Here's a picture of Mady surrounded by luggage, content to have wifi and iMessage... 
We flew out of Las Vegas on August 1 at 4:50 pm and landed in Ft Lauderdale just after midnight. Arielle flew out of Nashville and landed in Miami at pretty much the same time we did. I booked our hotel online via Priceline and while I did well to make sure there were enough beds for us all to sleep comfortably AND to get us a great price for this room, I did not pay much attention to the LOCATION of this hotel. Arielle had a 40 minute shuttle ride (not counting stops for other passengers) and we had a 20 minute ride via taxi to the hotel. Other than requiring extra money for transportation and getting to bed really late, this didn't end up being as much of an inconvenience as I thought it might be. Everyone was just too excited for the cruise to care!
The Norwegian Getaway was a really fun ship! Brand new this year, it had all the latest and greatest amenities: a zip line, water slides, arcade, rock climbing wall, miniature golf, basketball court, mini bowling alley...I don't know if I've named it all, but it was really amazing! The girls really enjoyed laying out, while Karter wanted to do everything active that he could. This helped Dave and I realize that any future out-of-the-ordinary family adventures need to also include a friend for Karter. It took him awhile to dare to do things alone, but after a couple of days he realized that when mom and dad were not willing to engage in 10 year old adventure, he could go up to the sports court and find some friends to play basketball or soccer with. He also discovered that he could easily swipe his card at the arcade--and racked up quite a tab in doing so--but it was worth it to see him enjoying himself.
The ports are always my favorite part. We visited St. Martin (French side)/St. Marteen (Dutch side.) Here we took at taxi tour of the island with Tony. He stopped at several sites for us to take pictures and/or explore (including a nude beach, which he was very excited about but which obvioulsy a little uncomfortable for us...) and then he dropped us off at Dawn Beach to spend a few hours until it was time to go back to the ship.
In all the Caribbean cruises Dave and I have done with Heritage Makers, one of our favorite islands was St. Thomas. I was especially excited to spend the day at St John island, but when the shuttle driver explained the time it took to get there and the extra transportation expenses, we decided to take his suggestion for another simple tour of the island and a few hours at a nice beach on the main island. We shopped around as we waited for the tour to start, and Karter was invited by two native island boys to play basketball with them. They didn't have a hoop, so they shot the ball through some branches in a tree. Very creative! Karter loved it1 I enjoyed the tour--I love seeing sights and learning more about the culture of the islands--but I didn't enjoy the beach as much as I had enjoyed St. John. The sand was "dirty" and rocky (another example of how much of a "princess" I have become in my older age) but the water was clear and the sun was warm. Karter, Dave, and Mady snorkled, Arielle slept in a beach chair, and I sat on a rock at the edge of the water and just enjoyed the waves (once I got over the "ugly" beach) as they splashed around me. Karter also made friends with an iguana while we were at the beach. All the adults around were afraid of the huge lizard, but Karter worked up to actually petting it, showing all the adults that their fears were unwarranted. The time passed way to quickly and soon it was time to go back to the ship.
Our last port was Nassau, Bahamas. It seems to be a little more modern, and the streets near the cruise ship port are full of shops and shoppers. We may or may not have lost Karter in one of the shops for a little while, but he was smart enough to stay where he was until I found him. We booked this final excursion through the ship--a day at the Blue Lagoon, which is a private beach that the ship has partnered with to allow its passengers to visit. It was a 30 minute ride on a catamaran over to the island. This beach was more my style! I went snorkeling with Dave and Karter while the girls layed out (and they had wifi, so they were in heaven) and they served us lunch, and then it was time to go. I thought it was a perfect way to end the cruise.
One last side bar: I wanted to be able to tie the Book of Mormon into this vacation as a reminder of how personal scripture study provides blessings in our lives and if we dedicate ourselves to searching them, we will find hidden treasures of knowledge. I used symbolism, like the boat could be likened to Lehi's journey to the promised land and gave them sandals for the journey; a sweater for the girls and shorts for Karter were likened to the armor of God (I had also given the girls one piece swim suits before the trip, hoping they would choose to bring them, but I guess that is yet to come;) and little treasure cheats with CTR jewelry and pearls earrings (sunglasses and a tie track or Karter) as a symbol of searching the scriptures for that pearl of great price. I hope someday they will remember this part of the trip, as now they pale in comparison...
