LandstromCruise Posted January 14 Report Posted January 14 So I don’t get in trouble with @OCSC Mike and @Lovetocruise2002 I guess I better start a blog for this cruise while I have some time on my flight back to Chicago from Austin. as you can tell from the title this was originally supposed to be my first B2B. I wanted to try Utopia but flying to Florida for just a 3 night cruise really isn’t worth it even though I can fly on points and companion pass for the wife. I had a free instant certificate I had gotten on my Wonder cruise last summer as well as a mail offer from the casino that allowed me to book the B2B and even in the same cabin. Well a few months after booking I had the opportunity to buy my partner out of a restaurant we own together in Austin TX at the beginning of this year. So adding that to an already busy time for my consulting business with year end and my wife being extremely busy with her work and we already have 2 other big cruises booked this year she convinced me that we shouldn’t take the entire week. I acquiesced and said fine, but we are at least still going on the weekend one. so trip details: who’s going: just wife and me cabin: 9570 oceanview balcony flight: fly out of Midway Thursday 1/16 at 7pm. Don’t love the late flight but again with wife vacation days had to minimize so she could still work this day hotel stay: springhill suites Cape Canaveral cocoa beach Nassau we will stay on ship and I will mostly do flowrider while wife probably does the spa pdcc am trying coco beach club for first time. Decided to book this when it got down to $103 on Black Friday. I’ve heard people say if can get it for under $100 it’s probably worth it. I bent the rules and rounded down booked mason jar brunch for embarkation day booked chops plus 1 and will hopefully do either 150 Central Park or Giovanni’s as the other night. Will try and get as many photos as I can and it might turn into a big photo dump more than a live blog, but feel free to ask any questions and I will try and get the answer to them. MaryS, PPPJJ-GCVAB, InmyElement and 10 others 10 3 Quote
asquared17 Posted January 14 Report Posted January 14 let’s go!! Ampurp85 and LandstromCruise 2 Quote
Lovetocruise2002 Posted January 14 Report Posted January 14 I am here for this! Will gladly take any UT info that you want to photo dump in! OCSC Mike, LandstromCruise and Sweety 3 Quote
lovetheplaya Posted January 15 Report Posted January 15 Sounds fun! Glad you still get to go, even if it’s not a B2B anymore! Looking forward to your pics! LandstromCruise 1 Quote
Cactus527 Posted January 15 Report Posted January 15 Definitely jealous that you'll be on Utopia, even without the B2B. WOW Coco Beach Club for $103/person?!??!? I never saw it go under $150 for my September 2024 cruise, which was my price break point. Lucky! Excited for you to get out of cold Chicago too. It's going to be fun! LandstromCruise and Sweety 1 1 Quote
InmyElement Posted January 15 Report Posted January 15 Looking forward to hearing all about Utopia and your trip..as.a Marriott member also interested in the Springhill suites. LandstromCruise 1 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 16 Author Report Posted January 16 I feel so unprepared but I finally got packed tonight. Took a miracle but forced the wife to get packed as well since she has to work tomorrow until 3 and we are heading to the airport right after she gets off work. Somebody is not happy about us leaving. I’ve been traveling a lot the last few weeks and she doesn’t like when I’m gone. Sweety, JohnK6404, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 4 others 2 1 4 Quote
DanielB Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 Safe travels! Boarding Utopia next Friday myself so looking forward to your blog. WAAAYTOOO and LandstromCruise 2 Quote
Ampurp85 Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 Is the pup wearing a sweater? Safe travels LandstromCruise 1 Quote
Sweety Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 Utopia is a lot of fun. We live in Chicago also. Safe Travels. LandstromCruise 1 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 16 Author Report Posted January 16 1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said: Is the pup wearing a sweater? Safe travels Yep. It’s cold here. She’s an old pup so it’s her grandma sweater Ampurp85, Gilley and Sweety 1 1 1 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 16 Author Report Posted January 16 42 minutes ago, Sweety said: Utopia is a lot of fun. We live in Chicago also. Safe Travels. I’m about 2 hours south in Bloomington. So our plan is to leave at 3, which in my wife’s world means 3:30 and have 2 hour drive and 7:05 flight. Ampurp85, lovetheplaya, Sweety and 1 other 1 3 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 Well that was a little tighter than I like it. The wife got off work about 30 minutes late so we didn’t leave the house until 4 instead of 3 like I wanted. After driving a little fast made it to the airport just before 6pm. Quickly checked our bags, took probably 8 minutes to get through security and made a dash for the gate. Got there 15 minutes before boarding started. We are now on the plane so hopefully will take off on time and get to Orlando without any issues. OCSC Mike, Cactus527, Lovetocruise2002 and 4 others 6 1 Quote
OCSC Mike Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 4 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said: We are now on the plane so hopefully will take off on time and get to Orlando without any issues. Safe flight! LandstromCruise 1 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 Flight left on time! Should get in probably 20 minutes early. Hopefully can get our bags quickly and get an Uber over to Springhill Suites Cape Canaveral OCSC Mike, Lovetocruise2002, Sweety and 4 others 7 Quote
Lovetocruise2002 Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Woohoo! Vacay started! Cactus527, Ampurp85 and LandstromCruise 2 1 Quote
