Did you plan a special retirement cruise?

[Lois R]

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 7:58 PM, Zippeedee said:

I live less than ten miles from Logan airport. I just get an Uber to the airport when I’m away longer than a few days. airport parking here, even long term, is outrageously expensive.

 

Hi, I am continuing to research my trip and all that goes with it. I think I am going to get a car service and will leave

my car here at home (I have a garage).  As for Uber, to be honest, I have never used them and not sure I want to

so I may use a local car company.

[JustUs275]

On 1/14/2020 at 7:54 AM, Lois R said:

Hi folks....well, my first "cruise post retirement"  is on Thursday.....it is only 7 nights to the Caribbean but I am

so looking forward to it.  The big one is in April---going on a b2b----and will be away for 28 days

 

I have a question and I tried the search feature but I can't seem to get anything to come up so  I will ask on here-

when you are away for a longer period of time,  do you do anything special with stuff at home?  I know I will have

to put my mail on hold and I will pay multiple bills early.  Have any of you had issues with water dissolving?

(I know it sounds weird) but it seems the toilet water decreases even while I am away for 2 weeks.....just wondering

if this has happened to anyone else?

I have stayed in Ft Myers a couple of times with my friend at her parent's winter home; we go in June and noticed when we got there that the toilets were wrapped/sealed tightly across the bowl with clear plastic wrap! The seat was also closed and more plastic wrap. We asked her mom and she said yes, to be sure we wrap the toilets again before we leave because it keeps the water from evaporating. So there you go - boxes of plastic wrap might help you! LOL Enjoy your travels.

[Clay Clayton]

Wouldn’t it be easier to just turn the water off at the valve and flush it?  That’s what we do when we winterize the house at the lake at the end of the summer season. 
 

But I suspect being away only 28 days wouldn’t have that much evaporation taking place anyway. 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Clay Clayton

[Lois R]

16 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Wouldn’t it be easier to just turn the water off at the valve and flush it?  That’s what we do when we winterize the house at the lake at the end of the summer season. 
 

But I suspect being away only 28 days wouldn’t have that much evaporation taking place anyway. 

Hi, I had not thought about turning the water off...actually I am on very good basis with the Property Manager

(I live in a condo complex). They have a key to my place (in case of emergencies) and I am going to speak with him

about keeping an eye out on my place while I am away and ask him to come in an flush both toilets once a week

and should be good with that request.  I am also friends with head of security and I know they will watch for

anything as well.

[Jim_Iain]

We booked a B2B from Singapore to Rome for Iain's retirement.    Actually he had 50 days of vacation he had to burn off so officially he was still employed until we got back from his retirement cruise and he just went back for one day to turn in his computer and badge.

 

[MamaFej]

On 2/21/2020 at 4:36 PM, Jim_Iain said:

We booked a B2B from Singapore to Rome for Iain's retirement.    Actually he had 50 days of vacation he had to burn off so officially he was still employed until we got back from his retirement cruise and he just went back for one day to turn in his computer and badge.

 

Retired on duty is fun!

 

Tim burned one shift exchange and a vacation day for his retirement trip and cruise. We boarded on what was supposed to be his last shift. We sent a picture of him on deck holding a mai tai with Honolulu in the background to his Battalion Chief with the caption "Last Shift." 

[crystalspin]

Cancelled our special (28-day) retirement cruise today. Only 20 minutes on hold, so not too bad. May try to go (to So.Pacific) in the fall, although the next FOUR of the Hawaii/Tahiti/Marquessas itineraries are on R-class ships not our favorite Vista class... 

 

OTOH, it may be that a 28-day (or longer) cruise is ill-advised as long as my mom is alive... her health could go sour in short order (unrelated to COVID19) and I need to be available to do my part, spelling my sister.

[Lois R]

2 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Cancelled our special (28-day) retirement cruise today. Only 20 minutes on hold, so not too bad. May try to go (to So.Pacific) in the fall, although the next FOUR of the Hawaii/Tahiti/Marquessas itineraries are on R-class ships not our favorite Vista class... 

 

OTOH, it may be that a 28-day (or longer) cruise is ill-advised as long as my mom is alive... her health could go sour in short order (unrelated to COVID19) and I need to be available to do my part, spelling my sister.

I will be cancelling my special cruises later this week too...…..fortunately I will be getting FCC's on both

of them so will look forward to a delayed celebration.

