Cabins and Ports

Hello again, and thank you for reading my rare mid-week blog. It has been a good week so far for Wiregrass Travel. We have made several bookings and expect several more. I figured while I have a little down time this morning I would jump on and do a quick blog. In this business, just like the others I have worked, in it is either all or nothing on any given day. I am expecting at least 5-6 clients to book over the next day or two but until they call I am on the nothing side of the coin, knowing that once the first calls everyone else will call within the same hour resulting in paper work all over the office and hours of getting it all booked and organized before bedtime. I will take that little problem every day of the week.







Today in continuing the blog series about our cruise experiences over the past year I want to talk about cabins and people. No, they are not interconnected just two shorter topics I think I can get into one blog. Let's start with cabin type. On our cruise in March Linds and I had a balcony stateroom for our five-night cruise and absolutely loved it! It was very spacious with a couch beside our queen sized bed and a balcony that comfortably held two chairs. Our bathroom was very spacious for a cruise ship complete with a tub/shower combo. The balcony is completely private therefore if you so choose to walk out there first thing in the morning in your boxers and t-shirt it is perfectly OK. It was so nice to be able to wake up without having to dress and put on shoes to be able to be outside to check the weather and scenery. One of the best parts of cruising is cruising near land or coming into port. It is hard to describe the feelings you get from that. Also, as I imagine most couples are this way, Linds sleeps way later than I do. Having the balcony made her life and mine much easier because instead of rustling around to find my cloths and leaving the room, only to return about an hour later, I could just step outside and enjoy the weather and scenery. As an added bonus at least one of us napped every day outside on the balcony's reclining sun chair. It is so relaxing listening to only the ship cutting through the water. On our Thanksgiving cruise we had an interior cabin. Not because that is what we wanted but because it was free! You take what you are given when you are not paying. I must admit I was dreading it a little especially since this was a seven night cruise. Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought but if there is any way I can spend the extra few dollars the next cruise for a balcony, I will! The cabin itself was sufficient. It actually had more than enough closet and storage space along with a huge mirror and makeup area with a chair. There was no couch, so if you wanted to sit and watch TV while the other got ready or just relax, it had to be on the bed. There were basically walking trails around the cabin and two people couldn't pass. The bathroom...oh boy, just step off about a 5'x5' square and imagine the sink, toilet and shower in that! It was tiny. They had actually done a really job providing space in the bathroom for all the toiletries we had brought from home, using the side walls for storage shelves. The worst part was the shower. I can't really describe it and do justice. I will say that if the ship were to move and you lost your balance you would never hit the floor unless you fell out the entrance. Also you better hope you didn't drop the soap...I did the first day on board and like always bent over to get it only to be stopped less than half way down by the wall! Linds and I discussed more than once that we had no idea how and the heck larger adults could manage a shower. Needless to say the floor was soaked each time we showered b/c there was no way to avoid it. The worst part for me was not being able to see where we were, the weather, or a place to get away while Linds got ready or slept. I really could deal with the rest of the differences but that was tough. I will say that a huge positive to an interior cabin is that if you choose to take a nap in there it is pitch black. I have clients tell me weekly that want to book an interior cabin that they don't want to spend the extra because they never stay in the cabin anyway. I have no doubt they are telling the truth because I did everything I could to stay out of that cabin too, completely different when you have your own private balcony though. I think you get the overall picture here, you can survive an interior cabin but please do your self a favor and spend the few extra bucks for a balcony stateroom, trust me you will thank me and never go back to an interior again.





Well as usual this ended up being longer than I had planned so I will cut it off here and save people for Saturday. Have a great rest of the week and thank you so much for reading, Jeremy.