[altermood]

On February 2-10, 2007, my partner and I went on this great cruise out of New York down to The US and British Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic. It was my first cruise and what an amazing experience! First of all, as most things aren't totally perfect, I will start off with the bad things. There were only two...The first is: never take a cruise out of new york city in the winter. I was sick for the first day and a half until we got down to Florida. The water was very rough, as it was coming back, also. The second thing is: too many **** smokers! I don't mean to be mean to anyone that smokes, but seriously...why are most smokers so **** rude??? People were smoking everywhere and no one told them that they couldn't...we even went on a hike and people were smoking, and our guide didn't even stop them!

Now that I got that out of the way...on to the good, which by far outweighed the bad. The ship was great, with the whole freestyle cruising thing. There were eleven or twelve different places to eat and we tried almost every one of them. The french restaurant, Le Bistro, is amazing. We went there on the first night, before the sea got rough and I had to go hibernate in our stateroom. We wound up going to the Asian-themed restaurant, Shogun, about three times during the eight days...just amazing! On the last night, we finally got around to trying the italian restaurant, La Trattoria. I don't know why we waited until the last night, because that was the best one! At least, now we know for the next cruise, which we will definitely be taking!

The third day, we reached our first port: St. Thomas, USVI. The water was amazingly clear and it was hot. As soon as we docked, we were ushed over to a ferry for our eco-hike excursion on St. John. Our guide, Thunderhawk, was very knowledgeable about all of the nature around the island and he led us up in the hills and then down to Honeymoon Beach for a swim. I never swim in the ocean, but this water was so great and beautiful that i couldn't resist...and had a hard time actually getting out! Then we saw the botanical gardens and went back to St. Thomas. After having a great dinner in the main dining room on the ship, we went back out into the town to buy souvenirs.

The fourth day: Tortola, BVI. Our excursion was a trip to Virgin Gorda to see the sights(which there really weren't many) and then spend a few hours at the baths...I don't even know how to describe the baths. We had to hike down a hill and climb between rocks and caves to finally reach a beach that is like no other that I have ever seen in my life! If you ever go to the virgin islands, you have to see the baths!

The fifth day: Samana, Dominican Republic. The ship didn't dock because the water was too shallow in the bay, so we left for our excursion right where the ship was anchored in the bay. It was a speedboat ride across the bay to see the mangroves, rainforests and caves that this beautiful country has to offer....very fun and educational!

then, the journey back home began...back to the cold weather and rough seas. The water seemed even rougher going back, though I was more ready to deal with it and didn't hibernate in the room.

When we pulled into the new york harbor, there were blocks of ice all up the hudson river....kind of depressing.

To sum it all up...my first cruise got me hooked and Norwegian is a great cruise line. We are already planning a hawaiian cruise next spring!