The First Step

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem

So here I am....admitting to it

I have a problem

I am a self-confessed cruise addict

And that isn't going to change anytime soon

A little about me...

In a nutshell....I am a widow with two girls, ages 22 and almost 21, and an adorable Jack-Shitz named Piper (she's half Jack Russel, half Shih-tzu). My daughters both attend the University of Northern Iowa (Go Panthers!) and I work for a major insurance company in the Information Security department.  My first cruise was in 1994 (Norwegian Starward) and I've been hooked ever since. 

Have I traveled extensively? The simple answer is no.  There are a LOT more places in this world that I'd like to visit.  My favorite, by far, has been Brazil. I lived in the city of Belo Horizonte as an exchange student while in high school. I fell in love with the city, the country, the people. It is simply one of my favorite places on earth. So yes, cruising around South America is on the bucket list. The bucket list keeps growing, and growing, and growing...

As far as cruise lines, my favorite is Princess. I am Elite on Princess, Platinum on Norwegian, Black Card on MSC, have cruised once on Costa, and am one and done with Carnival. In December I'll be sailing Royal Caribbean for the very first time. You can find the list of my previous cruises at the bottom of the page. There really hasn't ever been a cruise that I hated...but there have been a few that were disappointments and or I just didn't care for them. 

I have traveled to Alaska (3 times), the Baltic (here's my review of our Baltic cruise from 2016), Bermuda, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, countless times to the Caribbean (no place better in the winter when you live in Chicago), the California Coast and one Transatlantic from Barcelona to Florida.  If you can get there by ship, count me in.

We booked this cruise almost two years ago. When Princess announced it's new ship, Sky Princess, we jumped at the chance to take the first Transatlantic sailing from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale.  I'll be traveling with my sweet mamma, who's the best partner in crime a girl could ask for. I'm in the Chicago suburbs. Sweet mamma is from Ft. Myers, Florida. We fly on the 14th, meeting up in Newark and connecting for our flight to Barcelona. It's almost time...

A note on our flights.  When I cruise Princess I always use Princess EZAir to book my flights.  The fares are flexible, so you can change them as many times as you want, up to 45 days before leaving.  I think I rebooked these flights 4,876 times (or something like that).  I rebooked everytime there was a price decrease, or a better route that would take less time.  Love me some Princess EZAir 💓

We will have two days pre-cruise in Barceloana, staying at Hotel Lleo.  We stayed there in 2017 and it was a perfect fit for us. Close to Las Ramblas, generous sized rooms and excellent service. During our last stay, at our first breakfast, I asked my sweet mamma, "Do they have water?" 

Her response was precious: "Yes, it's right next to the wine."

Any breakfast buffet that serves wine works for me. You now understand why we are staying there again this time...

It's all about the Sky, 'bout the Sky, 'bout the Sky...yes, I like to sing... Princess just took possession of the ship in mid-October and she's sailing a few cruises in the Mediterranean before she picks us up in Barcelona and we head to Ft. Lauderdale. The Sky is the 4th "Royal Class" ship built for Princess by Fincantieri, in Trieste, Italy.  She is 145,281 GT, 330m long, has 19 decks, holds 3660 passengers and 1346 crew member.  This is a first for Princess...she was built from the ground up as a Medallion Class Ship (more on that in a later post). And she is downright beautiful. The pictures and videos from the passengers on her first few sailings are stunning.  Here is an excellent video tour of the Sky from YouTube.  

In two days, I'm outta here.  Let the freak out begin!  Counting down the days, hours, minutes until we leave for Barcelona!  Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Sky Princess in Kotor, Montenegro

Google Images