Caribbean Adventure Recap

We are back on land and in the country following our 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Norwegian Spirit. We had a good time and took a lot of pictures (mostly of Ally). Needless to say, Karl and I were a little scared about the whole idea of taking Ally on a giant ship in the middle of the ocean for many reasons: 1- She is very routined and this would be an obvious change to her daily schedule, 2-we weren't exactly sure of the sleeping arrangements, 3- what if we didn't pack enough of her favorite toys and books, 4- everything we read said there we no activities for kids under age 2 including swimming pools because of sanitation laws, 5- she climbs on everything and anything, 6- we haven't been on a plane with her since before she could walk and talk, you get the idea... We quickly discovered that she is a very smart and independent little girl and adjusted far better than the two of us did.

I want to recap each day of our trip and fill everyone in on the details of our special vacation but I will have to do it in segments because we have so many pictures. I will start at the beginning of the trip which is last Saturday, May 21.

Our flight was scheduled to leave from Peoria at 10:40am so I worked really hard during the week to have everything packed up and ready in as few suitcases as possible. Luckily our baseball schedule changed in my favor and we played day games leaving me with some free nights to get stuff done. Ally and I fit all our stuff into 1 big suitcase and Karl was in another, then we had a diaper bag with all the necessities, Karl had a backpack for important documents and electronics (iPad and DVD player with movies) and Ally had her very own backpack with some books and snacks. I packed along a few surprises for our trip to keep Ally entertained including a travel sized magna-doodle to write on and a kitty toy with clothes that snapped, tied, buttoned, and buckled. We were ready ahead of schedule and headed to the airport at 9. The Peoria airport is about 20 minutes from our house and is small but very nice. We parked, checked bags and got through the security with no problems in less than 10 minutes. We found a kiddie area and colored and played on the chairs there until it was time to board the plane. Ally did great on the flight to Dallas and kept busy checking out all the people, climbing on me and watching some of Finding Nemo. We didn't have much time between flights in Dallas so by the time we got to our terminal and tried to find something for lunch for Ally, we almost missed our flight to New Orleans. By the time we got up in the air, Ally pretty much passed out all the way there. Once in New Orleans, we took a taxi to the hotel where Karl's parents and John & Gayle Eagin were staying. We had ordered all the Ally needs for the trip ahead of time and had them shipped so we had snacks, diapers, wipes, juice, milk, etc... with them that we didn't have to pack for the flights. Best idea ever!

In New Orleans we walked around a bit, swam at the hotel, ate dinner and enjoyed treats at Cafe du Monde. Ally passed out in her stroller on the way back to the hotel and slept great in a crib in our room. The next morning we headed to the Port of New Orleans to go through the security lines, get pictures taken, sign paperwork and board the ship. We got on by noon and since rooms weren't ready until 2pm we explored the giant ship and ate lunch in the big buffet on deck 12 (think Old Country Buffet x 2). The boat had several restaurants and bars, a casino, gaming areas, teen club, dance club, theater, 3 pools, workout facility, spa, and a beautiful atrium. We had a room on the 11th deck that connected with the grandparents and had plenty of space to set up a pack-n-play for Ally. We set sail from the muddy Mississippi at about 5pm but Ally was so beat that she napped for 3 hours and missed the whole thing.