mandyleighflies

No worries!! Yes I check a bag full of shoes and liquids and carry on the clothing, makeup, jewelry. This bag will also be able to carry things like dirty laundry on our way home as we will go through things through out the week. More space for souvenir's 😄!

Kitchen cleaned, guinea pigs area cleaned and pet sitter confirmed. Laundry in progress and packing is nearly complete. My daughter is the only one who hasn’t packed yet 🙃 For whatever reason, the kids have a full day of school today. It’s interesting how different school districts approach spring break. When I was a kid, the last day of school before spring break was always a half day, at least. Oh well, at least it will make today go faster for them. The only “chore” I have left to do is go to the gym and it’s across the street so I have no excuse. I completed and packed our goodie bags for the flight attendants, the hotel front desk, our room steward and our concierge. For the FA’s I made One bag for each flight. They contain a thank you card, cookies, PB eggs and $2 each for hotel van tips. Of course, gifts are never anticipated, but they are always appreciated. Technically, you are not supposed to give flight attendants cash however, we always need dollar bills for hotel van tips so I threw some in there for them. These are the goodies and thank you cards for room steward and concierge. I will complete the cards and add additional tip money at the end of the cruise for them. For the front desk staff at the hotel, I am giving them a bag of peanut butter eggs, and a thank you card. I know none of this is necessary. However, people who work in the hospitality and travel industry are often away from their families for long periods of time so that we may go on vacation or have somewhere to stay. I just like to show my appreciation for their time. OK now off to the gym after looking at all this candy, I think I gained weight.

That’s adorable 😆 thank you!!!

Oh look it’s me with literally anything not vacation related today.

My exact thoughts also. They were for sure trying to upsell the newer ships, probably need to pay them off 😂

Flight Attendant. lol sorry I am so used to short hand and acronyms at work.

THIS. I am an FA and my husband is a pilot...we travel for a LIFE. The other night, on my last trip before our upcoming cruise, I was talking to a man in first class about our upcoming trip. He was a Pinnacle member with RCCL and told him I was about to break into Emerald after this next trip. The man sitting next to him LITERALLY SAID TO ME "must be nice to be able to take such lavish vacations all the time, guess they need to look at your pay". I was SHOCKED. This was coming from someone sitting in first class himself...do we not deserve to have nice things too since we work a service job for a living? I have been an FA for nearly 15 years and never had that happen before. ANYWAY getting to the my two cents of this conversation. As many others have mentioned, people spend their money how they want to spend their money. I see it everyday, the majority of frequent fliers book main cabin and get the comped upgrade to first, they don't spend the "big bucks" all the time. It's the same with cruising honestly, as you gain more status you get bigger discounts on balcony rooms and suites. We as airline employee's get massive discounts on last minute sailings. I tend to only cruise in suites, but we have never spend $20k...at least not yet. We will once just to have that experience, but that won't be for a LONG time. Travel is our thing, we do it for work so when we do it for fun we go big. I personally do not fly in basic economy when I buy tickets, I always buy main cabin extra/comfort or first class. If I am paying for my ticket, I am going to enjoy my trip. It's the same on the ship, I value my space and I am in my room often enough to make it worth having that extra space. I also love the perks, double points, priority lines, lounges, etc. That's MY choice. Those $20k suites are basically All Inclusive also and for a family traveling together that would be a bargain once you add up the cost of all the other things that they would otherwise be paying for outside of just the stateroom. That's all...I am sailing in my NOT $20k GS this weekend and cannot wait!!

I truly chose this ship and itinerary based on having a true *fun old fashioned family Christmas…I mean spring break* I wanted my kids to experience the style of ship I started sailing on in the 90’s, teak decking, no big bells and whistles. A true family centered vacation with stops in familiar and fun places and a beautiful and fun sized ship to take us there. I fell in love with cruising when I was a kid on the Fantasy class ships of Carnival, my kids have fallen in love with it even younger than I was but on the larger ships. I wanted them to experience these “classic” cruise ships before they are no longer an option.

Everyone has had wonderful things to say about Lady G and that makes me even more excited to sail this weekend!! Clover is doing much better….Roswell will always be miffed, he’s a drama King but it’s allowable as he’s adorable.

Good Morning y’all!! Started Spring Break celebrations with champagne and a FaceTime happy hour with friends of mine last night and OYE my head this morning. Oh well, there’s Advil and coffee for that problem. 😜 Today will be pretty laid back, we leave tomorrow afternoon so today will be pre-vacation house cleaning, the completion of packing and laundry, and one last healthy home cooked meal before a week of chaotic eating *and drinking*. Clover is out and eating this morning so that’s a GREAT sign, maybe he was acting sick to get our attention for cuddles and sympathy, it worked. Our piggies are house broken so they are free to roam in our living room. Yes you can house train Guinea Pigs, it takes a LOT of time and patience but I had all of 2020 to do it so….our next set will not be free roam piggies as I will *hopefully* never have that kind of time at home again. My kids have the Beis suitcase’s and they are astounding. Tons of storage space and have a built in weight feature, not an issue for us as we are not heavy packers, but I could see how it could be useful to others. It is also so much easier to pack my son versus my daughter, he really just cared that he had enough bathing suits, she has outfits to coordinate to shoes 🙈

LOL because you NEVER KNOW when you might be in discomfort and need some relief 😆😆 honestly half the stuff I pack in my ICMK is "just in case" situations that I have seen others in before and don't want to experience first hand without

Enjoy your cruise! Which sailing are you on? Dad is pretty youthful and retiring at a healthy age but SO OVER working hours and business dinners.

