very confident. Everyone had a great time. The little girls (Ruby and Savannah) were even able to go on the ziplines, which was pretty awesome! There were a few bridges that they were too short to go on, but the staff led them along an alternate path during that time. If I’m being honest, the rope bridges were scarier than the ziplines because they would shake a lot, but I just took them slow and it was fine. Bridger and Andrew were practically running across the bridges. Crazy boys! One of the coolest things about this excursion was that we could take our own pictures and not get charged extra. That never happens, so I was ecstatic! If you are ever in Ensenada, go to Las Canadas Zipline tours, and you won't be disappointed!

After the ziplines, our tour guide took us to La Buffadora. It is basically a marine geyser that shoots water up into the air every few minutes. There were a lot of people there. It was pretty good, but I was surprised that it wasn’t a lot bigger for the amount of tourists that were there. We watched the geyser for a while, and then went to explore. The area had a lot of shops with food and souvenirs, so maybe that is why so many people came. The shop owners there all knew about BYU, so when they saw our shirts they were trying to pull us into every little shop. There must be a lot of LDS cruisers that go through there. We bought a few souvenirs, including a really cool hand carved dolphin that Hyrum found. The woodworker said he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and showed us that he was reading it. He called it "a good book." I whole-heartedly agreed. Then we had some churros and fish tacos and headed back to the ship. It was a really fun day!

The next day we returned back to Long Beach and headed to the airport to fly home. Our flight ended up being delayed 2.5 hours, which was a total pain. We spent about 6 hours in the airport before leaving, but it all worked out in the end. It was a super fun trip, and it was nice to get away from work and responsibilities for a few days. We made so many great memories with our family and the cousins. I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to do it!