Travelicious

Okay, chores are done. I'm ready to go to bed so it will hurry up and be tomorrow. But, wait. I need to have a few drinks first. Yes, remember when I said that I am prone to hangovers? I have learned throughout my life that hangovers are more frequent and painful when I have not been drinking much. So, in preparation, I have been drinking much more than I usually would on just regular days at home. It is kind of like working out, you know?

I've completed most on my to do list, except for finishing the house cleaning. The battery on my Shark cordless vacuum (which I love) went out, so it is charging now. Boarding pass is printed, and suitcase was snuck out to the car while Bear was having his morning nap. He is nearly blind and mostly deaf, but somehow he always manages to spot anyone heading to the kitchen. Weirdly, he roams the house looking for me even when I'm sitting in my recliner, the usual spot.

I was just thinking there should be an option to check, "Oh God, I hope not!"

Plans for today: clean the house; take care of any last minute work needs; unpack most of what I've been adding to my suitcase this week; print airline boarding passes; possibly sneak big suitcase into the car while Bear is napping. No need to stress him out too soon.

Hope you are not flying in to FLL. I wonder how the roads to get out Fort Lauderdale will be, assuming flights coming in. As Rosanne Rosannadanna used to say:

Hope all goes well with your flight to FLL.

Why is this week moving so slowly? I've had my suitcase laid out, lightly packed for a change. But every day of this slow week I've been adding to it. Now I need to unpack some of the things I've been adding. With a free bag of laundry on the ship, I really don't need that much. The one thing I always take, but can't always use, is a Roku with a USB input. I have a bunch of pre-recorded shows that can be put on a flash drive and, hopefully, watched through the TV in the cabin. My recollection is that I was able to do so on this ship at Band Camp in a balcony cabin. Some of the ships, especially the newer ones, have the televisions locked down tight, and there is no way to be able to stream through them - at least no way I know of. Anyway, for this trip I plan to watch Dahmer, which aired on Netflix. I've been saving it just for this trip. For our Alaska cruise next month, I've been saving season 2 of Only Murders in the Building. I usually read while flying and during afternoon down time on the ship. I don't have anything special to read, but have a bunch of Amazon First Read books on my Kindle. As an Amazon Prime member, one of these free books is available per month. So far, I have found them entertaining enough to keep my interest.

Well, I'll probably be seeing you, as I think the Haven is probably booked up. Thanks for the drink advice. I am definitely prone to heartburn, so need to avoid the sour mix. What do they put it in? There is something in traditional margaritas that causes a flare up. I'm not sure if it is the tequila or the mix.

Bless you for being the main caregiver! That is hard. Twice a year is not much relief, but I'm sure it is greatly appreciated when the time comes.

Anyone who will be on this cruise should feel free to add your experiences here.

Pookie will be on the Celebrity Solstice next month. Join us there and you can meet her!

You'll like Celebrity. I don't think they limit you to 15 drinks per day. 😆

4 more days! 4 more days! Today's agenda includes taking my 17+ years old long-haired chihuahua to the beauty parlor. I don't like the long hair, so have been getting it shaved off for the last 10 years or so. At this age, though, his hair is so thin that there isn't much to cut off, except on his ears, one patch on his right hip, and his forearms. The groomer said she will give him a mud bath to help with the dry skin since she doesn't have to spend as much time cutting hair. Bear:

It does!

Good news! I've received an email indicating that payment for my work last month has been successfully deposited to my bank account. But, it says, to give it two days to actually appear. Looks like I won't have to cruise while destitute. I'm almost 60, but my mother still worries anytime I go anywhere, especially when I travel alone. She's just a worrier. Fortunately, my sister and brother-in-law will be traveling to Israel during the same time period, so she should be able to expend more of her worrying efforts on them than on me. I asked her if she tried to talk them out of going, and she said, "I kept my mouth shut, just like I keep my mouth shut with you." She doesn't keep her mouth shut with me. 😆

Thanks for this guidance!

