This was our first cruise together...I had done one before in high school, but Klay had never been on one. We usually just take a flight some where and then take trains to certain places we want to see, but this trip was suppose to be relaxing and what's more relaxing than traveling by boat where everyone loves you???
We were not sure how much we would like the cruise, but thought we had to give it a shot...we have friends and family who absolutely LOVE cruising and thought it had to be good. We wanted to do an Eastern Caribbean cruise, however they seemed to all be really expensive, or already booked. However we are very persistent and continued to look, the one we really wanted had been booked, but amazingly came available less than a month before the cruise date...the day before we had almost booked our cruise on another line, and thank the Lord we didn't! The cruise was delayed because of sickness. Over 200 people got sick, they cleaned the boat and set out for the cruise we should have been on, then turned around 2 days after leaving due to sickness! Seriously was thanking the Lord for looking out for us!
We cruised Holland America...which was AMAZING! The reviews we read were right on, a much older crowd, but super classy! Thankfully I love older people and this worked out great! The average age was probably 60-80yrs old...seriously! I think we counted about 8 children the whole week, which was nice for us because it was quiet. The advantage to an older crowd was that everything was so classy...jazzy music, piano bar, acoustic guitar, string band, etc...you didn't see any clubs or anything, which we are not into and made for a peaceful and relaxing trip...so our trip begins...
DAY 1: My Birthday!
We got a semi early flight and flew Spirit airlines...which is super cheap and surprisingly pretty nice, nicer than we had expected. Our free bag also could be bigger than we thought! We had an amazing friend of mine from high school pick us up from the airport and got us to the ship, after a quick trip to Publix for some bottles of wine;)...the checking in was easy and went very fast...we got our first lunch after getting our room and doing our emergency drill...thankfully the US still does this;) Sadly this was also super bowl Sunday, thankfully however, Klay wasn't a huge fan of any team and said we could go to dinner and miss the game...however being the wonderful wife I am we watched the very beginning, and the very end.
Birthday Cocktail!
My handsome Klay and our room!
After dinner we took walks around the deck
DAY 2: At Sea
This day were at sea...we ate a yummy breakfast in the dining room, and then we relaxed by sitting on the deck to read.
After a few hours we decided to hit some of the classes/activities the cruise had...we did mixology and learned how to make some yummy drinks. The bartender was super funny and enjoyable, we also met a couple from Nashville that were in their 40's and talked with them throughout the cruise. We also went to a cooking class...I loved this, it was like I was watching something fromm food network!
After a fun day at sea we got dressed up fancy for our first formal night! Again the food was outstanding, as well as the service, the waiters new our names after the first night and made us feel so spoiled!
