Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Today was Corey and my 9th anniversary. We decided to do something fun for the kids. We should have taken them to an inside playground at a mall since it was cold and windy.

Instead we decided to try going to Universal Studios. Usually Islands of Adventures is always crowded and Universal is empty. Everyone wants to go to Harry Potter in Islands. Universal is usually so empty they are even closing Jaws. But not on December 28th.

We forgot to factor in that most people had not left to begin going home after the holidays. It was the most crowded we had ever seen it. Rides that usually had no waits had 90 minute waits. We got some pictures of the kids with Scooby Doo and saw an animal show. The boys and girls each teamed up to make a spin art picture.

We finally left the park after not having gotten a chance to eat lunch because everything was so crowded. We made it over to  Winter Garden Village a local shopping center and went to Mimi's for our anniversary. It had been years since I was at a Mimi's and the food was surprisingly good. Then we went home around 7 pm and the kids all passed out quickly.

Sunday, December 25., 2011

Merry Christmas.

Today we arrived in Tampa. We went to the dining room for breakfast and then to a special lounge to get off the ship. We basically waited there about 30 minutes and then got off the ship. We met a porter to help us with the luggage. The good thing about Tampa was they offered valet parking at the port. Basically it was like $15 more than regular parking but I didn't have to go get the car with all seven of us and ten suitcases. Well worth the extra $15. We all piled into the car and drove home.

Another successful cruise vacation completed.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Today was the last day on the ship. We had a full day at sea before we get back to Tampa, Florida. Most cruises there are tons of things to do on days at sea. Norwegian not so much. The kids spent the morning in the kids pool. Corey had some problems with some teens playing in the kid pool because there was no Norwegian supervision at the pool. So she and some other parents had to call down to the desk to get it taken care of. The teens were being really rough with the little ones. Gaby came away with a lump on his forehead from them. Around 11am the girls wants to go to camp. The resto of us went to play bingo. Corey won $59. We picked up the girls for lunch and then after that it was back to camp for all of them. We really could not have gotten through the week without the camp. That was great. Tomorrow we try to get off the ship. Never done that before in Tampa. Have to see how it goes.