On Saturday, May 19th we boarded the Norwegian Spirit for our first cruise together – boy did we have fun!

Our cruise disembarked from New York City traveling to Bermuda, Tortola and St. Thomas and then back to NYC again – lasting a total of 8 nights ((Josh: I say it was 9 days, although Megan thinks only 8 nights because the cruise was from 4pm Saturday to 10am the following Sunday)).  While it was a rainy Saturday, checking in and boarding the ship went very smooth.  Well, except for all the traffic we had to sit in getting to the cruise terminal.  At one point we were less then 500 feet from the terminal, although we had to travel another four blocks before we could turn around and enter.  Gotta love NYC traffic! 🙂

The ship was very nice – 13 floors of cabins, restaurants, a casino and many bars and lounges.  On the top of the ship there was a pool as well as several Jacuzzis, plus hundreds of lounge chairs for sunbathing.  Our room was of average cabin size, although having a balcony made it seem much bigger as an entire wall was glass.  Oddly enough, the shower in our cabin was bigger then our downstairs shower – go figure!

Norwegian Cruise Lines is known for their Free Style Cruising – where You’re Free to Whatever.  There were no schedules to follow and no set time for dinners, unless you wanted to make reservations at one of the speciality restaurants.  It was to be able to eat later in the evening if so desired or, for that matter, earlier if you were hungry.  It was nice to do whatever!

Bermuda

After Megan finally got to experience clear water from our balcony, our journey in Bermuda began with a short boat ride from Kings Wharf to Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda.  Hamilton is a beautiful city, buildings no taller then a few stories and all in soft-tone colors.  A very clean city, with a mixture of both British and American residents all being very friendly.  Because they drive on the opposite side of the road then we do, it was difficult for us to remember to look the other way (right instead of left) when crossing any road.  Luckily there weren’t any accidents!  Plus the cute non-American cars – such as the Nissan March – were so adorable!  Just a tip: If you go to Bermuda, watch out for Mopeds! 😯

Spending a few hours touring the streets and small shops we decided to have lunch at Hog Penny Pub, a local restaurant recommended to us because of their burgers and nachos ((Mind you, we didn’t have burgers or nachos!)).  Hog Penny Pub was a small pub-style restaurant that looked very English – like they plucked from the streets of London and plopped in Hamilton.

After lunch we returned to Kings Wharf and visited the local shops located in and around an old Navy base.  We both enjoyed a Haagen-Dazs treat and before we knew it was time to return to the ship.

We both really enjoyed Bermuda and would like to return in the future!

Tortola, BVI

Arriving in Tortola Wednesday morning, we had some time to spare before our 12:30pm Island Bar Crawl Excursion. We headed to see what fortunes we could find at some local tent merchants. After about 4 tents we came to realize that the merchandise was very limited and repeated tent after tent. It was still fun to look, although we did pass on buying anything as most of it was junk ((not to come across too rude)). 

Our Island Bar Crawl started off with receiving magic noise makers that we were to tie around our necks and prepare to use throughout our adventure. Before heading out in one of the four shuttles ((driven by pirates)) waiting for us, we all received our 1st rum punch drink and were debriefed on the afternoon adventure we were about to experience. We head out in the shuttles, island and a variety of other Caribbean music blasting from all four shuttles in a caravan to the unknown. 

One of the first things we were told prior to departing was that when we passed any pedestrians, cars, or even one of the other shuttles we were to blow on our magic noise makers and make as much noise as possible, it didn’t take long for that to happen! 😀 Venturing along narrow roadways we really enjoyed touring Tortola and being able to see parts of the island normally unseen to tourists. We were both amazed at the lifestyles the natives of Tortola have, nothing like Corporate America, that’s for sure! We stopped at two bars – one for a drink and quick toe wetting experience on the beach, and the other for a drink and lunch prepared by the Pirates! The final stint of our tour was spent roadside where we received a final glass of rum punch and had the opportunity to take some waterside pictures and even dance in the streets if we felt the urge to do so. While we were a little mislead and thought we were going to be experiencing more bars on our tour, we still had a great time and really enjoyed seeing Tortola from a Pirates standpoint.

Arriving back at our ship, we headed back on board as it was almost time to depart.

St. Thomas, USVI

Beautiful and Picturesque….

