The little princess-warrior and the ‘Magic’ adventure…

Whilst this may sound like the title of a fairytale recounting tales of old; this is in fact a real-life adventure that is yet to take place…

Those who have followed my blog will know that our daughter, Kayla (aged 8 at the time), suffered a childhood stroke in December of 2017 and underwent emergency brain surgery, which led to a lengthy period of rehabilitation and recovery…  thankfully our little princess-warrior is now pretty much fully-recovered and has finally been given the okay by the medical team to travel; so we have re-booked our family cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines, and later in the year we shall be boarding Carnival Magic to explore the Caribbean on our ‘Magic’ adventure!

Our original cruise was booked aboard Carnival Fascination and we were due to travel in December 2017, just 12 days following Kayla’s hospitalisation. Given the circumstances, Carnival kindly issued us with a voucher to re-book and have been wonderful in terms of their service & understanding… in fact, we were even able to sprinkle a little extra magic dust and surprise the kids by switching our sailing from Carnival Fascination to Carnival Magic; meaning the children will now be able to experience the onboard Waterworks area and flumes, as well as the first Ropes Course at sea!

Our happily ever after began the moment we were able to bring Kayla home from the hospital and we are now looking forward to the next chapter in our story, as we venture to a land far far away and begin our Caribbean adventure… 

We board Carnival Magic in Fort Lauderdale and with the first two days at sea, we’ll have ample time to find our sea legs, explore the ship and enjoy all of the facilities that this Dream-class cruise ship has to offer.

St Maarten is our first port of call and our son Ryan, now aged 11, is delighted at the prospect of us becoming extreme plane-spotters for the day as we experience the low altitude landings over Maho Bay and board the St Maarten SkyRide to enjoy panoramic views of the neighbouring islands of Saba, St Eustasius, St Barts and Anguilla.

Our second port of call is St Kitts and this is where we intend to fulfil our daughter’s lifelong dream of interacting with the dolphins at the Dolphin Discovery Centre; an experience that is sure to bring tears to our eyes, as Kayla’s thoughts and dreams of the dolphins have helped her through some of the hardest times during her recovery and rehabilitation.

San Juan, Puerto Rico is the third port of call on our adventure and our hope is to visit the El Yunque rainforest and waterfalls, before ambling through the old town to soak up the historical culture of the port and explore the fortress of San Cristobal,

& our final port of call is Grand Turk, where we plan to don our snorkels & flippers and swim among the tropical fish in the turquoise waters of Horseshoe Reef & Round Cay, before relaxing on the tropical white sands and soaking up the Caribbean atmosphere for a while…

One final sea day as we head back to Fort Lauderdale, gives us a chance to enjoy the facilities on our last day and completes our ‘Magic’ adventure…

After a tough couple of years we are very much looking forward to the chance to spend precious time together as a family; embarking on an adventure to enjoy new experiences and make family memories to last a lifetime!

…and of course tales of our ‘Magic’ adventure will likely feature in my blog once we return home.

To be continued… ?