we didn't make it out today

My travel agent calls me early this morning around 6am and says that we need to get up to Newark airport immediately and check in with AirCanada. So we pack everything up and head up there (about 45 minute ride). we are prepared for anything. so we get up there and finally get through the long line only to be told there is nothing going out. we can be put on standby, but all the flights are overbooked and the chances for going out on standby are practically nill. so then she starts looking at saturday flights. we are thinking, ok, we'll meet up with the ship at its first port, Ketchikan. she finds us a flight to Vancouver (tomorrow) but can't find anything to get us to Ketchikan. she apologizes and tell us there is nothing she can do. unbelievable.

Our neighbor, Joe, had driven us up there and he works for Fedex. his specialty is getting packages anywhere, so he takes charge. he's determined to find a way to get us there (we are now THE PACKAGE!). he's got his wife at home on the computer checking out flights and they find a flight our of Seattle to Ketchikan on Sunday, which would be perfect. so now we just need to get to Seattle! So we finally get our travel agent - who is at work at her other job - so she turns the case over to her associate, Bonnie - who knows how to deal with these issues. she gets a head honcho at AirCanada and then her, bonnie and joe begin a 4-hour ordeal of dealing with this and getting us out somehow.

So here 's the plan: we are leaving Newark tomorrow at 11:30 and flying into Toronto. From Toronto we fly into Vancouver. Then we have a little time to wait and then we catch yet another fly and fly back to the US into Seattle where we spend the night. then we leave early in the morning from Seattle for Ketchikan where hopefully a representative from the ship will be waiting for us! after we got all that figured out and returned back home, my neighbor's wife, Jane, who was helping out with computer info, tells me she just got of the phone with Royal Caribbean and that they won't let us on the ship without a letter (on letterhead) from AirCanada saying they had cancelled the original flight. Huh? So back on the phone with Bonnie who does a conference call with AirCanada and Royal Caribbean to get the real story. yes, we need the letter and it has to be from the Newark airport. good grief. finally i am called later by bonnie who says, a letter will be waiting for me tomorrow at Newark (yeah, right! i'm thinking we should place bets on this!) So we will have missed 2 days of the cruise (no ports, just cruising - but one of the best parts of the cruise is when the ship launches and we missed that.

so that's where we are at. my husband was so stressed out that he made an appt. go get accupuncture! (he's goes once a month). and since my lowback was hurting so bad after sitting on metal chairs at the airport for 4 hours, he made me go too! (that will be another blog and i will take pictures of the session, which was pretty cool!)

thanks everyone for your well wishes - wish us a safe journey tomorrow and for me, PATIENCE! i will try to blog tomorrow night from our Seattle hotel!