The Cruise

So I thought I would do a little review of the cruise in general. This was Katie & Tommy's third cruise (I believe) but our first. Several people have asked what we thought! Just a few technical details - our cruise was four nights and we were on the Norwegian cruise line. That's our ship in the picture above. I'll be honest we were pretty anxious because if it's something you don't like, you're kind of stuck. It's not like you can switch to a better boat or leave. Also, AB gets motion sick very easily - as in he can't even look at a map when we're in the car! So I was worried this would be him throughout the entire trip!

Luckily that wasn't the case although we did have a few minor glitches. Since AB is prone to motion sickness I had my doctor prescribe us the patch. The patches are great, they are small and you place one behind your ear every three days. Ironically the patch has many side affects that mimic motion sickness itself and I ended up having a few of them so I took mine off the second day. After I took it off I felt fine. Another side affect that we both experienced was dry mouth - as in I thought my mouth was stuffed with cotton balls it was so dry! Poor AB also experienced dilated pupils so he wasn't able to read anything up close toward the end of the trip. Other than that, the patch was great for him, no motion sickness at all!

After we disembarked I experienced land sickness. I had never heard of such a thing until I googled my symptoms and found that quite a few people experience this. Basically I felt like I was still on the boat even though I was on solid ground. I constantly felt like I was moving and it made me extremely nauseous. In fact, I actually puked at the airport (sorry for the tmi but I'm just being real)! We disembarked on a Friday and the moving sensation did not cease until Tuesday. I'm happy to report I'm totally back to normal now!

I guess these are our overall thoughts on cruising - we enjoyed it, we especially enjoyed being with friends, we are definitely open to going on another one but we aren't totally in love with it. I mention the "in love" thing because there are people out there who are cruise crazy! I mean, I think that is the only type of vacation they go on. I think cruises are ideal for families and groups. Many cruise lines offer tons of kid's activities which is great because you can have adult time while your kids are taken care of and having fun. We witnessed multiple family reunions on the ship and I think a cruise is perfect for that kind of thing. There is something for everyone on and off the ship. Speaking of the ship - it is huge as you can tell by the photo below. Of course it's not hard for the two shortest people on earth to make something look tall!

It's funny how something so large can have the tiniest rooms ever! I believe the website stated they are 149 sq ft. Our room had a closet but it wasn't big enough to store our luggage so it was just out on the floor and I cannot tell you how many times AB and I tripped over it! It got humorous toward the end because it was such a regular occurrence.

I mentioned lots of kid's activities but in general the ship has a lot going on during the day and night and you can participate in as much or as little as you want. And of course there is lots of eating!! We ate in the dining room each night and I thought the food was good. It wasn't the best food I've ever eaten but it definitely wasn't terrible. I've had friends who've had terrible food on cruises and friends who've had amazing food. I'm guessing the higher end the cruise line, the better the food. I have no idea where Norwegian falls in the ranks of cruise lines but I thought our food was pretty decent :)

Katie and I on the deck one evening

AB and I on the deck one evening with some creepy guy in the background, oh wait we know him - LOL!

So those are my general thoughts on the cruise itself, our overall experience was good :)