Friends, Kids, and the Caribbean

As I continue to find any way possible to escape the cold, rainy Georgia winter, I ended up catching a deal I couldn’t refuse. My bestie and I usually take all of our kiddos (six in total), to somewhere warmer during the winter. This year as all of the cruise lines have eliminated all of the C restrictions and offered killer deals, we decided that this would be the best option. For the same price as a rental near the beach, we could have all of our food and entertainment covered. It was a no brainer. 

We chose to cruise with Royal Caribbean mostly due to their Kids Sail Free promotion. We departed out of Cape Canaveral aboard the Mariner of the Seas. This ship was fantastic. All of the common areas appeared to have just been remodeled. The ship was clean and very well maintained. Our rooms (we did interior, connecting rooms) showed the most age, but were clean and perfect for what we needed. Our ports of call for our 4 night cruise were Nassau, Coco Cay, a day at sea, and then return to Port Canaveral. This was just the right amount of time.

If you’ve never cruised with kids, you are missing out. It is really one of my favorite ways to travel. Everything is taken care of. As a mom it’s a true vacation from all of the normal “mom chores”. There is no laundry, no dishes, no cooking, no cleaning, no deciding what to have for dinner. It is really refreshing and relaxing to enjoy time with my kiddos and not be distracted by any other responsibilities. I was able to spend quality time with all of my children for a full five days. Our family is Georgia Bulldog fans, and it just so happened that the National Championship game was being played our first night onboard. My boys were pretty bummed that they might not get to watch the game. After we finished dinner and a show, I took my boys to the Playmakers Sports Bar onboard, and we were able to watch the last half of the game with a room full of other Bulldog fans. It was awesome! Every touchdown (if you watched the game you know there were many 😉) was celebrated with shouts and high fives. The final victory was an uproar that could probably be heard several decks away. It was a really fun and memorable moment to share with my boys. 

This ship had many activities that kept us all pretty busy. By far the crowd favorite was the Flow Rider. This was a boogie board and surfing type simulator. They had water rushing in that would allow you to catch the wave. I should have logged the hours we spent there, because it would have been impressive. Our kiddos wanted to be there every minute it was open. They all improved so much and were learning tricks and even getting up on their knees. It was a blast. I even joined in and showed off my boogie boarding skills. 

The Sky Pad was another favorite. You were harnessed in to a trampoline and could jump really high. My youngest wasn’t tall enough for the Flow Rider, so this was one of her favorites. I hopped on too and had to out jump my boys. I have to remind them that their momma can still do cool things and give them a run for their money. 

I would say that the rock wall was the second most popular among our group. All of the kids could participate, so that kept everyone happy. This wall was not a super easy “kiddie” wall. They had three different climbing lanes with varying degrees of difficulty. My kids love a good rock wall, and they all worked to get higher and higher with each climb. This was also amazing to help work off some extra energy. 

The ship had even more activities than we had time to try. They have an ice skating rink onboard that you can sign up for a free skate session. They also had a laser tag event that was offered one night. If given a choice our kiddos were on the Flow Rider or the rock wall. 

The food onboard was pretty good. I wouldn’t say that it was amazing, but they offered a variety and everyone was able to find something they liked. A few of us are gluten free, and they made accommodations and options available. However, it could have been more clearly and easily labeled. That was really my only complaint. 

We were able to catch most of the shows which were pretty good. They even had a show on ice! Our favorite was the Headliner Show which featured a comedic juggler. We all though he was hilarious and very entertaining. Next time I would make sure to catch all shows that featured him. 

An unexpected event we had an honor to witness was on our first night. SpaceX was launching a Falcon 9 Starlink rocket. It was scheduled to launch just enforce midnight. We headed to the top decks where a small crowd had started gathering to watch the event. It was quite a show. This was the first rocket launch our kiddos have seen. It was amazing watching it phase and the rocket return back to earth. If you are ever in the Cape Canaveral/ Orlando area, make sure you check out the launch schedule. 

While we were in port in Nassau, we decided to take advantage of the shorter lines for the onboard activities. We did end up getting off the ship later in the afternoon to take the kids to the straw market and do a little souvenir shopping. 

Our favorite port by far was Coco Cay. We had the most perfect day. The weather was amazing and warm. The water was cool but refreshing. We headed straight to Chill Beach and found chairs. The kids enjoyed building a cruise ship and sea turtle in the sand and looking for shells. We had brought our own snorkel gear, so we also took off searching for colorful fish and even found a sunken ship. The water was crystal clear. There was a nice added comfort of multiple lifeguards stationed along the beach and on floating docks in the water. My only wish was that we had more time there. The food on the island was our favorite of the whole cruise which was a delicious taco bar. Coco Cay also offers several paid excursions: Thrill water park (which includes the tallest waterslide in North America), zip lining, hot air balloon rides, exclusive club beach, and many more. We chose just to explore what was included. After a day full of sand and sea, we finished in the enormous oasis pool and took in some of the kid water slides. I don’t think any of us were really ready to leave this paradise. 

This was my first experience with taking my kiddos on a cruise without my husband and also taking them out of the country on my own. This gave me even more confidence that we can all go and adventure. This was not only a fun filled, special time with my children and friends, but also a relaxing and restorative time for me. It was so refreshing to be back on the sea and traveling this way.  I feel like the time with my children is going so quickly, so any extra, special time I can get, I’ll take it.