Three Taboo Topics

"Women basically want the same thing--a good passionate story, a great fantasy--and for our partners to do the laundry and the washing up." ~ E.L.James

They say there are three things you should never discuss on a cruise ship. Lest you offend your fellow travelers, don't bring up politics or religion. The other no-no is... 

That's right. Let's face it, we tend to swallow anything hook, line, and sinker if it's attached to whatever.com. If you believe what you read on the internet, the homely art of cleaning your clothes can become serious trouble on a cruise ship. Here are just a few of the apocryphal stories I've stumbled across about happenings over a sea-going lint trap.

• Two couples got into a shoving match so loud and unruly over whose turn it was to use the next available machine, they were all offloaded at the next port by the captain's order. No refunds. No bon voyage. 
• One lady's dress went missing in the launderette, but she found it the next evening...on another woman! 
• One lady brought her own OUT OF ORDER sign which she'd put on one of the machines to make sure it would be available for her use when she brought her laundry basket down. 
• One gentleman removed a load from the washer after waiting for more than twenty minutes for its owner to return and take care of it. The items turned out to be lady's unmentionables, so when the lady returned for her dainties, she was incensed that a stranger had "pawed through" her undies. A slap ensued. She too found herself escorted off the ship at the next port.

These things may or may not have actually happened, but we're not taking chances. We plan to pay to send some of our things out to the ship's laundry. On our 30 day cruise last year, we did this with undies and a few things that had been pre-shrunk with great success. I figure who wants to spend a lot of time doing the wash on a cruise ship, so we've budgeted an appropriate amount to pay for sending out laundry. (If we had a higher status with Princess, we'd get free laundry service, but we don't have enough "at sea credits" for that yet.)

However, most of my clothes have never been washed in hot water and don't know what the inside of a drying looks like. The ship's laundry uses hot water and very high temperatures in their dryers. Unless I miraculously lose 50 pounds before we sail, I can't afford for my wardrobe to shrink. 

So...some of our things will get special treatment in our bathroom sink. And if we time it right, we may be able to sneak into the self-service launderette to do a delicate load on a port day afternoon when most folks are still on their excursions. Or, being early risers, we might be able to wash a load before breakfast sometime.  

We plan to pack this handy-dandy over the door hanger to grace our bathroom door. It holds a goodly number of items to air dry. I've read that draping wet things over our balcony furniture is a total no-no. As they dry they're likely to become airborne!    

Since a good bit of our itinerary is in tropical climes, we can't count on re-wearing outfits. I remember being drenched to the skin after an excursion on Tahiti last April--and it wasn't raining! So doing laundry will be a necessity for us. 

We're just hoping to keep it civilized. To that end, I'd love to see Princess post a few rules about using the launderette. These laundry etiquette tips would do the trick:

1. Don’t leave your clothes unattended. It's the only way to make sure nobody else touches them!
2. If somebody ignores rule number one, wait about 15 minutes after the cycle ends to remove their clothes and place them neatly above the machine. Not in a soggy lump on the floor.
3. Use only the recommended amount of detergent and bleach in the machine. Nobody wants to live through a rerun of an I Love Lucy disaster.
4. Wait until the wash cycle is over before claiming a dryer. Duh!
5. Clean out the lint trap. Unless, of course, you enjoy cycling your things through the dryer 5 or 6 times.
6. Leave the machine open when you’re done. That's right, guys. This is one time it's okay to leave the lid up!
7. Bring something to do while you're waiting. Your Kindle, a basket of knitting, a deck of cards... something! Remember, a bored husband is a danger to himself and others.

