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Cruise of the Western Caribbean, Norwegian Style

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We were super excited to board the ship!
Back in May, a friend of mine asked if our two families could go a cruise together.  Uh, yeah.  There's nothing we like to do more than go on trips with friends.  We actually booked the cruise that night....and our friends backed out.

So, we headed off to warmer skies during the always hectic month of December.  I must admit that I sighed relief when I told people that we wouldn't be here to play, or sing, or participate in this or that Christmas party.  It's always a crazy experience for me to either find arrangements for violin and viola (rarely happens), or to write my own arrangements (happens more than I wish it would).  We literally go from one party to the next, sometimes practicing only hours before we are supposed to perform.  To my girls' credit, they are becoming professionals at making their music sound like they have been practicing it for weeks.  Sometimes we have to review exactly how the arrangement works while driving to the party, because we haven't even had time to practice it.  Yep, it's pretty crazy.

It's nice that church clothes can double
for dress-up night clothes on the cruise :-)
Taking a break in the middle of December seemed ideal.  We even found a deal through Norwegian Cruise Line so that we could try out a new cruise line and see how it compared to Carnival.  Thankfully, my insistence that we fly to Tampa the day before the cruise departed paid off--a huge snow storm hit the Northeast the day after we left.  Too, we were able to attend church on Sunday morning before we boarded the ship.  I love attending church elsewhere, mostly because we can sit as a family (which we never do), and because we have no responsibilities (which never happens at home).

I won't lie.  The ship seemed much nicer than any of the Carnival ships on which we had previously sailed.  However, I'll skip to the end now and say that we'll be going back to Carnival.  We missed several things about Carnival, and the prices are always better.

I love the "Fun Day at Sea" that most cruises have while they are sailing to the first major destination.  Because we have no internet or phone connection, it really is a day of fun and relaxation.  We love the trivia contests (although we miss our friends, David and Mel, who have areas of knowledge that we lack), and we love to hang out on the ship.  Two things that Norwegian had going for it were the fitness center (beautiful, modern and overlooking the sea) and the full-size swimming pool.  Oh my goodness, Johannah and I had such a relaxing, wonderful time in the pool (after working out), and unbelievably we didn't get sunburned!

Really though, we were on the cruise for the same reason we always cruise:  sampling different places for SCUBA diving.  In all honesty, our family would never want to spend a week in Belize, diving, mostly because of safety issues and because everything is pretty run down, but it's perfect for a day of diving.  We get to see places that have great diving, good diving, and not-so-good diving.  We see places where we want to return, and others we don't.  Plus, it's a nice break for me, because I don't have to see the inside of a kitchen for a week, nor make a single bed!

The rooms were smaller on this ship, although they slept more people.  The food wasn't nearly as good as on Carnival, and the flexible dining?  It's just code for "you can show up whenever you want to eat, but you will probably be waiting in line for 10-30 minutes".  We missed getting to know our waiters in the dining room and having the same table each night.  I will admit that we even missed the obnoxious cruise director on Carnival, waking us up at all hours with their stupid announcements.  One good thing?  24 hour juice.

Either way, we were happy to be headed to some of our favorite diving spots, and I personally was thankful for a husband who could pay for it all, and for children who actually wanted to spend time with their parents :-)

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