My wife almost died...That's why we cruise every year!

[CBussey64]

This whole thread is terrific.

We have our first cruise booked and I have been wanting to go on one for years and just said to heck with it and booked it ...

Why after all these years? Because I work on an oncology floor and this year alone we've lost at least 10 patients (relatively young ones ... even a 31 yr old) to this disease and I decided that you never know ... when your time is up and by golly I was going ... and just booked it ... because as other posters have said ... the bills are always going to be there; there's always something that needs to be done and money to be spent; but memories are priceless and having special time with your loved ones is more important than anything else.

One of our patients was given 6 weeks and the docs told her to go do whatever she wanted to do ... well unfortunately this 31 yr old didn't make it another 2 days so she didn't get to do what she wanted ... so yes I agree, take that vacation ... because we all should "Live Like we were dying".

[KatieGator]

What a great thread, I've loved reading each answer

My answer is similar to a lot of others. I have always wanted to travel, but for a long while I let the typical excuses keep me home. "I don't have a SO to go with...", "I should save my money for something more practical...", etc. But now I figure, if I wait for everything to be perfect then I'll be waiting forever. Life is too short, I should appreciate it while I can.

[mamaofami]

What a shame that so many of us wait till some life threatening disease comes along before we realize that life is short and we need to take advantage of each day. Cruising is my favorite vacation, but any time away with family is wonderful. My three children and their spouses and 5 grandkids just spent two nights sleeping over at one of my daughter's homes. The children had a wonderful time and my husabnd and I are starting to think about celebrating a big anniversary with everyone on baord. Life has a way of doing unpredictible things to us.

On the other hand, we have a first cousin who is in his 70's who was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumor and most people with this type of tumor are dead within a year. He is alive 4 years after the diagnosis and every year since he and his wife take a wonderful vacation. Last summer they sailed on the Rotterdam in Europe and had a blast.

While I don't believe in creating debt to take a vacation, I do think that it should be part of what we spend our dollars for.

[ger_77]

DH had a history of coronary artery disease, has suffered 3 heart attacks and ultimately ended up with a sextuple bypass. Since that time he's enjoyed nothing but good health - thank God and thank the doctors. Since his health problems have been repaired, we've cruised to celebrate various birthdays and anniversaries, the latest being an early celebration of our 30th anniversary in February.

My sister (who has never cruised) has asked me why we cruise, and why we go to the same places more than once (Caribbean x 3, Mexico x 2, and the Mediterranean x 2, with a third coming in 2009). My response is that we want to travel while we can so that when the time comes that we can't travel any more, we will have wonderful memories and photos to look at of the places we've been. I don't want to sit on a porch in a rocking chair with the love of my life beside me, listening to either him or me saying "Gee, I wish we'd have travelled when we were younger / healthier."
Smooth Sailing!

[jamaica71594]

Originally Posted by ger_77

DH had a history of coronary artery disease, has suffered 3 heart attacks and ultimately ended up with a sextuple bypass. Since that time he's enjoyed nothing but good health - thank God and thank the doctors. Since his health problems have been repaired, we've cruised to celebrate various birthdays and anniversaries, the latest being an early celebration of our 30th anniversary in February.

My sister (who has never cruised) has asked me why we cruise, and why we go to the same places more than once (Caribbean x 3, Mexico x 2, and the Mediterranean x 2, with a third coming in 2009). My response is that we want to travel while we can so that when the time comes that we can't travel any more, we will have wonderful memories and photos to look at of the places we've been. I don't want to sit on a porch in a rocking chair with the love of my life beside me, listening to either him or me saying "Gee, I wish we'd have travelled when we were younger / healthier."
Smooth Sailing!

You are so right!!! Thats exactly how I feel. When the time comes and we are unable to do as much or if anything at all, at least we will have precious photos, videos, journals etc., of time well spent. It will be especially pleasing to share of this with my future grandkids and if I am not around to see them, at least my Son will have keepsakes to show them how their grandma lived her life!