Testing test test

Full disclosure: you know how I said I'm supposed to be cruising quarterly? Well, Pookie and I are actually cruising again next month to Alaska. So I'm doing two this quarter, but as of right now I don't have any other cruises booked for the rest of this year. And I may not. We have a big one booked for next year as Pookie's retirement cruise. It is actually a B2B totaling 23 days on the Getaway, starting in New York and ending in Copenhagen. Then we'll have a couple of days to make our way to Paris to hop on the Dawn for 12 more days ending in Stockholm. We were originally on the Getaway for 3 cruises, but the final leg was cancelled some time back. I expect we'll spend a few days in NYC before the cruise, and a few in Stockholm after. So, yeah, it is very likely my quarterly cruises are coming to an end.

Thanks! I did this excursion at Band Camp, and it was one of my favorites as well. My other favorite was also at Tortola: a snorkeling / catamaran trip with Aristocat. I'm not a huge fan of snorkeling, but then again I have not previously seen everything I saw that day. It was amazing!

I live an hour away from the airport that I fly out of, one of only two national airports in the state. Unless my final destination is one of the closer hubs, I never have direct flights. For this trip, I’ll be flying first to CLT and then on to MIA. The layover is only about 45 minutes. Of course, that wasn’t my choice. When I book, I never choose flights that warn of connection times. I usually like about a 2 hour cushion. But American Airlines decided to change my flights and times. I will actually arrive in MIA earlier on Saturday, so I am hoping for good weather and an on-time first flight. American did the same thing on my return flight. I originally booked to fly out of MIA at around 1:00. I later received a notice that it was being changed to 11:50. Okay, that is still doable. Then it changed again to 10:30. That made me uncomfortable, so I called to get it changed to and 11:30 flight - with a 50 minute layover. Why do they always change the times after I have so carefully picked out exactly what I want?

I got a couple hours of work in this morning. I'm not feeling too motivated as my payment for last month has not yet hit the bank. Last month, I submitted my invoice on the 1st and it was in my account on the evening of the 3rd. Hope there isn't an issue, as I put in a lot of time last month. Maybe that is the issue. Anyhoo, here is our cruise itinerary for this trip: Sun Miami, Florida --- 5:30 PM 1 Mon At Sea --- --- 1 Tue Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 7:00 AM 4:00 PM 1 Wed St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands 11:00 AM 7:00 PM 0 Thu Tortola, British Virgin Islands 6:00 AM 2:00 PM 1 Fri At Sea --- --- 0 Sat Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 10:00 AM 6:00 PM 1 Sun Miami, Florida (Flight Departure) 7:00 AM --- 0 The only excursion I have booked is Escape to Jost Van Dyke while docked at Tortola. Because of the weird port time, the excursion leaves at 7:00, so I should be sipping Pain Killers by shortly after 8:00 a.m. Woohoo! I'll definitely be needing that Liquid IV on that day! I will probably get off the ship and just walk around a bit in St. Thomas and Puerto Plata, then go back and enjoy the drink package and the Vibe. I'll likely not even venture out to Great Stirrup Cay unless the bar at the Vibe is going to be closed. At Band Camp, it seemed like many of the venues were closed while at GSC. I know the bar at Spice H2O was abandoned.

Don't be too jealous. Your 15 day cruise is likely more valuable than the packing cubes.

Are you going on Celebrity?

Maybe I'll get to see one of his regular performances. Thanks for the recommendation.

As I mentioned, I have upgraded to FAS+ for this cruise. I'm not much of a high-brow connoisseur when it comes to liquor, usually being fine with normal beer like Bud Light or Coors Light, and Bacardi, Tanqueray, and some of the cheaper wines on the regular drink package list. But I'm looking forward to trying some of the higher end stuff. I welcome any suggestions on specific brands and drinks I should request. I am prone to hangovers, so I won't be having 10 per day, but I am bringing Liquid IV on the recommendation of some of our more prolific reviewers and drinkers. I hope it works!