Why this trip? And why this room?
It's complicated.
Raina and Sarah would be Diamond level on the Royal Caribbean loyalty program after our South Pacific cruise on Radiance. Diamond gives you lovely bonuses like the Diamond lounge every evening with an open bar!!! So we decided to book a trip to Tasmania on Voyager. Then things changed so we went to cancel the trip but realised that we were within the no cancellation period and would loose the deposit. Somehow Raina convinced RCCL to transfer the deposit to the next trip we had planned. Vancouver to Sydney with Andy.
After booking our usual Family Suite we discovered that travel insurance for Andy would be many thousands of dollars (as we would be in US waters for more that five days). So that trip was not going to happen. Rather than loose the deposits all together Raina decided that she would do the second leg of the trip on her own. Hawaii to Sydney on Radiance of the Seas. Awesome. And transfered from the Family Suite to an inside room.
I did many sums working out what trip Sarah and I could do, giving the most points for least dollars to get to the allusive Diamond Plus. Suddenly a brainwave. Don't get a balcony from Hawaii. Get a Junior Suite and get double points. But of course all suites were sold out.
After checking on the website EVERY day for six weeks, a lone Grand Suite came up. So I grabbed it. Sue paid the price a JS would have cost us and I paid the rest (as it was me that wanted a Suite for the points) - still the cheapest way to get the final points!!!!!
AWESOME. We were in a Suite. And would be in the Concierge Lounge with Juan Diego and Beresford!!!!!
Then to add to the mix......in February the surgeon decided that I needed not one but two TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENTS!!!!
So 20th March was the day to have both knees amputated and replaced with shiny new metal and plastic knees. When the surgeon said I would have two weeks of extreme pain, 6 weeks of sheer hell, six weeks of pain then six more months of recover- he was not joking. I seriously didn't know that they made pain as bad as I had in the first few weeks.
How much fun will I be to travel with? Imagine how many alarms I will set off at airports and ship security!!!!!!
Three weeks in hospital and rehab, three months of physio. The trip to Hawaii will be just on the six month mark. Still a bit of pain, limited mobility but getting better every day.
Told you it was complicated!!!!!!
So now we had a plan and a room - a damn nice room. Grand Suite 1530. Haven't stayed in a Grand Suite before.
OMG. How wonderful. Days and days of relaxing, reading, going to the gym, the pool, watching movies, watching the ocean go past and spending time in the Concierge Lounge.
Hawaii will be wonderful, but TAHITI and MARLBOROUGH SOUND. WOW!
A week in Honolulu will get us in the mood for a cruise. We found a good deal at a hotel - Sheraton Princess Kailani a whole 80 metre walk to the beach. So we booked it.
We fly out on the 17th September. So now ......let the adventure begin!!!!!
It's complicated.
Raina and Sarah would be Diamond level on the Royal Caribbean loyalty program after our South Pacific cruise on Radiance. Diamond gives you lovely bonuses like the Diamond lounge every evening with an open bar!!! So we decided to book a trip to Tasmania on Voyager. Then things changed so we went to cancel the trip but realised that we were within the no cancellation period and would loose the deposit. Somehow Raina convinced RCCL to transfer the deposit to the next trip we had planned. Vancouver to Sydney with Andy.
After booking our usual Family Suite we discovered that travel insurance for Andy would be many thousands of dollars (as we would be in US waters for more that five days). So that trip was not going to happen. Rather than loose the deposits all together Raina decided that she would do the second leg of the trip on her own. Hawaii to Sydney on Radiance of the Seas. Awesome. And transfered from the Family Suite to an inside room.
But then Sue Winser decided that she would like to come, so we upgraded to an Ocean View room. We cruised together to New Zealand in 2012 so we knew that we would have a blast.
Raina and Suzanne enjoying Rotarua.
Then we decided that a small room would be silly - with two of us we could afford a balcony. And then I started doing all of the maths. After this trip and the circumnavigate Australia with Andy and Sarah in October / November we would be 10 points off Diamond Plus - And that was huge.
I did many sums working out what trip Sarah and I could do, giving the most points for least dollars to get to the allusive Diamond Plus. Suddenly a brainwave. Don't get a balcony from Hawaii. Get a Junior Suite and get double points. But of course all suites were sold out.
After checking on the website EVERY day for six weeks, a lone Grand Suite came up. So I grabbed it. Sue paid the price a JS would have cost us and I paid the rest (as it was me that wanted a Suite for the points) - still the cheapest way to get the final points!!!!!
AWESOME. We were in a Suite. And would be in the Concierge Lounge with Juan Diego and Beresford!!!!!
Then to add to the mix......in February the surgeon decided that I needed not one but two TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENTS!!!!
So 20th March was the day to have both knees amputated and replaced with shiny new metal and plastic knees. When the surgeon said I would have two weeks of extreme pain, 6 weeks of sheer hell, six weeks of pain then six more months of recover- he was not joking. I seriously didn't know that they made pain as bad as I had in the first few weeks.
How much fun will I be to travel with? Imagine how many alarms I will set off at airports and ship security!!!!!!
Three weeks in hospital and rehab, three months of physio. The trip to Hawaii will be just on the six month mark. Still a bit of pain, limited mobility but getting better every day.
Told you it was complicated!!!!!!
So now we had a plan and a room - a damn nice room. Grand Suite 1530. Haven't stayed in a Grand Suite before.
| 23-Sep | Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii | 10:00 PM | ||
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| 24-Sep | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 25-Sep | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 26-Sep | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 27-Sep | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 28-Sep | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 29-Sep | Bora Bora, French Polynesia | 8:00 AM | 8:00 PM | Tendered |
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| 30-Sep | Papeete, Tahiti French Polynesia | 8:00 AM | Docked | |
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| 01-Oct | Papeete, Tahiti French Polynesia | 4:00 AM | Docked | |
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| 01-Oct | Moorea, French Polynesia | 7:00 AM | 5:00 PM | Tendered |
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| 02-Oct | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 03-Oct | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 04-Oct | International Dateline | Cruising | ||
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| 05-Oct | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 06-Oct | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 07-Oct | Wellington, New Zealand | 10:00 AM | 11:59 PM | Docked |
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| 08-Oct | Picton, New Zealand | 7:00 AM | 3:00 PM | Docked |
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| 09-Oct | Cruising | Cruising | ||
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| 10-Oct | Cruising | |||
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| 11-Oct | Sydney, Australia | 6:30 AM | Docked | |
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OMG. How wonderful. Days and days of relaxing, reading, going to the gym, the pool, watching movies, watching the ocean go past and spending time in the Concierge Lounge.
Hawaii will be wonderful, but TAHITI and MARLBOROUGH SOUND. WOW!
A week in Honolulu will get us in the mood for a cruise. We found a good deal at a hotel - Sheraton Princess Kailani a whole 80 metre walk to the beach. So we booked it.
We fly out on the 17th September. So now ......let the adventure begin!!!!!