I'd love for more experienced cruisers to share their laundry thoughts. I know it's a touchy subject on the ship, but we're not there yet. So it's okay. 

~~~

Want to make sure you never miss a post? Sign up to have RTWW delivered to your inbox in the Follow By Email form in the right hand column! 

Rogue Wave

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  —Mark Twain

When we first told my parents about our Round the World travel plans, they were ... concerned. My dad, especially, had a long list of questions and I thought I had all the answers. Our conversation went something like this:.

Dad:What will you do about taxes?
Me: We'll send in our estimated payment and file for an extension on our return.

Dad: Who's going to take care of your tenants if there's a problem with your rental property?
Me: #2 Daughter has already shown an aptitude for this. When we were out of town for our 30 day cruise in 2016, she dealt with tenant issues, from rent collection to repairs to comforting a tenant whose husband had suddenly left her. She's got this. 

Dad: What if you get sick or hurt on the other side of the world?
Me: That's why we bought trip insurance. If necessary, our carrier will spend up to $1,000,000 to get us home.

Dad: What about rogue waves?
Me: Huh? 

I'd never heard of them, but apparently, they are a thing. Here's what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has to say about them:

"Rogue, freak, or killer waves have been part of marine folklore for centuries, but have only been accepted as a real phenomenon by scientists over the past few decades.

Rogues, called 'extreme storm waves' by scientists, are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves.

Most reports of extreme storm waves say they look like "walls of water." They are often steep-sided with unusually deep troughs."

Yeah, I'm not too excited about being in a sequel of THE PERFECT STORM.

Fortunately, the NOAA site goes on to say that rogue waves are extremely rare. (Well, I'd hope to shout! No one would ever set sail if they weren't!)

But my dad made his point. 

No matter how well we plan, no matter how good a bead we think we have on preparation for this voyage, we can't see all ends. Unexpected risks may pop up.

When we lived in Utah, my DH got his private pilot license and we flew all over the western US in a 1957 Cessna 182. We had some excellent adventures flying through mountain passes and saw some beautiful, wildly remote things only God and the birds get to see.   

But general aviation is not without risk. Our kids were grown by then. I doubt we'd have done it otherwise, but I told them if something happened and the plane went down, their dad and I would have been doing something we loved. And we'd be together. 

Fortunately, we have only happy memories of the plane and the DH is no longer current on his medical so we fly commercial these days. But the same principle applies to cruising. If something bad happens on our world cruise, that's the risk we take in exchange for a priceless adventure. We'll be doing something we love and we'll be together.

And we'll be thankful there are folks waiting for us at home who care enough to warn us about rogue waves.  

Another Country Heard From...

“In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with” –  Charles Schulz

The best part of going on a world cruise is that I get to do it with the man who's the love of my life. We celebrated 41 years of marriage this year and he still knows how to show a girl a good time. 

He's as excited about this adventure as I am, but since he's of Norwegian heritage, you'll never see him hopping up and down about it. So how do I know he's excited? 

He keeps a journal online. Normally it's private. Only a few people (of whom I am chief!) get to read it. He said it would be okay for me to share part of his latest entry with you since I figured you might enjoy getting to know my better half.  

So here's a little musing about cruising from Mr. RoundTheWorldWriter:

About the World Cruise

The Dear Wife has already started her blog called "Round the World Writer".  She is starting to make lists of what we need to take, and what needs to be done.

We thought about renting a car and driving to the ports, but finally decided to fly to LAX using the Princess fares.  We were able to get First Class tickets both ways for a little over $800 a piece.  This will allow each of us to check 2 bags without a fee, and the bags can weigh up to 70 pounds without penalty.  

Plus in First Class, we know that there will be power to the seats so DW can keep her O2 concentrator plugged in.  The flights depart and arrive in STL, so we will drive up to Columbia the night before, and #1 Daughter can drive us over to the airport.  That way she will have use of the van while we are cruising.  And #2 Daughter, who'll be keeping the home fires burning, will have the whole garage to herself!

I booked our stay near the cruise port today using points from my AOPA card.  We will be at the Crowne Plaza which is a 5 minute cab ride from the port.  DW said several other cruisers on the Cruise Critique roll call she's on have said that they will be staying there the night before as well, so we may try to connect with them the night before.

I got my passport back in the mail today! I'm glad to have it back again so quickly.  Now we can start talking with the Indian Consulate in Atlanta about getting Visas.  

DW went through the itinerary, and picked out excursions she'd like to take. These all look like they are going to be fun.  I am really surprised by how reasonable most of the excursions are.  Like the "Top of the Rock" on Gibraltar, that sounds like a really fun day. The excursion that is not on here is the Vatican Tour that we have already purchased.  I am looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel and the restored ceiling. 

We started going through my casual clothes (polo's, t-shirts, shorts and casual slacks) to see if there are any "holes" in my cruise wardrobe.  When I went through to eliminate any worn polo shirts I realized that all of my better ones are some shade of grey.  I need to get some that are more colorful..

Things are moving forward!  It is exciting to see everything getting done!

