IslandBoundMama

Keep an eye out for @CruisingKat(Kathy) she is also on board Allure this cruise (she co-runs the RC Periscopers Group).

Congratulations to your husband and JennyJenny. I know how hard it can be. I’m also a survivor also. Going on our victory cruise in January. Love the blogs. It really helps with the waiting.

Someone posted on the Cruising Ducks fb page, that she encountered a staff member who likes to play and gets excited to find them.  The staff member is collecting them for themselves and had found six over time originating from all different states.  I think that is sweet....it gives them a little happiness too.
I have 12 scurvy pirate ducks that will be sailing with us on Navigator & Allure next month.  My lil guy is excited to hide ours and look for some himself. 

Good morning! It’s FINALLY cruise day!!!! We woke up to a beautiful sunrise and five ships in port! One NCL, one MSC, two Carnival and of course...our beauty!!! ?
We plan on catching our UberXL (too much luggage even though we tried to minimize) around 9:45ish.
I can’t wait to share pictures from onboard.  My husband’s medical issue that I vaguely mentioned at the start of this blog was an aggressive form of cancer. He had surgery for removal and is cancer free, but as you can imagine...it’s been a very stressful time for that and just other life reasons.  WE NEED THIS!!!!
 

Lil guy has made several friends in the pool already! So cute! They are racing each other and having a ball.
Dad and mom are relaxing...

Lil guy has made several friends in the pool already! So cute! They are racing each other and having a ball.
Dad and mom are relaxing...

We’re on board this absolutely gorgeous ship and it’s instantly clear why she’s a favorite among so many. ??
We checked out Central Park and the Boardwalk. It’s too early to put cash on our account and the rooms are supposed to be ready at 1:30pm.
There is a different vibe on this ship.  The guests and staff are ready for a good vacation.  We already met “new familia” in the elevator. ?
Our fish is already in the pool...

Also...he got a blue cup!!! ?

The suite waiting area is not that impressive after seeing the one in Terminal A’s in Miami.
It’s hard to see the suite designations this week and not be able to go that route.  I think we did it backwards.  We went from champagne life to beer life. ???
 

We took an Uber to the beach here in Ft. Lauderdale. My crab phobic son decided to snorkel again.  He saw fish and even a stingray! That made his day.  For some reason stingrays are on the okay list. ?‍♀️
The water is just BEAUTIFUL!!!!! We swam/snorkeled for a couple of hours, then went to have pizza right across the street.  Best pizza crust ever and I’m not a crust eater.
Now we are taking Lyft back to the hotel to swim some more. Looks like a storm is rolling in.

Oh my sweetness!!! Now that I have access to my email I’m seeing some of the Blue Lagoon pictures.  They don’t want to cooperate good on my phone.  I think I can download better on a pc, but here are a few:
 

Day 4 - Sea Day
Hubs couldn’t sleep so he got up and went to the pool.  Lil guy and myself slowly got up right after, went to breakfast and met him at the pool.  We spent all day there until about 1pm. My fish was finally tired. We sailed by Coco Cay and could see a ship docked there from very far away. 
Had annoying chair hogs in front of us at the pool.  Put four towels down on four chairs at 9am and left. At around 11am there were families looking for chairs so my husband said something to a worker and he said anyone could have the chairs. A family took two of the four chairs stayed an hour and left.  A second family then came and took the two chairs they vacated. About 12:30pm here comes chair hog family to start their day and they instantly start in on the two people saying they had to get out of their chairs. The family gets up and my husband interjected and told them they didn’t have to get up.  He told the chair hog family that they can’t reserve chairs for four hours without being there and think that’s okay.  Chair hog mom says, “Well my kids didn’t want to get up sooooo...” ???
You could tell that she was the one that just got up and not the kids. 
We headed back to the room for a nap.  Got up and had our second visit to the Suite Lounge. Lil guy had coke and two crab cakes. We met more lovely people and Mario came in as well. Had dinner at the dreaded Windjammer because the dining room was not appealing either.  We’ve seen a lot of rainbows outside because of all of the rain showers. 
Then off to see the show for the evening Showgirls. After the show we packed up and then went to the 80’s party. 

