If you’ve followed or known us for very long, you know we love cruising. Initially we did a lot of excursions. Then Stu got back into scuba diving and we cruised a lot of the same ports, so I wrote while he went diving. Then COVID hit. That slowed the cruise industry down to a crawl and it has crawled back – somewhat. Our last cruise was on the Mardi Gras in March. We had a blast and Stu dove while I wrote.
Fast forward to fall and we have several back-to-back cruises booked. All are for our normal cruise itinerary – the West Caribbean islands. Normally Stu would be diving and I would be writing. Nope, no diving. Not in any of the next 6 (3 B2B) cruises from September through January. Hmmm….while we hope it comes back before our Nov/Dec and Jan cruises, we are okay regardless. Stu felt his diving excursion time was coming to an end soon anyway.
Big cruise news…
But in bigger news… We may have mentioned our big fall 2023 trip. Fly to Edinburgh, take a five day tour of the Highlands, then an 18 day cruise back to the US from Southampton, UK. Well, big changes! Good changes! Here are our current plans…
- Drive to Port Canaveral area – leave our car parked with family/friends in the area
- Take a 13 day transatlantic cruise to Barcelona on the Carnival Freedom
- Spent a couple of days sightseeing in Barcelona
- Fly to Rome, spend a couple days sightseeing
- Take a 10 day Mediterranean cruise on the Carnival Pride
- Back to Rome, a little more sightseeing
- Fly to Edinburgh, spend a couple days sightseeing
- Take a 5 day tour of the Highlands with Highlands Explorer Tours
- Fly from Edinburgh to Southampton, time to rest
- Take an 18 day cruise back to the US on the brand new Carnival Jubilee (sister ship to the Mardi Gras)
- Fly from Galveston back to Florida and pick up our car
Yes, this is the trip of a lifetime for us. We never thought we’d get to see Europe or even Scotland. We will be celebrating our 15th anniversary 6 months early and may even try to get our vows renewed while in Scotland.
Where we will go…
On the first cruise, we will have stops in: Bermuda, Ponta Delgada ( Azores), Málaga (Spain), Valencia (Spain), and Barcelona (Spain).
On the Mediterrean cruise we will have stops in: Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy), Mykonos (Greece island), Kusadasi (Turkey), Athens (Greece), Santorini (Greece island), Katakolon (Greece), Messina (Sicily), Naples (Italy).
On the final cruise we will have stops in: La Coruña (Spain), Vigo (Spain), Madeira (Portugal), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands), Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos island), Galveston, TX.
From Texas we will fly back to Florida, pick up our car and drive home (after spending a little time with family & friends in the area). All in all, it will be a 2+ month adventure, leaving home on Sept 18th and arrive back shortly before Thanksgiving (depending on how long we visit in FL) . Phew!
Planning…
Are we excited? Oh yeah! Are we planning? Big time! Lots of clothing decisions to be made and packing will be much reduced due to baggage restrictions in Europe. I’ve already got the start of a spreadsheet checklist that is ever evolving. We both bought great waterproof hiking boots for the Highlands tour. Also, packable alternative-down jackets and gloves that should let us use our phones. I wanted a good raincoat that was longer than a regular jacket, so found that. Merino wool leggings will be the pants of the day for me. I have light-weight and mid-weight plus a great merino wool over-shirt to toss on top of my wicking shirt. Layers will be key – the temps in Scotland in late October run in the 50s-60s during the day. We will keep fine-tuning the list as the year progresses.
Staying positive…
Now we just keep our fingers crossed that COVID restrictions will be gone by then. LOL!
8 thoughts on “Cruising Adventures”
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Hi Donna – “LIKE” button still not operational! Happy Cruising!
Virtual hugs,
Judie
It appears to be a Chrome issue on mobile devices. Works with Safari on my iPad and works on Chrome on my computer (but not on my iPad. Nothing I can fix from my end. Sorry!
What a wonderful trip!!! But what about the 2Dudes??
Unless we end up with a close friend or family member who wants to housesit, they will go to their regular boarding spot. They play all day long and sleep well at night. The owner treats them like they were her own dogs. In fact, she is our person who will adopt them if something were to happen to both of us. She’s awesome!
Wow! What about the 2 doods?
Unless we end up with a close friend or family member who wants to housesit, they will go to their regular boarding spot. They play all day long and sleep well at night. The owner treats them like they were her own dogs. In fact, she is our person who will adopt them if something were to happen to both of us. She’s awesome!
WOW sounds like a fabulous trip of a lifetime and having something like this to look forward to is wonderful! I can so relate to the comment that “diving days may be coming to an end”…I gave up diving when I took up motorcycles, now I’ve given up motorcycles for a side by side! We may be retired but we still know how to enjoy life! Congratulations look forward to following along!
I can’t do the motorcycle trips, 1-2 hours is all I can manage as a passenger. The osteoarthritis & osteoporosis are getting to me. Even long car trips wear me down. So I know this will be the last big adventure but I’m SOOO looking forward to it!