Welcome Aboard, Let Me Show You Around!

So where do I begin to talk about my last 10 days?! First I can genuinely say jet lag/vacation lag/what day is it/what time is it?...... has set in today. I got up this morning and went back to bed and proceeded to spend the remainder of my day in bed. I am tired, but beginning to feel more rested as the day goes on.

....okay...vacation....one word...AMAZING!

I got to spend ten days with my mom, sister, and my niece Gabby. I can't remember the last time I have laughed so much. Laughing at ourselves, at each other, at others. It is the longest I have ever been away from my kids, and I can say by the end of the trip, I was missing my family. There were times I wish they could have been able to see or do some of things I did. However, to be able to spend the time with these women was amazing and definitely an experience none of us will ever forget.

So once again where do I begin to weave this experience because it entails....adventure, sickness, food, activities, quarantine, food, bingo, food, blue water, food, scenery, variety shows, ghetto hospitals........and did I mention food?

So lets begin in Miami and some pics of the amazing boat that became our home for a week.....

Welcome to Miami

We all arrived in Miami safely...thank goodness because my mom was certain that we all would meet our demise before getting there...that is just the way moms are. After our arrival and long discussion with my mother that ended with her getting the nickname commando which stuck with her the rest of the trip  (I will indulge you in this story only with my mothers permission) we decided since we were basically in little Cuba at our hotel why not eat like the locals and have some Cuban food. It was delicious and enough food for an army to eat. They did have dolphin on the menu? I just could not see myself eating Flipper for dinner so I stuck with the one thing I could say in Spanish and know what I was ordering..."Chicharron el Pollo". Can I say fried plantain chips are addictive.

My dinner was 8.00....all that food for 8 bucks...yummy!

The next day we headed out for the boat......Now I can play Cruise director and unpaid advertiser and give you brief tour of the cruise line we took. We took Celebrity Cruise Line and it was beautiful! It is considered one of the mid luxury liners and their ships are tastefully decorated and their service is phenomenal and the food was incredible.

The Grand Foyer

A real tree suspended in air of the foyer

The outdoor pool. It had a bar, restaurant, and usually had a band playing. It also had four hot tubs and tons of places to sit in the sun. Pool boys came around with drinks, beach towels, iced towels, sorbets. They also had an indoor pool that was great when the outside temperatures got a little to hot or to crowded.

They also had real grass on the ship?!....grass on a cruise ship. They had a couple sports bars and a demonstration area where an artist did blown glass pieces up in this area. They did a lot of sporting event competitions on this level.

There was a bistro that served crepes, a coffee bar that served specialty coffees and teas and had amazing pastries that were free for the taking, gelato ice cream bar, clothing stores, jewelry stores, gift shops, casino, different specialty bars, fine dining restaurants, lounges, dance clubs, library, apple web cafe, spa, fitness gym, .....it is Literally a Las Vegas hotel but on a boat. everything was decorated very modern and art was displayed everywhere.

Oh the food. So basically you could eat 24 hours a day. They had three different places you could get food all day and really if you needed to eat at 3am room service was available. The main buffet area, the place by the pool, or a cafe by the spa...these were the restaurants included in your cruising package. The food fed everyone's needs...from very healthy, to decadent and fattening, and it was all yummy. Our dinner was set for 6pm and it was a sit down dinner where you had to dress up and were given a fine dining experience. You had the same wait staff every evening and the same table. We sat with some ladies from Grand Rapids Michigan and they were a hoot...they made us laugh every night.

Our stateroom which had a veranda with a table and chairs to sit at and enjoy the ocean blue.

Whew.....Seriously, I think I took a million pics, and I have tons more to show you, and tell you because this is only a fraction of it all....anyways I will share a few more pics of our port out of Miami....and then the next post....well, Puerto Rico and formal night...let see Puerto Rico involved the words ...quarantine, parental fail, Latin lover, coqui's, bad shrimp, top secret rum pictures, sea sick, and adult delinquents.....

Bye Bye Miami..........