We had the opportunity to go on another family cruise and spend a few days in Florida before hand! It was yet again a huge success. We got to go with some of Darrin's family which always makes it more fun. Jason and Patti's family were there, Brady and Melissa's family, and Grandma and Grandpa Simon. We spent 4 days in the Keys followed by the 7 day MSC cruise. We left Caden at home with family since he's a bit too young for kids club and some of the activities. Nap time also gets in the way. We certainly missed him but I'm pretty sure he had the time of his life based on all the pictures I got of him while we were gone. Here's the detailed play by play of the vacation.
For those who don't want to read each day (don't blame you-it's for journaling purposes) highlights included: snorkeling (and lots of it including a snorkeling tour where we saw tons of tropical fish, and Darrin saw a stingray and Nurse shark!), swimming every single day in the pool and ocean, glass bottomed boat excursion where we saw 3 sharks and lots of fish and coral, kayaking the mangroves, feeding the tarpon fish, the food and dessert on the cruise, the shows after dinner (loved the hula hoop guy, the acrobats, the Chinese yo-yo guy and the 3 funny guys who could stand on each other's shoulders and pretend to fall), participating in lots of activities on board and winning lots of prizes and swag, the wavy pool due to the ship rocking, the hot tubs, the Bahamas orphanage, and St. Martin beaches.
*Impressions of MSC Cruise line: Many haven't heard of MSC. We went with them because it was really affordable and kids sail free (score!). It was a nice ship and it was really clean. It didn't have very many exciting things on board minus a water slide that you have to be 8 to ride and it obviously had pools and hot tubs. I was impressed by the number of hot tubs. I think there were 12. But they did have lots of fun planned activities for adults many of which we participated in. Our room was bigger than the other inside cabins we've stayed in. The food was good! It wasn't as good as Royal Caribbean in our opinion but can't complain and was better than Norwegian's food! The kids club was our least favorite. Just really unorganized with drop off and pick up and they didn't have as many fun things planned for the kids as others have-mostly just playing. BUT, a cruise is what you make it and we had a GREAT time!
Tuesday:
Traveled and got in at 7pm. Kids were great for the 2 flights and got to take turns sitting by grandma and grandpa Simon. Rented a car from fox which is TINY and has to use g&gs car for More space. Got to hotel which was nice, unique and charming. Courtyard all faced pool area. Nice room.
Wednesday:
Drove an hour. Stopped at beach to meet up with j&p family. Played. Went to feed huge tarpon fish. $1 to get in and $3/bucket of fish. You hold the fish above water and the tarpon fish with jump and get it with their huge mouths! Then we rented kayaks and kayaked through tunnels of mangrove trees. We saw a tree crab, a ton of really cool leopard print jellyfish that looked like star fish underneath, some small stingrays, and a few fish. Then we went to a crepe place for lunch that was overpriced and ok. Then off to Annie's beach where not much was seen snorkeling but it was really warm and went out really far being shallow. After the beach we headed to our hotel in Florida city (Travelodge) which is actually really nice! We heaven little ceasars for dinner and went swimming in the pool which was really warm!
Drove an hour. Stopped at beach to meet up with j&p family. Played. Went to feed huge tarpon fish. $1 to get in and $3/bucket of fish. You hold the fish above water and the tarpon fish with jump and get it with their huge mouths! Then we rented kayaks and kayaked through tunnels of mangrove trees. We saw a tree crab, a ton of really cool leopard print jellyfish that looked like star fish underneath, some small stingrays, and a few fish. Then we went to a crepe place for lunch that was overpriced and ok. Then off to Annie's beach where not much was seen snorkeling but it was really warm and went out really far being shallow. After the beach we headed to our hotel in Florida city (Travelodge) which is actually really nice! We heaven little ceasars for dinner and went swimming in the pool which was really warm!
