For Spring Break last year we went on a week-long Caribbean cruise on the world's largest cruise ship at the time--Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas. This ship was colossal and amazing and beautiful and there was so much to do on it. It was like a floating city at sea. Technically it was the second-largest ship in the world but its big sister wasn't sailing yet so it was still the biggest cruise ship that was currently sailing. The ship was the coolest and we had a great time (but I must say that I still prefer Disney Cruise Line and I missed it!).
This is a cute picture of the boys wrestling in our hotel room in Florida the morning that we left to get on the ship. If only they always got along this well when they fight!
Soon after we boarded the ship, the boys availed themselves of the waterslides and hot tub.
The Ultimate Abyss is the tallest slide at sea. It's a dry slide, not a water slide. I went down it twice and it was a little scary at first (especially when you're way up at the top), but it was fun!
This is what the entrance of the slide looks like, waaaay up on the top deck.
The boys had fun not only on the slide but also on the rock walls to the side of it!
There's a park on the ship that's designed to be kind of like Central Park. It's pretty and peaceful.
Central Park seen from above.
Sam and a model of the ship.
Different towel creations were left in our room each evening by the room attendants. These are always fun!
Patrick was added courtesy of Sam!
Not quite sure what this one is...a rabbit, maybe?
Not sure what this one is either but it has googly eyes and it's cute!
John went zip-lining! I thought it was really scary to do that up at the top of the ship with several open decks below, but, as usual, it didn't faze him a bit.
I have a great picture of him on the zipline that a ship photographer took but I can't access my cruise photos right now because the icon mysteriously disappeared from the computer. Frustrating! There are a few good ones that I wanted to put in this post. If I ever find them I guess I'll put them in their own special little blog post.
The zipline went above all this.
There were some really good shows at the outdoor Aqua Theater. We saw a tightrope walker practicing one day and it was fun to watch him. I don't know how people do this!!
Can you see him way up there?
Can you see him way up there?
This was a fun unique little type of playground.
Or a cozy place to rest when you have it mostly to yourself.
John in the hot tub looking out at St. Thomas after our day there before the ship sailed away. 😍
We got to to go to this special VIP thing on the helicopter pad at the front of the ship to meet the ship's officers and have yummy drinks before we left St. Thomas. It was cool!
I thought I was creative taking pictures of my reflection at night on our room's balcony. 😄
Sam was happy to have down-time chilling out in our room with his iPad and a DVD in the player. It doesn't take much to please him!
I had poor self-control and bought two new purses in the Kate Spade shop on the ship. One had an owl on it and one had stars. I couldn't say no to either of them. 🤷
We went to an ice-skating show after dinner one night. I loved it!
Me being a dork.
John participated in a rock-wall climbing competition in the teen age group. He was one of the youngest and shortest but he came in second place! He was so happy!
We went to a funny comedy musical about Christopher Columbus.
I also went to Grease but I went by myself because it was apparently for more "mature" audiences. I was disappointed because it did turn out to be pretty bawdy, and unnecessarily so. There was also a technical problem during the show that put it on hold for a few minutes. But mostly because of the bawdiness, I have to give Grease a thumbs-down. Too bad because overall I like the movie and the songs are so fun.
This aqua "Hideaway Heist" show, on the other hand, was very good! I went to this right after Grease and met Peter and the boys there. Much better-quality entertainment!
Ooh la la!
Look at that guy all the way at the top of the highest diving platform! He executed a very impressive dive from that terrifying height! 😮
At the end of the cruise on the morning that we left. Always kind of a bummer day!
Other ships in port that morning.
We sailed out of that channel one week earlier. I wished we could do it again!
There are always hundreds of e-mails waiting for you when you get back into port at the end of a cruise. One of the things I like about cruises is the lack of internet access (unless you choose to pay for it, which we usually don't). Truly, it's such a nice break from the real world!
The one photo from the ship's photographers that I was able to salvage from the computer. Hopefully there will be more coming at some point! This one made it onto last year's Christmas card.
Coming up tomorrow: our suite and the food!
