Cruisin' It's the Way to Go!!!

11 days of royal treatment can go a long way to spoiling a person!! Wow. I think we may take all of our vacations on cruise ships from now on. It was so much fun to get on the giant boat, be waited on hand and foot, fed extremely well, all day long, entertained at all hours, and get to see so many cool parts of the world in the same trip. I never made a bed, did a dish, or washed a towel (I'm definitely making up for it with 11 days worth of laundry times 5 people now).

We boarded the Costa Serena on Jan 7 with the Lazenby family of four (our friends)and cruised to Barcelona (Spain), Casablanca (Morocco), Funchal (Portugal), Tenerife and Arrecife (Canary Islands) and Malaga (Spain) before returning to Savona Italy on Jan 18. Our favorite stops were Funchal with some amazing tropical gardens and views and Tenerife where we spent the day at a marine park. Had we had more time, we'd have spent some time at the beach too. That's probably the main downside to the cruise - limited time before it sets sail, with or without you!

We survived having all 5 of us sharing a little cabin (We got special permission because Alisea is still so little). We lost count of who bumped their heads the most often on the kids bunks. We got some pretty funny looks from people who would see all five of us file into the room. I'm sure some of them felt cramped with just two of them. Thankfully, there was so much to do on the boat that we didn't spend too much time in the room at the same time! We actually feel like we are a little closer as a family after this adventure!

Now we turn our attention toward a visit from our good friends, the Strombergs, and then to getting ready to move to Texas in the first week of April.