Cesar and I have been talking about going on a cruise for a while now, but just…hadn’t. One Friday afternoon, Cesar called me from work and said he had just gotten an email about a great deal on a cruise…and, well, did I want to go? When I heard the price, I agreed it was great and we decided we couldn’t turn it down. The catch? It was a last minute deal and the cruise left on Monday…three days later!
Well, after a little convincing on Cesar’s part, we jumped on the offer. We decided to bring Sophia with us and leave Emma at home with Cesar’s parents. We were sad to leave her for our 5 day/4 night cruise, but couldn’t imagine bringing her with us. We’d have to pack a stroller, pack n play, bottles, diapers…etc. Plus, that girl is wild. The this age, she’d go stir crazy after five days cooped up on a ship! Haha!
Anyway, we booked the cruise on Friday early evening and left our house for Port Canaveral early Monday morning. We had such a great vacation!
When We Went:
5 days/4 nights in early September
Where We Stayed:
We went on the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas. It’s an older ship but was renovated and extended by 73 feet a few years ago. We didn’t have a choice in rooms because we booked at the last minute. We were in an interior cabin, which was more than okay by us. Neither Cesar or I get seasick and we really spend very little time in our room on a cruise, so no window worked out just fine!
Our cabin actually had quite a bit of space…more space than a typical cruise cabin and more than any cruise I’d been on.
Where We Ate:
We ate on the cruise. Only. The only exception was the BBQ lunch they had at Coco Cay one day, but that doesn’t really count because it was provided by the cruise line, too. Oh, and Sophia had a doughnut from Dunkin’ Donuts on Nassau. Other than that, we ate all meals on board the ship.
The food was good. It was pretty much like every other cruise we’ve been on. Most days, we ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet, Windjammer, then dinner at the My Time Dining restaurant, My Fair Lady. The first night we just showed up at dinner and were randomly seated at a table. Our servers, Bryan and Romeo, were hilarious and were especially great with Sophia, so we decided to go ahead and make reservations for the rest of the cruise for their table.
What We Did:
Ate
Ate
Ate…
But really, we…
Went to the beach in Coco Cay. We spent our several hours in the water on that day, getting out only to eat lunch and reapply sunscreen.
Browsed shops in Nassau, including the dreaded “straw market” (why is it even called a straw market anymore, anyway!?). Just thinking back to the straw market makes me nervous! Sophia finally picked out her souvenir (a straw purse with “Nassau” written on it), but not before being hounded and grabbed by almost every vendor in the whole dang place. Literally, they would get a hold of her shoulder and try to pull her into their little shop. Cesar eventually had to throw her on his shoulders to keep people from grabbing her. Least favorite part of Nassau for sure! 😛
Went to a Bahamian Dunkin’ Donuts. There’s an explanation for this one! The whole morning in Nassau, it was raining…hard. We had already gotten off the ship, so we were kind of stuck until the rain died down a little. We found this Dunkin’ Donuts and ducked in there to get out of the rain. They just so happened to have free wi-fi for customers, so we bought Sophia a doughnut (a pink sprinkle one of course), and connected to the internet to talk to our Emmy! She was just as excited to see us and we were her!
Swam in the pool on the ship and watched two NFL games from the pool. Probably Cesar’s favorite part of the ship.
Played shuffleboard
Went to lots of shows- karaoke, the Love and Marriage Show, the World’s Sexiest Man Competition (ha!), a cake decorating contest, a towel folding demonstration, and a Broadway-type show, to name a few.
Watched “Maleficent” in the theater
Shopped on board
Sophia went to the kids’ club, Adventure Ocean Aquanauts, several times. When we told Sophia that she was going on the cruise with us, we were describing to her all the things she could do on the ship. She was amazed at all the things going on, but what she was most excited about was the kids’ club. When we actually got on the ship and to the kids’ club, though, it was a different story. She’s never gone to school or anything, and the only people that have ever watched her are family (we’re lucky…lots of family around!). So when we showed up there and told her that was it, she said, “I don’t think I want to go to the kids’ club anymore. Maybe next cruise.” Cesar and I couldn’t have cared less if she wanted to go or not, so we left the decision to her. She decided not to go that day, but when we walked by the following day, she changed her mind. She stayed for about 45 minutes, but was hooked. She couldn’t wait to go back! She went probably four times, usually for about 1-2 hours at a time. She also went to movie night one night, where the kids came in their pajamas and watched a movie and made crafts. It was nice because we could use any of the phones around the cruise to call and check in, and they also gave us a pager to page us if Sophia needed anything. We only left her a few times, but it worked out great because it gave us a chance to do some adults-only things, including watching an adults-only show and going to the casino for a little while.
Well, gee, I could go on for a while about all the fun things we did on the ship, but those were some of the best. We were sad when it was over, but super excited to see Emma after a few days away. We are definitely looking forward to being able to take a cruise again in the near future…maybe with both girls next time! We would definitely recommend Royal Caribbean and specifically the Enchantment of the Seas, and would definitely sail with again!