Summer Family Vacation 2014- Disney and The Bahamas!

Wow. What a summer vacation we took this year! This was our annual summer trip as a family. We debated and discussed many ideas. We actually didn't even decide what we were doing until about two weeks before we left! We decided to take the kids on their first cruise! We were a little unsure about taking Kennedy, since she is only 3. She did amazing though! Even more last minute than the cruise,  we decided to leave a little early and visit the Magic Kingdom on the way down. It was fantastic!

We headed to Orlando 2 days before our cruise left Port Canaveral. I found a great deal on a hotel 9 minutes from Disney. We spent the night there and enjoyed the hotel and pool. We headed into downtown Disney for shopping and dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe.  The next morning we were up bright and early for our day at the Magic Kingdom. We reserved several fast pass things for the kids. First was visiting Rapunzel, Cinderella, Anna and Elsa. We waited about 80 mins to see Anna and Elsa. Kennedy LOVES the princesses.  Her excitement and enthusiasm made the small fortune we spent on Disney tickets worth every single penny! She was very serious about seeing them and talking to each one. She got a little upset when she had to wait to see Anna, but Anna calmed her right down and spent extra time talking to her and loving her. So precious!  The big kids have been to Disney before and knew what they wanted to see and do. We hit up Space Mountain, It's a Small World, Dumbo and many others. It was a great day! This family loves Disney World!

The next morning we drove an hour to Port Canaveral to board our boat. We spent 6 days on the Carnival Liberty. This was an amazing ship! It has been completely updated. When we finally boarded, we checked out our rooms (we had to have 2 rooms since there are 6 people in our family). We headed to a late lunch and then off to explore the ship. The kids had no idea what to expect. We had tried to explain the ins and outs of cruising to them on the drive down. Kennedy never really understood she was on a moving boat. She would look out the balcony and assume that other things were moving.  Not her boat. I think maybe the last day she figured it out.

We had late dinner seating every night at 8:15. This was the only choice since we booked so late. It worked out good for us though!  We never felt rushed to get ready and hurry to the 6:00 dinner. Each night we had dancing and fun! We loved our waiter. Our first full day on the ship was a sea day. The girls all went and enjoyed Camp Carnival until about 2. Camp Carnival is an activity based kids program. They provide all sorts of awesome things for the kids to do and supervise all the activities.  Even Kennedy had her own class. They loved it! Later we spent time at the pool and on the waterslide.We then went to dinner where we met some new friends and had a great night!

Our next day was in port.  First stop was Half Moon Cay. This is Carnivals private island on one of the islands in the Bahamas. This is the most beautiful beach I have ever been too. The sand was like moon sand. So soft and white! The water was clearer than pool water and filled with fish and sea life! We took our snorkel gear and even saw a stingray!  We stayed on the beach all day. We were one of the last ones to leave. We enjoyed every second.  They even had a couple of little water slides that Kennedy loved! Half Moon Cay is a must for us to do again.

Day 4 was a stop in the port of Nassau.  Nassau is the capital of the Bahamas.  I've been here 4 times and each time it gets a little scarier. The downtown area is congested and dirty and there is a lot of pot smoking! This time, we ventured through to city to the bus stop.  Their we hopped a bus to a resort called Melia. We bought day passes there so we could enjoy their amazing beach and pool. We took advantage of the paddle boarding, basketball, swim up bar and the most amazing snorkeling!! They had an excellent reef to snorkel at about 150 yards off shore. We spent all day watching the fish there. We even saw a sea turtle!! The kids loved this resort. I would definitely hit this place up again too. Our boat left about 5 that afternoon so we stayed at the Melia until about 330 then headed back to the ship. We stopped in the straw market on the way back and the girls bought handmade straw purses.

Day 5 was our last stop. We spent the day in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. I am not a huge fan of this port since you have to travel about 20 minutes away to reach the shopping and beach, but we gave it a go anyways. We booked a snorkel trip with Pat and Diane, a local company in Port Lucaya. We chose the 3 hour party boat tour. We had a great time! The water was rough and choppy and we did not let it stop us! The fish were everywhere and would eat right from your hand. The kids had a great time seeing all the fish. 

Of course there was movies and dancing and ice cream and deck parties... so much fun on board the ship! We made plenty of friends, including the head of the dinning room. Too much fun to describe! Here are a few more pics...

                                                                Deck Party Dancing!

                                                      Watching Frozen on the big screen.