Spring Break: We. Just. Beach.

Waiting to leave Miami...

Last year's dramatic start to our spring break cruise experience is something I *still* haven't shared yet on social media, but this year came a close second! We flew for the first time out of Islip on Frontier Airlines (hooray for saving money!), and it was great except for the ridiculously increasing traffic on the drive down. Next time we'll take the ferry O_o. Once we got over the madness of running to our flight, everything was mostly smooth sailing from there (pun intended!)...

Those of you who have been following me for years know that I was pretty much anti-cruise until I won one when I attended my first BlogHer in 2012. This was my 6th cruise and my kids' 4th. We are pretty confident cruisers but this cruise was our favorite so far! It was the newest ship we've been on, only 1 year old. 

My phone was put on airplane mode from this point onward!

We flew into Fort Lauderdale and drove to Miami after dinner checking into our hotel near the port. Embarkation was a breeze and the kids got set up in the water pretty quickly - I learned early on in our cruising experience to make sure they wear their swimsuits onboard!

The first of 67 ice cream cones had that week...

This 6 night cruise went to 3 ports: Ocho Rios, Jamaica, George Town, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico. I had been to the first two ports when I went on the 2nd cruise I won and took my mom on a few years ago, but we had all been to Cozumel before a few times - once with Uka on my first cruise, with my mom and altogether as a family last year. 

I've been holding onto this Amazon bikini for a while since seeing @simplycyn rock it last summer!

It was so good to get the Caribbean sunshine on my skin! I have discoid lupus so have to practice sun safety, but it brought me so much joy to spend family time at the beach. We don't do excursions as a family; we. just. beach.

A few of my favorite moments...

Pleasure Cove - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Another Amazon swimsuit FTW!

This is the one cruise I'd say that I'd definitely do again: the activities, the food, the beauty of the ship - everything was top notch! We even had an incredible Bonsai Teppanyaki date (shout out Camp Ocean childcare!) and saw Shazam on IMAX...onboard!

Finally got a chance to wear this Nordstrom romper I got on clearance over a year ago!

I also have to give a special shout out to Adanna of Rattles & Heels whose review was helpful for us deciding to book our trip. Seeing her family experience the Horizon was so joyful! Thank you Adanna!

If you're curious about cruising I've written a 101 post you can check out here! I'm looking forward to seeing how Carnival's newest ship Mardi Gras does - it's leading the way in more eco-friendly cruising, a topic I've found challenging about my family's preference for spring break cruises.