The journey is done!

I hope everyone had a great time!  Safe travels today!

For those of you cruising with Royal Caribbean for he first time, you are now Gold Crown & Anchor members.  You should get an email or something to tell you what your Crown &Anchor number is.  When booking in the future you could be eligible for repeat cruiser discounts.  So ....  Always be sure to ask about that!

Until next time....

We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here

Ok...  That is a dumb little song I sing once in a while when we reach our destination.  And it is fitting because we are here!  Long drive but fortunately they actually did have a room open this early and we are checked in!

The hotel is right down the road from port and we actually saw one of Royal Caribbean's smaller ships this morning as we passed the port.  The Enchantment of the Seas was in port and will probably head out a little later.

We will be venturing out to find the la Quinta in a bit but it should be just a bit further up the road.

We look forward to having the rest of you join us!

On the road again...

well folks....  We are on our way.

I know you all are adults but I feel compelled to remind you to check to make sure you have your birth certificates or passport .  Whichever you choose to use is fine but make sure they are packed.  Everything else (clothes, toothbrush, shoes, etc.) can be bought or replaced when you arrive in Florida.  But those official documents are IMPORTANT!

See you all soon!  Safe travels!

Carry on for ship

Lucas brought up something to me the other day.  He asked if you were restricted to how many carry ones you had when you board the ship.  To my knowledge...  No you are not.  So if you have multiple things that you want to carry on, go for it I guess .

Passport / Birth Certificate Precautions

Thanks Jordan for asking me about this yesterday!

Jordan asked me yesterday if I was going to make a copy of my passport to carry with me just in case I lost mine.  I have never really done that up until Lucas recently traveled to Europe.  It was suggested for him to take a picture of his passport on his phone.  That way if he lost the passport he would still have a picture of it to show to any necessary people to get it replaced in a timely fashion.

So, if you want to do that, feel free.  Of course you could still lose a physical copy or your phone, but if that added 'insurance' makes you feel more comfortable, then go for it!!

See ya!

Weekend in Florida before cruise

I know we are all arriving at various times in Florida.  I have been so focused on the cruise that I kind of forgot that this is also July 4th weekend.  I did a quick search and here is a link with some activities for this weekend happening near/around Cocoa Beach for anyone that is interested.

http://spacecoastliving.com/brevard-county-fourth-of-july-events-2015/

Enjoy!

Weather

Good morning everyone...

I checked weather.com this morning and here is the weather I see for the days we are in particular ports:

Sunday 7/5 Port Canaveral 88 degrees, partly cloudy, 20% chance of rain

Monday at sea

Tuesday 7/7 Labadee, Haiti 92 degrees, mostly sunny, 20% chance of rain

Wednesday 7/8 Falmouth, Jamaica 89 degrees, mostly sunny, 20% chance of rain

Thursday 7/9 Georgetown, Grand Cayman 87 degrees, scattered thunderstorms, 60% chance of rain

Friday 7/10 Cozumel, Mexico 86 degrees, scattered thunderstorms, 50% chance of rain

Saturday 7/11 at sea

Sunday 7/12 Port Canaveral 90 degrees, scattered thunderstorms, 50% chance of rain

Most of the time for sea days they try to "sail around" the weather to the best of their ability.  All I can say is ...  We look like we will have a few rainy days possibly.  I am not too concerned as this is still early to be getting the forecast for all of next week.  So I am going in to things with good thoughts and positive weather vibes.  And after all...  A day at sea is better than any day in the office.  :-)

Bye for now!

My favorite kind of dance...

Single digit dancing may now start!!!!  I am so excited!  9 days until 7/5 when we board our ship.

Yay!

Do you know what today is????

today we are officially less than 20 days until we board the ship!!!  I am eating lunch with Q today and we both started talking about the cruise and so I checked !  I cannot believe we are so close now! Some of you have started packing already!  Yay!  Who else is excited ?!?!