~~~

And that's all the man has to say about that!

For now, at least...

I may draft him for more posts as we go forward.

Makin' a List & Checkin' it Twice

"The human animal differs from lesser primates in his passion for lists."

~ H. Allen Smith

We have 200 and some odd days until we board the Pacific Princess and set off on our grand adventure. That sounds like a long time until I start thinking about all the things I need to do before then. And when I start thinking about those things, I realize I'm bound to forget something, so I'm not taking any chances. 

I'm writing it all down. Here's what I have so far:

1. Passports—We need to make sure all our travel documents are in agreement. My DH is in the process of getting his corrected. Our passports also need to be valid for at least six months after we finish the cruise and have enough blank pages for the trip. Our travel agent says my 18 blanks should be fine because not all countries required a completely fresh page. 
2. Visas—Princess can get the necessary travel visas for us at most of our ports of call, for a nominal fee which will show up on our shipboard account. The exceptions are India, Australia, and Jordan. We need to procure these in advance or we will be denied boarding in Los Angeles. (I'm shivering in horror!) 
3. Vaccinations—
   
   I spent a little time on the CDC site and put in our itinerary. Looks like my DH will have to have a measles shot, because he's never had either the disease or the vaccination. In addition, we'll both need vaccinations for Hepatitis A (we don't need one for Hep B because we don't plan on having unprotected sex with strangers or getting a tattoo during our travels!). We'll get a shot for Typhoid. I'll also need one for Tetanus since I'm long overdue for one. Of course, we'll get our yearly flu shot this fall, so we'll be covered for that.
4. Travel Insurance—Our travel agent presented a couple of options to us and we have already chosen one. I'm sad to report that the Princess travel insurance was by far the most expensive policy. Aside from wanting to protect our investment should we--shudder--have to cancel our plans, I'm most interested in coverage should we need emergency medical repatriation. The policy we bought will spend up to $1,000,000 to get us home. We plan to print a copy of the policy and coverages to take with us.
5. Communications—We intend to pre-purchase some internet minutes on the Princess site (which offers some bonus minutes for buying ahead of time. I also intend to explore TMobile texting plans. I've heard you can text internationally for free, but don't quote me. That's why finding out the straight skinny is on the to-do list. 
6. Money—We will notify our credit card companies and banks of our travel plans, as well as Lifelock. (If you haven't signed up for this service, I highly recommend it. Identity thieves can ruin your whole day.) We'll also be taking some cash, including a lot of $1's and $5's for incidental tips to the crewmen who deliver our room service coffee in the morning and a roll of quarters or two for laundry. But one of the things I love most about cruising is that once you board, you don't really have to spend much more unless you want to. Gratuities for the lovely crew who will be pampering us for three months are pre-paid, but we always budget an extra tip for our cabin stewards, dining room servers, and any member of the crew who has gone out of their way to make our voyage more enjoyable. I suspect that will be a long list! 
7. Pets—
   
