Night in Seattle

Heading out to Seattle today after my shift.  Yeah I had to work today.  Early early early... 4:30 am start but I am done at 12:18 pm and once I get home and change and pack the last minute items we will make our way South to Seattle.

It is a nice drive and the weather should be good.  It will take about 2.5 hours and we are spending the night.

When we booked the flights we were able to find a great deal with Jet Blue to Long Beach but it is out of Seattle. 

Even with the nights' accommodation, which includes parking for the week, it still works out cheaper than flying out of Vancouver.

We are staying once again at the Marriott TownePlace Suites which is a great place and there is a Starbucks right beside the hotel and includes breakfast.

Flight is early Saturday - 7 am - but we get into Long Beach early too.  This will allow us to grab a cab to the pier, drop off the bags and then maybe go for a walk.  

Stay tuned.

And We are Off to New York

We finished our shifts at work Thursday and drove down to Seattle.  We got to the border in record time and thankfully because of our Nexus cards we had no wait at the border at all.  Traffic coming into Seattle was heavier than normal and added about a half hour to our travel time but we were fine with that.

We checked into the TowneSuite Seattle Airport hotel website which we have stayed at before.  They had a great rate and it included parking for the time we are away.  They offer complimentary breakfast and shuttle to and from the airport. 

We had a good night’s sleep and woke up at 4 am to get ready for our flight which was at 7 am.  The shuttle run on the hour and took only 15 minutes to get to the airport.  Once again thanks to having Nexus we got to clear security in the TSA priority line.  This means we don’t have to take our shoes off, we don’t have to remove our laptops or any approved liquids from our bag.  This alone saved us about 15 minutes as the security line up was long!

Our flight to JFK was on time and we love the plane we were on.  It was really new and had all the amenities that I am use to when I fly Air Canada.   Great entertainment and even games.  Bernie played chess for a few hours!

We landed on time but the terminal was very busy and we sat on the tarmac for quite a while waiting for traffic to clear.  Even once we got off the plane it was still quite a wait for our bags to show up.  But thankfully they both did.  We landed at 3:20 but didn’t actually get out of the airport until 4:15.

I had prearranged for Carmel Car Service to pick us up at the airport.  In order to get them I had to call them.  Since I don’t have an international plan with my cell phone I looked for a pay phone somewhere.  Now this was difficult.  I know that most people have a cell phone but at the airport it really should be more available since travellers often can’t use their cell phone if they come from out of the country.  I had to ask someone where a pay phone was.  I was directed outside and at the entrance to the parkade. 

So Bernie and I lugged the bags out and over to the pick up area and I quickly went to phone Carmel Car Service and was told the car would be there very soon.  And sure enough it was, and a nice car too with lots of room.  The traffic was heavy heading into the city but this is normal the driver said.  I will never complain again about traffic in Vancouver. 

Our hotel was in Upper Manhattan near Times Square.  The Sheraton New York at Times Square was right on 7^th Avenue and close to many things.  We booked this hotel on Priceline and was glad we did cause after chatting with a few others I see that we got a deal compared to those that booked directly with the hotel.

We dropped off our bags and headed out.  We knew our time in New York is limited so we wanted to get out to see as much as we could.  

We headed towards Times Square and saw  the discount ticket for Broadway shows.  The show I really want to see is Kinky Boots but it isn’t  being discounted tonight and they recommend we head to the theater to see if they have full price tickets still. 

We make our way to the theater – should add we kept gaulking at everything around us, so much to see!  When we get to the theater we scoop up some great tickets in the Orchestra section.  I am so excited!  We have an hour and a half to kill to the curtain so we turn the corner and find a nice restaurant to eat at.  Il Forna. This is their second night open and there are clearly some bugs to work out, but we are all given a free glass of wine for dining there tonight so we are happy.  In the end the meal was fabulous, the ambiance even better and wow I am in New York.

The show starts and from the get go I am enthralled.  I love live entertainment and am so glad my honey loves it too.  I even bought a Kinky Boots t-shirt. 

We walk back to the hotel and quickly crawl into bed and we are out for the night.  And shockingly we sleep in until 9 am, which is 9 hours sleep!  But it is good because with the time change it really is 6 am and hopefully our internal clock has adjusted.

Just About to Head Out

Tomorrow is the big day.  We officially start our vacation tomorrow.  When we were looking at airfare for this trip we researched our options.  Fly out of Vancouver (way too expensive for an international flight) or fly out of Seattle (much cheaper).  Bellingham is an option too but the price was very similar to Seattle and would of entailed an extra flight and a lot longer travel time.

First we booked this trip with Best Price Cruises www.bestpricecruises.com/ quite a while ago at got if for $800 for an inside cabin (later upgraded to a Central Park balcony for $20 more each).  Now this price is a lot higher than any price we have ever paid for a Caribbean Cruise per diem.  But it is Oasis and it does seem to warrant a higher price, and they are filling the ship.  I will also note that this was one of the cheapest prices we had seen for any sailing on this ship all year.  Best Price also gave us a $60 on board credit, something that if we booked directly with RCI we would not of gotten.