SAME. That’s why I’m posting lots of pics, they are the only ones that keep my attention also lol

It never fails, we have sick Guinea pig right before vacation. Took Clover to the vet this morning and he is having tooth pain issues. Sent home with meds and directions….and one super cuddly and clingy baby. Luckily, my husband will be home for a few days the day we leave so Clover will have him. Clovers “roommate” Roswell, well he is just annoyed at all the attention Clover is receiving. It really is like having two more kids LOL

Also, here is a breakdown of what is in our baggies in liquids bag. Some of you might find it useful, others *like myself* just enjoy looking at photos of things. In-Cabin Medical Kit (ICMK) Cabin Clean Items Items for the Sun and Bug Spray (once again for 5 of us) Personal Care items and our OWN BINGO dotter.

Side note. Since we are cruising with my parents, we both took on some of the packing items to share in the travel burden. I am bringing enough sunscreen for 5 of us and my parents are bringing the tower outlets for our cabins. Lady G was built in the 90’s so 2 outlets in the entire cabin will never work for this family of screen sirens. Side Side note. My husband is a pilot at a competing airline…he is training on a new plane this month so he will not be joining us on this sailing. Insert hubby who will be in simulators while I spend his *our* money on vacation. Thanks babe!! This was also me on my last trip before vacation. 🖖 LIVE LONG AND PROSPER COWORKERS 🖖 I AM OUTTA HERE.

I started the packing process a couple of day’s ago for myself and for the kids a couple of weeks ago as they needed warm weather/summer clothes anyway. Because I live out of the suitcase for work, I had to start with cleaning out work things and storing *throwing* them in my closet…this suitcase is in vacation mode now. When I am on vacation, I change clothes a few times a day. I have something to grab coffee/breakfast in, something to work out in (yes I am a gym person with minimal effort but I go), pool/resort things and evening wear. Whatever I wear to dinner is what I am wearing out for the rest of the evening, it is what it is and I put in effort so…TA DA. Then of course I have comfy things for my cabin to sleep/lounge around. She’s in vacation mode now folks. Here are 5 day’s worth of casual/resort wear big Thanks to Shein…cheap, cute and most of these materials do not wrinkle. These are all rolled and stuffed into suitcase, also these collapsable sun hats are a huge win for packing purposes, I believe I got this one in Vegas. Dress to Impress, Caribbean night and evening wear. Easy to pack and yes I will repeat an outfit (the audacity, I know) Beach and Pool. I have a robe style cover up for Labadee and a dress style coverup for ship as I do not like walking through public spaces in basically my bathing suit alone. Shein is also a huge shout out here as these were on sale for $7.99 a piece. Boom, done. Cabin/lounge wear. Comfortable LAYERS…once again, I am not a fan of PJ’s in public so I pack yoga/active fashion for my morning coffee/lounge runs. Active wear, shirts with built in sports bra? SOLD. Less stuff to pack and deal with. I brought enough to workout each day, but realistically I will probably only need one top, but let’s aim for needing both. I carry on my suitcase with my clothes, we will all carry on our suitcases for going TO Miami but will gladly check them coming home because I honestly don’t care about them too much at that point. I work there…they will get them to me eventually. I CHECK this bag. I introduce to you, our liquids and shoes bag. First of all, this is the Weekender tote from Beis, I LOVE this bag. The bottom is hard sided so you can put things like shoes in there and it won’t collapse on your things. The top expands and remains open for packing purposes, this is my weekend trip bag but for this trip it’s our liquids/cabin bag. In this bag, my shoes are packed in the bottom and inside, in large baggies, are all of our sunscreens, lotions, skincare, etc. I also always travel with an in-cabin medical kit complete with extra Dramamine, advil, DayQuil/nyquil, Tums, Pepto, anti-diarrhea meds, band-aids, etc. Did I mention I am most likely undiagnosed OCD? Yeah. The idea of this bag is we check the things that if the company happened to misplace our bag (it’s ONE flight so if my own company cannot handle that, I am terrified) we would be able to easily replace the things in the lost bag and go on with vacation.

