Right after our country shut down for Covid-19, I had a cruise canceled. The credit for that trip has to be used by the end of September and I am planning to cruise to Bermuda before the credit expires. As I prepare for this cruise, it brings to mind the first cruise I went on with my youngest daughter. It was the year I turned fifty, and I was able to include a lot of first time experiences on that trip.

I’d never cruised with Princess Cruises (#22) and I’d never been on a ten day cruise (#23). Both of these were added to my list of “firsts”. I found out that Princess is my favorite cruise line because of their adults only Sanctuary. I remembered from previous cruises that, after four days, I can no longer eat multiple course meals with any kind of enthusiasm.

The cruise was out of Miami and we flew down the day before. I always travel light so we limited our luggage to one carry-on and a small backpack each. This was a bit of a challenge for ten days because we needed dress up clothes for dinner. I bought the first cocktail dress I ever owned (#24) for this cruise and into the suitcase it went, too. I do admit to packing a pair of shoes in Jen’s suitcase.

This trip allowed us to visit Aruba (#25), Grenada (#26), and Dominica (#27), three islands I’d not been to before. We visited a spice farm (#28), which was interesting, and we swam in a cool green lagoon at the base of a waterfall (#29). That was kind of neat. There were people diving and jumping off the top of the falls but I did not try that. Sometime in the years following college I either gained some good sense or lost a lot of nerve, because jumping that far just wasn’t going to happen!

Our biggest adventure of the trip was scuba diving (#30) and I hated it. Even while practicing in a swimming pool, I was incredibly uncomfortable. Just the thought of being under all that water gave me a serious anxiety attack and when we took the boat out to the open water, I opted out of the deep water experience. Even with more practice, I can’t see myself ever enjoying diving. The guide talked me into letting Jen go down with her and I was a nervous wreck the whole time she was out of my sight. It might be a few steps beyond normal, but I’d rather jump out of an airplane.