Caribbean Adventure on the Royal

Three days till we board the Royal!

We are off to the Caribbean for another amazing voyage on the Royal Princess.  

One day left of work and we will come back and pack the bags then head to the airport hotel for a good night sleep. Happy to say we are back at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel.  

We are flying out at 7:00 am Thursday and arrive in Fort Lauderdale 15 hours later.  It is a long day and a three hour time change.

A reserved mid-size car is waiting for us with Alamo that we booked at a rate of $30 a day.

Since hotels were so high (averaging from $200 - $300 a night!) once again this year in Fort Lauderdale we opted to look further afield and rent a car.  Thru Priceline we bid on a four star hotel in the Sawgrass/Weston area and got the Bonaventure Resort & Spa for $94 a night - we are there for two nights.  We stayed here a few years ago and really liked it.  Staff here are very very helpful and the rooms are spacious and comfortable and the resort grounds are to die for.

On Saturday we board the Royal Princess for a month.

We are basically on three ten days Caribbean cruises.  But we booked it as two segments.  First segment is a ten day itinerary.

For this leg we booked a Deluxe Obstructed View Balcony cabin.  As of right now we still don't have a cabin assignment - and we sail in three days!  We were offered an upsell a while back but it was for $299 each for a mini for the ten days and we turned it down.  We just couldn't justify the added cost for only ten days.  Plus it would of hurt having to go back to a "regular" balcony cabin afterwards.

The next leg is two ten day itineraries but at the time of booking it was more advantageous for us to book it as a 20 day cruise instead of two ten day cruises.  The price was lower (we booked an Obstructed View Balcony), and more on board credit with the stock holdings.

Just before Christmas we were offered an upsell for this leg from our original cabin to a Mini Suite for $299 US each so we took it and were assigned a cabin then.  

So much to do, but I know it will all fall into place before we head out.  Of course my personal checklist comes in handy to make sure we haven't forgotten anything.

Again this trip we have a friend house sitting while we are gone.  She is quite excited to be staying here as it gives her the freedom of having her own place for awhile.  Plus she is close to the college she attends.  

But having someone stay here means I need to clean the house thoroughly before we leave.  I need to put all our crap away that would only get in her way.  

So I will sign off for now.  Keep following here for an account of our adventures on the Royal.  I will try and blog the next few days but it is dependent on free wifi while in the United States.

Bon Voyage