It's TIME!! Spring Break 2023. Grandeur of the Seas, GS 8512. Miami/Key West/Labadee and some day's at sea in-between. Attempting a *Live* cruise this week on Lady G but as many of y'all know, wifi can be tricky. This will be the oldest and smallest ship my kids (14 and 16) have ever sailed on and since she's a lady of the 90's, we will be jamming all week to my 80's and 90's classics to stay in theme. Luckily for me, my kids love that genre of music so no complaints *cue's up Gloria Estefan*. My parents will also be sailing with us, they are in a JS and I will show y'all around their cabin as well. We are looking forward to a great week! Here is what we know so far. We are all flying into Miami on Saturday. My parents will be on a direct flight (DTW-MIA) Saturday morning and the kids and myself will be on a direct flight (DCA-MIA) on Saturday afternoon. I am a Flight Attendant in my real life so I will show y'all how we not only pack for vacations, but how we also like to spoil those who care for us on our trip. We will be staying in a hotel by MIA that offers free airport shuttle and a shuttle to the port for $14 per person on cruise day. On Sunday, embarkation day, we have noon boarding times and are in no huge rush to board the ship as rooms are usually not ready until 1pm (ish) and my ritual when I get onboard is to MUSTER on my way to my room and get a moment to drop off our stuff and look around. Since the early 00's I have been the oddball human who has to wipe/spray down her cabin, whatever they clean with leaves a smell and sticky residue that just doesn't agree with my senses. I travel with travel sized cleaning wipes and Lysol spray and I use both daily on our trip to keep things clean (insert probably undiagnosed OCD here). I also like to unpack my things and get them settled early so we do not have to do this later when we would rather be at the pool or Schooner bar... This sailing I did purchase the UDP and DX beverage package. My daughter (14), mother and I LOVE to get fancy and eat a nice sit down meal but my son (16) and my father are more Windjammer all meals types. Therefore, my Mom and I purchased UDP for myself and my daughter as we are the one's who will get the most enjoyment and use out of that package. Lady G has 3 specialty dining locations, Chops, Izumi and Giovanni's. The 3 of us will have dinner in each one and have 1-2 nights of dinners with the guys in Main Dining Room, my dad is not the sit down and eat type so 1-2 hour long meals is enough for him (too many years of business/client dinners did him in for fine dining). As I mentioned above, I did end up purchasing the DX drink package. The kids have the refreshment package as they love mocktails, iced coffees and the occasional soda. I was originally going to also go with the refreshment package and purchase alcoholic beverages ala cart, however, RCCL had a sale on the DX package that basically made my break even between ala cart pricing and the purchase of the DX package 3 drinks a day...it was a no brainer for me. Keep an eye on those package prices as your cruises sneak up.... We do not have a shore excursion planned for Key West as my kids and I have been there many times and know where to go and what to do/see. My parents have not been so we will show them the spots for 6 toed cats, key lime pie, chickens and MAYBE a drink or two for the adults 🍹😆 On Labadee, we have an overwater bungalow booked on the suites beach. My dad is retiring from full time work in May and he wanted to celebrate with this treat to the family after 40+ years of full time work and business travel. I believe my mom is going to book my son and dad on a sailing shipwreck tour, but I'm not 100% sure if she has done this yet or just talking about it. Stay TUNED. My mom, daughter and myself are looking to have an awesome beach day in the cabana and my daughter and I MIGHT take a shot at the zip-line, I am for sure doing it but she is hesitant. Our flights home on Friday are not until the early evening, I pre-reserved a luggage storage arrangement with a local travel agency and have reservations for lunch at Versace's in Miami Beach. We will enjoy a leisurely afternoon in Miami before heading to our homes in VA and MI. Follow along with us as we prepare and sail onward!! 🐠 Amanda and Crew 💃

We sail on Grandeur OTS on the same day! Have a great cruise!!!

Is this the HGI MIA West? We are staying there this weekend prior to our cruise on Saturday and I was about to reserve an Uber XL for 5 of us.

My husband put in a minimum bid for JS to GS for our Navigator cruise last February and it was accepted however, that was when cruising was not back to full ships. You never know though! I always put one in just in case! Good luck!

On a whim of inspiration, I just threw in a bid from our GS to an OS on our Grandeur cruise for this upcoming weekend. I DOUBT we will see anything of it, but hey, ya never know! 🍀😆

We love them all BUT I have to say Jewel OTS has been my favorite. It was my husband and I ‘s first major vacation together and holds sentimental memories for us. I also love the sleek look of the radiance class ships and all the windows. I love A ship that truly feels like a ship.

It was a combination of the Customs lines and TSA lines to get back into the secure area after clearing customs. The customs line was out the door, nearly to the train station.

I was in MIA for work last night, we came in from Curacao and the customs lines were MASSIVE. I heard reports from our passengers that the TSA lines were also extremely lengthy. If anyone is flying out of MIA or coming in from an INTL destination, make sure you have either TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry or build in appropriate time. We had a large number of mis-connecting passengers due to the high volume spring break travelers. Worst thing that can happen by showing up early is you have time for a Cafe' Con Leche and some Chicken Noodle Soup from La Carreta.