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“Hey girls. It’s time to wake up,” I whispered as I gently nudged my five and three-year-old girls awake.

“Daddy, why are we getting up so early?”

“We’re going on a trip!” I said.

“We are?!? Where are we going?”

“I can’t tell you. It is a surprise,” I said with a smile.

And so it started. Both girls jumped out of their beds, grinning from ear to ear, excited to see where this surprise journey would take them. Holly and I were excited too, not just because this would be the girls’ first time on an airplane. This would be our first time on a cruise, as we headed on a short weekend trip to Nassau, Bahamas aboard the Carnival Sensation.

Having never cruised before, we didn’t quite know what to expect. Our recent vacations have pretty much included us plopping our backsides down on a beach chair, sipping on tropical drinks, and eating entirely too much at all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. How would we like cruising? Would there be plenty to do? What would the room be like? We were all excitement and a little bit worried as we headed out the door, figuring that – even if we didn’t like it – we’d only be gone for three days. How bad could it be? [Read more…]