The first Caribbean trip for the girls! Becca has done a couple (once in utero), but this is Hannah's first time to the white sands of the Caribbean!
We flew out to Orlando and had a relatively uneventful flight with the girls. Momma and Poppa rode shotgun in Business Class, and had an extra seat, that apparently came with a pretzel platter. Becca had some pretzels.
We then rented separate cars and drove down to Delray Beach to see Uncle Izzy and Uncle Joe. Last time down they met Becca as a baby, and this time they got to meet Hannah as a baby.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites that had swans, which Becca loved.
After a whirlwind adventure in Delray Beach, we took a midnight drive to our hotel near the cruise terminal in Port Canaveral. The room was not a suite, as Richard remembered booking, and as the booking slip confirmed. But, it was late and everyone squeezed in....
The next morning we rushed to get onto our boat - Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. This was by far the nicest boat we had ever been on - it had a stunning indoor promenade with "shops" and bridges and lights and Dreamworks Characters.
The boat was the largest in the world when it was built, but has been since surpassed by two new RC boats.
First stop - Coco Cay - RC's private island. Raced off the boat to claim our spot of paradise. Turns out the sand is imported and an inch layer of sand sits on a concrete foundation, but it was still beautiful.
Did some snorkeling, ate, swam with the kids. Later on we met up with Richie and found a lesser populated side of the islands. For some moronic reason, people packed up early and went back on the boat.
We wandered around the rather large island and ended up on a shallow sand bar, hundreds of feet from shore...pretty cool.
Boat was awesome - it has a Flowrider (see pics) and a Johnny Rockets (not sure it's needed, but cool), also had a desert and pizza bar on the promenade and an ice skating rink. Rich and Teri used their status to get us into the fancy lounge and to get front row seats for the ice capades. Becca fell asleep...but in the front row.
Next stop: Falmouth, Jamaica. In the words of Richard Schulman "Hard pass".
It's a port supposedly owned by RC. All of the excursions involve bussing to Ocho Rios or other Jamaica stops. There is a pseudo mall/port and an entrance to an extremely run down town. More than a block outside the gates is thoroughly impassable. Beth stepped in a pothole filled with liquid death, though, so that was cool.
We did get some sweet woodworking items, and a soccer ball. Back at port the girls shared a giant coconut.
Third stop - Grand Cayman - my 4th time there, and Becca's 3rd. Did the whole island tour - stopped in Hell, and experienced a plethora of awful jokes. Also, hard pass. After that we went to the turtle farm. IT WAS SO AWESOME. First is the breeding pond. And the turtle are like 500 pounds each. Then, you get to hold baby turtles. Wait. It gets better....then you can swim in a lagoon with giant turtles and other sea life....and there is a predator tank adjacent., that you can view underwater through a glass wall! And there is a water slide (not into the predator tank).
We also stopped in Cozumel for the 300th time. We did a (windy) walk across town. Then Beth and the girls went back to the ship. Richard went back on land and pretended to work, but just went to a beachside resort for some much needed male-only time.
After that, we went back to Orlando and to the KW convention. Beth, the girls, and Mama and Papa flew home, and Richard stayed in Orlando for more girl-free time.
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