Spring Break Cruise, 2026!

We spent Spring Break on the Carnival Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras first sailed in 2021 and we have wanted to try it ever since—after all, it has a roller coaster on its top deck! However, we’ve been happy with Royal Caribbean and kept procrastinating on trying something new. Then, I saw their new private island and we decided it was time to bite the bullet.

We had a great time. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not really enjoying blogging anymore. But, I also am not ready to completely quit. This is a compromise post. Unlike previous vacations, I didn’t do a daily blog, or even make notes on what we did. So, going off memory and pictures, here are the highlights.

 

The drive to the port was fine, it is less than an hour from our house, even with a bit of traffic, so that was nice. It took us about 30 minutes from the time we parked until we stepped foot on the ship. Another perk of living in Orlando.

 

We had 2 sea days and 4 port days. The ship felt crowded on the sea days, but that’s true of every cruise we’ve ever been on. With the exception of Nassau, the other three ports were new to us. We went snorkeling in Turks and Caicos, ziplining in the Dominican and had a beach day at Celebration Key (Carnival’s private destination).

I really enjoyed the snorkeling, we went to two different reefs. The first was incredibly crowded, there were 3 excursions there at the same time and we were literally bumping into people as we tried to swim. The second site was just our group (still about 60 people) and it was far more enjoyable. It was a windy day and not the best weather for snorkeling, but we made the best of it. The first reef had a massive drop off, from something like 27 feet to over 7000. We saw tons of tropical fish at both stops, but nothing too big.

When we got on the excursion boat, they mentioned everyone would be offered a drink at the end and said it was alcohol free (can’t remember how they described it, but we all took it to mean alcohol free). After we snorkeled, they handed out the rum punch. They gave one to Kara but then asked Anna how old she was. Then, it hit me that it was “rum” punch. So, Kara had her first taste of alcohol and she apparently looks older than Anna! The legal drinking age there is 18, so it isn’t a huge stretch, but still. Fortunately, no one liked it so while both Kara and Anna tried a sip, they didn’t drink much.

The shared cup of rum punch (they did not finish it and Kara didn’t drink it after the rum epiphany)

 Our other big excursion was the ziplining. This one took place on Luke’s birthday and he picked the activity. It was about an hour from the ship, through the Dominican countryside in an open-air bus. It was very pretty, with views of the ocean and tons of massive wind turbines. I was kind of frustrated with this excursion, we were supposed to zipline and have time for lunch and the beach. But, there were so many people that by the time we finished the zipline, we only had about 45 minutes left. Kara and Luke opted to skip lunch and enjoy the beach, the rest of us skipped the beach and had lunch. Again, it was kind of windy and cool, so not doing the beach wasn’t a huge loss. The ziplining part was cool, there were only 4 lines, but one of them was pretty long and went over the ocean. There was a huge turtle swimming below us and it was beautiful. Everyone, but me, really loved this excursion. I enjoyed it, but again, I found the crowds and time-management issues frustrating.

Zipline went across the ocean behind us

Celebration Key was okay. Again, it was cold (for a beach day). It only hit about 70 degrees and it was very windy. We had pre-bought access to two waterslides, but it was just too cold. The girls, Luke and I braved the ocean. Anna and Kara didn’t last too long. I stayed a bit longer and Luke made a couple of friends and stayed the longest. The waves were decent and he LOVED jumping into them. After the beach, the girls and I got lunch and Thomas sat with Luke while he spent the next 2+ hours digging in the sand. He had some objective that involved digging out a rock. We all prefer Coco Cay, which has much more included. But, Celebration Key was nice.

 

During one of the sea days, we got to try Bolt, the first roller coaster at sea. It requires reservations, and we were happy we got to do it on a sea day. It was pretty cool to be on the edge of the ship with the ocean below you.

Other activities on the ship included the standard trivia, karaoke (Jack sang Sweet Caroline and Anna and Kara did a duet from Mama Mia), comedians, a couple of other shows and listening to musicians. They had a violin trio that was amazing! We didn’t really love any of the shows or the comedians. Thomas, Anna and Luke did the ropes course. It had a small zipline segment that was over the edge of the boat that they all enjoyed. Luke did the ship’s waterslides and Kara spent some time in the hot tubs with teens she met, but none of the rest of us utilized the pools or hot tubs. Kara went to the teen club every night.