Thursday:
Did a 4 hour snorkeling excursion with captain pips crew. They took us out to the world's 3rd largest coral reef out in the middle of nowhere by a lighthouse where you'd think it'd be super deep but it's all really shallow and clear waters! Bright blue too! The whole way there was a blast with the waves, the speed and the water splashing up on us! We snorkeled with the kids. Spencer has a hard time since it was really wavy so they let him use an inflatable boat that had a see through spot to see under water. He loved it! Parker did great until his mouth started hurting from the snorkel. We saw tons and tons of tropical fish way up close and a fish I've never seen before. After Mom went in with Parker, dad found a huge stingray, a giant conch and a nurse shark! Jealous! It was a wonderful excursion especially at only $29/each and the staff was really super! After that we went to subway for lunch, then the beach for a long time which was fun. McDonald's for dinner and ice cream and then home 1 hour 40 minutes for swimming
Did a 4 hour snorkeling excursion with captain pips crew. They took us out to the world's 3rd largest coral reef out in the middle of nowhere by a lighthouse where you'd think it'd be super deep but it's all really shallow and clear waters! Bright blue too! The whole way there was a blast with the waves, the speed and the water splashing up on us! We snorkeled with the kids. Spencer has a hard time since it was really wavy so they let him use an inflatable boat that had a see through spot to see under water. He loved it! Parker did great until his mouth started hurting from the snorkel. We saw tons and tons of tropical fish way up close and a fish I've never seen before. After Mom went in with Parker, dad found a huge stingray, a giant conch and a nurse shark! Jealous! It was a wonderful excursion especially at only $29/each and the staff was really super! After that we went to subway for lunch, then the beach for a long time which was fun. McDonald's for dinner and ice cream and then home 1 hour 40 minutes for swimming
Friday: went to John Pennecamp state park where we went to the beach first. We snorkeled a Mock up ship wrek, saw some fish, went on a glass bottom boat tour with everyone where we saw 3 sharks, tons and tons of different fish and coral, sponge and sea fans, went to lunch as a family, went to get key lime pie ice cream (yum), and went home to go Swimming, get pizza, and sleep
Saturday: packed up, ate breakfast, drive to the port where Darrin and Dad dropped Mom and I and the kids off with the luggage. We waited an hour and 45 minutes before they were back from dropping the car off at the Miami airport and getting a ride via Uber back to the port. Boarded with no problems, ate lunch, mandatory emergency demonstration, dinner, watched some TV , got room service and went to bed.
Sunday:
Woke up to room service. Went swimming, played some ladder ball, played Jenga, played scategories (Darrin and I won first place and got t-shirts), played foosball and Darrin and I won there other team and won do-rags, Darrin was in pool Olympics where each team had various challenges and his team win overall (it was really fun to watch!), We decorated t-shirts, got ready for our formal dinner and went to dinner. Everyone commented on how sharp the boys looked :). Dinner service was pretty terrible. We waited over 2 hours before we complained and got our waiter in trouble. Then we dropped the kids off at kids club and went to the nightly allow called "the mask" with acrobatics which was really awesome! Got ice cream cones after :)
Woke up to room service. Went swimming, played some ladder ball, played Jenga, played scategories (Darrin and I won first place and got t-shirts), played foosball and Darrin and I won there other team and won do-rags, Darrin was in pool Olympics where each team had various challenges and his team win overall (it was really fun to watch!), We decorated t-shirts, got ready for our formal dinner and went to dinner. Everyone commented on how sharp the boys looked :). Dinner service was pretty terrible. We waited over 2 hours before we complained and got our waiter in trouble. Then we dropped the kids off at kids club and went to the nightly allow called "the mask" with acrobatics which was really awesome! Got ice cream cones after :)
Monday:
Ordered room service for a wake up call, ate breakfast at the buffet, went swimming at the pool which was like a wave pool since the ship was rocking so much. Hot tubing, dad, Darrin and I did the master blaster contest which was a balloon blowing and popping contest (lots of fun-i came in third place and dad came in second place out of 12. First and second place got prizes
), did an 80's trivia, did a scavenger hunt and a puzzle game called ocean trap. Darrin won that and got a T-shirt. Dinner tonight was much better service than last night! Then we went to the show which was singing. Pretty good!
Ordered room service for a wake up call, ate breakfast at the buffet, went swimming at the pool which was like a wave pool since the ship was rocking so much. Hot tubing, dad, Darrin and I did the master blaster contest which was a balloon blowing and popping contest (lots of fun-i came in third place and dad came in second place out of 12. First and second place got prizes
), did an 80's trivia, did a scavenger hunt and a puzzle game called ocean trap. Darrin won that and got a T-shirt. Dinner tonight was much better service than last night! Then we went to the show which was singing. Pretty good!
