The first post of each season:

Monday, December 9, 2024

Day 22: Turnaround Day in Galveston

I don’t know how the crew does it. I wonder about that every turnaround day. They bust their butts every day, but turnaround days are so intense. Especially on these 7-night cruises. How do they keep going?  I am in awe of them. 

I was leaving the cabin at 6am this morning to put in a load of laundry, and our steward Neil was already in the hallway to greet me with a smile. I got the laundry started (so happy the laundromat is at the back of the ship on this deck) and was in the Allegro Dining Room when it opened for breakfast at 6:30am. By 7:30am the laundry was done and our new cabin had just been vacated (that’s a gift) and Neil, who is our steward for this cruise also, was already in there cleaning the bathroom. 

We moved to the opposite side of the ship but just around the corner, by far the easiest move we’ve had all season. Still, it’s a move, and there are still carts and piles of dirty laundry and trash to contend with. But by 8:30am we and all of our minibars were in the new cabin. That’s a record!

We have one more move, to a midship cabin on another deck, to contend with before we go home. I think my “No more moves” warning indicator is starting to flash, too. There has been a lot of packing and unpacking this season. 

G left the cabin while I unpacked and then phoned me to tell me it was 9:10am and I needed to be in the Symphony Dining Room for immigration with my passport. Yeah, right. It was 10:30am by the time we saw an official…but they do come on the ship, for which I am grateful. 

From there I sat on the covered balcony of the suite across the hall (it was raining) and started making phone calls and having security codes texted to me to allow me to do the insurance-related things I needed to do. The things which, quite literally, have robbed me of two nights of sleep. 

But…it wasn’t all for naught. I discovered in the middle of last night that we could simply suspend our civilian health insurance, we don’t have to cancel it, and that is what we are going to do. Three of you (thank you so very much) emailed me to tell me we would be fine with Medicare and Tricare for Life, and that made me much more comfortable about canceling the other insurance. But, as I told G, I don’t trust what “his people” are going to do to these programs. It will be nice to have a back up plan. 

At noon we were back in the Allegro Dining Room for embarkation day salmon (me) and beef tenderloins (G). After that’s when I hit a wall. Too much lost sleep, too sore a body from hauling luggage…I laid down in bed to read and rest, and eventually sleep and didn’t budge the rest of the day. I skipped dinner and, most unbelievably, missed an Elton John tribute show in the Princess Theater. I think G got nervous when he couldn’t wake me for that, but I really needed to unplug. 

Before we sailed, however, G started wondering why I couldn’t get those security codes for log ins while we were at sea, and why I missed Meme’s last voicemail to me and realized that I wasn’t getting WiFi calling on my iPhone. I think I mentioned we switched carriers to Verizon last March, and I guess I haven’t had it since then. I couldn’t even turn it on in Settings. It says I should contact the carrier. G took my phone, went out to where he had a signal (the one downfall of inside cabins) and contacted Verizon and got that fixed for me. As he does so often. Insurance is my thing but he takes care of so much else. My guy. ❤️