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The "Lets hope a hurricane doesn't cancel this cruise again" LIVE blog from Mariner of the Seas! - September 20, 2019


Matt

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Let's try this again!

This weekend I'm taking the family on Mariner of the Seas for a 3-night cruise to the Bahamas and I'll be live blogging it! In fact, I'm starting this live blog just two days before we set sail, unlike @Lovetocruise2002 ancient Greek epic live blogs that begin in the months leading up to the dawn of time.

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Actual footage of @Lovetocruise2002 retelling her cruise highlights

When last I left you all in my live blog, I was booked on Mariner of the Seas to enjoy a 3-night cruise, but then Hurricane Dorian forced my hand and I had to cancel. 

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This is a 3-night sailing on the fabulous Mariner of the Seas and it will take us to Freeport Bahamas....

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Just kidding. We're going to Perfect Day at CocoCay only. We were scheduled to go to Freeport, but the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian resulted in the port being skipped and instead, we will have a sea day.

I am bringing the family with me on this sailing, and we are staying in a category 1K Ultra Spacious Ocean View Stateroom.  This room is at the front of the ship and offers 328 square feet of space, complete with bunk beds, which my daughters think is the coolest darn room ever.  

The other interesting aspect to this cruise is the fact we will be attending a wedding onboard.  Friend of the blog, Michael "Babyface" Poole will be tying the knot on Perfect Day at CocoCay!

This will be my second wedding that I've attended at CocoCay, but first since the island's makeover. In addition to a lot of sweating during the ceremony, we are looking forward to seeing what an island wedding is all about.

That's it for now. I'll be working Friday morning and then promptly pick my kids up from school the moment a half day counts, and then drive over to Port Canaveral to board Mariner of the Seas. If all goes to plan, should be there right around 1pm on Friday.

 

Can't wait to get onboard....for real this time!

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45 minutes ago, FManke said:

Good luck! Keeping my fingers crossed, saying a prayer and sending good juju your way! Hope that about covers it! Happy Cruising and congrats to Michael and his new bride!

No need for divine intervention, I think we're good with this sailing.

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An added benefit to this sailing is embarkation day will be our 11th wedding anniversary! This means we are firmly in the "middle couple" spot of the Love and Marriage game show! 

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We have not made any plans yet to celebrate, but know we will enjoy a meal at a specialty restaurant.  My wife refuses to spend our anniversary in the MDR ?

Our plan is to take advantage of the Diamond Plus BOGO specialty restaurant offer and likely end up at Jamie's.

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7 hours ago, Matt said:

I am bringing the family with me on this sailing, and we are staying in a category 1K Ultra Spacious Ocean View Stateroom.  This room is at the front of the ship and offers 328 square feet of space, complete with bunk beds, which my daughters think is the coolest darn room ever.  

That's the room that we had on Indy.  Did you get Deck 8 cause all the configurations are different on this one.

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15 hours ago, JLMoran said:

But if 11 years puts you solidly in the middle chair of Love and Marriage, where does that put us "old hands" who've been hitched for over 20? ?

In all seriousness, what do you think is the minimum for that last chair? 25? 30?

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13 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That's the room that we had on Indy.  Did you get Deck 8 cause all the configurations are different on this one.

Yes! At one point, I had my room and @ShakeDownCruise had the other room next door, but then he cancelled faster than Justin could get to the Mongolian Grill.

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6 minutes ago, Matt said:

In all seriousness, what do you think is the minimum for that last chair? 25? 30?

I haven't seen enough of them to guess, but I get the feeling that at one level it's as much about having literally grown old together as it is being married for a really long time. I could see them taking a couple married "only" 20 years, as long as they were both in their late 60s to mid 70s.

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I've often said that the best way to give the economy a boost is to give folks free cruises. One of my many things I had to buy before my cruise was a new svelte carry-on suitcase.

I didn't know I needed it until I saw it on a TV commercial a few weeks ago.  As we've been doing more weekend sailings, I thought it might make sense to invest in a good carry-on suitcase that I could not only use for short trips on an airplane, but also for these quick sailings.

I picked up The Bigger Carry-On with Pocket suitcase from Away Travel. [Note: Links contain a referral link. Costs nothing extra, but I make a few bucks if you order something. Full disclosure, I paid for the suitcase myself in full.] 

I opted for the one without a battery, because I was concerned going to an airport and my luggage being an issue with a battery in it, even though Away says the battery is compliant with airline policies and TSA.

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Curious how well this will work over the sort of suitcases I've always used, but giving it a good test run this weekend.

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13 minutes ago, Matt said:

I've often said that the best way to give the economy a boost is to give folks free cruises. One of my many things I had to buy before my cruise was a new svelte carry-on suitcase.

I didn't know I needed it until I saw it on a TV commercial a few weeks ago.  As we've been doing more weekend sailings, I thought it might make sense to invest in a good carry-on suitcase that I could not only use for short trips on an airplane, but also for these quick sailings.

I picked up The Bigger Carry-On with Pocket suitcase from Away Travel. [Note: Links contain a referral link. Costs nothing extra, but I make a few bucks if you order something. Full disclosure, I paid for the suitcase myself in full.] 

I opted for the one without a battery, because I was concerned going to an airport and my luggage being an issue with a battery in it, even though Away says the battery is compliant with airline policies and TSA.

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Curious how well this will work over the sort of suitcases I've always used, but giving it a good test run this weekend.

And you can fit everything you will need for the weekend in a carryon?  Looks pretty small.

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29 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

My last few flights I've heard the announcement that anyone with a "smart bag" with the battery had to bring it up for a gate check so I'd be worried if I had one.

Exactly what I had in mind when I opted not to get it

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27 minutes ago, Chawkjewel said:

And you can fit everything you will need for the weekend in a carryon?  Looks pretty small.

For my clothes? Absolutely. Or at least, it better!

24 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

That's just for his stuff.  He's gonna make his poor wife handle her own stuff and the stuff for their kids ?

The Force Awakens Movie GIF by Star Wars

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We arrived to the port at around 1:30 or so, so the rooms were ready and as soon as we boarded we headed to the room. 

As much as I relish arriving super early, it is nice to go straight to your room to drop off all your junk. 

Our room is massive, with 300+ square feet on deck 8. 

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Something I’ve never seen before. I went but to sign up for a Voom account. I didn’t prepay because with my diamond plus discount, it’s cheaper to buy it on the ship on a 3 night cruise. 

I went to select which plan I wanted and saw this option. I could be wrong, but I swear I did not pre purchase voom. 

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Based on this screen, I guess I must have pre purchased. Even if I did, I don’t recall ever seeing this as an option when you create a new account. I’ll wait for @twangster to correct me or confirm I’m living in the future. 

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