Update!
I really miss the Getaway! I guess this means I am officially a cruise person. And yes, since I’ve gotten a lot of unexpectedly positive feedback on my TR, I will write one for DCL.
Here’s what’s been going on with the DCL cruise planning (countdown: 65 days):
—The BF and I had a talk last night about the cabana rental. Well, actually we did a SWOT analysis board (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis#/media/File:SWOT_en.svg) because we are both huge dorks. The reason this is even in question is that on the Getaway I determined that I really don’t like just lying around in direct sunlight all that much (though I love to swim), and BF has always been iffy about whether he’s even going to swim, so I thought the cabana might just be way too hot for him to sit in all day without cooling off in the water. So the question was whether my existing reservation was worth keeping. After BF was informed of various amenities (like the ability to shower off—one reason he wasn’t excited about the beach aspect is because he hates feeling sticky after salt water), and once I noticed that the cabanas have big ceiling fans, he was much more into it and he thought we should go for it. Since I was already mostly sold, him being positive on it was the kicker. VERDICT: Keeping cabana.
—We’re doing a one-way rental from MCO to PC the night before (then taxi or shuttle or something to the port after dropping off car), but today I arranged a Mears car to pick us up and take us to MCO after debark. Our flight home is pretty early (10:15, arguably the danger zone), and I just don’t want to stress about fighting crowds to pick up and drop off a rental car the other way. We’re going to do express walkoff, and I scheduled the Mears pickup at 7:30. If anyone reading this thinks I’ve misjudged any of this, timing wise, let me know. We’re concierge and not breakfast eaters, so I think we’ll be able to get our butts off the ship pretty fast.
—Retail therapy: luggage edition. I’ve bought a few things after learning lessons on the Getaway, mostly that I needed much different bags for schlepping things around, both during embark and during the normal shipboard walking around (I’m usually carrying a dumb amount of stuff). On the Getaway I either had a Baggalini cross body bag that was usually too small (one of their small models), or a nice laptop bag I use for work that I carry messenger-style, which was usually too big and heavy, and I had back/neck strain a lot. I mused at the time that I needed a small backpack. Two days after the cruise I was in TJ Maxx and I found this for $29.99:
http://www.amazon.com/Baggallini-CIN775KWCA-Cinch-Backpack/dp/B00GX7OC76
I said this over on CC, but no idea why this thing retails so high, the $30 I paid seems about right. But it’s exactly what I was picturing, so that was a nice score.
Also, during flights and embark day, that laptop bag I mentioned was just way too heavy and uncomfortable as a carry on. So I wanted something with rollers that was smaller than a normal carry-on suitcase. I’d been looking at this for a long time, but didn’t buy it, then it went out of stock. Yesterday I noticed it was back in stock on eBags, and I had some reward credit there, so I jumped on it:
http://www.ebags.com/product/delsey/quilted-rolling-overnighter/256557
(Note to mods, none of these are referral links.)
This will be my main bag for flight and ship carry-on (I usually try to avoid fighting for overhead bin space; this goes under the seat), for things like my iPad, prescriptions, passport/cruise docs, small change of clothes, etc. I’m also hoping my 13” macbook air can fit in it.
I think that about concludes my necessary big-ticket shopping for the trip, except that now that I know we’re doing a cabana I still want to get one of those Coolibar cover-ups. I’m waiting to see if they happen to go on sale during
Amazon’s big July 15 sale. Still need to buy small things (pop up hamper, additional bonine and ginger pills, some small organizers/bags, water shoes, etc), also waiting for July 15 on all of it.
I’ve also contacted a pet sitter service. This is one of my big travel anxieties; we’ve had multiple bad experiences with friends/family and an ‘indie’ pet sitter. So I reached out to a big established company this time. (Two cats, whom we love unreasonably.)
I haven’t booked a rental car or hotel yet. When I was walking through FLL, an incredibly charismatic and pretty woman who looked a bit like Nicole Beharie talked me into applying for a Southwest credit card. I’m a sucker for gaming the system with rewards cards, but I hadn’t planned on getting a SW card just yet. But I had hours to kill and she got me. (I’m usually impervious to sales tactics—she was *good* and should go into cars or real estate or something. In fact, I really wish I could back and tell her so. “Ma’am, you are thinking too small, you should be selling mansions.”) SO ANYWAY, depending on how fast SW credits your miles after you complete their spending promotion, I may be able to use those miles for the hotel and car rental. I’m still pretty sure I’m going to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Port Canaveral due to its proximity to a Publix (having travelled with BF a bit, and from my own experiences recently, we ALWAYS need to buy stuff after we’ve packed and left town, and if we decide to drop the car off the night before the cruise (rather than morning of), the publix looks to be walking distance). Plus at that time I’ll let him know about our ability to carry on booze. Neither of us are big drinkers, but he likes wine once in a while, so maybe we’ll buy a bottle or two.
I think that’s about it for now. I just wish it was a bit sooner.
