Five Days on a Fun Ship

About two weeks ago, Victor, Max, and I took a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas from Charleston, SC.

We were joined by Victor's parents, his brother, and his brother's fiancee.

Truth time: I was quite nervous to take Max on the cruise.  I, myself, am a cruising veteran.  My aunt took me on my first cruise around the southern portion of South America during my sophomore year of high school.  I've also been on 3 other cruises with Victor and his family over the years.  It's definitely a great way to vacation: you're basically on a floating resort, which is great in and of itself, but you also get to visit a couple new places when you stop in port.  Definitely worth trying at least once.

Now back to being nervous about bringing baby on board.  I was mainly worried about him potentially getting sick, disturbing our stateroom neighbors when he woke up at night, and running out of clean clothes due to diaper blowouts/spit-up/barfing.  To make sure I was prepared, I packed all the over-the-counter medications he was allowed to take (just in case), close to 100 diapers, 3 packs of wipes, and an average of 3 outfits for each day were supposed to be on the ship.

Luckily, Max didn't get sick at all (nor did we need any meds), he slept well on the ship and was able to be soothed by nursing when he woke up at night, and we didn't need all those extra outfits.

In fact, Max was quite possibly the most popular guest on the cruise; he was so flirty with everyone.  He gained many admirers onboard and in port.

Here are a few pictures from our 5-day escape from the cold.

Max's "orphanage crib," as we called it

We got to wait inside-ish during the muster station drill.  Perks of having a fragile little babe.

Heading to dinner the first night on the ship

Max always had a jolly good time at dinner.

Max loved taking pictures with our towel animals each night

Spoons were his main source of entertainment at all our meals

Victor's parents are so cute in their matching sweatshirts

Enjoying our first "sea day" on the pool deck

Fancy dinner night

Fancy dinner night

Fancy Max with our towel elephant

 We spent one day in Freeport, Bahamas.  We took a taxi to a cute little beach club and spent the day there.  They had a nice covered bar/restaurant area that overlooked the beach.  Victor and I camped out there with our fair-skinned Max while the rest of our crew enjoyed the beach.  The water was cold so I didn't even bother going in.

Hanging out in the shade...no sunburns here!

Our view from the shade.  Not too shabby.

Victor was adamant about stopping at Senor Frog's, which was right by where the ship was docked.  Conch fritters and tequila.  Good times.

The front of Max's shirt says "Party at my crib.  3:00 AM."

Bros at Senor Frog's

The next day, we were docked in Nassau, so we visited the Atlantis resort and went to the public beach there.

The water was warmer here, but the sea was rough!

We also went to the Senor Frogs there, because...why not?

As mentioned before, Max was Mr. Popular on the trip.  The crew on the ship just loved interacting with him.  He was such a happy baby the entire trip, and I couldn't be more grateful for that!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't affected by the slightly-rough seas we experienced on our sea day back to Charleston.  I have never actually gotten sick from being "seasick," but I also can't hang on the upper decks of the ship when the boat's a-rockin'.  However, I have to say that having a baby to tend to is a great distraction from feeling icky.  Seriously.  I sucked it up and was able to keep it together so I could enjoy the last bits of warm weather.  The lesson to be learned here: if you think you might succumb to seasickness, take a baby or small child with you.  You'll barely notice it.

Overall, it was a great trip.  I am no longer nervous to travel with a baby.  Piece of cake.

Ok, not really, but it's not that bad.