The Light

There is a light at the end of this tunnel all our lives were thrust into this past year. The vaccinations are coming for most of us. I received my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine on March 12 and will get my second on April 1. By April 15 I will be considered fully vaccinated and ready to travel again. Of course, I won’t be able to travel because we still need millions more to be vaccinated, but it’s coming.

FOUR Upcoming Cruises!?

I suddenly find myself booked on four cruises for the next two years. Well, not that suddenly but the fourth came as a kind of surprise.

Updates on Plans

With all that in mind, we’re looking at a late September sailing and Norwegian Cruise Line is currently offering the best itineraries at that time. A few lines are holding off on offering those cruises until they have a better idea of what will be open and available at that time. Understandable, but it makes the planning a little more complicated. As it is, we have settled on a Norwegian Sun itinerary leaving Seattle, WA on September 30, 2021. This will also go over my step-dad’s 64th birthday, October 2. We are waiting until at least May to June next year before booking, to give the cruise lines time to begin cruising and settle into a safety system that works. If they don’t accomplish this, we won’t be out of any money or stuck trying to re-book.

The Next Adventure: Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand

So, doing some research I found a 5 Night Spice of Southeast Asia cruise on Royal Caribbean. It departed from Singapore on January 30, which would set us up perfectly to be onboard for a special dinner on Laila’s birthday, February 1. Then I waited a few weeks until Royal Caribbean ran a pretty great deal of buy-one-get-one-fare-half-off. Then it struck me, it would probably be great if I got Laila’s brother and sister involved. I wasn’t sure if either would be interested or could afford it, but I sent them messages anyway. Pretty quickly the three of us were in a Facebook messenger conversation. I told them the plan and sent them the link to the cruise itinerary and said we could think about it for a couple weeks, but they were both immediate “yes.” So I paid the $400 deposit for the four of us on July 10, 2019 and things were set.

The Mediterranean 2017

Santorini I found disappointing. All the pictures make it look like a magical white and blue place but the reality shows that those pictures are just well composed and taken at the correct angles. We wandered a round and ate a nice little lunch. Everywhere in Santorini has a great view of the harbor.

Norwegian Sky Vacation April 2013

The next day we were in Nassau, Bahamas. Again, we hadn’t booked any excursions but wanted to see some cultural things around the city, so we walked out of the port and went out and about on our own. We saw the Queen’s Staircase and the foreign embassies, an old hotel, and Fort Fincastle. Then we walked ALL THE WAY TO Arawak Cay for lunch. That wasn’t the smartest idea, but we got our exercise. We ate at a place called Gullies. I recommend it. The food was great with fresh seafood for Laila and a well fried pork chop for me.

Miscellaneous Carnival Cruise Line Memories

You ever try to argue with an Italian man who out ranks you? It’s not fun. He starts yelling back at me, in broken English/Italian, about how they must do this work right now. On top of that the most Kareniest of Karens is immediately to my right yelling at me these guys can’t be here because they have naked little girls over here. ALSO Katie is yelling at me over headset to get the electricians out of there, they can’t be there right now. Meanwhile, the show on stage is still going forward. To summarize, I’m being yelled out four ways, in two different languages, one person doing it remotely.

Imelda

People were happy that Imelda and I got together. Katie commented she was happy I hung out in public spaces more often. Theresa, the Production Singer, thought it was very funny that we had a good relationship. When she incredulously said “She literally bought you” for some reason my brain tagged that as a permanent memory, so I’ll never forget her voice.

Ship Life

I wish I could remember exactly what I was making on the ship, but I can’t. I think it was something around $1500 or $1800 a month after taxes. That was paid out every two weeks. That’s low but you also have to remember there are no rent payments, no car, no gas, no insurance, no groceries, no utilities, no adult-like responsibilities to pay for while you’re there. When I was on the ship, the only bills I had to pay were my cell phone, credit card and student loan payments. This is why I intended to work on the ships until I was AT LEAST out of debt.

The End of the Fantasy

I had a fun little birthday onboard. I bought cupcakes from Walmart. Katie and the Sound Tech bought me a nice pullover Carnival sweater. The dancers gave me a signed beach ball.