family cruise 2015

Just returned from a lovely week-long vacation with my family! We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise on their new ship, "Quantum of the Seas" (significance in ship names is not RC's strength). We departed from Bayonne, NJ and stopped at Port Canaveral, FL; Nassau, Bahamas; and CocoCay, Bahamas (private RC resort). The advantage of the itinerary was that we could just drive to the port and not have to worry about the expense and hassle of flying to Florida in the winter; the disadvantage was that we had to spend the first two days and the last two days of the trip cruising at sea, giving us much less time in the Caribbean. But there was plenty to do on the boat, at least!

Here is the fancy new boat, which holds 4100 passengers:

On board, we tried roller skating, bumper cars, and rock climbing:

Shortly before I started yelling, "I'm scared, I'm scared," over and over and had to give up.

We are riding in the "North Star," a weird pod that probably cost a ton of money and rises and swings around the top of the ship, for nice views of the deck and the waves.

I had some new experiences, such as pumping massive iron with my dad for the first time:

Of course, we ate absurd amounts of rich foods, leading to episodes of discomfort for everyone. But with such abundance surrounding us, it was beyond our willpower to be moderate! They should do psychology studies on cruises. I seriously thought we were one fresh-baked cookie shortage away from collapsing into a complete state of nature.

 

Dignified at Port Canaveral

Jumping for joy at Port Canaveral

 Child-free adventures!

We took the public bus for a disconcerting and somewhat alarming trip to Cable Beach in Nassau, Bahamas. The view was amazing, but the snorkeling was nil:

 

 

We had better snorkeling luck the next day at CocoCay. Here, we are matchy matchy in preparation for the beach:

 

 Building sandcastles was serious business.

The thing is, I think I know more than the average person about defensive fortifications, and I didn't think that A. was really taking advantage of all that knowledge. 

 A. had so much fun at the beach!

 The little photobomber

Matthias, longing for the freedom of the open sea

 

 Matthias, contemplating man's condition apart from that freedom

And of course, the happy grandparents: