After working on a few options for the annual family vacation, we chose to sail on the NCL Sky. I had read the reviews but figured it would be a good choice for our family. We're a family of four with 2 little ones - a 3.5 year old and a 9 month old. Crazy - taking them on a cruise, right? This was also the DW's first cruise and the last cruise for me was 10 years ago, a lot has changed!

Because of the ensuing challenge, we also recruited some help with our babysitter and brought her along. When we booked the cruise in May, the only room available with a balcony was a "penthouse suite". Okay, so we budgeted and made the commitment to do it. Lucky, we booked the sitter a month later and the inside room directly outside of our suite was available and so we were set for the rooms and the experience.

We headed to Miami on Sunday to ensure we would not be rushing on the day of the trip - and that we could get the kids settled from flying before getting ready for the completely new experience of boarding the ship. We pulled up to the pier around noon on Monday and tipped our porter after being reminded this was our only chance to do so! We didn't want our bags to fall to the bottom of the pier, so a tip was handed over. Read more