The title of this blog might sound like the beginning of a bad joke; however, it isn’t. We really did take 8 adults and 8 kids to the Bahamas. For my husband’s 50th birthday, he originally wanted to take our family to Ireland, but we quickly realized 8 kids who are all 7 years and under in Ireland wasn’t the best idea right now, so he started to plan a cruise instead. This planning took my husband a year. Well, that year went by kinda fast, and our cruise to the Bahamas with 8 adults and 8 kids finally happened Easter week.
I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect travelling with that many people with so many different personalities. You know what? We all had a great time! I am really surprised, to be honest with you, but we really did all have a great time. We went on Norwegian Cruise Lines. They have family-friendly cruises. I’m not sure who got more out of this particular cruise, the kids or the adults; it could be 50/50. It did rain a little for two days, but we all made the best of it. The nice thing about going on a cruise with so many people, you don’t all have to stay together. For some of the time, we did stuff as a group, and other times we went our separate ways. My husband and I got to spend some time with our daughter’s in-laws, which was a lot of fun. It kinda felt like we were on a double date, which was cool.
And what about those 8 kids who are all 7 and under? You know, they did a great job on that cruise. Yeah, they each had their little moments, but hey, they are just kids, but for the most part, they were all well behaved, and I had a great time spending a week on a cruise with my grandkids. All 16 of us did get to go on an excursion to Great Stirrup Cay, which I will write another blog about, and we went to Nassau, where the kids did a great job.
As for the ship itself, it was nice. This is my third cruise, but my first with NCL. Our room with the balcony was nice. The shower was good. The buffet was ok. The photographers taking pictures did a great job. This ship has a couple of restaurants. I liked two of them. I don’t know, there were things I liked and things I didn’t like. I do know if it had been just the two of us, we would have gotten bored pretty fast, I think. I’m thankful we were able to go with most of our family, 8 adults and 8 kids. We had so much fun with them. We laughed so much, and we made so many great memories. I’m so thankful for my family and their willingness to go on a cruise with us.
My husband arranged the cruise with Harr Travel, who helped get all the cruise details coordinated. They also added some perks, like on-board credit and photography credits for free photo prints.
Kathleen Smith is the author of Miscarriages: My Journey From Heartache to Healing, and other books. Blogs about a variety of things. Her podcast is Kathleens Korner, and she is the Founder of BearsWithApps. She has a YouTube channel, and you can find her on TikTok as BearsWithApps