Packing and prep day…

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Tomorrow morning at 6:15 am, our property manager in Dubai will take us to the airport for our 8:15 am flight on Emirates Airline. Being sick, these past few weeks, we stayed in bed until 7:00 or 7:30 each day trying to get a little more rest.

Getting up at 5:00 am tomorrow is the cause of my angst. Sure, I’ll set the alarm on my phone to awaken me so I can get a head start before I awaken Tom. By tonight, we’ll be completely packed except for the clothing we’ll wear tomorrow to fly away.

Checking our baggage restriction online for the zillionth time, we’re allowed a total of 66 pounds per person of checked baggage plus one carry on and laptop bag. With one large suitcase, one rolling carry on and one laptop bag, we’ll be as trim as possible. 

We’re expecting that we’ll have to pay overweight fees which we’ll know later today when we weigh everything prior to printing our boarding passes.  If we pay online there is a 30% discount, not at the airport. 

Today, I’ll probably ditch my handbag using the laptop bag as a handbag. I’ve been practicing not carrying a purse for the past few months and I think I can manage. It’s odd to give up carrying a handbag after doing so for the past 50 years, but then again, we gave up having a home after a lifetime. So what’s the big deal without a purse? None, I guess.

Our food supply will be depleted as planned after dinner tonight, leaving little to toss. With no time for breakfast in the morning, we’re bringing some nuts to munch on.  If no food is available on the flight, we’ll be fine.  Tomorrow night, we’ll have dinner in our hotel as we did on our last layover.

Dubai has left us with mixed feelings, more due to being sick while here than anything. For the first time since we left Minnesota seven months ago, Tom admitted to feeling trapped while here, with no way to walk around with the road construction around our building, my being sick and no other restaurants within walking distance.  Had we rented a car from the onset, we’d have been frustrated, unable to use it anyway.

If you’re a “city person” Dubai is the ultimate city to visit. A rental car is a must with easy, fast moving freeways and signs also in English. Hotels are expensive, most starting at $225 a night for a basic room, upwards to the moon from there.

Dining out for dinner is pricey, from the menus we’ve seen online but breakfast or lunch can be had for under US $60 without cocktails. Groceries are a steal, at least 30% less than in the US for most foods, making it sensible if on a budget, to get a place to stay with cooking facilities. 

Servers and support staff are friendly, anxious to help. The general population appears mostly under 50, keeping to themselves, from what we can see, but are courteous and polite. We haven’t seen anyone older than us since we arrived. Most likely Dubai is not known as a retirement city with few facilities available for seniors, although facilities are available for disabled individuals.

As mentioned in an earlier post, it appears seniors are cared for by their adult children in their homes, not in assisted living or senior centers.

Would we come back? With so much world left to see, I doubt we’ll return to any city/country we’ve already visited unless it’s a port of call on a future cruise. 

Would we recommend Dubai to other travelers? Absolutely! It’s an interesting, safe, meticulous, well-planned metropolis filled with lovely people, great hotels and restaurants. There’s a plethora of profound sights to see.  Its rich history offers museums, libraries, art and historical centers. One would never be bored with adequate transportation and money to spend.  Also, Abu Dhabi is a must, ideally splitting one’s time between the two amazing cities.

Pausing while writing this, we started doing some packing.  In the process, our little vacuum used to suck the Space Bags died.  Died.  Gone. Now what?  My stuff is sucked.  Tom’s is not.  Hopefully, we can figure a way to fit everything into the luggage without sucking.  Tomorrow, when we arrive in Barcelona, we’ll have the cab driver take us to a Home Depot equivalent to purchase a new one, we hope.  Oh, good grief. 

We’ll be back after we’re situated onboard the Norwegian Spirit, hopefully in 48 hours.  Stay tune

Scary news in Egypt and Istanbul…Preparations to leave Dubai…

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This morning when we both logged in to our computers, we each had received emails and Facebook entries about a warning from US Department of State about travelers intending on visiting the Pyramids.

Please click on this link for the news story about Egypt. Please click on this link for the news story on Istanbul, Turkey.

Thankfully, Egypt is behind us now with no plans to return. As for Istanbul, our upcoming cruise beginning next Tuesday, June 4th has listed Istanbul as a port of call along the way. 

With many cruise passengers raving as to how much they loved visiting Istanbul we’ve been excited for a day trip on our own, hiring our own driver rather than going on an excursion. We shall see how this rolls out.

