What was I thinking; 57 days? On a cruise ship? When adding in getting to and from the ship, we would be gone for two months. We have cruised for 30 days before, but I wasn’t even sure how to prepare for a 57-day cruise.
Of course, there are other questions: Can Art and I survive 57 days in a room measuring a mere 143 square feet? Will we literally and figuratively be in each other’s way all the time? Can 34 years of marriage survive such closeness?
Why This Cruise?
With so many places in South America on our bucket list, we thought that doing it all in one fell swoop made sense. Searching for the right cruise came next.
We had originally considered a cruise that would circumnavigate South America, round trip from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Holland America has such a cruise, but it was more than 70 days in length. Oceania Cruises didn’t offer such a cruise this year, but by putting together three cruises, Miami to Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires to Lima we could go about three quarters of the way around the continent in 57 days. Two months of travel seemed a little more reasonable.
Our trip on Oceania Cruises’ Sirena was to take us through the Caribbean, into the Amazon, down the east coast of South America, around Cape Horn and up the west cost as far as Lima, Peru. Since we had two nights in Rio de Janeiro, Art decided that would be the best time for us to visit Iguazu Falls. He found an inbound tour operator that put together a trip to the falls from Rio.
As far as we were concerned, the highlights of the trip would be visiting Devil’s Island, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, the Falkland Islands, Santiago and Iguazu Falls, spending six days on the Amazon and rounding Cape Horn.
Compromises Made
Our longest cruise to date has been 30 days, however we were in a larger stateroom with a verandah. Since this cruise was going to cost us so much more than we have spent in the past, we decided to downsize to a less expensive stateroom. Art was ready to make the move to an interior stateroom. I was only willing to go as far an ocean view stateroom. Our compromise was an ocean view stateroom with an obstructed view; a stateroom which fit into our budget.
Let the Preparations Begin
Preparing for a 57-day absence was a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. I know people travel south for the winter all the time, so it can’t be too difficult, right? Wrong! It helps if you are going to be in one place for the entire trip, but since we would constantly be on the move, it was a different story.
Medications
Art has a few medical issues, so we needed to make sure we had all the medications he would need for the entire 60 days. At first we thought, no problem, they always send out 90 day supplies. Well, that’s fine if the 90 days coincided with the trip, but, it didn’t. Art worked with the pharmacy to make sure he would have everything he needed at the time he needed it. It took a bit of effort on his part, but he was able to get it done. He also had to remember to stop his auto shipments of the medications that arrive in cold packs and are not delivered by mail.
Ah, yes, the mail. Again, not as easy as I would have guessed. The United States Postal Service will only hold your mail for 30 days. Longer than 30 days you must forward the mail to another address. I, obviously, would not have an address to which the mail could be forwarded. I thought perhaps I could forward it to my brother’s address, but then having to switch it all back again might create more difficulties. After all, my brother stayed with us over two years ago when he moved to our town, and I am still receiving mail addressed to him!
Forwarding the mail was not an option I wanted to use. But, I had an idea. I would have access to the Internet while we were cruising. I could stop the mail for 30 days, allow it to be delivered and then stop it again for another 30 days. Since my brother was coming by the house anyway, he would just need to be sure to be there on the day the mail was delivered. One more problem solved!
Bills
Then there were our recurring bills to consider; the electric, security, insurance, credit cards, etc. Three months prior to our trip, Art created a list of all our recurring bills from his database. We made sure that each bill and credit card was set up for autopayment from our bank and checked it off the list. As bills came in over the next few months, we verified that they were all on the list. We also made sure to set up auto payments for the credit cards that we don’t use very often, just in case we used them while traveling.
Speaking of credit cards; make a photo copy of the front and back of each credit card you will be taking with you and pack it away with your other important travel documents. That way if you card is stolen or lost while you are traveling, you will have the phone number of the credit card company, as well as the credit card number. Also, be sure to notify the credit card company that you will be traveling, so they won’t decline the charge of that special souveneir that you wanted!
Pets
We are so very fortunate that our former neighbors absolutely love our dog, and she loves them. They are always ready to take our girl for us while we are traveling. They have a dog about the same age, and they really do get along well. I cannot imagine having to board our pup for two months. At least I know while we are traveling, she will be well cared for and loved.
