The Perfect Vacation
One Couple’s Adventures at Sea With and Without the Kids
by
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(On the 1989 cruise) We also visited St. Martin again, and this time we took a ship sponsored catamaran sailing trip around the island. It was a beautiful day and the trip should have been wonderful, but the waters were very choppy. Both Ned and my wife became seasick. Tyler was feeling great; he was allowed to steer the boat for a while, and I had a great time.
Once back on dry land, Suzy and Ned revived and we did a little shopping (this always seems to bring Suzy back to life).
As we walked to the pier to get the tender back to the ship, we noticed that everything was gone, there were no crew members there, no water, no sign, nothing. We looked out into the harbor and the ship was still there, but not a tender was in sight.
On the pier we were joined by two other couples, all just staring towards the ship, which now showed smoke coming out of its smokestack.
My wife said out loud what we were all thinking, “I hope the ship doesn’t leave without us!”
A man behind us with a beard said, “So do I!”
“Are you a passenger on the ship?” Suzy asked.
“No, ma’am,” he replied, “I’m the captain.”
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About the Book
The Perfect Vacation traces Suzy and Ewald Wiberg through a series of 13 vacations 12 of which were cruises over a period of 20 years. These include cruises with their two boys and as empty nesters. The book looks at the trips with a great sense of humor as it describes the good, the bad and the just okay parts of each trip.
Destinations include the Caribbean, Central America, trans Atlantic and Europe. The trips occurred on Cunard, Princess, Holland America, Costa, Oceania, Radisson/Regent, Celebrity and Sitmar cruise lines. Although they have cruised on some of the lines multiple time, they have never been on the same ship twice.
The book is filled with their unique experiences, useful tidbits of knowledge about cruising that will be of assistance to anyone planning a cruise, insight into many of the cruise lines, ports and traditions of the sea.
Without a doubt the highlight of their cruise experiences came in 2004 when they were lucky enough to be on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary 2. You can share in this historic voyage by reading the chapter entitled ‘Rock Stars!”
About the Author
Ewald Wiberg took his first ocean voyage in 1947 at the age of 17 months when he and his mother sailed from New York City to Panama to join his father, who worked for the Panama Canal Company. His love of ships and the sea was nurtured during frequent trips on the Company owned Panama Line passenger/cargo ships over the next 20 years.
Following college he worked in Panama for 4 years before moving to Florida where he met and married his wife Suzy. In 1986, they took their first family cruise with their two sons, and the entire family adopted cruising as the Perfect Vacation.
Ewald is a lifelong educator and was an early adopter of technology. He has worked for several the large educational technology companies.
The Wibergs still make their home in South Florida and are both actively engaged in 21st Century businesses – Ewald is a technology consultant for education, and Suzy operates a successful Ebay business.