cruising – The Lisa Chronicles

This morning while getting ready for work, I was watching morning television and they were discussing an unfortunate experience that eight passengers had while cruising on Norweigan cruise lines in Africa. As the story was told, these passengers booked a private tour (not from the ship) and the tour ran late and by the time they arrived back at the ship, it was too late. Even though the ship was still tendered in the port, the last tender had arrived at the ship they were departing without the passengers.

I had so many thoughts as I watched this piece on tv this morning and have since read reports from different sources on line. As much as I feel badly for these folks, I have to be honest, I feel the same way as I feel about those who do not buy insurance when they travel, risks are risks. Booking an independent private tour when you are in port is risking, if your tour runs into delays, the ship does not know where you are, or who you are with. They have a fixed, finite time when they have to pull out of port. Period. Full stop.

I should include that this was not a cruise itinerary that was docking in Nassau Bahamas for the day, where you can easily get around on your own, and do not have to take a tour from the ship. This was a three week cruise in Africa. This port was the Central African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe (yes I had to google it). This is an island and the guests missed the last tender back to the ship. The story continues with the passengers travelling through six African countries to catch up with the ship. They are still not back on board, but hope to be when the ship arrives in Senegal today.

This is a story that happens probably more than you would think, and if it weren’t for the fact that this happened in Africa, I am not sure if it would be newsworthy. If someone missed the ship in Nassau and the next port was Jamaica, they would hop on a plane and catch up with the ship. It almost happened to my aunt and I in Barcelona.

We were docked in Barcelona for the day and took the hop on hop off bus, as I recommend to everyone to do in any city that has one. We ended our self directed tour by spending time in Las Ramblas. If you have ever been to Barcelona you know how much fun that area is and how you could very easily lose track of time. We did just that. It became a scene out of amazing race, walking as fast as we could back to the ship. There were people on the top deck waving and cheering us on as we approached the ship. We got to the gangway and as soon as we were on board, they pulled it up behind us and the ship left. If we were five minutes later, we would have been waving back at all the passengers on the top deck – from the port!

I always told my cruise clients that excursions can be pricy but should be looked at as part of your trip costs. Plan and book in advance, as popular excursions will sell out with the cruise line. If you book with the cruise line, the ship knows where you are and your bus is at all times. They will know if you are going to be late and they will adjust the times accordingly. If you book on your own, it really is buyer beware, the ship will not know where you are and as these people found out, will not wait for you if you are late.

There will be some PR fall out for the cruise line, but all passengers have now joined the ship when it arrived in Dakar, Senegal. They will have a story to last a lifetime, and in time, they will find a laugh in the crazy time they had on their African Adventure!

life is but a dream!

water

People are different on vacation. Everything about your day to day life changes. It is a wonderful thing. I never take that for granted. I know that I enjoy sleeping in, eating when I and whatever I want, chatting with new people and more importantly, having experiences that take me out of my comfort zone and help me grow.

I had once such moment on my cruise this past October. It wasn’t exactly my shining moment in the sun, which also made me tell my friends that this experience will never leave the ship. Well, guess what, it has and it will today in this post. It was mortifying while it was happening, almost brought me to tears (who am I kidding did bring me to tears) but now I am over it and it is hilariously funny.

I don’t remember ever going down a water slide. I mean, not just recently, but ever. I have always been a bigger person and the thought of not being able to get all the way down the slide was something I would never want to attempt.

There was a slide on the cruise I was on. It wasn’t a big slide by any stretch, but for the first few days I watched my friends go down and they had a great time. They kept asking me and I kept saying no thank you.

I must have had a few too many mango margaritas but I finally said yes. There we were, four grown adults waiting on the stairs mixed in with a whole bunch of much younger little kids. Up to the top I went, waiting and froze. I had no idea what to do. Sit down, give a push and go. Seemed simple enough. Held on to the bar and pushed and away I went.

I had no idea what to do. I was sitting up and that wasn’t really working so I laid down on my back. The water was rushing down my face and it was so relaxing. Yes, until I realized that the slide was not that big and why was it taking so long to get to the bottom. Well….you had to BE MOVING to get to the bottom.

Yes, there I was in the middle of the slide enjoying the water rushing down my face, but that was about it. I sat up and all my friends were yelling at me from the top. Mortified – hell yes! Not at the bottom but somewhere in the middle of this not very big slide.

Somehow got to the bottom and then my friends followed. Laughing hysterically at my situation. I, on the other hand, didn’t see the humour in the experience. It was my nightmare coming to reality. After I told my friends we will never discuss this again, I thought to myself that I shouldn’t be embarrassed I should be proud of myself for doing something that scared me.

Lessons learned:

I will probably never go on a water slide again. Been there, done that, check.
Being with your friends and people you trust makes it okay. You are safe.
It is okay to try something and not like it.
Your comfort zone does have boundaries, but it is okay to step outside of the lines. You may even enjoy it, or not, but either way you will be just fine.

I wonder what I will attempt on my next adventure. Stay tuned to find out.

Live your best life,

Lisa