Downsides

Not everything is roses and rainbows. Don't get me wrong, we're excited about this epic trip, but it is not without its downsides. Numbers one and two are pretty near a tie. They are living in a 216 square foot cabin and traveling eastward and doing both for 6 months! Now, clearly the cabin size was a choice we made. Actually, it was more like a compromise. Neither of us was willing to cough up an additional $21,000 for the next size cabin at 322 square feet. Even adding that 106 sq. ft. would have made this one of the smallest cabins we've had for a long cruise! So, we decided to stay with the smaller cabin and that $21K could be much better used elsewhere. Traveling eastward was a choice Oceania made (twice!) for reasons that will always be a mystery to us. Having circumnavigated twice before, we can admit making a rookie mistake and going eastbound in 2001. We learned from that and made sure to travel westward in 2006. Now you may be thinking, well it can't make that much difference. Trust me, it does. Traveling eastward, you lose an hour crossing time zones every couple of days. So, in essence at the end of the trip it seems like you had all 23 hour days and that is exhausting. Forget the argument about getting it back at the International Date Line. Nothing happens there! It feels like just another time zone change. Traveling westward on the other hand, it feels like all 25 hour days. You get an extra hour every day or so to sleep! Or do whatever you want with your extra hours. But, the point is that you have EXTRA hours, which is not exhausting the way LOST hours are. It makes a bigger difference than you can imagine sitting at home. We can't imagine what the cruise itinerary planners at Oceania were thinking when they laid out not one, but two world cruises traveling east. Number three is on Oceania too. When we booked and got our first invoice it said Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 Free Unlimited Internet. After final payment, we got another invoice and it said Passenger 1 2 Free Unlimited Internet. Did this mean anything? Yes, in fact, it did. What did it mean? Well, it did not mean Free Unlimited Internet anymore, I can tell you that. What is the distinction then? Now it means there is One Free Internet account per cabin, not per passenger. So, we'll work it out and only ever have one of us at one time logged on one device. But, for unmarried singles sharing cabins, I imagine it gets a little thornier. Plus, there is the issue of Oceania changing the terms ever so subtly between taking initial deposits and final payments. That change of terms is cutting in half a benefit previously agreed to and is badly done Oceania. The last thing that is bothering me is the fact that Insignia has one small laundry room for just over 600 passengers. I may be strange, but I prefer to launder our own garments. That won't be possible. Further downside is that Oceania is providing laundry service. That doesn't sound right, does it? But, I have read far too many negative reports on hot water washing and overheated drying and items not just rendered unwearable, but worse never returned at all from Oceania's laundry service. So, we'll have a limited wardrobe for 6 months and it sounds like it will be ever continuing to shrink, both in size and in quantity. I hope this is not true, but it is so universally and reliably reported that I fear it will happen.

Am I missing anything to fret about? Probably. But that will do for now. ;)