You might remember earlier this year, I went to Hawaii. Thanks to my trip to Alaska in 2011, I made it to all 50 states, so I guess up next is visiting other countries. Obviously, I've been to Canada a number of times, but that about did it for my international travel. And, when you go to college less than an hour from Canada, it's not such a feat. This week I added two more countries: Mexico and Honduras.
The coolest part about this trip was we were taking a cruise and leaving from Tampa. That meant no dreaded airport time, and no "travel days". Nope. Instead our awesome neighbors took us and picked us up from the port, and I didn't even have to pay to park the car. (How great are they?)
We had found this amazing deal on Norwegian Cruise Lines, where you only had to pay for the first two passengers in the room, and everyone else came free (besides taxes, fees, and gratuities of course). So really it was cost effective to get a big room and have four of us travel for free.
Our room was on the 12th deck, the same deck as the pools and the buffet, which was nice.
It was a family suite, and it was pretty gigantic as far as cruise ship rooms go. We had a nice little living room....
...a dining room...
....and a king sized bed!
We had tons of storage, which was good, because we needed it for six people, the walk in closet was nice, but the light switch to the bathroom was behind the door, which drove me nuts. I walked into that bathroom at least 3 times a day, and then remembered I had to go back out to turn on the lights. First World Problems, I tell ya.
The bathroom was lovely, we had a nice shower and a huge (really deep, not so wide) tub.
Plus two sinks.
And it came with some perks. We had bath salts, and soap and shampoo dispensers in the shower.
Plus this awesome coffee machine. Although, the boys weren't fans. The stuff in here was strong. But it was so handy to have in our room.
As suite guests we had some perks, we got a fresh fruit bowl everyday...
and fresh flowers.
And a few other perks.
Family Suites don't have balconies, but they do have a huge wall of windows, which was nice. (And truthfully I didn't miss the balcony at all).
The check in process was fairly easy, until we hit a snag- the dining and drink package was missing from mom and I's account. So, we had to wait in line forever to get that figured out (and it still took a day, ugh!) Again, first world problems, I know. I did like their "freestyle dining" though, we weren't locked into a specific time for dinner every night, so that was nice. Although, I will admit the reservation process is not flawless either.
After checking out our room, we headed out for lunch. To no surprise, the boys found the ice cream straight away.
The bar, Topsiders, was outside was right by the pool. It served food on one half, and drinks on the other (separated by the ice cream!)
I actually liked Topsiders more than the buffet. The burgers and brats were good, and they usually had caramelized onions and sweet potato fries. Yum.
Then we were off to explore the ship. There was a huge chess game (and checkers on the other side),
piing pong...
...and a driving range on deck 13. (Neither Asa or I had never hit a golf ball off a tee like this before. Holy crap is it hard. But something I would totally learn how to do.)
We headed up to deck 14 to check out the view.
And way up there, they have a basketball court and a soccer net. Peyton and especially Calib spent a whole lot of time up here.
We were supposed to leave Tampa at 4 pm, so Asa and I had taken in the view of our "hometown" from a new perspective. We were really excited to watch us sail away. But, the boat had some mechanical issue, and they said we wouldn't be leaving until 10pm instead.
We headed back to our room, and afternoon snacks had been delivered by our butler, Made. Oh yea, Family Suites come with a Concierge and a Butler, and they are awesome. They bring you snacks, they seat you places in the theater, they hold elevators for you when you are running late. They bring you snacks everyday, and movies, and room service.
One of those was caviar, and Hayden and Peyton both tried them!
They didn't like it, but they tried it.
That was something we talked about before we went on the cruise, trying new foods. With our awesome deal we also got a free ultimate dining package for everyone in our party (which meant we could go to any of the specialty restaurants), and free drink packages (Asa's and mom's included all the alcohol they wanted!) for all of us as well. So I told the boys they should try all kinds of new things, as it was all included. I never asked for a kids menu for Hayden, and I told them the worst case scenario, they don't like it, and then they can get something else. It's not like it's costing me money for them to try any of it.
So the first night we were still having trouble with our dining package, so we went to one of the complimentary dining options on the ship, Aqua. They have two main dining rooms, one called Versailles (which was super fancy, and we never went to), and Aqua (which was more relaxed). They serve the same food, and we're not fancy people, so Aqua was the natural choice. Now, be warned, there are lots of pictures of food. Because we ate. A. LOT. of food. (I have never seen Hayden pack away so much food).
That night I had crab cakes as my appetizer. They were good, but not amazing. They were a little on the dry side, but the sauce under the cakes was really good with it.
Mom had pretty standard french onion soup.
Peyton had these smokey barbecue chicken drumsticks.
Calib had some kind of crab and potato soup he enjoyed.
Hayden went with a salad (he got more adventurous as the cruise went on).
And Asa had a salad with conch fritters. The salad was excellent, and the conch fritters were good.
For my main course, Calib, mom and I, all had garlic shrimp with jasmine rice. I actually didn't touch the rice, because I really wasn't all that hungry. The shrimp were awesome though. There was a creamy garlicky buttery sauce underneath that I would put on any seafood ever. This actually was one of my favorite meals on the ship, and it was in the Complimentary Dining Room. Really, honestly, you could go without the Specialty Dining Package, and I don't think you'd be missing a lot.
Peyton had chicken curry, and he LOVED it. He said it wasn't too spicy, but it had lots of flavor. It was his second favorite meal on the ship (Nothing can sway Peyton away from filet mignon).
Asa had duck over noodles. The sauce again was awesome. I really think Aqua knows what they are doing with their sauces!
Hayden got meatballs and mashed potatoes. It wasn't anything too outside the box for him, but it was a far cry from grilled cheese he usually orders at restaurants. He ate his whole dish, and it was the biggest one on the table.
It was a delicious dinner, but we still had dessert coming.
Calib and I each got cherries jubilee. I liked it, before all my ice cream melted. But, that's just me, I don't find melty ice cream too appetizing (so maybe this wasn't the best dessert to order).
Mom got pistachio creme brulee. It was a weird combo for me, but it was actually pretty tasty.
Peyton and Hayden had chocolate molten lava cake. I have no idea how it was, because they ate it all without offering to give anyone a bite. I'm going to go ahead and guess that it was awesome, though.
I loved Asa's Kona Coffee Cheesecake. The coffee flavor wasn't overpowering at all. Just the right amount.
When we got back to our room, it had been turned down. The sofa bed folded out, and Hayden and Calib took that.
The dining area was moved for the murphy bed...
And mom and Peyton took that one.
Asa got a drink, and we went up to the top deck hoping to see us leave Tampa.
It looked so pretty at night.
Oh, and it was the coldest it had been in months.
It became apparent we weren't going to leave at 10, the boat was still tied up and quiet as could be. The Captain never came back over the loud speaker to let us know, so we killed some time playing around, hoping to catch the boat leave.
After we realized it was going to be pretty late before we left, the boys headed off to bed and Asa and I caught a late night snack....
...and drink at O'Sheehans, the pub on board the ship. You guys, they had poutine! And you know I love poutine (especially at Epcot)! Nothing will ever be as good as Canada in Epcot, but this poutine was awesome in it's own right.
That was it for our first day on the ship. Asa and I finally gave up around 1:30 on waiting for the boat to leave, and went to sleep. I woke up around 3:30 and we were moving, so we left sometime in that window. I was sad I missed leaving Tampa, but happy to finally be moving. It was weird to spend that whole first day half an hour from my house.
Next Up: A Day at Sea
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