12 November 2021

I love to travel and as my girls grow up, I would love them to see lots of new and exciting places around the world too. My husband and I both share the same birth year so decided to take a trip of a lifetime for our 40th - a Caribbean Cruise. We flew to Miami, and we pre-booked our seats and meals as we were travelling with the girls, we wanted everything organized. It was a great idea! We stayed at the Lowes Hotel Miami which has a wonderful pool area overlooking South Beach. We were a short walk to many bars, restaurants and shops. After getting off a long flight we all just wanted to chill by the pool for a couple of days before departing on our Cruise. Following our relaxing days in Miami, we were transferred to Miami Port to take our Cruise. We sailed with MSC onboard “Seaside” which I would highly recommend. There was a huge amount of food options and entertainment on board. We opted for the Yacht Club experience which I would also highly recommend. It gave us access to several dining options which including a Steak House, Fish Restaurant, Japanese Teppanyaki to name a few. Our Cruise docked in some exciting destinations like Ocho Rios Jamacia, George Town in Grand Cayman, Cozumel in Mexico, and Nassau in The Bahamas. On each stop we enjoyed excursions which included climbing a waterfall (Jamacia), swimming with Dolphins (Mexico) and an amazing waterpark in The Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas as well as visiting 7-mile beach in Grand Cayman where the water was crystal clear and warm. The facilities for children were fantastic on the cruise which included water slides and a Lego inspired kids club. The staff were extremely friendly, and they put on shows every evening. We had a wonderful holiday and have memories to last a lifetime. Cruising can be difficult to imagine for first timers, but I would be delighted to share our experience and ensure you fall in love with cruising as we did.

12 November 2021

A favorite long-haul destination that we have visited as a family; Cancun. We flew out of Dublin via Atlanta, clearing Emigration in Dublin and touched down in sunny Cancun. When I picture holidays, I always think of Palm Trees and white sandy beaches and Cancun has these in abundance. We arrived at Cancun airport and were met by our private transfer and taken to our hotel, Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa. We were staying for 10 nights in a Preferred Club Ocean View Room on an All-Inclusive basis. Booking the Preferred Club room had many advantages which included private check in, access to the Preferred Club Lounge with premium bar, business center, and snacks, use of the hydrotherapy at the spa, and a private beach area with bar, private loungers, and Cabanas. The Dreams brand has an “Unlimited Luxury” no-wristband, all-inclusive plan. Our stay included all buffet meals in the A La Carte Restaurant, all drinks including top shelf spirits, house wine and 24hour room service plus daily refills of in room mini bar. We had a choice of six a la carte restaurants, including Mexican, Japanese, Seafood, Italian, Steakhouse, and an adult-only French restaurant. Our favourite was the Japanese Teppanyaki which we visited at least twice during our stay. The added touch of the chefs getting to know our daughter’s names made it our firm family favourite. To be honest there was no shortage of food with additional food options included sandwiches and sweets at the Coco Cafe, and the lunch-only Barefoot Grille, also a poolside “Snack Shack” with pizza, burgers, and live cooking station and with the ‘unlimited luxury’ nothing was off limits! The hotel was situated on a large beachfront with three pools overlooking the ocean. There was an infinity pool with swim-up bar, main pool plus kids pool. There was daily entertainment in the main pool run by the hotel staff running fun games for all the family. The kids club also ran activities both at the club and around the pool. Cancun is also a super place to explore and we prebooked several excursions. We visited the ancient Maya civilization of Chichen Itza, a UNESCO Heritage Site where we admired the Kukulkan pyramid and the Temple of Warriors and learned about Maya history. We also took a trip to Xcaret, Mexico's ecological and archeology park located in Riviera Maya. On this full-day trip from Cancun to Xcaret, we swam in a lagoon, snorkeled in the clear waters of the Caribbean, and discovered a network of subterranean rivers. We watched out for monkeys, birdlife, and butterflies as we walked through the jungle. Another fun trip was called a jungle safari, this had us two at a time in a small speedboat speeding around a beautiful lagoon then things were slowed down with some snorkeling over the underwater statues at the Punta Nizuc coral reef. We also took a trip into Cancun Centre for a spot of shopping to finish off our holiday. Cancun was a fantastic family long-haul holiday with beautiful accommodation and food with endless activities to choose from.

12 November 2021

For my honeymoon I had a short time of just 5 days, and I knew I wanted to arrive somewhere and have everything at hand to have a WOW experience. We settled on Dubai, and it did not disappoint. We departed Dublin from T2 and booked access to airport lounge. It was the perfect start to our special trip tucked away in Terminal 2 with plenty of comfortable seating, tasty snacks, and drinks and with very fast WIFI, so we could reply to all our messages following our big day. We stayed at Jumeirah Madinat in an Ocean View Club Room in the Dar Al Masyaf area. As we were staying in an Oceanview Summerhouse we had some fantastic features which included our own Ocean Suite, a Butler Service who could cater to any requests we had and evening sundowners to name a few. The rooms were tucked away in a quieter area of the Jumeirah Madinat and were accessed by Abra’s a traditional water taxi. Our Ocean View Summerhouse was beautifully decorated in traditional Arabian style with all amenities we needed. The Madinat complex was a fantastic option for our short stay as it had several restaurants onsite which included an Italian restaurant, a French inspired restaurant and a Thai which were among our favourites. There are also a number of bars and lounge areas where we could have afternoon tea or drinks. One of the perks of staying at the Jumeirah Madinat was free access to their private beach, two kilometres of pristine white sand with the Burj Al Arab as its backdrop, there we could pick up an array of water sports. We also enjoyed both our private pool area at the Dar Al Masyaf and the other pools the complex had to offer. We visited Wild Wadi one of Dubai’s famous waterparks of which we had complimentary access to as it is part of the Jumeirah chain. The Madinat complex had a fantastic gym with top of the range equipment plus a fantastic café with tasty healthy snacks and smoothies which we got to a least once! The Madinat complex had so much to offer that we didn’t need to venture out too much during our stay, but we did squeeze in a few great activities that Dubai has to offer. A Desert Safari was one, this is a must while in Dubai and it included thrilling Dune Bashing, Quad Biking, and a Camel Ride the day ended with a BBQ and refreshments under the stars. We visited the famous Dubai Mall home to 1,200 shops plus a trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa the tallest building in the world. We took a walk around one of the famous Dubai Souk’s which gives a taste of the real Dubai full of noises and exotic smells. Another fantastic afternoon was at a famous Dubai Friday brunch which we did at the Al Qsar another hotel in the Madinat Complex. Live music plus food and drinks of every type and cuisine from UAE and around the world. A fantastic way to spend our last day in Dubai. We had such a memorable trip for our honeymoon and hope to visit again soon.