A few days ago, we hit a milestone day on the World Cruise for two reasons. 1. We have spent over 100 consecutive days on our cruise, and, 2. I reached the highest loyalty status for Holland America. Five Stars! Woo Hoo.

As a previous “4 Star,” I already received many important loyalty perks, such as priority boarding as well as half off of “Sommelier Wine Packages.” (Given that the profit margins for wines are astronomical on cruise ships, this brings them closer to a normal restaurant price.) But, most important of all, when you hit 4 Star, you get unlimited FREE LAUNDRY. I can’t overstate this benefit enough. With free laundry, we send out our laundry any time we want as often as we want. We can send specific instructions for clothes care and they follow the instructions to a T. We can send out our sweaty pickleball clothes every single day, without a care in the world. Except one time, we got a special message from the laundry supervisor. (I didn’t even know there was such a position.) Anyway, he was adamant that we meet with him to discuss an important issue. I assumed we were in trouble for doing too much laundry (after all, we play a lot of pickleball on board). But, no. He wanted to discuss one of the T-shirts. A press-on letter had gotten dislodged and he wanted to apologize for ruining one of Gary’s T-Shirts. I assured the bereft manager that not only was that fine, but that all of our T-shirts were basically a hot mess because of wear and tear and not to worry. However, from that time forward, when we send out our T-shirts, I include a note reminding them not to worry about their condition!

Now that I’m a 5 Star, we get a few extra perks like free dinners in the Pinnacle Grill, the specialty restaurant on board, a free day pass to the Thermal Spa and a few other minor perks. It’s not a big deal. Except (and I know this sounds silly), I am a sucker for loyalty status. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I was crestfallen when I lost my platinum sky miles status on Delta. At least I’ve been able to hold on to my Diamond Status with Hilton!

Anyway, as a 5 Star, I’m special in my own special way (a phrase our kids used to repeat when they were little). Or I thought I was. Until I met just about everyone else on this World Cruise.

These world cruisers sail a lot. I mean, A LOT. Perhaps the first clue should have been at embarkation way back in January. “Priority Boarding” takes on a whole different meaning when just about everybody on your cruise has priority boarding.

The second clue should have been when we saw fellow passengers greeting crew members and other passengers by name as soon as they boarded. They greeted them like old friends because (as I learned shortly after) that’s what they are.

The third clue should have been when I started hearing conversations like “Did you sign up for next year yet?” “Next year,” like in a World Cruise again next year?

And to think I thought we were taking a Once-in-a-Lifetime Cruise! Not even close. Two of our closest pickleball buddies, J and D, were recently inducted into the “President’s Club.” This is how naive I was about these serious cruisers. I was under the impression that the Mariner Star loyalty program was the only loyalty program with Holland America. Turns out, there is another level of loyalty that the regular “Caribbean Cruising” crowd has never heard about. I asked D when I learned she was now in the President’s Club how many days at sea were required to reach that level.

1,400 days. For you math challenged readers out there, that’s almost four years of constant cruising. But, here’s the kicker. The requirement of 1,400 days is just the minimum. You also have to be invited to join. I’m pretty sure I’ll get my Delta status back long before I ever have the opportunity to get invited into the President’s Club.

A few days ago, Gary and I shared a tour guide in Egypt with a small group put together by fellow passenger JJ. I was surprised to discover that she has no permanent address. She simply travels from cruise to cruise with an occasional break to visit family and take care of other business stateside. And this was not even her first time to visit Egypt—nor would it be her last. She will return this November!

I thought it would be rare to meet passengers who had gone on regular World Cruises but in reality, I discovered that WE were the rare ones. Our World Cruising friends seem rather surprised that this is our first World Cruise. And they are even more surprised to learn that we don’t have plans to sign up for another one any time soon.

At the beginning of this cruise, I was positive that not only would this be our first and only World Cruise, but that it might be a very long time before we took any cruise again. One-third of a year just seemed like a humongous chunk of time that impeded other plans like land travel and continuing restoration of our house in Paducah, Kentucky.

But, now that it’s just days before the end of this epic journey, surprise, surprise. We are not ready to leave. I know we have to get back to reality sooner than later. But, until that day comes, we’re going to continue to soak up every memory this cruise has brought us. This may, indeed, be our only World Cruise. Who knows? While we contemplate our future, I’m going to continue to stuff that laundry bag every chance I get!