So two weeks before the cruise we got a call from Vaughn's brother, Aaron. Aaron told us that their older sister Shauna was going on a cruise and that the prices on the cruise had dropped significantly. We started looking and because we had enough points for free flights the cost of the trip was going to be hardly anything!! Really how can you possibly pass up a cruise that is almost free?! So with just two weeks to prepare we started getting ready to go! We figured all the kids out with babysitters and made sure they had a way to get to where they needed to be and when and we were off!
The journey was really quite hilarious! Since we were flying last minute things were a little more...difficult, but we didn't have to cart kids with us, so it was an adventure!!
It all started on Monday. After Vaughn got home from work we kissed the kids goodbye and drove down to Bountiful. We slept at the Hixson's and they took us to the airport bright and early on Tuesday. We had to be there by 4:30 am! It was super early, but we were excited to go, so it wasn't that big of a deal!
Our first leg of our journey! We flew to Denver and had a two hour layover there!
We didn't mind the layover, because school had just started for Vaughn and he had homework he had to do! Boo!! At least he was able to get it all done for the week, so we didn't have to worry about it after we got off the ship!
From Denver we flew to Fort Lauderdale. On the way to Florida the flights were pretty empty. We had the row to ourselves and were able stretch out and get some sleep!
It was snowing in Denver. It is hard to tell what is out beyond the wind, but they are snowplows! They mean business in Denver! They have plowing the runways down to a science! It was incredible to watch!
Every plane had to be de-iced. They had that down to a science as well! There were two rows of planes lined up and a long line waiting to take their turn! Definitely grateful for the technology to do this to planes! Gave me a huge piece of mind!
We finally arrived in Fort Lauderdale and that is where our clever transportation began! So Southwest only flies into Fort Lauderdale, but we were cruising out of Miami. The distance isn't too far, but once we started looking at taxi's and shuttles I was shocked at how much money they were! For one person it was $85!! So, I got online and started reading reviews. One lady had a brilliant idea and we decided to take that route to save a little (really LOTS) money.
So from the Fort Lauderdale airport we jumped on a shuttle that took us to a commuter train. When we got to the train we literally missed it by SECONDS!!! So we waited for the next train and rode it for six stops. Once we got off the train we took another shuttle to the Miami airport. From there we called our hotel and they sent a shuttle to the airport and picked us up.
So by the end of the day it was 2 planes, 1 train and 3 shuttle rides to get to the city that we needed to be in! Seriously, talk about planes, trains and automobiles! It really wasn't that bad. Oh and did I mention that it was only $7.50 for BOTH Vaughn and I to ride the train?! So we saved SO SO SO much money by doing it this way!
Waiting for the shuttle to the Miami airport.
Waiting at the Miami airport for our hotel shuttle.
There was a Subway just a block away from our hotel, so that is what we had for dinner and for breakfast! Might as well have something healthy before going on a cruise, right?!
After breakfast we jumped on yet another shuttle! This one was great because it was going to the port! So originally we booked a hotel that had a shuttle to the port, but it was $10/ per person. Not a big deal, until Vaughn found another hotel, just "down the street" from the first that was $50 cheaper per night and had a FREE shuttle! So no brainer! We cancelled the first one and booked the second one. So when we get on the shuttle we realize that the first hotel is LITERALLY right behind the one we stayed in. Like they share a small parking lot. And the shuttle was the same exact shuttle for both hotels! Only difference is ours was FREE!!
(Disclaimer, there was definitely a reason our hotel was cheaper and had a free shuttle...but for one night all we needed was a place to sleep, so it was very do able!)
Anyway, so now the fun begins!!!
We met up with Vaughn's brother and sister and their spouses and boarded the ship!! This is me checking in for us! This lady was hilarious! She was telling me how I could ditch Vaughn in Nassau if he wasn't nice to me! Good to know, strange lady. Good to know!
Right before we entered the ship! They sure do treat everyone to a first class experience! It was awesome!
I couldn't find the video, but as soon as you enter they personally welcome you aboard with a microphone and the staff standing around cheer and clap! It makes you feel like royalty!
The ship is so nice. If I had my kids I could totally just sit on the deck all day and watch movies and eat food! Yum!!
