It was a great vacation that was better than we expected. Two people have no cruise experience before decided to take an adventure and booked everything just ten days before the actual cruise day and it turned great!

If you read my previous blog called “Bahamas Vacation with Norwegian Cruise Lines” I wrote before the trip and not knowing what is expecting us. you will see the list of items I packed for this vacation. As you can guess, I did not use most of them. Even I tried to get bare minimum still there was a 40 lb of cloths for two people.

Watched lots of videos to have an idea what would I need when cruising. Since it is my first time, wanted to make sure I don’t leave anything useful behind. From the many items packed with me, I only used one beach top, two shorts and my flip flops all trip long. I took one light sweater for the airport or if it is too windy at the boat. Even boat is windy, remember weather is still hot.

Medicine, I would recommend to take basic medicine heartburn, headache, and antibiotics in case. Luckily we didn’t need any of the medicine except I needed some acid reducers.  I was in my bikinis the whole time. All these things that we took with us, we could have been okay travelling with a regular size backpack.

All the extra t-shirts that we grabbed, my high heels and fancy night dresses, have not been used at all.

Here is for a week vacation I would suggest to take with you:

• Medicine
• Small bottle sunscreen
• Two shorts
• Two underwear
• Flip flops
• Sunglasses
• A hat or a bandanna

• Body splash ( Not mandatory, sunscreen smells great anyway)
• Lady wipes ( This is my mandatory item but definitely your personal preference)
• Fanny pack ( Very useful, I would recommend highly)
• Backpack for travelling
• Travel toothbrush and toothpaste
• Fun book

There is not much time to read a book since there is lots of entertainment in the ship and we were having great conversations as well. I like to take a book anyway when I am travelling. There are some quiet times and I enjoy reading a book. I also like to read on the plane.

I specifically said fun book because the book I had was little bit boring; broken love story between alcoholic guy and suicidal girl. I like serious books as well but believe me you will not get into that mood when travelling from Miami to the Bahamas on a boat. Specially in the back ground you hear song like Bob Marley’s – A lalala long.

I would have enjoyed more if I was able to purchase Joanna Harris’s new book “Strawberry Thief” or similar kind of books. I am sure it is like the other books of the Chocolate series , mysterious and fun. 

Besides over packing, generally we didn’t do things that we planned. I was expecting that though.

Here is the comparison from before and after cruise:

• Try one Turkish restaurant: Never even think about finding a Turkish restaurant.
• Grab ice drink from Wet Willies : I found Wet willies several blocks away from our hotel but there were only 4 types of frozen drinks. I think Fat Tuesdays took Wet willies crown. We didn’t try Fat Tuesday either. 
• Walk around Lincoln mall: Very briefly. I thought I would be more in shopping mode but I wasn’t at all. Just Zara store, that’s all. 
• Shop from Lilly Pulitzer : Didn’t think about Lilly Pulitzer also I had a couple of items from that store. Her designs well known with its brilliant colors over the silk. I am wearing one of those in the photo below.

• Eat fries at the beach along cold beer: In Miami, along the Ocean drive they don’t sell just fries; You have to purchase a dish that comes with fries. Instead of cold beer, I drank warm vodka. How interesting what you planned can turn totally opposite.  
• Have dinner at Latin restaurant has live music: You cannot run from this anyway. I ate Cuban sandwich and restaurants had all kinds of music. This item is checked. 

To be continued…