G had no specific plans for the remainder of this cruise. He thought he might pick up a last minute helicopter trip on one of the islands if the weather was good and the opportunity presented itself, but really just wanted to soak up the warm weather. He did walk over to the shops and beach near the the port of Nawiliwili, because, unlike me, he can’t NOT get off a ship in port.
We also took advantage of his down time and our crystal clear phone connection to firm up our plans for the next month and a half. G had already been counting on repeating this itinerary on this ship again beginning March 27 out of San Francisco, and we were just waiting to see how McGee’s early track season was shaping up before I made a decision about joining him. Well, today I added myself to that cruise too. In addition, G really wanted to just stay on the ship for its next two cruises, through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale and back, so I took care of booking those for him, too. I did look at flying to Fort Lauderdale on March 12 and boarding the Ruby Princess on its turnaround day there, but flights were ridiculously expensive (a weekend during Spring Break) and I really wasn’t that keen on the itinerary since we had just done it on the Emerald Princess in October. Plus it would have meant more missed track meets. By limiting my cruise to 15 days, combined with McGee’s plans to travel to out of state races for two meets (this kid is GOOD!), I would only miss one of his meets in this area. Book it, Danno!
I calculated that, even in this Age of COVID, G will be spending at least 96 days on ships in less than twelve months. He’s definitely in HIS happy place.