For those of you that have not yet, go ahead and start printing off your boarding documents!!!

If you're ready for the cruise and you know it, clap your hands...

ok...  Admit it.  How many of you just clapped?  I did!

I think Miss Brittany is ready because she texted me yesterday while getting her tan on and obviously dreaming of cool waves and sandy beaches and was taking charge and setting a date for our final get together before we leave.  I thought this was great!

She suggested we get together on June 28th (the Sunday before we leave) and she volunteered her grandparents house.  Graciously they said they would host.  What time do you all think would be good?  Should we do late afternoon?  Like maybe around 4:30/5:00?  Or is that too early?

How about we go simple with sandwich trays (chicken salad, ham and turkey) that I can make and bring.  Then everyone else could bring side dishes like slaw, potato salad, beans, salad, chips, drinks or whatever.  Memaw also suggested to Brittany for me to bring my ice cream making machine and we could make some homemade ice cream.  So if anyone wants to bring toppings that would be great too!

Thoughts?

Falmouth Jamaica tours

Hey everybody !  I just found out that some of you have not gotten the emails I sent from my personal email lately.  So I am including the email from Courtney Taylor tours here :

Greetings From Courtney Taylor Tours Jamaica

I would be more than happy to assist and will be available as soon as you book

Tours Options and Admission Fees

1. Dunn's River Falls $20pp Adults, $12pp kids
2. Blue Hole $10pp Adults, 10pp kids
3. Sight Seeing along the country side and mountains
4. Narrated tour of the island rich history and culture
5. Local Shopping
6. Authentic Jamaica Restaurant
7. Transportation $25 per person for this private tour.

       I have given you a group discount price for the tour if you wish to do both attraction it will be the same because both attraction are in the same area. This tour will last approximately 5-6 hours long. This is a tour that we do all the time from this port and we always return in plenty of time. This tour is very much fitting for the 14 of you, but if the others wish to join this tour they can also or below is a tour i would suggest for them that are much more relaxing and enjoyable.

      Tour for the other 5 person:

       Rose Hall Great House $20 each
       Tour of Historical Falmouth
        Tour of the City of Montego Bay
       Narrated tour of the island rich history and culture
       Aqusol Beach $6 each
        Scotches for lunch
        Transportation cost $35 per person for this private tour.

We look forward to hear from you again.

     Thanks
       

Samantha Stewart Admin Rep.
Courtney Taylor Private Tours Jamaica
Tel 1 876 530 7897 or 1 876 593 3992

Who's hungry?

Good afternoon everyone!

I just thought I would look up a few restaurants near Port Canaveral for anyone coming down a few days prior to our cruise.  Here are some restaurants in the area that are recommended:

Seafood:
Www.fishlipswaterfront.com
Www.grillsseafood.com
Www.seafoodatlantic.net

Pizza:
Www.kelseys.com
Www.cazonispizza.com

Ethnic:
Www.rubioscubancafe.com
Www.izzysbistroflorida.com

Those are a few places I have seen mentioned online as good choices.  The hubby and I like to eat seafood while in Florida but are open to anything really.

Thanks all!

Stingray Sailing Excursion

Here is the link to explain the Stingray Sailing excursion in Grand Cayman that I mentioned when we all got together a week or so ago :

http://www.stingraysailing.com/the_tour.html

I would like to know who is interested in this.  John and I are strongly considering booking this for him and I and our two kids.  We would love if others join us.  However, if you are not interested and want to do something else, that is fine.  Let us know what you are planning and we may join you all instead.

Please review this weekend and let us know by Wednesday of this week if you want to do this with us.

Have a good weekend

That Gleitz family! What a bunch of cards!

Hey everyone!  The Gleitz family loves their favorite card game, Euchre.  While vacationing they often travel with a pack of a cards.  My personal opinion is that playing cards is great but playing cards while relaxing on a cruise ship...  PRICELESS!  Haha!

