mom2mybugs

This is true especially if you don't go in together to check in.  They aren't particularly checking room numbers and keeping track of water, soda or wine.  Jane

I've been twice, and I just can't find stuff to do.  I'm sure the resorts are beautiful, but I can do the same type relaxing on the ship with my drink pkg so we aren't getting off the ship.  I'm hoping everyone else gets off so I can have less crowds on the pool deck!  Jane

I wasn't planning on trying to live blog this trip, but when you have pretty much not stopped planning for a month, are under 26 days to leave, AND you can't sleep because your plumbing decided it was done working and we have no bathrooms until Monday morning....it was time to blog!  
   This cruise was purchased this past summer.  Our last cruise was our amazing 12 days in the Mediterranean on Vision of the Seas in 2019 (on the heels of a Majesty cruise in June for a mom/daughters college graduation where we didn't get to go to Cuba).  We booked a super cheap spring break cruise for March 2020 out of Tampa, but I was feeling like the piggy bank was empty and was ready for a bigger ship, so we cancelled at final payment.  It was fortunate we did, because covid hit 2020 and our sailing would have been cancelled.  We'd have had a great deal if we'd only kept it, but I would never have survived the stress.  So we waited to cruise, put another kid through 2 more years of college, got the 3rd kid through her first year of college (dang kids keep taking my travel money, though I did get to spend 8 days at Disney with said 3rd kid for a covid graduation trip 2021!!!  I could have paid another year of college or started trying suite life for that cost!). 
   Anyway..... It had been a very long 3 years and I missed my drink pkgs, the sun deck and... Did I mention the drink pkg and sun deck? (You might be getting a sense of why this will be a very boring blog lol).  So I decided to book, and spent agonizing weeks trying to decide Odyssey vs oasis class, and which oasis class, and if the 19 year old was gracing us with her presence or not.  Finally after the price went up a few hundred more, she decided she would rather hang with her friends, and it turned into an empty nest cruise. 
   We chose Harmony of the seas, but it was tough.  Odyssey had a much better southern Caribbean itinerary (Curacao is such a cool port) but we are both teachers and my husband has to be back Monday and that gave us a buffer travel day. In retrospect of various health issues we have dealt with, he has occasionally taken one of his 400 sick days he has accrued (he NEVER takes days off) and has now figured it won't actually kill him.  But too late!  We are booked :). As I implied, the itinerary doesn't wow me except for CocoCay.  I've never been there (our Freedom cruise couldn't tender due to nonstop pouring rain that day) so I'm beyond excited for that.  I loved labadee so I know I will love CocoCay.  We will be doing that port, 2 sea days, Naussau, Cozumel and Costa Maya.  We have done all of the other ports and we will likely not even get off the ship.  Naussau I just don't love, I've done the dolphins at Cozumel and the ruins are just too far away, and we have done the ruins closer to Costa Maya.  We might explore the port areas in Mexico a little, but it's hard to justify drinking in Port with the amount we paid for the drink pkg, and with the amount of stuff we now have from sadly emptying my in-laws house after they passed this past year, I do not need to do any more shopping.  
   All of this explains why this might be the most boring blog ever.  We splurged and got an guaranty ocean view balcony, which was confirmed this week to be 11560.  I've never been on that high of a floor (I think the highest was 😎 and I'm excited to wake up and see some amazing views!  I have only had a balcony 2 other times and I think I've spent about an hour a cruise on them since they can be pretty shady.  This trip however I'm planning on starting my days out there since I'm totally flipping how I do things.  Usually we have excursions, and I'm the person on sea days on my chair at 8am because I want to spend ALL day in the sun and you have to go early to avoid the evil nasty chair hogs 😈.  However, if we aren't doing the ports, that means a lot more time on the ship, hopefully when people aren't on them, and so my plan is to sun worship on those days and actually do things on sea days. 
