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56 Days and Counting

Well, we’re Fifty-Six Days and counting down.

          The Pace of Preparations has lengthened its stride to the point where it has all the franticism (I just made up that word!) of planning a wedding.

          List after list has come and gone. They keep getting pared down as Items of Extreme Importance are procured and stowed away until Packing Day arrives.

There are multiple tasks and dilemmas that are fermenting simultaneously with the final concoction still having an unknown outcome. This is because there are many moving parts here and we have control (?) of just a few of them.

          Here they are in no particular order, with specific explanations to follow:

  • We have no definite stateroom assigned as of yet.
  • We are not quite sure of the quantity of needed suitcases, carry-ons, or shipping boxes needed to transport everything needed or desired, to have for a four-month stay away from home.
  • The two previous issues have a bearing on how our assemblage of luggage will make its way from home to the ship and back again.
  • We have no extra space in the motorhome to lay things out. There is no spare room, living room, garage, or any semblance of extra anything in which to open a suitcase and leave it as one prepares and plans the packing sequence.
  • Determining exactly what we may need, trying to foresee unknown and possibly non-existent scenarios, has us wandering the halls of Walmart of Brenham with such frequency that the employees have asked us if we would like to join them in the Break Room.

                   Now for the expanded versions of the aforementioned issues.

          We have no definite assigned stateroom as of yet. This is because there are many, many more folks that want to be on this voyage than they can possibly handle. This is not the classic case of planned overbooking. This has to do with the fact that our original cruise was scheduled for last year and was cancelled with just three months to go before sailing because both New Zealand and Australia (and other selective ports) were effectively shut down with no scheduled dates for re-opening. The Line made the proper call and cancelled the sailing. But…. unfortunately, by that time, the next years cruise (this one) had already opened up for bookings! This meant that anyone who was on the cancelled cruise had the opportunity to re-book one year hence. I am sure that there were those that could not make that happen, but I am also sure that there were quite a few that could. Stir in the already booked passengers for this year and we end up with probably 25 to 50 percent more passengers than could possibly be onboard. When cruise lines experience more bookings than they can accommodate they handle it far differently than the airline industry. They don’t just bump you; they entice you to postpone your cruise to future date by both giving you that future cruise for free and upgrading you with longer cruise times and staterooms. We have experienced this, and it was great! So, my guess is that they are now feverishly sifting through the passenger lists and sending out selective emails in order to entice folks to postpone this upcoming voyage. They then wait to see who accepts and go on from there. The compounding issue is that this World Cruise is also offered in “Legs.” This means that you can choose to take only portions of the Cruise if so desired. Throwing that fact into this mix makes for a logistical nightmare, compounding an already strategically undesirable situation. We have already decided that we will not be accepting any “deals” this time as we already have diminished health issues from last year to this one. (Unless of course they really make us an offer that we can’t refuse, and we stand firm until they meet our additional conditions for future cruises!)

          As for the needed amount of luggage….. Luckily there are laundromats located on each deck of a Princess ship. So bringing excessive amounts of clothing is not necessary, a weeks’ worth of essentials will suffice. It’s all of the other types of clothing and add-ons that make up the bulk of what we finally deem as necessary. I am quite sure that there is no one reading this that will have the need to attend twenty-plus Formal Nights over the next few months.

          With the same people.

          Guys, this does not present that much of an issue does it?

          Ladies, I can see the horror on your faces from here. Twenty different gowns and/or fancy dresses? With the appropriate shoes??

          Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin!

          While I am sure that someone on board will be able (afford) to be seen in a different gown each time, I am also quite sure that there will be numerous ladies that wear a gown many times. It’s this multiplicity factor that one must arrive at in order to feel comfortable. Paula has a nice selection to choose from so my guess is that each garment may see the Formal Night Expose’ only twice. I believe that is quite a respectable number!

          I have two bow ties!

          Now for transportation of this assemblage.

          As you may imagine, the Formal Nights are just the tip of the iceberg (bad analogy here, but we won’t be anywhere near the North Atlantic!) Being with mostly the same folks for most of the voyage, one does really not want to appear in the same duds on a consistent basis. Again, I am quite sure that there will be those on board that buy a new outfit in every port and will display such at their earliest convenience when back on the ship. We are not among those people, but we are, however, members of the regular human race and as such, have a certain amount of personal pride and like to look our best (as possible) when amongst others.

          Just how much determines the amount of luggage!

          And… its transportation!

          In the olden days, way back when you could show up at the airport with multiple suitcases and belongings and someone with a smile gladly took them off your hands and stowed them in the hold of the airship so that they could be delivered safely, securely, and most importantly, timely to your destination.

          That was then.

          Now, depending on how much you spent for your airline ticket or how much of an up-charge is exacted from you, depends on how much you want, or need, to spend for the transportation of your luggage. The balancing forces here are working overtime in order to confound and confuse the wary (and weary) traveler to the extent that you succumb to the forces beyond your control and take one more step, that while may be more expensive, offers quite the peace of mind in a time that being a tad frantic is unfortunately the norm. All Xanax aside, worrying if your baggage made it onto the correct aircraft so that it can be not lost prior to your needing it for the next four months is quite daunting.

          Hence LuggageForward.com/Princess. These folks have turned the timely delivery of your baggage to your ship into an artform.

          At a price.

          But this price must be weighed against hefty fees of extra baggage that weighs extra heavy and the possibility of hearing,

          “Oops! Sorry about that! We’re trying our best to ascertain the location of your luggage and we will deliver it to you as soon as we find it!” ……… Responding something like this…..“ Yea, that would be somewhere between here and Cartagena, Columbia, so I hope that your helicopter has enough fuel for a round trip!”

          So, we are quite sure that we will be engaging these folks for said transport. One of the hidden good things about this service is that it makes you be ready to go at least ten days before departure, as that is when they come to your home to pick up the luggage. The next time that you see it is in your stateroom on board. The only thing that you will need to attend to is the carry-on that will obviously be needed to complete this exercise!   

          Now as we procure these essentials and garments we have found that where to store them in the meantime presents us with another dilemma. We have taken to just putting them in our valises (bet you haven’t heard that term in a while!) willy-nilly until the Official Packing Day arrives. Paula has also been researching travel hacks and suggestions and found some nifty solutions to some issues, like where in a small stateroom does all this stuff get stored? One of these hacks is illustrated here:

Pure genius!

           This is an over-the-door shoe organizer that hangs over the bathroom door and stores all of your needed items that would normally fit inside your bathroom cabinets!

          All of this boils down to exactly what is needed or wanted.

          Procuring these items on board may be prohibitively expensive but that needs to be weighed against the cost of transporting them and the possible non-availability of such. Our lists are quite prodigious and with each excursion for procurement, diminish in their complexity as our Items of Necessity become Items Procured and hence deleted from the list. But another list quickly takes its place hopefully somewhat smaller than its previous edition because something always comes to mind…. What if we need……?

          We did finally put the Febreze back on the shelf because we asked ourselves, “When in the last (anytime) did we need to Febreze an article of clothing?” Especially when we know that Don will be at the laundromat at some un-godly overnight hour in order to complete the washing cycle without having to engage in the “Battle of the Washeteria”!