It was hot that May, in Honduras. I booked my first hotel near the airport. Two days later, I headed to my AirBnB, in San Pedro Sula, second-largest city in Honduras. The travel advisory said to avoid road travel at night and stick to well-known areas. I did one better. I booked a cabin, in a gated community. I had a barcode that got me through security, at the gate. Once inside, there was a small grocery store, next door to a laundry service. I booked the “birdhouse” AirBnB option (over the other AirBnB option of renting a container dorm room). My kitchen area was downstairs. The bedroom and bathroom were upstairs. It was the perfect space, but it was hot. There were power outages, every few days, and so I quickly learned to only purchase popsicles one day at a time. From there, the plan was to fly to nearby Belize. But … I ended up booking a NCL cruise to Alaska. Yes! It was that hot!

For my first cruise on Norwegian, I entered their loyalty program at their Bronze level. I also should have entered with a ten percent discount, for my military service, but I booked via Expedia and didn’t know about the discount, at the time. I crashed the reception for military veterans and learned how to use ID.Me.

• Tiers:
  • Bronze (1-19 pts): 10% off duty-free, priority check-in.
  • Silver (20-44 pts): Above, plus cocktail party, special discounts.
  • Gold (45-74 pts): Above, plus priority tender/disembarkation.
  • Platinum (75-149 pts): Above, plus laundry service, sparkling wine.
  • Sapphire (150-349 pts): Above, plus priority boarding, concierge services.
  • Diamond (350-699 pts): Above, plus specialized dining perks.
  • Ambassador (700+ pts): Highest level with maximum benefits.

Three cruises a year was not clearly not enough to move me upwards to Sapphire. I needed more days at sea. And, given that I travel full time, (and have to sleep somewhere), why not sleep on a cruise ship? Doing so has provided a place to lay my head, provide me with as many free meals as I can eat, and free entertainment. It’s up to me to spend money on the extra excursions, fine dining, Internet packages, drink packages, and the like. Finding free WiFi, at port stops, has become my very own “Internet” excursion. If we docked at terminal, with free WiFi, I sit there and check my email. If we docked in a commercial terminal, without WiFi, I walk or take the free shuttle into town and look for a Starbucks. Some Hop On Hop Off buses offer free WiFi.

In 2025, I kicked things into high gear. No three or four day cruises. In fact, no seven day cruises. I kicked the year off on a Transatlantic 13 Day and then a Mediterranean 11 Day. Next, I flew stateside and took a Bermuda 10 Day (Hurricane Erin meant we missed three of the scheduled stops), and then ended the year on a Repositioning 12 Day cruise from Vancouver, through Alaska, and then down the west coast, ending in San Diego. Then, sitting at 74 points at the Gold level, Platinum was just one point away! I decided to go for broke! I headed to LAX and flew to Lisbon, Portugal. After a failed attempt at walking the final 100k of the Portuguese Camino (I walked the entire 500k of the French way two years before), I flew from Santiago de Compostela to a 15 day NCL transatlantic to Miami and finally a few days later, on a 11 day Panama Canal (Miami to Miami)! I ended the year 28 points away from Sapphire, in less than two years on NCL. My first cruise of 2026 was a 17 day Lima (Peru) to San Diego (USA). Sapphire, here I come!

After volunteering, at the final Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah, I spent two weeks in one hotel, near Heathrow Airport and then moved a little further down the road and spent ten days in another. Heathrow hotels are cheaper than central London. So, I simply caught a bus to the airport and took the Piccadilly Line to where I wanted to go in London. By the time I reached Lima, Peru, via a stopover in Madrid, the Middle East was being attacked, parts of Mexico had Level Four warnings from the US State Department, and one of my friends was sending posts about not finding a way out of the UAE.

Two years ago, I felt confident that I could travel to anywhere I wanted. I had a goal of 100 countries. I’m currently at 90! Then, just like that, the world changed. The way people viewed me, as an American, changed. So, while not a full time cruise traveler, working for almost two years, acquiring the “safety” of Sapphire status, on NCL, may have been the smartest travel decision I’ve ever made! XOXO— GGT