Final Payment - Yippee!!!

Apart from the excitement of putting down the deposit on a cruise the next best part is the final payment date. Assuming you've budgeted wisely, of course, and you even have the final payment. Barring freak storms, flu outbreaks or civil unrest, the cruise is within sight.

I did just that today, well, my husband did, for our Oct. 2 Zaandam cruise. No more backing out now without paying cancellation fees. We are now firmly stuck in. Time to start thinking about filling out the online immigration forms and setting up our shipboard account. Time to remind myself that - yikes! - I only have three months left to renew my passport, something I'd foolishly been putting off when the cruise was far, far away.

As Holland America has now moved to e-documents, I made sure to request paper documents. It may well be the last cruise I ever take in which I have something tangible to hold in my hands before leaving, evidence of a cruise around the corner. There's something so much nicer about holding stiff coloured luggage tags rather than flimsy black and white ones printed off my computer, barely readable as I try to suck out every last bit of ink.

On a longer cruise, I would seriously start researching the ports now; however, this is only a 2-night cruise with a stop in Victoria. We may not even leave the ship this time but rather hang out in the hot tub, socialize and drink special coffees.

I know there are some who would start thinking about packing now. I rarely unpack from previous cruises except for what I need in my non-cruise life. But that's more because of laziness rather than any efficiency on my part. But the beauty of that is that apart from throwing in some smalls, I'm almost always ready to pick up and leave on a moment's notice. Well, there was the time, though, when I left all my bathing suits behind on a Mexican Riviera cruise...

But I think packing is a whole 'nother post in itself, don't you?

My new netbook: I think I'm in love...

So here I sit on this sunny Canada Day, outside on my deck, birds tweeting away, cold drink at hand and my lovely little netbook on my lap, blogging away. Unlike my laptop which overheats as soon as I turn it on, this little beauty is as cool as the day is not. I LOVE this thing.

I've had mine for a couple of days and don't know how I lived without one before. The possibilities are endless especially when cruising. Surfing and writing away on the balcony while my husband's getting ready. My husband checking out the Canucks' scores while I'm getting ready. All without having to leave our cabin, assuming it is wifi equipped.

Then there is the issue of photos. Try as we might, we've never gotten around the issue of having to pay the ship to download pictures from our camera. Even bringing our own CD's doesn't solve the problem. We've still been charged. No more. Now we can just download them for free, at our convenience, to the netbook. And with a 160GB hard drive we'll be downloading them into the next millennium.

I know. There are those who will say the idea of taking a holiday is to get away from everyone and everything. But for those of us who like to stay in touch, share pictures, check the news, write, or just be digitally connected they're a great little toy to take along. No more paying to download pictures or videos. No more going back and forth to ship Internet cafes, hoping a computer is free.

As for brand, after doing all the comparisons and researching online I settled on an HP Mini. I'm sure others will have their own brand loyalties but when compared side by side with an Acer its features were identical. In the end the slightly larger keyboard size of the HP won me over. I hadn't realized how cheap they were or how light. You can take these puppies anywhere and that is exactly what I will do on our next cruise in October when I will be blogging live from the Zaandam.