days_unfolding

I think that I'll be able to book a hotel in Chicago if I book cheaply.

Checked in for my flight. Now it's time for a shower, put my suitcase in the hall, and go to bed (all done, except I’m waiting for my meds to kick in to go to sleep). They whisked the suitcases away right at 10 PM.

I wasn’t able to watch CNN because there are no news channels on the TVs on the ship! No news to bring the vacationers down!

Got up on time, had breakfast, and disembarked the ship. Got my luggage. Now I have to wait for a couple of hours because I overestimated the time that it would take to go through customs and get my luggage. (Note to self: it took about a half-hour.)

It was interesting to see our big behemoth of a cruise ship next to two smaller ships. Our ship was humongous. (See the picture from the top of Dominica for scale.)

At the airport now. The driver did find me in the chaos at the cruise terminal. (I was wondering if he would.) Now I wait a long time. I can’t check in my luggage until 4 hours before flight time. It’s 11 AM now, and my flight leaves shortly before 5 PM.

I forgot to mention that the executor of my aunt’s estate (I like him) contacted us to say that he will be sending a final payment soon. Maybe it could pay for another cruise.

Our flight left an hour late because of a burnt-out light. I sat near a solicitous couple on the plane who made sure that I got a chance to go to the washroom, got my garbage handed over to the flight attendant, etc. There was a cute flight attendant on board, which distracted me. I did get a nap. We got in close to on time though, but had to wait for a gate. I went the wrong way to go to the baggage claim, but I got myself straightened out. I booked a hotel and got a surly Uber driver.

Now I'm at the Super 8 Motel. They've upgraded the place a lot. (Mom and I stayed here before.) They serve breakfast tomorrow morning, plus they have an airport shuttle!

I'm going to crash soon. It's very late Caribbean time.

Lessons learned from my first cruise:

1. I don’t know if having an ocean view window is worth it. On the other hand, it’s only around $200 more.

2. You can go on a cruise and not spend money other than what you already paid. I just bought one magnet, and that’s it. And I didn’t feel deprived.

3. On the other hand, I would like to have money for a spa day next time.

4. You don’t need to go to specialty restaurants. The buffet had good food. There was only one meal in which I thought that I didn’t like anything and just had a couple of slices of pizza.

5. There’s too many people on the really big ships. I want to try a smaller ship next time.

6. People in the Caribbean really like tourists. Most of their money comes from tourism, and it shows.