Tropical adventure...part 1

For the past...let me think...let's see...how long have I been married? Ummmm, oh yeah, about the last 10 years, I've been trying to convince Brad to someday go on a cruise.

And let me tell you, it has been a long and hard 10 years of persuasion!

His parents went on their first (and only) cruise on their 25 anniversary. A few short years later, Brad's dad died. I DID NOT want to wait that long to do something like this! We don't know what the future holds, and I wanted to do this kind of adventure when we were young.

And, in confession, I knew that if Brad liked the cruise, there was a much greater chance that we would do more of them in the future...and NOT just on our 25 anniversary!

So, after talking about it for, like 10 years...but really only seriously the last 10 months to a year...and after trying to plan a cruise with another couple...that eventually was foiled since I couldn't cruise in January or February due to the cruise lines change in "pregnant women" policy...and after deciding that it would be now or 10 years from now...since our kids will be in school soon and that just complicates finding childcare for 8 days...we found a GREAT deal and booked it...less than 3 weeks from departure. It was CRAZY!

But even with all the planning, packing, and research, it was completely worth it! For 7 wonderful days and nights, we were away from the Internet, cell phones, and pretty much all news (except for updates from Captain Hans). We ate 21 meals without children, read books, listened to sermons together, exercised, explored, talked, went dancing, watched movies, and saw some amazing places. It was a wonderful experience!

This is the first picture we took once we got on our ship, the Norwegian Pearl. It is taken from the 15th floor and overlooks a sundeck and the pools and hot tubs.


This is taken as we're leaving Samana in the Dominican Republic. We had to take these smaller boats called tenders to get from our ship to shore. This island had huge palm tree forests.


Every evening we dressed up for supper. It was such a blast! And I had some wonderful friends who loaned me some cute dresses. This restaurant is called Summer Palace...oh, and by the way, there were about 12 restaurants on the ship.


The next evening we ate at Mambo's. I think Brad ordered 2 appetizers and 2 entrees. That's the crazy thing about eating on a cruise ship. Your waiter will say, "You like? I bring you more!" Seriously, it was crazy how much food you could have eaten. Brad ordered lobster tacos (I know, sounds really gross, but there were so yummy!) and swordfish and shrimp kabobs. I had the BEST burrito I've ever had. As you can see, we were a little crazy with this picture...and we did go ballroom dancing later that evening.


At 2 of the stops, we were able to dock right up to the port. At the other stops, we had to take tenders. Here's a picture of me in front of our ship at St. Thomas. Seriously, these boats are HUGE! Ours had 15 floors, 12 restaurants, shops, a theater, fitness center, pools, casinos, lounges...EVERYTHING!


Don't we look cute as a post card?


There were a few disappointments along the way though. We were supposed to take an excursion to St. John's and to Trunk Bay...which is one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world...and also a pretty private beach as well...but the swells were too high that day, so we had to take the St. John's island tour instead. It was still beautiful, but we didn't get to go snorkeling or swimming at Truck Bay. This was as close as we got!


Here's a beautiful view from St. John's island. The far islands are the British Virgin Islands...which was our next stop. (Oh, and this was the first of 2 national parks we visited. That's right...almost every one of our previous vacations have been to state or national parks. Somehow my hubby was able to find 2 and convince me to go and explore them with him!)


This final picture...of this particular post, that is...I don't want to make your eyes bleed too much from overuse you know...was a example of one of the many towel creations made each night by our wonderful housekeepers. These were a ton of fun!


Stay tuned for the next exciting installment...you know, after I organize the other 1289 pictures we took...

it may be awhile!