Norwegian Cruise - From Miami - Christmas Cruise - Norwegian Joy

Since my brother passed away just before Christmas in 2017, the holiday has never been the same. We have tried to find a way to move on and decided each year we will take a family trip. We don't exchange gifts, the trip and getting to spend time together is the gift! 

We all met in Miami for our second Christmas Cruise. We enjoyed 2 days at sea aboard the Norwegian Joy with a day at Harvest Caye, Belize, and a day at Costa Maya, Mexico.  

The staff on board, as usual, were so helpful.  Our room was on the 13th floor, the kid's rooms were on the 15th floor, and my mom was on the 5th floor when we checked in. This was a bit of a hike for us to go get her, so we went to customer service and asked if we could upgrade her room.  They quickly upgraded her room, just a few doors down from us, free of charge.  She went from an interior room to a balcony. What a treat! She loved her room and she was beyond grateful and excited for the upgrade.

Cameron and I had been to Costa Maya earlier this year on our Virgin Voyages trip, we remembered this great tequila bar that served tacos from the restaurant next door so we made our way there, stopping at the shops along the way of course.  When the bill came they needed cash for the tacos because they came from a different business, makes sense we just weren't prepared.  Thankfully the kids had enough cash to cover the tacos for all of us, we picked up the drink tab. 

When we got to Harvest Caye we rented another clamshell on the beach. A very nice gentleman came by for drink orders. More slushy beverages? Yes, please! We spent the day relaxing, napping, and snorkeling. 

Our group had planned our own theme nights for this trip, which made it even more fun for us all.  Country night we ate at Texas Smokehouse (Deck 6), fancy night was Teppanyaki (Deck 6), white-hot night we went to Spice H20 (Deck 17) for the white-hot party. Since it's the holiday, we also did holiday PJ's one night. My hubby and I had fleece onesies, and we were burning up so it was quick pictures and then wardrobe change! 

We also got to see Footloose at the Joy Theatre. Our favorite spot to hang out is at The Local (Deck 7).  The food is complimentary, and you can sit on deck 7 and look down onto deck 6 where there is usually a gameshow, trivia, or dance party happening. 

One person in the group, who will remain anonymous 😎, left us at The Local to go to bed. After about 30 minutes the group decided it was probably a good idea to make sure they made it to their room and sure enough they didn't. Everyone took a walk around the ship for a few minutes in search of this person, then decided to go back to The Local and what do you know, a few minutes later they stumbled back into The Local. There was laughing for a while about this situation.

Our family always has a great time with Norwegian. There are so many activities and unlimited drinks are usually one of the perks available when booking.  

Carnival Cruise - From Los Angeles - Carnival Panorama

 As we start working our way back to the west coast, why not take another cruise in along the way? 

We flew from Cleveland to Los Angeles for a cruise to the Mexican Riviera aboard the Carnival Panorama for 7 nights. We enjoyed 3 days at sea and 3 days in Mexico (Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta). 

With 3 sea days, we decided this would be the perfect time to check out the spa. We paid for the Thermal Lounge and it was well worth the money. There were steam rooms, saunas, a hydrotherapy pool/hot tub, and the most amazing heated lounge chairs. If you ever find yourself on the Panorama give the Thermal Lounge a look, if you don't want to pay for the Thermal Lounge, you can still go into the spa and in the locker room/changing room, there is a complimentary sauna.  

Our time in Cabo San Lucus was a bit different than our last visit in 2014 for our honeymoon. We had to get off the ship on a mission to find internet because the ship's wifi had been down since the night before.  We took a walk along the pier down to the local Starbucks, enjoyed a caffeinated beverage, got what we needed to do done, and headed back to the ship. 

We decided not to get off the ship in Mazatlan, but we did get off the ship in Puerto Vallarta.  When you get off the ship in Puerto Vallarta, check out Galerias Vallarta shopping mall or look for the large sign that says BEACH and go for it. Bring a blanket or beach towel and spend the day.  There are plenty of people walking up and down the beach willing to bring you a beverage or ask if there is a nearby resort that has an open to the public bar. It was suggested to us, by a nice gentleman on the beach, to go to Playa De Oro but we ended up at Jordin del Sol, which had delicious fresh guacamole and pico de gallo. We watched a very large iguana mosey along the rooftop and around the pool, had some great snacks, and a few drinks then worked our way back down the beach to the ship. The weather in December was a perfect 85 degrees in the afternoon. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

The Carnival Panorama is beautiful and the food was much better than what we experienced on the Carnival Legend. Another tip, if you book on the Carnival Panorama, on sea days check the specialty dining locations for lunch because they are usually open and complimentary. The ship was beautiful, the food was good; I would absolutely take another cruise on this ship!