Education Thru Travel

On April 28, 2017April 27, 2017 By debweeksIn Homeschool, TravelLeave a comment

Pretty much everything we do provides a learning opportunity for the girls. So when we plan travel, we like to make sure it’s something we will all enjoy.

In the past, we have made our travel plans and then simply looked forward to what was in store. This time I’ve decided to change it up a bit and will have the girls work on some projects leading up to travel time.

For those who have been following my blog since the beginning of the year, you are aware that one of our favorite ways to travel is by boat. To be exact, by cruise ship.

During our cruise in February, we booked two more cruises. Since then, hubby and I have spent quite a bit of time discussing our plans and decided to change them completely.

No, this doesn’t mean we’ve cancelled the cruises. That would be crazy!!!!!

We simply changed the cruises.

Both cruises will be to the Caribbean, which is my favorite winter destination.

This winter we will be traveling again on Allure of the Seas.

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This time though we’ll be heading to Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico.

The following winter we will be on Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Symphony of the Seas.

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She is so new in fact, that she is still being built and won’t sail until Spring, 2018. Cruises will begin in Mediterranean before she sails to the U.S. in October, 2018.

On Symphony we’ll visit St. Kitts, St. Thomas and the Bahamas.

So what kinds of things can the girls be learning between now and our cruises?

How cruise ships are built?
History and facts on each of the islands we will be visiting.
Caribbean sea life.
Caribbean geography.

The possibilities are endless.

The End of our Cruise

On February 23, 2017February 20, 2017 By debweeksIn Cruise, VacationLeave a comment

It was our final morning and as always, I got up to head out to the balcony. As predicted, it was foggy. Very foggy! We were sitting still off the Texas coast waiting on the Port Authority to give permission to come into dock. In the distance, we could see some other ships, but the fog was thick enough that it was hard to tell just how close or how far away they were.

Regardless of the fog, the ship’s crew needed to stick to schedule as much as possible and since the Windjammer was only open for a few hours on our last morning, we got dressed and headed upstairs for some breakfast.

The Windjammer is extremely packed on two days of a cruise – Day 1 and Day 7 – and it was packed full of passengers. Most were looking sad and tired as they stood in different lines to get their food. Tables were difficult to find, but our friend Gena (you can read about Gena here) helped us find a table and we were soon making our way thru the crowd for our farewell breakfast.

Word from the Captain was that we would be pulling into port sometime after 10:00, but everyone needed to be out of their staterooms by 9:00. Even though we couldn’t leave the ship, the crew still needed to get everything set up and ready for the new passengers that would be getting on the ship later that day. So we stayed in our room as long as we could and then headed to our assigned place to await our departure information.

You might think it was exciting news that our ship was delayed getting into port, but with most everything shut down in preparation for the next cruiser’s arrival, all we could do was sit and wait. There were a couple of places open for drinks and food, but it was primarily just sit and wait.

Finally, 3 hours after our original disembarkation time, we were getting off the ship. After the long wait, it wasn’t quite as sad leaving the ship 🙂

The check out process, like the check in process, went pretty smoothly. We stood in line, but the line continued to move steadily. We found our luggage quickly and stood in another line waiting to get thru customs. Once thru customs, we headed to our assigned spot to catch the shuttle to the cruise parking lot and soon were on our way to Houston to drop our friends off for their flight back home.

Hubby and I both agree that while we enjoyed our cruise this year, we enjoyed our cruise on Allure a little bit more. Liberty of the Seas is a nice ship, with lots of activities to keep everyone busy. The food and service were wonderful. The shows were entertaining. The pool area was very nice and we left our cruise with lots of wonderful memories.

Would we take another cruise on Liberty, absolutely! However, we are more interested in cruising on Allure again and trying out some of Royal Caribbean’s other ships. For a matter-of-fact, we left the ship with our European cruise scheduled but we scheduled a second cruise as well. Right now we’re scheduled to go back to the Western Caribbean in December, but will likely change our itinerary and head back to the Eastern Caribbean or to the Southern Caribbean in January of 2018 . We have some time to decide and with our reservations already made, it will be easy to change.

For now I’ll say Bon Voyage and leave you with more pictures from our week on Liberty of the Seas in the Western Caribbean.

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Day 6 – At Sea

On February 22, 2017February 20, 2017 By debweeksIn Cruise, VacationLeave a comment

We boarded the ship full of happiness and excitement about the week ahead, then suddenly our trip was coming to an end. Yet, with a full day ahead of us, we were determined to enjoy it even though we knew tomorrow was D-day (disembarkation day).

I headed out to the balcony for one last morning at sea, but the sun was rising on the other side of the ship, so no photos. Then we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast and later for lunch. The girls enjoyed time in Adventure Ocean and at the pool. We also went ice skating.