Since this is our second cruise we are now ranked in the 'silver' ranking for the Castaway Club, so there was a gift on our bed to welcome us!
Our awesome room!
After dropping our stuff we met up to go get some lunch!
Chris, me, Jana & Aaron, Vaughn
Our cruise companions!
Aaron & Jana
(Aaron is just older than Vaughn in the family)
Chris & Shauna
(Shauna is the oldest in the family)
What a way to welcome us aboard! You really do eat REALLY well on their ships!
We enjoyed going to most of the shows! Some of them were duplicates from our trip last year, so we ditched those, but it was all good! We tried to experience as much as we possibly could in the short four days away!!
This was actually waiting to get into the show pictured above! Whoops! Too many pictures, so I'm not going to move it!
We enjoyed just chillaxin' before we set sail!
We loved the turn down service every night and the fun animals the crew members would leave for us!
We had a fun filled day and we stayed up late into the night and finished the night with a movie! My memory is so bad. I think this was the night that we saw Saving Mr. Banks. It was a great movie and we had so much fun!
Us and the Disney Wonder
(Last year we were on the bigger, newer ship the Fantasy)
When we woke up we were on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay (pronounced Key). We hurried and ate breakfast and disembarked the ship. Just like last year the weather wasn't the best (it was soo much better than Idaho weather, so I'm really not complaining!) and so some of the excursions were cancelled. Didn't mean anything to us, but Aaron and Jana weren't able to do their para sailing! Jana was relieved, but Aaron was disappointed!.
The clouds were beautiful!
It really wasn't cold at all. It all just felt perfect!
We rented bikes and rode around the island. It was a lot of fun! It also felt good to get some exercise since we had already splurged, a lot!
They have all these cute photo ops all over the island!
Aaron & Jana
Chris & Shauna
(I loved that it was Chris's idea about raising the legs!)
Us!
They have this tower out in the middle of nowhere that overlooks the island! Can you see the ship in the back ground?!
It was a bit windy, but it was still warmer than Idaho!
Little birds enjoying the ice cream!
Jana just had to get in the water!
She had a good 'ole time and Aaron saying that she's crazy!!
Aaron now having a good 'ole time!
We took some time to relax and enjoy being in the middle of the Caribbean in January!
Vaughn taking it easy!
The all you can eat ice cream cones!! Last year we had strawberry on the ship, this year it was only on Castaway Cay! Yum Yum Yum!!
Me being a dork. I should so be a super model! (HA!)
Some lady waiting for a picture in this spot was just laughing and laughing. Yes, I'm not afraid to have people laugh at me...sometimes!
We took the tram back to the ship after all the walking and biking we did! We headed back early so we could do some stuff on the ship.
The adorable Olaf outside the post office! Usually this post office is open and you can actually send mail from here and have it post marked!
The ship is so massive (but surprisingly so much smaller than its sister ships)
Photo bomb!
We loved having a port hole! We watched the sunrise almost every morning and it was breath taking! (At least I did, maybe Vaughn was still snoozing!)
Formal night
Our awesome head server, Cipri
Cipri and Lilliana
We had a fun night and when we woke up the next morning we were in Nassau. Since we haven't ever been there we wanted to get off the ship and walk around. Chris & Shauna wanted to walk around as well. Aaron & Jana had scheduled some massages and opted to stay on board. Smart people. I am glad we did it for the experience, but it was awful! I don't think I will ever get off the ship here again. I had a headache from the smells and noise within 15 minutes. It was awful!
We finally found a quiet place to sit for a minute and use the restroom. The only good thing in Nassau is that I found some cheap sunglasses. This may have been where our credit card was stolen, as well. But we will probably never know!
When we got back on board we noticed all the other cruise ships. The 2nd one over is another Disney and it is identical to the one we were on last year. As we backed out of this port we went side ways to be right in front of the other ship and the ships had a horn off of sorts! Our ship would start a whistle and the other one would finish it! It was so cool! I have it on video, but it is super long and I doubt anyone would watch it!
Leaving the port, there is this cute little light house! We only took like a bajillion pictures of it!
We watched Frozen in 3D. Made me a little nauseous, but all 3D movies do that so I wasn't surprised!
We ran into this guy!
