18 Days to go!

The excitement is building around our house as we start laying out things to pack. We always do this. We put out everything that we think we will need, and then start putting stuff back. We work off of each other by telling each other "do you really think you need that?".

By the time we are done, we usually put back around 50% of what we first put out. We also use our previous cruise experiences by looking back at what we took with us and what we never wore or used. This really helps us keep the baggage down.

We are still waiting for our cabin assignment. We normally book a guarantee cabin and take our chances on location. We have only booked a specific cabin once, on our last cruise, the Voyage of the Vikings.

For a 50 day cruise like this one, overall cost was a deciding factor for us, so we booked an oceanview guarantee. Hopefully we will get our assignment soon although our last Caribbean cruise we didn't find out until the night before departure.

We will be arriving in Ft Lauderdale a couple of days early and spending some time at Butterfly World, Flamingo Gardens and Wildlife Sanctuary, and doing an all day Everglades tour with Ecosafari. I will post my opinion of these afterwords.

Depending on the state of Internet access I will also try to post a daily note about things going on aboard ship, and my thoughts about the ship itself.

Until later,

Cheers!