Spring Break 2015 - Part 1 - Bon Voyage!

For years, I've been wanting to go on a cruise. Steve has always been a bit reluctant, fearing that he wouldn't like being stuck on a boat for a week. As we were looking at options for a family vacation over spring break, I brought up a cruise. To my surprise, Steve agreed! Based on our spring break dates and availability, we opted for a cruise to the Mexican Riviera, on board the Norwegian Star, with stops in Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.

We flew out early Sunday morning, March 29 to Los Angeles. Just as we were getting ready to taxi to the runway, the pilot came on and said that there was heavy fog at LAX, and there was going to be a delay. We ended up sitting on the plane for another two hours before we were cleared for takeoff. I was watching the moments tick by and beginning to panic that we wouldn't make it to the port on time! When we finally were on the ground in LA, I breathed a sigh of relief. We took a shuttle to the Long Beach cruise terminal. There was a lot of excitement circulating through the kids.

This was Grant as we got on the shuttle. 

This was Grant five minutes later. 

The boys, each on their own electronics, while Olivia and I
waited in line at the port terminal to check in!

We made it to the port right on time, got through the check-in process, and were escorted up to our room to drop off our carry-on bags (the rest of our luggage was delivered to our room later that afternoon), then to a private restaurant exclusively for suite guests. We felt like celebrities!

We each had key cards that were our passes for all onboard activities, food, drinks, and the key to our room. There was also an app for our phones that allowed onboard texting to family members, as well as monitoring of our daily charges. Pretty cool what technology can do!

Our room was on the 12th floor. We opted for a "family suite" instead of two tiny rooms, which gave us a bit more room, and also put us up near most of the activities on the ship!

One whole wall of our room was floor to ceiling windows.
We enjoyed the view of the ocean all week long!

We unpacked and tucked our suitcases away for the week, then went out to the deck and watched as we pulled out of Long Beach and into the wide open sea.

I sure love this guy!

We spent the afternoon exploring and familiarizing ourselves with the ship. The kids were all three so happy and playful, giddy with excitement about the week ahead!

We capped off the night with a carnivorous dinner in the Brazilian steakhouse on board, then were gently rocked to sleep by the rolling waves of the ocean.

On the first morning at sea, Steve and I and the boys all woke up early. Olivia was still sleeping, so we decided to let her rest while we got out of the room. Steve and I hit the gym, while the boys went to shoot hoops and get a donut. We agreed to meet back at the room at a designated time. When Steve and I were done at the gym, we headed back to the room. No boys. I stayed put, while Steve went looking for them.

A few minutes later, he texted me that he'd found them in the arcade. I quickly replied "Were they swiping their cards?" To which Steve responded, "Check the account!"

I logged into the app, and nearly fell over...those two had racked up $250 in arcade charges in less than 30 minutes! Turns out, they were playing the "grabber" game. You know, the one where you get one chance to grab a prize? Well, they were trying to "grab" $1,000 cash...and get this...they wanted to win it to help pay for the trip! We had a stern chat about not swiping their cards without permission, and told them they were banned from the arcade for the rest of the trip!

We spent the rest of Monday chilling out, exploring some more, and taking advantage of the "all you can eat" ice cream bar!

The pool deck was pure craziness.
Live music multiple times each afternoon and evening.
Poolside games and entertainment, tons of kids, and lots of noise!

Steve and I enjoyed poolside cocktails and "mocktails"
nearly every afternoon. Good times!

Fresh fruit and treats were delivered to our room
every afternoon by our "butler" Chris!

Grant is still mastering the ice cream cone licking.
He ended up covered in ice cream every afternoon!

Norwegian Cruise Line is what is known as "freestyle cruising". . . meaning you can choose how dressed up you want to get. Some cruise lines have strict dress requirements for restaurants. Knowing my kids (mainly, my boys), I knew that having to dress up for dinner every night would not go over well. This was about as fancy as they got. Though Grant did actually tuck in his shirt one night!

We enjoyed some great nighttime entertainment throughout the week, including magicians, comedians, amazing acrobatics, and more.