Norwegian Getaway June 2015

In late June, we flew to Miami and set sail on the Norwegian Getaway for a week long vacation! My parents, Eric, Madison and I had an amazing vacation. I will admit, I was nervous about taking Madison on a cruise and also being 23 weeks pregnant. I was nervous how she would behave, if she would sleep well and if she would go stir crazy not having her toys. I am happy to say that all my reservations were worked out just fine!  There were many times that she was nervous with all the new things.  We decided to not fight the fight and let her have her Wubbie whenever she wanted.  I'm not sure there are many pictures where she doesn't have her Wubbie in her mouth...

We joked that she had narcolepsy because she would be talking up a storm and then fall asleep a minute later. On the runway, in her stroller, on the boat to the beach, in her bed...#wheremadisonsleeps

We flew into Miami on Friday, June 26th. It was a long travel day and we flew through lunch and nap time. Madison slept for over half the flight and then played on the iPad, colored and ate snacks for the last hour. Once we landed, we got to the hotel, ate an early dinner and all slept very well that night. 

The next morning, we left the hotel around 10:30AM to head to the cruise terminal. We had a relatively easy boarding, partly due to having a toddler and being pregnant. Once we got on the ship, we went to eat lunch at a pub style restaurant that Eric had read about online. It turned out to be yummy and we are there a couple times during the week. Madison loved the booths.  When we got back to our room that night, Madison had a surprise in her bed from Lolli and Pops! Her bed was decorated with a SpongeBob good night gift.  {Norwegian contracts with Nickelodeon, so there was a lot of SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer}

As we set sail that night, we then had 2 sea days, stopped in St Thomas, USVI and Tortola, BVI, had another sea day and then stopped in Nassau, Bahamas before returning to Miami on July 4th.

On our sea days, we had a routine of spending a couple hours on our balcony in the morning, eating breakfast, then heading to the splash pad. We would then eat lunch, take a nap, explore the ship, spend time on our balcony, eat dinner, walk around outside, then finish up the night on our balcony before bed. Madison was up by 7:30AM each day and stayed up until around 10:00PM each night. She was such a trooper each day!

Madison loved sitting on the balcony with everyone. We were able to open the door between our room and my parents, so we had a large balcony. It may seem silly, but I think my favorite part of the trip was getting to spend time together on the balcony.

The splash pad area was perfect for Madison to be able to run around and splash.  She even got brave a few times and wanted to go in the big pool.

In St. Thomas, we walked around for a while, shopped and took a taxi downtown to walk around and get good pictures of the ship. The weather was not terribly hot, so we stayed off the ship for a few hours. 

Tortola ended up not being very developed at this time. There weren't any areas close by to walk around, so we didn't stay off the ship long. We headed back and let Madison play at the pool. 

In Nassau, we did an excursion to a nearby beach called Blue Lagoon. It was a private beach in a cove, so the water was calm. Madison had a blast playing in the sand, walking in the water and looking for rocks. It was a long day and we were tired once we got back to the ship. 

It was such a special week to get to spend time with my parents, Madison and Eric. It was a different vacation than usual, but I wouldn't have changed anything. We all balanced doing things together and splitting up/taking turns watching Madison so everyone got to do what they wanted. 

I think one my most special memories will be our mornings on the balcony. We drank coffee and juice and relaxed in our pajamas with Madison.