It was a great photo op without any kids around screaming and squealing! We took a picture next to him, but I couldn't find it! So here is Aaron and Jana!
Pirates IN the Caribbean! We had so much fun with our fellow pirates and our servers! Oh, I could go back tomorrow if I had the chance!!
Mickey Bars. The greatest.thing.ever! So delicious!
They aren't on the menu, but they are always available, you just have to ask!
Our server started giving us mind games and Vaughn had one for him! It was fun to watch our server try to figure it out! We had him stumped for awhile!
The deck party! It was pretty windy, so they had to spin the ship, so the fireworks wouldn't blow back towards the ship! It is so crazy to be on the ship when you know it's spinning! It is amazing something so big can move like that!
After the party they had a Midnight buffet. Check out these turkey legs!! Oh my! We were still pretty full from dinner, but they had fresh crepes with any filling you could imagine! It was delightful!
This little guy was waiting in our cabin when we came back for the night. So cute!
When we woke up we were pulling into Key West, FL! The sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day! (And it was!) We had breakfast and headed off the ship. We had a port adventure that was going to take us on a tour of Key West and then tour Ernest Hemingway's house and the Little White House, Pres. Truman's house.
It was a little breezy, but so nice!
Our tour was on the Conch Train. Apparently, they are pretty famous down there.
We had the famous Key Lime Pie on a stick! Not a big fan of key lime pie, but this was so good!
This is my style of hours of operation!
This crazy clock! If you click on it to make it big can you tell what is wrong on this clock?!
This is a very famous restaurant in Key West. We didn't have time to stop and eat, but we really wanted too!
This is the beginning of the road!
A massive banyan tree! It reminded us of our time in Maui!
So there was some sort of a mistake with our port adventure and we weren't taken to the Hemingway house or the Little White House, so we walked around and found the Little White House ourselves. When we went into the visitor center they said we could take the tour of the house for free (we were going to have to pay again). It was interesting, but I am glad we didn't have to pay twice for it!
Vaughn and I
getting ready to board the ship again. We had such a great time in Key West! I wish we could have had just a little bit longer there. Guess we'll have to go back!
Another cute Mickey Bar! We had the absolute best servers!
The desserts were always first class!
Our group with our servers on the last night!
I'm not sure what happened to our room attendant, but I only saw her the first two days and after that some guy took over. So we actually had this lobster twice on our trip!
The four days went by way too quickly! We had so much fun and it was great being with our family! It was a great adult only trip!
Waiting to leave the ship! We then started our fun journey home! That was an adventure as well!
So we took a cab to the Miami airport with Shauna and Aaron and then rented a car!
This was the best little car ever! (Not really, but we were living up our adventure!) From there we drove almost 2.5 hours to Fort Myers! It was not a bad drive at!!
This is when we really started realizing that our vacation was over. We were so sad.
On our way we saw the Fort Lauderdale Temple from the freeway! It is seriously right next to it! I looked it up online and it hasn't even been dedicated yet! It is so beautiful! Too bad we weren't there a couple months later we could have gone through the open house!
So we drove to Fort Myers and I could totally live there! It was beautiful and the weather was nice and the shopping looked awesome!! (Maybe that reason alone is why we should NOT live there!!)
So we returned the car and got to our gate. From there we flew to Chicago. We were supposed to have a 45 minute layover, but our flight from Fort Myers was delayed, so we had to run to the next gate and got there as they were boarding. It was crazy!
We watched Alaska: The Last Frontier on the plane and it went so fast! I tried to sleep on the plane so I could drive home once we landed, but it was not happening. We landed in Salt Lake Just after 11 pm and we were both so exhausted. We decided to go back to Vaughn's parents and go straight to bed! We left Vaughn's parents house just before 4:30 am and headed home.
All was fine and dandy until we came in to the Magic Valley. It was like we ran into a wall of fog. Once we went in, we never came out! It was insane and scary! We had to slow way down and we reached home JUST in time for Sam to get on her bus to school and the boys out the door. It was a very fast Hello/Goodbye.
My car when we got home and got the kids out the door. It was a whirlwind adventure and we wouldn't trade it for anything!!
We are so grateful to everyone that helped with our kids and made this trip possible! We couldn't have done it without our great friends and family!!
