This morning started with a Christmas surprise. Zoe noticed first – she woke and asked if we hung the stockings…she missed this because both kiddo’s fell asleep last night at the show.  Santa came on the boat!  I guess he decided to drop off our treats a bit early so the kids could play with their gifts during the cruise. They each had some animal grow capsules, candy, new crayons, a notepad, toothbrush, slippers Bethany made, some Christmas jammies, and a few other things.

Since our room adjoined my folks’ room, they were also woken up early by all the commotion and came over to join us.  They headed to the top deck for a walk around the track (it’s full size), and we headed to breakfast.  At the back of the boat is the fancy restaurant called the Versailles and we decided to check it out. During the early morning it is almost empty, so we got a premier table at the back windows!  Great view of the sea, but a bit bumpy.  Breakfast was great….almost any breakfast food you could ask for was available.  The kids had fruit and pancakes, eggs and sausage.  I had salmon and bagels.  Bryan got yogurt and granola.  The service was also great. The ladies were all so enthralled with the kids they helped keep the kiddo’s entertained while we ate.

After that Zoe REALLY wanted to get to the kids crew.  Well she was ready as it opened at 9am!  She had been looking forward to that for a long long time and finally got to go.  They were playing, crafting, and doing some fun organized activities, too.  Looked like a lot of fun!   After that Avi got sleepy so he and I took a nap while Bryan went to the gym.  Later, I took Avi to the “Under 2 Zoo” baby playtime.  He had fun with the other young kiddo’s.  Bryan picked up Zoe at the Kids Crew so we could grab a snacky lunch from the buffet.  Of course Zoe was now tired and wanted to nap, so Bryan spent time with her in the room while Avi and I joined my folks at the “Comedy Hypnosis” show.  It was hysterical.  This hypnotist got people to dance, sing, model, and stick themselves in their chairs.  We met up with Bryan and Zoe before all heading out to the pool with Grandpa Joe.  At the back of the boat is a kids’ pool with three great slides, a swimming area, and a hottub.  We spent hours here.

This evening was also dress up night.  So, on NCL this is optional but it’s super fun to get dressed up on occassion.  We did it!  Even Zoe brought along a dress special for this evening.  She ended up wearing a special red dress Aunt Bethany brought.  Again we joined up with the whole family, but tonight it was at the fancy Versailles!  Our reservations were at 5:30.  Dinner was nice…all kinds of fancy food.  It took a bit long, though.  The servers don’t seem to completely comprehend that it’s better to keep dinner moving when there are kids.  We aren’t really prepared for dilly dallying between our 4 courses.  Again, someone brought gifts, though!  Mom and Dad brought a few things for the kids, and they had fun with those items while the service was slow.  Thanks so much!  Unfortunately, the boat had been rocking a bit much all day and both Zoe and Stefan felt yuck and needed some dramamine.  After dinner we all got portraits taken – there are photographers all over the boat. It was fun! 

In the evening, Zoe wanted to go back to the Kids Crew for their prince and princess party.  The kids crew is open from 9am-1030pm – and even later for a fee.  So, we dropped her off in time to go to the Spinnaker Lounge for some dance music.  This is a big lounge / bar at the back of the boat, so again it felt pretty rocky.  Avi loves music, so I thought he would like to dance a bit.  Dance he did!  He loved anything with a beat and also had a great time running and following some other kids around.  Mom and Dad also danced a bit, and I was able to get Bryan out for a dance or two.  At 830 ish mom and dad took Avi down to the room for bed.  Bryan, Bethany and I stayed for the “Newlywed, Not so Newlywed” game!  It was funny, and Bryan and I almost made it on stage.  We had to compete for the last spot by making out in front of everyone…we made it pretty dramatic, but the couple that wont the spot were rolling on the floor not just knocking things over like us.  It was fun just to watch and play along anyway… then off to pick up Zoe and get to  bed for us.

I was worried that our day at sea would be boring, but it was quite the opposite.  We had a ton of fun.  I’m ready to be off the boat, tomorrow, though.