franandaj
I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 37,452
Hello there! Here we are again on another trip with the Widow and the Spinster!
This time we are sailing on a Westbound Transatlantic Cruise from Southampton, England to Ft. Lauderdale, USA on the Disney Dream. You may wonder how this all came about. Or maybe you don’t, but regardless I’m going to tell you so you might as well grab a beverage and kick back. If you don't know who we are, let me add a photo right here to break up the monotony of the text!
Shortly after my wife Fran passed away, some of you might recall that I had signed on for a trip to Egypt with Jill. She had planned this trip to celebrate a milestone birthday.
You know one that ends in a zero.
We still had several months to go before the trip and already she was thinking about her next birthday. We had talked about sailing on the Fantasy, which at the time was doing seven night cruises alternating between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Our plan was to create our own dining rotation which would include Remy-Palo-Remy-Palo. By our calculations, if the pattern that the Fantasy was currently sailing on continued it would coincide nicely with Jill’s birthday.
The problem was, when the actual sailing dates were released in June of 2023, the Fantasy was no longer doing Eastern and Western Caribbean alternating weeks. To make things worse, the cruise that coincided with Jill’s birthday was doing a double dip at Castaway Cay (neither of us are beach people), and Lighthouse point, and Nassau. Nassau is like the armpit of the Bahamas as far as I’m concerned.
Karin and Tom had booked the Westbound Transatlantic on the Dream and with a little arm twisting, convinced Jill and I to book as well. Sometime during the Fall, Karin and Tom changed their minds and decided to book a holiday in the US and a sailing on the Treasure instead, but Jill and I were resolved to take this trip. We had already decided to spend a few days in London prior to the cruise, and were looking forward to that.
If you’re not sure who we are, I am Alison your Trip Reporter. I live in Long Beach, CA so I'm Disneyland adjacent. I'm kind of retired. I don't have a day job, which gives me lots of flexibility for travel and such. I do manage rental properties which can either be easy or a PITA depending on the week. I'm not into sportsball, and I have my kitties to keep me company When I'm home.
Jill is my travel buddy. We made this deal sipping champagne on her Verandah of the last cruise we took together while my wife slept in the stateroom just a few doors down. “When Fran passes, you and I can travel together.” she said. Neither of us knew it was going to be less than six weeks later.
Jill lives south of Denver, CO. She has two dachshunds, is an avid Chiefs Fan, and works from home for a telecommunications company
This is us from our trip to last year in Egypt, right at this same time.
And here we are again.
So we each flew separately into London. My flight departed on Tuesday, October 15 from Los Angeles. Jill’s flight departed a day later from Denver. She was OK with hitting the ground running Thursday whereas I wanted to fly in, get dinner and go to bed, before venturing out into the city. Other than the staggered arrival times, the rest of the trip we traveled together.
After two and a half weeks in Egypt and Jordan with 3AM wake up calls, strange bathrooms, and scary inedible food, we were confident that this trip would be a breeze! If we could survive the conditions in Egypt, we could certainly pull off three nights in London and two weeks on the Dream!
This Trip Report may move a little swifter than my other TRs. I've got two more trips in the next three months that all deserve reports as well, so if I move on before you have time to properly comment, I apologize. I also take the liberty to get busy with the holidays coming up, and two vacations in the next three months, so updates may also be sporadic!
Sit back and enjoy, this is going to be a long one!
This time we are sailing on a Westbound Transatlantic Cruise from Southampton, England to Ft. Lauderdale, USA on the Disney Dream. You may wonder how this all came about. Or maybe you don’t, but regardless I’m going to tell you so you might as well grab a beverage and kick back. If you don't know who we are, let me add a photo right here to break up the monotony of the text!
Shortly after my wife Fran passed away, some of you might recall that I had signed on for a trip to Egypt with Jill. She had planned this trip to celebrate a milestone birthday.
You know one that ends in a zero.
We still had several months to go before the trip and already she was thinking about her next birthday. We had talked about sailing on the Fantasy, which at the time was doing seven night cruises alternating between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Our plan was to create our own dining rotation which would include Remy-Palo-Remy-Palo. By our calculations, if the pattern that the Fantasy was currently sailing on continued it would coincide nicely with Jill’s birthday.
The problem was, when the actual sailing dates were released in June of 2023, the Fantasy was no longer doing Eastern and Western Caribbean alternating weeks. To make things worse, the cruise that coincided with Jill’s birthday was doing a double dip at Castaway Cay (neither of us are beach people), and Lighthouse point, and Nassau. Nassau is like the armpit of the Bahamas as far as I’m concerned.
Karin and Tom had booked the Westbound Transatlantic on the Dream and with a little arm twisting, convinced Jill and I to book as well. Sometime during the Fall, Karin and Tom changed their minds and decided to book a holiday in the US and a sailing on the Treasure instead, but Jill and I were resolved to take this trip. We had already decided to spend a few days in London prior to the cruise, and were looking forward to that.
If you’re not sure who we are, I am Alison your Trip Reporter. I live in Long Beach, CA so I'm Disneyland adjacent. I'm kind of retired. I don't have a day job, which gives me lots of flexibility for travel and such. I do manage rental properties which can either be easy or a PITA depending on the week. I'm not into sportsball, and I have my kitties to keep me company When I'm home.
Jill is my travel buddy. We made this deal sipping champagne on her Verandah of the last cruise we took together while my wife slept in the stateroom just a few doors down. “When Fran passes, you and I can travel together.” she said. Neither of us knew it was going to be less than six weeks later.
Jill lives south of Denver, CO. She has two dachshunds, is an avid Chiefs Fan, and works from home for a telecommunications company
This is us from our trip to last year in Egypt, right at this same time.
And here we are again.
So we each flew separately into London. My flight departed on Tuesday, October 15 from Los Angeles. Jill’s flight departed a day later from Denver. She was OK with hitting the ground running Thursday whereas I wanted to fly in, get dinner and go to bed, before venturing out into the city. Other than the staggered arrival times, the rest of the trip we traveled together.
After two and a half weeks in Egypt and Jordan with 3AM wake up calls, strange bathrooms, and scary inedible food, we were confident that this trip would be a breeze! If we could survive the conditions in Egypt, we could certainly pull off three nights in London and two weeks on the Dream!
This Trip Report may move a little swifter than my other TRs. I've got two more trips in the next three months that all deserve reports as well, so if I move on before you have time to properly comment, I apologize. I also take the liberty to get busy with the holidays coming up, and two vacations in the next three months, so updates may also be sporadic!
Sit back and enjoy, this is going to be a long one!