[bmccarthy]

My husband and I are in our late 20's. We too have put off vacations because of moving, not enough money, or vacation time, etc. 3 1/2 years my father-in-law came down with an auto-immune condition and almost passed away 2 months before our wedding. We almost post-poned the wedding, but he survived and was able to walk with my husband down the aisle. This year we went to Arizona for Christmas with my in-laws because they hadn't all been together since their father/grandfather passed away 10 years ago. A few days after returning, my brother-in-law came down with a bacterial infection and went into septic shock. He nearly passed away, but is doing much better now. It was after he recovered that we decided to go on our first cruise. We just returned 6 days ago and wish we were still there on the boat. We have learned how quickly live passes us by and how you can't take things for granted. I can't wait till our next cruise. We are planning a cruise with my in-laws and my own family in the next few years.

So why do I cruise? To spend quality time with my husband, to relax, to meet new people, to experience adventures that I could never have imagined were possible.

[Fredr]

Hello,

I lost my mother one month after my 20th birthday and I am now 64. We didn't have the money to go on cruises which were expensive. And on each one of my 17 cruises I have thought about my mother and how my wife and I and my brother and his wife (who have sailed on about 20 cruises) would have really enjoyed taking her and my father on a cruise.

And here is a good time to reiterate what is most important about a cruise vacation...the time that you spend with each other in a wonderfully romanic setting. In short...go and you will have no regrets.

Hope that this helps.

Fred

[cruisinbuddy]

Well for us, 2 moms, a dad, an aunt, an uncle and a brother all on DWs side, except my mom, all died in there 50s, brother was 42. I'm not waiting til retirement to travel and have fun. We've cruised 5 times, and # 6 is in the works. I don't want to wait and then miss out spending vacation time with her. That's why we're cruising now.

[trevette1981]

This thread got me to thinking about my dad. He died when I was 22.(I'll be 26 this month! ) But he always like to go places on family vacations- to Florida, the mountains, etc.

I thought about him on the 1st cruise my sister and I went on. I just wondered what he would think about his 2 daughters out in stingray city with these animals!LOL! I am sure he would have laughed and said those are his girls.

[RetiredMustang]

I've watched this thread since it started, and it has caused me to review my life a bit. I may be ready to add a little bit to the thread.

I have always been bitten by the travel bug. If you look at my sig, you will see some quotations that are significant to my life. As a child, I also heard the call of Mother Ocean, and heard the wild geese overhead and wanted to answer their call as well.

I married, and we traveled. On our first trip, barely married, we bypassed dinner in the lodge at Crater Lake NP in order to afford the boat trip to Wizard Island. I was by then a Sailor -- U.S. Navy kind, although I had been small "s" sailor prior to that. DW and I are two parts of a whole; we are the ones who will "go, and find out, and be damned". (Also a quotation -- Kipling, the Lost Legion). We would go despite the cost in money, time or effort, and we still do. We always volunteered for the different, exotic USN duties. We have lived in Europe (Naples, Italy; London, England; and Stuttgart, Germany) for a total of 11 years. We have lived on Guam, and toured many, many other places. There are many more we would see before the end.

I retired from the Navy after nearly 30 years, and took up another career in order to be able to afford to continue to travel as often and as well as we can. The DW had introduced me to cruising despite my misgivings -- I had been on many USN cruises, of months-long duration, but she convinced me by pointing out that she had not been with me then. We are ever together now, cruising often, but traveling much more in other ways. We age, and our health (mine in particular) is not great but also, not yet, critical. We have lost loved family members and have the time to reflect, and vow to lose no time in wishing we had gone. Gone where? -- anywhere, wherever, to see what's there.

We have been, and seen, and explored, and have absolutely no intention of stopping until we are stopped! The end of the Tennyson poem in my sig reads "Though we are not that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are -- one even temper of heroic hearts, made weak with time and age, yet strong in will;

To strive, to seek, to find,

And not to yield."

Perhaps we, you and I, may meet beyond the baths of the western stars. I would like that.

