Preparing to Sail:
Oceania's ms Insignia, 1-15 July

Miami to New York

Will and I are in final preparations for our cruise and following stay in New York City.  We leave tomorrow, Saturday, 30 June.  The cruise begins on Sunday and we return to Tucson on Thursday, 19 July, after four additional days in New York.

Sat     30 Jun   10am        Lv Tucson (Anita drives us on the 90-pminute trip to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix--PHX)

                        11:30pm  Av PHX

                        1:40pm    Lv PHX     AA 1147 (non-stop)

                        9:07pm    Av Miami (MIA) (Oceania transport to hotel)

                             10pm       Av Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel

Sun     1 Jul     11am        Oceania transport to Miami Cruise Port

                        12nn         Early boarding ms Insignia   Concierge Veranda Stateroom 7084

                        5pm          ms Insignia sails from Miami             

Jul 1 Sun	Miami, Florida, United States	Embark 1 PM	5 PM
Jul 2 Mon	Havana, Cuba	8 AM	6 PM
Jul 3 Tue	Cruising the Old Bahama Channel
Jul 4 Wed	Cruising the Caribbean Sea
Jul 5 Thu	Oranjestad, Aruba	11 AM	8 PM
Jul 6 Fri	Kralendijk, Bonaire	7 AM	1 PM
Jul 7 Sat	St. George's, Grenada	1 PM	10 PM
Jul 8 Sun	Castries, St. Lucia	8 AM	11 PM
Jul 9 Mon	Roseau, Dominica	7 AM	5 PM
Jul 10 Tue	Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Jul 11 Wed	Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Jul 12 Thu	St. George, Bermuda	8 AM
Jul 13 Fri	St. George, Bermuda		3 PM
Jul 14 Sat	Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Jul 15 Sun	New York, New York, United States	Disembark 8 AM

We will be stopping at several ports in the Caribbean that neither of us has visited before, and we are especially excited about the one-day visit to Havana, Cuba, at the very start of the trip.  Other ports new to both of us are Grenada, St Lucia, and Dominica, and Will is also a first-time visitor to Aruba, Bonaire, and Bermuda.  We are prepared for hot and humid weather during the entire trip--after all, it is the tropics in July!  Hopefully we won't see too much rain and we won't even mention the "H" word.

The Insignia caries 625 passengers and is small enough to berth at all the ports.  This is my fifth cruise on Oceania and Will's third.  We enjoy the ambience of Oceania's smaller ships (their largest carries only 1200 passengers), as well as their all-inclusive service and costs (including airfare).  We have a Concierge-Level Veranda Stateroom, which allows us early boarding and other special privileges.  

We have signed up for eight shore excursions (one for each day in port, including two in Bermuda).  Four of the excursions are free, included in the special amenities package.

Our four days in New York City are already filled with a number of scheduled activities, including the previously mentioned theatre adventures, Carousel, My Fair Lady, and The Band's Visit.  We are also looking forward to spending time with our cousin Helen, at whose co-op near Union Square, we have spent a number of previous visits to New York, our niece and nephew Scott and Michelle, who recently visited us in Tucson, and my friend from childhood, Jay, who has recently become a cruise enthusiast himself.  So I am sure we will have much to discuss.  And then, of course, comes all the eating, drinking, and shopping that are important activities for any visitor to New York.  So I guess we will need a vacation when we return to Tucson.

While we are gone, our much-loved cats will be cared for by our friends and usual cat-sitters, John and Cathy.  Although they are officially retired from their professional careers as animal caretakers, they are so attached to Jake and Luke that they continue to care for them whenever we are both traveling.  This is especially important right now since Jake has to be given eye drops twice a day for his newly-diagnosed glaucoma.  Will has become expert at administering the eye-drops, which is a good thing, because Jake will need them for the rest of his life (watch Jake get eyedrops -- video starts slowly and has no sound, so be patient).

I plan to post blog entries from each port, but as I know from previous cruises, ship wifi is very unreliable, especially when trying to send photographs.  If you wish to contact us, you can use our regular email addresses (llaban@vcu.edu and willfeathers@comcast.net).

My next communication should be when we are underway.  Best wishes to all our friends and readers.