Walter Princess Cruise

Hi Everybody. We're back from our big cruise vacation. We had a good time, but it was a long trip home so today we're recovering.
We went on a Princess cruise with Michael's mom and dad and his brother Steve, sister-in-law, Melissa and their two children. It was especially nice to see Steve and Melissa and their kids since they live in L.A. and we hardly ever get to spend quality time with them.
We went to Houston first and stayed a night with Martha and Clark. They had gotten us tickets to see Spamalot! It was a great show, though I wish we could have seen it with the original actors.
The next day we flew into Ft. Lauderdale and met with Steve and Melissa on the boat. Michael and I had booked a suite since we knew with two small children we would be spending a lot of time in our room. I'm so glad we did since we have two naps a day to accommodate and since our children go to bed at 7PM. We had a huge balcony that Davis loved and we could host the whole family in our room.
We first stopped in the Bahamas at Princess' private Island. It was lovely and the weather was perfect. We had reserved a private bungalow and this was a great base camp. We stayed all day and had lunch and snorkeled. The kids napped on beach chairs. It would have been perfect, but I got really sunburned!
The next day was a sea day and we all tried out for the on board Survivor. Michael and Steven and I all made it on, but I was eliminated later that round. Michael and Steve were finalists and invited to participate again on the last sea day.
In Jamaica we went ashore in the morning and bought presents for friends and family and then walked back to the ship. That afternoon it poured down rain and we enjoyed watching it from our balcony.
The next day was at Grand Cayman and though we planned to go ashore, it was pouring down rain again and so we all stayed on the boat and spent quality time with the family. Michael and I took some great family photos with a photographer on board and explored the ship.
In Cozumel the rest of the family went off to XCaret Park. Even though it sounded fun, we thought it might be difficult to do with the wee ones, so we stayed close. We walked into town and ate lunch on the water. We ate chips and guacamole and had a margarita. I was happy.
The last day was a sea day and Michael and Steve competed again in Survivor. Michael won round after round and became one of two finalists! The final round proved too difficult and he lost at the last few seconds. I nearly had a heart attack while watching him and had to sit down and put my head between my knees. That night I was one of the finalists of the Princess Pop Idol competition and I sang Cabaret. It was a hit, but I came in second place by three votes. I thought I had the cruise demographic figured out, but surprisingly, a guy who sang Coldplay won. Go figure.
Coming home it was a long day. I had been getting pretty sick with a cold and it hit full force on our last day. We also had to be off the boat by 9AM, but our flight didn't end up leaving until 4:30PM. We left Houston for the drive home around 6, but were caught in a terrible hail and rain storm. It took us four hours to get home to a house with no electricity. We put the kids to bed by flashlight and fell asleep.
It was a wonderful time and a gift to be with our family. Melissa and Steve- move here please! We miss you so much already.
Next time we might pick a trip with more built-in child care, but a good time was truly had by all. I posted pics up on flikr. Love, Amber