Bermuda Cruise 2018

May 25th-June 1st 2018
Boston to Bermuda via the Norwegian Dawn.

We are back from our recent get away. Mark, Me, Bubbe, Ben, Gavin, Alexis and her SO Jeremy all shuffled off to Boston Massachusetts at some ungodly early hour of the morning to make sure we had ourselves and our luggage on the Norwegian ship the Dawn well before the Ship departure at 4pm.

Day 1: May 25th 2018

We are all ready to go through customs here. All of us except Bubbe....she ran off to check in ASAP.  I did not take nearly as many pictures as I usually do. I think in part because I was so busy, but also because I spent several of the 7 days living on the Dawn sitting on the deck sunning, gambling in the casino, eating or simply just being LAZY.  There was plenty of time to just RELAX....


We made it early with plenty of time to explore the ship, and have a few cocktails. In fact we had several cocktails.

 The Dawn is one of Norwegian's oldest ships and is smaller then any other ship we have sailed.

It was recently renovated to a more modern look. The debate on if I enjoyed the smaller ship over the larger one is still out. The size did have some disadvantages, as it has much less to do while sailing. My kids found this out early. Both Ben and Gavin agreed that there was little for them to do while at sea. Mark and I decided that there was little for us to do either. There was a whole lot of drinking, eating and sunning oneself on the decks. There was also a ton of gambling.

It sure is pretty through. Our room is an inside state room. We are generally satisfied with this set up. We have never put in additional funds for a balcony. I'm afraid if we do, that is all I will want. All of our Cruises so far have been free, and I really do not what to start spoiling myself with special rooms. For as much fun and bang for your buck as Cruises offer, I do think I would personally go on these if they were not offered through my husbands rewards at the casino. Not that a cruise is not amazing, it's just that I really enjoy the control of my own car and the directions I go. Of course my husband would disagree, and I would not refuse a Cruise if offered.

Boston port.

Alexis and Jeremy posed like Jack in Titanic. On top of the world.

Mark poses on the top deck overlooking the main and only pool.

After getting settled in we headed off to the buffet and had lunch plus drinks.


The pool side stage and lounge area.

Ready for anything.

 Dinner that night was at one of the complementary restaurants. I have never cruised on anything but Norwegian, but they offer what they call Freestyle meals. This allows you any time for your meals and a choice of several restaurants. Most of the restaurants are included in your package, but there are a few specialty restaurants that you can go to for more money. We decided on the drink package instead of the meal upgrade. This was fine with me and my family. Just a drink tip.....Should you choose or be offered a all inclusive drink package with your cruise, be aware that you will be charged taxes on your beverages while you are in port. It's not a big deal, it's just something to be aware of. Our first Cruise, we were so broke we had to watch every penny and were surprised when we got our room charges and this tax was automatically added. There is some weird taxes that are added to the items that you purchase in some of the ports/stops too. We found this out later too, I am not sure how all this works, but you cannot use cash for purchases on the ship and credit card purchases in port were charged an additional tax (as most was tax free) when we got home. You may want to look into this a little more, I can not recall exactly how this worked and I do not want to mislead anyone, but I use cash while in port. Bermuda by the way accepts American currency.

Our first evening on the ship we had dinner together at the Venetian

A family favorite dessert. the Lava cake!

After dinner we enjoyed music in the atrium.

The kids checking out the game room.

 Our towel creature after returning to our stateroom at the end of the evening. I think this is a fish?

 Day 2: May 26th

Our first full day at sea. The morning was spent relaxing by the pool.

 A late lunch at Venetian

Cocktails on the deck.

and more desserts....

While hubby gambled, I enjoyed the Newly Wed game. This was entertaining.

Mark did well at the casino and actually hit a total of two jackpots over the course of the cruise. I definitely went home with more money in my wallet then when I left too.
A turkey for our towel room animal..

George jr. had to get some fun in.

A little late night fun was had with more music in the Atrium and then we went to the ships club. It was a 60-70's themed evening. Mark and I were unaware of the theme, but some people went all out with polyester suits.

A nightcap at The Bliss.

 Day 3: May 27th Bermuda at 1pm
The morning was spent enjoying the sun on the deck.

and soon we were docking in Bermuda.

Ahh! Three days of beautiful sun, pristine waters and pure enjoyment.

I make it sound so amazing, but reality is another thing. We had problems with family most of the trip. Yep, by day one my youngest was ready to go home and was board. My daughter and boyfriend argued, my mother in law wasn't always so happy. My other son admitted he was a little board too. And my husband nearly died swimming in Horseshoe Bay.....We (Hubby and I) have decided next cruise and all future vacations will include only he and me. (LOL)

BUT....there really was all this beauty!!!!

