The one where we royally cruise

Every once in a while, our wild family stumbles into fancy places where 'the other half live' and we wreak a little havoc and show 'em how 'the crazy half' live. Hilton Head Island still doesn't understand how we infiltrated their society back in 1998 and now they're stuck with us forever.

Now enter the Royal Carribean Cruise line. By all accounts, we belong on Carnival. The name alone should be self explanatory. But no. Back in 2002, Ron and I took our very first cruise and booked it through Royal Carribean where one of our stops was the Cayman Islands and I experienced the 7-Mile Beach...the most beautiful beach I'd ever seen...and I said, "If we have another girl next time, we should name her Caymen." (Yes, I switched the spelling so that kids in school wouldn't call her Cay-Man leading to Cave-Man, because I think ahead like that.) Ron replied, "Well, we know that's never going to happen." *cue my side eye while he laughs* 

You see, he had this pesky vasectomy that needed a reversal that he said would never happen, but that's a story for another time.

Fast forward to 2007 when we booked another cruise on Royal Carribean. This time we took our kids because it was very important to me that our sweet baby girl, Caymen, see her islands. 

Never say never, peeps.

Fast forward to 2012 when we booked another cruise on Royal Carribean, this time to celebrate Zac's high school graduation. 

Basically, Royal Carribean is stuck with us now too. 

As 2024 rolled around, we asked Caymen where she'd like to go for her Senior trip and without hesitation, she answered "I want us all to cruise to my islands again." As we should.

But a lot has happened between 2012 and 2024. Three of our kids are grown with spouses and there are 4 grandchildren in the mix. The days of Ron and I making a vacation decision for everyone are passed. They're adults now, with their own jobs, vacation days, finances, and opinions to consider. So we did what we do for every family event and/or trip. We threw out the invitation to everyone with the 'no pressure if you can't or don't want to' clause. 

By the time it was all said and done, 9 of us were booked on the cruise, 4 were not. 

Zac and his wife had taken a dream trip to the Philippines to visit her family last spring, therefore, they wouldn't have the vacation days for another trip just 6 months later. Completely understandable. Add to that, Barbara has a fear of cruising. Having been on multiple cruises with no issue, I personally don't understand that fear, but considering my fear is rabies, I'm not exactly in a position to discount anyone else's fears as irrational. So it was settled, Zac and his family weren't going with us on this cruise.

For over a year, whenever the topic of the cruise came up, a sadness would come over me because it wasn't going to be all of us. Especially for the grandchildren. When Addie and Mahayla would excitedly talk about 'the big ship' we're going on, Ace and Scarlet wouldn't understand why they weren't going too. My Sassy heart would shatter as I either tried to change the subject, or as time got closer, started making promises of special souvenirs I'd bring back to them and made a countdown chain for them to track the days until we returned. 

The weekend before we left, we joined their family for a getaway to the Kalahari indoor water park so they had a "trip" with us and Zac and Barbara made plans to take them to the Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park the weekend we were leaving, so they had something exciting to look forward to. Everyone worked together to make it as good as it could be and when we left for our cruise, everyone seemed to be in a good place about it. 

But here's what I forgot to account for. My son loves to surprise me. Barbara loves surprises too. To the point where she was willing to face down her own fears. I honestly should've seen it coming, but I couldn't even let my mind go there because there was no way, right? Wrong.

The 9 of us I knew were going had just taken a tour of the ship's spa, when around the corner walked Zac, Barbara, Ace, and Scarlet and I think I lost part of my mind. Kearstin, who was in on it the whole time, was videoing and I'm so glad she was because I don't remember spinning. I just did a spin. And kicked off my shoes. Why did I need my shoes off immediately? No idea. I just remember bursting into tears. I couldn't even process what was happening. I just remember Ace saying, "Sassy, it's only been one day" because I think he thought I just missed them so much. I was told later that Scarlet was devastated to find out they weren't actually going to Great Wolf Lodge, but on a cruise instead. Scarlet and her first world problems. 

As an added bonus to the whole thing, they were booked in the suite right beside ours, though sometimes that didn't feel like a "bonus." 

What followed was the best week of cruising we've had so far. All 13 of us, on a cruise ship, doing all the things. Yes, I'm referring to eating all the cruise food, enjoying all the ship's features, seeing all the shows, participating in the games, parties, and dances, and various groups of us enjoyed shore excursions like swimming with dolphins and sea turtles, trekking out to some ruins, and lounging on 7 Mile Beach. Everyone got to do what they wanted and it was the perfect family vacation arrangement.

But 'all the things' also refers to all the Courter things. Nicknaming the other passengers, two of us almost being pancaked by a rather large participant of 'The Brilliance of the Seas' pageant during her strut around the cat walk that ended poorly, one of us judging the 'Sexiest Man' competition and getting low key violated during one contender's aggressive performance, one of us accidentally dropping a pen down 10 floors of the Centereum and barely missing a couple on the dance floor, one of us nearly getting drowned by a dolphin, one of us breaking into Zac and Barbara's suite to leave tooth fairy money under Scarlet's pillow because that same one of us pulled her tooth out during lunch, one of us accidentally pooping on our wrist band and needing to request a new one from guest services without explaining why, one of us sleeping in a closet needing copious amounts of alone time and multiple hamburgers a day, two of us got hypnotized and one of us designed a parachute from trash, attached it to a hard boiled egg, and dropped it off of multiple levels of the Centereum to see if the egg would survive. To be fair, the parachuting egg drop was an official ship activity. Practicing throwing it off over unsuspecting people the night before the actual event was an us thing. One of us also recreated his handstand belly flop in the same competition he won back in 2012. Sadly, he didn't win this time around, but only because another contestant made a big deal about it being his fiancé's birthday and you'll never convince me otherwise.

We were pretty busy doing lots of things we weren't suppose to be doing.

I think it's safe to say we gave Caymen the best trip to her islands...so far. 

Watch out Royal Carribean. We'll be back again to try to top it. 

As a family who has cruised with kids of all ages, we highly recommend it. Excursions and extras aside, for the amount of food, amenities, activities, and fun that is included in the cost, it's a great bang for your buck! As far as excursions go, we recommend booking through your cruise. Our grown kids all had a great experience on their excursions. I personally enjoy skipping excursions altogether and simply getting off the ship to do some shopping or walk or taxi to a beach and hang out for the day! 

For future reference in Grand Cayman, do not let the taxi driver talk you into going to the "free" public area of 7-Mile Beach. They've got friends there to rent you their chairs and umbrellas, the chairs are packed together like sardines, and you're surrounded by people. Just up the beach, closer to the port, there are private beaches that also rent chairs and umbrellas that would be well worth the $5 price to get in and there are many public beach access paths within walking distance of the port that are much less crowded and would be much more enjoyable. Stick to your guns and don't let anyone pressure you. They care about the $, not your experience. 

With all of that said, my personal favorite thing to do at any port is to watch everyone else get off the ship while I sit by the empty pool with a plate from the buffet. *fist up* Introverts unite!