Carnival Cruise/New Orleans 2019: Day 4

Monday we had our first port of call in Cozumel, Mexico! We didn't have anything planned while in Cozumel other than just to walk around the port, shop and have lunch.

We got up that morning, ate breakfast and then all met at the dock at 10:00. It was a beautiful day in Cozumel. It was sunny and the temperature was right around 80 degrees. The water was a beautiful turquoise color! The little area we were at was very touristy. There were several bars, a yummy Mexican restaurant and lots of little shops. We basically just walked in and out of the little shops, had a few drinks, ate lunch at the restaurant called Pancho's Backyard and walked around a little more before going back to the ship at around 3:00.

While in one of the first shops we stopped in, we saw some little dolls and Avery decided that she'd like to have some nesting dolls. The store we were in at the time didn't have any, but she was determined to find some. I wasn't convinced we'd find any but sure enough, a tiny little shop with a pink sign had several different colors of nesting dolls and she was elated to get a set of purple nesting dolls!! They kept her occupied during lunch too, which was great!

I had a yummy strawberry margarita at lunch!

Jackson wasn't really into shopping, but he did want to go lay in a lounge chair and watch the ocean so Jake took him over to do that. Such an amazing view!

The restaurant we ate lunch at.

They saw ice-cream and snow-cones and had to have them. ;-) Jackson also got a little wooden ship that said Cozumel on it for his souvenir but I didn't think to get a picture of him with it.

There were so many of these photo op areas around Cozumel that you could take pictures with some of the local people dressed in different costumes. Of course, they wanted a tip for it so we didn't stop at all of them, but this one was really cool and Avery wanted to do it. :-)

Once back on the ship, we went and got our swimsuits on and headed up to the top deck to watch the ship leave Cozumel. I also took a picture of our cute little towel animal for the day. :-)

This ship was docked next to our ship in Cozumel and we watched it leave the port right before our ship left. It was a HUGE ship and looked very cool!! We may have to look into taking a cruise on the Norwegian Epic at some point.

The sunset was beautiful that evening.

 

A little later, we went back down to our cabin and got ready for dinner. Avery looked so cute that night but the only picture I got of her was this one. She was super crabby at dinner (now I know it was probably because she was tired.) She had a little melt-down over a toy and ended up saying sorry to me without me even telling her to, which then made me tear up. Ha. It was quite the sight at dinner. Ha! So I held her on my lap while waiting for our food and she fell asleep. So sweet!

After dinner my Mother-In-Law was tired so she offered to take the kids back to her cabin so that Jake and I could go out that night. We ended up having drinks at our favorite bar (The Alchemy Bar) and then went to see a couple of the shows.

It was such a fun day in Cozumel and another fun night on the Carnival Triumph!

Carnival Cruise/New Orleans 2019: Day 3

Sunday was our first full day at sea. We got up and had brunch that morning and then I took Avery to Camp Ocean for a little while to try it out. She was happy to go check it out for a little while and stayed for a little over an hour before I went to check on her. While she was at camp, Jackson, Bella and Ethan all decided since it had warmed up some, they'd go swimming. It was still pretty chilly though, so they didn't last long.

A little while later, I went to check on Avery and she said she was ready to go with me, so I picked her up from camp and on our way out we saw Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head!!

Avery decided she wanted to swim as well, so we went and got her suit on, but once she felt the water, she decided against it. Ha. So instead they ate ice-cream by the pool.

After eating their ice-cream, we decided to go back to our cabin and get changed so we could go play miniature golf. Jake and a few others stayed by the pool to watch the Saints vs. Rams game on the big screen.

When we got back to our cabin, they had cleaned it and left this cute little towel animal for us. :-) I had forgotten they did that on Carnival cruises and the kids thought it was super cool.

After getting changed, the kids played in the cabin for a little while and then we went up and played some miniature golf.

That afternoon there was a "Friends" Trivia game in the main lobby area, so several of us went to that while Jake and our friend Jim stayed back to continue watching the football game. Jackson decided to stay with Jake as well. My niece Alexis is a die-hard Friends fan and we ended up winning the Trivia game, with no help from me, Ha!!

