Where to start - well I guess firstly since I don't fly anymore - more than thirty-five years since my last plane ride - I need to get to different travel destinations - you can drive, you can take a train or you can take a boat - since my first cruise back in 2000 and mostly since retirement in 2006 I have taken to cruising - Alaska, Panama Canal twice, Mexican Riviera, Caribbean - some 16 in all and counting.
On area that has always been on my bucket list or for us old timers - to do list - was South America but there was always a problem - I could get down there by cruise ship but very few came back to a North American port that is until I saw a cruise article about a trip that circumnavigates South America being offered by Princess cruises - so I checked it out - 49 days starting in Fort Lauderdale and ending in San Francisco - good I thought - I can get to both ports by Amtrak - so I checked out the Princess web site and hummed and hawed at the price etc but finally decided to bite the bullet and book it.
This cruise has three parts to it - Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to Santiago, Santiago to San Francisco - so it was sold as one long one - 49 days - or in three parts - but there was a problem for me - the first leg was sold out - you see this cruise is timed to be in Rio at Carnaval time - so I am wait listed but through some good fortune from following a cruise forum I managed to get myself booked directly through Princess cruises website - then notified my travel agent and transferred the booking to her.
As I travel solo I usually have to paid a full second fare - that's the way most cruise lines do things - well because they were sold out - IE at capacity I got a break and only paid about a 60 % second fare.
So now I am booked on the dream cruise of a lifetime - there are lot's of things to do to keep me busy until I leave Fort Lauderdale on Jan 26, 2013 - hotel in Fort Lauderdale - booked - Amtrak to Fort Lauderdale and then home from San Francisco - a passport renewal and Brazilian Visa - looking at excursions in the various port etc. Figuring out how to pay for it in light of the performance of my retirement funds in the current market conditions.
I have existing blogs but decided to create this one just for this cruise so check for updates as I will be chronicling my thoughts from now until sail away and then at times throughout the cruise.
Cheers