   I have been on one Oasis class ship before (Allure) and have never done the zip lines, the water slides, the ultimate abyss.  Never played bingo on the ship, never done a towel folding class, and never set foot in the spa or fitness room.  That's gonna change lol!  I plan on working out and actually USING the fitness clothes I pack every time and never remove from their packing cube!  I want to tour the spa and see about getting a thermal spa pass (although I still haven't actually seen pictures that Harmony does have a thermal spa).  Notice I didn't say I would be trying the flow Rider or the rock climbing wall... I would like to get my 54 year old self back home!  Oh yeah, and I also plan to watch my Michigan wolverines play in a bowl game and hope they look better than their horrible performance last New Years Eve! 
   The only excursion we have booked is the Beach Club at CocoCay.  I booked it at $103/person on the black Friday sale and it's $200 now!  I have gone back and forth and back again and finally decided we are going to keep it.  I want to eat that amazing lunch and since it might be the only lobster I get with our other dining, I'm looking forward to it!  And the infinity pool, and the fewer people!  I do want to spend a few minutes at the oasis lagoon pool, so we will do that on our way back to the ship!
   We have the DBP and I look forward to my St. Germaine's and Champagne, my kraken lava flows and amazing wines at vintages.  We have 4 specialties booked... Wonderland (so excited!), Izumi hibachi, 150 Central Park and Jamie's Italian for lunch on one of the sea days (again... Something I could never do before and give up my deck chair!). I also have the 3 night dining pkg.  Ok, so I'm an insane planner.  My spread sheets for Disney are epic (and my family did appreciate the shorter wait times, though they still think I'm insane).  I was able to actually pre-book entertainment on this sailing, and it all fits with my dining.  I'm not sure if I will try to run to izumi (we do have an 11am boarding) and try to shift the 3 booked times to the pkg, or if I will just pay more per meal, cancel the 3 night and not stress).  I'd love advice on this on how successful people were on really full ships.  
   I've never been on a ship over a holiday and I'm excited to see how Royal does New Year's Eve.  We are usually at home so I'm looking forward to buying the glitziest dress I can find and staying up till at least 1201!  And then sleeping in in Nassau!
   Travel is always interesting in winter from Chicago to Florida.  I still have nightmares about how my 2014 flight to the Disney marathon was cancelled due to extreme cold temps and I almost didn't get to the expo to get my pkg.  Because covid has made air travel even more unreliable, we are flying in 2 days early and spending 2 nights at the Hilton Marina.  There is nothing better than waking up and seeing your ship out the window!  We will likely sleep in, lounge by the pool if it's warm and get a water taxi ticket to look at mansions and get dinner somewhere.  Because we did Travelocity for flights, I did something I said I wouldn't do and decided to fly spirit airlines back.  I had a nice 130 flight... That was cancelled.  They graciously without checking put us instead on a 6 am flight.  Yeah, that wouldn't work... still on the boat!  So the only other option? A 915 PM flight.  Ok then... since I wouldn't have my drink pkg at the airport, it was time to rethink the day.  After waiting, thinking, planning, I decided to just give up on budgeting this trip and book the Hilton fort Lauderdale resort for a day.  They had a nice expensive canopy beach bed for $350.  I figured that would give me one more beach and pool day and a "free" pitcher of cocktails, so I would book it.  I forgot it was black Friday and it amazingly dropped $140 in the cart! Yeah me for procrastinating!!!
   So that is our trip!  I will attempt to at least explore things as I'm on a reconnaissance mission too.  My oldest daughter is getting married next year and is going to be on the first 7 day on Harmony out of Galveston in November for her honeymoon.  Her trip is $1000 cheaper than ours with the time of year, so I can't wait to retire and cruise hurricane season and early May. Anyway, Morgan and I  have spent hours watching @Matt's videos of the ship and taking about things and I'm supposed to tell her everything about everything when I get back.  So since I have no memory, I can have her read this blog!  
   And now...I will figure out how to put a countdown clock on my phone!!!   Jane
 
