Keeping up with the Joneses: Western Caribbean Cruise: Part 1

Last week we got back from an AMAZING, trip of a lifetime, family vacation. We went on a 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. We sailed on Liberty of the Seas, which is the largest and nicest boat we have been on and stopped in Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico. I'm going to do a couple different blog posts because there's a lot of pictures and I want to document all the fun! Here is part 1, which includes travel and days 1 and 2.

We got a quick family picture at the airport before we left.

The girls did so well carrying their own luggage,

and everyone did really well on the airplane.

Maxwell even took a nap (woo hoo!!)

We flew into Houston and stayed the night at the hotel connected to the airport since we weren't able to find same day flights to get us the ship in time. We planned our whole vacation so we didn't have to bring car seats, which made a HUGE difference!

The next morning, we took an hour and half bus ride to Galveston, TX to get on the ship.

Don't the girls look ready for vacation?!? They were SO excited, it was so fun experiencing this with them.

Once we got on the ship, we got a quick bite to eat and headed straight to the pool!

The ship had a huge pool deck that included 2 big pools for everyone (except babies/kids in diapers), a splash pad (with a baby area), and an adult pool area. In a separate area, there were also 3 giant water slides and surf simulator. The girls were too short for all of those so we never tried the big slides out but Joe did try out the surf simulator.

The sail away party included some Dreamworks characters, which was so fun.

The splash pad/water slides were so fun for the kids.

After some swimming, everyone was so excited to check out the ice skating rink! It's not too often that you get to go swimming and ice skating in the same day!

They had open ice skating 3 different times on our vacation and we went to all of them. The girls are so obsessed (and were getting quite good by the end)!

I was a little worried that the ship would seem too crowded especially with so many days at sea, but it didn't feel too busy at all. In fact, the girls and I had the whole rink to ourselves at one of the sessions!

Our room set-up was perfect and really helped make our trip successful. We had conjoined rooms with balconies. All 3 kiddos slept in one room and Joe and I had the other all to ourselves. It was so nice having our own space and nice to have a separate room to put Max in while he napped.

The divider between our balconies even opened up so we had a huge outside space to enjoy the scenery!

We had a lot of family time on vacation, but also a lot of opportunities to have individual time with each kid, which was really nice.

I think this was the only time I read my book, but I enjoyed every minute of it! Vacationing with kids isn't exactly relaxing, but it was so fun!

One of the reasons I chose this cruise ship was because it had the Dreamworks Experience, which meant we got to meet several different characters, including Po, from Kung Fu Panda.

Ice cream on the pool deck was such a yummy treat.

Maxwell and Joe really bonded on this trip. Maxwell actually preferred Joe the whole time we were gone, which was really sweet (and a nice break for me).

On our first full-day at sea, everyone was getting a little silly at lunch.

We spent a good portion of the day playing at the pool, which was just perfect. After fun in the sun, we showered and got ready for our first formal night.

Maxwell was pouring water on my feet and thought it was hilarious.

Here is the amazing splash pad area! It was so cool. They even put hot tubs on the other side so parents (and kids) could soak while watching their kids play.

We had so much fun getting dressed up on our first formal night. We saw an ice skating show, which ended up being a highlight of the trip, and enjoyed a delicious steak and lobster dinner afterwords.

We actually went to the ice skating show twice because it was so entertaining for everyone. Even Maxwell sat through the hour long performance.

Maxwell was the talk of the cruise ship with his adorable Captain outfit.

Maxwell did well at dinner the first couple of nights, but after that we decided to put him in the nursery at dinner time to give us a little break. This was the best idea so we could actually enjoy our food. He didn't love the nursery and only ended up staying in there a couple nights, but I was so impressed with the quality of care available.