Anyway...  If you would like, bring a deck of cards or a small dice game (like CLR or UNO cards or whatever else you like to play) and we can all learn a knew game and teach each other!  There are plenty of places to chill out and take a break to play a game if you want to do that.  And with a group as large as ours I am sure you can find some people to play the game too!

Bye for now!

Dine time updated !!!

Hey everyone!  Looks like we were able to get into late seating for dinner!  You all should have gotten an email saying so.  I did get some emails sent to me for Jordan/Nic, Ma/GaGa, Carol/Amanda.  I can forward those to you if you all did not get an email confirmation.  For everyone else, I am assuming you got your emails sent to you directly.

I am thrilled that we are not locked in to early seating!!  Yippee!

Feeling Beachy this morning

Good morning everyone!  Thought I would start off your morning with a little more cruise info.  In an earlier post I outlined beach choices in Grand Cayman in case you were looking to do the lounge-on-the-beach thing.  Well, I came across this website the other day for Cozumel as well.

http://www.cozumelmycozumel.com/Pages/CozumelCruiseBeachClubs.htm

John and I had discussed going to Chankannab (the national park) and enjoying some time there.  If we do that, I am thinking we might be best to rent a car or take a taxi when we get in port rather than booking through the ship but that is just my opinion.  I just do not like being tied down by ship return times and so on and I do not like the additional $$ that they usually tack on to the price.

Enjoy the reading.  And let me know what your plans are!  Enquiring minds want to know!

Dining time update

Good evening everyone.  I have talked to almost all of you and got a consensus to change the dining time to late dining.  So I called the travel agent and she is checking into that with Royal Caribbean.  I will let you all know if/when she is able to change that for us.

Good night everyone!

A few updates...

Good afternoon cruisers!  I have a few updates for all of you!

First...  I called today to pay the tips for our family.  I tried calling the Royal Caribbean number from the email I received.  I had also shared that number with all of you.  When I called they said we must do this through our travel agent.  So if you plan to pay your tips at the current rate then call our travel agent at 877-442-5659.  Have your reservation number handy.  Remember that the tip rate increases on 6/1 so please call before then to get the reduced rate is that is what you want to do.

Also, while I was speaking with the travel agent I asked about switching to My Time Dining like I discussed this weekend.  Well....  Apparently it is a popular choice now and it is fully booked so the Gleitz family's rooms are wait-listed for it.  Not sure what will happen at this point .  However, late seating is still available and it is not as late as I thought.  Late seating is at 8 (not 8:30 like I mentioned previously).  So I was curious...  How do you all feel?  Are you planning to stay with early seating or try for My time dining (not guaranteed at this point) or switch to late seating?  Thoughts?)

Be here Or be square !

Let's party this Saturday May 16th at our house .  I say we start around 6:30 Pm.  That way everyone has their morning and early afternoon to use as they please.  I think a few people will not be there due to being out of town (my aunt) or work (Quentin and Brittany) but it is hard to find a time when everyone is available.

John and I will have brats, hamburgers and hot dogs for the grill.  If you prefer something else, bring it and you can throw it on the grill and cook it up!  For those of you wanting to bring something I find it easier to assign things so here goes :

Ma and Gaga - potato salad
Charles and Nancy - pasta salad?
Schmelz family - Oreo delight
McHolan family - baked beans?
Jordan and Nic - chips or soft drinks?

Let me know if you would rather bring something else.  Did I leave anyone off the list above?

Who is up for a little party?

The weather is warm.  I am ready for vacation.  I know people have questions.  I am ready for vacation .  We are ready to break out the grill.  I am ready for vacation.  You see a trend here?

How about we all get together on Saturday 5/16 around 6:00 p.m. for a little cookout and chat session at our house?  Who is interested?  Between now and then I promise to do more research and post in the blog and you all start getting questions together?

Sound good?  Ya mon (said with my best Jamaican accent)!  Let us know if you can come!

Eat early? Eat late? Eat when you want?