   We have two rescue dogs, Mack and Charlie. They are both bundles of love with feet and we will miss them, but we won't worry about them. Daughter #2 is taking care of them. However, we will have to make sure the pet pantry is full. Mack (the bigger one) is on a special diet to deal with his unique health issues. And our daughter will need enough flea & tick and heartworm meds to give them while we're gone. We'll also check on whether the boys are due for any shots prior to our departure. We're thankful our daughter will be with them and thankful she'll also be taking care of the house, the mail and all other incidentals connected with our life ashore.
8. Contact Princess & American Airline re: my portable O2 concentrator and bipap machine. I have a chronic lung condition called NSIP but these little machines help keep me going. The O2 concentrator is FAA approved for me to use on our flights to and from the ports. I'll need Princess to provide distilled water on board for use with the bipap machine. Holland America is great about this. We'll see if Princess lives up to her sister line. 
9. Reserve a pre-cruise hotel room. I don't truly relax until I'm on the ship, because as the time for departure nears, I'm afraid of missing the boat. Getting to the embarkation port city a day ahead of time helps me not worry that I'll be stuck in the Midwest while my ship heads for Hawai'i. The DH is hoping to use the points he's been accruing on his credit card to pay for this, which will be a win for him. After 41 years of marriage, the poor man has finally figured out I am not a cheap date!
10. Prescriptions—The DH takes a couple, I take two handfuls of pills every day. We'll need to contact our insurance carrier and get what's called a vacation waiver so we can be advanced about four months worth of our meds. In addition, I intend to ask our family doc to prescribe some broad spectrum antibiotics to take with us in case one or both of us get sick. He was willing to do that for us when we took a 30 day cruise to the South Pacific--of course, that may have been because I made him laugh by telling him we were boarding a floating petri dish.
11. OTC Meds--
    
    There is an infirmary on board the Pacific Princess, but we'd rather not make use of it unless we have to. I plan to pack Mucinex D, real Sudafed (if we can get it!), Coricidin cough & cold, Azo Standard, Exedrine, Advil, topical antibiotic, bandages, anti-fungal cream, Theraflu, cough drops, antacids, back pain pads, baby wipes, tooth paste, and assorted other personal care items...the list goes ever on and on. Obviously, I'll need to find a Walgreens before we embark in LA. And maybe pick up another rolling bag... 
12. Odds & Ends--I hope to bring a little sewing kit, a package of small safety pins, laundry soap, magnets to affix things to our cabin walls (which I recently discovered are metal under the ordinary looking wallpaper), over the door hooks, clippers and nail file, extra hangers, and a few clothes pins. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
13. Electrical gear—We need to bring: 2 laptops, 2 tablets, (plus power cords for all of the above), my spare oxygen concentrator, extra batteries (3), regular power cord, battery recharger & its power cord, 13 cannulas and 3 filters for my O2 concentrator, my bipap machine with its power cord, back up hose & headpiece, spare nose pieces & filters, So Clean to keep the bipap daisy fresh, along with its tubes, spare filter & of course yet another power cord, a converter so we can use the 220 European outlet as well as a surge protecting power strip to plug into the 110 American outlet, (Cruise ship cabins aren't overburdened with a lot of electrical outlets so we need to make the ones we'll have work overtime.) a digital camera with spare batteries. And while we're on the subject, I'll also need spare batteries for my oximeters & a small fan. Where, oh where, am I going to put everything?
14. Plan Port Activities--I've been perusing the Princess site to see what the cruise line offers. It's tempting to stick with them instead of venturing on our own. We've seen sad and sorry fellow passengers running down the pier, flailing their arms as the ship pulls away from the dock. With a ship's excursion, you're guaranteed they'll wait for you should your tour be delayed. That said, some of our best travel experiences in the past have been independent. What to do?

We're going all the way around the world. I'd hate to misplace my ship. Maybe I should take this video I found  to heart...

I'm sure I've left some important things off this rough to-do list. If you think of any, please leave a comment! I'd appreciate your help.

Return to Devil Isle

You can go to heaven if you want. I'd rather stay in Bermuda.

~Mark Twain

No disrespect to Mr. Twain, but I'd take heaven. However, Bermuda is a close second.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are bookending our World Cruise with two ports we've visited before--Hawai'i and Bermuda. All our other stops with be new to us, but these two are old friends. 

