Life has been crazy busy but filled with lots of joy and memories. We just returned from a fantastic family vacation and had the time of our lives! I don't even know where to start summarizing how much fun we had. Let's start first by how grateful we are for the opportunity to partake in such an amazing vacation. It was nothing short of spectacular in so many ways and we will remember it always with HUGE smiles on our faces.
We sailed on a 7-Night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the brand new Norwegian Getaway. AWESOME ship and crew! We had two large, connected suites with balconies that also connected, on the 11th deck, mid-ship, a prime location on the ship thanks to our friend/business associate, Lance Wachter, and his connections. The ship has everything you can imagine for everybody, young and old. Our views of the ocean and the ports we visited were glorious. The food was absolutely delicious (now need to go on a diet!), the shows were incredible, the entertaintment was top-notch for the kids and adults, and ports of call at St.Maarten, St. Thomas and the Bahamas were beautiful and exciting. We did and saw so many things! Here are just a few of the things to enjoy on board: ropes obstacle course 18 levels above the ocean, zip line, bungee jumping, mini golf, outdoor basketball court, rock climbing wall, swimming pools, slides and hot tubs, bowling, shuffle board, arts & crafts, health club, spa, gourmet restaurants, Broadway shows (Burn the Floor, Legally Blonde, Illusionarium), fun bars (pool bar with live band, dueling pianos, ice bar, comedy club, sushi, karoake, dance club, Irish pub), movies under the stars, dance parties every night outside under the stars (different theme every night), a large casino, lots of stores/shopping, food and drink anytime of day, etc! The list goes on. Needless to say, we ALL had a great time. Some of our favorite times were just hanging out on our balconies taking in the sights.
One highlight on the ship was when Dave entered the "Mr. Sexy Legs" contest. There were about 25-30 men that entered and they randomly picked 5 ladies from the pool area to judge. I can't believe Grandma and I actually talked Dave into entering but I think those few extra beers helped :) They called Dave, "Mr. Minnesota", and the Cruise Director got a kick out of him. Dave ended up doing a little dance for the judges then did a front flip into the pool followed up by synchronized swimming with his legs above water to finish up his routine. He was definitely the crowd favorite and got the most applause. He was not awarded "Mr. Sexy Legs" BUT he was one of the 5 men who received an award and his award was "Mr. OMG" and he received a free drink. Hysterical! The kids were laughing at their dad but pretty proud; Grandma and I got some good laughs as well.
We thoroughly enjoyed renting a car in St. Maarten for the day and checked out two beaches and drove around the entire island. Maho Beach is famous for large jets flying directly over the beach onto the landing strip on the other side of the road from the beach. They come in pretty low and Dave got a video of it which we will make sure to post. We had a delicious lunch at another beach on the island in Grand Case which was a little less crowded and not as large of waves so the kids swam ALOT.
In St. Thomas, Grandma stayed back at the ship and we took a taxi to Coki Beach which was gorgeous. Lots of sun, white sand, calm waters in a bay, snorkeling, water sports and a few Cervezas. In the Bahamas, we took a ship-sponsored excursion to Atlantis which was absolutley beautiful but VERY large and a place that needs more than a day to truly experience. Wish we would have had more than 6 hours to check that place out. We loved the raging river and slides, the aquatic life (rays, sharks, colorful fish) and the grand architecture of the entire grounds. The only downfall is that there were 5 other cruise ships at port that day, it was over Spring Break, and the lines were LONG (1 hr waits). Next time, we would choose to avoid a ship-sponsored excursion and do it on our own to save $ and time PLUS go some time other than Spring Break.
All in all, the trip was a huge success and enjoyed by all. It will be tough to beat this vacation and the kids are still talking about it. SO thankful we got to share it with Grandma Good. Dave and I both agree we would cruise again and especially were impressed with Norwegian. We talked with others from other cruise ships and were glad we chose Norwegian; they are top notch. We have about 190 photos which we encourage you to check out on our Shutterfly Link on the right hand side of this blog page (just click on the link). Here are just a few of the professional photos we had taken on board. HINT: the slideshow in Shutterfly seems to have inconsistent timing and skips photos. We suggest clicking on the album and then using the right arrow above the photos to go through and review them - maybe it's just a Techno Tina thing :)
