A Brief Technical Moment

 It's the DH here!  I am putting on my techie hat today to bring you an update.  

We received word from Google that the email service that we have used in the past to contact our subscribers "will no longer be supported."  That means that it will continue to work...for a while.  At some point (like when Windows 11 comes out in a few months) it will not work anymore, and Google will not update or fix it.

So, my DW, who is very technically proficient (even though she won't admit it) has installed a new service on the website.  This service will automatically send an email to everyone who subscribes whenever a new blog post is added.  

Just look for the Get new posts by email: button on the left side of the blog screen.  You will find it right underneath the DW's book covers.  Just enter your email address to subscribe.  

You will be asked to confirm you are not a robot.  Just check the box that says "I am not a robot."  Then you will receive an email confirming your request.  Just open that email, and select the button confirming your request.  Now you are all set to receive every update to our travel itinerary.

The email that you will receive comes from a site called follow.it.  If you do not see the confirmation email right away,  you may want to check your spam folder to see if the email was marked as spam.  When a new blog update is posted, you will receive an email similar to this:

The From: address is follow.it, and the title of the email is Roundtheworldwriter - new message.  You will have an option to Unfollow the blog right from your inbox if you use gmail for your service.  

Once you have done all of that,  you will need to unsubscribe from the old service.  We plan on keeping both services active until the old one fails and goes away.  I know this sounds like a lot of steps, but believe me when I say it takes a lot longer to explain it, than it will take to do it.  

We are getting ready for some fantastic adventures over the next few months.  In September we are taking a family cruise to Alaska.  It will be quite an entourage with the DW's parents, and our daughters.  It will be wonderful time to build some great memories that will last the rest of our lives.

Alaska has always been a magical place for us, and we expect this cruise will be just as spectacular.  We will begin packing soon, so that we can show the rest of them how to pack for the trip.  You don't want to miss a single post about all the preparation that we have to do.

Then in January we are planning another world cruise on the Viking Star.  As soon as we are back from Alaska we will begin our organizing and preparing for that cruise.  We are so hopeful that the world opens up again so that we can go on this wonderful adventure.  

So subscribe today so that you don't miss any exciting episodes as we plan and travel on these excellent adventures! 

I have been doing some experimenting with creating videos from the photos that we take.  I expect that in the future our blog posts will include a link to YouTube so that you can see more of our pictures each day.  Stay tuned as we discover the limits of the wifi on the ships that we are traveling on! 

Happy travels to you all!

DH

Wonderful News!

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan

I was feeling pretty sorry for myself after Princess cancelled our September booking to Alaska because I have to use supplemental O2 during exertion. This was our third try at putting together this cruise. First, we were supposed to go in May 2020, then September 2020, but you know how that turned out. Then the Jones Act threatened to cancel the entire 2021 Alaska season because Canada still won't accept any cruise ships in their ports. Then there was a special waiver of the archaic law so cruise ships didn't have to make an international stop before returning to an American port. We snapped up 4 balcony cabins in a heartbeat, only to have our plans derailed once again. This time by Princess's new post-Covid policy banning passengers who used supplemental O2 or dialysis patients. 

It felt like three strikes and we were out.  

But our tireless TA, Teresa Skeim of Cruise Specialists, would not give up. She was determined to find a replacement cruise for our family. I told her there were a few things that had made us choose Princess in the first place (aside from being pretty loyal customers of theirs) and these requirements were non-negotiable. We needed a 100% vaccinated cruise in order to feel safe to travel. My parents are in their 80's so this was the #1 requirement. And the itinerary had to include a day of cruising in Glacier Bay National Park. We were so captivated by the experience in 2017, we wanted to share that magical place with our family. A replacement cruise also had to be the same or very nearly the same dates as our Princess cruise. 

Teresa pulled a rabbit out of her hat! 

We're now booked for the September 25th sailing of the Norwegian Encore round trip out of Seattle! All the working members of our party had to scramble a bit to move their time off up a couple of days and we had to make sure our pet care providers would be available, but this cruise answered all our must haves.

PLUS Norwegian is delighted to welcome me and my Portable Oxygen Concentrator! They have no rules against guests who require supplemental O2. In fact, when Norwegian heard our story, how a three generational family group was being denied boarding over my oxygen needs, they were determined to do something special for us. Teresa tells me Norwegian will have wine and chocolate waiting for us in each cabin and are offering our party additional OBC! 

Thank you, Norwegian! WE LOVE YOU, TOO!

This will be our 3rd Alaskan cruise, but Icy Strait Point is a "new to us" port of call!

We've cruised Norwegian several times before, once on the Pride of America, the only USA flagged cruise ship that sails around the Hawaiian islands from Honolulu. In fact, we took my parents and our daughters on that voyage. And then a couple of times the DH and I sailed from Boston to Bermuda when we lived in Medford, MA. (What a luxury it is to be able to take a cab to the port from your own doorstep instead of mucking about with flights or a road trip!) We had wonderful cruises with Norwegian every time!

But we've never been on one of their mega-ships, and the Encore is the newest in their Breakaway Plus class having only been launched in 2019. This mammoth vessel can carry nearly 4000 guests and almost 1800 crewmembers. By Ozarks standards, it's a floating town. In addition to the usual cruising activities, the Encore offers (I kid you not!) the largest go-cart track at sea, a laser tag course based on the lost continent of Atlantis, a virtual reality arcade and water slides whose loops and dips make my knees buckle just to look at them. The younger members of our party will never be bored! 

Of course, some of these extras come at an extra price, but unless you sail an all-inclusive line, that's par for the cruising course. 

So now our Alaskan adventure is on again! I'll be counting down the days with you, sharing how we'll pack, how we'll get to Seattle, and all the little details we need to take care of as we prepare to briefly leave our land life behind...

Thanks for riding this roller coaster with me!