Once we officially docked and were allowed off the ship, we packed up for a beach day. We were not sure where we were headed so we simply started walking.

The moongate....(There circles are all over the island) legend is said that if you walk under the arch with your love it will last forever. (Notice the very LARGE ship in the foreground...this was a much larger ship out of the Royal Caribbean line )

My youngest was dead set on checking out the Pirate ship. It was actually a bar situated on a small bay which offered a plank and swimming. I was shocked that my youngest was the instigator of this fun activity that all of the boys engaged in. Walking the plank....

Ready...set....go!!!!

Before we knew it...Jeremy was off...

and again......

But he lost his necklace......With some serious determination he actually found it.

a few more jumps....

and Ben tooo!

These guys had a ton of fun taking turns diving off the plank.

After all the plank fun, we found a cabby to take us to the pink shores of Horse shoe Bay.

The beach was already very crowded when we arrived, but this did not stop us from establishing beach real estate and be-lining into the water. It was AMAZING!!! Perfect weather. Clean warm simi pink colored sand. (No it is not Really as pink as one is lead to believe.)

maybe a little pink. There is definitely a PINK tint.

Regardless to the color....it was beautiful

Notice those rock reefs out there in the water....way out there. The boys including my husband decided to swim out there and jump off. It was although one might not guess by looking pretty deep out there. My husband was not as prepared as he thought he might be to swim out and swim back in. He kind of loss his breath, over exerted himself and nearly passed out in the water. (This was the beginning of some medical concerns that effected him once we were back home....but also a wake up call, to be discussed later.)
In the meantime.......the boys beat their bodies up jumping off these reefs. Gavin had a big gauge in his knee, Jeremy had scrapes on his check and later dislocated his shoulder. Ben seemed to be the only one to survive. Beware all the fun you can have jumping into the ocean.

(below to the left is the reef the boys jumped off of.)

Jeremy and Ben returning with broken bodies.

I still made them smile at the camera,

and even these guys were smiling......

After a long day we were back on the ship for dinner....

and our evening towel animal. This guy had to be my absolute favorite.

Our steward was named Sammy. He was great. I have to admit, it really feels welcoming when every day you see your steward and he smiles so warmly...."Hello Ms Wendy and Mr. Mark." He was so very helpful and kind......and apparently an amazing towel animal artist.

Mark and I got animals every evening. My daughter reported that they only got one or two the whole trip. The boys only got one. (but they were also in the room a lot.) Mark and I have always had animals every night. I am not sure what predicts this. BUT I always look forward to what will be lying on my bed at night. 

The sunsets on an amazing day....

Mark and I found the kids later that evening. They had taken over the hot tub.

Mark, his mother and I took a stroll over to the mall, but it was closed. So we simply enjoyed the evening air.

 Day 4: May 28th St. George Bermuda
Our second day at Bermuda, we took the tender over to St. George. It was originally called New London and was one of the first British colonies settled in 1612. 

we arrived at the St. George port.

A few funny poses....

and a few pictures of the cute little homes

It is truly a quaint area

MORE funny poses...

These were taken in town center. There apparently are re-enactments that happen through out the day including a nag dunking. We did not stay to participate but it sounds like it would be fun.

The original court house.

There were several telephone booths located around the area. I had to remind myself that this is British inspired. They even drive on the left hand side.  The area was colonized by Sir George Somers. His statue below.

He looks like he may be in pain.

I took this from the web. Here is all 23 miles of Bermuda.

After a visit of the town center and some exploring we decided to head off to the beach. We could have walked had we known, but instead we took a cab (It was about a 10 minute walk for those interested, but we didn't realize how close it really was.) to Tobacco Bay beach.



WOW!!!!! Isn't that beautiful?

We arrived earlier enough to find  a little bit of space as well as had the waters pretty much to ourselves. Tobacco Beach was so named as it was the location where the colonist secured tobacco imports from the British for the United States during the Revolution.

This is best beach to snorkel on. (But I forgot to bring my snorkel gear.) But it really is a tiny beach. It got incredibly crowded as the day went on.

Note: BRING YOUR SNORKEL GEAR and ARRIVE EARLY. You can rent chairs and snorkel supplies and there is a nice area for drinks, food and a restroom. It was very very nice. 

The water bay area never got any deeper then about my chest level and the water was crystal clear all the way to the bottom. Mark and I disappointed that we did not bring the snorkel stuff, but still ventured near the coral rocks and areas that resembled caves.

