Spring Break Cruise Vacation ~ Day 1...

In July of 2019, Matt and I saw a Facebook post that Royal Caribbean was moving a ship to New Orleans that would go to Key West and the Bahamas.  We started looking into it immediately, and without much hesitation we booked it for Spring Break 2020.  

Anna Lauren had a clue that we had booked the trip, but we didn't officially tell them until they opened their Christmas present from us on Christmas Eve.

One of our favorite things to give them is a trip...

Seeing their faces when you tell them makes holding the secret for so long totally worth it...

We give them a Christmas ornament every year on Christmas Eve...my favorite ones to pull out and put on the tree each year are the ones that make us think about all the memories we made while traveling.

A month or so before we were to depart on our cruise, the corona virus chit chat started.  A couple weeks before we were to depart, we started getting e-mails from Royal Caribbean that if you had traveled to certain countries you would not be able to board the ship.  We never thought that our cruise wouldn't go, but we were still a little anxious for all the reasons you would expect.  

At the time we boarded, you just had to have your fever taken.  Anna Lauren, Cooper, and I walked right through the fever check with no issue.  Matt's temperature would not register for probably the first five attempts.  We were all like surely this is not happening.  He finally got through, and we walked right onto the ship.  Needless to say, we were all smiles and so happy about being on vacation the next seven days!

The kids like to spend the first day checking out all the things on the boat.  Cooper knew he was going to the basketball court first, and he wasn't scared to play 1 on 1 against a 10th grader.  

Matt and I were so happy to be on vacation/unplugged even if we were just chasing kids around a ship.

Next...they "thought" they may swim so they put on their swimsuits.  Swimming ended up being sitting in a hot tub with way too many people because it was just too cold.

And then pizza breaks are just a must.  I do not know what is so good about the pizza, but I promise you we all eat no less than 6 slices a day.  It's really that good!

And ice cream cones...we will not dare count the number of ice cream cones Anna Lauren and Cooper eat in a week.

Anna Lauren had to try out the rock climbing wall...

She actually really likes it and surprisingly is pretty good at being able to get to the top of the wall.

The rare day you see the pool deck this empty...it was cool and windy the day we departed New Orleans.  As you can see, it was pretty much hot tubs only.

Matt got a kick out of this...how many college students can you get in one hot tub?

Cooper found him some warmer clothes and then decided to give the rock climbing wall a try.  He will do it but doesn't love it as much as Anna Lauren.

All cleaned up and ready for a show and dinner.  Since we were on a smaller ship we knew the rooms would be smaller so we went with two adjoining rooms.  The kids had their own room...
(fun fact: magnetic hooks for our rooms ended up being the BEST purchase we made for this trip)

And Matt and I had our own room.  It ended up being the perfect setup for the week.

Headed to a show and dinner with a man who loves a cruise probably more than anyone else I know.  Good thing the rest of us like one too...ha ha!

The Royal Caribbean singers and dancers...

We didn't have dinner until 8 PM every night.  If you know Cooper, you know he plays REAL hard.  So this was just the first of many nights he fell asleep at dinner.  Worked out perfectly for him because our table for dinner had a bench on one side so he could just lay down and fall right asleep.  It was a good first day of vacation!