DanielB Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 It's cruise day! Hope you had a great evening at Cape Canaveral. LandstromCruise and Cactus527 2 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 IT’s CRUISE DAY!!!! Bumpy flight last night, but other than that we landed a little early and our bags came with us so I would say that’s a success. Grabbed an Uber pretty quickly. Driver offered water which was great as I was dying of thirst, only complaint is he might have been the slowest Uber driver ever. Took 43 minutes to get to hotel. Pretty sure I could have done that drive in about 30. So made it to the hotel around 11:40 and pretty much just crashed. Sorry didn’t get pictures of room; but it’s nice and definitely works for a quick overnight stay. Scheduled the shuttle to the port for 9:30 when we checked in last night. It’s $10/person which seems a little high. I will check what Uber pricing is around 9:30 this morning. Lovetocruise2002, MaryS, OCSC Mike and 2 others 4 1 Quote
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Wow….what a whirlwind trip ! Sometimes that’s best though…at least you’re not waiting around to wait around. Let’s hope boarding goes quickly, too. Welcome to Florida ! PPPJJ-GCVAB and LandstromCruise 2 Quote
OCSC Mike Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Welcome to warm & sunny slightly cooler than usual central Florida! Hope everything goes smoothly this morning. You know I have nothing but great things to say about boarding at PC. MaryS, WAAAYTOOO, lovetheplaya and 2 others 5 Quote
Sweety Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 It's cruise day!!! Have an amazing time. LandstromCruise and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote
Sweety Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 I made the mistake and told James about your live blog about Utopia. He had a sad look on his face and said, "Tell them to have a Mississippi Moonlight for me." I guess I will be booking Utopia soon. asquared17, Cactus527, LandstromCruise and 5 others 1 6 1 Quote
Ampurp85 Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Its cruise day I feel like the drive from airport to any hotel close to the port is at least 45min to an hour when doing Orlando. I believe my last rideshare from a hotel, Hampton Inn, where you could see the port from it was $14+tip. So depending on the hotel distance, $10pp might not be so bad. Cactus527 and LandstromCruise 2 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 Uber price shows $24 right now so the shuttle isn’t a bad deal at all. Just awaiting its arrival now WAAAYTOOO, Cactus527, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 4 Quote
Lovetocruise2002 Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Happy Cruise Day! 1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said: Welcome to warm & sunny slightly cooler than usual central Florida! I will trade you that for the Polar Vortex that is coming our way! WAAAYTOOO, Gilley, MaryS and 2 others 1 2 1 1 Quote
lovetheplaya Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 WOOOOHOOOO cruise day! Sweety, Cactus527 and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote
Cactus527 Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 CRUISE DAY CRUISE DAY I'm insanely jealous CRUISE DAY! Sweety and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote
OCSC Mike Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 43 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: I will trade you that for the Polar Vortex that is coming our way! Hard pass. I was careful to say "slightly cooler." I'm not a native who thinks anything under 70F is "cold." I just went food shopping in shorts. It was a very comfortable 55F or so, no complaints here, we've just been below average. Stay warm up there! Lovetocruise2002, PPPJJ-GCVAB and Ampurp85 2 1 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 So shuttle got us to port right around 9:30. Had to wait outside until about 9:45 when doors opened. We had express boarding and were on the ship by 9:53. Didn’t stop moving once the doors opened. They just have the boarding process down to a science here. Knocked out getting muster done and Wow bands activated. Of course had to get some ice cream after I got on. Lovetocruise2002, Sweety, Gilley and 9 others 5 6 1 Quote
OCSC Mike Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Just now, LandstromCruise said: We had express boarding and were on the ship by 9:53. You're the 2nd person I've seen post about boarding Utopia pre-10am. I thought boarding Wonder pre-10:30am was early. PC really is great if you're there early. Ampurp85, LandstromCruise, Cactus527 and 2 others 4 1 Quote
Ampurp85 Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Ooooh I love express boarding. Also good timing on the shuttle. LandstromCruise, Cactus527 and Sweety 3 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 16 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: Ooooh I love express boarding. Also good timing on the shuttle. Yeah they told me 9:30 or 10:15. I like to get on the ship asap so I took the 9:30 shuttle and it was about 10 mins early getting us OCSC Mike and PPPJJ-GCVAB 2 Quote
asquared17 Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 ITS CRUISE DAY!!!!!! also when you said $10 pp i was like WOW that’s cheap but then i remembered not everyone travels with the caravan or luggage that i do….. lovetheplaya, MaryS, Lovetocruise2002 and 6 others 9 Quote
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Wow ! Thats EARLY to get on board. Very nice ! LandstromCruise, Sweety and PPPJJ-GCVAB 3 Quote
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Our Utopia boarding time was very early as well back in September! They also have a great disembarkation process which helps get the new passengers on early. But when you are doing only a 3 or 4 nighter…you Definitely want the first day to count! Now what will it take to get all other terminals and on/off processes to get onboard? ? LandstromCruise, Cactus527, Sweety and 3 others 5 1 Quote
LandstromCruise Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 @OCSC Mike Jocelle says hello. She lit up when I told her you said hi. She is very nice. Cactus527, Sweety, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 2 2 Quote
OCSC Mike Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 12 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said: @OCSC Mike Jocelle says hello. She lit up when I told her you said hi. She is very nice. That’s awesome. Thanks for saying hi for us. My wife has her social media to message once in a while but I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear it. Quote
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