Family Cruise part 1: a full day in Mahogany Bay

Family Portraits on the Beach

We took a 7-day family cruise on Carnivals newest ship: the Jubilee. We left from Galveston. I reached out to the portrait studio in advance to setup family pictures during the cruise but did NOT want to do them on the cruise ship. The photographer suggested we do photos on Mahogany Bay for its pristine beaches and proximity to the port. (SN: glad we took his advice… the beach in Cozumel was not nearly as nice as the one in Mahogany Bay, and Costa Maya wasn’t as accessible). The morning of, we met our photographer at the photo studio, then disembarked and walked along the beach together to find a spot.

We walked past the crowds and just beyond the private villas for the perfect tucked away section of the beach, away from the crowds. The kids were all so excited to be at the beach– they all cooperated so we could finish pictures quickly and get to playing in the sand.

We (kinda) Swam with the Dolphins!

After pictures and a fun morning on the beach, we took a shuttle to our Dolphin excursion. At the time of the cruise, the kids were 4, 6, 10, 12 & 14– there were definitely limits on what activities we could do (Mason was too young to do the full swim with the dolphins experience). The Dolphin Excursion was a great semi-step to actually swimming with the dolphins. The dolphins swam all around us in the water, did tricks, flips, and sang! Such a sweet family experience. Of all three places we stopped, Mahogany Bay was definitely our family favorite!