I had a connection on Instagram with Ani Hovanessian a very talented and accomplished Armenian woman. She produced and directed the film The Hidden Map a compelling story about Armenian heritage which was on PBS. A chance encounter with a Scottish explorer leads to a joint odyssey unearthing sacred relics, silenced voices, daring resilience…. I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely filmmaker in person on the AHC. It was such a memorable cruise❤️
When I heard about the Armenian Heritage cruise, I immediately thought of my 93 yr old mom who has never been on a cruise. I wanted to take her on this memorable cruise so she could experience an unforgettable vacation. So with my sister Ani on board with me, we took our mom from Vancouver to Vegas for a couple of days of rest for her before flying to Fort Lauderdale to board the Celebrity Reflection.
It was a responsible and daring endeavor for us to take our mother who has become unable to walk since she fell and had hip surgery.
Luckily everything went better than expected. She enjoyed herself like never before. We met many lovely people, had enjoyable dinners with our dear friends every night which was followed by going to the Armenian party venue with live music and entertainment. We didn’t know that our mom was such a party animal because when we asked her if she wanted to return to our stateroom at midnight she said let’s wait till the show is over. We danced danced til we dropped every night, ventured out during beach stop overs, swam at Grand Cayman island with many fun loving people, snorkeled at Cozumel and at Bimini Bahamas. We had the time of our life💃🥂Then we returned to Fort Lauderdale safely to head back to Vegas to give another couple of days of rest for our mom before returning to Vancouver.
This pic was taken at the lobby of Bellagio hotel, Las Vegas. The colorful 18’ chandelier piece above is comprised of 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms. It’s called “Fiori di Como” by Dale Chilhuly🥰