March 16th, 2020 Day 72 of 128 (78)

O.K. it is very late here and I am very tired after a couple of stress filled days. But I must update you all on the events of today. When the 9:30am announcement was made nothing was mentioned about our situation so mom and I proceeded to our previously scheduled 10:00 massage appointments thinking the next announcement would be made at noon as usual. Well, we were close to that assumption. We were at the tail end of our massages, still on the table, when the captain came on the P.A. system. I have never gotten up and dressed so quickly off the massage table. The captain informed us that we were going to be required to get off the ship in Perth on March 22^nd and if we had booked our flight through Holland America (we did not) they were working on scheduling those passengers’ flights. If you did not, like us, we were told we were on our own to make arrangements to get ourselves home. I will keep opinions on this to myself at the time and stick to the facts. So we raced back to our cabins, to begin our work. The Internet doesn’t work very well on the ship and now everyone is trying to do what we are doing at the same time. Not a good combination. I was on my phone, mom’s phone, my computer and my son was on his computer and phone in California all at the same time. Stars aligned and I was blessed to get a representative from American Express Travel on the phone and she was a gem getting us booked a room the night we dock, a flight the 23^rd – from Perth, to Sydney, to Honolulu, and accommodations in Honolulu. I will say Holland America’s delay in notification cause the flight prices to increase by 25% from the time I started looking and we were told to wait to make a purchase. By 1:00pm we had everything reserved and we are praying for no addition changes, but the times we live in right now means every day is a moment-by-moment situation. Mom and I went directly to bar, we did not stop, we did not pass go, …. Two days of stress and anxiety and now everything is set into motion. Suitcases even started to arrive after dinner this evening. So our plan for tomorrow it to pack everything in one suitcase each to take off the ship with us with what we will need for our time in Hawaii. Everything else gets packed up and left in our room for shipment back to our home at a later date. Probably when the ship gets back to the U.S. So who knows when we’ll see them again? We have been offered a generous refund and/or opportunity for a future cruise credit. We have been told that everything we prepaid for will be reimbursed to us in time. We will be given reimbursement for travel out of Perth, to a point. Lots of apologies and explanations why they are justifying not taking us back to Florida. They were supposed to get us a letter from corporate by the end of the day putting everything they promised in writing, but we haven’t seen it yet. I am just happy we have a place to lay our head the night we get off the ship, a plane ticket out of the country, and a game plan to get back to the U.S.A. Time will tell how it all works out. At happy hour this evening the ship consoled us with complimentary liquor and everyone seemed in better spirits tonight, except the staff as they are all awaiting to be told what they have to do; stay on the ship, get off and wait, get off and go home… So I am going to sleep, happy to be with my family, happy to have a plan of action, and stressed about packing, but it will be there for tomorrow. I love you all and will keep you in the loop. Hugs! Debra