 A women was throwing bread into the water and thousands of fish would surround the area. Oh I wish I had my snorkel stuff, but the water was so clear, we could see the fish just fine. They would surround us as we walked along the water. I will admit it was a little creepy. We saw at least three different kinds of fish. I never had seen these types before.

We played in the water for quite sometime before heading back to town. Along our return trip we passed the unfinished church which is apparently a tourist site. Construction began in 1874.Funds were the reasoning it was never finished. It remains unfinished today. 

We had been told by a nice man on the beach that Wahoos had the best food. Apparently everyone else heard that as well because there was a long wait time.

But...when we were finally seated we had a spot right next to the bay. Lovely!

After our meal. (Which I did not take a picture of..wow!) We did a little shopping along the way back to the tender.

Although I was not with the kids for these pictures I added them to both remember the fun everyone had as well as show some of the alternative activities available. The kids made their way to snorkel at a sunken ship. Apparently Gavin got a little anxious about the event and stayed on the boat the whole time. 

My daughter swimming to the bottom.


On the last day in Bermuda these two went Parasailing......

They were up pretty high.

I have to admit, I'm just a little jealious. 

later in the evening we enjoyed some music. 

and cocktails of course.

We had an elephant in our room later that evening.

 Day 5: Last day in Bermuda
We discussed taking a trip to Hamilton (Capital) but felt it was better just to stay close to the ship. Instead we walked and took the free transport to the Clock tower Mall.

It is a very pretty building. But its not like the mall that I am used to. And it was extremely crowded. I did find some great souvenirs however.

I really wanted to pick up a troll for my mother. These guys are so creepy..but my Grandmother had one I am guessing he was from Norway or Sweden and he was so scary looking, I had to have him removed from my bedroom when I stayed at her house. But they reminded me of her and I thought it would be such a nice gift, but they were not authentic and they were VERY expensive for the plastic pieces that they were made of. Instead I had Mark stand by one.

We also found the official TIP of the Bermuda triangle right there between the t-shirts and trinkets for sale. I understand there are museums in the area that explain or attempt to explain the whole Bermuda triangle theory....We fortunately were not suck up in some alternative detention. My thoughts at least for ships is the vast amount of coral that surrounds the island, but I am not giving up on the mystery of the triangle.

More of those British telephone booths.

After a day of shopping and an afternoon of being lazy on the boat we were soon off again into the seas. Dinner was again at Aqua...Dessert was yummy.

 After dinner we hit the comedy show. The comedian was quite funny. We spoke with her on the ship and found that she had actually lived in Rochester NY and once worked where Mark went to college. She was posed a question once about what she was really passionate about and she said she wanted to be a comedian. And she was. I cannot remember her name. Something Barr. (No not Rozanne.)

Our evening surprise.

 Day 6:

Another day at sea. We enjoyed the deck and warm sun for most of the laid back hours. We finally connected with the boys who seemed to spend most of the hours in bed asleep for a late lunch at O'Shanahans.

The pub style restaurant features everything Irish pubs offer as well as a balcony over the atrium and some light band music. 

Before long the day was over and we were greeted by this frog on our last night.

We arrived in Boston at 630

am...and began deporting by 8am.

Somehow I have an extra towel critter....I cannot for the life of me figure out what day we were blessed with this darling guy....somewhere I missed an entire day because we also made it to an extreme Magic and acrobatics show called Element which was INCREDIBLE and I cannot remember what evening we did it. Maybe we did enter into that Bermuda Triangle......At anyrate the show was the bomb!!! Mark and I were in the fourth row and the acrobatics were swinging and twisting right over our heads. Ackh!!! The magician was pretty awesome too. I guess I will have to look back over my daily schedules to figure out just where I lost a full day. But apparently I did not take many pictures anyways. I do know we spent several hours lazing by the pool sipping on alcoholic beverage and sunning ourselves. Days like that seem to run into one another.


At ant rate we had some great fun. Despite some of the crazy antics with family the overall experience was amazing. Everything went smooth upon departure. We swiftly made it through customs and back to the cars and were soon in the road back to NY by 9am.
We hit a rain storm had several stops for restroom use, got Marks mom home, dropped off the rest of the crew picked up the dogs and at about 8pm that evening Mark had what seemed like a heart attack and he rode to the hospital in an ambulance.

Poor guy. There did not seem to be anything wrong with him, but he was surly frightened. All the tests were negative and he was sent home. This scare however has made him re-think his lifestyle and he is busy making some serious changes. Happy he is healthy......
When we have fun we get SICK!!!! Until next time. TTFN!