With the cruise industry on pins and needles with the many recent incidences, we doubt they’ll risk any lives, stopping at this port if there is danger to their passengers and ship. Of course, regardless of their decision we will exercise the utmost caution, deciding not to get off the ship if the unrest has continued.

People have asked us if we are able to get news. We are. We watch the English speaking news each day, especially noting the news for areas we’re yet to visit.

As we wind down our last two nights in Dubai, finally feeling better, the laundry and packing begins today.  Yesterday afternoon, we made our final trip to the grocery store for breakfast and dinner food for these last two days spending US $54. 

Of our total 13 nights in Dubai our total grocery bill was $245, eating two meals a day, nuts and veggie snacks.  Our dining out bill was $89 for the three  breakfasts at the Tamani Hotel. 

We’d budgeted $800 for groceries and dining out during this period. Had we not been sick, we’d probably would have gone out to dinner a few times. We’ll roll the $466 credit into this next cruise, as we realized we hadn’t budgeted enough for the stops at many ports of call. 

Plus, on this upcoming cruise on the Norwegian Spirit, there is an automatic $24 per day charge added daily to our bill for tips. Some of our previous cruises had included the tips in the purchase price. We pay it one way or another with no objection on our part. The hard working staff on cruises are paid very little and dependent upon the tips to send money home to their families.

We’ve noticed dozens of people in line at the customer service desk on most of our cruises to have the tips removed from their bill if they’re dissatisfied with the service. 

We wondered if so many passengers had bad service when overall service was excellent on most of our seven cruises or, are passengers feeling they shouldn’t have to pay tips? Our philosophy is simple: if one can afford to go on a cruise, tipping is a part of the experience. 

We’ve tipped the bartenders as we order drinks, finding themselves “loading” Tom’s cocktails more generously when they know a tip is imminent and we tip cabin attendants the day before disembarking. We aren’t unique in doing so. This is common practice. 

So, off I go to the bedroom to make the piles of my clothing to be “sucked” with our portable vacuum into the Space Bags. In a determined effort to be rid of two duffel bags, I’ve made a pile of clothing I’ll say goodbye to, some I’ll miss, others I won’t. 

At this point, Tom doesn’t have to dispose of anything unless, of course, he wants to give me a little of his space. Ha!

Oh, oh…Shipboard illness…We’ve been snagged…

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In the past several days we’ve cruised past Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, Somalia, and today Oman.  “Another safe, uneventful night,” says Captain Fleming over the loud speaker this morning.

Within the next 40 hours, we’ll cruise by Pakistan and Iran. Oh.

Washing our hands no less than 20 times a day has not protected us from catching the virus running rampant on this ship.

Tom succumbed nine days ago, starting with a tickle in his throat, progressing to a sore throat, runny nose and cough.  It was worse than a cold, more like a flu. In a matter of days, he went through an entire $18.95 bottle of Daytime Nyquil, purchased in the gift shop.

With the excursion to Petra scheduled this past Tuesday, he was determined to make the trip, no matter how poorly he felt I’m amazed how well he did on the tortuous three hour hike and four hour bus ride considering how he was feeling.

When Wednesday arrived, the day after Petra, I made a lofty assumption that I had dodged a bullet. With five days passing since Tom’s onset of symptoms, I was yet to have any indications that I’d caught the illness in our tight quarters or while exposed to hundreds of other sick passengers on the bus or in the dining areas.

Alas, late Wednesday afternoon, a tickle started in my throat, later that night to turn into a raging sore throat. As had transpired with Tom, it seemed to get better the second day, only to return with a vengeance on the third.

Now, four days after the tickle began, I’m a mess; achy, tired, raging sore throat, worse at night, with a disgusting useless cough. I’m refusing to see the doctor (I wouldn’t have in our old life). Tom has served me all my food in the restaurant to ensure I don’t touch anything, as I did for him when he was sick.

In the past, I would have done as most of us do, see it through, pampering ourselves as much as we can, hoping it will turn the corner to returned good health.

With no fever or apparent bacterial infection, what would the doctor do? Prescribe antibiotics, which only reduce one’s immune system with the potential for intestinal distress? Plus, as we all know, antibiotics don’t work for viruses, only bacterial infections.

Other possible doctor treatment? Over the counter medications that really don’t do anything other than to reduce the severity of the symptoms for a few hours. As lousy as I feel, I don’t want to sit in the germ-filled medical clinic where we’ve heard that one must take a number resulting in waiting for hours to see the ship’s doctor.

