My husband (Allan), our two sons (AJ and LJ), and I sailed aboard the Carnival Venezia for its U.S. inaugural cruise in June 2023, and we got back onboard with my mom for the Melanin at Sea group cruise in July 2023. With two sailings on this new Carnival ship under our belts, the first to deliver Carnival Fun Italian Style at sea, we want to provide you with information to help you plan your Carnival Venezia sailing or to simply help you learn more about this ship.
Read MoreAs promised in Part 1 of this two-part blog series, I will share here in Part 2, where in Dubai we stayed after our MSC World Europa cruise, what we did in Dubai on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the pricing for our round-trip Emirates flights between JFK and DXB, as well as pricing of other elements of this first UAE trip for our family of 5.
Day 4 of the pre-inaugural MSC World Europa sailing was also Christmas Eve, and on that day, our family of 5 disembarked in Dubai where we would spend another two days before flying back to New York. Prior to leaving the United States, we booked our transportation from the cruise port to our post-cruise hotel, but with stops at the Dubai Miracle Garden and the gold souk in between, since we would disembark the ship early in the morning, and hotel check-in times are usually in the afternoon. In full transparency, the night before getting off the ship, I received communication from the ground transportation company through WhatsApp messages confirming our cruise port pickup. However, at some point during the WhatsApp communication, when the company “realized” that we are a family of 5 with luggage, the company stated that the transportation that I already booked from the cruise port would be too small to accommodate all of us and our luggage. Even after I explained that 2 of the 5 of us were small children, the company insisted that I would need to book a separate van transport from the cruise port to the hotel, and then, the initial car that was reserved for us could pick us up from the hotel to take us to the Dubai Miracle Garden and the gold souk. There was a lot of back and forth with this on the night before disembarkation, which honestly annoyed me
Read MoreIt’s been 10 months since my most recent blog post, Twice Upon A Disney Wish, and I’m jumping right back into sharing our most recent travel adventures with you, here, on My Cruising Family, the blog… but not before addressing the elephant in the room…
So, where have we been since Twice Upon A Disney Wish? Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bermuda! These trips involved two new and exciting cruise ships… oh, and we even stayed overnight right here in New York harbor for the Christening/Naming Ceremony of a third new cruise ship. Those are the quick updates, but if you know me, then you know I get into details. So here goes…
Read MoreAllan and I recently traveled to Dominica - not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. What’s the difference? Well, there are many, but the primary distinction is that The Dominican Republic is a major tourist destination in the Western Caribbean, and it shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, while Dominica - known as the Nature Island - is an entire island located in the Southeastern Caribbean and seems to be far less known or, at least, less visited for vacation.
7 FUN FACTS ABOUT DOMINICA - THE NATURE ISLAND:
Dominica has 9 volcanoes
Dominica’s beaches are black sand beaches
There are at least 365 rivers in Dominica
There are at least 12 waterfalls in Dominica
Dominica can be visited by airplane or cruise ship
Dominica is known for excellent whale-watching and dolphin-spotting as they live very close to shore, year-round
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End were filmed, in part, in Dominica.
Dominica was country number 30 for me, getting us closer to accomplishing our goal of visiting every country in the Caribbean!
Read MoreDo you have a list of places that you desire to see? If you don’t yet have such a list, why not create one?
On September 8, 2017, I published a blog article, entitled: “Organized Island-Hopping and Further Globetrotting,” where I talk about how my travels started and mention my goal of visiting every Caribbean country. In that blog article, I share my checklist for this goal. I find it is important to have a checklist for achieving certain goals in life, and for this goal it’s sort of easy to see why a list is helpful. Anyhoo… I am writing this revamped article today because I am super close to achieving this huge goal that I’ve had for years, and I’m excited!
Read MoreThis Spring Break 2022, our family enjoyed a wonderful 7-day Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas, and we stayed in two adjacent Boardwalk View Balcony Staterooms – 8329 and 8327. These rooms are the furthest aft on Deck 8, next to the AquaTheater Suites, which also means that they are closest to the view of the ocean and the AquaTheater, which is exactly why I selected them!
What sort of stateroom do you prefer when sailing? Is there a certain view from your stateroom that you have in mind? Have you ever considered a Boardwalk View Balcony Stateroom?
Read MoreAs a person who prefers to stay on property at Disney World, and highly recommends Disney World hotels, I am in awe that I am now excitedly and highly recommending the off-property Tropicana Inn & Suites at Disneyland! It was the perfect place for our family’s 5-day Anaheim stay and 4-day Disneyland vacation! Truth be told, when researching places to stay near Disneyland, off-property hotels/motels come highly recommended.
Here are some reasons why I specifically recommend the Tropicana Inn & Suites if/when traveling to Disneyland.
