Wednesday, June 6

Compartmentalization – a subconscious psychological defense used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person’s having conflicting values, cognition, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves.

Compartmentalizing can be a good thing. A businessman, fireman, or professional athlete needs the capacity to leave behind a “bad day at the office” and shift to being a loving and nurturing spouse/parent that evening.

Compartmentalizing can also be a bad thing. A Christian who acts like a Christian in church buildings and when around Christians, but lives an unrestrained, immoral life elsewhere, is unwisely compartmentalizing. After all, God sees all compartments. Also, the fireman who had a bad day may, at times, need to open up to his spouse for support and encouragement–rather than compartmentalize.

Today, with this final cruise blog, I’m going to compartmentalize. Specifically, I’m going to mentally separate the cruise, which was wonderful, from the travel home, which was not.

Our Alaska land/sea cruise was all that we had hoped it would be. My takeaways:

1. An Alaska cruise is very different than one to the Caribbean. The scenery is better and more unique (my opinion) and the passengers are older. That said, if you have younger children, want to lay in the sun on the beach, pay less, or be on a louder/younger party boat, head to the Caribbean.

2. Figure out your priorities, and budget accordingly. Princess, like other cruise lines, has 2 priorities: 1. For you to have fun so you’ll return. 2. To separate you from your money at every opportunity. If you want a balcony room, sodas/alcohol, WiFi, more than one night of specialty dining, a spa treatment, one of the ship photographer’s photos, or to go on an excursion, you pay extra for it.

3. Traveling with family and friends is a blast. Everything from meals to excursions is more interesting and memorable. We frequently chose sitting around playing cards and trivia over the many ship activities.

4. I over-packed. I could have gotten by with half as much and just done laundry on the ship. Among many examples, I brought soap and shampoo and every room we stayed in provided that. That said, bring binoculars or a camera with a good zoom…and a good rain jacket.

5. Study the excursion options and pick a few good ones. We had fun hiking and kayaking with the group and going horseback riding on our own. All three allowed us to see more of Alaska than just the touristy ports.

6. Some guides were excellent; others were annoying. The annoying ones had a tendency to talk too much—to fill every inch of silence, rather than allow time for passengers to visit with each or reflect on what they were seeing. Less is more.

7. Bring an inquisitive mind. What can I learn about glaciers, my traveling companions, the waiter’s background, grizzly bear gender, the town’s history, salmon fishing, or the ship’s propulsion system? Try to learn something new every day. Your life—and you, will be far more interesting as a result.

Time now to compartmentalize the cruise experience into a fun, memorable experience I would love to do again someday.

Now, in a different, more shadowy compartment, let’s move on to our journey home. On paper, the plan looked solid. Disembark the ship, fly to St Louis via Chicago, and get a ride to Kyle and Laci’s apartment, arriving at 11 p.m. They would have a couple of hours to shower, repack, love on their dog, and get some sleep, before having to catch a flight the next morning to Greece. Kyle will be teaching classes on the Greek language and culture, and both of them will be chaperoning with Harding University’s Honors Abroad program for graduated high school seniors.

Let the customer service buffoonery begin…

Our disembarking paperwork showed we would have to go through ship customs, rather than travel “direct to bus” like Kyle and Laci, who had booked our tickets together. Wanting to streamline the process as much as possible, we went to customer service at the Princess lobby…

1. Princess Representative #1…”This happened because when you don’t book your flight through Princess, you have to provide your itinerary online. You must not have done that.” (Untrue. We provided and confirmed our itinerary in advance.)

2. Princess Rep #2…”There’s nothing we can do about it now…the names are with the airline.” (Untrue. There’s almost always something you can do; it may just require more effort on your part.)

3. Next morning, Princess Rep #3…”We fixed your problem. You’re now ‘Direct to Bus.'” (Told you it could be fixed. Still, only partially true. You fixed it, but didn’t give us a little sticker saying so, so while disembarking, we were stopped and an additional phone call had to be made.)

