Cruising Barefoot

Monday Mantra

Cruising Barefoot

When novice packing mistakes seem to carry on.

I will not make novice cruise mistakes…I will not make novice cruise mistakes…I will not make novice cruise mistakes…

More than 35 years have passed since then and I now think of myself as a cruise veteran. I know how to scoot past photographers; I know what to do when a vacuum toilet starts to sound like it’s about to explode; I never forget my shore excursion tickets; and I even used to know how to cut the boat drill before they started taking attendance. Yet, recently, a novice cruise mistake nearly forced me to disembark in my pajamas.On the final night of my first cruise, I dutifully placed my packed suitcase outside my cabin door and didn’t realize until the following morning that it contained every pair of shoes I’d brought. I disembarked barefoot, but it was cool: I was 19 and pretty cute.

It happened aboard The Moody Blues Cruise, a sailing with some of my all-time favorite rock bands (which you can read all about in the September/October issue of Porthole Cruise Magazine). On the final evening, I was delighted to receive an invitation to the artists’ end-of-cruise party. At the time, I was attired in an outfit better suited to grocery shopping than hanging with rock stars, so I dug into my packed suitcase, changed into something fabulous, and chucked what I’d been wearing into the case.

When I returned to my cabin, I kicked off my shoes, re-packed the fabulous outfit, placed my luggage outside the cabin door, and went to bed. I was nearly asleep when it dawned on me … “DAAAAARN!!!” I screamed. (Okay, maybe not “darn,” but I certainly screamed as I leaped out of bed and flung the door open.) To my relief, there it was still leaning against the wall: the suitcase that held the pants that would save me from disembarking in my pajamas.

They say we learn from our mistakes and I suppose I did. I came awfully close to leaving the ship in my sleepwear. But at least I was never in danger of being barefoot.