Packing for a vacation is one my most favorite past times.

Remember when I said we most likely wouldn’t cruise Norwegian Cruise Lines again? Lies, sorry. We took another Norwegian cruise for Shawna’s 50th birthday. But, this ship was bigger than our last one, and checked all of our boxes in terms of on board entertainment and ports. You guys, this trip was amazing!

We were at the airport early because we must make sure the gate is where its supposed to be and then we hit the bar for the obligatory pre flight spicy bloody.

We were on our way to New Orleans which was a first for us. Once we dropped our bags in our hotel room, we hit the ground running. We only had one night to get it all done. We walked along the river and straight into town for dinner.

We had gator, oysters and delicious cocktails. Then we strolled our way to Bourbon street .

We people watched, bar hopped, and listened to all the music. We ended with a nightcap at our hotel bar and then to bed.

Our transfer to the port was included in our package and was effortless. Our time to “check-in” on the ship wasn’t until 2:00 but we just went ahead and got in line right when we got to the port at noon.

I probably shouldn’t spill the tea but you guys, we walked right on (knocks wood for next time). Our cabin wasn’t ready but that wasn’t a big deal because we took our asses straight to the pool deck and made ourselves at home.

This ship was very different from our first rodeo with Norwegian. There was a lot of everything, people, bars, entertainment, people…Once our cabin was ready we went back and got ready for the evening. We had a small dinner in one of the smaller dining rooms but since there was a short wait we sat at the adjacent bar and ordered ourselves an espresso martini. This is where we learned that one can’t just order an espresso martini anywhere, those were only available at the martini bar, so we had something sort of like it, but not as good.

So many options on evening entertainment but we chose The Pour House the first night and every night after. This was a group of four singers with their band that just blew us away, they were so much fun. All of this while we sailed down the Mississippi river.

Day 2 was a sea day which meant a pool day.

This is when it really sank in that we were on a cruise with a lot of people and kids who were on their spring break. Lesson learned, no cruising in March.

The pool was packed but we still had a great time. We met so many fun people, a lot who were on this cruise for their second time, that was good sign.

Dinner, I am sure we had it. I will still stand by the fact that the food on Norwegian’s dining room is just O.K. nothing spectacular. After dinner, you guessed it, back to the Pour House. This time we were in line early. Yes, I said “in line” that’s how packed this ship was. If we wanted a seat we had to get there super early. But this night was important because they were doing a Fleetwood Mac tribute.

And it was so good.

Day 3-Cozumel….