3.31.2016

fathom cruise to Dominican Republic - PREVIEW, pt II

okay, so here's a thing - I am a tireless researcher of travel.  When I said in most places I prefer to just wander off and find a local to show me the off-the-beaten-path stuff?  I usually know, before I go, a lot about the place I'm going.  And when it comes to ships, I usually have the whole deck plan memorized.  And all the ins and outs of how things are done, so I don't have to waste time or miss something, learning on the spot.

So, shortly after being confirmed on the Adonia for April, I started in...except...IT'S A BRAND NEW COMPANY!!!  There are no reviews, because no one has sailed with them.  Ever.  Sure, some useful info can be gleaned from reviews of the ship as it sailed for P&O, but, while they are keeping the staff...the dining is changing.  The entertainment is leaving.  They've even slightly changed the way cabins are numbered.  The shoreside experiences are basically unknown.  They have flown some journalists down to participate in what are, at best, trial runs, but who knows how it's all going to work with a full complement of passengers? 

At first my inner-obsessive was dismayed.  Then my inner-adventurer said "YAY!!!", a brand new thing".  I haven't been on a brand new cruise line since 1990 when I sailed the inaugural cruise on the Crown Monarch of the short lived Crown Cruise Line.  And of course, since that was pretty much before most of the internet as we know it today, I wasn't such a researcher then...I just pretty much booked stuff over the phone and showed up and figured it out as I went.  Thinking back on it, I kind of miss that.  I may have to re-think my whole life at this point.  Maybe the web and social media aren't the blessing I thought they were.

The flip side of that is, everything I report on this blog and on my FB page is going to be new information (okay, I may get scooped by a week, but that's pretty close to new).  So, it's exciting to think I'll actually be telling people stuff they don't know.  But the pressure to get it right, and to get all the details?  whew...I hope I'm up to the task.

btw, and in closing, I previously listed all the ways you can follow along on my trip, but I forgot to link my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidHolmanHolmanTravel).  I will probably be posting a ton of video, since (in case I haven't mentioned it) it's a lot of new stuff!

Enough for now.  I'll check in a couple more times before I sail away in SIXTEEN DAYS!

Auf Wiedersehen für jetzt, treuer Leser

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