one excursion booked!

The behind the scenes tour of the ship...

rules for preserving songbird's sanity

1.  Plan your itinerary before the cruise, but be flexible
2.  Print all documents and forms, carry a copy with you
3.  Never leave the USA without a passport
4.  Fly to the port the day before the cruise
5.  Buy travel insurance

dining options

Our ship has three specialty restaurants: steak house, Italian and Mexican.  Interesting options.  We're used to Carnival, which offered only two options.  Do we want three specialty meals on a 7 night cruise?

slight change of plan

I cancelled the hotel in Orlando.  We're shuttling from MCO to Cocoa Beach, staying in Cocoa Beach overnight before the cruise.  Snooze and cruise package booked.

flights, hotels and transportation

So...we're flying from JFK to MCO on Oct. 22, staying at a hotel at MCO that night, and taking a shuttle to the Port  the next morning.  After the cruise, we're renting a car and driving to Tampa, where we'll stay with some friends for a few days.  We'll fly home from Tampa.

Flight from JFK to MCO has been booked.  Hotel has been booked.  Rental car has been booked. 

Still left to do?  Book the shuttle from MCO to Port Canaveral, and book the flight from TPA to JFK or LGA. 

This is really happening, isn't it?

Not exactly a shore excursion, but...

Six years ago, on the Valor, we did the "Behind the Fun" tour.  Our group got to go backstage at t the theater, then we went down to the non-passenger decks and saw the galley, the storage areas (you need a lot of food to feed all those passengers and crew!), the laundry, some of the crew areas.  Then the engine room, and then all the way up to the bridge to meet the captain and officers. Interesting way to spend time on a sea day.

RCCL offers a similar tour.  I think we will be doing the tour.

Jamaica

I wish we had two days here!  So much to do!  Do we want to go to the waterfalls?  Do we want to do something involving Jamaican culture and history? 

We have a rather extensive list, we're trying to narrow it down.