For my 14th birthday I was surprised with going on a cruise with just my mom and I. I had to fly to Miami and stayed in a hotel right on the beach. When we got to the hotel we went and walked on the beach. The sand was so hot and the edge of the ocean was full of seaweed. After that we spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping because we had to be up really early in the morning.

Then the next day we boarded the ship early. Once we got on the ship we looked around to see what was on it. The things that were on it were a shopping area/ eating places, on the top deck was 4 pools and mini golf, there was an arcade, water slides, and a water wave pool. There was also a basketball court on the top deck.

We got lunch and we went swimming  on the top deck of the ship. After a few hours our room was ready and we went to see what it looked like. In our room we had a balcony. After we saw our room and unpacked everything  we watched from our balcony  the ship took off. When the ship took off you could feel the vibration of the motor. When we took off you could see little fish swim away from underneath the ship. Once the ship took off  we got ready for dinner and for every meal except breakfast I had chicken strips and fries. At our first dinner I watched from my chair Miami get smaller and smaller. It was so pretty because when we took off it was becoming night and the sunsets were so beautiful the whole week.  

After eating and watching the ship take off my mom told me that people hide ducks around the ship so we spent the next hour after dinner finding rubber ducks and hiding them for others to find. I brought back so many and hid so many as well. After looking for the ducks and hiding them we went to look at all the shops. My mom also heard about how everyday you could
collect charms  and make a bracelet out of them.

The first day we got the actual bracelet part and 5 charms the next day and the day after we didn’t get them because we forgot about it, but the lady who was giving them out gave us the ones for those days and the day we went there. 

The next morning we woke up in the Bahamas. There was also one other ship besides ours docked at the island.   When we woke up we got ready for the day ahead and ate breakfast. By the time we got done eating breakfast we looked out the window and saw their private island CoCo Cay.

When we got to the island we looked at getting my hair braided but it was too hot and too expensive.  We went to our room to put on swimsuits and wait for the announcement ordering us to get off the ship and explore the island. When we got off the ship we went to get our stuff to go snorkeling. While snorkeling I saw big conch shells, little cute fish, seaweed, and lots of other shells. The water was so blue and clear you wouldn’t believe it. 

We went shopping around the island and when we got too hot we went to the pool on the lagoon. After we were cooled off we took a tram around the island and we talked to the driver and he was super nice. The driver told us that they would stay on the island for 3 months at a time. He also said that for hurricanes they would still stay on the island. There was also a level 5 hurricane coming our way. My mom was watching it the whole time and was going to get there 2 days after we were back home. Once we got back to the ship we went and laid down.

After we laid down for a while we went back out on the island and snorkeled again. We didn’t snorkel for long because it was high tied for the second round and was too deep for me and the waves kept hitting my face.  After we got back on the ship my mom and I watched the ship take off from the private island. While we took off the sunset was so beautiful. We went and cleaned up for dinner and headed down to dinner. After dinner we went to the arcade and got ducks from the duck machine and hid them around the ship. We also looked for ducks and found new places for some while hiding our ducks.  

Before going to bed, we would stand on the balcony to look out onto the ocean.  We did see other ships and we would try and guess what ones the ships were. At night you could still see how blue the water was. We would also sit out on the balcony and listen to the waves. We would watch on our tv how fast we were going. The first night we were going 5 knots. The second night we were going 7 knots. Finally last night we were going 25 knots.  We would also go to the 5th level where all the shops and restaurants were and fill our cups with some kind of drink before bed or whenever we needed a drink unless we went to a restaurant or somewhere that had drinks. We had a drink package and we could get any drink we wanted. That also meant we could go to Starbucks and get any kind of drink we wanted any time of day.  

Also every night there would be a band playing on the 5th level. When we went to get off and on the ship the people did not speak English they spoke Spanish. My mom tried to help this one family that could not speak or understand English. 

The next day we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas and took a faerie to Blue Lagoon Island. On the island we had a pass to swim with dolphins. The dolphins were so well trained and so smart. I got to hug, kiss, dance, and was pushed across the lagoon by the dolphin. After we got to swim with the dolphins we went and looked at the shops on the lagoon. We went swimming in the ocean part of the lagoon. When I was swimming in the ocean I had goggles and I was looking for shells. I was also seeing if I could touch the deeper part of that area. Once we were done swimming we went to get back on the fairies and we saw a little crab while waiting to get on the faerie. On our way back the drivers of the faerie were playing music and people were dancing. 