I’m on the ice helping Naomi get onto the ice. Until this day, I hadn’t been ice skating in well over 20 years. It was Naomi’s first time.

Now Lili is getting on the ice. While I won’t go into a lot of detail, her ice skating experience was not a pleasant one for her. We found out later that her skates were too big and she ended up with bruises on her arms from trying to hold herself up on the wall and not fall down. She made it around one time, very slowly and then she was done. I don’t think ice skating is in her future, but she can now say she’s been ice skating.

Naomi was slowly getting the hang of it and having a lot of fun on the ice.

After ice skating and some pool time, we got ready for our last dinner in the dining room.

We really had some fantastic meals on board. Each evening we sat at the same table with the same servers, which meant they knew us by name, knew what drinks we liked, what kind of bread we liked, etc.

This is Gena! She was the assistant to our waiter and I swear she was the happiest staff member on board. She greeted us each evening, but was also in the Windjammer each morning greeting everyone. She was the one who taught us how to make the napkin cat ears that Naomi enjoyed wearing at dinner each evening.

I have no idea what she was doing here, but probably singing. She and Gena got along very well.

Here is Gena with Lili, Naomi and our friend Grace.

This is Louie. He was our waiter all week, providing us with wonderful service. He also entertained us with magic tricks.

After dinner, the girls went to Adventure Ocean one last time while our friends and I went to the theater on board to watch the Broadway show, Saturday Night Fever. We had been waiting for it all week.

With everything packed and ready to go, I put our luggage in the hall to be collected and taken to the holding area for our departure the next morning. However, we weren’t sure what time our departure would be the next morning as the Captain had announced that the Port Authority in Galveston was warning of thick fog which meant ships could not come into port. We headed to bed knowing we would get more information the next morning and a little excitement that maybe our cruise wasn’t going to end quite as soon as we thought.

Day 5 – Continued

On February 21, 2017February 20, 2017 By debweeksIn Cruise, VacationLeave a comment

Day 5 was jammed packed with activity. Instead of writing much, I’ll just post some photos Lili and I took while snorkeling as well as some photos from the Dream Works parade. The underwater photos are not the best quality. What we saw was much better than what the camera captured, but at least you can get a small glimpse of our experience.

Enjoy!

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Lili absolutely loved snorkeling and is interested in learning how to scuba dive. She is almost old enough, so we’ll be checking into scuba diving classes in the not too distant future.

Day 5 – Cozumel

On February 20, 2017February 19, 2017 By debweeksIn Cruise, Vacation6 Comments

We woke up to another beautiful day, but due to where our room was on the ship and the direction we were traveling, I wasn’t able to get a sunrise photo 😦 I’m sure it was beautiful though. Yet I still had to take a picture of the morning.

I still set out on the balcony taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the ocean. I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of a couple of dolphins as we approached port, but not having my camera ready, I wasn’t able to get any photos of them.

During breakfast, we were joined by Allure of the Seas. We sailed on Allure last year and it was good to see her again.

Here they are next to each other.

After breakfast, we got off the ship and headed to our excursion location. We were going on a snorkeling and beach excursion, so Lili was pretty excited about the day. She learned to snorkel on our cruise last year and was anxious to try out her skills once again.

A note to anyone going to Cozumel, don’t try to take fresh food into port. We had grabbed a few bananas to have as snacks and had to throw them away before they would let us into Cozumel. I have no idea what they do with all the food they collect, but they had collected quite a bit and it was sad to think it was going to be tossed.

It was only a short walk to the end of a pier near the cruise port and within a few minutes of arriving, a catamaran pulled up and we were soon on board. Our excursion was with a company called Fury Catamarans and they wasted no time getting everyone on board, handing out snorkel equipment to those who were snorkeling. Before long we were on our way while our tour guide gave us instructions, keeping us entertained as he spoke. After he was done, we were free to move about the boat while we made our way to the reef, which was also a great time to get some photos.

Parasailing looks like fun, but I’m not sure I’m brave enough to actually do it.

Not sure I can ever get enough of the blue ocean water. It is so beautiful!!

We’re getting further away from port.

These two love being on the boat.

They are having too much fun!

Hubby was enjoying himself as well.

And then we arrive at the reef. It was time to put on our snorkel gear and get in the water.

Naomi was too scared to try snorkeling this year, so she and hubby stayed on board and took pictures.

Snorkel time!

The water was a little cooler than I expected, but it didn’t take long to get used to it.

The fish and the reef were AMAZING!!! I’ll share underwater photos in a separate post.

Lili and I snorkeled for about 30 minutes and then headed back to the boat. A few minutes later, everyone was on board and we headed to the next part of our excursion.

Beach time!!!

This is Naomi’s idea of water time. She knows how to swim, but isn’t sure of her abilities yet. Hopefully another summer in our pool is all she will need.

This beach had some fun water play equipment as well.

