I’ve been itching for a “real” vacation since retiring in May. Carnival has been offering great deals on the ships they’ve restarted sailing and some are still the same price when pricing for solos.
I checked with my husband who said go and I booked a seven night cruise on the Carnival Vista 9 days out. Never been able to do that with a job! Then came the busy part making all the arrangements.
Itinerary
From Galveston you’re pretty much on a Western Caribbean itinerary with a limited selection of ports. Really, the ports were not my first consideration this time. Just wanted to go!
With three ports I needed to decide what to do in each of them. Some Carnival sponsored excursions were already sold out by the time I booked, I decided to just stay at the port and go to the beach there in Roatan. I’ll be back here in October on another cruise.
I’m going to do what I did last year in Belize. Yes, stay on the ship. Last, but not least I decided on going to Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel. It seemed like a good option as a solo.
Pre-cruise Arrangements
There were four things I had to be sure to get booked right away: Flights, hotel, transportation to Galveston and Covid-19 test. Yes, Carnival recently started requiring all passengers regardless of vaccination status bring their negative covid 19 test results which had to be taken within. 3 days of sailing.
I was able to use a United Airlines credit I’ve had sitting around since the pandemic started and cancelled all our plans. Even had enough credit to book economy plus out and first class back. This meant I was flying into IAH instead of the closer Hobby airport but at least it was nonstop.
Then I was able to book a pre-cruise night at the Springhill Suites Houston International with Marriott points. It had my requirements for a free airport shuttle and breakfast. For transportation Galveston Express was the best deal at $65 round trip for seniors.
Last but not least I scheduled my Covid-19 antigen test at CVS for Thursday.
I live within 10 miles of at least 6 CVS stores but had to schedule at the 3rd closest one for the rapid antigen test.
Packing
I’m usually paranoid about forgetting my passport but this trip I was so worried about my test results and vaccination card. Strange times we live in. Only thing I needed to buy before leaving was a couple of pairs of shorts. Everything else I had already (although I’ll be buying a couple of more things before my next trip).
Just a week to go!
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