May
31
We were lucky enough to snag one of the midship Cat. 3s for this cruise. A category 3 is a 1 bedroom suite. They are coveted for the extra room – they do cost more, but we like them. We’ll be in 8532 for the Med. cruise. We have stayed in this room and 8534 before. We actually like 8534 a little bit better as the closet is a tad bigger. Over the years as we’ve helped DCL finance a new ship we’ve stayed in numerous Cat. 3s. On our first cruise, when we were touched by the magic and elusive DCL upgrade fairy, we were in 8600. That has probably been our favorite Cat. 3. It is a handicapped enabled room and quite large.
I was able to get Envoy class tickets on USAirways (or so I thought) using a combination of miles and money. Well, it turns out my initial reservations were lost when USAirways and America West combined their system. Numerous emails and phone calls later we had our tickets – except that the Philadelphia to Barcelona leg was in coach. I don’t mind coach – but Frances has an absolute aversion to long distance flights, especially those that involve sleeping. She was dreading the flight and I was wondering how much it would be to bail me out of a Spanish jail for smothering her during the flight. I kept checking the USAirways site for Envoy tickets and managed to see 2 available last week. I called and talked to the most wonderful agent – and no, I forgot to get her name, but I’ll make sure that she gets the appropriate kudos somehow. She understood my plight and was able to upgrade Frances and Lauren to Envoy. Still no seat for me, but I’ll survive. I did tell Lauren she has to sneak me a glass of red wine during dinner.
May
30
It was during our summer vacation in 2005 that we received the call from Disney Cruise Line (DCL) asking us if we wanted a Category 3 Suite on one of the 2007 Mediterranean cruises. I immediately said yes, assuming that some of our friends would also be joining us. We found out a little later that we would not have the company of any of our close cruising friends on this trip. We decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to cruise DCL in the Med. Of course we’ve had a few of those once in a lifetime opportunities on DCL (our first cruise in 2003, the 10 day Christmas cruise in 2004 and the Double Scoop Cruise in 2006 are a few of the highlights) in the past few years, so I’m sure that we’ll have more, but this cruise will be different as our cruising buddies won’t be joining us.
May
30
Welcome to our blog! I decided to start this blog as I was quite intrigued reading the experiences and travails of others. I thought that it would be fun to try my hand at this.
The cast members of this story are :
Me – Virgil – ER Doc
Wife – Frances – Nurse practitioner
Daughter – Lauren – Student
2 children not going on the Med cruise:
Daughter – Kristin – Mechanical and Aerospace engineer
Son – Jason – Staff sergeant US Air Force and his wife Yolanda