It seems about every other year we get to go on a big
Lindblom family vacation!
In the past we have dedicated Oceanside, CA as our destination.
We have grown in numbers.
Which means we have outgrown
the biggest of beach houses for us all to fit under one roof.
We would need to revamp that situation.
Or try something different.
I threw out the idea of cruise.
Which everybody seemed on board with (no pun intended).
Which meant since I had been the only person to have been on a cruise,
I got to plan it.
It was fine by me.
But any family vacation with this caliber of people involved
takes HOURS beyond HOURS of planning.
So many phone calls, room configuring, and then re configuring...
I wish I could have high-fived Brittany, the agent who helped me,
after it was all booked.
She was stupendous and so patient.
Most importantly BLESS that she spoke English without a thick accent!
We were sad when the Figueroa's couldn't come after all.
Darn rule of no babies under 6 months.
Cruising in October in the Caribbeans is a risk with hurricanes.
We dodged a bullet with a massive hurricane hitting
Florida the week before we left.
Or so we thought.
Here we are walking to the plane, totally unaware that we
were going directly into the path of a new, even bigger hurricane
in Tampa!
Flying into Tampa and seeing the damage from hurricane Helene.
The airport seemed eerily dead.
We got our rental car and drove to Orlando to get
last minute things at Walmart.
We kept seeing people leaving with cases of water bottles.
In the aisle a lady overheard us talking and said, ummm, there
is another hurricane hitting tomorrow.
It all made sense now!
Especially the gloomy weather.
The Evans happened to book the same hotel, not even knowing we
were staying there.
Since they flew into Orlando, they took an uber.
We piled everyone in the van for a late night ice cream run.
It looks like Olive is taking a big whiff of my ice cream selfie!
A little shopping before hitting the cruise terminal!
Let the party begin!
Everyone started trickling in on the boat!!
First stop, buffet and ice cream cones!
The sail away party was moved indoors because of the rain.
My personal favorite, the fine dining.
I order about half of the menu each night!
It was NOT a perfect day at CocoCay.
We slept in and didn't rush off of the boat knowing the weather would
not be ideal.
We did the water park with a slow drizzle.
That slow drizzle seemed to pick up as time went on.
We hurried to the beaches to see if it was any better over there.
Not so much!
Trying to make the best of it with chattering teeth and blue lips.
The plus side, no food lines and plenty of seats!
The rain was really pelting us.
We surrendered and went back to the ship.
But before that the kids got some groovy braids at the vendors.
Rusty grew out his hair for months prior just so he could get some braids!
Cold but happy!
We beelined it to the hot tubs were we soaked for hours.
It was fun catching up with Christopher and my mom
who also were there.
who also were there.
Lindi was super grateful she picked a sweater at Ron Jons surf shop!
The extent of their kids club experience.
They hated it so much, lol.
Little twerps.
I think they had fomo being stuck in their all night.
Luckily they were old enough to where I felt comfortable
with them staying together.
Mostly they hung out in the game room where we always
seemed to end up.
The 80's dance party was a fun thing to end the night on!
Sailing day!
And we were far enough away from hurricane Milton to see
the glorious sun!!
The only negative thing I can think of is
since the kids were under the age of 12, they
needed a parent with them to do basically any of the bigger activities.
Because of that we couldn't really let them loose.
We had to stay close by so they could do the slide,
rock wall, flow rider, etc.
So many hours spent at the flow rider.
Fancy night for dinner!
We really weren't dressed up at all.
We really weren't dressed up at all.
On our last cruise I WAY overpacked.
Wasn't going to do that again.
It is fun and all, but after being in the sun all day,
the last thing I wanted to do was leave the pool early to get all gussied up
just to go to dinner for an hour.
I wanted a break from getting ready, lol!
Less crap in the tiny rooms was also a perk to bringing the bare minimums.
Thank you, Stephanie, for buying the photo package so I could steal your professional pictures!
But in all honesty, having them take your picture at the dinner table every flipping night got annoying.
The kids were getting clever in their photo ops.
One photographer wasn't having it and flat out told the boys no to their pose.
Oops.
With the hurricane hoopla, we had a shakeup of our port stops.
We were supposed to go to Honduras, but instead were given Jamaica.
Which turned out to be pretty amazing!
We called our friend Aaron Blaylock from the ship to ask which excursion
we should go on.
He served his mission here, and had just taken his family back
last year.
Without hesitation he said Blue Hole.
Blue Hole it was!!
I was a little miffed at the tour guides.
I repeatedly told them how many were in our group.
She kept trying to split us up into 2 vans.
My parents hadn't shown up yet, so I was trying to wait for them.
My dad told me that the only reason they were doing excursions was
so that they could be with everybody.
We ended up in separate vans assuming we would
be able to meet up with them once we got there.
Nope.
I kind of made a scene once we got there and found out they
had to stay with their van group once we got to the river.
They tried to accommodate us as best as they could, but I still felt bad
they were on their own.
On our way to the Blue Hole!
It was a pretty good journey, I want to say at least an hour drive.
Which was fun to look out the window and see Jamaica as we went along.
Our first stop was floating down this river in tubes.
These guys were hilarious.
And some of us became quick friends!
Boy was it BEAUTIFUL!!!
Minus the spider web infested foliage along the banks.
You better believe I made SURE I didn't float close to the edges!
People selling their bootleg moonshine along the path.
It looked like gasoline, as I'm sure it tasted as such!
We drove up a bit further to the Blue Hole waterfalls!
Pictures do not do it justice.
It was breathtaking.
Tour guides basically funnel you up the waterfalls where
you get to jump off the rocks into the lagoons.
These kids were brave!
My heart was pumping at certain spots.
You don't have much of a choice but jump as
marijuana filled Jamaicans are pushing you along as to not hold up the line!
The big plunge!
The last thing is a rope swing jump.
On the way back we stopped at a restaurant for some Jamaican jerk chicken!
We saw the school kids getting dropped off from taxis.
I wish I could have followed them home!
This is the night I think I waiters were silently swearing at us.
Not the best idea to put all the littles at one table unsupervised.
Rusty enjoyed his free reign of ordering whatever he wanted as much as I did!
My nightly dessert line-up.
And our Ron Jon shirts came in clutch for Hawaiian night!
And our Ron Jon shirts came in clutch for Hawaiian night!
Sometimes you just let the kids be kids.
So gross.
We drew names and brought funny shirts
for that person to wear on the cruise.
I drew my dad.
I had to be careful, as he would refuse to wear something too far fetched.
Taylor Swift was perfect, because he had no idea what it meant!
Christopher is a die hard Utes fan, so this was hilarious!
Late night pizza runs, always.