  
 
   
 
 

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

This morning from our balcony (through the door because this is the loudest worst door lock handle ever).  


We are in Cozumel today and plan on doing nothing! Jane

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

This is from earlier yesterday that didn't post. 
 We were under a stop to investigate a 20 person inflatable life raft floating in the water.  Send from a viking ship and nothing found so we are back on our way.  
   I'm at the c & a top tier to find out numbers...  And enjoy my mimosa! 
  26 ships in 7 months back
41000 active employees and down to 2500 and now back!  
6260 on board right now, 
Gold 1178, 378 plat, 201 emerald, 368 diamond, 158 diamond plus, 25 pinn
2305 c and a mems in all, and the top:
3rd...1660 pts 
2nd 1835 pts
1st 2220 pts


 
 

This morning from our balcony (through the door because this is the loudest worst door lock handle ever).  


We are in Cozumel today and plan on doing nothing! Jane

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

Ok... Worst live... Need to change to livish!  
  This morning is day 4 sea day and isn't too bad temp wise so I have my phone out to blog a bit
DAY 1--embarkation was really incredibly easy.  I set our Uber time for 1015 (we had an 11 time). The Uber showed up early at 10 and they let us into the terminal well before 11.  Porter found us immediately and off we went! We forgot to take pics which the crew member did in 2 seconds while checking the other stuff.  We were sitting in chairs waiting to go on by 1040 at the latest and on the ship with the first group by 1102.  



Note about dining!  We booked individual dining because we wanted the times and still did the 3 day pkg.  Don't... Just don't.  We are still in a mess of trying to refund everything and do far only 1 meal of the 3 is refunded.  My lunch reservation is still showing up even though the Jamie's guy said it would cancel.  No money will be saved because I'm sure I will miss stuff.  There were tons of spots available at 11 and while I'm sure it gets tight, they will work you in.  
We headed up to the pool deck then to start that drink pkg.  I was the 5th person on the abyss slide and it was fun!  Don't need to do it again unless I'm trying to get to the boardwalk but it was fun if the line isn't bad.  



We got to our room at 115 or so (they were ready at 1) and our luggage was in the hall when we got there.  Our room is beautiful and spacious for a regular balcony and I'm glad that I cancelled our Royal up bid.

We've been analyzing the balcony and we are just people that underutilise it.  We were out there looking at stars on night one, but haven't been out since.  Id rather be in the sun and Jeff just usually hangs with me until he can't take it!  So unless we get a good deal, ocean view or interior is really ok.  
 But I digress.  We did the spa your which drove Jeff crazy but forgot to go back for the drawing!  Oh well.  I did sign up for the thermal spa.  I've really enjoyed it, but I'm finding that cutting out time on the oasis ships with all the shows and dining is hard.  I was going to go this morning and alas, sleep was calling my name!  Maybe later today....   I will try and remember to take pictures of the spa area...it is tranquil and Serene if you don't have stupid people talking and playing loud videos on their phone (only happened once thank goodness)
   Dinner was at 5 at the mdr.  Here's my take... Early dining is great to get to shows and that is it.  Sailaway was at 430 and we had to change so we were 15 mins late and it just was a race with it being "dress to impress" for new year's Eve.  Too much so and because our specialties are that early for the shows, we won't see many sailaways.  It's frustrating.  Mdr on day 1 though was very very good. Service was great and we enjoyed the food.  






We had the fine line aqua show tonight and though the story makes so sense, the dancing and tricks were amazing.  Tons of seats available... Maybe because it was Nye.  We hit the bionic bar on the way...very fun!  I have tons to add of pics from both but it's getting hot on the pool deck so maybe will add later!  

   



We finished the night on the promenade for balloon drop.  It was surprisingly not crowded and we had a great time until we headed to dazzles and I lost my phone.  Decided to hit the customer service desk because I figured I left it in the bathroom.  There were only a few people ahead of me but ONE person working!  An hour later I got my phone back thank goodness or this would be a photoless livish boring blog!  
   Overall thoughts from day 1:
***5pm too early to dine on sailaway and most ports.  Do windjammer or casual instead
***This leads to #2.  New years Eve is fun but if it's also embarkation night, it is kind of overwhelming and takes away the fun a bit.  You are busy being wrapped up with dressing up (and the bling was fun) and you lose the deck sailaway vibe.  I'd rather have NYE mid week.  
**The ship doesnt feel crowded at all.  I know we are pretty full, but I've not seen a lot of kids and lines for the slides have been pretty low.  Even first sea day at 10 there are tons of chairs at deck 16 level.  None of course at pool level but it took till 830 for those to be gone today.  Here's at 800

And at 845

So that is day 1.  More to hopefully follow tonight on days 2-4!  Jane

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

This is from earlier yesterday that didn't post. 
 We were under a stop to investigate a 20 person inflatable life raft floating in the water.  Send from a viking ship and nothing found so we are back on our way.  
   I'm at the c & a top tier to find out numbers...  And enjoy my mimosa! 
  26 ships in 7 months back
41000 active employees and down to 2500 and now back!  
6260 on board right now, 
Gold 1178, 378 plat, 201 emerald, 368 diamond, 158 diamond plus, 25 pinn
2305 c and a mems in all, and the top:
3rd...1660 pts 
2nd 1835 pts
1st 2220 pts


 
 

This morning from our balcony (through the door because this is the loudest worst door lock handle ever).  


