carbonel: Beth wearing hat (Default)
carbonel ([personal profile] carbonel) wrote2020-02-06 10:26 am
Entry tags:

New morning, new disasters

Last night, I was thinking that I should probably try to cancel the cruise, under the circumstances. (I could envision being kindly escorted to my cabin every time I coughed.) And then, overnight, the final shoe dropped.

While I was sleeping, the ports of Manila (the next stop) and Taipei (the new stop where I was supposed to join the cruise) closed to cruise ships. My mother, who’s already on the ship, says she has no idea where they’re going next. She says the ship was supposed to reprovision in Manila, and they’re likely to run out of strawberries and blueberries. I told her that should be the worst thing that happens to her. It’s about the only funny thing about the entire situation. So I am not flying to Taipei, and I’m not going on this cruise. So it goes.

At this point, I’m in recovery mode. I need try to get refunds for the airfares. The United flight went through the travel agent, so she needs to handle it. I'm waiting for a callback from Delta. The actual cost of the cruise will be dealt with between the cruise company and the insurance company, but something will definitely happen with that as well.

In the meantime, there were two events -- a spinning retreat and a convention in LA -- in February/early March that I hadn’t been able to go to because of the cruise, and I’ll be checking to see if I can make either of those happen.

And if all goes well, there will be a replacement cruise next winter.

My thanks to everyone for the kind words yesterday. I am actually feeling considerably less stressed about things than I was yesterday. No more decisions to be made, just managing what's already happened.

[personal profile] msmoat 2020-02-06 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, gosh, I'm just catching up with this. I'm glad the decision was taken out of your hands, to be honest. And that you're on this side of the ocean(s). Sending luck vibes towards your mother that she'll be able to get home again without too much inconvenience. I'm sorry that you're all going through this!

On the other hand...hope to see you in LA! *g*
dorinda: Hands reach for two identical glasses, which are labeled "half empty" and "half full". (halfemptyhalffull)

[personal profile] dorinda 2020-02-07 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
What she said! And you're so right, I'd rather be managing a fait accompli than be stuck in an uncertain muddle where I had to make decisions but didn't know which ones to make.