When I booked my cruise/tour with NCL, I wanted to spend as little money as I needed to spend for a "bucket list" trip. In this case, I paid for a city view room to stay in when in town, and an inside cabin to stay in when on the ship. Since there was an almost $2400 difference between the price of a balcony cabin and an inside cabin, I figured that the money I saved would more than pay for the shore excursions I planned to take. So, when I received an offer to bid on a cabin upgrade, I figured that I'd bid as low as possible and hope that NCL would accept the bid.
Normally, getting an upgrade to a balcony cabin would be a bargain for $220 (total). In my case, I knew enough to bid low, as the ship is sailing well below 100% capacity due to staffing issues. Given the ship's layout, I figured that I would get a room near the pool or buffet - and I was right. Since my upcoming Hawaii cruise is not one known for late night partying, I figured that having a "winning" bid and being assigned a cabin upgrade in a non-optimal area of the ship would be an acceptable trade off. Only time will tell whether I was right or wrong on bidding for the upgrade.
Right now, I am packing and unpacking things to find an optimal grouping of items in my carry-on and my larger suitcase. So far, so good. The one main compromise I've had to make is that I've put my swimsuit and swim forms in my large suitcase (which will be checked at the airport). This means that if the bag gets lost in transit, I will not be able to go swimming until it is found.
The big issue I have is finding a day use hotel to rest at when the cruise ends, as I have a 12 hour wait from the time we leave the cruise ship to the time I need to be at the airport. (Who wants to spend 12 hours at an airport doing nothing?) So far, I've found several expensive options, and I figure that I'll call a few places directly to make sure I'm connecting to a real brick and mortar place.
Not to blame anyone, but it feels that every way I turn, I find that the logistics of this cruise keeps needing new cash infusions. For the 3 days I am touring Honolulu, I will have to take care of my own meals. And then, there will be the tips I pay on land and on the cruise. Although I paid for a transfer from cruise ship to the airport, I will skip it to catch a cab to a day use hotel to sleep for a while. Around 7 pm, I plan to leave the hotel, take a shuttle to the airport, and catch the "red eye" back home. This hotel will likely cost me $200, plus the money for a cab from the pier to the hotel, and a cab to the airport.
As I keep reminding myself, this is a bucket list trip - a very big item on that list.