Lili worked and worked and worked trying to get up this slide. It was missing a handle and she finally gave up and moved on to this slide.

Lili had a great time trying out the different play equipment.

Naomi, on the other hand, had a great time collecting shells and coral pieces again.

And covering her body in sand.

We spent about 1 1/2 hours at this beach and it was wonderful. We enjoyed the sand, the water, the sun and the drinks that were included as part of our excursion.

Too soon we were back on the boat for our trip back to the ship. Little did we know that it would become the party barge on the way back.

They served drinks and the crew lead everyone in dancing the Macarena, YMCA, a Conga line and a couple other dances.

Hubby and Lili sat back and watched the dancing. Naomi and I, on the other hand, joined right in and had an awesome time.

Once we were back on shore, we headed into Cozumel to do a little shopping.

But first we needed to get a picture of the girls with this guy.

Out of all the stops on this cruise, I was looking forward to Cozumel the least. We had been there on our first cruise and while we had a good time, it wasn’t anything spectacular in my book. This time, Cozumel was my favorite port stop out of the three. The excursion was fantastic and the next time we return to Cozumel, we will be going on another Fury Catamaran snorkel and beach excursion.

Day 5 was packed full of fun and activity, including a Dream Works parade. I’ll share those photos in a later blog post as well.

Adios for now!

Day 4 – Belize

On February 19, 2017February 18, 2017 By debweeksIn Cruise, VacationLeave a comment

When I went out to the balcony to take my sunrise photos on Day 4, I saw land and a short time later the ship dropped anchor a few miles off the coast of Belize. The only way to Belize and the islands were via tenders that would be running every 30 minutes while at port.

Our tender to our excursion was leaving a little later in the morning, so we were able to take our time getting ready, which was a nice change from the previous day.

The tender took us to Starfish Island off the coast of Belize for a few hours of sun, ocean, food and drink.

The girls had a great time playing in the water and building things with sand.

They also spent quite a bit of time collecting shells and pieces of coral. However the big find of the day was a conch shell Lili found.

Everything was returned to the water before we left.

It was called Starfish Island for a reason.

Naomi was not interested in getting in the water with the starfish or touching them. She did pose for this photo though.

As the after went on, the cloud started moving in and before long it began raining. We got back to our tender just before the downpour, but before it began raining, I managed to get some good pictures from our time at Starfish Island.

Overall, it was a nice day on the island, but I was pretty disappointed with our stop in Belize. I had really wanted to see Belize and didn’t know that our excursion wouldn’t take us into Belize City. By the time we returned, there wasn’t enough time left to catch a tender into Belize and spend any time there.

We returned to the ship, got cleaned up and by that time the rain clouds were gone and we enjoyed a game of miniature golf.

Last year, Naomi held her golf club upside down. This year, she got a hole in one on her first shot 🙂 Wish I could say the rest of her game went well, but all had a good time playing and then it was time to pose for some more pictures.

Lili was good for one picture, but Naomi was all about finding different back drops for her photo ops.

Soon the ship pulled anchor and we were sailing once again. We enjoyed another wonderful dinner in the dining room and turned in early for our early excursion departing the next morning.

Day 3 – Roatan

On February 18, 2017February 16, 2017 By debweeksIn Cruise, Vacation1 Comment

The sunrise as we approach Roatan, Honduras.

When we booked our cruise, the port I was most excited to visit was Roatan. Finally, we were there and I was excited to get off the ship for our day on land.

We had an excursion scheduled, so after breakfast, we got off the ship and waited for our escort to lead us to our departure spot.

Soon we were on our way.

Our excursion group loaded onto a bus and drove to the other side of the island where we boarded a glass bottom boat for a ride out to see the coral reef.

Our tour guide was a marine biologist who told us about the different kinds of coral, how the female fish lay their eggs in the sea grasses to protect them from predators, and how global warming is causing the reef to die out. We need the coral reef for many, many reasons and must do what we can to protect this earth and all her inhabitants.

The next stop on our excursion was the west end where we were treated to an ethnic dance before heading out to do some shopping.

Before shopping though, we stopped at a little grocery store with an outdoor café for a taste of some Honduran food.

After a quick-lunch and some purchases, we got back on the bus and headed to a cameo factory.

Honestly, I was underwhelmed with Roatan. It’s possible that my expectations were just too high or maybe we simply chose the wrong excursion. However, I did expect more.

We very much enjoyed the glass bottom boat. We did enjoy trying some of the food. I found the dance to be interesting. I thought our bus tour guide was very informative and easy to listen to. Yet I left wanting more and feeling a bit disappointed.

Maybe we’ll return one day to visit again. After all, first impressions aren’t always the best.

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Tag: Cruising

Education Thru Travel

The End of our Cruise

Day 6 – At Sea

Day 5 – Continued

Day 5 – Cozumel

Day 4 – Belize

Day 3 – Roatan

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