Having scheduled an early morning excursion we were up and off the ship by 8:00am. Our excursion started with a very long walk from our ship to Bones – the sailboat we were taking to our snorkeling location, Buck Island. Once on board we were introduced to our Captain and snorkeling experts – Dave, Chris, and Alex. After an hour or so of riding the waves and hydrating ourselves with plenty of H2O we reached Buck Island!

We signed up for Power Snorkeling which turned out not to be that great after about 5 minutes of using the Power Device. We both agree that if you aren’t a strong swimmer but would like to experience snorkeling the Power Snorkeling technique may be worthwhile, however we are both good swimmers and felt the device used to “power” you was just slowing us down. After turning in our “power” device, we snorkeled around the cove and were able to see many colorful salt water fish that were just swarming around your feet and legs. The highlight to the whole entire morning was seeing all the sea turtles swimming around in their native environments, what an experience and opportunity! These turtles were so amazing and we were even lucky enough to see a baby!

After a short voyage back and a few rum punches later, we were back on board our ship. That quick our time in St. Thomas had passed.

Oh and many of you are probably wondering if we were able to capture any sea turtles or fish on our waterproof, underwater camera….. um maybe four pictures, not sure yet…. camera quit! :grr: 😡

On the Ship

Here are some highlights of occurrences, happenings, moments, and memories from time spent on the ship:

• Attending the “Mustard Drill” ((um.. Muster Drill)) – Yeah Megan thought Josh called it a “Mustard Drill” and was a little confused, only to find out later the correct name. 😀
• Quoting Josh responding to the miscellaneous man during the Muster Drill – “There is no comfort in survival”
• Her name became “Omleet” after she became disgruntled with Josh and the Omlet Maker because the Omlet Maker took Josh’s order before hers. Little did she know she was not in line… ooopppsss.. Omleet was seen  many times throughout the cruise every time she was seen by us we referred to her as Omleet!
• “California Rolls”
• The phrase “Taste like Turds” during our Wine Tasting Seminar, it was the white wine not the red that created that memory!
• 20 minutes of Internet time spent writing a post of how close we were to Matt, cost us more than our one month bill with Comcast! ((not quite, but rather expensive))
• Martini Tasting Seminar, not sure what we learned or walked away with ((did we walk away?)) but we sure did like those fruity Martinis ((French Martini, Peach Martini, Floridian Martini, among others))
• Listening to Ariel sing & play the piano @ Champagne Charlies multiple times throughout our trip.
• Hot Dogs & Late Night Snacks @ Blue Lagoon a 24 hour “Comfort Food” Location
• Drunk Folk discussing how they can’t get the microwave in their closet open, yes you read that correctly, oh and there weren’t microwaves in our cabins.  ((There were however safes in the bottom of our closets – guess that was one good hamburger to lock up))
• A Bier Garden….A Bucket of Beer… try many buckets of beer 😀
• Mr Coffee Walker – Circling the walking track while enjoying his coffee!
• What time is it?!?!? It’s BINGO TIME!!!!!
• All the strange people we were witness to on the cruise, it does seem they are everywhere.
• Having a great rainy day at sea – drinking a lot :vodka:, enjoying time with each other, and giving Mr. Pretzel a tour of the ship. ((check out the photo album for pictures))
• Captain Worm, the pirate of our Bar Crawl shuttle. ARRRRRRR
• “WE ARE PENN STATE” Yes that was heard during our lunch. While we understand they are Penn State fans, it did seem a little rude to just blurt out and start ranting cheers during our lunch, on an island miles away from the United States! ((I know Matt a Penn State fan is a Penn State Fan wherever you are – understood))
• So a bar crawl only has two bars huh?
• Cagney’s Steakhouse, mmmmmmmmm ((yes our mouths are watering)) Cagney’s Steakhouse a 2nd Time, our wine cork snaps in half and that is just the beginning of the not so mmmmmmmmm ((mouths still watering from first night)) :yummy:
• BONES
• Chatting with Bruce, a local Pennsylvanian… Where is Dallas, PA?
• Sea sick HA, just a little bit…. spent the entire day Friday in our cabin sick and after purchasing medicine slept until Saturday. :yuck: We did get to watch a ton of movies though… :tv:
• Enjoying an entire day sunbathing, relaxing, and of course a few buckets! :laidback:

All in all we had a wonderful time cruising together and we’ll hopefully cruise again sometime soon!

Make sure if you haven’t checked them out already – check out our trip pictures located in our photo album!