Travelicious

Thanks for sharing!

I call it a "thingy."

Thanks so much! I'm making additions to my list.

As far as plans for the cruise ports, we don't have a ton of things pre-planned. We enjoy just wondering around when the port is close to a town. I'll be utilizing AT&T's $10 per day international data plan for those days, primarily for GPS functions. We currently only have one NCL excursion, and that is an "on your own" transfer from Tilbury to London. On the first of 3 stops in Amsterdam, we will go to Keukenhof to see the tulips with some members of the roll call, one of which got a great deal for 8 people. I think it is with Get Your Guide. We will be in Zeebrugge 3 times. The first is the shortest day, so we will take the shuttle to the nearby town of Blankenberge. The second and third we will take trains to Ghent and Bruges, respectively. Of the 3 times we will be in Le Havre, we will take the Le Havre Bee bus to Honfleur and will take a D-Day tour with Overlord Tours, which comes highly recommended. I put the latter private tour together for 8. We still have one seat available, but I'm okay paying the extra $137 for that if we can sit in the front. 🙂 The last time in Le Havre is boarding day for the Dawn, so just taking the train from Paris to get onboard. I believe that is all we have booked. As of now, we are freestyling everywhere else. Suggestions welcome!

We will spend 4 nights in NYC pre-cruise. This will be our second time there. The first time, we were unable to make it to Central Park, so that is one of the main goals. Otherwise, I want to check out Chelsea Market, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, visit the Dumbo area and Dekalb Market Hall, and hopefully make it to Coney Island. We'll see how the weather holds out for us getting all of this accomplished. We like to walk a lot while on vacation, so plan to get around mainly by walking while in Manhattan. Obviously, we won't walk to Coney Island, but will either take the bus or subway, or both. We are booked for Gallagher's Steakhouse one night, and I hope to make it to Katz Deli one day for lunch. Besides that, we'll add in some cheap eats, like $.99 pizza and Mama Jo's Breakfast Cart. I'm pretty sure the cost of the hotel does not include breakfast. 😞 We are staying in Midtown, so "must eat at" recommendations are welcome.

Two pool school sessions down, one to go. We are at the point now that I am figuring out what we need to have for meals to get the refrigerator emptied of fresh foods before we leave, without waste. I think it will work out just right. I plan to add a bit about our port plans a little later today or tomorrow.

A trip of this length requires some preparation beyond the norm. Sadly, I currently do not have pets, so nothing to line up there, unlike past trips. It is the first time since 7th grade (and I'm now 60) that I have had not a single dog. I miss having one, but with this trip and another, even longer one we have scheduled in 2 years, it is for the best right now. But bills still have to be paid, and it has become increasingly difficult to access online bank accounts while traveling. I mean, not too difficult as long as you have good wifi or cell service to receive a code for two-factor identification, but you don't always have that in the middle of the Atlantic. So I've set up auto withdrawals, which is something I have been resistant to until now. I don't really like giving corporations access to my bank account, but it seems like the simplest solution. I set it up a couple of months ago to make sure everything went smoothly. So far, so good. I'm sure I'll turn it off when I get back as I like to feel more in control. The other thing is that we had an inground pool installed a few years ago. We usually open it around the middle of May, and I've read if you wait until it gets very hot to open (mid-June in the south can be pretty warm), you wind up with lots of algae. Otherwise, the water is clear. So we solicited commitments from my brother-in-law and a couple of friends to help take care of it, clean it, etc., in exchange for its use while we are gone. We have these three people coming over the next couple of days for a "pool school" session. I also just completed a "how to" list. Hopefully, they will also mow at least the back yard. I mean, it wouldn't be much fun to use the pool with knee-high grass all around, now would it? Anyway, we won't book another trip during pool season. Lesson learned there.

Good thing we are retired so we can rest when we get home!

Peripatetic. Learned a new word today.

We have a few specific things planned, which will be detailed later, but mostly will do our own thing: walking around to see the sights, trying local foods, drinking local beers. I'm certainly open to suggestions, though. Thanks!

