My first cruise was for two weeks back in January 2016, onboard the beautiful NCL Breakaway on a round-trip from New York, down to the Caribbean.

It was for our honeymoon and we’d decided on a cruise as we both were keen to see some of the Caribbean. A cruise would allow us to see more of the Caribbean than a traditional resort break.

The cruise was in January, which means gorgeous weather in the Caribbean, however that was not the case for New York. We arrived during the worst storm New York had seen for a decade with highs just above freezing. Packing was tricky with 70% of my case being taken up with winter clothes for the start of the trip.

New York has one of the most beautiful sail away views, and really unlike anywhere else. If you ever get the chance, I can highly recommend.

As it was our first cruise, we were nervous about seasickness and how much we would feel the ship move. Our trip down and around the Caribbean was nothing but smooth sailing.

However on our return trip, our captain was giving regular updates about a storm just off the East coast. We both kept up to date with the local news. It certainly seemed we were in for a rough ride.

NCL crew we’re superb and put a few extra talks on in the theatre to ease passengers. They advised what they were doing to avoid as much motion as they could. Our ship took on a lot of extra water into the stores, to give us additional weight. Both stabilisers were also deployed and we slowed right down to ensure a safe return trip.

As a first time cruiser I definitely was a little worried, however the staff onboard did everything they could. Plus almost all areas were still open for guests to enjoy. I think the only area which was closed off was the deck, just due to the high winds, (up to 70mph at this point, with 30ft seas) .

As we were returning back to New York, Royal Caribbeans newest ship at the time, Anthem of the seas was leaving New York for a round trip aswell. Unfortunately the storm caught them and the ship was damaged, forcing Royal Caribbean to turn around and cancelling the trip for all onboard.

Don’t get me wrong, our return journey wasn’t my favourite few days at sea. But my overall trip was superb and a few bad sea days, couldn’t even put a dampener on that.

We have loved our return trips with NCL, obviously everyone hopes for smooth sailing, but unfortunately you can’t change the weather and what’s thrown at you.