We drove from Southern Indiana to Miami! That was a long haul of 18+ hours. We had three rounds of flights get changed/cancelled so we opted to drive and guarantee we got to Miami on time. Since we were staying in a suite, we took advantage of all the perks - early boarding was great!
We stopped at every Buc-ees we could. The Beast Burritos were so good.
We navigated all the toll roads, construction and parking garages and had no problem getting on our ship early.
We had to do some strategic packing for this trip! We had hotel bags for the two nights of road trips to get to Miami, our cruise was 8 nights and then we had one hotel stay on the way home. So I packed everyone for 3 different trips. Our cruise closet was colorful and fun!
Leo mastered the soft serve ice cream machine while we were still docked in Miami. Those cones were definitely a highlight of his vacation.
Matching pjs.
The weather was lovely on our whole trip! We encountered a little rain here and there on our drive and at sea, but our port days were perfection.
My cruise bag with a bag charms of all of our ports - Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao.
The Horizon was the largest ship we've ever sailed on. More restaurants. More pools. More fun!
Leo was really into trying new food this trip. He tried and LOVED Caesar salad.
I spotted a walrus at our hibachi lunch reservation. Leo says "War-lus". Don't correct him. All of the restaurants on the ship were yummy - BBQ, hibachi, sushi, Italian and the coffee shop.
Leo wasn't the only one mastering the soft serve machine. Impressive ice cream tower.
Kevin found a deal for us to get the drink packages. Mocktails for everyone :)
Our ship had some really cool things like the Skyride. Fletcher and Kevin loved pedaling around the tippy top of the ship while we were at the port. The views were incredible.
Mini golf. XL chess. Basketball court. Exercise equipment. Pool tables. Track and more.
Leo was pretty convinced he needed this singing, Carnival cruise ship tail hat.
Sunset movie on the deck with drinks and popcorn was so much fun!
The Family Harbor lounge was such a treat! It was across the hall from our room and they served breakfast, snacks, ice cream drinks and late night snacks. We didn't have to walk all over the ship for drink refills or snacks. It was so handy.
The kids LOVE LOVE LOVED hunting for rubber ducks around the ship. They ended up finding 82 different creatures. Tiny Jesus, Bigfoot, flamingos, 3D printed things and more.
One of our formal dinner nights!
Waiting to board our ship!
Kevin loved the coffee machine across the hall!
Leo adores the Grinch. Their kid water park was really fun. The kids really enjoyed the water slides.
We had a blast and can't wait to cruise again. We all agreed that a 5-7 day cruise is ideal and that an 8 day cruise felt a tiny bit long. But we had two sea days before and after our three islands. We loved having three stops and also loved going to such cool countries. Goodmorning Miami! We took full advantage of the suite perks again and did the early exit process. We left our room at 7:20am and were leaving the parking garage in our van at 8:00am!! It was unreal. We kept all of our luggage with us, walked straight off the ship, zoomed through customs and couldn't have been happier with the suite perks.
We had two long days of driving to get back to Indiana. We saw a rainbow or two on our way home and were so thankful for some fresh travel memories together as a family. Check back next week for a recap of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Let me know if you have any questions about Carnival or the Carnival Horizon ship.
Dressing up for dinner!
This was so fun to read! We have never cruised so I always love to read about people's experiences with it. It looks like a really special trip!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a wonderful cruise, the Carnival Horizon sounds amazing! You did fantastic with the packing and it sounds like Leo was loving the ice cream. hehehe The matching pjs are so cute and what a great time you all had! Fab photos!
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