Cancellation Anxiety

I’ve never quite understood Charlie Brown and the Peanuts. None of them are really all that likeable. One of the schticks that they presented in the television programs was Charlie Brown, Lucy and that blasted football. I am probably one of the few people who relates more to Lucy in the scene than Charlie Brown. As a child, I was often asked to hold the football for the neighbor boys who wanted to practice kicking. It is rather unnerving to be kneeling down holding a football with only one finger when someone comes racing towards you, planning to kick as hard as they can. I backed off and dropped the ball as often as not. I didn’t do it out of malice but concern for my own safety.

Today, we are 67 days out from our next cruise. We have weathered three cancellations in the past nine months and it’s becoming difficult to trust the cruise industry. Yesterday, Tony from La Lido Loca broke into my lovely evening to let us know that Royal Caribbean had just announced that they would be cancelling the July sailings of their newest ship, Odyssey of the Seas, due to an outbreak of Covid-19 among the crew. Out of an abundance of caution, they are isolating all of the Odyssey’s crew for 14 days and pushing back their inaugural sail date. I totally get it. Even though all of the ship’s crew has been vaccinated, they are still within the two-week window for full vaccine effectiveness. I feel for those Royal Caribbean passengers who got within three weeks of their cruise date, only to have it cancelled. We are all pulling for the crew members who have tested positive and are glad that they are receiving medical care. We all need for cruise ship crews to be healthy and vaccinated before they can get back to work and we can all get on cruise ships. But…

I now have a significant case of cancellation anxiety. 

I have become Charlie Brown and Royal Caribbean is Lucy holding the football. I understand that there may be perfectly acceptable reasons for cancelling a cruise but I find I have less faith with each announced cancellation. Of course, there is more at stake than just the cruise. We are cruising with our son, his wife and their two wonderful girls. We have not seen our grandchildren in almost 18 months. Every cancellation not only delays our walking onto a cruise ship but also delays having our girls’ arms around our necks.  

The only remedy for such anxiety is more cruise videos. So, this evening I am anxiously awaiting any vlogs or livestreams from all those creators sailing on Adventure of the Seas.

See you shipside.