We got to see famous peoples houses along the ocean. One of the celebrity’s houses I saw was Beyonce’s house. When we arrived at the drop off station they said we need our ids or passports.  When we got there my mom didn’t have hers and they were going to let me go through all by myself. But luckily my mom had a picture of her passport from when she went to Australia. When she found it she was so relieved because the security guard wouldn’t let my mom enter with me and was going to let me go to the ship alone then she remembered she had that picture. 

After  that all happened we went to our room and got all cleaned up to go to dinner and rest. After dinner we went to the top deck and played mini golf. We also went to a game show about finishing the lyrics.  When they asked for contestants I pounded at my mom and said “ she wants to do it! ” When they heard me say it they said “ ok get up here! ” When we got done with the game show we went to get a milkshake and to go to the arcade. We also swam in the top deck pool a lot and watched movies in the pool.  We also met these very nice ladies on our flight from Atlanta to Miami and we ran into them multiple times on the cruise. 

The next day we were back in Miami and we had to be off the boat at 8 am. We got an uber and went to the airport early to try and get an earlier flight out. We spent the entire day in the delta sky lounge. We tried to get on 3 different flights other than our original flight. Our fight also got delayed 3 different times. When we got on our flight we sat next to this really nice lady and she was going to Argentina and was bringing caviar with her. Me and my mom got to sit first class on all 4 of our flights because of my moms delta points. In first class we got lots of yummy snacks and drinks. Our layover was in Atlanta and we got to our gate just as they were starting to board. The reason why we were getting there when they were starting to board was because the flight from Miami to Atlanta was on the other side of the airport. We got on the plane and my mom and I fell asleep the whole flight and woke up 30 minutes before landing.  In the 30 minutes I was awake we went through a lightning storm and it looked so cool. There was a lot of turbulence but it wasn’t too bad.  When we landed the lights were so bright and came on so quick and I wasn’t prepared at all. After we got off the plane we went to baggage claim and stood there for a long time. When we got our luggage we went to the bathroom and then we went to our car. By the time we got home it was 12 am and I was so tired that I went straight to bed. After waiting for a week we got all the pictures from all the tourers and other stuff we did on the cruise. Overall I would recommend going on a cruise with family and friends or just by yourself. Don’t hesitate to go if you ever get to go on one. It was the best thing ever and I would definitely go on one again. Don’t be scared of going on one. It isn’t that scary at all, in fact it was amazing. You get to see and do all these amazing opportunities. The staff is so nice and they kept the cruise very clean and not dirty at all. The food was also delicious. I think I would like to try more things than I did but it was still so fun. One thing that I didn’t like was that I couldn’t use my phone because there was no internet. The only thing you could do on your phone was text, call, and take pictures.  I am also so grateful that I got to go and love my mom. She surprised me and I had so much fun.

My mom has always tried to do more experiences than presents. The reason she does this is because memories are more important than things. She has taken my sister on trips like this but she likes more sports than I do so she got to go to the sweet 16 in Seattle for her 14th birthday in 2023 as well and got to meet Monika Czinano. She also has been taking us on Christmas breaks for our presents since 2017. It has always been different places except we went to Daytona beach twice. We went to Galveston Texas which we had to leave a day early and drove from Galveston to Des Moines because our flight was cancelled because of an ice storm and my mom didn’t want to be stuck in Texas. We have also been to St. Pete Beach. We also went to Hilton Head Beach which is where I got to hold alligators. When we were in St. Pete  we walked 2 miles down the beach from a restaurant to our hotel. In Daytona we got to see manatees and I got to hold a jellyfish. At night we would also walk along the beach and we saw little and big jelly fish along the water that were washed up on the beach. We would also look for shells and my sister and I would give them to friends, teachers, and family members. We would drive on the beach in Daytona. We also saw a lot of peers and they were cool. 

Overall I would recommend going on a cruise with family and friends or just by yourself. Don’t hesitate to go if you ever get to go on one. It was the best thing ever and I would definitely go on one again. Don’t be scared of going on one. It isn’t that scary at all, in fact it was amazing. You get to see and do all these amazing opportunities. The staff is so nice and they kept the cruise very clean and not dirty at all. The food was also delicious. I think I would like to try more things than I did but it was still so fun. One thing that I didn’t like was that I couldn’t use my phone because there was no internet. The only thing you could do on your phone was text, call, and take pictures.  I am also so grateful that I got to go and love my mom. She surprised me and I had so much fun. Thank you mom for all you do. I love you so so much.