What did you do for cruising when you retired?

What made you decide it was time?

I wasn't sure where to put this thread, and landed on this 55+ forum, as it feels most appropriate, with so many RVers and full-time RVers in that age range. I'm not a member yet, but PapaFej is. If the mods feel there is a better place for this, I have no objection to it being moved.

Anyway, I hope that this can be a place where those of us who love both cruising and RVing can have friendly conversations.

Related to this, are we soon to see a new definition of a nude cruise? A nude cruise will be redefined as being a face mask optional cruise. Has anyone considered a potential increase in Norovirus outbreaks with the increased use of face masks? I believe a mask worn every day on a cruise will soon become a handy virus storage bin as I walk around constantly adjusting my mask with my hands and handing the bugs off to fellow cruisers.

I plan on getting the vaccine. I do not want to get COVID nor do I want to infect anyone. But that also applies to Norovirus and a lot of other communicable diseases. Please let me decide how much risk I am willing to take in order to cruise. And don't create new problems by becoming focused on one disease.

We are able to keep ourselves safe by practicing frequent hand washing and sanitizing - thus breaking the most prevalent method of Covid-19 transmission - hand to mouth/face.  But, too many people don't wash their hands and too many travel logistics are beyond our control.

We have cruises booked through early 2022, but do not plan to leave the US or step on a cruise ship until there is a widespread vaccine and treatment for Covid-19.

How about you?  When will you be willing to chance it?

Have you booked cruises that require a flight to embarkation or from disembarkation, or are you sticking to drive to ports?

If you're going to need a flight, how and when will you book it in case the cruise is cancelled or in case you decide it's not safe to travel even though the cruise will sail?

My problem is that except for EZ Air (that some cruise lines don't offer), refundable flights are very much more expensive than non-refundable ones. But waiting until the last minute to book also has been very expensive.

When do you start counting the days?

My specific concern here is as First-Worldly as it gets. I apologize for the length of this post, but I'd really appreciate help from those with experience.

That said, I've been a saver since I was a young child. Indeed, when the ice cream truck would come around, and all the kids would run into their houses to grab money, I'd pull the plug from my piggy bank, look inside, and 9 of 10 times, close it back up and just wait until the other kids were done with their snacks before we started playing again.

All my adult life, I've penny-pinched and saved. Hubby had no savings when we met, but quickly adapted and became a saver/investor. We've maxed out pre-tax contributions since our 20s. We've put money into other investments and savings accounts with every paycheck.

Now, Hubby has retired (my own career ended due to family/extended family needs in the 90s). The kids are grown (youngest graduates HS in May). One has already graduated college and started his own career and retirement investments. College expenses for the younger two are covered with what we've saved and invested since they were babies. The one who just turned 21 started her own investment account at 19 and is about to open her first 401(k) now that she's old enough. 

All that is to say that I am very good at the saving/investing and being frugal mindset. Now that it's almost time to spend that money, I'm having a hard time. I love putting money away. The thought of actually spending it freaks me out, even though this time of our life is exactly what we've been saving it for. It is largely meant for Bucket-List style travel (the pension more than takes care of every day expenses). Thankfully, we pulled a significant chunk from two investments we've had since the 90s and put it into cash last week before the market tanked. That money is still sitting in an account, so I'm okay with it, but when it comes time to pay for next fall's travel, I might freeze. We did pull enough to also cover the taxes on gains, of course.

So, wise folks who have gone before us, do any of you have any tips for helping change mindsets? I know full well that the expenses for which we will use this money are exactly why we sacrificed and saved it instead of having the lifestyle our colleagues had the last 30 years. I just can't wrap my brain around the spending mindset. 

Any advice?

We have mostly done Celeb a couple of Viking and a couple of Oceania.

Just a shade under 70, active, east coast. 

Please write back if interested in sharing memories of cruises, etc. 

johthomas100z@gmail.com

Be the first on or off the ship.  As long as I get on before the ship sails, I'm good.

Attend every production show.  I find most of them annoyingly over amplified anyway.

Use a lounger on the Melanoma Deck.  I enjoy a lounger on the promenade much more.

Get off the ship in every Caribbean port.  Been there, and they all start to look alike anyway.

Use ship excursions.  Some of my best days have been walking around the port city and discovering a small coffee shop or cafe to enjoy.  Beats marching to the tour guide's clock on a crowded excursion bus.

Eat evening meals in the MDR.  I find it much more relaxed to eat breakfast and lunch in the MDR, and then have a light evening meal in the buffet.  Frees up a lot of m y time in the evening also.

To a youngster, I probably sound like an old curmudgeon, but one of the beauties of cruising is that you are free to enjoy the cruise and the ship in your own way.

How about you?

Cruise Meet & Greet on MSC Seaside last November

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

thank you!

Cruise ships change areas of the world they sail in at different times of the year-Is it possible to find an inexpensive cruise that crosses the Pacific from the west coast? Or other advice you could give? Ideally we'd like to sail in the winter or spring which is summer or fall in NZ. Thanks for any help you can give us.

Sue  

"Suggestions RCL needs to do to get people cruising again"  Solution: Ban passengers in higher risk categories (age, diabetes, smokers, asthma, autoimmune diseases, etc.) for the foreseeable future.  The categories I listed are just possibilities. Ultimately scientists/doctors would have to release a list of categories/conditions that would prohibit going on a cruise ship. The argument was that they ban babies under 6 months so they should ban old people.

"9 ways cruising will be different when it starts up again"

Solution: restrictions on who can travel. Don't let old people travel because they tend to be sicker than young people. 

emmamiller027@gmail.com