Norwegian Getaway on the Hudson River

 

All aboard!

All aboard!

Travel is a big part of my family’s life.  Ever since Corbin was born, Mark, Corbin and I have logged some serious miles traveling across the world.  However, in all of those trips to some really amazing places, none of them have ever been on board a massive commercial cruise ship.  While cruises are one of the best ways to see a lot of places in the Caribbean, we have never spent any time on one.  So when I was invited to get a first hand look at the brand new Norwegian Getaway while it is docked in New York City, I was very curious to see what the fuss is all about when it comes to cruise ships.

Within minutes of being on board, Corbin said, “Mom, I wanna spend two weeks on the ship this summer with some friends! Can we do that?” We hadn’t even sat down for lunch or taken a tour and this kid knew he wanted to hang out on the Norwegian Getaway.  The feeling for him was obviously a welcoming one! He became even more smitten with the idea of a floating vacation after finding out from Julie, the cruise director, that he could play on water slides, ropes courses, a rock climbing wall and various sports courts.  We didn’t get to do any of that on Sunday because of the arctic temperatures in New York City.

Over lunch in the Illusionarium Room, we got a first hand look at snip-its from four of the fantastic family friendly shows.  The dance group Burn the Floor kicked it off with an over the top energetic dance number followed my an illusionist who really wowed the kids with a levitating table.  The cast of Legally Blonde The Musical performed and the cast of some of Nickelodeon’s most popular shows like Spongebob, Dora and Diego wrapped up our lunchtime entertainment. Speaking of lunch, it was delicious!

Burn the Floor, baby!

Burn the Floor, baby!

Nickelodeon Red Carpet royalty

Nickelodeon Red Carpet royalty

While I was touring the ship, Corbin was whisked away to Splash Academy.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any personal photos to show you what he got to experience.  Why?  Because it is a parent free zone!  That’s right!  No parents allowed except in the area to drop off and pick up your little munchkins! What I can tell you is that Splash Academy takes two floors on board and divides the kids into age groups. The Getaway also offers childcare for parents with infants, too. Corbin tells me he played Wii, GaGa and made some new friends – GIRLfriends that is!  He’s quite the Casanova!  Oh and in his own words, he said, “I had a blast!”

Splash Academy - parents not allowed

Splash Academy – parents not allowed

I was blown away by the size of the ship.  It is massive and has just about everything you could ever want to have on a floating city.  There were more restaurants than I could have ever imagined.  One highlight is Food Network star Geoffrey Zakarian’s Ocean Blue.  Another fun place to hang out, if only for a maximum of 30 minutes is the Svedka Ice Bar.  It’s about 17 degrees inside the ice bar which means you gotta wear a coat of some sort and sip on your vodka really fast or risk freezing while you float!  There is even a multistory social hub that has everything from a disco bar, casino and a comedy club.

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The maximum capacity on the ship is 4700 passengers.  Our tour guide mentioned that the ship is usually never fully booked though. Hopping on board the Norwegian Getaway in New York City makes for an easy start to a vacation.  All you have to do is take a cab to the pier along the West Side highway and set sail.

Denise Albert and Melissa Gerstein from The Moms were out hosts for the fun event. Ladies, thanks for making my first experience on a Norwegian cruise ship a memorable one.

Here’s to happy travels on the high seas! It is the #ultimategetaway

All smiles on Norwegian Getaway

All smiles on Norwegian Getaway

Green Beauty – Pt. 2

Note:  This was originally posted at Southerner and the City on www.jonesboro.com

One Love Organics

One Love Organics

It is always nice to hear a southern accent in the middle of a room packed full of mostly New Yorkers.  I heard a sweet southern drawl recently while at a beauty event I told you about in my last blog.  The Night of Green Beauty was held downtown at the James Corbett Salon.  Toward the end of the night, I had the pleasure of meeting Suzanne LeRoux, the lawyer-turned skin care guru, behind the skin care line One Love Organics.

We bonded quickly over all things southern and I quickly started quizzing her about her St. Simon, Georgia based skin care company.  LeRoux stepped away from the world of law and turned her hobby as a skin care alchemist into a full time gig.  Here products are made in America in small batches on St. Simon.  What pulled me in and kept me engaged was the magnificent smelling Skin Savior Waterless Beauty Balm.  It smells like the best orange vanilla creamsicle you’ve ever smelled in your life!

The balm is one of the lines best sellers and is a work horse of a product. It can be used as a moisturizer, cleanser, cuticle cream and even helps calm fly away hairs!  You can also use it along with your mineral makeup for a flawless face finish.  While we were talking I dabbed a little on my cuticles.  They looked instantly better and well, smelled like a dream!  This product has gotten a lot of press, too.  LeRoux told me that when Rachel Zoe, the LA based amaze-balls stylist, recommended the product in her daily Zoe Report, One Love Organic’s website crashed from the massive amount of traffic!  Not the worst thing to have happen to you, right?

I ended up buying the beauty balm.  My main purpose was to try it out on my hands at night.  I have been using it.  It works and smells heavenly.  But I’ve already told you that this stuff smells divine and here is why.  It’s full of organic orange peel, vanilla, virgin coconut oil, oat and mango just to rattle off a few of the ingredients.

I took home a sample of Brand New Day Microderma Scrub and Masque.  It has a grainy texture and is a fantastic exfoliator.  I can’t use it every day but I do try to use it at least three times a week.  The pineapple extract in this product mixed with corn starch and sweet pea extract keep my skin looking taught and feeling squeaky clean.  The scrub also doubles as a masque that can be mixed three different ways depending if you want to tighten, moisturize or clarify your skin.  I have had great results using it as a cleanser but have not tried the masque yet.

Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of different skin care products with varying degrees of results.  Once I hit a ‘certain’ age, I realized that I needed to be using the best pharmaceutical grade skin care products that I could afford.  I’ve been very pleased with my skin. However, I have become more educated on all of the chemicals in the products I have been using everyday, some even twice a day. I like to think I’ve become more open minded about looking into the naturally derived and even organic skin care products, too.  I would not say at this point in my life, that I could go all natural when it comes to skin care – yes, I’ve had some Botox –  but I am at least switching it up a little and seeing amazing results without the chemicals and sky high prices, too.

I was not paid for this post and the opinions are 100% mine.  Interested in learning more? Check out www.oneloveorganics.com

Keep up with DJ’s adventures by following her on Twitter @mrsdjduckworth and on Facebook.  She posts some seriously off the wall and sometimes mundane photos on Instagram @djduckworth.  Find out more at www.iamdjduckworth.com  DJ is a contributing writer and blogger for New York Family magazine and Feast If Forward.  She lives in Manhattan with her two boys and the most amazing wiener dog, Leo – woof, woof!