As most parents know, the week before school starts is always a crazy one. Clothes, school supplies, paperwork and the idea of adapting your life back into some form of a schedule overtakes your every thought. This year has been one filled with much change for my family, but the consistency of love has brought us all through to the other side. And for that I am grateful.

This past year of R Family trips has truly been spectacular. I was hesitant about our new business venture of doing groups on board our cruises to Hawaii, Europe and the Caribbean; however, my uncertainty was very quickly proven to be wrong. From the beaches of Hawaii to the beauty of Rome to the magnificent new NCL Epic ship, our groups shared experiences that were unique, uplifting and a ton of fun. The R Family experience translated perfectly to our groups allowing us to see new parts of the world together and getting to know each other in a more intimate environment. I feel like I made some real true friends on each of those trips. Friends that will stay with me for the years to come. On the group trips, we were also blessed with spectacular entertainment for our guests. Our guests got to know the entertainers in a way that never would have happened in a larger experience. We ate together, explored together and had many, many laughs.

The other new experience for me this past summer was our very first land vacation at Club Med in Ixtapa Mexico. I had never even been to a Club Med, but Gregg assured me that it would be amazing. We took over the whole resort with over 500 R Family guests and created an experience that not only changed my mind about what a land vacation could be, but I believe the minds of many of our guests. The food, the staff, the entertainment and the experience of a more laid back environment allowed all of us to truly feel the R Family experience in the same way that we have felt in in the full ship experiences in the past. I feel so excited to continue this part of our business and confident that the product that we delivered in Mexico can continue next year to Club Med in Florida. Our days were filled with pool games, swimming in the ocean, archery, trapeze school, delicious guacamole and our evenings were full of the amazing talent that continues to create the R Family experience for all of you.

We will be creating new blogs for this area on our website each week and hope you come back to see who is writing next. Or if you want to write your own blog about anything that is moving you at the time, please submit to us and we will post it!! I am encouraging our talent, the team and any passengers to share their experiences so that during the months that we do not see each other, we can all feel the embrace of the love that we all feel when we are traveling together.