[ronpes]

Sorry to read this but totally understand. We were booked to sail on Harmony on March 22^nd this year but canceled, as we were afraid of being quarantined and not able to get back to the UK.

Our “dream" cruise on Ovation is still 6 months away so fingers crossed, it will have all sorted itself out by then, otherwise we will need to make some serious decisions nearer the time.

[Lois R]

Thanks...I just cancelled my crossing.    I will be calling AMA to cancel my river cruise tomorrow....one

thing at a time.

 

[Zippeedee]

I am pretty sure my Panama Canal Cruise will be cancelled, or I will cancel it. I’m retiring in less than three weeks and going nowhere. My boss is lobbying for me to move my last day ahead a few months but even with the economic uncertainty right now, I think I’m just ready to move on. I can’t even try to plan another cruise yet. Just mentally tired right now I guess.

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, Zippeedee said:

I am pretty sure my Panama Canal Cruise will be cancelled, or I will cancel it. I’m retiring in less than three weeks and going nowhere. My boss is lobbying for me to move my last day ahead a few months but even with the economic uncertainty right now, I think I’m just ready to move on. I can’t even try to plan another cruise yet. Just mentally tired right now I guess.

If you are ready to retire now (and are able), then definitely do it.....cruise or not.  I retired on Dec 31st...…..

I don't miss my office ONE BIT.

[MamaFej]

Hubby's retirement party was all travel-themed. It was very well-known that we'd lived below our means for 30+ years in order to be able to travel extensively in retirement. The decor was all globes, maps, vintage suitcases, model ships and planes... the office staff really went all out!

 

Every time another cancelation is announced, our smart-@$$ daughter says, "Gee, happy retirement, Dad!"

[ronpes]

I am pretty sure our Ovation Transpacific in Sept / Oct this year will also be cancelled.

 

I just saw in our news today that all three Cunard round the world cruises have been stopped and all passengers to be flown home.

The ships will return to the UK empty.

 

Difficult times for all.

[DKNYC]

Retired exactly one year ago. Cruising friend and I went to her timeshare in Orlando near Sea World for five days then we took Adventure of the seas on a 12 night repositioning cruise in Southern Caribbean from Ft Lauderdale back to Bayone. Had a wonderful time. It was my last cruise because had some medical issues . Had 4 more booked to date had to cancel them all due to illness or pandemic. Have a Transpacific this Sept on Radiance Vancouver to Tokyo. Don't think it will sail. 😥

 

Denise

[MamaFej]

1 hour ago, DKNYC said:

. Have a Transpacific this Sept on Radiance Vancouver to Tokyo. Don't think it will sail. 😥

 

We were supposed to sail from Vancouver to Tokyo this September, as well, then two more cruises around south and east Asia, ending in Singapore, a few days on land, then an 18 day cruise from Singapore to Sydney. I fully expect the whole trip to be canceled. 

 

This virus cares not for our plans, our desires, our economies... 

 

I've been doing a bit too much reading about past pandemics, and it's not at all encouraging. 

[jordanaire]

When my wife retired, we took a 15-day cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii and back aboard the Carnival Spirit. It was, by far, the best cruise that we've taken so far. We spent 2 days in SD prior to the cruise and loved this wonderful city. So many things to see and do, plus the best people we've ever met!

 

This was the last cruise that Carnival sailed from here. I sure hope that they will return someday.

The cruise was 4 days at sea, 7 days touring the Hawaiian islands and then 4 days at sea again. It was fantastic! I even surprised my wife with renewing our wedding vows on a beach on Oahu. She was totally surprised! Complete with a Hawaiian marriage license.

 

The cruise did have a couple of incidents that we weren't expecting. On the 3rd day at sea, a young man decided to jump overboard in broad daylight. The ship turned around and was able to locate, and rescue, the guy. He survived and was taken ashore in Hilo. Then after leaving the islands and heading home, we had to turn around and head to Honolulu to drop off an ill passenger. Other than these two incidents, the cruise was absolutely fantastic! We met some really great people and played lots of LRC games during the 15 days.

[ronpes]

I finally took early retirement at the end of May  this year.  I had planned to retire in August this year anyway but the virus brought the plans forward due to cost cutting measures at work etc thus it was not a problem. 

I had already been working a 3 - day week for some time and also latterly from home for the last 2-1/2 months so it was an easy transition. 

Our retirement cruise was meant to be Alaska - Hawaii - Transpacific to Sydney on Ovation of the Seas this this September  but that has now been cancelled.  So,......we have now booked the reverse option from Sydney to Hawaii then onto Vancouver on Celebrity Eclipse for April 2022. We hope and pray that the world will be back to semi-normal by then in some shape or form. 