We have taken one other cruise as a family--5 years ago--and the boarding process was a nightmare! Very long story short, I didn't realize Curtis misplaced his birth certificate when registering for football until the morning we were to leave. It was a holiday, so the health department was closed leaving no chance to obtain an official copy. A telephone call to the cruiseline told us that the photo copy that I somehow had would be sufficient, but the lady at the cruise line counter told us otherwise--she was not going to let us board. BUT lots of prayers and creative angles led to a desperate phone call to the Dixie Middle School secretary (who was on summer break,) who selflessly went to the school, found Curtis' file (which she told us afterward was not filed where it was supposed to be,) and faxed the copy she had to the cruiseline, which for some reason suddenly made it all valid and they let us on the ship--with maybe 10 minutes to spare!!!! (This is reminding me that I never thanked the school secretary with a gift card like I had planned... it is now on my TO DO LIST for this week!!!)
I tell you this stressful story to explain why boarding this cruise ship seemed like such a miraculous breeze. It was fast and easy, and (almost) without a hitch.
Side bar: I would be lying if I didn't add that word "almost." While Mady was in Missouri this summer, I was somehow reminded of the fact that a Caribbean Cruise actually requires a passport--neither Mady nor Karter had one. Mady got home from Missouri 2 weeks before we were to leave on the cruise...we paid for expedition and sent the applications off with a prayer, called 5 days before we were to board the ship to learn that the photos were not valid (red eye--we did them at a professional passport photo place to avoid such problems, but I guess the Walmart photo counter should never be considered professional,) rushed to Walgreens to take new photos, overnighted them with another batch of prayers, and got the passports back the day before we left... To make it even more interesting, I had noticed online as we were still anticipating the passports that a birth certificate would actually be accepted, which allowed me to relax--until we got the passports back AND THE BIRTH CERTIFICATES that we were required to send with the application... My stomach couldn't help but sink a little at that point... I guess I like to keep things exciting...
The ports are always my favorite part. We visited St. Martin (French side)/St. Marteen (Dutch side.) Here we took at taxi tour of the island with Tony. He stopped at several sites for us to take pictures and/or explore (including a nude beach, which he was very excited about but which obvioulsy a little uncomfortable for us...) and then he dropped us off at Dawn Beach to spend a few hours until it was time to go back to the ship.
In all the Caribbean cruises Dave and I have done with Heritage Makers, one of our favorite islands was St. Thomas. I was especially excited to spend the day at St John island, but when the shuttle driver explained the time it took to get there and the extra transportation expenses, we decided to take his suggestion for another simple tour of the island and a few hours at a nice beach on the main island. We shopped around as we waited for the tour to start, and Karter was invited by two native island boys to play basketball with them. They didn't have a hoop, so they shot the ball through some branches in a tree. Very creative! Karter loved it1 I enjoyed the tour--I love seeing sights and learning more about the culture of the islands--but I didn't enjoy the beach as much as I had enjoyed St. John. The sand was "dirty" and rocky (another example of how much of a "princess" I have become in my older age) but the water was clear and the sun was warm. Karter, Dave, and Mady snorkled, Arielle slept in a beach chair, and I sat on a rock at the edge of the water and just enjoyed the waves (once I got over the "ugly" beach) as they splashed around me. Karter also made friends with an iguana while we were at the beach. All the adults around were afraid of the huge lizard, but Karter worked up to actually petting it, showing all the adults that their fears were unwarranted. The time passed way to quickly and soon it was time to go back to the ship.
Our last port was Nassau, Bahamas. It seems to be a little more modern, and the streets near the cruise ship port are full of shops and shoppers. We may or may not have lost Karter in one of the shops for a little while, but he was smart enough to stay where he was until I found him. We booked this final excursion through the ship--a day at the Blue Lagoon, which is a private beach that the ship has partnered with to allow its passengers to visit. It was a 30 minute ride on a catamaran over to the island. This beach was more my style! I went snorkeling with Dave and Karter while the girls layed out (and they had wifi, so they were in heaven) and they served us lunch, and then it was time to go. I thought it was a perfect way to end the cruise.
One last side bar: I wanted to be able to tie the Book of Mormon into this vacation as a reminder of how personal scripture study provides blessings in our lives and if we dedicate ourselves to searching them, we will find hidden treasures of knowledge. I used symbolism, like the boat could be likened to Lehi's journey to the promised land and gave them sandals for the journey; a sweater for the girls and shorts for Karter were likened to the armor of God (I had also given the girls one piece swim suits before the trip, hoping they would choose to bring them, but I guess that is yet to come;) and little treasure cheats with CTR jewelry and pearls earrings (sunglasses and a tie track or Karter) as a symbol of searching the scriptures for that pearl of great price. I hope someday they will remember this part of the trip, as now they pale in comparison...
1 comment:
This is awesome!!! I love all the things you did and saw. Your scripture-ties (the gifts) were perfect! What a great thing to do. I've only been to the Caribbean once (Cancun), and I really need to go back!!
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