It is very hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that we are about to embark on our seventh season of extended cruising. Seven years! I mean, it's not new news that we're seven years older (our bodies remind us of that fact nearly every day); it's more that our 'Five Year Plan' of wintering on cruise ships has been extended not once, but twice.
I still remember the day G first introduced this 'winters at sea' concept to me. Frankly, I was filled with equal parts horror and intrigue. Horror at the thought of not being home for Christmas (it's nice to know that some things never change), and intrigue because I simply couldn't imagine what it would be like to cruise for more than a month (our previous high). It helped that we eased into it our first year, cruising for 44 nights, flying home for the holidays and then returning to cruise for 30 additional nights. But that was all the acclimation we needed. The next year we jumped in feet first, cruising 100 nights in a row.
And five years after that, we know exactly what it's like to cruise for more than a month. Or four. We know that if we survive the two weeks before and the two weeks after, the trip itself is heaven. Ergo, seventh heaven.
First, though, a bit of catch up...
After we returned home in March, we endured two more months of winter and one month of severe storms that collectively convinced me (and much of the US) that Mother Nature is not our friend. As a result, our major focus this summer became landscaping renewal and repair. At least we were standing on terra firma instead of an extension ladder while we worked, and that was a very welcome change. Throw in some plumbing and electrical work, a bit of car repair and a lot of general nose-to-the grindstone tedium made more tolerable by a quick road trip and a couple of extended stays with the twins and that pretty much sums up how we spent our summer vacation (and you wonder why I don't blog during the summer?!?).
I also flew back to visit Mom over Mothers Day and hugely enjoyed the relaxing fun and companionship we missed out on last year. Together we played the carefree tourist, visiting museums and (finally!) driving along the river to view the spring blooming trees. And I loved meeting her fellow residents (I want to be them when I grow up)! Mom is an inspiration, starting a rosary group and the Walking SenioRitas and instigating the formation of a community choir and pinochle club. She's even being used as a model for marketing brochure photos, and I am nothing short of tickled pink to watch her living the dorm life of a college coed...without the stress of studies. Thank you to all those who have emailed and asked how she is doing. At 85, she is happy and healthy.
We, too, stayed healthy this summer, although the number of what I consider 'near misses' seems to increase every year. I fondly recall the days when a tummy ache meant simply taking a Pepto Bismal; now it means specialists and prepping for medical procedures meant to view me inside out, only to be told afterwards, "You're fine. Just take a Pepto Bismal". Could it be that it was all so simple then...
Therefore, it is with a sense of peace and gratitude, for so many things, that we will be embarking the Pacific Princess next Tuesday in Venice. We'll be staying on for a series of Mediterranean cruises focused primarily on Italy, the Dalmatian Coast and the Greek Isles, and then plan to sail back to Fort Lauderdale on the ship.
Therefore, it is with a sense of peace and gratitude, for so many things, that we will be embarking the Pacific Princess next Tuesday in Venice. We'll be staying on for a series of Mediterranean cruises focused primarily on Italy, the Dalmatian Coast and the Greek Isles, and then plan to sail back to Fort Lauderdale on the ship.
Venice's Grand Canal at sunset
I mentioned at the close of last year's posts that we were considering four different options for this season (plus a fifth one that never got off the ground). First, of course, was to return to the Caribbean, and we had booked both the Regal Princess and Caribbean Princess, simply to secure the same cabin for our duration of our cruising season. Then Douglas Pearson emailed us that he was going to be the lecturer on the Emerald Princess in Australia and New Zealand, also visiting New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to complete our Polynesian adventures of the past two years. So we booked that, too, starting in mid-November and ending...sometime (we weren't sure when we'd come home but knew that we couldn't stay as long as the transpacific cruise back to LA next May). And, finally, almost as an afterthought, in April we added the Pacific Princess cruises in the Mediterranean.
I was also very interested in the HAL Amsterdam 53-night cruise to the South Pacific leaving in late September from Seattle and returning to San Diego. While several of the ports would be repeats for us, we'd get to some new places in Fiji, and to Tonga and Niue and also Fakarava in the Marquesas. G was never on board with what he was certain would be a fairly geriatric passenger demographic and a lot of sea days. But maybe next year...after all, we'll be another year older ourselves. ;-)
We dismissed the Emerald Princess option first, in late May. Of the three alternating itineraries it will be doing (New Zealand, Tasmania and New Caledonia/Vanuatu), we've already done the first two and, as much as we would have loved to see (and hear) Douglas, couldn't justify two very long flights for just a few days on the latter. Besides, just the thought of repeatedly crossing the Tasman Sea (the worst waters we've ever encountered) back and forth to Sydney made me seasick.
We held on to the Caribbean bookings for a long time, as the terror situation in Europe escalated, but, in the end, it was exactly that situation that compelled us to choose the Pacific Princess cruises in the Mediterranean. We are not getting any younger, the flights are not getting any shorter and the world is not getting any safer. The time to go is now. I'll admit it gave me a moment's pause when our financial planner seriously suggested we have our estate planning up to date before we left, but I'm choosing to think of that as just a cheery "Bon Voyage!" in Financialplanner-ese.
Of course, you know that we wouldn't be us if we left home with all of our plans firmly in place. While we feel fairly certain we'll stay on the Pacific Princess for 77 days, the question of whether we'll continue on the ship for the 14-night Caribbean cruise over the holidays remains. Have I mentioned I want to be home for Christmas? I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?