First let me say welcome back! I took a little bloggy break last week. With the cruise and the trip to New York the weekend before that, I was just way behind on a lot of things and needed time to catch up. Thank you for understanding...now on to the trip recap!
20 of the 22 of us[/caption] About a year ago my cousin Kelly contacted a group of us cousins. Now some of you may be saying, hey what? Cousins? I grew up with my cousins.
left to right: me, Ally, Jim, Carolyn[/caption] We played together, stayed at each other's houses, hung out at our grandparents, spent much of our summers together. This is who I hung out with as a kid. And who better?
left to right: Ally, Carolyn, Me[/caption] Kelly wanted to do something to surprise her older sister Ally for her 40th birthday. After much debate, we settled on a 3 night cruise. Ally's husband was in on it. We made our arrangements and scheduled our trip. There were going to be five of us: myself, Billie-Jo, Ally, Carolyn, and Kelly.
Y'all. We were good. We managed to keep this trip a secret from Ally for a YEAR. Now, if you know my family at ALL you would know that we are generally not great secret keepers. We can't help ourselves. We want to tell each other everything. But we did it.
Ally lives a couple of hours from Miami, so the plan was for us to all crash at her house on Thursday and then head for port on Friday. Last Thursday, we all arrived one by one. Ally was so surprised. At first as people arrived, we told her we were just there to hang out. And then she opened her gift:
Billie-Jo had these shirts made for all of us to wear the first day on the ship. Ally opened hers and was super excited when we told her we were going on a cruise. She was practically speechless.
Friday morning we got on the road about 10. Stopping for coffee and breakfast on the way. We checked in to the Norwegian Sky and started exploring the ship.
Top to Bottom: Carolyn, Billie-Jo, Kelly[/caption] These goofballs. We explored the boat and found where all of the different areas were.
We went to the spa and booked massages for Sunday afternoon and relaxed out on the deck for a bit.
The goal was to not spend too much time in the room as there were five of us and one room. It was a little tight. But for three nights, we made it work.
We got dressed for dinner and made our way to one of the main dining rooms.
The food was good. Not great, but good. I thought the food on Royal Caribbean was better. I'll give a review of the actual cruise itself at the end, but this tagliatelle with pesto was pretty good.
The cake however, was delicious. The day we left, Friday, June 2, was my actual 40th birthday and Billie-Jo felt that we needed birthday cake at dinner. Who am I to argue with that?
Kind of a blurry shot, but this was after dinner at the dance club. There was some form of game every night. Now, if you needed any more evidence that my family is uber competitive and that it is all of us, look no further than this pic. My cousin Kelly was chosen captain of the team. It was a version of name that tune and we were on it. Well, Ally, Kelly, Carolyn, and Billie-Jo were on it. While I am competitive, I am not up for being on display like that in public (*cough introvert*), I was happy to hang back, cheer, and take pictures. Our team lost, but it was a close fight, and I feel like we were cheated out of some points. Oh well.
After the game, we found ourselves at this cozy little bar. It became one of our favorite spots on the ship and we were there every night for part of the night. That first night we were there, different people would come in and out and they all wanted to hear Piano Man. Of course. This poor guy. He played it full through the first time, and then the 1 minute sped up version the next two times.
We of course, requested Sweet Caroline. And sang every word.
Not a bad view for my workout Saturday morning. I was the first one up so I took advantage of the quiet, slipped on my sneaks and hit the fitness center.
We never got off the boat at Nassau or at Great Stirrup Cay. So Saturday and Sunday, this is what I was doing during the day. Relaxing. I read two books! I was totally unplugged and it felt great.
Our cabin attendant was the sweetest, He was sunny, and polite, and left us these little surprises every day.
Cramped cabin selfie! I pulled out this fun little swing dress from last summer. I love the blue embroidery. It was perfect to be a little more dressed up than casual but not formal.
These goofballs. I love 'em. We were trying to decide what to order for our last night there. I knew I wanted dessert, so I had a salad with chicken.
Sorry. I meant to take a picture before I started eating. Trust me, the molten lava cake was delicious.
Waiting for the game show to start!
Singing along at our favorite piano bar again!
Love this girl so much! Thanks for putting this trip together Kell!
Now for some thoughts on the actual cruise. I had previously cruised with Royal Caribbean and this cruise was on the Norwegian Sky. It was an all inclusive - food and alcohol (although there were a la carte dining options as well). The food was ok. The ship was ok. For a three night girls getaway around the Caribbean, it was great for what we were wanting. If I were to go again, I'd probably go back to RC or try Princess.
