{"id":8271,"date":"2020-01-20T10:04:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T15:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/?p=8271"},"modified":"2021-01-13T07:49:14","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T12:49:14","slug":"another-try-at-a-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/20\/another-try-at-a-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"Another try at a cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8272\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8272\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8272\" class=\"size-large wp-image-8272\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia-1024x416.jpg\" alt=\"MSC Meraviglia\" width=\"640\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia-300x122.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia-768x312.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia-150x61.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MSC-Meraviglia-400x163.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MSC <em>Meraviglia<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>We like cruises. They are, in our view, very relaxing and generally a good value. We have always had a good time. Even our aborted attempt at a 27-night transatlantic\/Mediterranean cruse last April, interrupted halfway through by Jett&#8217;s hemoglobin problem, was fun until it wasn&#8217;t. So we are going to try again. This time it is a 14-night cruise on the MSC <em>Meraviglia<\/em>, a huge (4,500 passengers) and new (built in 2017) ship.\u00a0 It is actually 2 back-to-back 7-night cruises (in the same cabin!) with different Caribbean itineraries:<\/p>\n<p>First week:<\/p>\n<ul id=\"ports-list-AQoCbXMSAm1yGIDQyZmALiAHKgNtaWEyAnVzOgNtaWFCAnVz\" class=\"itinerary-details-ports\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 1 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Miami <span class=\"port-times\">Depart 5:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 2 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Cruising<\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 3 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Costa Maya, Mexico <span class=\"port-times\"> Arrive 8:00am &#8211; Depart 5:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 4 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Belize City, Belize <span class=\"port-times\"> Arrive 8:00am &#8211; Depart 6:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 5 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras <span class=\"port-times\"> Arrive 9:00am &#8211; Depart 5:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 6 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Cruising<\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 7 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Ocean Cay Msc Marine Reserve (private island) <span class=\"port-times\">Arrive 9:00am &#8211; Depart 11:55pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 8 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Miami <span class=\"port-times\">Arrive 7:00am<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Second week:<\/p>\n<div id=\"ember2172\" class=\"ember-view\">\n<ul id=\"ports-list-AQoCbXMSAm1yGIDY-7mCLiAHKgNtaWEyAnVzOgNtaWFCAnVz\" class=\"itinerary-details-ports\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 1 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Miami <span class=\"port-times\">Depart 7:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 2 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Cruising<\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 3 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Ocho Rios, Jamaica <span class=\"port-times\"> Arrive 9:00am &#8211; Depart 5:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 4 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Georgetown, Cayman Islands <span class=\"port-times\"> Arrive 8:00am &#8211; Depart 4:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 5 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Cozumel, Mexico <span class=\"port-times\"> Arrive 10:00am &#8211; Depart 6:00pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 6 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Cruising<\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 7 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Ocean Cay Msc Marine Reserve (private island) <span class=\"port-times\">Arrive 9:00am &#8211; Depart 11:55pm <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"div-with-city-and-time\">Day 8 <span class=\"bullet-operator\">\u2219<\/span> Miami <span class=\"port-times\">Arrive 7:00am <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>We have been to many of these ports on previous cruises, but have never been to Ocho Rios or MSC&#8217;s Ocean Cay, so we are especially looking forward to those.\u00a0 On the first week we will be accompanied by Jett&#8217;s sisters, Sybil and Christine.\u00a0 It will be our first cruise with them, so that should be fun, too.\u00a0 But I will be outnumbered, so wish me luck.<\/p>\n<p>We will bring Jett&#8217;s wheelchair, to eliminate the need for her to walk if there is any roll while at sea. But we are hoping we won&#8217;t have to use it much. Sybil will bring hers, too, for the same reason.<\/p>\n<p>We are <em>really<\/em> hoping that we complete the full two weeks without any medical issues.\u00a0 I guess one of the advantages of the back-to-back cruises is that we will never be more than 7 days away from Miami. But, just in case, we have purchased the trip insurance.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most difficult aspects of arranging this trip was getting to the ship.\u00a0 We booked the cruise, out of the Port of Miami, departing Sunday, February 2.\u00a0 That just happens to be Super Bowl Sunday, played this year in&#8230; yes, Miami.\u00a0 So our usual plan of staying overnight near the cruise port suddenly became very expensive, both for us and for Jett&#8217;s sisters &#8211; over $400 for a single night in a hotel.\u00a0 So Plan B was to have Sybil and Christine fly into Fort Myers, stay overnight there and we would all drive together to Miami in the morning &#8211; a 2.5 hour trip.\u00a0 The only problem with that plan was that the Corolla was simply not large enough to take 4 adults, their luggage and 2 wheelchairs.\u00a0 So we will have to take the truck.\u00a0 I will park it at the Crowne Plaza, which is where I left it for the last cruise, so I know that the plan is feasible.\u00a0 But I certainly would rather have traveled to Miami the day before.\u00a0 The truck has been working well (as evidenced by the trip to Ocala), but it is less reliable than the Corolla.\u00a0 I will just have to keep my fingers crossed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We like cruises. They are, in our view, very relaxing and generally a good value. We have always had a good time. Even our aborted attempt at a 27-night transatlantic\/Mediterranean cruse last April, interrupted halfway through by Jett&#8217;s hemoglobin problem, was fun until it wasn&#8217;t. So we are going to try again. This time it &hellip; <a class=\"read-excerpt\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/20\/another-try-at-a-cruise\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,50,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-caribbean","category-places"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VniU-29p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8271"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9649,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8271\/revisions\/9649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}