On my way to my Princess Cruise Lines video shoot!

 There were 7 adults on the entire ship that were chosen to film for Princess Cruise line!

**CRUISIN HAWAII 2012**

Last year while we were on second Mexican Riveria cruise, Tommy got the idea to do a 14 day Hawaiian cruise during a presentation of new crusises for the cruise line.  I won't mince words by saying... I was very skeptical!!!!  We were on a Carnival cruise at the time and their cheapest price was beyond EXPENSIVE. Anyone that knows Tommy knows, when he gets something in his head.....it never goes away until he finds a way to make it work! He reminds me of someone else I know.... but I can't quite put my finger on who...kidding ...... anyways....

Tommy did all the research and found that Princess Cruise lines had the cruise that fit the kids' spring break time frame to a "T!"  After a few deep breaths, we took the plunge and booked the cruise through COSTCO.  Best choice we have ever made when it comes to travel.  I could write an entire book on the customer service they provide, alone!!!  After the Costa ship sank near Italy, I was curious to see what new incentives the cruise lines would be offering so I called our travel agent, who immediately contacted the cruise line and found out that Princess was refunding Brinkley's ENTIRE cruise fare!!! This was huge. H.U.G.E.  I could not have been happier... but wait... It was ONLY going to get better....

After an entire year of planning and planning for this EXTREME family vacation... Spring Break finally arrived! Our last minute shopping was complete, we were packed and ready to rock!  We left a day early to spend the night in L.A. just to make sure we were at Berth 93 in time to board our ship. At some point right before Palm Springs, CA, while driving to Los Angeles,  my cell phone rang.  I don't know anyone from Palmdale California but I opted to answer the call anyway.  It was Princess Cruise Lines calling about our booking accomodations.  The representative on the line explained to me that she was changing our rooms from two rooms to the one, "Dolphin family suite."  She then started rambling off facts about the room, told me how to re-do all of our luggage tags, & asked if I had any questions.  I didn't know what to ask except, "how many people does our one room accomodate?" (This was rather concerning to me since we put the kids in their own rooms on the ship when we cruise.....)  She told me that it slept 10 people.  I think my mouth hit the floorboards.  Ok, with that all said and done.... I hung up and immediately,  started to search the website to see if we had just been screwed....She called it an upgrade but it was still,  only one room...... Figures, my dang i-Phone would not open the floorplans thanks to the lack of Adobe flash player,  so I did the next best thing....I had my mom search it.  her only response.... "Holy HUGENESS, it is actually 3 rooms and a gigantic balcony!!!"  SERIOUSLY Awesome.........I just had no idea how very Awesome it actually would be!!

After spending the night in our hotel room we anxiously made our way down to BERTH 93.  It is safe to say that our entire family was pretty much jumping out of their own skin.  After 364 days of planning.. we finally had the GOLDEN PRINCESS came into our view.  She was magnificent.  Jax looked at her as a challenge... Just how many times can one human being hit the all you can eat buffets & then call room service and eat even more, in one day... Brinkley couldn't wait to swim-in every single pool (she even hit the ADULTS ONLY POOL once!  OOPS) and Pudgie was all amped up to see where the, "ALL YOU CAN EAT ICE CREAM," was located & FEVERISHLY mapping the fastest route from our suite to the line.  I just wanted to get our boarding cards and make sure everything was all in order... and FINALLY BREATHE THAT ...."OK, WE ARE NOW HERE AND ON VACATION, BREATH!!!"

Of course I broke the rules and skipped to the front of the line to board earlier than we should have ONCE THEY STARTED CALLING OUR BOARDING NUMBERS..... What can I say? I was an anxious girl.

I have to admit, an 18 story tall ship is beyond impressive.  As we embarked the ship we all looked up at her and just smiled.... WE HAD FINALLY MADE IT!!!!  ALL THANKS TO DADDY!!!!

Curiosity had gotten the best of me and we ended up breaking the rules, AGAIN, by heading directly for our suite.  My jaw hit the floor when we opened the door.  It was a small apartment with a balcony that was about 4 times the size of  a regular balcony.  Tommy and I had our own bedroom and Living room with 2 televisions, 2 couches, 2 tables...1 for dining on and 1 for "entertaining' on.  The kiddos had another room that was attached to our living room.  Their room slept 4, our living room slept another 4 while our room slept 2. I would have been over the moon if the upgrade had stopped there... but that was when our suite attendant came in and introduced himself to us.  He was so sweet.  Then he started his, "list of included ammenities!"
*FREE WI-FI
*FREE LAUNDRY SERVICE
*FREE CHAMPAGNE & CAVIAR OR CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES NIGHTLY
*FREE UPGRADE RESTAURANT DINING
*PRIORITY BOAT PASSES FOR TENDERING ON TO MAUI
*PRIORITY ~PRIORITY ~ PRIORITY.... THE LIST WAS NEVER ENDING!!!!!
I thanked him profusely and explained to my kiddos that this kind of vacation may never ever happen again so enjoy it, but DO NOT take it for granted!!!!!  We were so excited!!!

LET THE EXPLORING BEGIN!!!
We headed upstairs to find food.   Justice spotted the GIGANTIC ice cream cone within 2 minutes of exiting the elevator and 15 seconds later, he had his first ice cream cone in hand. 
Pizza bar ~ located. 
Hamburger & french fry bar ~ located. 
Horizon food court buffet ~ located.
Indoor and outdoor pools along with all 12 jacuzzi's....LOCATED. 
With the majority of the important things located, we headed back to our rooms to see if our luggage had been delivered, so we could grab our swimsuits!!!! That did not work out as planned so we hit our balcony just in time to watch our ship leave port.  Our vacation was  officially under way.     

Our luggage arrived and swimming was big plan of the night.  Jax hit the "BAR" for his first Pina Colada of many, on this trip.  It was simply.....PERFECT!!!!!

**HAWAII 2012 via THE GOLDEN PRINCESS**

BEST.FAMILY.VACATION.EVER.

& 

I ABSOLUTLEY CAN'T WAIT TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!!!