February 2024: A MAGICAL February Vacation: Pre-trip

Back in April 2019, we sailed on the Disney Fantasy. While onboard, we booked a cruise for April 2020. We know what happened to that one. In the fall of 2019, we also booked a cruise for April 2021. We know what happened to that one too. We rolled those cancellations into a cruise for April 2022, but work said not so fast on international travel, so that vacation became a trip to Las Vegas and some Utah national parks. And we decided to start fresh and book out a ways in hopes of someday actually being able to cruise again.

Well, someday is here. When winter 2024 itineraries were announced, we (I) found a cruise out of New Orleans that aligned perfectly with February vacation, and it wasn’t Mardi Gras week. We wasted no time in booking it (no really…opening day for Silver Castaway members…), and got excited. A return to our favorite city (really the only city we actually like) and a return to cruising in the same trip!

The countdown slowly got smaller. Other trips happened. Airfare and hotels got booked on points. School was chaotic. JetBlue changed our flight times so I booked a pre-flight hotel in Boston. I finalized plans for New Orleans and booked our excursion to Chicen Itza! And then we finally hit 2024. It’s cruise year!

And then January happened. The lead up to a trip never seems to be without some obstacle and this one was no different. Literally on New Year’s Day, Nick got sick. It turned out to be Covid. He shared. Three weeks later he was fully over Rona but I still had some lingering stuff, and said lingering stuff got worse. Feverish, which is highly unusual for me, I dragged myself into urgent care to find out that I didn’t have Covid complications. I had Flu A. Obviously, Nick then got that from me. But hey, we’ve now got immunity to 2 of the 3 major viruses I was worried could potentially ruin a February cruise vacation?

Needless to say, January was a lost month. And February was spent trying to catch up on all things work, and also trying to regain stamina. Both were sort of lost causes, but both situations gradually improved as the month wore on. As the countdown got significantly smaller, the final errands were done, the packing got completed, I started to wonder where I was going to find the energy for any aspect of this trip, and the anxiety about what other viruses might prevent us from boarding that cruise ship spiked. But…pretty soon we made it to the last day of work before vacation, and realized we’d both managed to work the entire month of February!

Some details:
Car Service: Axis Coach, based in Londonderry, NH
Flights: Nonstop on JetBlue BOS-MSY
Pre-flight hotel: Hilton Garden Inn Boston Logan Airport

Pre-cruise hotel: Eliza Jane
Post-Cruise hotel: Drury Plaza Hotel New Orleans
Cruise: Disney Magic February 26-March 1, 2024 from New Orleans