The Next Trip

Well, my lament about having no idea when or where my next trip would be didn't last long! This morning I had a couple of free minutes at work, so I checked on upcoming holidays, only to see that the 4th of July is on Wednesday this year. Argh, it cannot get much worse than that, which meant that I almost certainly would take off the following Thursday. Once I did that, it only made sense to take off Friday and make it a five day weekend. Now, however, just take off two more days and have nine off.

So, in the blink of an eye, I convinced myself I would take off the entire week, but what would I do? It was too long to sit at home, but not long enough to hop on a plane and take a serious overseas trip. I decided to check on cruises out of Seattle, and there were several leaving for Alaska that week. I asked my normal vacation warehouse, Affordable Tours, for a quick quote, and it turns out a seven night cruise would cost me less than $1500 total for the room, single supplement, tax and port fees. Sure, there are other incidentals ($10/day for tips and a little extra for drinks or premium dining if I were to choose to do so), but the net of it is that seven nights, total cost, would be about what one night in the Savoy cost me!

As convoluted as the logic above may be, I put a deposit down on a seven night Alaska cruise on the Star Princess, a 2600 passenger ship which was renovated just three years ago. Granted, Alaska would not be my first choice of destinations, but the idea of an easy and affordable "real" cruise (versus a Nile River cruise) sounds very exciting. If I try it and it is not something that appeals to me, I will have lost only a relatively small amount of time and money, but if it is something I enjoy it opens a whole new avenue of choices for me. So, at present, it looks as if I will be cruising from 1 July to 8 July, with possible ideas below.

• Shore tours:

• Juneau walking tour

• Vancouver shuttle

• Dinners and Food:

• Steak House 1-2 nights, $25 to $34 (chop one night, lobster the other)

• Italian 1-2 nights, $20

• Chef's Table (very limited so book early)

• Portofino or Capri other nights

• Caviar in Promenade

• Wheelhouse Pub, which offers a complimentary British style lunch on sea days

• To do on ship:

• Yoga

• Jog

• Casino

• The Sanctuary