We are in Cozumel today and plan on doing nothing! Jane

Ok... Worst live... Need to change to livish!  
  This morning is day 4 sea day and isn't too bad temp wise so I have my phone out to blog a bit
DAY 1--embarkation was really incredibly easy.  I set our Uber time for 1015 (we had an 11 time). The Uber showed up early at 10 and they let us into the terminal well before 11.  Porter found us immediately and off we went! We forgot to take pics which the crew member did in 2 seconds while checking the other stuff.  We were sitting in chairs waiting to go on by 1040 at the latest and on the ship with the first group by 1102.  



Note about dining!  We booked individual dining because we wanted the times and still did the 3 day pkg.  Don't... Just don't.  We are still in a mess of trying to refund everything and do far only 1 meal of the 3 is refunded.  My lunch reservation is still showing up even though the Jamie's guy said it would cancel.  No money will be saved because I'm sure I will miss stuff.  There were tons of spots available at 11 and while I'm sure it gets tight, they will work you in.  
We headed up to the pool deck then to start that drink pkg.  I was the 5th person on the abyss slide and it was fun!  Don't need to do it again unless I'm trying to get to the boardwalk but it was fun if the line isn't bad.  



We got to our room at 115 or so (they were ready at 1) and our luggage was in the hall when we got there.  Our room is beautiful and spacious for a regular balcony and I'm glad that I cancelled our Royal up bid.

We've been analyzing the balcony and we are just people that underutilise it.  We were out there looking at stars on night one, but haven't been out since.  Id rather be in the sun and Jeff just usually hangs with me until he can't take it!  So unless we get a good deal, ocean view or interior is really ok.  
 But I digress.  We did the spa your which drove Jeff crazy but forgot to go back for the drawing!  Oh well.  I did sign up for the thermal spa.  I've really enjoyed it, but I'm finding that cutting out time on the oasis ships with all the shows and dining is hard.  I was going to go this morning and alas, sleep was calling my name!  Maybe later today....   I will try and remember to take pictures of the spa area...it is tranquil and Serene if you don't have stupid people talking and playing loud videos on their phone (only happened once thank goodness)
   Dinner was at 5 at the mdr.  Here's my take... Early dining is great to get to shows and that is it.  Sailaway was at 430 and we had to change so we were 15 mins late and it just was a race with it being "dress to impress" for new year's Eve.  Too much so and because our specialties are that early for the shows, we won't see many sailaways.  It's frustrating.  Mdr on day 1 though was very very good. Service was great and we enjoyed the food.  






We had the fine line aqua show tonight and though the story makes so sense, the dancing and tricks were amazing.  Tons of seats available... Maybe because it was Nye.  We hit the bionic bar on the way...very fun!  I have tons to add of pics from both but it's getting hot on the pool deck so maybe will add later!  

   



We finished the night on the promenade for balloon drop.  It was surprisingly not crowded and we had a great time until we headed to dazzles and I lost my phone.  Decided to hit the customer service desk because I figured I left it in the bathroom.  There were only a few people ahead of me but ONE person working!  An hour later I got my phone back thank goodness or this would be a photoless livish boring blog!  
   Overall thoughts from day 1:
***5pm too early to dine on sailaway and most ports.  Do windjammer or casual instead
***This leads to #2.  New years Eve is fun but if it's also embarkation night, it is kind of overwhelming and takes away the fun a bit.  You are busy being wrapped up with dressing up (and the bling was fun) and you lose the deck sailaway vibe.  I'd rather have NYE mid week.  
**The ship doesnt feel crowded at all.  I know we are pretty full, but I've not seen a lot of kids and lines for the slides have been pretty low.  Even first sea day at 10 there are tons of chairs at deck 16 level.  None of course at pool level but it took till 830 for those to be gone today.  Here's at 800

And at 845

So that is day 1.  More to hopefully follow tonight on days 2-4!  Jane

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

This morning from our balcony (through the door because this is the loudest worst door lock handle ever).  


