Day 10 & 11

On Sunday morning we got up and left our cabin.  We had to be out by 8:30 and could wait on the lido deck(where the buffet is).  We had breakfast and just sat for awhile until our numbers got called to leave the ship.  We got in a taxi and headed straight for the airport.  All of us had flights leave around 2:00 so we said our goodbyes and headed off.  It was such a wonderful week with three of my sisters and their men!  We also had some other friends there from Grantsville, but the just didn't do the same activities as us, so we only saw them at dinner each night.  Anyway, we flew back to LAX and got in around 11:30.  It took awhile to get baggage, get on the shuttle to the parking area and finally drive back to Menifee.  We had planned on staying the night and driving home on Monday morning but just decided it was going to be a lot easier on the kids if we picked them up and drove home through the night.  Matt's parents were awake when we got there at 1:30am and we chatted for a little bit before heading out.  Mae and Will were SO happy to see us.  I had missed them SO MUCH and was feeling so much better to have them back in my arms!  We drove back home and finally got here at 2:00pm on Monday.  It was nice to have the day to get laundry done and just enjoy some time at home together.  On Tuesday it was back to reality and I've been in cruise-withdrawal mode ever since.

Our last day was in beautiful St. Maarten.  While we were on the ship we did a lot of fun things, like miniature golfing, swimming, going in the jacuzzi, people watching and of course, eating.

It was great to have dinner at a set time and place each night.  Once we left our beach for the day we all would shower, nap, have lunch, etc, and then meet up later for dinner.

We loved everyone on the ship-- they were all so HAPPY and friendly!

Brenda, Dorian and me

 We also had so much fun getting our pictures taken.  I would have loved to taken pictures of other people's photos-- they were SO cheesy and over the top!  We decided to make our own cheesy photo and did this serious one, as well as some others.

When Matt pulled out his do-rag the photographer laughed and said [in a spanish accent], "Are you crazy?!?"  It was so hard to keep a straight face!

Then we got a few of just us ladies.  Once again the photographer was laughing at us the whole time!  I'm sure it is so hard for them to be serious when people are getting super cheesy photos, this time they could laugh all they wanted because we were laughing too!

No, these are not our natural smiles!

 Another dinner picture.

We felt so spoiled the entire cruise.  We got our room cleaned in the morning and the bed turned down at night, as well as cleaned again!  We loved the towel friends!

 Since we've been home we've assessed our final thoughts on the cruise.  Would we do it again?

Yep-- tomorrow if we could!  The only complaints was really the food... it got a little tiresome and after a couple of days I just constantly felt full, which was gross.  However, there were some delish things I'd love to try again!  The food wasn't the highlight for me, it was traveling and being together, so I can over look it easily.  

Something I really like about cruising is how easy it is to plan.  There are no shared rooms, no shared bills, no shared tips or rental cars -- everyone does it individually and you have your own private time as well as time together.  It is so easy to book a cruise, book a flight-- you're done!  I did a lot of reading about where we were going and had an idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do but it just came down to the advice of the taxi driver, honestly.  We always made the final decision but it was great to get their opinion since, you know, they live there and all!

I think a cruise is the perfect amount of being busy and relaxing.  We loved doing both everyday.  All in all, it was a wonderful experience and we will do it again.