Then Spring became the Summer...

Overall, everyone enjoyed the cruise. We unanimously agreed that we like Royal better, but we also unanimously agreed that we would go on this ship again. We do think that Carnival wins in the food category. There were more included choices and we especially liked Guy’s Burgers (Anna and I also really liked Bagels at Sea). We also liked there being more venues for smaller-scaled entertainment (like the violin trio, piano bar, comedy clubs, etc). But, Royal wins in everything else (overall entertainment, rooms, customer service, overall ship experience, etc).

And, a few more pictures:

Ropes Course!

Girls singing karaoke, aren't they beautiful

Another birthday spent on a cruise ship.:)

The towel animals took over the lido deck on our last full day. So cute!!!

Luke's island 'project'

The amazing violinists (I think they were from Ukraine)

First Part of March

March is off to an interesting start, so I am breaking my monthly writing pattern and dropping a mid-month post.

 

The boys and I went to a Spring Training game. I visited with my dad beforehand. Unfortunately, he is not doing great. He was in the hospital for a bit and is now in the nursing home section of his facility (as opposed to assisted living). He is pretty miserable but can’t move back upstairs until he gains some strength. He also developed a severe infection, and they have him in isolation. On the positive side, the antibiotics have cleared up some of his confusion.

 

The game was super fun, we saw Scherzer pitch and some of our favorites that we followed from the Flying Tigers (Clark, Anderson, and McGonigle). Luke got a ball, and we had great seats—a good time was had by all!

Kara is still nursing her sprained ankle. Her lacrosse coach was giving her a hard time and made her go see the school’s athletic trainer for another opinion. The visit got her coach to accept her injury and she is off the field until after our Spring Break. Fortunately, her ankle is doing better and she is walking without crutches. She had to call out of two shifts at Wawa and she thinks they are silently firing her, as she is not scheduled at all in the next month.

 

Anna and I went to a presentation Monday night by Western Carolina University. It is one of her top choices and she got some swag and enjoyed learning more about the school. She still isn’t sure she is ready to move away, but we shall see.

 

Senior skip day was Friday. Anna asked Thomas and I to take her to Magic Kingdom. We took the day off, but Luke was sick on Thursday…again. He has been sick a lot lately, so even though the symptoms were not serious (low grade fever, general aches and pains) we took him to the doctor Friday morning. He was feeling better, but again, we were concerned that he seems to keep getting sick, then better for a week or so, then sick again. They diagnosed him with mono, which explained quite a bit. With Luke’s consent, we left him at home and went to Disney. We had a fun visit, but the park got crowded, so were home by 2.

I call this one "Bougie Anna"

In the meantime, Jack went to school to take a test and then skipped out to go to SkyZone with a friend. He was also home early and was playing Axis and Allies with Luke when we got home. That night, Thomas and Luke went to a UCF baseball game. Luke’s coach is a former Knight and still holds the school record for most homeruns. He is in the UCF baseball Hall of Fame and was throwing out the first pitch. They announced Luke and his teammates and let them stand on the field with the college players before the game. (Luke had the doctor’s permission to do whatever he felt up to, just cautioned not to share drinks.) 

Luke and the record setting Coach Duffy.

I would have gone to the UCF game, but I was at Jack’s band’s MPA. It was sad knowing it was the last one. They played very well, in fact, two of the three judges gave them a standing ovation. I enjoy the MPA, the kids play their chosen songs and then have to sight-read two pieces. I find the sight-reading part fascinating. I took video, but no pictures. And, even if I did take pictures, you wouldn't be able to find Jack.

 

Over the weekend, Luke played in a baseball tournament. His team finished second, so they got rings. Luke pitched a complete game and did really well hitting. He was tired but had a good time. Kara went to a sleepover at a huge Disney-themed AirBnB, the perks of living in Orlando. Jack and Anna hung out with friends. I did some shopping and cleaning. 

Mismatched uniforms because the new ones haven't come in. 

The week has past uneventfully. Spring Break officially starts tomorrow (Friday the 13th) but none of the kids went to school today. Grades are final for the quarter, so all of them swore there was no work to be done. Kara went to the beach with friends. Jack and Anna went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Luke just hung out at home. It was a peaceful start to their week off.