Back to the airfare.  We always use Kayak.com to search for flights.  And the best price came thru flying Frontier Airlines (have never flown them) going thru Denver, and returning with United via Houston.  Total cost for two was $618, not a bad price considering we return just when the holiday travel gets going.  Downside was we had to fly a later flight that doesn't get into Fort Lauderdale till just before midnight (time change doesn't help - 3 hours forward).

We looked for a deal to park our car in Seattle.  Normally the place we always book it was our first option.  They have a great monthly rate that we always take advantage of but this trip was only going to need 11 days parking at the rate to park at this place was $118!  Wow only $40 more for the monthly rate.  We started brainstorming ideas and options. 

We started looking at hotels that packaged parking.  I booked the Marriott Towne Place Suites.  They had a deal of a nights accommodation and 14 nights parking for a price $149.  So for $31 more we get parking and a nights accommodation.  Easy decision we went with this option.  We will have a nice evening, wake up and enjoy their complimentary breakfast and then catch the complimentary shuttle to the airport.

After we land in Fort Lauderdale we will head to one of our favorite hotels.  The Renaissance Fort Lauderdale on 17th Street right across from the entrance to Port Everglades.  www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/fllbr-renaissance-fort-lauderdale-hotel/

We booked this hotel thru Hotwire.com   It was the first time I had used Hotwire, normally we use Priceline and we really tried to secure a room with Priceline, bidding 4 Star in this downtown area (knowing that the Renaissance was the only hotel in that category).  We bid and bid and went up as high as $130 and the bid was never accepted.  Finally I did some research on Hotwire and saw that I could get a four star in downtown Fort Lauderdale (all my reserach showed they were describing the Renaissance) for $99.   So I booked it for two nights for $99 each night.  Heck if they would of accepted my Priceline offer they would of got more money out of me.  Oh well their loss.  We also booked same hotel for one night post cruise too for the same price.

We will be taking a taxi to the hotel from the airport... price will be about $17 plus tip so for around $20 total, beats taking cruiseline shuttles, or booking cruiseline hotel pacakges that charge per person what I paid.

We love this location for a hotel.  Starbucks is close by, we can also walk to the Publix, Wallgreens, Total Wine, our favorite Dinner for breakfast, and our favorite Mexican Carlos and Peppes. 

As I said we get in very late Thursday so I called the hotel to inform them of late arrival (although room is confirmed and allready paid for so they can't give it away) I just wanted to confirm with them and also to request a quiet room that does not have a connecting door to another room.  One of my pet peeves listening to neighbours as if I am sitting right on the bed beside them, and them of course hearing us too.

Friends will be flying in on Friday to also sail (but different ship) and we have arranged to meet up with them and go for dinner that night.  We will be going to Carlos & Pepe's for Mexican www.carlosandpepesfl.com

Now for the cruise, as you know allready we are sailing on Royal Caribbean for the first time.  We have been informed that even though we can board around noon we can not access our cabins until 1 pm.  So we are not in any rush to get on board and will wait until around 1 pm to arrive at the pier.

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in years.  I pre ordered something as a gift for Bernie.  I love the idea of doing this, but since Princess' onboard gifts are so limited and they don't make it easy to order as you still have to print out form and fax it or call the 1-800 number I have never done it in the 33 cruises with Princess.  But with RCI you can surf their page for an abundance of gifts including flowers, clothes, beverages, food, decorations, you name it.  I especially liked all the romance items and at reasonable prices too.

So I ended up getting the Romance Package that is $100 -  this is what it entails

Classic Romance Package                                             $100.00 CAD Item 1061 This package includes a bottle of chilled Domaine Chandon Champagne and Royal Caribbean delicious vanilla cupcakes upon arrival; a tray of elegant canapés before dinner, and delicious petit fours after dinner on the first formal evening; breakfast in bed one morning during the cruise; and a silver-framed, 8" x 10" keepsake portrait.

I hope he likes it, he really is doing this trip because I wanted to do it.  He really is not one to go outside the box when he is comfortable in the box.  He also hated the idea of flying so far for a short week's vacation.  When it takes a whole day to go and come back it does eat up a lot of vacation time.  So I wanted to thank him for agreeing and that I appreciate him.

Tonight we are gathering last minute items, really trying to scale back cause it is a shorter vacation and I have to keep reminding myself -- really Vickie you are not going to wear, use, or want this -- we are forcing ourselves to only bring a smaller suitcase each. 

Tomorrow we will head out to drive down to Seattle stopping at some of the shops looking for some deals.  With hopes of getting to the hotel around 4ish.

As I mentioned on my facebook fan page "Cruising Princess Cruiseline with Vickie"  I won't have the free internet package that I normally get with Princess so I won't be doing a live thread but will be taking notes and when I return home I will post a day by day account of our trip and what we did and where we went and what we thought.

But right now I am excited to try something different, feels odd to be going on a ship I have no experience with or the line.  But I have a very open mind and make lemonade out of the most bitter lemons if that is what I am given, but I am sure this lemonade will be sweet.