In case you haven’t noticed, I will tell you that cruise vacations right now are CHEAP. A vacation that cost roughly $2000 two years ago (like the MSC1 cruise that Jett and I took in February 2020) can now be had for about half that much. What that means is that a solo cruise now is about the same price as a cruise for 2 then. It was hard to resist that price.
But I didn’t have to pay the solo price as I was invited to share a cabin on the Sky Princess with Carl, a very nice octogenarian who, like me, lost his wife last year. He was married nearly 50 years, has sailed about 25 times (compared to my 13) and has some health issues which could make his next cruise his last. We met in a grief support group and discovered that we both enjoyed cruising. He suggested a 1-week trip and I agreed. So I leave Friday for a cruise to the Bahamas, St Thomas and St Maarten. It will be strange to take a Jett-less cruise, but it will be a test to see if I still like cruising.
Jett and I cruised with Princess once before, about 10 years ago, before I started blogging. But since this is my second Princess cruise, I will designate the trip as “PCL2” – the second cruise on Princess Cruise Line.
I really have no idea what to expect. How full will the ship be? How will they handle the buffet? I have to provide both proof of COVID vaccination and a negative COVID test taken no more than 48 hours prior to embarkation (I am taking that test tomorrow). But I expect there to be other changes as well, I just don’t know what they will be. So this is a bit of an adventure.
Rusty is booked with a family through Rover.com. I have met them and they seem very nice. I think Rusty will be fine. The key selling point: they will allow Rusty on the furniture and he may sleep with the teen daughter. He will like that.
I am looking forward to the cruise. I am feeling a bit guilty, even with the cheap prices, as it is really an unnecessary expense. I had resolved to have reduced expenses this season in Ft Myers and this violates that resolution. But… what the hey.