122 days left until our next trip. I am obviously counting the days. I have a little widget on the corner of my phone’s homepage and I watch as one by one the days count down. I need this, my husband needs this, my kids need this. It has been a long, cold, and snowy winter. The spring feels like it will never begin. The last thing I want to do is rush time, because the end of July also means the beginning of the end of summer. I love spring and I love summer they are my favorite seasons, but fall is not my friend. If you are a fan of fall, I apologize, but it is not for me. I don’t like the shorter days, or the impending long cold winter season. But I digress, for now I’ll just focus on looking forward to my getaway.

At the end of July, we will board Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas for a seven day Canada and New England cruise. This is all new for us, because although we have cruised Royal Caribbean many times, and we absolutely love it, Adventure of the Seas is a new ship for us. Adventure is not a small ship by any means, but our last two cruises were on Allure of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas both of which are two of Royal’s biggest ships, at least until recently when Royal introduced Symphony of the Seas, which is currently the largest cruise ship in the world. After traveling on two behemoth ships, I am really looking forward to a different class of ship and seeing what she has to offer. Adventure also recently came out of a month long dry dock where she was freshened up a bit, so I am even more excited.

Adventure’s home port is currently San Juan, Puerto Rico, but in May she will make her way to New Jersey and her home port for the summer will be Cape Liberty in Bayonne. That is such a plus for us because we live in Jersey, only about forty minutes from the cruise port. That means we save quite a bit of money. Our last two cruises left from Fort Lauderdale, Florida so between the airfare and hotel costs, our expenses added up. We had a blast and loved both cruises, but it got a little expensive, especially since there are four of us. For us leaving from Jersey is quick, easy, and cheap.

We have departed from Cape Liberty cruise port four times in the past so we are familiar with the process. We leave the house, drop our bags with the porters, go through security, wait for the suite guests to be called for boarding, and then board the ship. The process is pretty simple, and as soon as we board the ship our vacation begins!

We have never traveled north though. Normally we head to the Caribbean and have had the pleasure of visiting some of our favorite islands like St Kitts, Bermuda, and St Maarten, but Canada and Maine are new destinations for us. I am so excited! I am even more excited because I think this will be a beautiful trip to take in the summer. I know many people enjoy this itinerary in the fall to see the fall foliage, but I think the summer will be beautiful too. I am really looking forward to our new adventure on Adventure, but until July I will just keep watching my widget, and hoping for some spring-like weather!