Norovirus has been rampant on this ship. Many passengers we’ve met have gone for treatment, including one of whom had to have IV fluids for several hours. So far, we haven’t been subjected to the ravages of that particular illness on any of our seven past cruises beginning January 3, 2013. With one more cruise scheduled for June 4th, hopefully, we’ll continue to be safe from this dreadful intestinal illness.

Tomorrow, we’ll pack again, to leave our bags outside our cabin door by 10:00 pm, to be picked up and held until departure on Tuesday morning. As always, we’ll carry our two laptop bags and the cloth bag with our prescriptions, utilizing one of our two wheeling carts for ease of movement.

Today’s a day of rest, staying in our cabin, reading, writing and using up the remaining minutes of the packages we’d purchased for the ship’s WiFi. 

Tonight is the final of three dress up nights aboard this ship, Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas. Having donated the balance of our dress-up clothes to the charity in Barcelona, we’ll be dressing “casual, dressy,” Tom in dress slacks and shirt with me in a long casual dress. It will have to do. 

On this ship, 75% of the passengers dining in the main dining rooms have dressed up for these occasions. At this point, we feel fine dressing casual. Our ease of travel is much more important to us than us showing off wearing in fancy clothing.

As we wind down this cruise, we look forward to our time in Dubai, hoping to add yet another rich experience to our repertoire of worldwide adventures.

A night in Barcelona….Hotel Grums…

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With our camera packed away, we won’t have photos until tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Last night was our first night in a hotel since arriving in Scottsdale, Arizona over six months ago.  Booking the hotel on Expedia with four star reviews put our minds at ease that it would not only be close to the Port of Barcelona but also acceptable by our relatively picky standards.

At $169 a night for a “standard deluxe” room for last night chose to select this hotel for last night and again on June 3, 2013.  We wanted to ensure we’d like the hotel to avoid the need of cancelling an prepaid reservation.  Thus, we were willing to pay a little more for that luxury.  For this, we weren’t disappointed.

The room was modern, clean and comfortable with plush king bed with comfy covers, a spacious seating area with sofa, lots of storage (which we didn’t need since we didn’t unpack), a flat screen TV with one English speaking channel, (BBC news) and alas, our first experience with 220 electrical outlets, with which neither our computers or smart phones could be charged.

We did bring a litany of adapters and converters befitting travel anywhere in the world.  Unfortunately, they were tightly packed away in our “not to be opened” luggage, now consisting of two large suitcases, two carry on bags, two duffel bags, two computer bags and a couple of peripheral hand carry bags. 

As mentioned earlier, our goal is to ditch all but the two large suitcases, two carry on bags, two computer bags and my handbag by the time we leave Dubai to fly back to Barcelona for the remaining one night at the same Hotel Grums. The next day, on June 4th, we’ll be boarding yet another cruise on the Norwegian Spirit through the Mediterranean Sea for 15 nights.  (We’ll post the itinerary for that cruise at that time).

Back to the electrical issues.  Without easy access to our adapters and converters, (we try to remember every detail but some do fall through the cracks), we asked the front desk if they had the necessary adapters/converters for recharging our US 110 equipment. 

“No, problemo,” stated the handsome young man at the desk, as he began rummaging through a box of 50 various plug-ins.  After a few minutes, he enthusiastically pulled out what he believed to be the correct adapter.

Wary of plugging our digital equipment directly into the plug into which could potentially “blow out” our phones or laptops, we tried it using the only other electrical item we’d be willing to part with if something went wrong…the oldest of three surge protectors we had in our possession.

Poof!  Yes, poof!  It blew the power out in our room and fried our surge protector. We tossed it in the garbage. For some odd reason, we both had suspected it wouldn’t work although it was indicated as a US converter. 

Getting back on the elevator, I went back to the desk requesting an adapter that would work.  Again, the cutie dug through the box finally pulling out a much more elaborated plug.  I told him our power in the room was out asking if he’d send someone to flip the circuit breaker. 

No one in the hotel seemed to know where the breaker box was located in our room, after six attempts to find it by one person and then three attempts by a second person.  Finally, a third person appeared and found the box hidden behind a false wall.  Once the power was back on, Tom held up the new adapter again asking, “Will this work for US plugs?”

The employee emphatically stated it would work.  Finally an hour later, Tom spending much time as the power continued going out, he managed to get everything working to ensure we wouldn’t fry our laptops or smart phones.  At this point, all of our equipment was deader than a doornail.

