Cruisin in Style

Troy and I just returned from a 5 day Cruise to the Bahamas and it was an awesome trip!

Troy won the cruise at work so it really was a special treat for us.  We've been looking forward to it for months and it was well worth the wait.

Nana came to stay with the kids and they loved every minute with her, so that made it much easier for us to leave home.

As you know, Hurricane Isaac came last week and was anticipated to hit Miami the day we were to leave.  So, this lead to a lot of news watching...and praying before the trip.  After 2 of our flights being cancelled, we ended up running to the airport late Saturday evening to catch a flight before the hurricane hit.

Nothing like going on vacation into a hurricane.  :)

We did get to Miami o.k. though and ended up enjoying some relaxing time in a nice hotel there while it rained and blew for a few days.

We got on our cruise the day we were supposed to...just a few hours later than expected.

And once we got on that boat, all was well. 

 The weather turned beautiful and the seas were calm.

yea!

Here's our boat - The Norwegian Sky...

We really enjoyed our time on the boat.  

Our room was on that top row of rooms with balconies.  It was pretty cool to sit out on our balcony and watch the waters all around us.

Ate some great food, met some great people, listened to some good music 

and mostly just relaxed.

We went to a different island in the Bahamas each day.  We had a great time on these shore excursions.  Each day was a little different.

On this day we road a little boat from our ship to the shore.  We spent the day on a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines.  It was a pretty cool resort island.  Troy snorkeled all day.  I was already pretty sunburned so I thoroughly enjoyed just being in the water and then reading (a whole book...which was an awesome book by the way) under an umbrella.  

They had a big bbq lunch for us on the island.

My favorite thing at lunch...the fresh coconut that you ate off the shell.  So good. 

 (It was kind of like I was on survivor chewing on coconut.)

Here's Captain Troy...

First night before dinner with the company who sent us on the cruise.  There were about 40 other people they sent.  We had a great steak dinner with them. 

 Best thing we ate...probably all trip...Creme Brulee.   Awesome.

Another day we docked at The Grand Bahama Island.  We didn't have real plans on this day and it turned out perfect.  We knew of a beach we wanted to go to - a private beach that is supposed to have the best snorkeling on the island.  

And we wanted to shop...on the other side of the island from the beach we wanted to visit.

So, we rented a scooter....which the ship kind of advised against. But, this turned out to be perfect for us.  

We had such a great time scooting around the island on our own. 

 Troy did a great job navigating around on the left side of the road from one end of the island to the other...and through many roundabouts.  

We only ran into the grass once (thankful for the grass) 

and that was probably my fault for not leaning with Troy.  

Other than that incident we did great.

When we got to the beach we were the only Americans there.  And really, not too many people were there at all.  We ate some conch fritters (or balls of grease), they discouraged us from snorkeling because Hurricane Isaac had made the conditions not good.  

Troy did it anyway and had a great time.

And me?  I read on the beach and swam around in the water.   :)

 On our last day, we docked at Nassau, Bahamas.  This was an AWESOME day.  We spent our day at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.  What an amazing place.  It is absolutely incredible with it's beaches, aquarium, amazing pools, mile long lazy...and not so lazy river and really really cool water slides.

We rode everything.  And I was scared out of my mind a few times.  Including the ride below...The Leap Of Faith.  If you watched The Amazing Race a few seasons ago, this was the slide on that ride in Dubai.    It was HIGH and straight down.  

You shot into a tube that went through shark infested waters.

Of course I was recovering from the drop and sucking up so much water so I didn't even notice the sharks as I went through the tube.

Oh my goodness.

We also went down a slide called "the Abyss."  This one was pitch black with two drops like the

Leap of Faith, one after the other.  I was so stinkin scared before I went down.  

After the two drops I came up in a cave with aquariums all around. 

 It took me a minute to get my bearings and breathe 

and then I saw a turn on the other side of the cave. 

 I thought, "Oh my gosh, there's more!!!"  

But the lifeguard in the cave assured me that it was over.  I had survived.

And that completed ALL of the slides at Atlantis.  whew.

What a cool day.  Troy and I had a great time together and we highly recommend this place for a vacation with your family.

And here we are on our last night on the boat. 

 It was a nice night with a great dinner and some great music.

The next morning it was up early and home to our girls...and we were really ready to see them.

What an awesome trip.  We were so thankful for the time together.  So thankful for Nana taking care of our girls.  And to Mom for all she did to help us get ready for the trip. 

Can't wait till next time.

Maybe it will be a Disney Cruise!  :)