Read MoreWhile many Disney fans will be flocking to Walt Disney World to be present for the 50th Anniversary Celebration, starting on October 1, 2021, we just returned from Disneyland, and encourage you to consider Disneyland instead. Now, don’t get it twisted, we love Disney World too, and it was the last big vacation we had before the p a n d e m I c alongside our Disney Fantasy cruise! However, if you are wanting to experience Disney this year, but you are concerned about crowds, long lines, the overall pace, and even the price, we think Disneyland is a great option! Quite honestly, one won’t go wrong with a Disney vacation! Nevertheless, here are some reasons that we find Disneyland to be the Happiest Place on Earth while Disney fans flock to the World’s Most Magical Celebration!
Read MoreAfter our first day at Disney California Adventure (DCA) just three days prior, and an overall three days total of Disneyland parks already under our belts, we were prepared for a fun-filled Day four of four! Hoping this overview of our itinerary for a leisurely day at DCA is helpful to you if you’re considering and/or planning a Disneyland vacation
Read MoreNeed help mapping out your day at Disneyland Park with two young children? Let this blog article help! It’s intended to (1) give you a feel for what you can fit in a day at the park and (2) serve as a flexible itinerary to assist similarly situated families with mapping out their visits to Disneyland Park.
Our family consists of Grandma, Mom, Dad, 10-year-old AJ and 6-year-old LJ, and it should be noted that LJ doesn’t like rides with drops or any ride that’s on the scarier side, so he sat out some rides that the rest of us chose to ride, and when he would do that, one of us would stay with him and then go on the ride right after if we chose to. Disney offers ride-swapping to accommodate that. We also simply chose to forego some attractions that were “maybes” on our list just because we thought it better to repeat rides that we enjoyed. Despite the dark and the drops on Space Mountain, our brave boy LJ even chose to get on it again in order to get a good photo of him on there because Allan’s head was blocking him in the photo from the first day on Space Mountain. So, little things like that can definitely alter your planned itinerary for Disneyland. During the time we were there, that was just fine, as the entire visit was a nice, self-paced experience we all found to be enjoyable. In other words, we weren’t stuck to a rigid schedule.
Read MoreFirst day in California for all five of us, and we went to Disney’s California Adventure Park (DCA)! Initially, we had a touring plan to guide us in getting to all the major and not so major attractions on our list, but having gotten to our hotel in the wee hours of the morning, after flying from New York, then staying up to sanitize surfaces throughout the suite, unpack, and having our sons refusing to sleep, I said that I needed decent sleep. Since I went to sleep at about 4 AM, I decided we would not go to the park until about 1 PM. So, my previously scheduled touring plan starting at 8 AM was out the window. However, we had a great, well-paced experience, hitting most of what we had on our original list, plus photo ops and shows we didn’t have listed at all! Technically, we accomplished more than I’d actually planned
Read MoreWe all know from flying that we are to put on your own oxygen mask before attempting to assist others. So, in applying that to vacay season, especially after the past year, Allan and I decided that, before venturing out with the whole family, and before returning to our far and wide family travels, we would personally refresh near home - just the two of us. So, we recently enjoyed a quick staycation at the TWA Hotel, here in NYC! Sometimes we just need a change of scenery! Prior to this hotel visit, Allan had repeatedly said for months that he’s felt the need for a change of scenery. Well, although it’s not yet the beach and didn’t require a flight or a ship, this was a nice refresher.
Read MoreIn our March 2021 blog article, we talked about pivoting, specifically, PIVOT, that is:
· P for Planted
· I for Intelligence
· V for Vision
· O for Opportunities
· T for Take flight
Although that article focused more on pivoting in life in general, it made mention of how we’ve even had to pivot in relation to traveling. As I write this, I am beaming with excitement because I feel like I’m tasting travel again! Our family has three trips already booked, and if you know me, then you know that planning for these trips is a lot of the fun for me! That said, it’s been a journey to get here, and the journey included a pivot. During the pandemic, we’ve stayed physically PLANTED at home, venturing out only to places relatively close to home like Coney Island, the Botanic Garden, the Nautical Mile, the Jurassic Quest Drive-Through, Long Island’s North Fork, and Santa’s Christmas Tree Farm, which are all drivable locations. Yes, this airplane-loving, cruise-loving family, decided to visit a few places by car over the course of the past year. We’ve also been spiritually PLANTED in our faith, believing that this pause/standstill in our global travels would be only temporary. In gathering INTELLIGENCE / INFORMATION about the reason for the global pause on travel, we have also gathered INTELLIGENCE / INFORMATION on options available to us at present and potential options for the future. We have a VISION to safely travel the world again. We have had the OPPORTUNITY to be vaccinated to help slow and potentially stop the spread of a deadly virus, and to be able to travel safely again, and we have made use of that OPPORTUNITY, so that the three adults in our house have now received two doses of the vaccine. We are now preparing to TAKE FLIGHT as I’ve researched and planned three future trips, with my eye on a fourth… two of those three / three of those four will be during the schools’ summer vacation months!
Have you been getting excited about the travel possibilities opening up?