It's a terribly sad tragedy and no amount of finger pointing at the cruise line will bring that poor baby back. The grandfather simply made a horrible decision that will effect him and the whole family for the rest of their lives.  It's sad enough to think about when it's not your own child/grandchild...heaven forbid if it was.  Ever since this was in the media, my husband keeps having nightmares about it.  Their finger pointing may be their only coping mechanism right now, but it's definitely not RCCL's fault.  I hope RCCL doesn't just quietly settle, because it's not on their hands at all.

Unexpected gifts waiting in our cabin...hats and cupcakes.  Such a great surprise!
 

Also...he got a blue cup!!! ?

Unexpected gifts waiting in our cabin...hats and cupcakes.  Such a great surprise!
 

Lil guy has made several friends in the pool already! So cute! They are racing each other and having a ball.
Dad and mom are relaxing...

We’re on board this absolutely gorgeous ship and it’s instantly clear why she’s a favorite among so many. ??
We checked out Central Park and the Boardwalk. It’s too early to put cash on our account and the rooms are supposed to be ready at 1:30pm.
There is a different vibe on this ship.  The guests and staff are ready for a good vacation.  We already met “new familia” in the elevator. ?
Our fish is already in the pool...

This week our only planned excursion is the rain forest in Puerto Rico.  Our time was cut short in that port because of the azipod issue so we are doing the excursion through the ship to be safe.
I want you all to know that this is a big sacrifice for me because it most likely means I’m giving up my Barrachinas pina colada.  THAT NEVER HAPPENS!
Little guy has the soda package this week and he’s hoping for a blue cup. ?
We don’t have it reserved yet, but we plan on doing Izumi one night. 

We are in the waiting area at the terminal!!! The shuttle at the hotel would be $6/person but UberXL was $9 for all of us. Arrived at the port with no issue. Lots of sad faces on those departing this morning.
The port worker checking the set sail passes looked at ours that clearly says expedited arrival, squinted and said, “Have you ever cruised before?” Then she sent us on to someone else. We got seated in the right area and we are waiting for the green light. 
 

Tonight’s dinner choice was Duffy’s. We were pleasantly surprised at this place. We had fried mushrooms for our appetizer, good entrees and it is happy hour there all of the time so you get 2-for-1 drinks there every time. We ordered a banana colada and got 2 for $9. Crazy!!!
We are enjoying seeing all the lizards here. Lil guy said the next one he sees will be named Taco Bell. I’m starting to see a pattern to these names. ?
In about 12 hours we’ll be leaving the hotel to board Allure. The last week went by fast...I’m hoping this one slows down.
 

I was beyond excited to see sea turtle nests roped off on the beach.  I am a sea turtle super fan a.k.a stalker and it made me so happy to them.  If I saw hatchlings I may have not boarded the ship tomorrow.  

We took an Uber to the beach here in Ft. Lauderdale. My crab phobic son decided to snorkel again.  He saw fish and even a stingray! That made his day.  For some reason stingrays are on the okay list. ?‍♀️
The water is just BEAUTIFUL!!!!! We swam/snorkeled for a couple of hours, then went to have pizza right across the street.  Best pizza crust ever and I’m not a crust eater.
Now we are taking Lyft back to the hotel to swim some more. Looks like a storm is rolling in.

Our fish is still on n the water.  He made a little friend the same age as him.  He’s shy so it’s only because she talked to him first. ☺️
They’ve been playing for a while, then she just asked him to go to the hot tub with her.  Everything is happening so fast. ??
 

We’re on board this absolutely gorgeous ship and it’s instantly clear why she’s a favorite among so many. ??
We checked out Central Park and the Boardwalk. It’s too early to put cash on our account and the rooms are supposed to be ready at 1:30pm.
There is a different vibe on this ship.  The guests and staff are ready for a good vacation.  We already met “new familia” in the elevator. ?
Our fish is already in the pool...