Caribbean Cruise 2009

One of the many things I love about my parents is that they have always felt it is important to go on fun family trips together. I have so many memories of crazy adventures with my family all over the world; Puerto Vallarta, Jamaica, Paris, Florida, California, River Rafting in So Utah, Glacier National Park, Rome… Even when I was young I remember awesome camping trips at the beach in California. Thanks mom and dad for wanting to spend time with your crazy kids and for taking us on so many adventures!


This year my parents took us on an amazing Caribbean Cruise. This is actually the same cruise we did about five years ago, but this time was even better. First of all, five years ago I still considered my brothers extremely annoying, but now we are all best friends.


The best part of the cruise was hanging out with my hilarious family. Dinner time was probably my favorite because we all just laughed and talked for hours (plus the food was amazing). Oh yeah, we also played some very funny games… butter magic anyone?


Our cruise ship was Liberty of the Seas- the BIGGEST SHIP IN THE WORLD! Pretty amazing huh? It featured an ice skating rink, rock climbing, mini golf, basketball, at least five pools, too many hot tubs, tons of restaurants and shops, and Branden’s favorite, THE FLOW RIDER!


This is an artificial wave type thing that you use to go surfing or boogie boarding. I got confused when I could not understand what my teacher was yelling at me because of his accent and totally bombed. Branden on the other hand, really got the hang of it and had a blast. (btw The reason I am wearing a shirt and shorts while surfing is that the FLOW RIDER can be very dangerous. Branden saw a girl completely lose her swimsuit top! He assures me that he looked away immediately...)


Oh yeah, and who can forget Branden and Mike's stellar karaoke performance. Turns out my husband would make a very sexy Backstreet Boy... if only he could sing better :) ha ha babe. You were awesome and I love you!!!


Thanks dad and mom for an UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE! We had so much fun being with you guys and we're grateful for having such a crazy, weird, awkward and amazingly fun family!

Below is a quick recap of each of our ports- I have included some definite MUST-DO ACTIVITIES if you ever head to the Western Caribbean…

HAITI

In Haiti we were on a special beach owned by Royal Caribbean, so we didn’t really see much of the real Haiti, but the beach was gorgeous! The weather was cloudy off and on but always warm, perfect for laying out and swimming in the ocean! Later, Branden tore it up on the volleyball court and I played a few games tolerably well.

JAMAICA

In Jamaica we went to a public beach (which you still have to pay for?) and enjoyed hanging out on some water trampolines. When we got hungry we headed into town and found the real gem of the day… MARGARITAVILLE!


Seriously, I recommend Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville to anyone that goes to Jamaica. When we first walked in it looked unpromising- lots of alcohol and lots of drunk people. They took us to a table upstairs which was open to the air and looked out over the ocean. After a great lunch we got to play (for free!) on this crazy water slide that shoots you out at the bottom with so much force it hurts. We still loved it.


After playing on the slide a bit we checked out the other water toys- a platform that is perfect for drunken dancing, even when you’re not drunk, and two water trampolines connected by a very slippery tube. We had a great time attempting to cross between the two trampolines.


Everyone in the bar was watching us and I am sure they thought we were totally wasted, but we were just having a blast!

GRAND CAYMAN

Grand Cayman was the most beautiful island that we visited. Our whole family, including both my sets of grandparents, two aunts, two uncles and seven cousins chartered our own sailing ship to take us to Stingray City!


STINGRAY CITY is a shallow sand bar where fishermen used to clean their fish. This brought tons of stingrays to eat the extra fish parts (yuck!). Now the stingrays still keep coming back because all us tourists bring fish or squid to feed them. They swim right up to you and suck it out of your hand. I even held one big one in my arms, under duress from our guide. Also, I suspect that my brothers put squid down my swimsuit because all of a sudden three giant stingrays started sucking all over my body. I was screaming like crazy, but it was still awesome!

COZUMEL

Our last stop, Cozumel was also a great success. We picked a beach, and found a taxi to take us there, but the taxi driver talked to Branden (so glad my husband speaks Spanish!) and convinced us to try a different beach...

PARADISE BEACH was wonderful. We had to pay $10, but we got unlimited access to kayaks, water trampolines, giant floating rafts for laying out, a giant blow-up iceberg to climb up and jump off of (scary!) and some great beach chairs for relaxing in the sun. The weather was the best we'd had so far. So hot!


Funny story... My two cute brothers Matt (19) and Mike (21) were hoping to meet some girls on this trip. When we first got on the boat we noticed that there were TONS of Latin girls on this cruise. Unfortunately for my brothers, they were a group of 150+ girls from Panama who were there to celebrate their Quinceañera... Yes that means they were all around 15 years old. They were all obsessed with my brothers, but can you say... illegal... :) Poor guys.