These are the questions that have me thinking lately.  John and I have done the early dining (like we are signed up for now).  Honestly though we find the 5:30 time frame for eating to be quite early (especially on a port day when you barely get back on board and then have to get to the dining room).  

We have also done late seating (normally around 8:30 pm) and find that to be quite late.

Royal Caribbean has introduced My time dining in recent years and we have used that twice and really like it.  With my time dining you are expected to pay your tips up front (i.e. As soon as you decide to change).  Then once you do that you can go in to your reservation online and reserve your dinner times.

Before John and I switch over to that though we would like to know who else might be interested in doing this as well.  That way we can reserve dinner times together or whatever .  If you all are perfectly fine with what you currently have (early dining) then please do not feel like you have to change.  And if the majority want to stick with early dining then we will too!

Let me know your thoughts!

Are you tired of me reminding you about this week's deadline?

Sorry to keep pestering you.  I just do not want anyone to forget.  Please make your call if you have not yet!  1-877-442-5659.

Unfortunately I am sad to report that 3 more cabins from our group are canceling.  It is my college friend and his mother in law and mother's cabins.  We still have a great group though!  We still have 9 cabins booked and I am still planning on having a blast with everyone!!!  I know of possibly one more cabin that may cancel but to the rest of you...  I encourage you to call in and finish your cruise payment if you have not done so yet!

Deadline coming up!!!

Just another couple of reminders... 

1.  Final payment is due by 4/16 to our travel agent.    You need to call 877-442-5659 to make your final payment within the next week. 

2.  Also, if you are debating on getting trip insurance, you can ask the travel agent at the time you make final payment about this or go to www.insuremytrip.com and enter your trip information to get a quote.  You do not have to have insurance but be aware that after final payment, if you have to cancel, you are no eligible for a full refund unless you have trip insurance. 

3.  I know it seems early but start thinking about your packing.  You can start putting some things aside now (like walkie talkies, baggies for sandwiches to carry off the ship, extension cord/power point to give you more plug space.  I have a 3 plug power "strip" that I bring with me that I got at Target a couple of years ago.  It is a Belkin brand and has 2 USB ports on it as well for charging phones).  Anyway...  there are things you can stat packing now or putting aside.  I will check my previous posts but I think sent one post with suggestions for things you might not have previously thought to bring with you!

Thanks all!

Who is dancing right now?

We all should be doing the double digit dance!  We are now only 97 days away from boarding the ship on 7/5.  We have lost a few cruisers and I will miss them not being on the cruise but there is still plenty of us left to have a great time and enjoy one another's company!

A couple of things to remember...

1.  At 90 days out you can finish up your online check in if you still need to do that!

2.  Final payment for our cruise needs to be done by 4/16 by calling the travel agent at 877-442-5659

Keep these things in mind!  Thanks everyone!

Online check-in update

Hello folks!  It is me again.  Well....  Remember how I told you all some time back about doing online check-in early just to get it all done and out of the way ?  Well....  Apparently some of you were trying to do just that this weekend. I am so proud of you go-getters but there was a problem.  Sometime recently I guess Royal Caribbean decided to no longer allow passengers to do all of that check-In stuff until the 90 day mark. 

This 90 day prior to cruise time is when you will be making your final payment and I guess they just felt it best for people to just wait to do check in until their cruise is paid in full.  So sit back and relax if you have not done online check in yet.  We are currently at 132 days out.  You have some time.

If you had by chance already done yours I guess just double check things at the 90 day time to make sure your information is all still out there!

Thanks all!

Dream on. Dream until your dreams come true...

Hey folks!  Finally figured out where we will be resting our heads for our last couple of dreamy nights before we cruise on 7/5!

Our family has made our hotel reservations for the days leading up to the cruise.  We will be staying at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront.  We had some time share points we needed to use and that hotel was an option for us.  So please do not feel obligated to stay here if you had a different hotel in mind.

