I thought I’d bring you up to speed on our 2026 and 2027 cruise vacation plans.
When we made the decision to buy the RV van, it took out
a good-sized chuck of our travel budget.
On top of that, the department withheld overtime payouts for the first
half of the year to try and balance the budget (fiscal year, not calendar
year). This means travel will look a
little different in that we will need to cruise less. On one hand, that is fine. We have been to a lot of places of interest and
those still on the bucket list are longer-length cruises with longer travel
time. It feels like those are best left
for retirement years where we can be gone for long periods of time without making
big impact on our jobs.
I now have a long list of places I want to take the
RV! The Hubs and I don’t have days off
together so once that falls into place, we will be on the road quite a
bit. While the loss of income this year has
been difficult on the heart, it has forced me to take more random days off to spend
time with Kenyon and not work so hard at making/saving money.
Travel is important and it is what helps feed my soul while
working a job that takes so much out of me each shift. I am my true and authentic self when I am
traveling.
With all that said, we have three cruises booked in the
upcoming years. The first is the Baltic
in August 2026.
When I was researching Iceland cruises I stumbled upon a
cruise that really interested me and included so many new countries, 6 of them. I liked that we could still see Europe but
not have to sail out of Southampton or fly in/out of London. This cruise was perfect in that you start in
Helsinki, Finland and end in Copenhagen, Denmark with an over night in
Copenhagen. We might even fly to Dublin
for a day before we travel home.
My Bestie Phoenix and her fiancé Stacey are getting
married on Catalina Island via cruise ship in September 2026. We have never cruised Royal Caribbean and I
am excited for all it has to offer.
We’ve been to these ports before so I don’t think we will
get off the ship in Ensenada, Mexico. Instead,
I’m looking at this cruise as more about the ship and the celebration! I also want to spend a few extra days
exploring Long Beach, CA.
Alaska in September 2027 was not on my radar. We’ve cruised Alaska three times (you can read about them all here) and figured my next trip would be when Wanda and
Michael booked an Alaska cruise.
Instead, the Elks coordinated a group cruise, and boy did she pick a
great itinerary and ship. I am so excited
to visit Sikta and return to Skagway again.
I really want to sail on NCL Joy which was icing on the cake!
As excited as I am…they are both so far away! In the meantime, we have a trip to Oceanside, CA in December with a quick stopover in Oakland, CA to visit my 93-year-old great
aunt. This is our second time in Oceanside,
and we are looking forward to visiting the San Diego sights this trip.
In January, we will visit Vegas to see Choir of Man and
the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. I’m also
super excited about this trip and it has been several years since we’ve been to Vegas.
As I type all of this, I remember that we are about to
start evaluation season at work…send HELP!