Read MoreAnyone having strawberries with breakfast today? In looking through photos from my recent 40th birthday photoshoot, the strawberries that top my birthday cake, as well as these chopped strawberries, remind me of how much I miss cruising. Yes, you read that right! Sure, it could also be that cruising is fresh in my mind because, a few hours ago, I cancelled our planned Spring Break cruise for March 2021. It could also be that I celebrated my 40th birthday in a very low-key way here in New York City when had there not been a pandemic, I probably would’ve been flying or cruising somewhere. Really though, these strawberries remind me of cruising and how much I miss it because, during our cruises, we would have fresh fruit daily! While I can arrange to have fruit at our house by grocery shopping, it’s a whole different vibe when I don’t have to buy fruit and other groceries at the supermarket for a week, nor do I have to figure out breakfast, lunch, and dinner… that’s the deal on a cruise! Honestly, in my daily life, I am blessed to have a husband and mother who both help tremendously with meals; however, when we cruise, we usually do so together, so that my hubby and my mom also get a break from meal-planning and meal-prep. We simply go to our favorite restaurant onboard the ship and eat. We haven’t had a break like that in over a year! Cruising and all-inclusive vacations provide this freedom that we look forward to as an escape from our daily grind. I know I’ve read the saying about creating a life that we don’t need a vacation from, and I agree with it, but
Read MoreWe chose to celebrate our 10th anniversary with a vow renewal on a 7-day Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean sailing, which was a magical escape from navigating the hustle and bustle of New York City, working demanding jobs, and parenting our two rambunctious boys – well, we still parented our boys throughout the cruise, but they shared a stateroom with Grandma and spent hours enjoying the Oceaneers Club, which allowed Mommy and Daddy some much needed rest and relaxation.
On this particular voyage, we enjoyed our gorgeous ship on sea days and we also enjoyed days at port in Tortola, B.V.I., and St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Then, at sea on Day 6, we renewed our vows on the Meridian Patio, Deck 12, aft, with breathtaking views of the ocean and sky as our backdrop. Whew! I get goosebumps thinking about it all, even now. Our vow renewal was simply amazing!
Read MoreGreetings! It’s exactly two weeks since our 10th anniversary, and it’s Throwback Thursday. So, today we share with you this video recap that has been thoughtfully put together by Reality Weddings, the amazing husband and wife videography team that sailed with us on our magical 7-Day Disney Fantasy vow renewal cruise from October 5, 2019 to October 12, 2019! This recap is like three videos in one! So, while we prepare an upcoming blog post and photo gallery for your viewing pleasure in the near future, we hope you enjoy every moment of this special video!
Read MoreI am excited to say that My Cruising Family was recently featured in a Travel Pulse article on selecting an expensive vs. inexpensive cruise. I invite you to read, enjoy and get some pointers from it. Since then, I’ve decided to share with you some specific factors that informed our most recent decision on a cruise. I think this is a decision that families, in particular, are likely to find themselves making. In planning an upcoming cruise, our family recently assessed whether to book an expensive vs. inexpensive cruise.
Read MoreAllan and I had the honor, pleasure, and privilege to attend my friend’s wedding at Beaches Negril in Jamaica this August. If you’ve been following My Cruising Family, LLC and you’ve been paying attention to our stories on this website, Facebook, and/or Instagram, then you know that we are preparing to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. At this time, 10 years ago, we were preparing for our wedding to be held at the then-Beaches Sandy Bay in Jamaica with approximately 80 guests. So, to be invited to attend and to be able to attend my friend’s wedding with approximately 180 guests, this year in particular, at Beaches Negril, which is next door to our wedding venue was very special. However, some ask “WHY?” Others ask “HOW?” If you’re wondering or have ever wondered why couples choose to have a destination wedding and what the experience is like, this blog post is for you!
Here, my newlywed colleague and friend shares her experience!
Read MoreAs you may know, My Cruising Family comes as a result of a destination wedding in Jamaica, West Indies, in October 2009. That is when Allan and I married, which is why I consider that moment the start of our family. This year, as we approach our 10th anniversary, Allan and I attended a spectacular wedding at Beaches Negril, just steps away from where we became husband and wife. Traveling to Jamaica in August of this year for a wedding so close to the location of our own, exactly two months before our 10th anniversary, was sentimental to me. Having the luxury-included Sandals/Beaches experience again after 10 years was wonderful! So, what’s the attraction to a destination wedding? How does one begin to plan such an event in one of the world’s most popular wedding destinations, Jamaica?
Read MoreWell, My Cruising Family, LLC is still here. Prior to this, our most recent blog article is the one that showcases our most recent international trip, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba, Colombia, and Panama, which was in October 2018. The year 2018 was a very busy travel year for My Cruising Family, with international travel in March, June, August, and October. While it was a blast, before the year was out, I had already started to feel as though, as a mom and just as a person, I needed to slow down on travels to focus on not just self-care, but family care. Travel is amazing for self-care, but too much of it can be draining. Balance is the key.
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