Pre Cruise Continued
4 Days Out
We were inching, ever so slowly, towards our sail date. I want to lay out a few other details related to the cruise. As mentioned, Shani is the vacation planner for the family. And, she is damned good at it too! There is a twisted excitement she experiences when she creates a spreadsheet, to map all of the details out for each trip. I would cry if I was required to complete such detailed planning. On the flip side, I have been known to forget to pack various important items. The polarity is one of the things that that makes “us” work.
On Saturday morning, we would be loading the child, two cats (heading to their own feline vacation) and all of our luggage in the car and head out on our trek. After dropping off the four legged family members, we would head to the airport to ship the offspring off to Massachusetts. As soon as she was in the air, we would beeline it to the car, for the drive to Long Beach.
Originally, we had planned on waking up early on Sunday, for the drive to the port. It’s a six hour drive to Long Beach and we would want to board the ship as soon as possible. Well, waking up that early on the first day of vacation didn’t sound fun at all. It was time to find a place near the port to stay Saturday night!
After quite bit of research by Shani, we settled on the Hampton Inn in nearby Seal Beach. We planned on parking at the port anyway and none of the stay and park hotels near the port could beat the deal she found for the Hampton Inn. It was a 30 minute drive to Long Beach at the most, so that would work just fine.
2 Days Out
Today was our last day of preparation! All of the laundry was done and it was time to stuff everything into our luggage. We were checked in online, boarding documents had been printed and passports were ready to go.
Even though we had purchased the Cheers package, we would be carrying on a bottle of wine each. Carnival allows you to bring a 750ml bottle of wine each in your carry-on luggage. This would be in case we found ourselves in the cabin, not wanting to venture out to a bar. If we didn’t open them, we would just bring them back home with us.
The Lozen, pictured above, is a red blend from a local Arizona winery, Arizona Stronghold. Their wines can be found in some stores, mostly regional, but this blend can only be purchased at their winery. So, if you ever find yourself in Cottonwood, AZ and you enjoy wine, pick up a bottle (or case). You won’t be disappointed. The If You See Kay (sound it out) is one of our go to house wines. It’s also a red blend. My wife and I enjoy wine.
Next up…Putting the child on a plane!
Have Wife, Will Travel 