So, the map for the Dawn cruise looks different because, for some unknown reason, I have never been able to see the map for this on NCL's website. This is copied from information received from my TA. As you can see, there are 3 ports that will be visited 3 times. But that's okay, as we will be able to go to different places or maybe even take a day to rest.

And the third is the May 24 sailing of the Dawn.

The second is the May 13 sailing of the Getaway.

The first cruise will be the April 27 sailing of the Prima.

Thanks! We are staying at the Holiday Inn on Herbert Walker Avenue. We picked this one because of proximity to the port and to use an IHG credit card free night.

We are 8 days away from embarking upon a 48 day adventure. The excuse: my wife’s (hereinafter “Pookie”) recent retirement. She was a letter carrier for the USPS, mostly in a small town in a southern state, for 20 years, and was able to buy back her 10 years of military service to give her 30 years total. I retired in October, 2021, after 28 years as a state employee. Since then, I’ve done a few solo cruises. The first was in November, 2021 on the first sailing of the Escape after the Covid shutdown. It was on this cruise that I first began planning for Pookie's retirement trip. While onboard, I purchased Cruise Next certificates and used them to book a B2B2B on the Getaway. This was to have been a transatlantic from NYC beginning April 29, and including many ports in Northern and Western Europe, as well as the Baltics. At some point shortly after Russia began its current war against Ukraine, we were notified that the last of the 3 cruises, which would have included the Baltic ports, was canceled. We toyed with the idea of just spending a few days in Copenhagen, where the second cruise was ending, and then flying home. But Pookie really wanted to go to Sweden, from which her paternal ancestors migrated. We thought about traveling from Copenhagen to Stockholm, and spending a few days there before flying home. Ultimately, though, I found the May 24 sailing of the Dawn, which has 3 ports in Sweden, ending in Stockholm. It also includes other Baltic ports we were wanting to see. So we booked it in place of the canceled Getaway sailing. Some time back, sailings for the Getaway for this period disappeared from the NCL website. There was much speculation here and on other sites that these cruises would also be canceled. Some reported that they called NCL and were told it was just a website glitch. Others reported they were told by PCCs that they couldn’t say if the sailings would be canceled, but advised to look at other alternatives. As a result, I looked at the transatlantic sailing of the Prima 2 days earlier. The Prima would be a 15 day cruise, whereas the Getaway was 14. This would mean a $250 shareholder credit as opposed to $100. Also, I wanted to try the Prima, as it is a new to me ship. Finally, Prima ports in Reykjavik, but we would lose Dublin and, I believe, Belfast from the Getaway cruise. Ultimately, the Getaway cruise was not canceled by NCL, but we decided to cancel and join the Prima. So, instead of unpacking once for 3 cruises, we will have to pack up and juggle logistics between the cruises. We’ll disembark the Prima in Southampton, where we’ll spend one night before boarding the Getaway. We will disembark the Getaway in Copenhagen, where we will spend one night close to the airport, and will fly early the following morning to Paris. We will spend one night in Paris close to the train station, and will take a train to LaHavre to catch the Dawn. We will spend 2 nights in Stockholm post-cruise, and begin our flight home on June 7, hopefully arriving on June 8. We also plan to spend 4 nights in NYC pre-cruise. After 2.5 years of planning, we leave home in 1 week! I hope to post semi-regularly during the adventure, but the latter 2 cruises have only one sea day each. So we'll just have to see if there is any reserved energy in the tank on some of those days.

Drink or ditch it.

Thanks for once again sharing your trip with us!

A test on the first day back from break? That is just wrong! For the kids, I mean.

Love the Easter gators! You saw more in one day that I have in numerous trips to New Orleans.

If you haven't already, try the Sidecar. One of my faves.

Shouldn't be too much more. Maybe $2 - 3 (plus 18 - 20% gratuity).

@YVRteacher I love your humor! Have you written any books yet?

I read somewhere that Maya Chan now has a swimming pool. Is this true?

Love the photo of the monkey leaping onto your wife's head!