Sep 2, 2011

It's Vacation Time - Baltimore to Bermuda and Back - August 2011-

Last week we embarked on our first BIG family vacation with the little one in tow. Some of our friends told us we were crazy for taking her with us and that it would be way more work than vacation. Well on the flip side of the trip, I'd have to completely disagree. We had a BLAST and having her with us was so enjoyable and so fun!  She is really a funny kid and CRAZY social, so a cruise ship with a million people to say "Hi...Hi...Hi.." to and wave at put her completely in her element!

The Trip: A 5 night cruise to Bermuda aboard Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Sea.

We used Inner Harbor Travel to research and book our trip, and our travel agent Ted was a wealth of knowledge and had actually taken the cruise himself so he had a ton of great tips

On the last night of the trip we were talking about what the best parts of the trip had been and decided there were a few "best parts".  One great part logistically was that the cruise  left from Baltimore, which meant our commute to the port was literally 20 minutes and made it a super easy taxi ride. Second was the fact that we didn't have to make our own bed, clean our room, and their were fresh towels twice a day. Third is that there was food, both healthy and not so healthy, whenever we wanted.  I jokingly said to the hub that "for our next vacation we should hire a housekeeper and a chef and just hang out at the house, it be a little easier to pack!"

There really was only one part I could have done with out and that was the mind blowing sea sickness on the first night because I thought I was too cool to get sea sick and didn't put on my scopolamine patch or "Scōp" patch. The problem was rectified on day 2 and we were "smooth sailing" for the rest of the trip.

So as I said the trip was 5 nights (6 days), so that broke down like this:
Day 1: Baltimore, Maryland 12 noon - Boarding / 4:00 PM Embark
Day 2: Cruising
Day 3: Kings Wharf, Bermuda 11:00 AM Docked
Day 4: Kings Wharf, Bermuda 1:00 PM Embark
Day 5: Cruising
Day 6: Baltimore, Maryland 7:00 AM / Debark the ship 9:30AM

As always I wish I'd taken more pictures (or maybe I'll add to my list of people to hire for our next, vacation photographer) but I think we did a pretty good job of capturing our adventures.

Day # 1
From our Balcony - "Bye Bye Baltimore see you in a few days".

Cruising is fun because we get to stay up late!

Day # 2
"Bermuda here we come!"

 El LOVED the Towel Animals that our housekeeper left for us each night - A Bunny

We spent a lot of time in the solarium...

No rowdy kids and a snack bar and drink station, how can you beat that!?

The Pools were wonderful and always full of life and people.

The Windjammer salad bar was AMAZING!!!

And the Windjammer buffet had anything and everything we could have wanted!


Day # 3

Bermuda was a British settlement so it was fun to find the Red Phone Booths there.

People Watching at Horseshoe Bay Beach
 

Our little lady didn't care for sand, 

but was cool with people watching from her towel in the shade of our umbrella.

The beaches were beautiful


Day # 4
  
Sight seeing around Kings Wharf, Bermuda





  
Everything was SO colorful , from shop fronts to flowers, to street signs, it was a BEAUTIFUL place!




This is the "kissing gate" that I made the hub kiss me under (he he).

That's a BIG boat!

That's a beautiful smile!

That's our little family

It's hard to tell from the photo but this towel animal was a dog, or in El speak, a "gog" (one of her favorite animals).  She sat and pet it for about 5 minutes occasionally saying "Arff Arff"

Day # 5 
Our stateroom had these great Monkey sized shelves that were great for storing and easy access for her toys.

Playin' in her p.j.s

Hanging out on the big bed

On the final night, after dinner, we found this little guy "hanging out" in our room.  Our housekeeper was FANTASTIC.  A monkey for our little monkey.

I wish I'd gotten pictures of us in the "Fancy Dining Room" because it was beautiful and our waiter and assistant waiter were GREAT!

If you can't tell from the pictures, we really had a wonderful time.  We're definitely fans of the "family vacation" and are already thinking about our next adventure. Who knows where we'll end up

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Looks like so much fun and little Ellie is a doll! Miss you!

Elizabeth said...

Looks like so much fun and little Ellie is a doll! Miss you!

Amy E said...

Love this! Makes me want to go!

Amanda said...

Love the pictures of her with the towel animals. And that picture with her 2 little bows is so cute. Looks like y'all had a great time. Glad you made it a total family trip!