NYC Cruise {the NYC part}

I think I mentioned awhile back that I earned another free vacation from Premier.  I really love my job, all the time.  But man, these trips are such an awesome perk and reason to love it even more!

Everyone always asks what I have to do to get them. These trips are just for leadership.  I've been in leadership with Premier for about 7 years now, maybe?  I really can't remember.  So every year we are eligible to go on the leadership trip.  It's based on points/sales, and we always have a period of about 6 months to earn our points.  You have to earn a certain amount of points to even be able to buy on for the trip.  Then I can increase my points and earn my trip cheaper and cheaper, eventually free, and at the maximum point status it's always free for me and Dave!  Except Disney...last year Disney was a trip they allowed us to earn free for the kids too.

And honestly, during the 6 months that we are given to qualify, typically I only have to bump up my usual activity just a little bit to end up getting both of our trips for free.  I have helped support my family in a huge way with my income from Premier for 6 years now.  Before then, it was just fun money.  So I definitely do more than the usual jeweler.  But it sure makes earning a trip much easier! I'm not saying it's easy...I have to push myself past what I usually do, and Dave and I always decide together if it's a trip worth me working extra for or not.  It's pretty awesome that I can earn a vacation from the work (plus a little more) that I'd typically be doing anyway.  In just 3 trips, we have been places that we would have never gone if we'd been paying and planning on our own.  In the end, I have to give so much thanks to all of my amazing hostesses, for supporting me and my business.  We definitely wouldn't be on these trips if it weren't for them!

Of the 7 years I've been eligible for the trips, this is our 3rd trip.  Most of the other trips I was either hugely pregnant or had a newborn.  We took our first cruise (of our lives) with Premier in 2010, and we absolutely loved it.  We had the most beautiful stops. Then we took the big kids to Disney World last year and now this cruise.  They tend to do cruises every other year, with a "land" trip in between.

This cruise had a little different spin...we sailed out of New York City, instead of the typical Miami.

The 24 hours leading up to getting on the flight to NYC will go in the record books as some of the most stressful hours of my life so far. Or possibly one of my biggest pity parties of all time.  Either way...not a good day.  Maybe it was God's way of helping us enjoy our time away even more.  Dave got the stomach flu and my mom (who was scheduled to be there in time for us to leave, and was watching the kids for the first 4.5 days of the 8 that we'd be gone) called and said she wouldn't make it because she was sick too.  More than once that day, through tears (or maybe some possible yelling), both of us wondered if we should just not go.

The hours I had spent getting every last detail of who needed to be where and when, and who was the emergency call numbers which days, and who was picking up and dropping off where and when, all had to be re-done. Dave had taken the day off before we left so we could finish the million things we needed to do...instead he was in the bathroom and bed all day.  With 3 kiddos at home with me all day, I started those million things at 9pm the night before we left.  I still didn't know whether Dave would be okay to get on a flight the next day day or not, but I kept going in hopes he was.  I was up until 4am finishing every last detail and packing myself and all the kids (who would now be away from the house for all 8 days).

The next morning all was good! We made it.  But to be honest, it took me a good 2-3 days to fully relax and breathe.

Off to New York City.

We opted not to spend extra days in NYC, even though we really really wanted to.  And obviously that turned out to be a good thing with all that happened before we left.

So we got into the city around dinner time Saturday night, and we were determined to make the most of the one night and next morning we had, to see as much of the city as we could.

I had been to NYC twice before, and I fell in love instantly.  This was Dave's first time, and he loved it as much as I did.

We checked into our hotel, threw our stuff down, and headed out.

Our hotel was walking distance to Times Square so we headed there first.  Times Square at night is a must.

We really didn't make it all that late, considering the day before, I was exhausted beyond belief.

So we got up the next morning and headed out.  We weren't sure what all we could fit in, but we jumped the subway and headed for the Financial District to the 9/11 Memorial, with the goal that we'd just keep moving and try to squeeze in everything we could until we had to be back to check out of the hotel and get to the pier.

 

The new World Trade Center building was amazing. Such an incredible symbol of resiliency.

Getting off the subway and being at the tip of Manhattan was surreal. The last time I was in New York I stood at the top of the Empire State Building and took a picture of the World Trade Center towers through the foggy sky.  I still have that picture in a box somewhere.  

Just being in that place made my heart feel so heavy.  Standing where those towers crumbled and buried so many people alive, and walking the same streets that were filled with debris and millions of office papers and complete destruction was eery.  In fact, even when we weren't down there, but we could see the skyline in the distance, I wondered what it would have been like for all those people, all over the area to sit and watch out their windows as those two giant towers burned and collapsed.

The memorial was beautiful.  2 large square holes in the ground to represent to the two towers.

We left the Financial District and rode the subway to Canal Street.  We knew this was a good street to to get a good taste of the city as we walked as far as we had time for. 

We walked through Chinatown, Little Italy, and saw parts of SoHo.

Pizza in Little Italy.

We made it back to our room at 11:45 for a 12:00 checkout. And then took a taxi to the pier.

Quite a different site than leaving from Miami.

Premier is so good to us.  Every jeweler on the trip got a balcony room. It was huge and so nice!

We sailed on the Norwegian Breakaway, a boat that isn't even a year old, and one of Norwegian's largest ships. It held about 5000 people I think.  4000 guests, 1000 crew.  About 1500 of the 4000 were with Premier.

We took a picture of the slides and kids area first thing and texted it to the kids and promised we'd do the slides for them. Aren't we nice?  You can't see the blue and red slides very well, but at the top, you stand there and the floor drops out from under you and drops you straight down and then twists you all around.  It was really awesome...on the 4th day when it was finally warm enough to get wet.

 

 The cold weather is definitely the big difference (in March anyway) in leaving from NYC as opposed to our previous cruises from Miami.  Normally we have our swim suits on under our clothes, or in our bags and head straight to lay out in the sun.  Instead, we boarded in coats and boots, and it didn't get warm until the end of the 3rd day at sea. Right as we got past the southern part of South Carolina, the air finally got warm.  Even for this winter lover, it was SUCH a treat to feel that warm air after such a long winter (that was still going on back home).

Despite the cold weather, it sure was an amazing view leaving, sailing right alongside Manhattan and out into the Atlantic.

A view of the very tip of Manhattan (Financial District) and the new World Trade Center building.

I had left my coat in our room, but we still went out on the deck to watch the boat sail past the city, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  It was freezing!

Manhattan is on the left, Jersey on the right. The Atlantic straight ahead.

Dave talked me out of taking my good camera, which was probably a good thing.  And my phone doesn't take the best pictures when I try to zoom.  But here she is...Lady Liberty.  This was our first time to see her.

We got really good at taking selfies.

 

 Our first 2.5 days were at sea.  And like I said, the air wasn't warm until the night of the 3rd day.  So the first time we were really outside was when we stopped at Port Canaveral, Florida.  I wouldn't say we were bored though, you're pretty much on a floating resort. There was so much to do. And even when we weren't doing something, the beauty of not having anything to do and just having a break from life was wonderful.

More to come.