After working for about a year on fixing and selling houses, Dennis, Aurela (mom) and I decided it was time for a well-earned Caribbean vacation. It was to start last Friday but, when we got to the port, we discovered that mom’s suitcase with her medications was left at the house. The NCL port supervisor Dayron was most helpful with suggestions that might allow us to board the ship. We contacted Walgreens, but they could only provide an 11-day supply of meds for two of her many prescriptions. Strike one. DHL could not deliver her suitcase to a future port until Thursday, way too long for mom to be without her meds. Strike 2. The other suitcases were already on the ship and would sail without us. Strike three.
Mom is such a trooper. She wanted us to put her on a bus and send her home. I could just imagine sending this 90-year-old woman to the bus station with a sign tagged to her shirt: “Hello, My name is Aurela and I live in Sarasota. Please take me home.”
After spending six hours at the port, we watched the ship sail without us and then we crept along in Friday night traffic for five hours before returning home. It was a long and tiring day, but mom kept her spirits high and took the adventure in stride. The next morning, we tried to book a plane flight to the first port of call, Aruba. Success! At the moment, we are at an airport hotel, waiting to fly out tomorrow. With luck, we should be onboard the NCL Sun by 5 pm, and maybe we will look as happy as we did in the photo above.
I hope you will follow along as we enjoy this now 8-day cruise and to find out if our luggage is waiting for us in the cabin.
