[gclvaruba]

Our family, compliments of my 90+ yo grandmother, were taken on a 10 night cruise over Christmas. There were 11 of us total...- 4 adults- late 30's-early 40's, 2 adults mid 60's (my parents) my grandmother 90+(great grandmother to the little ones)- and 4 children- girls 15, 12, 10 & 8. As a side note we invited my husband's parents (who take frequent vacations and could well afford such a trip) and they delined. After hearing the excitement from their new grandaughter on what a wonderful time she had, I can't help but imagine they then regretted what they had missed.

Our child is the 8 yo. She is foster to adopt and all of our relatives live out of state. She had met her "cousins" over Thanksgiving, but only for a few hours. The cruise was wonderful in that the children were able to spend time together. My husband, daughter and I spent time together by the pool and our daughter at times participated in the kid's club (which was free) so DH and I got to spend some much deserved time to ourselves.

Everyone in the group did what they wished. No pressure to do things as a group. As a matter of fact there was only one day in which we spent the entire day together and that was Christmas Eve. We were 11 of 18 people for a snorkeling excursion on a catamaran in Barbados.

Every evening the 11 of us shared dinner together in the dining room discussing our adventures of the day. And the best part for all the Mom's...us women sat back after dinner on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day reveling in the fine gourmet dinner we had just had consumed, NOT HAVING to HAVE to cook it AND WE did NOT have to clear dishes or CLEAN UP!

All in all it made some special memories and everyone appreciated not having to do all that last minute hustle bustle which would have occured had we stayed at home.

My parents and grandmother will not live forever and I am thankful for my daughter to have such happy memories.