By the time everything was charging, we were anxious to find a great restaurant to head out for dinner.  Oh, no such luck.  All the nearby restaurants in Barcelona are closed on Sunday except, the fine dining restaurant in the hotel.

With little English spoken in the hotel, I went online and found this gluten free chef card in Spanish to which I added, handwritten in Spanish, after researching Google Translate:  sugar free, low carb, starch free, grain free, no beans, rice,  or soy.

Handing this to the waiter at dinner resulted in his giving it to the chef for a perfect meal of salad with fresh greens, blue cheese, tomatoes, onions, olives and no less than eight giant prawns sautéed in olive oil  (with heads, guts, brains included) with a freshly made olive oil dressing that was absolutely delicious.  I will continue to print these Chef Cards in various languages to use as we travel from country to country.

I hadn’t had that good of a meal since the night we dined in the specialty restaurant on the Carnival Liberty almost three weeks ago.  Tom opted for a bun-less veal burger topped with veggies, cheese and a fried egg.

Exhausted, we slept through the night bolting out of bed at 6 am this morning  to get ready for the day and down to the restaurant for coffee.  As typical “cruisers” we decided to wait to eat until we were aboard Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas for the “free food.”

So now at 2:00 PM, Barcelona time, we’re sitting at a comfy table in the Windjammer (buffet) Restaurant having had a rather perfect GF lunch with tender roast beef, grilled fish, egg salad and green beans. 

Our ship sails at 5:00 PM inspiring us to go online now while taking advantage of our MiFi working, although slowly, while we’re still in port.  Before the muster drill at 4:15, we’ll meander to the Internet Café to sign up for the ship’s WiFi, a necessity with many upcoming days out to sea.

Tomorrow, we’ll post our current itinerary for this cruise to Dubai along with photos of our “new home” for the next 15 days as we commence our journey through the Suez Canal along our way to the Middle East. 

Teaching an old dog…disembarking the Norwegian Epic soon…

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Disembarking Day.  We’re getting off the Norwegian Epic, at long last.

It was is with much pleasure that we’re leaving this ship. The
crowds, the lines, the noise and the chaos over the past four days since
departing from Barcelona on May 1st has been unnerving for both of us.
This ship, although modern, clean and attractive leaves much
to be desired.  The food, the service, the
entertainment and the floor plan are severely lacking. The service staff is
exhausted, overworked, all of which is evidenced by the fake smiles plastered
on most of their faces in a futile, although well intentioned, effort to seem cheerful.
Our sweet cabin steward, to whom we gave $60 tip, started
out cheery and animated.  Halfway into
our 15 day cruise, he started going downhill, forgetting towels, ice, and other
amenities.  Many of the crew members
became ill during the three days of 50 foot swells, never seeming to get back
on track.  Most of them were used to the
calm seas of the Caribbean Sea as opposed to this rough transatlantic crossing.

The food: frightful.  The only item I found
delicious, other than the dinner in the “pay for” restaurant, was the
“real eggs” omelet I had every morning, especially after I told them
to stop adding the 1/3 cup of oil to the pan and to use the spray instead.  Tom said nothing was memorable including the
specialty restaurant. 


Their compliance to my low carb, grain free, starch free,
and sugar free diet was a gallant effort but the resulting food was dry, bland
and unseasoned.  Every night, my “steamed”
vegetables, a staple of my meals, were either undercooked or sautéed in gobs of
butter, making them inedible.  Whether I
had fish, shellfish, chicken, pork or beef, it was a miniscule overcooked
portion. 


Our final bill for the 15 days was $1021, including $200 in Internet fees for days out to sea, cocktails, beverages and tips charged on our bill daily of $24 (totaling $360), one night in the specialty restaurant plus $150 for the excursion to Marseilles, France.  This proves to be around $400 for all beverage and tips for beverages for this extended period. 


Hopefully, tomorrow when we board Royal Caribbean’s Mariner
of the Seas for a 15 day cruise to Dubai, we’ll find the food and service more
to our liking.  Based on conversations
with many passengers, they’ve particularly enjoyed this older ship’s attention
to detail, something we found to be the case on the older Celebrity Century,
our favorite ship thus far.

At the moment, we’re sitting in our favorite booth in the
Garden Cafe as passenger’s colors of their luggage tags are called to proceed
to disembark the ship, go through customs and find their way to their next
destinations.

