Traveling and the Cruise Ship

The Cruise Ship!!!  We made it from Rome up to port Civitavecchia and boarded Holland America's MS Koningsdam Cruise Ship.  1st and most important we got our Welcome Aboard pictures taken. I can't even explain how much I love Adam's picture. It is like he is a little school boy all ready for his first day of school.  Too funny. 

I never got a really good picture of just the outside of the boat but here is one showing just how BIG it was!!   

When we first got on the ship we made sure to go about and explore and see what it all had to offer. We were lucky to have a beautiful sunset that first night as we were leaving out of port.

We made sure to check out all the exercise equipment.  

There were 2 different pools, one indoor one in the middle of the boat and then one in the rear. (Is it sad to say we never actually went swimming in either).

We found lots of little nooks to get lots of relaxing and reading done. I think I finished 3 books over the course of the cruise.

Adam had some pretty good shuffleboard skills. pretty sure he beat my everytime.

A fe of the nights we watched the onboard movies they had on in the evenings.  This one entitled, "Walking on sunshine," was so cheesy but I loved that the entire movie was set to popular hit songs from the 1980s and it took place in Italy.... so very entertaining and comical. 

There was a ton of artwork all over the ship. These 2 in particular we saw a lot because they were in the stariwell that was by our room that went up.  We were down on a lower level so we did lots of walking up stairs.  

This was our very favorite spot that we claimed our own quite often.  It was in the middle section of the boat and looked out towards the ocean.  Plus it was right near the pizza and salad place.  haha.

We may not have used the pool but one morning we did go up to the hot tub.

The Food---  of course we all know we go on cruises for the Food!!  And this one did not disappoint. Most nights we would go to the sit down dinner--- and although sometimes it took forever I always enjoyed seeing the culinary artwork.  Out of all the new and interesting things I tried, the frogs legs were what I was most surprised at for liking. They were delicious and reminded me of a good chicken leg.  Gusti was our favorite waiter and we would often request to sit in his station. He would bring us extra dessert even if we didnt order it haha.  

Gelato--- Yes Please!! 

It hs hard to tell from the pictures but we were seriously one of the youngest people on the cruise. Not only does Holland America cater to the older crowd, but seeing that the cruise was in October and to the Mediterranean we didn't quite fit the average crowd.  We were told that the over half of the passengers were over the age of 75. but I would say like 75% haha. no joke. It was pretty awesome to be surrounded by the older and maturer all the time.

New York Deli and Pizza was a favorite of ours to get the thin crust pizza and salads.  Plus they were open til 11 most nights.. so we would often get a 2nd inner while we read a book or watched the movie.

We did get somewhat dressed up for one of the nights.  They of course take your picture and try to sale you on them.  We weren't suckers for that and instead just took our own.

We had 2 days at sea and the both happened to be on Sundays.  So we got the entire Wittwer clan together and held our own little church meeting.  It was fun to be able to see all these people as we were out and about on the cruise and then in random places out in the ports and exploring the city. You never knew who you were going to run into.  We were grateful for Tony for finding the killer deal for us and for getting us all together. It was such an amazing experience and we were so glad we got to experience with so much of our great family.  

Those you were there :

Tony and Cherri, Wendy Wittwer, Eddy & Amy and their 2 oldest kids, Aaron & Gina Atkinson and their 2 kids, Tyler & Erin and their 4 kids, James and Izzy(Who we shared a cabin with), Steve and Annie Huff and their 2 kids, Royden and Diane, Sheldon & Karma, Jordan, Whitney, and Us!)  

And of course the cruise would be complete without towel animals.... so here were a few of my faves.