Shifting to United Airlines buffoonery…

4. At Vancouver airport, United scale #1 showed our two big pieces of luggage were 3 and 5 lbs under the 50-lb max. (Untrue. Scale at counter showed 1-2 lbs over max, resulting in a last second scramble to transfer clothes between suitcases and backpacks.)

5. United Rep #1 at Vancouver…“Your flight has been delayed. You might miss your connection from Chicago to STL. If so, you’ll be able to get your luggage. For security reasons, they won’t put your luggage on a flight you’re not on.” (Simply untrue.)

6. United Rep #2 at Chicago arrival gate, makes call to a number that is busy, then tells us…”Your plane just departed.” (Untrue.) “Your bags won’t be on it.” (Untrue.) “Go down to our customer service desk underneath the dinosaur statue and they will help you get your luggage.” (Untrue.)

7. United Rep #3 under dinosaur…”Your luggage will be on the next flight to STL in the morning.” (Untrue.) “The baggage office is closed for the evening so there is no way to get your luggage.” (Partially true, but for the wrong reason.) We asked for her supervisor.

8. United Rep #4, supervisor under dinosaur. “Since you missed your flight and will now have to get a rental car to get to STL in the morning so your son and his wife can catch their flight to Greece, I’ll put in a ‘Special Request’ (ooooh) to have your bags retrieved. They’ll be at Carousel 7 within 1-2 hours.” (Untrue.)

9. United Rep #5 at Carousel 7, first competent person. After researching, says, “Your connecting flight was delayed. It’s now gone but your bags are on it and you four could have been on it too. I’m sorry. I don’t know why we told you to go to customer service, rather than the gate.” (I don’t know either, but thanks for at least caring, researching, and giving us an accurate answer.)

Thus, we rented a car from Enterprise at 11 p.m. for a 5-hr drive to STL. The Enterprise customer service was exceptional.

On the road, we called United Customer Service to see if we would be able to retrieve our bags at 5 a.m. at the STL airport.

10. United Phone Rep #6…”No, I’m sorry but baggage claim doesn’t open until 8 a.m. You can’t get your bags until then.” (Untrue.)

11. United Phone Rep #7…”Baggage claim doesn’t open until 6 a.m.” (Untrue.)

12. United Phone Rep #8, second competent person of evening…”Let me check…okay, the United counter upstairs opens at 5 a.m. They have a key and will take you downstairs to unlock the area where your bags are.” Are you sure? “Yes” If they are unwilling can we call you back? “Absolutely, I’ll give you my name.” (100% True!)

After being up all day and driving through the night, we finally retrieved our bags at 5 a.m. at the STL airport. Without hesitation, the United counter lady took us downstairs to unlock and retrieve our bags. Kyle and Laci were able to shower, repack, and not get any sleep. We returned the rental car and had them to the airport at 7 a.m. for their flight to Greece. We returned to their apartment and collapsed on the bed, with an overgrown, attention-starved Bichon Frise resting on my pillow.

In retrospect, we unnecessarily rented a car ($150), got gas ($26) and drove through the night because United Rep #2 in Chicago didn’t take the time to research and give us an accurate answer. Her mistake was simply one in a series of untrue statements and poor customer service throughout the night. I’ll compartmentalize it in the bin called “reasons to avoid air travel whenever possible,” thus leaving my happy cruise memories bin intact.

Still, I’m thankful. Kyle and Laci safely made it to Greece. I drove through the night without falling asleep. Our luggage wasn’t lost. Our plane didn’t crash. Most importantly, Pita the Bichon Frise got a haircut this morning!

Yes, it could have been worse—a guy on the Enterprise shuttle with us was having to drive his wife and small children to Denver that night because their plane had to divert after being hit by lightning, right outside their window. Yikes!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my Alaska cruise blog, at least the first 11.5 entries, before the buffoonery began. If you’ve never been on a cruise to Alaska, I hope you get the chance some day.

After dog sitting for the next two weeks, we’ll travel to Fayetteville, TN for our next sojourn.

Enjoy your summer, and may most of your mental compartments be full of happy memories of loving family, close friends, and competent customer service.