A Family Affair- by Lauren Serrano

Stephanie — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:33:00 GMT

And now, a tale of a fun family vacation courtesy of Carnival’s very own Lauren Serrano. Feel free to leave Lauren or any of her family members a question or comment!

It seems like in today’s hustle and bustle, we sometimes lose focus on the ever so important things in life. A statement that seems totally cliché, but over and over again we hear it, and since we are so busy we ignore it.

Well, cliché or not – making the time to get together with the family and actually spend QUALITY time is near impossible – Especially in my family – where we are all over the map- both geographically and age wise…And for that exact reason, we decided the only way to get us all in one place was to plan a family vacation. Well, as I was put in charge of this planning, it became really apparent just how hard it is to find a destination where everyone is happy. REALLY HARD!! But, a cruise seemed like such a natural choice. What better than to be off on your own all day and still get together around the dinner table in the evening to recount the days adventures.

Now, I want to tell you a little about how our trip came to be. I am fortunate to have some of the BEST grandparents out there. They are celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary! And they still love each other, love dancing, and just love life. All I can say, is I cannot believe my grandma is not in the loony bin – SEVEN KIDS! Seems a little scary to me…In fact, am still surprised she did not jump “ship” long ago…

They love cruising – Have been on over 10, but never Carnival. They were a little worried about the “energetic crowd” though – Luckily, Grandma is happy with a drink and chatting up strangers, and my Grandpa is just so easy going I know they will have a blast.

As we all get older, and all seven of my grandparent’s kids get busier and busier, it is so hard to get together as a family. Not to mention we all have such different definitions of a “FUN” Vacation. So, after the easiest “convincing” I’ve ever done, we were off on the Carnival Spirit for 8 days of adventure. Let’s hope all the “family time” doesn’t make me jump ship or better yet, stay in Acapulco and never come home!

Splendid Things in Life : vacation planning

A Family Affair- by Lauren Serrano