We are in Cozumel today and plan on doing nothing! Jane

This is from earlier yesterday that didn't post. 
 We were under a stop to investigate a 20 person inflatable life raft floating in the water.  Send from a viking ship and nothing found so we are back on our way.  
   I'm at the c & a top tier to find out numbers...  And enjoy my mimosa! 
  26 ships in 7 months back
41000 active employees and down to 2500 and now back!  
6260 on board right now, 
Gold 1178, 378 plat, 201 emerald, 368 diamond, 158 diamond plus, 25 pinn
2305 c and a mems in all, and the top:
3rd...1660 pts 
2nd 1835 pts
1st 2220 pts


 
 

Ok... Worst live... Need to change to livish!  
  This morning is day 4 sea day and isn't too bad temp wise so I have my phone out to blog a bit
DAY 1--embarkation was really incredibly easy.  I set our Uber time for 1015 (we had an 11 time). The Uber showed up early at 10 and they let us into the terminal well before 11.  Porter found us immediately and off we went! We forgot to take pics which the crew member did in 2 seconds while checking the other stuff.  We were sitting in chairs waiting to go on by 1040 at the latest and on the ship with the first group by 1102.  



Note about dining!  We booked individual dining because we wanted the times and still did the 3 day pkg.  Don't... Just don't.  We are still in a mess of trying to refund everything and do far only 1 meal of the 3 is refunded.  My lunch reservation is still showing up even though the Jamie's guy said it would cancel.  No money will be saved because I'm sure I will miss stuff.  There were tons of spots available at 11 and while I'm sure it gets tight, they will work you in.  
We headed up to the pool deck then to start that drink pkg.  I was the 5th person on the abyss slide and it was fun!  Don't need to do it again unless I'm trying to get to the boardwalk but it was fun if the line isn't bad.  



We got to our room at 115 or so (they were ready at 1) and our luggage was in the hall when we got there.  Our room is beautiful and spacious for a regular balcony and I'm glad that I cancelled our Royal up bid.

We've been analyzing the balcony and we are just people that underutilise it.  We were out there looking at stars on night one, but haven't been out since.  Id rather be in the sun and Jeff just usually hangs with me until he can't take it!  So unless we get a good deal, ocean view or interior is really ok.  
 But I digress.  We did the spa your which drove Jeff crazy but forgot to go back for the drawing!  Oh well.  I did sign up for the thermal spa.  I've really enjoyed it, but I'm finding that cutting out time on the oasis ships with all the shows and dining is hard.  I was going to go this morning and alas, sleep was calling my name!  Maybe later today....   I will try and remember to take pictures of the spa area...it is tranquil and Serene if you don't have stupid people talking and playing loud videos on their phone (only happened once thank goodness)
   Dinner was at 5 at the mdr.  Here's my take... Early dining is great to get to shows and that is it.  Sailaway was at 430 and we had to change so we were 15 mins late and it just was a race with it being "dress to impress" for new year's Eve.  Too much so and because our specialties are that early for the shows, we won't see many sailaways.  It's frustrating.  Mdr on day 1 though was very very good. Service was great and we enjoyed the food.  






We had the fine line aqua show tonight and though the story makes so sense, the dancing and tricks were amazing.  Tons of seats available... Maybe because it was Nye.  We hit the bionic bar on the way...very fun!  I have tons to add of pics from both but it's getting hot on the pool deck so maybe will add later!  

   



We finished the night on the promenade for balloon drop.  It was surprisingly not crowded and we had a great time until we headed to dazzles and I lost my phone.  Decided to hit the customer service desk because I figured I left it in the bathroom.  There were only a few people ahead of me but ONE person working!  An hour later I got my phone back thank goodness or this would be a photoless livish boring blog!  
   Overall thoughts from day 1:
***5pm too early to dine on sailaway and most ports.  Do windjammer or casual instead
***This leads to #2.  New years Eve is fun but if it's also embarkation night, it is kind of overwhelming and takes away the fun a bit.  You are busy being wrapped up with dressing up (and the bling was fun) and you lose the deck sailaway vibe.  I'd rather have NYE mid week.  
**The ship doesnt feel crowded at all.  I know we are pretty full, but I've not seen a lot of kids and lines for the slides have been pretty low.  Even first sea day at 10 there are tons of chairs at deck 16 level.  None of course at pool level but it took till 830 for those to be gone today.  Here's at 800

And at 845

So that is day 1.  More to hopefully follow tonight on days 2-4!  Jane

Can't sleep so I will catch everyone up...if I can remember what I've done! 
  Yesterday was very low key.  We got to the Hilton fort Lauderdale marina and check in took forever.  We were unfortunately not thrilled with the room.  It's fine, but in the old wing, first floor (so Patio is below the walkway and thus feels like a concrete box), and the door has a huge gap at the bottom.  There is no soundproofing at all and we are people not bothered by noise. 