It’s now 8:00 am.  Our
color has already been called but we’ve chosen to disembark “last” since our
hotel room won’t be ready until 2:00 PM. 
We’ve done this on each of our last cruises which resulted in a shorter line
going through customs.  Hopefully, this
will be the case today as well.

Once outside, we’ll grab a cab for the short ride to Hotel
Grums, where we’ll have them store our luggage until our room is ready while we
wait in the lobby for our check in for the one night.  With books to read on our phones and our MiFi
we’ll busy ourselves reading and writing.

Speaking of luggage…OK, here’s the final tally.  After donating the three 30″ orange
Antler bags, we’re down to one 30″ orange bag for Tom and one slightly
larger black Samsonite bag for me, one carry on, one computer bag plus…two
duffel bags with our dirty clothes that we couldn’t fit into the suitcases and a
small bag with the cords for our digital equipment and a small doctor bag with
our toiletries.

As for the vitamins, I took 80% of them out of the bottles
placing the pills in Ziplock bags and scattering them throughout the luggage.  I should have done this to begin with but
then again, who knew we’d be held up for 24 hours by security over
vitamins?  Live and learn.  It’s all a part of the process.
Our goal, at the end of the upcoming cruise as we pack for
our 13 night stay in Dubai, is to be rid of the two duffel bags, the doctor bag
and the other overflow bag.  It will
require us donating more “stuff” or throwing it away.  After the disposition of the three bags,
we’re ready to let go of more of our favorite items.

The clothes we’re wearing today are the same clothes
we’ll wear to dinner tonight and again tomorrow since we don’t plan to open any bags
other than the computer bags and the doctor bag with overnight toiletries while
we stay in the hotel tonight. 


In my old life, I wouldn’t have imagined wearing the same
clothing two days in a row, let alone the same clothing during the day as when
going out to dinner in the evening. 
Alas, we keep adapting and somehow, in the process, we find these
adaptations to be liberating and to a degree, life changing.

Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Learn enough new
tricks and perhaps the old dog isn’t so old anymore.

Alright you naysayers…You were right!!!

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Due to a poor Internet connection today while at sea, we are unable to post a single photo. Please check back tomorrow for our story and photos on our day trip to Marseilles.

With over 6000 people on this ship since embarking in Barcelona on May 1st, the 50 degree weather with no one at the pool, the Internet is literally clogged up with many passengers online at the same time. 
As a result, it appears impossible for us to post our photos from our day in Marseilles yesterday. I tried to no avail. They just won’t load. Tomorrow, when we’re in port, we’ll be able to use our MiFi for a great signal and ease of posting our story and photos.
Subsequently, we’re going to tell you a story today, sans photos, a story we can’t believe we’re writing, a tail-between-our-legs-story,  of learning, of mistake-making, of striving to become more adept at world travel, as-we-go.
For those of you who warned us, sit back and enjoy a smidgen of gloating, a smattering of chuckling and a general feeling of “I told you so” at your leisure.  We get it and don’t blame you.
Today, much to our disdain, we are packing, a full two days before its necessary since we don’t disembark this ship until Sunday, when we’ll spend a night in Barcelona before heading to Dubai on Royal Caribbean”sMariner of the Seas. Why pack so soon, you ask? Ha! Hear this, my friends!


WE’RE DONATING THREE FULLY PACKED SUITCASES OF OUR STUFF TO A CHARITY IN SPAIN with the help of Norwegian Epic’s guest services department and the port agent in Barcelona, more than willing to arrange the disposition of our stuff. Yes, the disposition of three of our brand new, now slightly damaged from handling, orange 30″ Antlerbags? Yes! Three? Yes, fully loaded! We had to lighten our load.

Ouch!  It hurts.  I just spent the past two hours going through every single item of my clothing, packing my share of which “to say goodbye,” newer, cute, fun, well fitting clothing, that I, as a “girlie girl,” had handpicked with meticulous detail. Gone. Bye, bye.

My single solitary…uno…one remaining suitcase that I get to keep is packed and ready to go. The remainder will be packed in the three orange bags to be picked up in a few hours from now, by Brian, the guest services king that helped us figure this out.

As I write this Tom is going through his clothing, item by item, minus any grumbling. I have promised to offer no opinions, no morsels of packing wisdom, since it turns out I don’t know a damned thing about packing, other than as to how to stuff as many things as possible into as many bags as possible. Who am I to opine, neophyte that I am?

