If you've just read Her recent article, you'll be aware that we've once again succumbed to temptation and booked another overseas cruise!! Hence the title..! And you might well ask 'how do these people justify this little extravagance?' and really our response remains the same: We simply believe we need to satisfy our travel bug while we are still healthy enough to enjoy it - who knows what our destinies are, but we do know we do not want to look back on our retirement years, regretful of missed opportunities!
We had said we would not travel overseas every year, more likely every second year, but inevitably the glossy marketing brochures work their magic and before you even realise, you are caught up in the "where to next" mentality as you trawl the endless options presented to you. Before long, you've convinced yourselves and cannot resist calling your travel agent who is of course ready and waiting to help you build an idyllic itinerary for your next big adventure. As She has told you, we've selected a repositioning cruise, which in our view represents exceptional value - where the ship finishes its
summer season in one region and moves to its next summer location, usually in the other hemisphere - and now, as captive frequent mariners with Holland America, we've selected the ms Oosterdam on its repositioning from South East Asia/Pacific to North America at the end of the Southern Summer, departing Sydney en route for 22 days to Vancouver. But there's more - the ship immediately begins its Alaskan summer duties so we've elected to stay with it on its first voyage to Anchorage for the season - giving us another fabulous 7 days on board, as it sails further northward taking in the ports of Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, cruising the picturesque Inside Passage and Glacier Bay regions of the Canadian & Alaskan coastline before reaching Seward, the sea port for Anchorage. A two day sampler journey to Denali National Park will complete our Alaskan experience before commencing the
homeward journey by air via Honolulu. All of this will take almost 5 weeks but what an absolutely wonderful experience it will be, with some very restful days at sea which we really enjoy. It is still some time till we set out, but once we do, we will be sure to keep you updated along the way and share our happy snaps of course.
As I recall having said at least once before, it is so important during our retirement years to have special things to look forward to - and each of us have different things which excite the senses - for us, it is 'our next cruise to somewhere'
