The American Family Goerss: Cruising Again for Christmas

We were so excited to be cruising again! We had spotted our ship in the harbor that morning, and we couldn't wait to drop off our luggage and get aboard.

We got a room with a balcony, and we were on the right side of the ship to see the opera house.

We set out to explore the ship. We found one area with some cool topiaries.

This ship also had a "sea walk", but since we were docked, it was more of a "dock walk". The girls had fun watching people come aboard though.

Of course, to them, the most important part was getting their fancy smoothie drinks. Luckily, there were lots of promotions to get people back to cruising, so we all had drink packages included in our regular fare.

When we got back to the room, our room steward also had glasses of champagne waiting for us to cheer the sail away.

We went to one of the main dining rooms for dinner, and then the girls went off to play at the kids clubs.

Jeff and I got lucky enough to catch the water show on the top deck. It finished just in time for us to get the girls from the kids club. It was a great first day on the ship.

The next day we got our stocking and menorah set up in the room.

We also got a good shot of the main atrium.

It was Christmas eve, and I discovered their special Christmas themed cocktail, the Grinchtini.

Elena has ice cream, and I have sugary drinks.

We had finally reached New Zealand, and it was a day of scenic cruising through the Fiordlands. We got a chance to hear a park ranger talk about the area. It's a huge swath of national park that takes up a large part of the New Zealand south island.

Elena said it was cold, and she went to play at the kids club, but Viv stayed out with us for quite a while. We even got to see dolphins.

Eventually, she left too, and then it was just me and Jeff hanging out on the deck, trying to stay out of the wind and warm.

We picked the girls back up for dinner. It was Christmas Eve, and so we had made a reservation at the fancy French restaurant on board. We got a lovely table right next to the window.

I encouraged Viv to try the lobster bisque with the pastry top, and she was especially tickled that the waitress carved the top open for her.

We also got soufflès for dessert, which were cut open for us and had yummy sauce poured inside. The girls are now fully converted to this method of eating.

We got back to our room to discover a Christmas present from our room steward who is Thai.

Elena loved it.

She also loved her full stocking the next morning. Merry Christmas!

Vivi cradled hers like a baby. I was a little sad that they don't have matching Christmas PJs. The ones Elena is wearing are Vivi's old ones. Vivi is so big!

The girls got a picture of us with our stockings.

And then I got the reminder that I was looking for, that even though Vivi is taller than me, she's still a kid at heart. She loved her Royal Selangor Micky Mouse from Fantasia. If you turn it, it plays his music too.

The girls insisted on going down to say hi to Santa, not because they really wanted the photo op, but because they knew there was a free stuffed animal in it. The line was ridiculously long, so we took turns waiting and keeping the girls distracted.

Finally they got to Santa and his strangely clad assistants.

The present was a stuffed wolf, which was cradled throughout lunch at the Italian pizza place.

For the afternoon, the girls went to the kids club for fun and games, and Jeff and I went to a wine tasting, something we always enjoy. We sat next to a very friendly Australian couple, and we had a lot of fun swapping stories and wine commentary. It was a great afternoon.

We had Christmas dinner in one of the main dining rooms. They had a special menu for the day, so we didn't see the point of paying extra to eat somewhere else. We were trying to explain Christmas crackers to the girls (not a food), and the waiter got one for them to try. They were a little cautious about the "exploding" part.