 

The weather wasn't terrific, butt we spent some time by the pool and then ate dinner at the pool bar.  It is truly highly overpriced, but other than the fish tacos (which were horrible) it was good.  The wine... Well, I'm looking forward to vintages lol!  
   Today was sunny and much happier!  We didn't get to the pool until around 11 and there were no chairs at all.  Maybe 10 mins later, 2 showed up in the shade so we took them.  I decided to sit in the sun on the edge of the pool and read, and when someone left, I grabbed their chair.  Eventually my husband  abandoned the shade and joined me.  We ended up ordering chips and guac and hummus and they were all very good.  

  We finally dragged ourselves to shower and head to the water taxi.  It took us one hour, forty mins to get on.  It was a mess :(. Literally a boat would come every half hour and load like 2-4 people.  Once on though, it's such a nice ride. We decided to head to stop 10 to see the mansions all decorated for Xmas.  



We got to bokampers at around 7 and we seated by 710.  Great we thought... And then 30 mins later we still hadn't seen a server even though we had gone and spoken to someone several times.  It was a mess.  Jeff finally went to the hostess who seated us...we actually think she was the manager doing a million things.  She literally took our order, got our drinks, apologized a million times and then ended up comping us our drinks and giving us half price on the food.  It was unexpected and kind for sure!  I recommend the atmosphere and the food was great... Hopefully staffing and big groups dont kill you.  



We did get to see the bridge go up a couple times too!

We literally managed to walk right on the water taxi... Big change from before!  It was a quiet boat till the very drunk people got on, but that's ok.  That will be me soon on the drink pkg!!!   
  So now I'm too wound up to sleep and can't wait for 10 1/2 hrs when I walk onto Harmony!!   My aim is to church in once a day but keep in mind the title of this blog lol!  @Lovetocruise2002 will be blogging symphony and will be much more interesting lol!!!!     I have the Muppet Christmas carol singing going through my head, but instead of "there's only one more night til Christmas" I have "there's only one more night night til Harmony"!!!!! Jane

We are in fort Lauderdale!!!!   Yeah!  It's chilly for me (75) but way better than Chicago!  We were through security in an 30 mins and took our check-in pics while eating breakfast at Chili's.  Flight was packed but on time and everything ran smoothly.  We are now ensconced by the pool with drinks and a book!  

Packing did not go well lol.... Everything didn't fit and I finally decided that I didn't care and I'm bringing a second suitcase.  I didn't upgrade our Hilton Marina room so there ya go! Money left for bloodsucking spirit air baggage lol I'm still thanking every star above that I didn't fly Southwest as we would have had to rent a car and drive down.  My ❤️ goes out for all those travelers having to scramble.
   The app finally has the dinner dress posted.  It was not what I had expected.  I just had assumed they would keep nights 2 and 6 formal, and just add the first night of New Years Eve to dress up too.  Instead it looks like this:
Day 1: Dress to impress
Day 2: Formal night
Day 3: White night
Day 4: nothing listed so not sure
Day 5: Caribbean
Day 6: Smart Casual (this is lobster night)
Day 7: Casual
So I went bananas with the blingy clothes for NYE, so I may dress up every night for dinner anyway lol! 
They finally put a ton of things on the app's daily planner, so now I'm going up try and check some times.  We are still trying to decide whether to just cancel the 3 night dining pkg and keep the individual times we already have, try to change what we have into the dining pkg times and then cancel the individual reservations, or throw all caution to the wind and book 3 different dinners on the 3 night pkg and keep everything.  That seems too much though when you add in that everything is $50 more upcharge for Nye (day 1) and day 3 we are having a big lunch at CocoCay beach club.  Just can't make up my mind.  Now I wish I'd just pulled the trigger and done the ultimate dining, but with the totally crowded ship, I just was worried about getting in.  And I think it's really too many nights for us.  Though like Matt has said before, the UDP is such a good deal, you don't have to use it every night.  
   Off to look at what overlaps with what!!!!   Jane

Packing for a trip is always interesting when you are working around little friends!  I'm finally trying to get something into packing cubes today!!!  

Although I still haven't packed yet, my daughter helped me try on a ton of dresses and I am sorta prepared with what I think I'm packing!  Today I'm doing nails, going to the used bookstore and maybe digging out my suitcase!  
   Won't be needing the warm Christmas jammies in a few days!!!! Jane