30th Anniversary Cruise

I know the year is almost over but I'm playing catch up on here!

In November we took a family cruise to the Bahamas.  This was our 30 year wedding anniversary trip and both boys helped out so we could afford to go.  We'd never gone there as a family & it was alot of fun.  This is the first cruise we ever took on a Carnival ship & found it to be different than a Royal Caribbean  Both had their  pros & cons.  We chose the Carnival because it was about $100 cheaper a person for the time we wanted to go and that is alot of a family of our size.  We had to take 3 rooms.  Jon & Sam shared an adjoining room with Sarah & me.  Although they were interior rooms they seemed larger than the interior rooms on Royal Caribbean.  With the adjoining door opened, it seemed like we were in a small suite.  Steve & Shad's room was a little smaller but still bigger or equal to the size of the RC rooms.

It was more of a party ship for sure and a younger clientele.  The dining area was much harder to get through with the kids' wheelchairs too. We dined in the restaurant instead of the buffet for breakfast and dinner but couldn't escape it for lunch!  The wait staff at the buffet  had a hard time understanding that Sarah's food had to be pureed but once they understood they got it done.  The restaurant was easy to navigate and we got a window seat each night.  This boat was hard to navigate around in and had very little deck space in which to walk so that drove me crazy!  Plus the tiny "walking deck" was not handicapped accessible.  The elevator did not go up to it.  We would have taken the kids and pushed them as we walked around if it had been

But our room almost made up for everything else as it was very comfortable!  Also we loved that the ship was overnight in the Bahamas so we could really explore the area.

Now I am NOT recommending that everyone do what we did....but... we seldom pay for a tour through the ship.  We just get off and find our own tour guide  With so many people we can't afford to pay $75 each for a tour of the area.  The only time we've paid for a tour through booking through the ship was once for our older boys to go to the Mayan Ruins in Mexico without us (we'd already gone to Mayan ruins years ago) and when we were in Cuba we had to pay for a tour..  When we visited Honduras some years ago one of my friends had a sister who did tours so we went with her and had a marvelous time seeing the real Honduras.  That gave us confidence so we've done it ever since.  Some people think it is dangerous and it probably is!  But I've always prayed we'd get the right person and we have.  This time we found a man at the dock who had a nice van and he took all of us for the price of 2 ship tours!  He hit all the high spots for us despite the rain (it was actually a tropical depression) but it did not stop us.  We went to the beach, Atlantis Hotel, the Queen's Staircase and the fort.  Plus he drove us all over the island and showed us things of local interest.  That night Jon and I went out walking for miles and had such a good time.


What's a little rain?

the Atlantis hotel

the Queen's Staircase

the fort (my guys and a stranger on top!)

the Bahamas in the back gorund

We've started using (click name for website)   Ovi travel agent   Ovi is the husband of one of my high school friends and a very nice guy who worked hard for us in getting everything arranged for the kids.  He was patient as we figured out the best rooms and arrangements for our situation.  He worked hard to get us the very best price.  I would recommend him over any travel agent I'd ever worked with!  

So we had a great 30 years anniversary cruise with our kids.  It was magical to be out in the storm sightseeing and to be able to spend time just walking around the Bahamas at night.   Trips are more important to me than presents.  I love to travel with my family and see things together.  Jon & I had gone on a cruise to the Bahamas a few years ago but thought it would be fun to go as a family & it was!