Dave

[TennisLover]

I feel for all of you who have had horrible tragedies and too-close wake-up calls. These are real reminders that you have to live for today; who knows what tomorrow will bring. ("Live Like You Were Dying" always brings tears to my eyes.)

I haven't had those experiences, but I do know that you only get one chance at this life -- on your last day, you won't be wishing you worked more.

DH and I work really hard. He has commuted to NYC for more than 20 years; I have my own business. Our kids (now 11 and 14) have insane schedules, with school, homework, sports, music, activities. There is no down time. We considered cruising without them next winter because it's so expensive on school breaks. But he reminded me that we have so little family time... and my DD will be heading off to college in less than 4 years! So we're taking them again -- to new places for new experiences and lots of new memories to create.

It is all worth it when I watch their faces on our trips. How happy they are on the ships. Their wonder at the Panama Canal. Their excitement and fear with the stingrays! Their fun frolicking in the warm waves of the Caribbean. Swimming with the dolphins. Exploring ancient ruins (which they have studied in school). Their pride in climbing Dunns River Falls without falling (I'm the one who came home with scrapes). They've had so many great experiences on their cruises (they will be halfway to Platinum on Carnival after our next cruise) and have had so many great memories.

Family time is precious. You can't always escape the realities of the rat race in your every day life, but you can certainly always find time for a vacation -- whatever fits your taste and your budget.

We've cruised with my parents and our cousins who don't live near us. I just so appreciate all this time we have together (and my kids get to spend time with their cousins too).

After one of our cruises, my mother-in-law (who never goes on vacation - for varous reasons) questioned why we have to go on this big vacation every year. At this point, I find it non-negotiable. That is family time and a break from our crazy lives that I just would never give up.

[Cruisesquatch]

As has been mentioned several times, tommorrow is promised to no one.
I'm 40 yrs. old. I'm not getting any younger. I'm single, with no children. I work 40 hours a week at a blue-collar job. I didnt get to go many places when I was younger. Up until last year the only place outside of the U.S. I had been was Canada.
I live in Cleveland. Its cold here. Often. Its snowing right now as a matter of fact! 6 months of this crap makes you wanna jump out of a window.
Theres a whole big world out there.
Someone said to me, "Why do you go on cruises? You're not rich?" "You're right. And I probably never will be either. Thats why I go."

Theres a commercial that plays on the radio here that repeats the question, "What are you waiting for?" That pretty much summed it up for me.

I leave on the Empress in 12 days for my second cruise.

[Jan_In_Maine]

I don't think I have ever been so touched by a thread. People are amazing, which is one of the reasons I enjoy cruising, the opportunity to meet new people and hear their stories.

I am 54 and 6 years ago I got my wake up call - hospital for 7 days - I was one of those people that thought they could do it all - had a child on Wednesday, went back to work the next Monday - My how my priorities have changed.

Cruising is the one way we can leave work behind ... Our first cruise was almost 4 years ago for our 30th wedding anniversary ... it was almost the most amazing adventure that I have ever had....life with DH has always been an amazing adventure... and he still makes me laugh.

This cruise we will be taking our 15 yr old DS with us and I am truly excited for him to have this experience - I've now started planning a cruise for us and all the kids for 2009 (there will be 8 of us total with "friends") its important to have all my kids together one more time as the older ones have their wings and have flown to different parts of the country.

One thing that I did with my kids and I am so glad now that I did was - each child individually went away with "just mom" for a weekend each summer, we explored the coast of Maine, staying in B&B's - the only requirements were: to get lost, sing loudly, try new food, be truly silly, laugh alot and explore an area that we had never been before --- I have the best memories with my kids ... and the older kids now have the same love of adventures and have done lots of exploring on their own with their own SO.

