Cruise!

For Christmas vacation, my family and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas.

It started out pretty rough. About half an hour before we were supposed to leave to catch our flight, the airlines called to tell us that the flight was canceled. Luckily, there was another one leaving at Reagan at the same time.

We met my sister in Newark, but again, luck was on our side. The train to the airport and baggage lines delayed her a bit, but the flight was also delayed so everything worked out.
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The cruise itself was pretty awesome. The rooms were bigger than we expected and the ship was basically a giant, moving city. They had all sorts of activities, like ping-pong, shuffleboard, air hocket, foosball, basketball, a casino (I won 2nd in the poker tournament!), a gym, parties/shows in the evening, live music throughout the ship, etc.

The best part was probably the food. They had both formal sit-down and buffet restaurants. Since it's a pre-paid amount for the entire cruise, we didn't have to worry about paying at each meal. We definitely took advantage of this and ate several times a day. It was kind of a weird feeling not having to pay a bill at each meal and just leaving after we were done.

They also had nightly shows, including a comedian, a Broadway-esque revue, and the sort of show one might find in an amusement park. Other than the comedian, the show weren't all that great, but they were a nice way to end the days.

We were supposed to visit 2 islands, but the weather prevented us from visiting the second one (which was owned by the cruise company!). I would say that Nassau isn't even worth one full day, but we were stuck there for 2...

On the way back, we had a day in Miami. We were all pretty exhausted since we left early that morning and had walked around all day at the Vizcaya house. We all napped for a couple of hours and then headed to South Beach for dinner.

I've only been to Miami twice and both times we went to South Beach after sunset.
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I'm definitely a convert when it comes to cruise ships. I expected tiny rooms, a bunch of old people, and to be bored for much of it. None of that was true. Although it seems like we didn't do a whole lot, I was never bored. It was relaxing and yet there were still enough activities to keep the days interesting.

I'd go again.