If our family had a superpower, it would be finding create ways to celebrate just about anything. But this week, we were celebrating our youngest turning 15. Living in South Florida, most of Cali’s friends have a Fiesta de Quince when they turn 15. We decided to add our own twist to that idea, something that would better fit what she loves to do, and created a Semana de Quince. Cali loves to travel, she loves swimming and snorkeling in the clearest water in the world, and she loves a good party. What better way to combine all the things she loves, than a Caribbean cruise. Luckily, Cali’s 15th birthday fell on the Monday of her Spring break, so we could plan an entire week full of surprises. Here’s what went down.
Friday night – we had her family birthday dinner. We decided on total vegetarian meal from our favorite neighborhood Indian restaurant, and ate outside under the stars. We also had a cake. She thought we were giving her wireless headphones, so we took the empty box and Madi put a picture of our cruise ship in it. She was excited. We were leaving the next day so she got busy packing.
Day 1 – Saturday
Early morning the day we were leaving, Cali saw dolphins in the canal behind our house. We’re pretty sure that’s what they were, and are happy to keep believing that’s what we saw. They came out numerous times, but we never saw their heads, only their dorsal fins.
We left for the Carnival Glory, about a twenty minute drive to the cruise port in Miami. When we got on the ship we showed her the new GoPro—total surprise. Kier has spent weeks researching all the accessories. A three-way mount came with it, but we also bought a stabilizer, wrist mount, floaty handle. This is the best toy ever, and we’ll use it like crazy on all our future trips.
Day 2 – Sunday
This was an at sea day. I bought Cali a little necklace with a small globe pendant. It seemed very her. From a few months after her birth we’ve been traveling. At 14 she’s been to over 60 countries, so the necklace is very her.
Carnival calls themselves the fun ships, and I’d have to agree. A few months ago we did a Royal Caribbean week and this one feels very different. It’s also Spring break, so there are many families. The cruise director Eric is hilarious and makes everything fun. Cali loved the upbeat atmosphere on the ship.
Day 3 – Monday
In Grand Cayman she went with Paul to do kayaking in the mangroves and then to Sting Ray Island. We’ve done the stingray petting at many aquariums around the world, but have never seen them in the wild. Sting Ray Island was unique because it’s a sandbar where the tour operators are feeding the rays. They are very domesticated and don’t mind being touched. The operators will pick one up so you can kiss it.
Back in the cabin, I got a package where they will decorate your room, give you a few small gifts like a towel and a picture frame, and you get a small cake. They also sang Happy Birthday to her in the dining room, led by our favorite waiters, Abdul, Antonio, and Michael.
Day 4 – Tuesday
In Roatan, Honduras, Paul and Cali did an underwater scooter excursion called BOSS (Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter). Cali likes adventures that are unusual, and this one certainly is. You get to see the famous Roatan reef from an underwater scooter. Super interesting, likely one time experience.
Day 5 – Wednesday
In Belize, Cali and I went cave tubing. That was a little more my speed. We went through four different caves. I thought the river we were on would be moving, but our guide had to pull us through the entire experience like a human tugboat. There were 7 of us tied together. We saw wild pineapple plants in the rainforest.
The first two excursions I booked through Carnival, which was a first. But I couldn’t find them otherwise online, they must have been exclusive to the cruise. But this one I booked through CaveTubing.bz. They were amazing. Their tubes were superior in that they had bottoms and you could stay dry, they also had backrests which gave important lower back support for some of us, and made it extremely comfortable. After the ride we went at had a lunch of local foods, rice and beans, chicken bbq, and soda sweetened with the local sugar cane.
Day 6 – Thursday
Cozumel, Mexico
For many years Cali has wanted to swim with dolphins. We decided to do the Dolphin Trainer for a day, which is more than just swimming and kissing the dolphin. It takes you on a ride across the pool, and you get to direct the dolphin. We had a special training session where we learned about them, saw a video of a dolphin being born, Golden Boy. Later the dolphin we would be paired with later for training, was the one we saw being born in the video. We learned at least 15 hand signals to command him and had the fish to reward him when he did it correctly. We learned how to get his attention, sing, dance, twirl, show his tail, kiss other dolphins, splash, clap, do high jumps, do spins in the water, swim quickly, do a backflip, how to give us a high five and how to hit a target.
Day 7 – Friday
Day at sea, going from Mexico back to Miami. We ate lots of ice cream, watch an ice sculpture being created, ate pizza, burgers, went on the water slide, lounged around on the Lido deck.
Why are cruises great? Cali has a certain amount of autonomy to go and do the activities she likes. Our routine went something like this, at 6 am I would go up to the Lido and get some fresh coffee and sit at my table at Guy’s burger joint. Then if it was a port day, we’d go and do our activities, if it wasn’t we’d go for a sit down brunch. We’d eat a late lunch, usually on the Lido. There are all kinds of choices, mini food places in addition to the larger brunch choices. The mini food stands are Guy Fieri’s burgers and fries, a Mexican buffet where you can make burritos or taco salads, a specialty deli stand, fresh pizzas (always open), and my favorite, the BBQ pit. There’s also room service which we had to try, because it’s there. In the evening we always did a sit down dinner with our wait-team Abdul, Antonio, Michael. After dinner we always took in at least one movie out on the Lido under the stars, sometimes two (with popcorn of course). We also went to a few shows, magicians, comedy, dancing, some retro-80’s music thing was both an amusing and disturbing look-back into music and fashion.
She had a birthday she’ll never forget. A cruise was the perfect package of experiences for her. I crammed in as many activities that I knew she’d love, into the week. At the end, we also had an entire towel animal zoo in our stateroom, and it stayed decorated for the entire week with all the birthday decorations. Always felt like a zoo party in our room. But more than anything else, we were able to give a ton of undivided attention to her, a rare commodity in our house. No work, no house stuff, no school, no sibs, no nothing else. Just all her, all the time. Not sure that’s what she’d highlight as the best part of her week, but if you don’t count the hot lava cake, it was the best part of mine.