Cruise Planning Part 1

I love to celebrate my birthday.  It’s just plain fun.  I know many people agonize over turning 40.  As it is inevitable should an individual be alive that long, I am inclined to make the most of the situation.  While I have noticed some changes as this approached like the hot flashes, needing a new eye glass prescription, mild memory blips, and a few more aches and pains than before, I made the decision to put some things into place that makes it impossible to dread it and makes me absolutely enthused for the time to come. Take into consideration that in the autumn of 2012 I begin thinking and planning for this momentous occasion.  I can’t help but be a little anal about preparation for such an important event.

For me traveling is a lovely thing.  After living in Maryland from the age of a few months to 19 years with just some minor travel in the United States I have always been eager to see new places and do different things.  Traveling is a wonderful treat for me.  Knowing that I wanted to see some place I had never been, maybe even some place “exotic”, without having to fork out almost a thousand dollars in airfare I started talking to people who travel often.  I met a man from Puerto Rico who had lots of good things to say about his home.  Then a co-worker traveled there for vacation and gushed about how wonderful it was.  I was initially looking at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Rico.

Then in November 2012 my best friend Jamie and I were discussing my intended 40^th birthday trip when she decided that she wanted to go with me on this trip.  As comfortable as I am with traveling alone, it is always better with company.  Then to have the kind of company that a best friend provides is a whole new level of fun and exciting.  Jamie’s suggestion was not to go to one location to an all-inclusive resort, but to broaden our horizon and take a cruise.  Brilliant!  See and do more with the same amount of time!  How could I say no?

I was excitedly checking out cruise lines and cruises that set sail from Puerto Rico which I had intended to see on my trip.  I honestly wasn’t interested in Carnival as I heard too much about it that wasn’t all that positive even before the “poop cruise” incident earlier this year.  I found out that Royal Caribbean has a lot of cruises that leave from Puerto Rico and that they have a solid reputation in the cruise industry for good deals on excellent products and services. 

I found the cruise I was most interested in and informed Jamie about the Royal Caribbean Southern Caribbean Cruise with prices with a starting cost of only $499!  One year to the day we would arrive in Puerto Rico we put our down payment on the cruise.  The long term planning began in earnest.