Travelicious

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!

Ooh, so excited about another @YVRteacher live! It's been too long.

Have a great cruise, @TxTeach79! Looking forward to your adventures.

I'm not the one you asked, but I ordered the chili relleno. It was quite good.

I used to listen to The Journey (The Very Best of Donna Summer) while prepping for trial to get myself hyped up. This thread reminded me to listen to it on the way home from an appointment today, and now I feel incredible and just want to dance. Here's one of my favorites, though there are many:

Disco will always live within me!

@idocdlw I love the positivity thread! I'm an NCL veteran, but will be going on my first TA in April. I really look forward to the sea days. I love being able to have down time to read books on my Kindle, to have a nice sit-down lunch (the scallops on one of the rotating lunch menus are fantastic) with a glass of wine, going for a pre-dinner cocktail or two, and carrying one to dinner to tide me over until I can get a glass of wine. Favorite night caps include Caipirinhas and Sidecars. Looks like most of my favorite things include libations! But I still enjoy reading.

Similar thing happened in Le Bistro when we were on a cruise after my wife broke her wrist and had a cast. The meat came out already cut. So nice! Also, she got some much extra attention from crew all over the ship.

Glad you had a nice trip, or I guess I should say "vacation," @graphicguy. I appreciate your thoughts on the Prima, as well as the photos. Along with @mking8288, we will be boarding her in 75 days for the trans-Atlantic cruise.

Good to know. I just thought you had over-indulged.

Thanks for showing us members of The Tribe. Nice to see the friendly faces of the friendly people!

I had a similar experience. He claimed the item didn't work. I offered to refund if he returned, and had shipping label sent to him. He refused to return, but still wanted a refund. He left awful feedback, which I successfully had removed.

Rejected!

Not cruise-related, but there is a podcast called "Beach too Sandy, Water too Wet." The hosts do dramatic readings of one-star reviews. Pretty funny for a couple of episodes.

That was one of my favorites too. Seems like maybe it was her honeymoon, so I'm sure the marriage was doomed.

Sid? Sid? Sid Bueller?