So I realize that the only thing we posted about since we got married was the fact that our plumbing exploded. To rap up that story, the pipe going from the house to the street was clogged so it was just a matter of unclogging it with a snake.
Married life is wonderful. I always thought Liz and I would get along as husband and wife but I didn't think it would be this easy! With one month under our belt, I thought I'd review the highlights.
Wedding: It probably couldn't have gone any better than it did. We had our food, we had our cake, we talked to everyone, and it was as drama free as it could have been. The place was decorated exactly how we wanted it. The dance floor was a little small but that ended up being perfect but it was basically packed during the dancing times. I think what Liz and I were most impressed with is the dancing skills of our families. It was just so fun to see the kids out there and all our sisters and brothers. The food was amazing and tasted exactly how it did during our tasting. The schedule went according to plan and Rob just rocked the house with DJing and MCing. The whole night was amazing. A lot of people say that your wedding day just flies by and it's like it never happened. Well we are certainly feeling that way. I remember every bit about our wedding but it already feels like it was so long ago and just disappeared in a flash. Like everything in our life right now, it was bittersweet. We enjoyed it while it was here but it's sad to see the days just flitting by.
Honeymoon: We had such a great time. I think despite a few disappointing times it was overall a relaxing yet packed with plans to see many different places. For anyone who doesn't know, we went on a cruise through the Hawaiian Islands seeing the Big Island for 2 days, Maui for 2 days, and Kauai for 2 days and then we spent an extra 4 days on Oahu when we got back off the boat. I'll first say that all the islands were exactly what they were advertised to be. Tropical and lush and full of sun. Each island was also different so it was cool to see what each island offered the state. We also learned so much about the state. Did you know there is an island that is uninhabited by people because the U.S. used it as a target for missiles and mines and military operations? Groups are working on restoring it but it's a slow process due to the extensive damage. And this island is one of the main ones named Kahoolawe. Did you also know that there is another main island that is designated and set aside only for Hawaiian natives? A family bought the island a long time ago and told the natives, if you want to live the way your ancestors did and live off the land with no interference to the outside world, you are welcome to live there. So there is a population of about 250 hawaiians who live no technological advances of any kind and live like hawaiians did centuries ago. This island is called Niihau. It's fascinating.
Now of course there are things that went wrong on the trip. The cruise ship DID NOT live up to our expectations. We will probably never be cruising with Norwegian Cruise Lines again due to the disappointing experience. The offer "free-style cruising" which they advertise as a "no schedule" type situation where you are "free to do what you like". Well it's garbage first off because most cruises only have one thing that they schedule, and that is dinner. So really it should be advertised as a "free-style dining" cruise, not free-style cruising. So as for dinner, the boat has 10 dining rooms, and 4 of which are "free", in other words included in the price of the cruise, the other 6 you pay for your food (bogus). So we get on the boat and they say you don't need to make reservations for dinner if you are in a group under 8 because the dining rooms are normally pretty free. Awesome. First night, every free dining room is a 1.5 hour wait. So we quickly figured out that you are forced to make reservations in order to have dinner at a normal/reasonable hour. (FYI, making reservations is the exact opposite of free-style).
So OK, we make reservations every night and at times the 2 cooler restaurants are already completely booked so we sometimes get stuck in the normal regular "not-cool" restaurants. So on most cruises since you are on a schedule you get the same staff every night, so they invest personal attention to you. Free-style cruising makes it almost impossible to have the same staff even 2 nights out of the 7. They don't have any investment in who you are or how much you care about their service. 5 out of the 7 nights the waiter then comes up to us and greets us with "I'm here for your order". So we spit out our appetizer, main meal and dessert and from then on it's just a here's-your-food, may-i-take-your-plate dance between us and the staff until we are gone. The 2 exceptions were a waiter and waitress who were genuinely caring and jovial with us and we certainly let them know how much we appreciated it. All the other nights were the impersonal waiters.
We are unhappy with the staff and the reservation making but to make it even worse is the fact that when we get to every restaurant there are empty tables everywhere, which is only for 1 reason, they are short staffed. Why are they short-staffed? Because they don't have to seat more than the number of people they make reservations for. Where are all the other staff? Up in the non-free restaurants earning more money for the cruise ship. Where are all the other people who are either rich or didn't make reservations? Up in the non-free restaurants paying for their food. It was such a money making scheme it made us sick, and not once was it even considered to go to a restaurant on our very expensive cruise to once again pay for our food.
I have so many more gripes with Norwegian Cruise Lines that it has provided me with enough of a motive to let everyone I know to not go on a NCL cruise. We wouldn't cruise with them again, and neither should you. It doesn't even touch the all around quality of Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival. The food and restaurant situation was just a drop in the bucket but the one that was always in our face and the most annoying.
I just had to blog about how bad NCL was but the cruise was basically the only thing we had to complain about on the trip. Everything else was amazing. When we got off the boat we stayed in the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa and boy was that a treat. There weren't a lot of other hotels in Waikiki I would have rather stayed in. The staff was so helpful and the building was gorgeous and was basically a mall on the first few floors. The elevators were faster than anything I've ever been on and it took about 15 seconds to get to our 28th floor room. We probably won't stay there if we go back to Hawaii though because the next trip would be more of a relaxation type trip since we've seen most of everything. They Hyatt Regency is in downtown Honolulu and relaxing is the last thing a downtown atmosphere is. But it was a treat for sure.
Dewey: Once we got back, we spent two weeks with Mr. Dewey Chase. Jon and Julie (Liz's Cousin) went on a trip through the Baltic Sea (reference: http://bobcatjulie.blogspot.com/ ) and Dewey came over and stayed at our house for the time being. For anyone who doesn't know Dewey, he is a 9 month old Lab/Golden Retriever mix. It certainly took some adjustment as any dog would but by the time they came back we realized that we were really going to miss having him around. It was a joy coming home from work and hanging out with him. We learned all about the customs of the Durham Dog Park and it was a blast taking him there and watching him interact with all the other dogs. Today was the first day that I had to get up for work without him and it's no wonder I was a half an hour later to work than I was any day last week. While we will be going over and visiting him, it made us realize just how much we would like to have a dog and it won't be too long before we have one of our own. The only thing stopping us is our own slight anxiety... once we make the leap into doggy parenthood, there is no turning back. There's no question we want one, it's just a matter of getting up the courage and going.
Well that's all for now. Look for more posts in the near future on our dog hunting (that sounds terrible btw).
ps - for those of you who heard about my '1000 miles in one year' goal, I am now at 606 miles on the year. only 394 to go!
