Finally, a cruise after the advent of Covid!

Ah Covid! We had a trip to Tahiti planned for the beginning of April 2020. That had to be cancelled. Then we were supposed to go to California in October 2020 for Clayton’s wedding. (I was supposed to officiate). We scheduled a trip to Grand Cayman in Nov 2020 that was cancelled. It was a crazy low fare. Then We tried to schedule a cruise from Australia to Los Angeles that included Tahiti and Hawaii. That was cancelled too. Then we scheduled a cruise with MSC that was also cancelled. It took some doing to unravel all of the airline credits we had racked up. But, it all eventually worked out and I have a handle on it now.

We finally did get to go on a cruise at the beginning of October with MSCCruises on board the MSC Divina with Michelle and Steve Young. We had a great time.

A couple of years ago I told ARB that I would retire in Feb of 2021. Over the years speaking with Steve Young, we had talked about retirement and he it seemed would retire before me. I think that was his original plan. When I told them my hard fast date of 12 Feb as my last day, that’s what Steve was planning as well. In the meantime he has pushed it out another year to Mar 2022. We are always talking about doing fun trips and vacations when we are all retired.

But Steve was needing a trip of some kind so we planned on the MSC cruise. We got the cabins and the plane tickets for a really good price and MSC upgraded us free to a balcony room. The best deal on airfare had us go out to Orlando two days beforehand.

We are all vaccinated. But, MSC required a negative covid test within 48 hours of sailing. That meant that we would have to do it in Florida. I looked online at the Walgreens website and found available appointments. But, you couldn’t schedule any earlier than 2 days prior. So we felt a little anxious about making that all work. We made reservations at a Travelodge in Deltona for Friday night and then at the Super 8 in St. Augustine for Saturday night. It was conference weekend so we did our best to catch sessions but probably only got about one third.

When we woke up Saturday the first order of business was to get our Covid tests. We had made appointments at the Walgreens in New Smyrna Beach. It all went smoothly and we were all negative. We got the results within a couple of hours by email.

On our drive up to St. Augustine we decided to stop in Ormond Beach right at the Birthplace of Speed park. It was a very nice day. So, we went to the beach and changed into our bathing suits. Steve and I had a pretty fun time just playing in the water and body surfing a little. The temperature was great. And, it was an unexpected delight.

When we knew we were going to have a couple of days to play with in Florida, I suggested we visit St. Augustine since it wasn’t very far and is the oldest city in the U.S. We spent all of Saturday evening walking around the old town. It was a very nice fun vibe. We had pizza at a by the slice place in the oold town. I heard some people speaking Italian to the owner. I struck up a conversation. Later we ran into the young couple again at a gelato shop. So, we invited them to enjoy their dessert with us and had a very nice time chatting and getting acquainted.

Sunday morning we made the drive down to Cape Canaveral, dropped off the rental car and made our way to the cruise port. Everything went fairly smoothly. Steve did have some trouble accessing his covid test results because he gave some incorrect credentials to login. So, we had to wait 15 minutes for the website to reset.

The MSC Divina is the newest (2011) and largest boat we have been on. Capacity is listed at around 3500-4100 depending on how many people are in each cabin. At check in we were told that only about 800-900 passengers were on this cruise. We also noticed quite a few elderly and mildly handicapped people amongst the guests. Because of the low capacity on the ship we really never had trouble finding a table or chairs or room in the pool. They did seem to have limited hours for the hot tubs. They are trying to get by with a smaller crew and this cut back on some of the amenities. I’m not sure I would complain. One of the covid protocols in place was taking our temperature every morning on the way into breakfast. They scan your card and scan your forehead.

As usual I was watching the weather forecasts for each location along the cruise. It wasn’t obvious that the weather would be okay. But, it was actually quite nice. We spent two days at our first stop, Ocean Cay. This is MSC’s private island. We learned later from the cabbie who took us to the airport afterwards that it used to just be an atoll where people would dredge up sand and rocks for projects around the Caribbean. The weather was perfect and the water comfortable. We had whole stretches of the beach to ourselves. It seemed perhaps only 300 or so guests took advantage of the island. We brought snorkel equipment and spent a LOT of time cruising around the lagoon. There was a small nurse shark who we saw repeatedly stalking the smaller fish against the shore. We also saw a large ray and a barracuda doing the same. The barracuda was around 30 inches in length and swam within his body length of Lenore. I think he was checking her out.

We found lots of neat shells and brought many home. One of the first times I dove I saw a conch shell and brought it up. It was still inhabited. There were lots, all inhabited. I think this is the first time I have seen live conches. We spent two of the most relaxing and enjoyable days on this island. Much like Aruba in 2018. We weren’t sure the weather in Cozumel was going to be alright. We didn’t plan any excursions ahead of time. It turned out to be just fine. Approaching the port we were entertained by a fairly good sized pod of dolphins (maybe 50 or so) who crossed our path and may have swam right underneath us. We went into the port and walked through the shops. We then decided to check into the submarine tour. We are so glad we did this. It wasn’t horribly expensive, about $80 each and was quite fun and interesting. It apparently is the only tourist submarine in Mexico.

We went down to 117 feet at the deepest and they showed us a drop off of thousands of feet. There was also an intentionally sunk mine sweeper from WWII that we circled. It was very active with divers who also seemed to get a kick out of seeing us in the sub. There was a LOT of sea life everywhere, Including Barracudas, Large sponges, and at least one Lion Fish. Steve went back to the boat because he wasn’t feeling well. Michelle, Lenore, and I went into Senor Frog’s for some snacks and fancy drinks.

The next day in Costa Maya it also looked like we wouldn’t have great weather. But, it really turned out fine. The ship was leaving about 1pm. So, we didn’t spend a ton of time in the resort. We just walked around saying no to most of the shop keepers. The girls did step into a beauty store for a demonstration of some $350 eye cream. Steve and I also got a treatment. Later after returning to Salt Lake we found some of the same stuff online for $65. Saw some flamingoes and got some fancy drinks.

The last day on the boat was a sea day and we just lazed around the pool and soaked up the sun. This was nearly as fun as Ocean Cay. When we arrived at the Salt Lake airport we saw David and Doni Weissman on one of the walkways and said hi. Funny coincidence.

Trips to the Beach/Ocean first Twelve months after Retirement

Went to Isla Mujeres in March. Still need to write about this. Stayed for a little more than a week with Megan and Becca in May. Went again to Huntington Beach for almost two weeks in July. Cruise to Caribbean in beginning of October. Stayed in San Clemente for a week in end of October. Planned cruise same is early in October for beginning of January.