Addicted…Part One

Everyone has their vices.  Unfortunately, Justin and I have found ourselves addicted to an expensive habit.  No illegal substances here.  We are addicted to cruising.  Last year, we took the plunge and toured the Western Caribbean and were hooked immediately.  We recently returned from 8 days in the Eastern Caribbean last week.

Whenever Justin and I leave town, I am reminded why I am so tired each and every day running this household.  It took 4 sets of grandparents running tirelessly to replace me.  I spent the entire week last week catching up on getting the cars and house clean, laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping and falling back into our hectic schedule.  We even cut out taekwondo, basketball, dance and choir and I am still running around like crazy!  I completed everything I needed to just to start all over again this week. 

So, in between all the general household chores I thought I would find the time to go through hundreds of cruise pics to share.  I keep thinking, “next week will be calmer than this week”, and when I get to the next week, it fills up like a flooding basement during a hurricane.  In addition to our regular routine, this week has been once again filled to capacity with the unusual happenings of getting our yard landscaped, a school play, a field trip, an IEP, 4 birthday parties, shopping for mother’s day gifts, teacher appreciation gifts, family flying into town, a nephew’s wedding and a piano recital. 

Our adventure started in Florida aboard “The Oasis of the Seas”, the largest cruise ship to date,  just in time for the 3D release of “Titanic”.  Yes, our timing is impeccable.  This ship holds around 6000 passengers and 2200 crew members and there are enough life boats for all of them!

 

Our balcony was on the upper right deck overlooking “Central Park”.  Yes.  This boat boasts a park, “The Promenade” an onboard mall, and Aqua Theatre, just to name a few unique features.   

The skillful divers actually dove 17 meters off of the top platform into a little, tiny pool at the bottom of the  theatre. 

Rumors had it that the navy carrier (see below) was a protection for our ship while in port at the Bahamas

What goes off the ship must come back on the ship (in theory).  One day our waiter said 20 people were left behind because they did not make it back by departure time.  They had to learn the hard way that the boat does not wait for you!  If you think the lines at Disneyland lines are bad, see what getting 6,000 people back on a boat through security looks like. 

Although the boat was exquisite, one of our favorite parts of the trip was the company.   Justin looked forward to entertaining our new friends each night at dinner and I looked forward to being embarrassed by the stories and jokes he had to tell. 

Formal Night - From left to right: Neil, Catey (from Boston) Me, Justin, Carina, Ricardo (newlyweds from Venezuela) Kimberly and Jorge (from New York). Strangely enough they all thought I was the one with the accent!