Our indoor/outdoor pond has a lot of goldfish. Fortunately, during the winter months the fish go into a semi-dormant state and do not require any food. In the warmer months, we have an automatic feeder that we use. The feeder will hold about three to four week’s food. So, we don’t have to worry too much about feeding the fish while we travel.
The House
Last, but not least, the house. We have this beautiful, unusual house that we love dearly. Our biggest worry while traveling is that the electricity will go out. This can cause a few problems. Most importantly, is that the waterfalls in the pond will stop running. The waterfalls aerate the water and without that, the fish will quickly die. Not that we are terribly attached to the fish, but we don’t want to come home to 50 or more dead fish rotting away in the pond.
We do turn the heat down while we are traveling in the winter, but we don’t turn it off; we don’t want to come home to any frozen or burst pipes. In the summer, we turn the cooling temperature up, so that it is warmer than it would be if we were in the house, yet it won’t get terribly hot. We also make sure to keep the fan on the heating/cooling system on continuous run, just to make sure the air in the house keeps circulating.
Before we leave home, Art goes to the electric panel and turns off the water heater. There is no need to keep the water hot when no one is home! We also unplug all the small appliances in the house such as the toaster, coffeemaker, microwave, computers and printers.
We put several lights on timers. They are set to go off and on and various times in the early morning, evening and night. We try to make it look as though someone is home. Any lights not on the timers are unplugged.
One other thing I try to do is clean the house before we leave on a trip. As much as I hate to clean, I don’t like coming home to a dirty house even more. Art and I were both sick in the last two weeks before our trip, so I didn’t get the house cleaned this time. I was not happy coming home to dust bunnies!
Watching the House
If you can have someone come stay at your house while you are traveling, that is the ideal situation. But it doesn’t always work out.
Even though we live in the country, we do have one neighbor nearby that can keep an eye on the house. Both of our houses feed off the same electric transformer, so they know if their electricity has gone out, most likely ours has as well. They are wonderful about coming over to check on the house and make sure everything is fine.
In addition, my brother doesn’t live too far away, and he comes over periodically to check on things. He also waters my plants for me, which is nice. Between our neighbors and my brother, the house is well looked after.
Packing
Since we travel so often, we do not obsess about what to pack. We do start talking in general about what to take about a month before our departure. We get out the things we think of that are stored in other closets and put them on the guest room bed, just so we don’t forget them.
I try not to actually pack the suitcases any more than a day prior to our departure. Since this trip would encounter both hot and cold weather, we knew we would have a lot of clothes. Four suitcases and four carry-ons later, we were packed.
Of course we had to take the laptop, a tablet and our two phones. (Lesson learned; we need to get a smaller laptop or notebook for future travels.) Headsets for each of us. The cribbage board. My camera. Art’s camera. A couple of books. One of our carry-ons was filled with medications to last us for the two months. Oh yes, I can’t forget the cold pack to carry Art’s insulin.
In short, we had a lot of stuff. I only wish I had thought to take a picture of it! We were just hopeful it would all fit in our tiny stateroom. Would be we able to find storage space for everything? Would we need to leave some of the clothes in the suitcases and bring pull things out as we needed them? Could there possibly be enough room to store all of the luggage?
As it turned out, it was snug, but everything fit. Even though our stateroom was one of the smallest, we still had the same amount of storage as the larger rooms. There was just enough room under the bed to store the luggage.
In Retrospect
I was afraid the time on the cruise would drag, but the days passed by quickly. In all we visited 30 different ports of call in 9 countries and spent 19 days at sea. We saw seals, sea lions, whales and even pink dolphins!
Between the two of us, we took over 1,500 pictures. So bear with me, it will take a while to go through all of them! I promise, I will be blogging more about the specifics of the trip over the next month or so.
Even as experienced travelers, we weren’t sure of how to prepare for a 57-day cruise. By starting early, we figured it out!
All in all, it was a great experience. We managed just fine in our little stateroom, and returned with our marriage intact. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!
What about you? I’d love to hear about your experiences. What was your longest trip? Would you do it again? Any special preparation tips you have to offer?
