Tag Archives: bucket list

Cruise 2026: Lessons Learned

Kenn and I looked at our cruise as an experiment of sorts. Is this something we would like to do again? Why or why not? Periodically throughout our trip Kenn would ask, “So, what have we learned today?”

The most important lessons we learned are:

  • We need a room with a view. Neither of us would do well with an interior room.
  • Paying for the package that includes all tips is a must.
  • The “unlimited beverage” package would be better if it included water. Instead, we took advantage of the “special” offered the first full day aboard and purchased 12 bottles of water for the low, low price of only $20.🙄 Neither of us are big drinkers but we did make some use of our unlimited beverage plan. We spent a couple of hours every evening on deck twelve near the outdoor bar where there was plenty of seating and windows overlooking the ocean. Kenn’s favorite drink of the trip was a Mudslide, which was basically an alcoholic dessert.😂 I had never had prosecco, so I tried a peach bellini; it turns out, I am not a fan. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise since I’m not a fan of wine in general. I tend to prefer a drink with rum or tequila. (The rum based Bahama Mama was my favorite.)
  • There were several complimentary restaurants onboard, but the others required additional money. Our cruise package included a credit toward one of the non-complimentary restaurants which we put toward a meal at the Italian restaurant, La Cucina. The food was good but nothing to write home about. I did get to try panna cotta for the first time and it was delicious. (I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of it.) It might be nice to try a cruise line where all of the restaurants are complimentary. (Such cruise lines do exist.)
  • The biggest, and most important, lesson we learned is that we will never be avid cruisers. No, it wasn’t bad, but for us, the destination is the most important part of the trip. Our road trips take longer, but give us longer at our chosen destinations and we can make side trips on the fly. This is not to say that we will never take another cruise, just that cruises will always be the exception, not the rule.

With the last point in mind, a cruise to Alaska is still very much on our bucket list; we think a cruise will give us the best opportunity to see the most scenery. We’ll probably take a one-way cruise from Seattle so we can disembark and spend a few days visiting friends who moved to Alaska. Of course this means that we’ll have to fly back to Seattle – and neither of us enjoy flying – but, you do what you gotta do.

Later this year we’re planning to take a train trip to see how we like traveling by rail. Have you traveled by train?

Cruisin’ Together

Kenn and I have long had a cruise to Alaska on our bucket list. Cruise-savvy friends pointed out that, if we haven’t been on a cruise before, we’d probably want to start with something shorter to make sure we actually enjoy cruising before signing up for something lasting seven to ten days. Good point! Kenn has never been on a cruise and I’ve only been on one – when I was twelve. We looked into cruises and discussed several options. At Christmas, we pulled the trigger and booked a four day cruise. We departed Tampa, Florida onboard the Norwegian Star on March 12th and made stops in Key West and Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas before returning to Tampa on March 16th. I’ll write separate posts for our shore excursions.

We learned a few things along the way:

While neither of us had problems with seasickness, I was prepared with Dramamine, acupressure wrist bands, and inhalers just in case. (My daughter-in-law and a couple of the grandkids suffer from carsickness, so I have passed everything on to them.) However, I have now been warned that the Pacific tends to be rougher than the Atlantic, so we shouldn’t skimp on preparations whenever we go to Alaska.😬 Long-lasting patches have been recommended so I’ll add them to our anti-seasickness kit next time around.

We have also agreed that paying for a stateroom with a balcony was worth the extra cost. I don’t think either one of us would have done well without having a view.

Paying for valet parking at Port Tampa Bay was the way to go. We dropped off our car and the parking crew handled getting our luggage to the ship. When we returned, our car was brought to us. Easy-peasy.

“Checking” our luggage the last night of the cruise worked like a charm. It allowed us to disembark without wrestling our luggage through all of the various checkpoints. Our luggage was waiting for us in the baggage claim area, which was the next to the last stop. Also, Kenn’s bright orange suitcase and my bright blue one were easy to find amongst the sea of black and maroon luggage.

While we had no major problems with Norwegian Cruise Lines, our next cruise will probably be on a different line so we can see how things vary.

Have you been on a cruise (or cruises)? What cruise line did you use? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

Here We Go A Fossiling

Given a choice between the mountains and the beach I’ll choose the mountains every time. There’s just something about the mountains that makes my heart happy and fills my soul with peace. I love the scenery, the wildlife and, even during the hottest times of the year, the mountains usually bring at least a slight relief from the heat. (Summer in the South is frequently like living in a sauna.) However, the beach is Kenn’s happy place. He and his family spent a week at the beach every summer and the memories of those times still hold a special place in his heart. Over the years we’ve each learned to appreciate the other’s favorite.

I’ll admit, it took me a while to learn how to enjoy the beach. The two biggest hurdles for me were 1) I can’t swim and 2) I’m a redhead; I practically burst into flames in the sun. (We won’t get into my irrational fear of sharks.) For years, most of our trips to the beach consisted of me coating myself in sunscreen and sitting in the shade watching Kenn and our boys cavort in the surf while I silently counted the days and hours until we could leave. Eventually, I learned that even a non-swimmer can have fun wave-surfing on a boogie board. (Aside from one trip to the ER when a rogue wave slammed my foot into the ground. Fortunately, my toe wasn’t broken; I just had a lovely purple toe/foot for a few days.)

But, the thing that truly taught me to appreciate the beach are fossils. I love getting out and scouring the shoreline for shark’s teeth and other fossils. Over the years I’ve found hundreds of shark’s teeth and met another fossil hunter who helped me identity other items as fossilized sting ray barbs and puffer fish mouth plates. When the time comes for me to shuffle off this mortal coil my boys will have to decide what to do with all of the baggies filled with my beach finds. (I hope they’ll do more than just toss them in the trash.) Fossil hunting in the Peace River in Florida is on my bucket list.

The fossil finds from our latest beach trip

Now I just need to figure out how to spend more than three days at the beach without being ready to lose my mind from boredom. (Not even fossil hunting has been enough to change that.)

Until next time, happy trails!