{"id":9212,"date":"2026-03-28T03:47:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/?p=9212"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:47:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:47:44","slug":"one-last-hurrah-and-on-a-budget-no-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/one-last-hurrah-and-on-a-budget-no-less\/","title":{"rendered":"One Last Hurrah! (And on a Budget No Less!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Greetings and Salutations!<br>So<br>Been a tough couple of months&#8230;  I mean for a while I was cooking w\/gas so to speak&#8230; International Man of Mystery and Vagabond on The Loose&#8230;<br><br>Well today I said &#8220;Fuck It&#8221;<br>Went back onto GovX dot com<br>(I make nuzzing for the mention)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"403\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx-1024x403.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx-1024x403.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx-300x118.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx-768x302.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx-1536x604.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx-1200x472.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/govx.jpg 1827w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Now GovX is a website that one you proof your bona-fides, you can get some pretty good discounts.  This is where I found the &#8220;Heroes Sail Free&#8221; on Margaritaville At Sea.<br><br>Now if you go to YouTube and put &#8220;cheapest cruise ever&#8221; you&#8217;ll get as the second choice this fucked up gem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"We Took America\u2019s CHEAPEST CRUISE! \ud83d\ude33 Was it Worth it?? (Margaritaville Paradise)\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2m6LcsU6oAs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Now these assholes sort of annoy me as I&#8217;ve done two cruises on with the Margarita Crew as well as the other &#8216;reviewers&#8217; who&#8217;ve trashed it&#8230;<br><br>Now the thing about it is it -is- cheap AF.<br>AND<br>Because of it having a BIG play with veterans and Active Duty personnel, well&#8230; lets just say there hasn&#8217;t been on the two cruises I&#8217;ve taken ANY chimpouts nor Australopithecine Shenanigans.<br><br>In fact while I was on board, the first being the Bahamas Cruise on an older ship out of Cape Canaveral, and the second on a Mexican bound trip on their newest barge, the thing that got me was that nearly <strong>everyone<\/strong> on board was a Veteran or Active Duty on Leave.<br><br>I mean on one of the cruises, I saw this black dude&#8230; mad gangbanger looking kid&#8230; waaay younger than me&#8230; <strong>however<\/strong><br>He had a 4th ID patch on his carry bag.  That&#8217;s the &#8220;4 LTs Pointing North&#8221; patch.<br><br>I went over, said &#8220;Yo man! Where and when?&#8221;  He turned and looked at my overweight ancient whyttedude ass, and I could tell, he was like &#8220;WTF!?!&#8221; until I rolled up my left shirtsleeve, and showed my Rakkasan Torii tat.  It\/he went from &#8216;potential hostile&#8217; to &#8220;Let me buy you a drink muddafucka!&#8221; and we hung out at the bar and pool on the regular.  His boys were also all vets, so we had quite a bit of fun.<br><br>The second trip, I went to a &#8220;Meet the Veterans&#8221; thing that they have on all the cruises, where I met a 1SGT from 75th Ranger Batt on his first cruise, and we&#8217;ve exchanged numbers so as to possibly meet up again.  His wife was awesome, and we traded stories about Iraq and Affy as we&#8217;d both &#8216;chewed the same dirt&#8217; if at different times&#8230;<br><br>To give you an idea of -how cheap-?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog-1024x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog-1024x199.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog-300x58.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog-768x149.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog-1536x298.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog-1200x233.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog.jpg 1716w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Yep.<br><strong>$117 per person<\/strong><br>Total for just the cabin was $234 for a 4 night 5 day trip.<br><strong>God-DAMNED!!!<\/strong><br>Then, since my travelling companion isn&#8217;t &#8216;locked in yet&#8217;, I went back to check on &#8216;upgrading&#8217; from the smol interior cabin I usually have.  The interior cabins as far as I&#8217;m concerned are fantabulous, as I only spend time there crashing out in between partying.<br><br>However, I wanted to see what I could upgrade to.<br><br>Now I&#8217;m not sure, but I think the website &#8216;glitched&#8217;<br>It offered me a 4th Level Balcony Suite for only an additional $62 per person!!!!  Now if I had booked a Balcony Suite to begin with?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"467\" height=\"917\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog2.jpg 467w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prog2-153x300.jpg 153w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 467px) 85vw, 467px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Yeeeeeeeeeeeah<br>So when presented with an upgrade to a Balcony Suite for $124 more?  Yer God-Damned SKIPPY I jumped on it.<br><br>And the reason I think it was a glitch?<br><br>I bought and paid for the whole thing&#8230; total cost?<br>$358 for a 5 day 4 night Cruise to Mexico.<br>All food included.<br><br>As I was saying, I paid for it, closed out, and then went back IN to the website.  THIS TIME the upgrade was $262 PER PERSON to get a similar balcony suite.<br><br>No idea how  that happened, but for less than 4 bills, leaving out of Tampa, on their newest ship, with a sundeck\/private balcony???<br><br>OH FUCK TO THE YES MOTHERFUCKERS!<br><br>And as far as booze?<br>Well&#8230; guess I&#8217;ll play my &#8220;Load the Isopropyl bottles with Everclear&#8221; and I&#8217;ll be good.  I mean it <strong>did<\/strong> work on the last trip.<br><br>So anyone wants to join, we got about 23 days +\/- if you&#8217;re a Vet.<br>Considering how shitty the world it turning, I figure make the most of it before it <strong><em>really catches fire<\/em><\/strong> amiright?<br><br>So More Later<br>Big Country<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/657249227_1408568874642720_3696964594273967113_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9216\" style=\"width:512px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/657249227_1408568874642720_3696964594273967113_n.jpg 512w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/657249227_1408568874642720_3696964594273967113_n-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 85vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">   <br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings and Salutations!SoBeen a tough couple of months&#8230; I mean for a while I was cooking w\/gas so to speak&#8230; International Man of Mystery and Vagabond on The Loose&#8230; Well today I said &#8220;Fuck It&#8221;Went back onto GovX dot com(I make nuzzing for the mention) Now GovX is a website that one you proof your &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/one-last-hurrah-and-on-a-budget-no-less\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;One Last Hurrah! (And on a Budget No Less!)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9217,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212\/revisions\/9217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}