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Last week we took a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean On the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. We got to visit Cozumel Mexico, George Town Cayman Islands, and Folmouth Jamaica. Our family does a lot of traveling but this by far was the best vacation and I totally recommend cruising even with your children! We included both side grandparents in on this family vacation.
Reasons to Cruise with Kids
Cruising offers a different vacation experience while getting to travel to different places in a short amount of time. Our 7 day cruise we visited 3 different countries.
Another great thing about cruising is there are so many different things to do while on the ship. Now it depends on the ship you choose but some of these include:
- A kids club
- Formal and informal dining options
- Movies by the pool
- Ice skating rinks
- Shopping
- Spa’s
- Comedy shows
- Music events
Along with the many different things to do on the ship they have some great amenities for kids and adults!
- Pools
- Hot tubs
- Kids Pool
- Rock Climbing wall
- Water slides
- Flo rider surfing
- Workout room
- Arcade
- Mini Gulf
- Casino
Island Hopping
We drove 16 hours from Colorado to Galveston Texas where we boarded the ship. Read my Surviving a Road trip with toddlers and preschoolers to eliminate the stress while driving. After boarding the ship we headed to Cozumel Mexico.
Cozumel Mexico
We had 7 hours to explore Cozumel before we had to be back on the ship. Once we arrived in Cozumel Mexico we had an excursion on a semi sub. This was such a cool experience to be able to see the different fish and corals found in the Gulf of Mexico. Avalynn which is three had a blast! This excursion was about 1.5 hours long. I highly recommend doing the Semi Sub excursion. We booked this through Royal Caribbean.
Once we were done with that experience we went down town Cozumel to explore. The main drag was so different then the United States. People were standing outside all the shops talking to us as we walked by trying to get us to go into their shops. Things were pretty cheap and you could really bargain with them on prices. No worries on changing your USD to their currency they all took USD. We stopped to get some food which was amazing!
We wrapped our day in Cozumel and board the ship to get ready to head to George Town in the Cayman Islands.
George Town Cayman Islands
We had about 7 hours to explore at our next port George Town. Upon arrival we found our group for our George Town Excursion. We were doing a Turtle and Dolphin encounter. Our ride there was close to 30 min and was a little crazy as their driving is so much different. Their were cars everywhere and people honking everywhere you went. Once we made it to the Turtle encounter we had 35 minutes to go through the entire exhibit which was not enough time we really had to rush through. Besides having to rush it was an over all good experience. We got to hold turtles and out daughter even got to touch the turtles.
From there we went across the street to the Dolphin encounter. We were under the impression when we purchases the excursion package that we were going to swim with dolphins. Come to find out this is not what we were doing. We got in the water and stood in a line where we each got to do 4 activities with the dolphin. These included a handshake, kiss on the cheek, a kiss and a kiss on the hand. This was mainly a photo prop excursion. I loved to see the joy on my daughters face when she got to touch the dolphin. We were not allowed to take pictures ourselves and to buy one picture it was $38 so we were slightly disappointed with this overall excursion. We booked these through Royal Caribbean. Both places did take USD.
George Town was beautiful with some pretty neat building and gorgeous water. If we go back again we will probably choose to have a beach day!
Falmouth Jamaica
We had almost 7 hours at port in Jamaica. This was my favorite place to visit during the cruise! Waking up and looking out at Jamaica there were Mountains, little shops, beautiful water and so much vegetation. Today was Valentines day so we were doing something a little special. Avalynn stayed with her grandma today and had a beach day while we went horse back riding. It has always been my dream to horse back ride on the beach. The ride there was about 45 minutes. During the ride the told us the history on Jamaica. Once we arrived we got on the horses and took a tour through an old sugar plantation. After we did that we got ready to go into the water with the horses. This was an absolute amazing experience. The guides here were amazing and it was such a joy to do this excursion. We booked this through Royal Caribbean.
Once we were done with the horse riding excursion we did some shopping before we boarded the ship.
2 Days at Sea
During our two days at sea we enjoyed the different amenities that were on the ship. We Explored the ship, got lots of sun, went swimming and enjoyed the water park.
Meals
Meals were included as long as you did not go to any specialty restaurants. We had to formal nights which were amazing. I loved dressing up. For breakfast and lunch we hit the buffet and for dinner we did our main dinning. This was a three course sit down meal. Now yes the servings of some items were small but you can order unlimited amounts of what you want. The food was amazing. It was a great experience being able to try new foods without the fear of price, or not getting full from not liking it.
Our Experience Cruising
This was a blast. I love traveling the world and cruising is such a great way to get different countries in a short amount of time. The all-inclusive meals and the great amenities are wonderful. I would recommend cruising with your family to experience an amazing vacation experience.