I liked the fixed dining time on RC. You got to know your wait staff and they got to know you. I liked having those interactions with them. I also felt that the ship was just a little nicer over all on RC than Norwegian. If someone were to say, hey I'm paying for you to go on a Norwegian Cruise, I'd go, but if planning my own trip, I'd probably go with Royal Caribbean.
Come back tomorrow Stella & Dot fans - I'll be showing off the NEW ARRIVALS!!!
xoxoxoxo
The winner of the Passion Planner Giveaway is JoAnn A.! Congratulations!!! Look for an email from me with details!
Alas - there is no Friday Favorites this week. I had to talk about it like there was going to be a post because several of us were surprising my cousin Ally with a girls weekend. Several of us are turning 40 this year (and I am turning 40 TODAY!!!) and we wanted to celebrate.
We are off on a Bahamas cruise! It was so fun to surprise her and I cannot believe we managed to keep the trip a secret the whole time we were planning it. For the record, I love and adore my family but we are terrible at keeping secrets from each other. The fact that we were able to keep this under wraps for the last year is amazing to me.
I'll be back next week! Have a great weekend y'all!
xoxoxoxo
Hello! Happy Tuesday! Welcome to Show and Tell. This week's show and tell is about the best and worst trips you've been on.
I have to say, I have been very fortunate in my travels in that I have not really had many terrible experiences. Only one sticks out in my memory, so let's start with that one.
In 2010, I moved from North Carolina to Texas. My mom flew to North Carolina to make the drive with me. The plan was to drive as far as we could that first day and get as close to Texas as possible. The evening of that first day we started to hit some rough weather, including potential tornadoes. The goal at that point was to just get to a place to stop for the night. We ended up in Monroe, Louisiana at a La Quinta. I had stayed at La Quintas before and hadn't had any problems. This time, I was not as fortunate.
We checked in and got to our room and the carpet was wet. Wet to the point that we couldn't put anything down on the ground. The cats were none too pleased and spent most of the night on the beds, chairs, and tables to avoid the floor. The room itself was hideously damp. We just wanted to shower and sleep and get on the road. We each showered and then tried to sleep but everything felt damp. Finally at 4am, my mom asked, "are you awake?" To which I replied, "Yep." She said, "Do you want to just go?" So we packed up and got out of there. When I went to check out I explained about the condition of the room, as they were very curious as to why I was checking out at 4:15am. I explained the problems with the room and they ended up only charging us $20 for the night.
Now, on to the fun stuff! My favorite trips!
Let's start with my trip to Hawaii! This was a trip I took solo. It was a reward to myself for two things: losing 100 pounds and finishing my doctorate. It was heavenly. Relaxing by the pool, enjoying the beach, seeing Pearl Harbor, experiencing a luau, seeing pineapple plantations...it was all so breathtaking. I am excited to be going back for our honeymoon and experiencing a different part of the state. Last time I went, I stayed on Oahu at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. When we go in the Fall we'll be staying on the Big Island at the Hilton Kings Land. #volcanoes #hewantstoseelavatubes #andaluau
Vegas! Oh this was so much fun. We walked everywhere! I think one day alone we walked about 10 miles. #notanexaggerationWe explored the Strip, saw the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam, saw a Cirque show, ate some amazing food, and stayed at the lovely Hilton Elara Hotel. If you want to stay in vegas and want to avoid the casino, stay at the Elara. You won't have to walk through a casino to get to your hotel. Oh, and while we were in Vegas we got engaged! This trip will always have a special place in my heart for that reason.
Fredricksburg, TX was the first trip that Phillip and I took together after we started dating. We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast and on the Saturday we hiked Enchanted Rock. We had a great weekend hiking and exploring the main street in Fredricksburg. There are lots of great shops and restaurants, especially if you are looking for antiques or unique items for your home.
And finally - Disney! We planned this trip from the moment my niece was born, ha! We decided that when she turned 4 would be the ideal age for her first trip. We had a blast! It was fun to run through all the parks and see everything and also experience her excitement at seeing everything for the first time. It was so much fun spending that week together in Disney. We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn & Villas and I HIGHLY recommend it. Having that boardwalk right there with restaurants and food carts and stuff to do on the boardwalk was great. It was also nice being able to walk to Epcot or Hollywood Studios. One day, Grammy and Papa kept my niece and they did a character breakfast and the Magic Kingdom and the rest of us hit up Universal Studios to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. So much fun. It really was a great trip. I imagine, only to be topped by our honeymoon in Hawaii!
Those are my best and one worst travel story! Come back tomorrow for info on the huge Stella & Dot Memorial Day Sale and then on Friday for Friday Favorites!
xoxoxoxo
