This past Summer, we traveled to Catalina Island, CA and Ensanada, Mexico on a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship with all of Josh's siblings and Parents- and some kids- to celebrate Josh's Mom's 80th birthday and in part have an awesome family reunion.
My Mother in law Judy made the decision to do our family reunion as a cruise and it was the best decision EVER! No cooking, all meals provided for, did I mention no dishes? Plus dessert every night! And entertainment and stopping off at amazing sites. I also loved having Josh to myself for a kids free trip. Elizabeth and Asher watched the kids.
We left port Los Angeles on a Monday and proceeded to see what all the hype was about concerning Cruise style food. It did not disappoint! We had already eaten at In n Out since our check in time was at 12:30 and we didn't know if they provided lunch. There was an open Mexican bar complete with endless burritos, tacos and nachos. Oh, and an almost always open soft serve ice cream bar. I was bummed that I couldn't eat any of that since I've been diagnosed lactose intolerant (really bummed really). We met all together as a family in one of the big meeting rooms and it was so good to see everyone! Then we went to a hour and a half three course dinner in the formal dining room- switching tables each night to spend time with different people. The food was excellent- especially since it was prepared for the 4,000 people on board (including two different dinner seating times and an open buffet area).
The next day, we ate breakfast in their sit down dining room. It was still June gloom with cloudy weather in the morning and one of our favorite activities was to get hot chocolate and walk the deck- the wind and the spray often catching us in the face. I loved it! For seasickness we- well I- took Dramamine and didn’t feel it at all. We walked and napped, had lunch, and found a perfect quiet spot to chat with whoever could meet up (we used their onboard app to communicate). We ate dinner and took in a comedy show. It was fun! Oh, I did a skincare class while Josh did some ice skating- yep, they had an ice rink on board!
To be continued..
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