A new year, a new cruise countdown.  Jim and I were looking forward to our cruise on the Carnival Freedom I booked on November 15, 2019.  We were branching out from the typical 5 or 7 night cruise and would be going on an 8-night cruise to Key West, Freeport, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.  This would be the second cruise that did not go to Cozumel.  And although it seemed strange to not going there, we were looking forward to a much different itinerary.

Everything was going along like normal.  I was looking at possible excursions but not booking anything.  Just looking to get an idea on things we might want to do in the different ports would be going to.  And I may have been doing some Amazon shopping as well.  But for some reason, I was not shopping as much as I normally would.

February came around.  Jim tested positive for the Flu and I had recovered from it.  Ryan Newman had an horrific crash at the end of the Daytona 500 which he survived and has returned to racing.  If you saw the crash, you know that he definitely had an angel riding with him during that time.

But there had been news reports about COVID-19, the Corona Virus.  At a routine check-up with my doctor, he told me not to go on any cruises.  I told him that we had one booked for August 29th.  So, after much discussion, we decided to keep our cruise and see how things worked out.

Then cruises started getting cancelled by ALL cruise lines when the CDC established a no-sail rule.  I was starting to get concerned about the fate of our cruise, but I decided that whatever was to happen would happen.  I stopped shopping for the cruise and started concentrating on other areas of our life.  Particularly my mother who resides in an assisted living facility.  The facility immediately blocked all visitors from the facility.  At least I knew she would be safe from the virus.  Or would she.

On April 13, 2020, Carnival extended the cruise pause to June 27th.  I felt relieved but not convinced that we would cruise.  I was still not shopping for the cruise and my level of scoping possible excursions dropped drastically.  But I did start looking at options for a cruise for next year, just in case!  I picked out three cruises for August 2021 that I felt would be comparable to the cruise we had booked, printed out the options, and left the options on the refrigerator for Jim and I to look at and consider.

Option #1 is a cruise on the Carnival Dream leaving Galveston on August 28, 2021.  It is  an 8-night cruise with the same itinerary we already have booked.  The pros, it is an itinerary we have not gone on.  The cons, we were on this ship last year.  We like the idea of going on a ship we have not been on but we will consider it as an option.

Option #2 is a cruise on the Carnival Radiance leaving Galveston on August 20, 2021.  It is a 9-night cruise going to Key West, Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau with four sea days!.  The pros, it will be a ship we have not been on and has recently been thru a dry-dock.  The cons, I’m not sure there are any.  This cruise option is definitely high on our list!

Option #3 is also on the Carnival radiance leaving Galveston on August 6, 2021.  It is also a 9-night cruise but will be going to Grand Cayman, Mahogany Bay, Belize, Costa Maya, and Cozumel with three sea days.  The pros are the same as option #2.  The cons, we have already been to all of the cruise ports with the exception of one, Costa Maya.  Although we have no objections to going to ports we have already visited, we are really looking forward to something new and different for us.

Jim and I would periodically look at the cruise options but didn’t give it much thought.  That is until around June 19th.  Rumors had started making their way onto the group cruise page.  I started looking at stateroom options for all 3 cruises so I could have an idea of what we might want.  Since the cruise I booked for this year is in an interior with walkway view, I thought it would see what is available for the same category stateroom as well as balcony staterooms.  Once Jim got home from work.  I told him he had to make his decision then.  No waiting.  Once he told me his choice, we discussed staterooms.  We could have the same category or we could go with our preferred choice of a balcony on Lido.

So Jim decided on Option 2!!!  In looking at the stateroom options, I noticed that there were “L-shaped” balcony staterooms available on deck 7.  I put one on hold knowing that it would expire in a couple of days.  I started holding my breath until the pause extension was officially announced on Monday June 22nd.  I immediately called my PVP and left a message on his voice mail and I also sent him an email asking him to call me ASAP as I already knew what I wanted to do.

Much to my surprise, he contacted me by email within a couple of hours and said he would call me shortly.  And he did!!!  We were able to transfer our booking to the Carnival Radiance leaving Galveston on August 20, 2021.  We are booked in the L-shaped balcony I want.  The money we paid for the original cruise transferred to our new booking, obviously without penalty, and we received a nice on-board credit.

Now we are back to a very long cruise countdown.  And I’m okay with that!!!  I have once again started looking at excursions but I’m going to wait until closer to the cruise to start my shopping.  Well, I might book one excursion in a couple of weeks.  I guess we will just have to wait and see!!!