By 5:00 PM today, we’ll each be down to the following:
1.  One 30″ orange Antler bag
2.  One small orange Antler carry-on bags
3.  One leather computer bag

Plus, purse for me (plus the cloth bag for our prescriptions)
Plus, the vitamins? We’re still figuring that out, but now, the small extra duffel bag contains receipts and copies of our doctor’s acknowledgment of our use of them. We may have to carry that separately.
We’ve set aside all of the clothing we’ll need for the next several days until we’re on board the new ship on May 6th, a mere three days from today. We’ll either toss them or stuff them in a bag.
Now, we’ll be flight worthy without extra fees for extra bags. Now, we won’t have to pay exorbitant fees to porters, skycaps and the like. Now, we won’t feel the burden of the excess weight, a strain on our aging bodies and equally aging minds. We’ll be free.

So go ahead, gloat, grin and giggle at us.  We accept it freely without judgment of your right to do so.

Tonight, as we sit at the bar, we’ll toast our new found freedom and all of you who “told us so!”
Tom will be happiest.

Surviving errands in Miami…

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Tom ordered frog legs!  He never ceases to amaze me!

Here’s our cruise itinerary for the upcoming week…

Carnival – Carnival Liberty, departs 4/13/13
7 nights Day Date Port or Activity Arrive Depart

Sat Apr 13 Miami, FL 4:00 pm

Sun Apr 14 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 9:00 am 5:00 pm
 
Mon Apr 15 At Sea

Tue Apr 16 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 9:00 am to 6:00 pm

Wed Apr 17 San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00am 3:30pm

Thu Apr 18 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 11:00am 5:30pm

Fri Apr 19 At Sea

Sat Apr 20 Miami, FL 8:00 am

Hazy downtown Miami only minutes ago as we prepare to sail.

After our fourth night of little sleep, with the constant thumping of the disco music blaring from the bar below us, we’re exhausted and feeling run down.

With earplugs firmly implanted, I could still hear and music each night from 11:00 pm to 3:30 am, as the bed shakes.  Oddly, I can hear the sounds through my pillow. 
Supplies to be loaded onto the ship.

More water problems.  The shower and sink don’t drain properly resulting in two inches of water on the bathroom floor after showering.  We’ve reported it several times to no avail. The other passengers have made the same observation who’s cabins are near ours.  Oh, Carnival, we had such high hopes for you!
Anticipating today, with a sense of dread in our tired state, we somehow muddled through and are now situated in our cabin, writing to you using our trusty Xcom Global MiFi which fired up instantly.  We have a flawless signal while in the port of which there are many over the next week and will use the ship’s WiFi signal when out to sea.

Tom noticed dogs being used for security for items boarding the ship.

After seamlessly being pushed through customs with VIP status as “back-to-back cruisers, we exited the ship to grab a cab to take us on our errands.  The process took about two hours, but we were pleasantly surprised by the organized process.  We give credit to Carnival on this aspect.

Our Haitian cab driver, George easily found the four addresses we had printed off our little Planon Printer:  for the bank, the UPS store to pick up our new camera and supplies, CVS pharmacy for toiletries, and a Publix grocery store (in order to purchase a few month’s supply of our usual Crystal Lite Iced Tea).

Eighty cab dollars later, we were back at the ship, whisked through check-in via the Captain’s Lounge, enthusiastically welcomed back aboard the ship to once again, find our cabin, cleaned, and ready for us until we see if tonight they can move us to another less noisy cabin.

Once back inside, we unpacked our new “stuff” still grinning over unloading two heavy pieces of luggage at the UPS store being shipped to my sister in LA all of which totaled 100 pounds.  Now the goal is to unload one more large bag to get us down to two bags, one carry on and one computer bag each. It’s daunting, but doable. The vitamin bag is still an issue.

In actuality, in the large box we received from our mailing service, we had three more large bottles of vitamins.  After considerable research over hearing loss from which Tom suffers from 42 years on the railroad, we’ve recently noticed an improvement in his hearing after about a month after he began taking 600 mg of magnesium per day. 

The staff at the Golden Olympian Restaurant danced down the steps and around the tables again last night bidding cruisers adieu on their last night on the seven-night cruise we boarded mid-cruise on Tuesday, the 9th.

Now, we’ve added another supplement that is used as an adjunct to magnesium, NAC, N-Acetyl Cysteine, 600 mg to improve hearing loss. Only time will determine if the combination of these two supplements provides additional improvement.  We’re hopeful.  Of course, we’re not professionals, nor claim to be, but considerable research has steered us in this direction.

