the Bahamas

Our last stop of the cruise was at Princess Cays in the Bahamas. This is Princess' own part of an island and has an absolutey beautiful beach area. We enjoyed swimming, snorkeling, sunning and relaxing.

Cozumel

The third port that we stopped at was Cozumel, Mexico. We boarded a smaller boat for a 30 minute ride  over to Playa del Carmen.

We headed on a tour to visit Tulum the ancient Mayan ruins.  Our guide was fabulous and our whole family really enjoyed this excursion.

The beach area at Tulum.

Back on the ship that night we enjoyed Movie Under the Stars. We watched Blind Side on the big screen TV. So fun!

Roatan, Honduras

We went on a semi-sub and enjoyed the underwater sights at the Roatan Marine Park.

We then stopped at the West End Village, which was a more authentic area and more true to the Honduras culture. We were able to experience some local vendors at this seaside village.

Here we watched a performance from the members of the Garifuna who are descendants of the Black Carab Indians.

We then headed back to Mahogany Bay where the ship was and enjoyed the private beach area. The beach could be accessed either by chair lift or by a trail.

Grand Cayman

The first port on our cruise (last Monday) was Grand Cayman.

This was a beautiful island and we had beautiful, warm weather.

Drew chose our shore excursion for this island. We had a short bus ride to a stable and then enjoyed horseback riding along the beach. The scenery was absolutely amazing!

After the morning horseback ride we stopped at Margaritaville for some lunch. This is a great place to stop on a hot day because they have a pool and a waterslide right in the middle of the restaurant.

Drew at the top of the slide.

Did a little shopping.

And just walked around taking in all the sights.

It was an awesome day!!!

long awaited cruise

Last Saturday, after literally a year of waiting, our family boarded a cruise ship for a week long vacation. We went on a Western Caribbean cruise that stopped at some amazing ports: Grand Cayman; Roatan, Honduras; Cozumel; and Princess Cays, Bahamas.

This was the same cruise that we went on (but did not finish) last year. And I am happy to say that this year we made it the entire week. :)

Over the next few days I am going to try to sum up our vacation by sharing some highlights and favorite pictures. We took over 1500 pictures so this may not be easy, but I am going to try. :)

This first group of pictures is from our first 2 days on the cruise. The first was 'Sail Away' from Fort Lauderdale and then Day 1 was 'At Sea'.

The boys stateroom. (Tyler pretending to fall out of the bunk bed. Ha ha!)

A hole in one.

Losing money at the slot machines.

More to come tomorrow. :)

Happy Easter!

(photo taken a couple of days ago - a beautiful view from our stateroom)