We used to live in Boston so it was effortless to take a cab to the port and head off on a week long trip to Devil Isle--the original name for Bermuda. The name was given to the island because sailors who skirted the treacherous reefs reported hearing the cries of the damned coming from the shore. When the first Englishmen made landfall, they found no people, damned or otherwise, but there were plenty of wild pigs, the source of the otherworldly screams! The pigs were evidently the only survivors of earlier shipwrecks.

Back in 2009, I blogged about Bermuda on my Mia Marlowe website when I was starting to write a couple of books set on the island. Because writers tend to look at places as possible settings, I thought you might enjoy a peek behind the curtain to see what catches our eye. Here's a bit of that old post: 

Writers are hoarders. We go through life gathering faces and names. Our ears prick when a lively conversation kicks up at the next table in the restaurant. We taste. We sniff. We seek out the details that will later find their way out our fingers and onto the page. Like any good director, we're also on the lookout for unique locations for our stories. 

When our cruise ship docked next to this 1820's fort on Bermuda, I knew I'd have to work it into a book sometime. As a fictional setting, Royal Dock has such good bones. There's a stern seawall, the barracks and exercise yard, and an armory as well as the elegant Commissioner's House. 

In my mind's eye, I could see strapping military men swarming over the place. Earnest, upright fellows in their wool uniforms sweating under the Bermuda sun, but not complaining because that just wouldn't be the "done" thing. 

Wherever the English traveled in the world, they took their culture with them and tried to recreate it in the new place. Bermuda was unique in that there was no indigenous population for them to displace when the first shipwreck survivors washed up on its empty shores in the 1600's. Built in 1827, the interior of Commissioner's House is a late Regency jewel of clean, classic lines. 

Of course, the main point of visiting such places for me is to imagine the people who lived there. 

My heroine would glide smoothly through this thick walled-structure. I love this interior courtyard with its splashing fountain and stone walls soaring to the open sky. A perfect place for my heroine to read her book of sonnets without being seen by the populace. But with countless interior windows opening onto it, it's far too exposed a space for a trysting spot. 

And how will the hero make his entrance into Commissioner's House? Through the double front doors as an officer of the regiment? By the back stairs as a blockade-running sea captain? 

The beauty of choosing Commissioner's House as a setting for historical fiction is that there is conflict already built into the place. Royal Dock was built largely by Irish convict labor. Imagine a hero stealing out of the airless convict ship, climbing the iron girders on the corner of the House and slipping into my heroine's jalousy-shuttered window. 

Have you ever visited a place and thought "This is a perfect setting for a romance?" 

Where was it? Why did it strike you as ripe for a love story?

Been There, Done That

"Hawai'i is not a state of mind, but a state of grace." ~ Paul Theroux

Our itinerary for the World Cruise is almost entirely new to us, so we're excited to discover these ports of call. But there are two stops on our world cruise that will be repeat performances for us. We'll welcome seeing them like they were old friends.

One of them is our very first stop--Honolulu. We made our first trip to Oahu when we were twenty-somethings. We snorkeled at Hanauma Bay, surrounded by colorful tropical fish. I learned to surf at Waikiki. Over the years we've returned to the island many times.

One of the most memorable was an idyllic trip with my Dear Husband, our daughters and my parents back in 2012. This vaca was a year in the making and it was worth the wait. Before we boarded our Norwegian cruise vessel for a week long trip around several islands, we had a couple of days on Oahu.  At the risk of boring you to tears, here are a few of the sights we saw.

Day 1: We rented a van, drove around Diamond Head and up the coast to the North Shore. I was expecting to see huge waves once we got there, but it turned out to be the wrong time of year. However, every turn in the road opened into a gorgeous vista, stunning ocean views and breathtaking flowers.

Day 2: We met up with Kim Adams from SOS Aloha Blog at Pearl Harbor. My Dad was 6 years old when the attack happened and he remembers hearing President Roosevelt's speech on the radio. This part of the trip was specially meaningful to him.

Kim delighted us with a "behind the scenes" tour. Her knowledge of the history was so detailed and fascinating, she really made Dec. 7, 1941 come to life in my imagination. Those horrifying 90 minutes when 2238 Americans died changed history and roused a nation to commit to total war.