One week from today, we’ll move over at this pier to board the Norwegian Epic in order to go on the Atlantic Ocean crossing to Barcelona.

The customer service desk assured us they will do everything they can to move us to a quieter cabin before bed tonight.  I sure hope so.  A good night’s sleep is exactly what we need.

Back to back cruise change day…April 13, 2013…

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Today, Saturday, we’ll be getting off the Carnival Liberty in Miami to go to UPS to drop off our luggage to be shipped to my sister in Los Angeles, pick up a box of shipped supplies including our awaiting MiFi device, and run a few errands (by cab).

The ship’s Internet service will be shut down from 6:00 am until 4:00 PM eastern time, as it prepares for the next cruise on which we are booked.

Once we return to the ship by 1:00 PM, we’ll load our Xcom Global MiFi device and will be back online in a matter of minutes.  At that point, we’ll share with you the process of taking our bags to be shipped through customs. Hopefully, this process will go seamlessly.

We’ll be in touch later today with details of our outing, including the full itinerary of our upcoming cruise beginning at 4:00 PM today.

See you soon!

Final day…Goodbye Belize…Thank you for a wonderful experience…

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The sky and the sea offered us a pleasing goodbye this morning. 

Last night, full and content after a homemade meal, we lounged in the cozy living room of our villa with our two friends, Bill from Minnesota and Rene, a citizen of Belize, the general manager here at Laru Beya. 

While drinking local Belikin beer (I had tea) lively conversation ensued. It was fun learning more about Belize and our guests rounding out the last of new friendships made while here. Hopefully, in the future, our paths will cross again.

We’re relieved to be packed as of this morning, except for a few toiletries, for the morning.

All of our documents are in order. This morning we took care of our bill at the front desk, which was $502.50 for the two months. This includes tours, dinners in the restaurant, cocktails, car rental, beer purchased a few times at happy hour for US $2 each, laundry charges, and tips. Our winter heating bill in Minnesota was almost as much for one month.  We didn’t flinch. 

The simple beauty of the clouds and the sky left us breathless every morning. Today was no exception.

With everything packed a wave of excitement washed over me. Finally! I’ve been waiting for that feeling. Why not be excited with two months of cruising ahead of us, including 13 nights in Dubai? Why not start my usual “jumping up and down,” leaving behind any doubt or negative expectations?

Last night before bed at 11:00, we froze two-liter bottles with iced tea and one with water. With little time for breakfast tomorrow, we’ll stick to a piece of cheese along with a single cup of coffee each, hoping to keep the potty breaks to a minimum during the four-hour drive.  Last time, we only stopped once. 

This final day is ours to enjoy lounging by the pool, taking a final walk along the beach, saying our goodbyes to the staff, dining on tasty leftovers from last night, and finally letting our heads hit the pillows by 10:00 PM with pleasant dreams of our upcoming travels.

Shortly after arriving on the ship, we plan to take photos of our cabin prior to filling it with our stuff and, again a day later, after unpacking while Tom does his “magic” hiding the suitcases in the tiny space.  For the 11 days of our first leg, we’ll unpack two bags each, leaving the remainder untouched to be shipped on the 13th. 

We never tired of the view, especially when the clouds rolled by in many mornings.

Once we have signed up for access to the ship’s Internet service, we’ll be back here with photos and the story of the hopefully seamless transition from Placencia Belize to boarding the Carnival Liberty by tender in Belize City. 

Will we come back to Belize someday?  Perhaps. But, we have a lot of world to see ahead of us. We’ll carry memories of  Belize with us in our hearts and minds forever.

Stay tuned…

It’s all in the details…Four days and counting…

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Natural vegetation around our resort.

Oh, good grief!  Could there be more details to handle before we leave? It’s not as simple as packing our bags and hitting the road.  We knew this going in. 

It’s easy for me to remember how much work it was to handle a single two-week vacation. In 2011, Tom and I went to Hollywood, Florida for a convention. With social events many nights, the packing was challenging. It wasn’t a matter of a few pairs of jeans, shorts, tee shirts, a dress, underwear, and toiletries.

This wooden alligator hand-carved by a local craftsman.  Up close, the detail is riveting with individually hand-carved teeth

Yes, I’ll admit that I like a different outfit and its accompanying accessories every night.  That’s who I am.  People who know me well, get this, teasing me endlessly for my particular nature. However, I’ve tempered my need for a variety of adopting a “mix and match” philosophy, turning one outfit into many.  That seems to work well when traveling. 

