Luxury cruise for an anosmia sufferer

My wife and I have been on 4 or 5 cruises over the years but the last one was about 6 years ago which was before my anosmia occurred.
Well, we recently went on an Alaskan cruise aboard the Princess cruise line. We had a spectacular time, saw great sites and of course one of the big attractions or draws for people who cruise is the vast amounts of food that is served on board a cruise ship.

Well, let me tell you, it pretty much sucks to have all this super high quality food being served and not being able to smell or taste it! As a matter of fact, since I became anosmic in the fall of 2005, I've probably only had a handful of meals in really good restaurants because I really don't care anymore. So this was the first time in this situation.

Just a note from the very strange life of an anosmic!!

More thoughts on smoking, allergies and anosmia

Well it's been some time since my last post so I thought I'd at least get on and give yet another update and some thoughts. As it is, I still am not able to smell or taste anything. I am still getting my allergy shots although I'm doing once a month now. How long does this last anyway??

I will say that my allergies are definitely better. I had a little episode the other day of some stuffiness and I was really shocked as I've had virtually no allergy symptoms for some time. I had a couple glass of wine the night before so it could have been due to that. The allergy shots have not helped my anosmia however which is unfortunate.

I had posted some time back about not smoking cigars for a while and seeing if that would help but it didn't but something dawned on me recently and I'm giving it a shot again.

Here's what I was thinking: For years I smoked cigars occasionally. Maybe on a Sunday afternoon while relaxing in the yard. In May of 2005 I started smoking a cigar every day. Or if not, close to it. I continued this pattern throughout the summer and into the fall of 2005. Those who have read my earlier posts know that I was on vacation in New York in October of 2005 when I lost my sense of smell.

Since that time, except for my experiment with giving up cigars, I've continued to smoke them to one degree or another. Sometimes only on the weekend but (being honest with myself here) for the most part, I have smoked a cigar a day for some time. And it just keeps nagging at me: Is this the main factor for my anosmia? Is it possible that the cigar smoke is enough of an irritant to cause inflammation which in turn blocks any aroma from getting up into my olfactory region?

So, I've once again stopped smoking cigars. When I first tried this I honestly can't remember if I truly stopped or if I cheated once in a while. It's been about 10 days and nothing has changed but my wife feels IF it's the reason, it might take some time for olfaction to resume. I will continue to post here occasionaly to let people know the results. If anyone has any input or info on smoking and anosmia please comment.