There is a little patch of oil seeping from the submerged USS Arizona, the watery grave for over 1100 sailors. After all these years, the wreck still weeps oil into the blue water of Pearl Harbor. Not all the crewmen assigned to the Arizona died that day, but when they pass, they have the option to be interred with their shipmates. Legend says the ship will stop leaking oil when the last crewman comes home.

Kim took us to see the USS Utah, the forgotten memorial. It was a training ship where 50 some lives were lost, including author Pamela Clare's "Uncle Joe." This was my second trip to Pearl Harbor, but I hadn't known about the Utah memorial. Kim did a terrific job explaining how frantic and disorganized the Americans were when the Japanese attack surprised them. She showed us the place where the commander of the Nevada beached his ship rather than clog the harbor mouth when it became clear they couldn't make it to open sea.

Pearl Harbor wasn't the only place that was devastated by the attack. Hickham airfield was also decimated. All the planes were lined up, wing-tip to wing-tip, in the middle of the field. If we'd tried, we couldn't have presented an easier target. The Pacific Air Command building was strafed with a hail of fire. As you can see from this picture, the bullet holes have been left in the building. Even inside, there are holes in the metal staircase. There was no place of safety on that dark day.

Only a little distance from the Arizona memorial, the USS Missouri (The Might MO) rides at anchor. It was the site of the Japanese surrender and provided a sense of closure for our tour. As a side note, the USS Missouri features prominently in the movie BATTLESHIP. After seeing the real thing, of course, we had to check out the movie!

One of the biggest highlights of our Day 2 for me was getting to know Kim better. Since my 1st book was published in 2006, I've been blessed to make a number of "virtual" friends. When we finally meet in real life, we click together like magnets. Meeting up with Kim in Hawaii was no exception.

Thanks again to my friend for a wonderful day exploring the history of Pearl Harbor. The generous gift of her time and knowledge demonstrated the best of what they call the "spirit of Aloha."


If you'd like to see a bit from our most recent trip to Oahu in 2016, check out A Taste of Hawai'i, So I Married a Tonganese Warrior, and When You Don't Say I Do, from my Looking for Bali Hai blog,

In a couple of days, I'll share a bit about the other port that's a repeat for us. Coincidentally, it's the last port of call--Bermuda, so we'll bookend the world cruise with two places we've visited several times and to which we love to return.

Passport Problems

I'm asking for help and all you give me is papers...Paper, papers, papers!

~ The Consul, an opera about bureaucratic rigidity by Gian Carlo Menotti

My DH has been traveling on the same passport since 2010. He's used it to visit Amsterdam, the UK, France, Ireland, Japan, Bermuda, all over the Caribbean, the islands of the South Pacific, Mexico, Canada and Central America. The passport seems to work ok, but there's just one teentsy problem with it.

His name is spelled incorrectly.

The last time he had his passport renewed, it came back with a typo. They deleted one of the "L's" in his middle name. 

No worries. We just made sure to spell his name incorrectly when we booked international travel. That way everything matched up. 

But now that we have to get visas for the World Cruise, our misspelled chickens have come home to roost. To get a visa to visit India, he'll have to produce TWO forms of government issued ID's. His drivers license is correct, so it doesn't match his passport.

We must have a valid visas for India, Australia and Jordan prior to embarking the Pacific Princess in LA next January. The rest of the visas required for the trip will be handled by the cruise line at each port of call, but those three are special cases. We won't be allowed to board without them.

So, we're looking into making a special trip to the nearest US State Department passport office with his drivers license, birth certificate, baptismal records, Justice League of America Membership card--every snippet of documentation we can think of to support an extra "L." 

Once we straighten out this minor snafu, we'll start through the maze of red tape that is a visa application. It's probably a good thing that we have more than half a year before we sail.

Don't get me wrong. I believe all governments have the right to vet those who want to cross their borders.

It's just a shame that the lack of an "L" can mushroom into such a big deal.