Another summer, another Barber Bash and this year it was on the new Carnival boat the Celebration. We were all eager to explore and see everything this boat had to offer for ages 4 to 74. This vacation was many years in the making and long awaited and the excitement was in the air!
First stop, ice cream.
Poppy was already getting his money's worth.
We set sail from Miami and were off for a week of fun, food, and festivities. I hadn't been on a cruise since I was pregnant with Aislin (7 years ago) and since covid, so I was very excited to get back on a boat.
At dinner every night the older girls had a table.
The kids had a table.
And the adults had a table.
It was awesome.
The kids had fun dancing at dinner, especially Rose.
Aislin would write down her order for the waiter. On lobster night, Poppy paid each kid $1 if they ordered a lobster tail and gave it to him- which is noted on her menu.
And her new found favorite, banana split.
The girls on formal night.
We hit up the shows and comedy routines. Patrick got plucked out of the audience night one and Andrea and Dad got targeted on the last night.
We spent a lot of time on the back deck water park.
Cora and Aislin inseparable, literally holding hands as they slide.
The latest game on cruises is to hide rubber ducks and try to find them as well. Mimi challenged the kids to find the most ducks for a prize.
They were hidden in all sorts of places.
At the end of the week, Gavin was the winner and was awarded a delicious drink!
The cruise was also holding their own competition and who ever happened to find the one and only silver duck on the boat was awarded a pair of real diamond earrings. And yep, Aislin found the silver duck and got herself some diamond earrings! Guess we better get her ears pierced.
The first stop was the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
Mom set up this amazing excursion: we took a private bus to a series of 7 waterfalls where we hiked to the top and jumped or slid down the waterfalls into natural pools. It was so fun. Unfortunately, everyone had to leave their phones so no pics.
On the ride back to the cruise, we stopped by some local fruit stands and tried a variety of local foods.
Coconut, bread fruit, mangos, dragon fruit, and bananas off the tree.
The dragon fruit was a beautiful color and quite the mess but a very mild flavor.
The kids played at Amber Cove water park before boarding the ship.
Babes fell running across the street and got a decent road rash on her shoulder and hip.
The next stop was PUERTO RICO.
We went to both forts.
People have thrown a lot of coins out this window.
Drawings on the wall in the jail of the fort.
Then we walked to the tip of the point of PR to tour this fort.
It had a dry moat.
Original cannon.
The kids were distracted by the iguana.
The ramp to get the cannons up and down different levels.
The original first room of the fort.
Our long walk back to the boat.
View of the fort as the boat departs.
Gathering together for our family educational presentation before heading out for our next stop:
ST. THOMAS
We all loaded into a large van and went across the island to this beautiful beach for the day.
More iguanas.
You could pet the iguanas.
The iguanas stole your food.
It was a relaxing day.
Back on the boat we played games.
We went zip lining.
We walked the plank.
We played more games.
and more games
and more games. The kids spent a lot of time playing foosball.
And the eating continued of course.
This boat had many different venues to eat, Shaq's Chicken being our favorite. It was fun having so many options: mexican, burgers, a deli, pizza, noodles, and BBQ. However, the lines were so long on this boat for food and with all the people it was tough to navigate the crowds- probably resulting in less damage to our waistlines.
On the last night, we went to the Asian specialty dining. It was delicious.
We had a great week spending time together, talking, playing games, doing killer workouts on the deck (blisters on our hands from the hot floor), eating great food, visiting cool places, going on adventures, making a cousin video, the kids being independent running around the boat, watching shows, getting sun, dressing up, relaxing, and all the things.
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