Overall, I think our family has adjusted quite well to having
Caroline as the only kid left at home. However, when it came
time to start planning spring break, I felt bad for her. Even though
I'm a pretty fun mom, being the only teenager and hanging out
with your middle-aged parents all week could get... old.
As I mulled over ideas, and after giving Andrew some time
to think about it, we decided to invite our friends Angie and Chad
to cruise with us for spring break. They have three adult daughters
and then two younger kids, one of whom is Piper, Caroline's bestie.
I was so happy when they said they were up for it.
Yippee!!
We did LOTS of planning beforehand and decided to go on Norwegian,
which was new for us. Our ship was the Norwegian Escape.
This was Angie and Chad's first cruise ever, so they
deferred to us for lots of the decisions. It was SUCH a great vacation.
I'm so happy we could do it.
We sailed out of Port Canaveral,
so first we got to road trip to FL.
I love road trips!
And we all love Buc-ees!
Andrew and I got a balcony room.
It was fantastic. I love sitting out there and reading,
playing candy crush, looking for flying fish,
and just watching the ocean go by.
Our crew for the week:
Caroline, Bo, Piper, Gillian
These four stayed together in the "kid room".
Luckily, Gilly is an adult and could stay with them. :)
It was a pretty squishy room for 4.
But they didn't mind.
Chad, Angie, me, and Drew
Each couple had their own rooms.
We were on different floors.
One of the reasons Andrew doesn't like vacationing with other people is because he feels like he has to be "on" all the time and it's socially exhausting. He usually prefers to be just with our family. But this cruise was a great balance. We spent a lot of time with our friends, some time with just us and Care Bear, and other times Care Bear was off with Piper and Andrew and I could have time to ourselves. It was SO great! Angie and I are good friends, but Andrew and Chad really didn't know each other that well before the cruise. They got along great. Yay!
We REALLY liked cruising on Norwegian(NCL) and would be happy to cruise with them again. The ship was beautiful. The service wasn't quite as attentive as we've had on other cruises, but it was fine. The food was the best we've had on a ship. So good. The places we visited were fantastic. The entertainment was pretty good, but you had to reserve tickets and most of them were sold out the first day. That was annoying. You could still go wait in a stand-by line and we got into almost everything we wanted to see. But I didn't like that uncertainty. NCL includes lots of freebies with your fare: Andrew and I got to eat at two of their specialty restaurants, got a free drink package(but we don't drink alcohol and I don't even drink soda, so wasn't much of a value for us...), and got a small internet package where we could check things online a couple times throughout the week. Unfortunately, Caroline didn't get that package. I guess only the first two guests in each room get it. I did get her LOTS Cokes with grenadine (basically bar-made cherry coke) with my drink pass. It became her favorite!
It was a 7-day cruise and we got to make four beautiful stops.
GREAT STIRRUP CAY
This is NCL's private island.
It was beautiful as all the private islands are.
It felt a little more crowded than some of the others.
They have this cute lighthouse.
Caroline and I also got to go on a ziplining excursion.
It started up there. We had a great time and the views were
spectacular. But we have no photo evidence.
Beautiful white-sand beaches with turquoise water.
TRIGGER WARNING for Mary-Lou,
there are a couple of bird pics ahead!
We saw some cool ibises on the island.
These swings were fun.
Cute little photo op with our friends
Can you see that long line of people in the background?
That's the line to take the tender (small boat) back to the ship.
It's a whole process.
Good thing we got to hang out with our friends while we waited.
Pristine landscaping
Iguana
The view of our ship from the island
There were areas for snorkeling, but it wasn't great.
These statues were fun.
And we got to see a sting ray.
Even when the snorkeling is just mediocre,
it's still one of my favorite things to do. :)
I can't resist coin pushing!
It wasn't very lucrative.
One of our dress-up nights.
That chandelier in the back is gorgeous, right?
They had an ABBA tribute concert, which was so fun.
Sang along loudly with every song.
This is called a brown-footed booby.
It was a new lifer for me.
One of my favorite moments of the whole
cruise was watching these guys swoop
down and try to eat the flying fish!
I have never seen anything like it.
It was fantastic.
Like a scene from the Discovery Channel.
Loved it.
On our days at sea, we found two different
conference rooms that the staff said we were
allowed to use if they weren't already in use.
This board room was my favorite.
We felt so official!
We had brought board games and card games
and we'd hang out with the Rosiers playing there.
SO FUN!
We also did our usual trivia and other
fun games.
They had a little circus hour where
you could try some circus toys.
It was fun and harder than it looked.
Golden Hour!
Loved this sunset from our balcony.
Also had to find the wake and get a pic there.
I always think of Grandpa Hiatt when we take this pic.
Some of our dinners we shared with all eight of us
and others were split up. It was fun to have a big table
of our own people and Andrew especially appreciated
not having to sit with strangers.
Look at the cute veggie appetizer.
We had a good balance of spending time with our
friends and also having time for ourselves.
It was the best.
TORTOLA
We'd never heard of this beautiful island,
one of the British Virgin Islands.
Look at that turquoise water!
Isn't it a pretty place?
We booked the COOLEST excursion here!
It may be my fave excursion we've ever done.
We basically got a private art and culture tour of the island.
Our host was a man named Karl Burnett.
He's a potter and was raised on Tortola.
He drove us around telling us about the island.
We made a quick stop here at Josiah's Bay.
It had legit waves!
I feel like we never see that in the Caribbean.
There were even surfers out on it.
This is us with Karl.
He was so kind and talented.
The waves!
We also stopped for a minute at Josiah's Bay Pond,
where we got to see FLAMINGOS in the wild!
It was so cool, even though the pictures aren't.
Karl is a potter. He took us to his studio and
showed us how he can make different kinds of pottery.
I thought this donut was awesome.
It looks so relaxing and satisfying!
Then he threw one of his pieces on the counter. Ha!
The beauty!
We drove by the Ridge Road Murals,
which show scenes of island life throughout history.
AND we got to meet one of the artists!
Mr. Reuben Vanterpool and his lovely wife showed
us around his studio and their garden.
We LOVED spending time with them.
We got to eat sugarcane, which I had never done.
And Mrs. Vanterpool made us Gooseberry juice,
which was fantastic.
They showed us all over their garden,
which was great. And we also toured his
studio and he told us all about his paintings.
But pictures weren't allowed in there.
More beauty!
Fun pink house and fence
Part of the city (Road Town?)
Walking the streets.
Oh, how I love visiting these beautiful tropical paradises! That bright blue water, white sand, lush foliage, and bright sun make my heart happy.