Windy, cloudy day today.

So, as of today, my entire travel wardrobe, including shoes, bags, underwear, bathing suits, dress-up and casual wear is situated in two suitcases packed and ready to go.  I did it. I let “stuff” go. Tom has two large equally stuffed bags, packed and ready to go.

Our goal by the time we left Belize, was to have three large bags, packed with the items we’re letting go to send to my sister in Los Angeles to store until we need them. Right now, two of those three bags are packed. The third contains miscellaneous items we can’t let go: prescriptions, medical supplies, steamer, beach towels, etc. 

While sitting at the pool today, we met a lovely newlywed couple, but ran indoors when the skies opened to giant raindrops.

The reality, after days of sorting and resorting, is that we may end up with five large suitcases after we ship two, not three bags to Julie. The rest is carry-on. 

We will fly six times in the next 18 months:  Dubai to Barcelona, Rome to Kenya, Kenya to South Africa, South Africa to Morocco, Morocco to Madeira, Madeira to who knows where? We have 3 1/2 months to “kill” that we haven’t yet planned.) Most of these airlines have recently changed their checked bag policies. 

A few months ago, Emirates Airlines, which we’ll fly on May 21, 2013, from Dubai to Barcelona, allowed two checked bags of 30 kg (66 pounds each). Now it’s down to one bag. The cost for a 2nd bag is in the $100’s if not more depending on the weight. 

We discuss our options such as storage facilities in various locations along the way. We haven’t decided yet, but will soon.

Reading this, I am sure many may think, “GET RID OF MORE STUFF!”  Sounds practical. But, a reality few ever faced, this is everything we own. We have no home to go back to in order to repack. Many world travelers do.  Everything we own is with us in this villa right now.  EVERYTHING!  Oops! Our tax records and documents are stored with son in Nevada. 

The next detail that we finally solved was getting all of our six boarding passes printed. There was some glitch between my sending them via email to the front desk. After several attempts, I contacted our cruise guy, Joaquin, who happened to be on vacation. Alas, our guy came through sending us new PDF documents for all of our cruises.  Tim, at the desk, printed them all.  Now, we’re set all the way through to our cruise on June 4, 2013.

The cruise lines send documents to passengers, which include luggage tags one must print themselves, using sticky paper. Who has sticky paper? Not us. 

Calling the cruise lines using Skype, I verified in each case that we can get luggage tags from the porters when our bags at taken from us at the pier.  On our two earlier cruises this year, they were mailed to us. These cruise lines no longer mail the luggage tags: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, all of which we’ll be on in the next two months. 

Of course, we have our own permanent luggage tags on each of our bags but cruise lines handle so much luggage, they want the pre-printed cabin number and name on each piece of luggage to avoid delays.  Understandable. 

This morning, Tom stated, “Gee, I wonder what passengers older than us, who don’t have printers or even computers at home, manage to print their documents.”  Good point.  As I mentioned yesterday, electronic documents attached to a person’s passport or other ID would be an ideal solution. 

Yesterday, we confirmed our private shuttle for the four-hour drive to Belize City on Tuesday (on the scary road).  I kindly asked if they could have either the windows open (we couldn’t open them) this time or turn on the AC.   It was 90 humid degrees that day, resulting in four hours of hot sweaty bouncing on the rough, winding,  treacherous road. The owner of the shuttle company promised they’d have AC working.

We’re eating all of our remaining food in the freezer. Tonight, bacon cheeseburgers (no bun), pork chops, and coleslaw, an odd combination. Tomorrow, the same and Sunday, we’ve invited our local friends for homemade low carb GF pizza and salad, our favorite staple for which we have all the ingredients.

Winding down.  I keep telling Tom that within six hours of leaving here at 8:00 am Tuesday morning we’ll be on the ship, unpacking in our cabin on the Carnival Liberty (oh, please Carnival, no incidents!). I say this to comfort myself as well as Tom.

At that point, we can relax looking forward to staying put for 11 days until we switch ships at the pier in Miami for the journey across the ocean on the Norwegian Epic, a huge five-star ship.

There is nothing more we can do today. Soon, we’ll venture out to the pool for our hour of lounging in a lawn chair, dipping in the water every 15 minutes to cool off.  We’ll miss the pool, the staff, the people, our friends, the expanse of the ocean at our door, our time on the veranda, our walks along the beach, the sounds of the birds, and the breathtaking vegetation.

Soon, we’ll have a new place to embrace. It’s all good.