Thank you to all who have replied to this thread, last week was a wild week at work, and its nice to remember what is really important. Jan

[sunlover5]

Been reading this thread for the past couple of days. I was so fortunate to be an at home mom. We always went on family vacations because as a child I never did. 7 years ago my DH was diagnosed with a heart disease. Someday will need a transplant. In 2000 lost my mother at just age 66 to pancreatic cancer, then in 2002 father in law had open heart, then our 16 yr. old son was diagnosed with a braintumor and died 3 weeks to the day later. 9 months later I lost my dad to leukemia.
One of the best vacations we ever took was on the big red boat. Our son absolutely loved it. After he passed that fall, we took our 2 daughters on another cruise to have some time just for our family.
My Dh and I are in our late 40's and early 50's. We cruise at least once a year, with a lot of little side trips!! We love the time together.
Now as I am typing this I am waiting for gallbladder surgery. After our cruise in Feb. came home and got terribly ill. Luckily, just a matter of my gall bladder not working. Just another reminder why our trips and time together is so precious and can never ever be replaced.
Bless all of you and Happy Cruising and Family time together!!

[manmtnmike]

This is why we cruise!!!!!!
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MIKE

[new2cruise1]

Our first cruise was last year to celebrate my parents anniversary and my sisters anniversary.

This year - my husband and I are just grateful we are ok. My husband survived 2 surgeries this year and we just got married in November. My dad was diagnosed with Early Stage Dementia which could change to Alzheimer's - so we want to travel to have lots of memories with him.

Can't wait until August to cruise again - even though we really can't afford this one yet due to our extravagant wedding.

Judy

[cruzkitty]

My Mom passed away from Colon Cancer Feb. 10, 2000 at a young 67. THREE MONTHS later I was diagnosed with Colon Cancer at the age of 48! Luckily, (and by the Grace of God) my Internist insisted I have a colonoscopy because I had lost a lot of weight, which I attributed to grief. I had cc and a blockage! I survived the surgery, and all that went with it, and by Sept, 2000, I drained our Savings Acct, booked my Third Cruise, and booked the "Grand Suite" on the Grand Princess, and everything that went with it-lol I've cruised every year since, except one year, I rode the Harley to Florida with DH and DS and others, which is something I would have NEVER done before my diagnosis.

Life is Short-Enjoy

[jamaica71594]

One of my ex-coworkers called me today at work, and told me that one of our friends/co-worker was given less than 3 months. She was diagnosed with breast cancer about 2 years ago, and was doing pretty good and still working until now. She is in the hospital right now and in good spirits, but the first thing that came to my mind was, I hope she's had a good life, and if she continues to live past her time given, she continues to enjoy her life as much as she can, and you know what, right after I got off the phone with her, I went online and booked a hotel in Hampton Virginia for the Hampton Jazz Fest!! I have always wanted to go to a jazz fest and I missed the one in Reading PA (which is closer to me than Virginia), but guess what, I don't care, we are going! We just put out over $1000 in material to upgrade our bathroom and kitchen. Going on this cruise in a few weeks, and to the Jazz Fest in June will be money well spent!

Anyone of us can get handed the same life-ending sentence she just got.

I wish her well!!!

Live your life people!!!!!!

[cruiseapril]

Wonderful thread and thank you to all for sharing your feelings with others.

We cruise because we love being on the open sea and experiencing the beauty of this world from that perspective.

We also cruise because our Mom said "do the important and memorable things while you are still able." Our Mom died of cancer, at 57, so we have taken her advice.

[bewitchedwitch]

By the time I was 9 years old, I had lost both my parents and my grandmother, whom I was very close to. I may not have had that much time with my parents, but the most precious memories I have of both of them are of the vacations they took me on. Ever since I got married, I have made it my goal to have at least one good vacation a year. I have two precious little girls - 4years old and 9 months old. Our 4 year old has already been on a few vacations, including a 3 week trip to Austria. This year we will be taking both girls on their first cruise (my 3rd) and my 4 year old is already talking about 'cruising' Next year we are planning a trip to either Bermuda or Canada!

My theory is, when I am old and gray or long gone, my children will think about their mother and their memories will be endless, including countless family vacations.

Mike, thank you so much for this thread!!!