This will be our last update before we leave in two days to fly to Ft. Lauderdale and board the Viking Neptune Ship.
We have mostly been doing some last minute pre-Christmas activities since we will be gone on Christmas Day. We had mom over for a Christmas dinner last Sunday and had our small Christmas celebration. We had a spiral sliced glazed ham from Costco with green beans, homemade macaroni and cheese, and biscuits. It was really good. We even had a couple of pieces of fruitcake that I made and froze in 2021, which was still really good. Today, we will have a small Christmas celebration with Stephanie’s mom at NHC after we meet with the billing people there. That will be about it for Christmas before we go.
We have also been busy getting things done before we go. We now have to make sure that bills are scheduled for payment for three households, ours, my mom’s and Stephanie’s mom. We also had to make sure that mom’s caregivers were instructed on giving her cat its morning medicines, as well as making sure we had three pillboxes ready for mom for the time we are gone.
Stephanie and I had a discussion last night about how much more complex traveling is for us right now, and then throw in some COVID outbreak issues in the world as well as the Flu and RSV. It is just not as simple as it used to be to travel, and for me, it puts a slight damper on the pre-trip excitement and anticipation we used to go through before major trips. However, that is just the way it is and we are adapting to it. Luckily, we both were vaccinated against the Fu in October, got the latest COVID boosters in November, and just for good measure, I also got my RSV vaccine a couple of weeks ago. Stephanie does not qualify for the RSV vaccination because she is not yet 60. Mom also has gotten her vaccines all take care of and NHC dictates which vaccines Lorine needs to get since she is there.
We did some preliminary packing last night (finally) and will be ready to add the last items tonight to get ur first overall weight. That will dictate whether we need to reduce or not to keep the suitcases under the 50 lb. limit for the airlines. We are not trying to be much below the limit, we will not be dealing with our suitcases other than at the airports to check them and retrieve them from baggage claim. Since we are not staying anywhere before or after the cruise, we don’t have to worry about getting our suitcases on any public transportation or to any hotels. We also did not have to worry about any particular packing strategy like having some clothes closer to the top of the suitcase for any pre-trip stays, and we won’t be dealing with any extreme changes in temperature like we had to prepare and pack for for the Antarctic trip with that trip’s pre-cruise stay in the hot weather of Buenos Aires. All we had to do this time, like we always do. is cross pack a few clothes in each suitcase in case there is some issue with getting our bags. Hopefully, that will not be the case since we don’t have a lot of time to get any missing bags delivered before the cruise departs at 5:00 PM.
We did get our cabin assignment yesterday, and we were pleasantly surprised that we were given a three-class cabin upgrade. It sounds like more of an upgrade than it really is, but that increase was worth about $400 per person when we looked at the rates for cabins they were still selling for our cruise yesterday. We had selected a Guarantee Cabin in the Veranda V2 cabin class and were given a Delux Veranda DV-5 cabin on Deck 4. Our cabin number is 4002, and it is the most forward regular cabin on that deck, other than the same corresponding cabin on the other side of the ship. There is a Suite Cabin forward of ours on both sides, and those look out the front of the ship.
We have never been that far forward on any cruise, but generally, we like the bow of the ship better than the stern, sometimes those cabins have a lot of propeller vibration. At least we are not above or below any common spaces like dining venues, or bars, so it should be quiet, there are only cabins above and below us. We could have easily had the most forward cabin on the lowest deck since that is the classification we booked. At least with this cabin classification, we get a few more perks, one being daily restocking of our non-alcoholic beverages, as well as chocolates and nuts for snacks. This should make it easier for us to stock Diet Coke’s for Stephanie to have in the mornings, which is her “coffee” while we are at home.
If we were arriving earlier into Ft. Lauderdale, we would also get access to our cabin an hour earlier, but by the time we get to the ship after our 1:25 PM arrival time at the airport, I am sure all of the cabins will already be available for guests.
Well, that about wraps it up for us until we depart on Saturday. Off for the last of our packing effort……..
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