So hard to try to get all the photos and videos on here and impossible to try to describe all the details of our week....but we had a blast! We are so happy we booked this vacation last minute (within 7 days of departure) It counted as our "we never had a honeymoon" as well as we had joked about it for awhile -decided the best time to do it is while living in FL and getting last minute deals and FL resident rates (and not paying for flights of course).
We chose Norwegian Getaway out of Miami and it was 7 nights with ports to St Maarten, St Thomas and the Bahamas. The ship was new and only started sailing this Feb so it was fabulous with decor and amenities. It's one of their largest ships holding up to 4000 passengers I believe with something like 1500 crew members as well.
The activities, events, performances, venues, sunrises and sunsets, the ports, the sports complex....and the food...oh boy THE FOOD! You cannot go wrong by booking a cruise for a vacation. I was a little apprehensive with having Bella and being able to enjoy the week....but she of course blew us away within the first hours of cruising with her spunk and social self!
She loved the Nickelodeon characters and all the dancing and music! All week people recognized her from the 'sail away' party. So not all the pictures are in much of an order and I think I'll just post some videos on our you tube page and copy a link here.
Here is the overview of our ship Norwegian Getaway
Of course when you arrive in the port of Miami you are BLOWN away by the size of these ships all lined up in a row! The 'embarking' process was quite long because we arrived just at the time as the other couple of thousand people....we meant to be very early but Miami traffic! Its much like an airport with tagging your bags and they deliver them to your room...going through security with your carry ons and then waiting in lines to get checked in, your room key and walk on board. They make it so fun boarding with music and lots of energy! We dropped our stuff off in our room and then grabbed lunch and had a 'fire/safety' drill that was mandatory...and then off to the sail away party as we said goodbye to Miami!
With all that dancing, the first night Bella was sleeping by 6:30! So Al went to a restaurant and brought me back 4 course meal as I watched a movie in our room. Norwegian is set up as "freestyle" meaning you eat where and when you want oppose to other ships where you pick the time you want to eat every night....they had a 24 hour buffet, 4 or 5 'sit down' restaurants and a 24 hour PUB that were all included and then a couple specialty places that you'd pay more. We stuck mostly with buffets as the couple times we tried the others it was difficult with Bella. So weird not tipping and not worrying about prices and how much you order!
The early night meant we were aLL up for the first morning sunrise....which was nice because other mornings Bella slept until 10:30! Being in an inside cabin means no windows and complete darkness, besides the night light I packed and so sometimes we never knew what time we were sleeping till!
Deck 8 became our favorite as we felt Bella could run around without being in peoples way, they called it "waterfront shops"....was great, you could walk pretty much around the entire ship with great views and there are bars/cafes/shops all accessible from inside and that outside walkway. Bella loved playing on that deck! It became Al's favorite for AM reading as well.
So YES, we were that family with the times we ate at the sit down restaurants that Bella watched and played on iPad. Mommy wanted to enjoy her food...one of my fav desserts was a brownie/turtle/cheesecake thing at O'Sheehans Pub.....this night we were there we had ribs, wings, and chicken tenders I believe.....mouth watering as I type....
So they had a teen lounge and a "kid zone" with so many activities and availability to leave your child but it was for 3 and older...but they did have a room with toys for 6 mo-3 years that we actually did use a couple of times for Bella to play with some other kids. It was fun getting to chat with other parents with children around same age...and see them on deck 8 every night...pushing the stroller desperately trying to get their babe to sleep....around and around the deck :)
Also they had an arcade and of course with bella's love of 'ball balls' she went crazy with some of those games! They had some organized classes for Bella's age with music and art...we only did one of those classes with 'organic edible' paints- she was the only one in the class :)
Miniature golf was a hit with Bella....well the balls of golf really :) This helped so each of us could do the ropes course while the other was occupying Bella in the mini golf. Al did the ropes course first and since there were so many kids flying through it- I thought it was easy...but when I actually got up there, not going to lie....I was scared. Of course you have a harness, but still....kind of scary.....included 'walk the plank' which is a board that extends 8 ft off of the boat, with the Caribbean 180 ft below. I walked to it, but wasn't going to do it....until my walk back and I ran into an 80 yr old woman who was going towards the plank....her 2nd time on the course and she said 'follow me'.....ok....so I HAD to do it then....she literally inspired me! That was very scary! They had even a miniature course for Bella but we never got around to do it with her....weren't sure how getting a harness on her would go.
She also loved shuffleboard!
This was the 80 yr old lady walking the plank!
First port day: St Maarten. Fun after 2 days at sea to see land and loved how the clouds shadowed the hills of the island. We did get a bit of rain that day, just passed through. Bella took a morning nap and we ventured out after lunch- took a water taxi to the beach and played for a bit.
We loved the walking back towards the ship after ports, music, greeting you with a ice cold scented refreshing towel, juice and fresh beach/pool towels. On our walk back from St Maarten we got a coconut smoothie that mommy & Bella LOVED! Several other ships in each port with us, Disney and Carnival as well as MSC
Port day 2: St Thomas...our favorite! Wish we would have done a longer day here, but again we ventured out after Bella's nap and this was like a 15 min taxi ride to Coki Beach and we had to be back on the ship I think at like 4....but just enough time to soak up the sun a little and for Al to go out and see some cool fish!
We ended up doing some things separately as we let Bella sleep in the room after a couple days we realized she was too stimulated to fall asleep in stroller. So Al went to a performance of Latin dancing called "burn the floor" and I went to the musical "Legally Blonde" They always had something going on from live music to comedians to piano playing to game shows.....you name it...oh yes and Bingo and 24/7 casino on board
Our room 11671- hallway just big enough for stroller and the door to our cabin not even big enough to put stroller in without folding....Bella actually loved to get in the stroller in the hallways because she didn't want to walk :)
The FOOD!...why didn't I take more pictures of the food??? Probably because we were too busy eating it and trying to entertain and feed Bella at the same time....it was endless....hard to even name my favorites...but in the AM I loved the crisp bacon, chocolate croissants, the waffles and pancakes, the bite sized hash browns......mmmm
and in day and evening, loved the huge salad bar, and the variety of pasta, meats, PRETZEL rolls and fresh made bread/rolls, all the desserts and of course the ice cream!!!!
Bella also loved this water space for her age -
Room was equivalent to hotel room space Id say, maybe a little smaller...but more than enough for what we needed- basically just to sleep and take naps. Bathroom was bigger than I thought it would be and Bella loved stepping up and down from the bathroom over and over and over.
We ended up meeting several workers from Nicaragua and Al would exchange names and before you know it we'd have chocolate covered strawberries at our cabin door! so yummy!
So fun and so worth it....hard to adjust back to normal routine. First time really that we've been somewhere (besides back to WI) all together as a family- actually on vacation mode. So many great memories and worth every penny!
Here is a link to our you tube page if you want to see some videos:
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