So basically here's what went wrong in the year that we anticipated our European cruise. First of all the economy began it's nosedive meaning my husband's business slowed to a crawl. Secondly, I had another highly anticipated art show which was almost a complete washout (tip to artists - never have a show in December, everyone is buying Christmas presents, not artwork).
We were making our bills OK but all the planned money for shore excursions was quickly being used up on living expenses. We still had our "special vacation fund" which was a small signature loan that we pulled out each year to go the the Brickyard Races in Indianapolis but we had nothing like the $500 per person shore excusion fees. (Yep, that's how much some of the really good excursions cost - mutiply that by 8 or 9 shores and you can see why we were in a panic).
So now we're thinking "Should we stay or should we go?" There was still time to get almost all of our money back if we decided to cancel (through the travel insurance we bought - highly recommended) but the disappointment factor was costing me and now my husband more pain than the lack of funds.
Never one to give up, I began to check out all the ports of call for the cruise ship. You see, basically we had the transportation, the room, and the food. With any other vacation having those three necessities in place, we could find some fun free or low cost entertainment no matter where we went. Why not Europe?
Thus I began my quest for "Europe on $50 or less a day".
