Time to Stay Home

In October, 2019, Bill and I had to cancel a cruise to the Southern Caribbean because we had to put in two new HVAC systems in our house.  However, we still wanted to go somewhere so we decided to take a cruise out of New Orleans so we could sail down the mouth of the Mississippi River.  We loved a cruise itinerary offered by one cruise line but the cruise line used its oldest ship with very tiny cabins where one side of the bed was against the wall, so we nixed that one.  The 5-night cruise offered by Carnival used a ship that I had sailed on before with standard balcony cabins, so we decided to book that one, with stops in Cozumel and Progresso on the Yucatan peninsula.  Little did we know then that this cruise would be our last one.  So on January 17, we drove to New Orleans, spent the night, and boarded the cruise the next day.

We had a very enjoyable cruise with a great cabin attendant.  In Progresso and Cozumel, we were able to buy items that we had never been able to get on previous cruises, since we always had to make sure our luggage didn't weigh too much.  This time we drove to the port so we bought several bottles of vanilla, a lazy susan for our son and daughter-in-law, and gifts for our granddaughter.  We attended the Dr. Seuss breakfast on the last sea day, had high tea in the dining room, and shopped the sales.  When we disembarked at the end of the cruise, we were looking forward to a trans-Atlantic crossing in November and a West Coast cruise in May of 2021.  We had no idea that this would not cruise again.

A few weeks later, we read about the Diamond Princess and Covid in Japan and the Grand Princess off the California coast where people were required to stay in their cabins due to this new virus, Covid-19.  Since the next two cruises were to be on Princess, I was very alarmed.  On March 15, the USA was put on quarantine and the cruise lines canceled all the cruises, getting people home the best they could.  A few weeks later, Princess canceled our trans-Atlantic cruise and we canceled our West Coast cruise because I started having fears about being trapped on a cruise ship.  As of now, I don't want to go on another cruise and don't want to fly.

In October, 2020, we had a very enjoyable vacation with our son and daughter-in-law in Brevard, North Carolina and have three trips planned in 2021 with them where we drive to a rented house to spend a few days: one at the beach, one in the Tennessee mountains, and a third to my home town in Louisiana where we will stay in the house where I lived from birth until age 7, built by my uncle.  Bill hasn't been able to see his family in Tennessee since October, 2019, and hopes to be able to visit soon.  Both of us have had the two Covid vaccines so we hope to do simple things like go back to church instead of watching the service on television.  

Bill and I always said that we would know when it was time to stop traveling, but we thought it would be due to health and age, not because of a virus.  So now, unless we can go in a car and avoid staying in hotel rooms, we will stay home.