European Cruise Countdown: 27 Days

Deciding to go on the cruise was the easy part. Arranging vacation time for more than 2 weeks required more dexterity though I managed somehow. Pleading, puppy dog eyes and tiniest bit of whining helps. Out of the 15 days of vacation time I’ve saved, I’m blowing off 13 of them for this cruise.

The hardest part by far was committing to parting with a couple of grand each. Angie and I have good jobs. We can technically “afford” the trip, but still it stings. I foresee lots of ramen noodle lunches in our future. The original pricing we got from Princess was around $3,500 each. $1,807 for cruise only for an interior cabin and $1,639 for the airfare from California to Barcelona. Adding in taxes and transfers upped the cost even more.

Given no other choice, we would have gritted our teeth and paid the bill but thank goodness for the Internet.

Near the beginning of our planning, my cohort had found a website for American Way Travel that offered a considerable discount for cruise only: $1,189. I hestiated to contact them though because their sparse website didn’t exactly instill confidence. I admit it, I’m shallow and paranoid. With good reason though since the Net is rife with individuals who will scam the dentures from your mouth if allowed the opportunity. (http://www.419eater.com/ is an illustrative example of the net’s underbelly) The fact that the company claimed to be a member of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) didn’t really assuage my fears. I seriously doubt the CLIA will refund over $2,000 if things go south. Mistrust of bureaucracy is a natural tangent of paranoia, by the way.

The traditional travel agents we contacted weren’t able to offer enough of a discount—at the most, only $150 each. We just went round and round trying to find the best price. I must have called Princess every day testing if corporations could suddenly get amnesia. Unfortunately, they don’t I learned. Finally, frugalness won out over paranoia and I called American Way Travel. I chatted with a pleasant lady by the name of Marissa and that was enough to convince me to take a leap of faith. There were several things that convinced me. One, they promised to give booking numbers right away. Two, they declined to arrange the airfare, because they only did cruises. If they were shady, I’d think they’d want to make even more money. Third, they quoted airfare and transfer prices that were consistent with my research. And, lastly, they were located in West Lake Village, California. For two thousand dollars, heck ya, Angie and I were totally gonna drive down there and mess their shit up. Of course we’d never actually do it since we’re mild-mannered wimps, but appreciated having the option of doing so if we ever grew the balls.

In the end, they are legit. Princess sent our welcome packet a week ago and they money we saved made the price more palatable, if not exactly cheap.

Did I mention that I LOVE the Internet and it’s the greatest invention EVAH?