Tuesday: St. Martin. Woke up and met everyone for breakfast. Headed out to the island covered in bug spray, long pants, socks, shoes and jacket in hand to protect ourselves against the zika virus. We rented cars and first went to Moho beach where they have their airport. We played in the ocean on the crowded beach, watched the planes fly in, and then when a big one took off went to go watch it and got blasted by sand!. After this we went to another beach few a few hours and did some snorkeling, relaxing, playing in the sand, and they had platforms that you could jump off of into the ocean. It was a great time! Then we headed to return our rental cars and back to the ship to get ready for dinner. After dinner we went to the show which was good and then headed for bed.
Wednesday: everyone else got off for Puerto Rico. We slept in, relaxed on a ship that was near bare, went to several different hot tubs to swim, explored, watched a Movie that was playing by the pool, went to lunch, played a game "catch me if you can" which Darrin and I both won and got prizes, went swimming, went to dinner, went to the show which was boring so we fell asleep, watched kareoke, and headed to bed.
Thursday: slept in, got breakfast, went swimming and played catch with a ball in the pool for a long time, watched the belly flop contest which was fun and entertaining, did a Foosball tournament where Darrin and I got second place, did a red vs. blue tournament where teams did a variety of challenges like passing the hula hoop down the line of people holding hands, passing the tennis ball via chin etc, went to a 45 minute Italian opera, got ready for formal night, had dinner, went to the nightly performance which was a pirate show with a variety of magic, music, human tricks, Chinese yo-yo tricks and More (really good show!), Then we went to minute To win it where Darrin participated which was hilarious!! He won and got a bottle of champagne 
. Then we picked up the kids and got some late snacks and came to our room.
. Then we picked up the kids and got some late snacks and came to our room.
Friday: Nassau Bahamas. What an amazing day! Ate breakfast in the restaurant, went out with our donations and we all got a taxi to the Bahamas emergency children's hostel (an orphanage). The taxi drive was great to get to see More of the island and the driver was really nice, funny and informative. We didn't know quite what to expect. We first met the director, who gave us a tour. They currently host 20 boys and 6 girls from 2 Months to age 11. 6 of which are disabled. We saw the boys room, the girls room, the bathroom, the laundry room, the small kitchen, the area where they eat and play, the room where the disabled kids stay and the backyard. We all brought donations which included hygiene items, shoes, clothes, Toys and school supplies. We also donated the cash we had. We stayed for a couple hours playing with the kids. They were all so nice and LOVED the attention! Amelia was 9 and quickly became my new friend, among many others. They were easy to connect with and it was a lot of fun to play and talk with them. Parker and Spencer played basketball with Brady and a handful of the kids. Parker keeps talking about how good they are at basketball but one time he finally stole the ball from one of them while playing :). It was a really emotional way to serve for me. I wish I could have taken a bunch home and found places for the rest! I don't know how they each got to where they are but it brings me comfort to know that God has a plan for each of them and loves then dearly. I'm so grateful we had this opportunity and loved every minute of being with them! I think it was eye opening for the kids too. Dinner was soon after we got back on the ship. Then we went to the Michael Jackson show (LOVED it!). After that we went to the quest game show which was hilarious and our team got 3rd place. Or team was d&t, j&p, m&d and one other couple. Then we talked for a while under the stars with Jason and Patti about the vacation. Then went to our room to pack up where there was a bunch more prizes from exchanging our champagne:). I think in all we won 5 t shirts, 2 baseball hats, 7 bandana hats, 4 lanyards, 6 keychains, 3 squishy toy boats, and a stuffed animal :).
Saturday: we had to be out of our room by 7am, went to the restaurant for breakfast, day around and waited to be called to get off, went to get off where Darrin was stopped because I guess we hadn't paid our tips, he paid them, then got stopped again for security since his identity was stolen a while ago, then we waited for about an hour for our budget shuttle. Got to the car rental, waited in line for 30 minutes only for them to tell us they had no cars available even though we had a reservation and they said we'd have to wait until cars were returned and we were 4th in line, waited for an hour and finally took Uber which ended up being cheaper to get to the airport. Then we flew home. The flights went well and the kids were great. Got home, picked up caden ( he was so sleepy), got some necessary groceries and came home to crash
