The Ramblings Of A Cruise Addict

Time is flying by and I have not written in a while. Life is hectic lately. trying to end one job and start a new one. I have been thinking of cruising lately. Recently I booked a cruise for next March. I booked Carnival Pride for a 14 night cruise from Los Angeles to Miami. I had heard that Carnival was going to reposition Carnival Pride. I went to work and found a great deal on it. It will be the longest cruise I have booked so far. I went to Panama last fall when I was cruising on Carnival Liberty. A tour of the locks got me interested in taking a transit cruise. My friend in NH has agreed to go also. I think we will have a great time. Now I think the wait until next March will be unbearable. Currently I am looking at a cruise over Halloween 2008 on Carnival Legend. I am searching for a great price but this time I have the "single supplement" to deal with. Having moved from NH to Florida I save on air at least. I live about 25 miles from the Port of Tampa. I have not booked the Halloween cruise as yet but I think I will very soon.
Another cruise that I have been dreaming of for a very long time is a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands. I was in Hawaii in 1985 and loved it. That was a 10 day land tour that included 3 Islands. Oahu, Maui and Kauai. It was a lovely tour but I felt that 2 days of it were lost in travel from one island to the next. This time I will visit Hawaii on a ship. So convenient and so comfortable. Check in only once and travel in comfort to each island. No ship or itinerary has been chosen yet as it will not be until at least late 2009 or 2010. That seems like such a long way off but the time flies by.
A few weeks ago I attended a dinner at Carrabba's restaurant in Orlando. I had the honor of meeting some of my friends from a cruise related website. We are all friends from the message boards at this website. As yet the website is small but we are working on growing our "population". As a small group we have formed close friendships. Drop in and join the fun. Many of us live in Florida and get together frequently for dinner and a good time. This website had it's first group cruise in September on Carnival Liberty. What a wonderful time that was. I got to meet many Mariners that I had not met before. It was so nice to see the ones that I knew before and to meet the new ones.
Soon I have a birthday coming up. I am not ashamed to admit I am going to be 60. At one time I thought that was soooooooooooooo old!! I do not feel like I am old. I look in the mirror and see the signs of my age. I do little to make myself look younger. Why bother? Aging is natural and we all do it. Never having been a great beauty it is easy to ignore vanity. I am young at heart and try to stay active. When I cruise I find myself choosing at least one adventurous shore excursion. Usually I am the oldest one on the tour. On my last cruise I chose white water rafting and this time I was not the oldest one. I really enjoyed that tour it was one of the best ones I have done. No, I will not be writing about sky diving. I see no reason to step out of a perfectly good air craft.
Moving to Florida has been a positive thing for me. I live a completly different lifestyle. I am much more active and on the go. I think it is the nice weather here. When I was living in NH I wanted to stay inside where it as warm. Even my work seems to be more like fun and less like a job. Of course the best reason to move to Florida is the nearness of the cruise ports. I can go and see the ships any time I want. I can even take advantage of last minute specials. Mmmmm, warm weather and ships..........Does it get any better than this?