If you do decide to book here I highly recommend that you DO NOT book through the hotel website as they price their rooms quite high.  I did look on kayak.com this past weekend and was able to find prices for this hotel that are much cheaper.

The hotel does appear to charge $5 a day to park there while you are staying at the hotel.  That is a standard charge and has nothing to do with any park and cruise option I had mentioned that some hotels do.  We will most likely park at the port or use park and go for our parking during the cruise.

Anyway...  Happy hotel hunting!

When to head to port...

From what I have read in recent discussion forums, normally boarding time for the Freedom is listed as noon on embarkation day.  However, I have read where some people have boarded as early as 10:45 a.m.  So you can bet your buns the Gleitz family will be there early.  As long as you have all of your online paperwork done and printed off and signed, your check in should go really quick!  Have I mentioned that I already did the online check in for us?  I even have my mom and dad checked in already.  So, what are you doing to ight?  Come on!  Snuggle up by the fireplace, log on to Royal Caribbean'so website and full out the blanks and get checked in now.  Don't forget to sign your waiver online for the rock wall and any other things that need waivers.

Who is ready to go?!??!  I a, COLD!  I want to go now!

Park it, mister!

Hey everyone!  Time to talk about where you might want to park your car while we are cruising.

There are a couple of options and I have listed them here for you to consider :

1.  The first option is one I have mentioned previously.  You might end up booking a hotel room that has a cruise package where they allow you to park your car at the hotel and they will take you to port on a shuttle.  Here is a nifty little website to find hotels that offer this option - https://www.hotelnparking.com/ShowSearchHotel.php

2.  Another option is to use Park and Cruise - www.parkcruise.com

3.  Another option is to just park at the cruise terminal - http://www.portcanaveral.com/cruising/parking.php

Enjoy!

The Today show "must see " list'

Good afternoon fellow cruisers!  I ran across this interesting article this past week and thought I would share!

http://m.today.com/parents/must-see-places-take-kids-theyre-grown-2D80220002

Why should this article be of any interest to us for our cruise?  Well...  I am SO glad you asked!  One of the places listed in that article is Stingray City in the Cayman Islands!  And you have a chance to go check it out for yourself!!

Here is one website I found where the rates seemed pretty good.

http://www.stingraycitytrips.com/

As always, check on the Royal Caribbean site to see what their prices are as well and do your comparisons!

Enjoy!

Who wants a little kyss?

Ok, ok!  I am not getting fresh with anyone!  Re-check my spelling above before you get any ideas !!

I was doing some research tonight and saw these bags that people were talking about using when they go to the beach.  They are supposed to be nice bags if you want to keep your items safe and sound while you enjoy the beach!  Check it out!  I thought they looked kind of cool!

http://www.kyssbags.com

Enjoy!

Grand Cayman - turtle farm

This might be a good option for anyone wanting to get up close to some marine life.  There is a turtle farm in Grand Cayman.  It could be a good thing for kids to experience.

Check out this link for more information!

http://www.turtle.ky/tours-description
 

Enjoy!

Freedom of the Seas - drydock updates

Good afternoon everyone!

 

Well, yesterday morning/afternoon the Freedom of the Seas is making its journey to Freeport in the Bahamas for its 24 day drydock.  During this time the ship will be gussied up a bit and some new things will be added.  Royal Caribbean's website is already advertising the refurbishments on their webpage.  Check out this link and scroll down to look for anything noted as "NEW" or "Coming Soon" (in highlighted yellow print):

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipClassCode=FR&shipCode=FR&br=R

 

Enjoy!!

 

Only 178 days until we board our ship!!!  We are under the 200 day mark and have been for a while!  I cannot believe I let that milestone slip by without a shout out last month!!!  Let's have a party right now to celebrate!  Woot Woot!  Wave your hands in the air.  And wave them like you just don't care!

 

Now, step back and look at yourself.  If you are at work and really waving your hands, then you might have to explain to your work neighbors!  Haha!  Have a good day everyone!

 

Bye for now!