What an amazing trip! It was definitely an action packed, family adventure with Du, Breana, Cato, Grandma & Grandpa Dixon, and Uncle Colby. If nothing else, just the air travel between SLO and Fort Lauderdale (both directions) was an epic marathon (we ran into everything from thunder storm ground stops, missing crew, mechanical, missed connections, changed airports, and tarmac under construction…we seriously weren’t sure that we’d make it to the boat in time or what day we’d even get home).

Once we got on the boat, however, everything smoothed out pretty nicely. This was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean (Oasis of the Seas) and it was an interesting change from Princess…if nothing else, it was really fun being on a family-focused boat. Soooo many different fun activities: carousel rides, pirate parades, water & ice skating shows, watching a production of CATS, FlowRider boarding, rock climbing, hunting for ducks, sliding down The Abyss, and many, many iterations of water slides and mini-golf.

Ports of call included Aruba, Curacao, and CocoCay in The Bahamas. On Aruba, Dave & Barb did a bus tour in the morning while Colby & Du did a UTV tour (Cato & Breana relaxed on the boat for the morning). Then in the afternoon, Breana & Cato joined Du & Colby at the beach for some fun in the sun and sand followed by an amazing dinner on the jetty over the water. On Curacao, Colby & Breana did a lovely 2 tank shore dive at Tug Boat Beach (Du was supposed to join, but ended up quarantined for 24hrs due to an upset stomach). At the final stop on CocoCay, everyone got to hang out on the island for one final day in the sun and sand: Cato did laps on the water slides until he crashed hard and needed to go back to the boat with Mom for nap, Du & Colby did a 1 tank shore dive, and Dave & Barbara explored and snorkeled.