2016 Holiday Trip: The Cruise Ship

We boarded our cruise ship, the Carnival Miracle, on Christmas Eve Day. The kids and I sat outside and read The Polar Express together at the terminal, right next to our boat, while we waited for J to return our rental car. It seemed strange to have such a sunny day and be reading about a visit to the North Pole, but the excitement in the book matched our excitement to embark on a voyage.

When we got into our stateroom, we made sure to hang up our stockings right away

Christmas Eve excitement in our stateroom!

Christmas morning! Santa left toys for the kids in the little bathroom of our stateroom! Santa brought some Pokemon cards and Harry Potter figurines for Sam, and a Magna Doodle for Lucy.

Christmas morning with a beautiful ocean view from our balcony

We had Christmas breakfast in the fancy Bacchus Dining Room

We also had Christmas dinner in the Bacchus Dining Room

 Christmas dinner!

We spent Christmas Day as a family, and we didn't send the kids to the play area that day. I think that we may have gone to see a family-friendly comedy show together, or perhaps that was one of the nights that we went to see the Hasbro Game Show. We tried to do a video chat with Calvin and the Smiths, but the internet connection was so poor that I could barely get enough of a signal to send out an email to them. The Smiths recorded the audio of the call, though, so I was glad to listen to that after we came home.

Probably one of my greatest triumphs on this trip was winning toys from two separate "claw machine" games. After many, many tries, I got Lucy a stuffed Poppy doll (the character from "Trolls"). I was then determined to also get a prize for Sam, and after many tries I succeeded in getting him a Minecraft "Creeper" toy. We swung by the ship's candy store to celebrate and wait for the Dr. Seuss parade.

Our stateroom balcony

Sometimes Lucy couldn't handle all of the excitement on the boat, and she fell asleep at dinner one evening

Some of my favorite moments on the ship were ones that I didn't capture in a photo. I loved running in the gym that is at the front of the ship, and and watching Cabo San Lucas get closer out of the gym windows as I "ran" on the water toward it. I also liked doing Zumba on the deck of the ship and getting to run on the outward track. I liked going to the comedy shows and musical performances, and I liked that J and I spent a date night at the art gallery (where we quietly guffawed at the terrible, ugly art on display). And, of course, I love that I didn't have to cook or do any dishes!

Jeremy loved sitting on our stateroom balcony and looking at the ocean. Sam loved playing games in the arcade, especially the Star Wars game where you can blow up the Death Star. Lucy loved going to the shows and "playing" in the arcade too (although she didn't seem aware that we never actually paid for the games she thought she was playing). Lucy also decided to potty train herself while we were on our trip, which added a few elements of surprise (including when she had an accident on the deck of the boat right after we boarded the ship for the very first time - and we didn't have our luggage!).

Dr. Seuss character breakfast!

Lucy loved the little towel animals that the guest services staff left for us

Lucy got a "Camp Ocean" shirt and bag on our last night on board. They both enjoyed playing in the kids area, and they often went there for an hour or two each day.