Carnival Cruise Victory

Miami, Florida to Cayman Island and Jamaica 5 nights

$1900 for 4 people inside cabin, all food and cruise activities included! This does not include excursions (bought 5 days prior to cruise).

This time we were planning to take a cruise. We just didn’t know when or where. I was searching for cruises from Galveston Texas or anywhere in Florida. The kids just got out of school, I was done with work and  at the last minute my husband had a week free! All the stars were aligned and I was on a mission to vacation! I used http://www.vacationstogo.com,  www.cruises.com  and http://www.carnival.com. I finally found this cruise on http://www.cruises.com and I was very impressed with the service. No one else could find a room for 4 people on anything for that week. I learned a lesson, if you REALLY want a cruise on a specific date, book it early!

Monday  before you on the ship buy a case of water, six pack of your favorite soda or a bottle of wine and put it all in your checked bags so you don’t have to carry them around all day. I would rather spend my money on excursions than $5 soda or $8 drinks! As soon as you get on the ship you can go eat lunch.

Read my post about packing for a cruise for lots of helpful ways to save money on a cruise!

Tuesday at sea

Don’t make the same mistake I did! I got up early and went to the gym,  I ran too far, did 2 million lunges, and squats with weights and then I was sore and in pain the next 3 days!  Just Don’t Do It!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, it  looked like this: pool, lunch, golf, ice cream,  pool, nap, dinner.

Wednesday Grand Cayman Islands

Snuba- its just like scuba diving but you have a hose connected to the raft with 30 minutes of air.  Fun for the whole family. The guide took us out to a spot and showed us where to go, he stayed with us the whole time. We dove down to a sunken ship, saw all kinds of fish including stingrays! My Olympus digital waterproof camera took some great pictures.

Then we walked to Jimmy Buffet’s  Margaritaville! The kids loved the free water slide and dance music. They had free “rum punch” with out the rum, at the swim up bar. We enjoyed a margarita and a beer in the shade!

Thursday Ocho Rios Jamaica–

River Tubing

A van picked us up at the ship port and drove us to the river. We enjoyed 3 hours of really relaxing tubing in a clear beautiful river. The guides were helpful and funny! Ours was really good to our kids and made sure they were taken care of and had fun! My son came home with a Jamaican accent!

The bus stopped at a shopping plaza right next to the ship port and gave us 30 minutes to shop. We went to Mama Marley’s and had amazing jerk chicken! I ordered the rum punch, and I think the bartender felt sorry for me because she really added half the bottle of rum! I highly recommend it! Fortunately when we got out of the van our ship was only 20 feet away, because I couldn’t walk 25 feet! That rum punch really had a punch to it!

Friday at sea 

Seaday brunch!  Find it, ask someone, it really is worth it!

We sat by the pool and enjoyed the music and the sun. My children begged me to go down the water slide and I gave in just to get the status as “fun mom”! Then my husband had to go and do the water slide twice to kick me out of my “fun” status!

I will forgive him because he dragged our dirty clothes to the laundry room. He washed, dried, and folded them in our room! All this while I layer in the sun reading a book, drinking a rum and Coke Zero, and “watching” our boys go down the water slide 4,000 times!

After dinner the boys were excited to have a dance party with their friends at the kids club. We went to a dive in movie with out them!

Saturday get off the ship

Again we were sad to leave, but my husband enjoyed the seaday brunch so much that we got up early just to eat one last delicious breakfast. And it was worth it! We left with new memories, lots of photos and an extra pound or two from all the delicious food!

What my kids loved:

Water slide, golf, ping pong, ice cream and pizza anytime they wanted!

Circle C Club: Video games, dance parties, dodge ball, lip sync contests, and meeting new friends.

What my husband and I loved:

spending time with the kids having fun, no hassle vacation, delicious meals, entertainment on and off the ship, and a little alone time while the kids were at the Kids club!

Happy Sails!