Carnival Sunshine, Here I Come!featured
We all need a little [Carnival] Sunshine in our lives, don’t we?
It’s been a crazy week at work. A crazy month, really. Q4 is like my Olympics — I train all year for it, but there’s really no amount of stretching I can do to really prepare myself for the madness that ensues every year when October 1 comes.
We usually take a family trip at the end of every October, but Stephanie was light on vacation days and since I stepped into the role I currently hold, getting away at the beginning of the quarter just wasn’t going to happen. So we went to Boston for a quick weekend getaway instead (more on that in the next couple weeks!). But you know, you can’t keep this girl off the seas for too long.
A New Year’s cruise sounded fun, but have you seen the price of a New Year’s cruise? Holy cow. Our 12-night Europe cruise on a brand new ship is cheaper than a seven nighter through the Carib on an older one. And airfare? Even worse. But the week before, for Christmas, isn’t so bad. And getting away for Christmas is good — we don’t celebrate Christmas so there’s never much to do (aside from chowing down at our local Chinese joint and heading the movies), and since grandma passed the day before Christmas four years ago, it’s just always…sad. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate her than to head out to sea — no one loved a good cruise more than she did.
Aruba, Bonaire, Grand Turk. We’ve been to the former (twice) and the latter (more times than I can count), but never Bonaire (send me your reccos if you have!). And four and a half days at sea where my cell phone won’t work and I can’t access my email? That sounds like heaven. Let the Sunshine in!
Christmas cruising. We’ve never done it, but we can’t wait to experience it and share it with all of you. I’ll be back with all the details, an armful of souvenirs and a few (thousand) pictures. You can follow along live on my Instagram or Twitter (nicolesonthego) or on Facebook.
And if you happen to be on the Carnival Sunshine on Christmas, you’ll find us at Ji Ji Asian Kitchen for dinner and taking in the latest flick under the big screen up on the Lido deck. Tradition is tradition, after all.
((And I’m working on wrapping up that Paris trip report, I promise!))
