Day 1! Bon Voyage!

Friday:

The actual first day was just a full travel day- catching our flight and getting our hotel. The kids loved the flight and the crew heard how excited the kids were (especially Sariah who told everyone it was her first flight and Maletch’s second time). The crew gave the kids plenty of special attention, and even gave them some ”wings.” I didn’t think airlines still did that anymore, so that was a fun surprise for them. We caught a shuttle to our hotel Country Inn & Suites. We stayed just the one night. The kids looked so cute pushing their own luggage through the airport (we all loved our new gear).

Saturday:

After taking 2 shuttles, going through all the checkpoints, boarding, attending safety meetings and getting unpacked, we managed to have a lot of fun!

 

We all wore matching Hawaiian outfits, and received lots of compliments! We got to tour around "Camp Ocean" (Kids Club) and peek at Seuss at Sea (more on that later). The Kids Club facilities were recently remodeled and were stunning filled with state-of-the-art technology! I liked the Kids Club facilities on the Miracle a lot, but these facilities had me super impressed!  For safety reasons, parents are only allowed inside during scheduled "Family Play" times (which is not very often during the whole cruise)- so the kids really love sharing with us everything during orientation day.

The kids are grouped by their ages: Sariah was in the group called the "Penguins" (for ages 2-5) and Maletch was in the "Stingrays" (ages 6-8). Each group has their own rooms and their own daily itineraries. The activities are so fun and so jam-packed its really mind-blowing!

Here is a look at Sariah's Penguin room:

Maletch wanted to play in the igloos too!

 

Here's a look at Maletch's Stingray room:

 

 

Check out the super cool video game systems- and other high tech stuff- so cool!

 

We went to Beary Cuddly Workshop (Build-a-Bear) where the kids picked out new stuffed animals. Sariah picked a Polar Bear she named Princess Polar Bear and Maletch chose a Puppy he named Stuffy. They got to stuff their bears and pick out outfits (Sariah chose bikini, Maletch rock star).

Our kids just love these Build-a-Bears, and I love that the cruise gives all the proceeds to St. Jude! We were super hungry, so we decided to grab our bears and run! We'll stuff and dress them later in the room- let's go eat! Well, we had to check out Dr. Seuss Bookville on our way out!

 

That crazy couch and the floor full of bean bags- would make any kid want to get comfy for story time!

 We went to the “Fancy Restaurant” where we enjoyed a walk-around magician during dinner. The magician seemed to enjoy the loud and enthusiastic reaction he got from our table, so he stuck around us and we enjoyed a long private show! The photographers came around bringing even more fun and energy (and sombreros)- we love dining in the Fancy Restaurant!  

 

Towel Animal: We came back to our room to find a very cute towel animal that we think is a dog.

When we get home, we miss coming in to a towel animal every evening!! Someone really needs to leave these on our beds- so fun!

 

 We remembered to bring door decorations! We put up battery-operated lights (shaped like starfish of course) and ceiling swirlys, netting, starfish, leaves- lots of fun stuff! It sure made our door easy to find and was a big hit with our neighbors!

We have TONS of video footage of everything from exploring the ship and throughout our entire vacation.. I will put together a really fun video soon!  Meanwhile, I'll just post a few pics now and I'll add slideshows and video soon!