 

 

[kochleffel]

I may retire a  year from now, but it's not certain. Please don't tell my employer, although since I'm 68 now they ought to have an inkling.

 

My first choice for a retirement cruise would be a full transit of the Panama Canal, but I already have an Alaska cruise, rebooked from this year, in August 2021. So what I would most likely do is add a side-to-side second Alaska cruise: the first one is a closed loop from Vancouver, and the second would be a one-way northbound from Vancouver. The two itineraries have some different ports of call. Because of the way schedules (don't) mesh, the two cruises would be on different cruise lines.

 

The rebooking from this year already gives me four cruises in 2021, which is impossible if I don't retire.

 

I have a TPAC booked for 2022.

[wandb]

DH retires in 5 days. Our river cruise here in the US ( on Sept 6) has not been cancelled, so we may still be doing a cruise this year. However, my bucket list cruise of the Norwegian fjords is hopefully in our future—-had hoped for the June 2021 cruise, but if we truly do get a “second wave” of Covid-19, that would probably get cancelled too. 

 

So, we will take what we can get for now, and hope that an effective vaccine is available soon. 

[Lois R]

57 minutes ago, wandb said:

DH retires in 5 days. Our river cruise here in the US ( on Sept 6) has not been cancelled, so we may still be doing a cruise this year. However, my bucket list cruise of the Norwegian fjords is hopefully in our future—-had hoped for the June 2021 cruise, but if we truly do get a “second wave” of Covid-19, that would probably get cancelled too. 

 

So, we will take what we can get for now, and hope that an effective vaccine is available soon. 

Give your husband a big congrats on his retirement😀

[SmoothFlying]

On 11/28/2015 at 11:53 AM, fyree39 said:

I retire in 2.5 years and I'm already thinking about a retirement cruise. My husband will still be working, so we can't take anything longer than a couple of weeks, but I'd like to plan something very special for the fall of 2018.

 

What did you do for cruising when you retired?

Well, it sorta 'happened' and it certainly wasn't a planned retirement cruise.🥰The summer before my 63  birthday (we had already paid for a cruise the following Sept 15 my company came up with an early retirement package for those who were 62+ and had 30 years+ w/the company which I qualified for, so my wife , after studying our financial situation and the benefits package said, 'GO for it !!'. and the target date ended up being the 8th of Sept ! So, a week later my 'retirement' cruise was a wonderful gift ! We never looked back. I sometimes wish I had waited till I was 65 BUT I'm glad I didn't. My Dad did, and only lived about seven more years till he was 72 after 43 w/his company. Nothing, in life, is a given' including your length of time on this earth. 

 

Mac  

[Lois R]

SmoothFlying, what a really nice post🙂.....I retired at 61......3 months shy of my 62nd birthday.

Even though this year blew up for all of us, I don't regret it for one second!   I was supposed to

take multiple cruises to celebrate retirement......well, we all know what happened to those

cruises but I still don't miss the office one bit!

[SmoothFlying]

6 hours ago, Lois R said:

SmoothFlying, what a really nice post🙂.....I retired at 61......3 months shy of my 62nd birthday.

Even though this year blew up for all of us, I don't regret it for one second!   I was supposed to

take multiple cruises to celebrate retirement......well, we all know what happened to those

cruises but I still don't miss the office one bit!

Thank you so much for those kind words.🙂 I know what you mean about everybody's world becoming turned upside down. We've had to cancel two cruises so far but hopefully our upcoming ones next year will come about. We had gotten spoiled, always planning a spring cruise for our anniversary in March and one at Xmas, so this situation kinda brought us back to earth. Speaking for myself, I will NEVER take cruising as a given ever again.

 

Mac 

[AF-1]

SmoothFlying;  I get what you're saying.  I retired in 2018 after 45 years flying.  My wife retired in 2020 and we had both river cruise and two ship cruises scheduled for 2020.  Then the Pandemic hit and all those cancelled.  Then I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer; and had to have surgery;  so who knows what tomorrow will bring.  I do have a New England cruise booked for Oct 2021; so I hope the vaccine program is up and running and we take this cruise. Happy New Years.  Oh to fall back on the original OP question did we schedule a retirement cruise?  Yes we did back in 2017;  we did 14 night cruise out of Venice thru the Med.  It was awesome