Aunt Carol’s Bucket List Birthday Cruise Adventure Begins – A Bumpy Start

Aunt Carol is 13 years older than I am and has been like a big sister to me. Last summer when I was visiting Iowa, I asked her what was on her bucket list and she said she wanted to cruise from the West Coast to Hawaii, stop on all of the Hawaiian Islands and cruise back. I had no idea if that was possible but it almost is. The 15 day cruise stops on 3 of the 5 islands. We are leaving from San Francisco on Monday. We will be on open water when Aunt Carol turns 80 next Thursday. I flew to Cedar Rapids from Nashville on Allegiant the only direct flight from Nashville. Tomorrow we drive to Des Moines which had better fights to SF and leave at 7 AM on Sunday morning. We spend Sunday night at Fisherman’s Wharf near where we board the Princess ship. I thought I had it planned out to allow for challenges with air travel.

I planned a family birthday/bon voyage dinner in Cedar Rapids for siblings and their kids in CR tonight and we will have another birthday/bon voyage dinner with those in Des Moines tomorrow night.

This morning, in addition to finishing packing for the nearly 3-week trip, I was preparing my condo to have the bathrooms renovated while I am gone. I was feeling pretty good when I got to the gate at the airport. All going according to plan. The flight was uneventful. The Allegiant plane seemed a little “stripped” down on the interior but was great – until my checked bag with all of my toiletries and 2 weeks of cruise clothes did not arrive in CR. I had an AirTag in the suitcase and knew it was still in Nashville.

Now the challenges with flying on a lower cost ticket become glaringly obvious. They employ fewer people at the airports. There is no baggage person. I was instructed to go to the ticketing counter which did not have anyone at it because the employees were getting a plane loaded. After about an hour, a person came and called Nashville and they were unaware all bags had not made the flight. I was told someone would call me later. There was no number I could call to follow-up. I was getting ready to panic around 930 PM. My plan was to have my son go to Nashville airport tomorrow and talk to Allegiant there to make sure they had the bag.

The call came from Nashville just after 930 PM. The next flight to Cedar Rapids is not until Monday. While Allegiant has a flight to Des Moines on Saturday – arriving at 730 PM, sometimes their weekend flights are cancelled. I could have had the bag Fed Exed to Des Moines for expedited, overnight but it wouldn’t go out until Saturday morning and Fed Ex doesn’t deliver on Sunday so it would arrive Monday. Next option is for it to be Fed Exed to the Hotel in SF to arrive at 1030 AM on Monday a couple of hours before we are to get on the ship. Fingers crossed it gets there as I won’t have a lot of time to shop.

On the positive side we had a great Italian food at Zio Johno’s with table decorations, singing and a cake – the first of 3 celebrations.

Tomorrow is another day of time with friends and family – and sending positive energy towards Fed Ex for the timely delivery of my luggage to Hotel Riu Plaza Monday morning.