Cruise

Happy New Year Everyone!! As I have mentioned in a prior post, this new year of 2022 will be our 50th wedding anniversary and wanted to do something special and a bit of a splurge. For this special event, we have been planning a Europe trip for several months now and have been watching the travel alerts. Currently Italy is at the state departments Level 4 or Do Not Travel. LINK But that may all change…

2022 Vacation Planning

So with the Italy tour up in the air we decided to look into taking a Caribbean cruise while we were in Florida and close to the ports. We had loosely planned a five day cruise on Royal Caribbean, but had decided against it as we had done this one before and it ended up not being a great bargain.

I know that some people would not consider a cruise in our current pandemic world. For many factors. The risks include the obvious of being infected or of an outbreak and having to forgo some planned destination ports.

There are always some risks in life and we have usually tried to mitigate the risks while living a full life. That is one of the reasons that when I retired we decided to sell the house, buy and RV and travel the country. There were probably some risks traveling the highways and being in unknown places, but the time was also richly rewarding as well.

Once in a Lifetime Cruise

While we were visiting with friends, a new cruise opportunity came up. We had always taken either Carnival or Royal Caribbean in the past. Something like 15 prior cruises. So we know these lines quite well. The new cruise line is not really new, but an ultra-luxury line that was priced well above what I was comfortable paying for a vacation. Then they dropped the prices to try to fill up the ship. Drastically reduced prices.

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So, here we are booked on the Crystal Cruise Line ship named the Symphony for a 21 day cruise out of Miami that leaves in one week from today. This cruise with ocean window stateroom had the price discounted 83% from the full price. The price we paid is still a hefty amount, but how often does the 50th come along to rationalize a trip like this. LINK

Crystal cruises are all inclusive meaning all meals, drinks and gratuities are included. We have been told there are many butlers or attendants that offer services or drinks as you step out of your room. I’ll have to pace myself.

This cruise also has a passenger capacity of 850, but is only filled at about 425 people. And they have about 550 crew members for those 425 folks. A great ratio. Compare that to our last Royal Caribbean cruise with 3,500 passengers. So, we will have tons of empty space to spread out and not be bunched together like cattle.

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It will either be a great time for us or else we will have some stories to tell for sure. The cruise industry has addressed the covid issue as best they can. All passengers and crew must have proof of vaccines and be tested as they board the ship. The crew then gets tested every three days. Of course, masks must be worn inside when not eating or drinking, except in your stateroom or outdoors.

We have had our vaccines plus we actually had covid back in October. Should be plenty of antibodies. Plus we have had our flu shots. There is that.

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We will probably hear from family and friends thinking that we have lost our senses. And perhaps we have. We also heard from many doubters when we sold the home and bought the truck and 5th wheel for full time travel back in 2017. So far, the comments have been very positive and have told us that it is great and have a great time.

I did buy the trip insurance that covers trip cancellation and medical stuff. Figured a good idea with this Omnicron racing through the country. The cruise leaves on Jan 8th and returns on Jan 29th. The longest vacation that we have ever taken. Three weeks!

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I will bring my laptop and try to update this blog occasionally. They have free WIFI on board but I do not think they have free cell phone voice service.

A once in a lifetime anniversary cruise in the middle of a virus spike. Yes, life is never dull.

Thanks for following along. Take care and God Bless.