Salty Zebra

 Last year about this time, I wrote to you all asking for a little help from my friends , and you showed up! We raised $357.68 in donations over the month and I wanted to share with you today how that has influenced my blog this year.  First, it showed me that there were real people out there reading what I was writing who actually valued it enough to contribute financially. That means more than I can possibly express! I love  writing, but it's hard when you put things out into the blogosphere day after day and you wonder if anyone sees it, if anyone cares, if it's making a difference. When you all showed up for me last December, it encouraged me to keep writing, to keep traveling, to keep learning and sharing things with you. THANK YOU!!!  Next, by having some level of financial income, my blog was legitimized as a business. This enabled me to open five different credit cards and two bank accounts earning me 365,000 points/miles and $1,200 in account signup bonuses....

 Depression. It makes food taste... bland. Sunny days look... dim. Even comedians don't sound funny anymore. So, what's the point of going on a cruise if you're depressed? Here's my take on it. As with many of my other symptoms, you're going to be depressed whether you're at home or on a cruise, so you may as well be on a cruise!   Depression, at least for me in this season, doesn't mean that I'm miserable. It simply means that I get 40% less enjoyment out of what I'm doing. I see things differently. I experience things differently. How does that play out in real, lived experience? Well, for example, I have found that my interactions with people on this cruise haven't gone as well as I remember in the past. Negativity hits me quite a bit harder, so the lady sitting next to me at my dinner with the officers last night complaining about the temperature of her food and how long it took for dessert to come stood out much more starkly than it would ha...

  So, you’ve made it to Platinum status (or maybe even higher) with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). What should you make sure to take advantage of so you don’t miss out on any of your perks? I’m here to talk you through it today.   Your benefits begin before you ever board the ship, so keeping these things in mind can save you money, improve your experience or both! As soon as you join the Latitudes Rewards Program , after your first cruise, you are eligible to book future cruises with extra rewards points associated. Typically you receive 1 point per cruise night in a regular room. If you book a Suite or a room in the Haven, you’ll get an extra point per night, but you’ll pay for that point with a much higher room cost. What you may not know is that you can receive a free extra point per night, moving you up in status twice as fast, by booking a member cruise. You can find these when searching by choosing “More” and “Past Guest Offer.” I’ve gotten a great deal of my points th...

   Last night, minutes before heading to bed, I decided to pop up the Solo Cruise Search on CruisePlum.com . With my husband's career situation being in flux, I haven't been able to book anything for us in the foreseeable future. It's been a hot minute though since I've been on a trip by myself so last night I thought I'd just take a peak to see what was out there. Initially it was about comparing the price per day with an offer I'd found on Holland America for standby travel . $198/day seemed like a lot for an inside room, even for a solo price, but I wanted to confirm that feeling . Turns out I was right! MSC had a ton of sailings under $50/day for solo travelers, but unfortunately, they only sail out of the East Coast and Europe at the moment and I'm not in the mood to fly to Florida. You know who sails out of the West Coast in the fall? Norwegian, that's who! Ok, there's lots of other cruise lines that do this too, but Norwegian is my favorite, ...

 Our week-long cruise in the MSC Yacht Club on the Seascape was absolutely incredible, and much of that is due to what most would consider little things. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the little things make all the difference! In this post I'm going to break down some of the most memorable touches, and as long as I'm sure it will get, I'm barely scratching the surface! From the moment you arrive at the cruise terminal you will see signs and be greeted by staff from the Yacht Club. They escort you to the front of lines and guide you to a special waiting area where the staff are excited to see you and ready to begin spoiling you! They have a variety of drinks available while you wait from still or sparkling water (both of which are pretty much always available), lemonade, or even champagne or a mimosa! Once they have a group together and a butler to escort you, they walk you all the way onto the ship and up to the Yacht Club Top Sail Lounge. Here we were ...

 The MSC Yacht Club is their version of the ship-within-a-ship concept made popular by cruise lines in recent years. Cruise ships have gotten bigger and bigger, and consequently filled by more and more people. Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, currently the largest operating cruise ship, has a gross tonnage of 248,663 and accommodates nearly 10,000 people between guests and staff. As you can imagine, this creates some level of chaos and crowding. For people like myself, introverts and those with sensory processing issues, that can be a nightmare. Enter the ship-within-a-ship idea. MSC cruise line actually pioneered this feature in 2008 on the MSC Fantasia. In the Yacht Club, you have a private area that cannot be accessed by the general population of the ship. Things are quieter. Staff are friendlier. Food is better. You get the idea. You still have full access to the features in the rest of the ship if you want to go to a show or enjoy some of the specialty dining, but you have ...

 Towards the end of our recent Alaskan cruise, I asked my husband what one of his favorite parts of the trip was. What he shared so resonated with me, that I want to share it with you as well. He told me that he enjoyed our cruise "routine." After several such trips (we have taken 11 cruises together), we have developed some rhythms to our cruise days that we find much enjoyment in.   In the morning, unless we have an early excursion (which we try to avoid), we sleep until our bodies wake us up naturally. I love waking up without an alarm! After showering and getting ready for our day, we head to breakfast, which is usually in the Garden Cafe (NCL's buffet). Here they have a fabulous array of options, including our favorite, made to order omelets. On the Breakaway Plus class ships which all have a similar layout, we have a favorite area to eat - just outside of the buffet on the pool deck near a drink station. This gives us fresh air, beautiful views, the convenience of t...