The Amazing Cruise

We took over a hundred pictures of our cruise. Most of them won't mean anything so I have to be choosy.

We had the greatest time! We went on the Carnival Dream Ship which is less then a year old. Its the largest ship that Carnival has. We went to the Western Carribean. Our Ports were, Cozmel, Mexico, Belize, Isle of Roatan, and Costa Maya.

We have been married for almost 12 years and this is the longest time we have been away from our children ever. We have taken two other trips in our married life, one was to see David and Bonnie in D.C. which was a really fun trip without kids. Then this summer we went back packing in the Grand Tetons for three nights. So this was a late 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves. We really had to splurge to afford this trip but now that we are home with all the memories and reconnectness as a couple-it was worth every penny.

Here we are in the Carnival Lounge ready to sign up to get on the boat! We have no idea how much fun it will be but way gity with excitement!

Out of order but this is us in the airplane. I'm reading and Devin is listening to tunes and the TV. We also had fun doing Trivia on the Delta Flight. This was my third flight ever and the most turbulence I have experienced. The landing was a little scary too but we survived.

The men in their matching Clark Patrol T-shirts. Clark (back row in the middle) needed a patrol to keep him in line. His bishop wanted to be sure he kept his clothes on. =)

Lots of Iguanas in the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Devin got a picture of me kissing one. Their pretty good kissers.

First Formal night on the cruise. Dinners were so much fun. It took two hours to eat dinner with appetizers, main course and dessert. We just visited and enjoyed eating the yummy food. My favorite was the Prime Rib and also Lobster.

Zip Line on the Isle of Roatan. This was our favorite Port. We zip lined in the morning (I was a little nervous so the group had me go first. After the initial screaming I really enjoyed it!) After we went to a private beach. It was absolutely wonderful.

Our group at the Isle of Roatan. Look how beautiful the background ocean and green is!

Costa Maya--We rented a golf cart to travel to the nearby fisherman village. We ate Conch Shell at a local "restaurant" It was cooked with butter and garlic. This day was unplanned and we really enjoyed going where the cart took us.

2nd Formal Night. Devin looks so great in a tux. We saw this chair one night and thought it would be fun to get our picture in it.

The whole group with our amazing waitress Ramona. She has been with Carnival for a long time and she gave us such great service. I was so impressed with all the staff on the ship. They were so accommodating and always ready to served. The ship was so clean and beautiful.

On the ship we enjoyed going to most of the Comedy shows, the musical shows (especially Dancing in the Streets), Karaoke, playing cards with the group, hot tubing and going down the water slide, taking midnight walks on the outside decks (sometimes the wind was blowing so hard you could barely walk), hot cocoa with ice cream before bed, learning the Thriller Dance, and dancing in the Caliente Disco Dance Room.

We are so glad we went and are so grateful for my parents and Brenda and Ryan for watching our kids for the week. It was nice not to worry if our kids were doing well. We knew they were in good hands. Our kids really missed us and by the end we were very ready to be home as a family.

If you are going on a cruise anytime soon, make sure you budget for the ports (excursions). I had no idea how much money you spend on the excursions. You could just stay on the boat or just walk around but you really wouldn't get to see the beautiful places you are visiting if you don't schedule to do something each port. Also plan on bringing lots of cash for tips. If you go to the bank you can get a book of ones. It a hundred dollars in a tight pad of paper. Then you just rip them off when you need them and they are much more compact. Of all the things I did to prepare to go on the cruise, the funnest was getting a pedicure. I wore sandals all the time so it was fun to have cute toes. =) We didn't tan and we were just fine. We just made sure we always had sunblock. If you love to swim or get in the hot tub you really should have more then one swimsuit. Then the other one can be drying while you are wearing the other one. Bring a couple good books to read for the plane ride and just for down times in the sun. I would bring a couple Book of Mormons. I brought one and gave it to our waitress and wished I had another one for our tour guide in Roatan. We didn't use our Visa card hardly at all because most places didn't take a credit card. So be prepared to pay most everything with cash. It helped us budget too. When the cash was gone we were done. Take your journal. You will not want to forget some of the amazing first time experiences you will have. Just by not drinking alcohol we probably spent half the amount of those that do. I was taken back by how many and how much people drink. It was eye opening to me. I'm grateful I didn't have to waste my money on it! =)