Avery and I ended up leaving the trivia as soon as all the questions were asked and headed to the Build-A-Bear workshop camp. We had gotten an invitation under our door the night before so she was super excited to go. Jackson didn't want to make a bear so just Avery and I went. We had to get a number and then wait until our number was called. We got there a little late because we were coming from the trivia game, but they had music and snacks while we waited so Avery and I had a good time waiting. This was Avery's first time making a Build-A-Bear and she loved it. She picked an adorable pink bear with a heart-shaped nose and the cutest little outfit and then topped it all off with pink ballet slippers. She still talks about putting the heart in the bear. So sweet!

After the Build-A-Bear workshop, Avery and I went back to our cabin to wait for my Mother-In-Law to bring Jackson down so we could all get ready for dinner. She wanted me to take a few pictures of her with her bear. ♥

By this time, the Chiefs vs. Patriots game was on and Jake and Jim watched that and skipped out on us for dinner, which I knew they would. Ha! There was no way Jake was going to miss the Chiefs playing in the AFC Championship game and it was pretty cool to be able to watch if from the cruise ship!

After dinner, Jackson wanted to go swim so I took him up to the back pool to swim for a little while and got Avery some more ice-cream... of course.

After swimming and hanging by the pool for a while, I decided to check the score of the game and it was tied 31 to 31 and about to go into overtime. So I told Jackson and we decided to go out by the main pool and watch it out there. Jackson got in the hot tub and Avery and I watched from a lounge chair. We were all so disappointed in the final score. Such a bummer that the Chiefs lost.



After that we had a drink by the back pool and then headed to bed so we could rest up for our first port of call the next morning... Cozumel, Mexico! 



Carnival Cruise/New Orleans 2019: Days 1 and 2

About a year ago, Jake's family started planning a family cruise and I can't believe it's already come and gone now. We had a great time!! Jake's Mom turned 60 last year so it was in celebration of that, but also just a fun time for the whole family. Our family of four, Jake's mom, our family friend Jim,  Jake's middle brother John and his family, as well and our 2 nieces Kyleigh and Alexis all went and had a great time. There was a total of 13 of us!

The cruise left out of New Orleans on Saturday (January 19th) but we started our drive the day before, a little after noon. We drove through to Jackson, MS and spent the night there before driving the rest of the way to New Orleans the next morning. We all left Friday at different times, but met up at the same hotel that evening. Then we all caravanned to NOLA on Saturday morning.



We got to New Orleans at around 1:00. After a little while of trying to find where we were supposed to park for the week and get through all the security and everything, we were finally on the cruise ship. It was so funny because traveling in a new city and getting through security and all of that can be pretty stressful and so as we were walking the LONG hallway to our cabin, Jake said, "I think I need a drink" and Avery said "I think I need a stroller" Ha!! We started cracking up laughing. It was hilarious!!

After finding our cabin and dropping off our things, we headed straight to the bar and got our first drink of many that week. Ha. I feel like that's all we did the whole time... eat and drink! The kids all had Shirley Temples which they thought was pretty cool!!

Then we had to meet at our Muster Station for the little training session. Once that was finally over, we went and got a bite to eat and then headed up to the deck to watch as the ship left New Orleans. We had mentioned to Avery that there was ice-cream available 24/7 on the cruise ship and she would not let us forget it. So we had to get her some ice-cream before heading up to the deck. She probably had an ice-cream cone at least 3 times a day on the cruise. She says that was her favorite part! Ha.

 

 

On one of the upper decks up front, there were several of these little play houses, a giant chess board and several Cornhole games. The kids loved this area. :-)

 

When we left New Orleans at 5:00 p.m., we were in the Mississippi River and we didn't get out to the Gulf Of Mexico for around 8 hours. I had no idea it would take that long, but it does. So all evening and most of the night we were cruising down the Mississippi River. I took this picture of Avery looking over at the Domino Sugar Plant in New Orleans. Avery's nickname is Sugar so it was only fitting.

We ate dinner in the dining room every night. Our dinner was in the Paris Dining room at 6:00 p.m. There was only 1 dress up night and every other night was casual. Dinner consisted of a 3-course meal with a few different options to choose from each night. There were a couple staples on every menu, but the menu did change some each night. I tried all kinds of different things, but my favorite was probably the crab cakes for an appetizer, the beef tenderloin for my main course and the Carnival warm chocolate melting cake for dessert. Yum!! I could go for some of that cake right about now.

After dinner we hung out for a little while up on the back pool deck/bar area. They had 24 hour pizza back there too, which was very good. After that we all headed to bed. It was a great first day on the cruise.