7-day cruise & half-marathon conquered 2/ just Western Flyer & Packing Cube Backpack

[Lani]

Don't know if anyone noticed, but I've been away for a while. Been very very busy.... and I spent the week and a half on vacation. I went on a 7-day cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy cruise ship out of Port Canaveral for a Western Caribbean itinerary with 4 friends of mine. The cruise was to die for; absolutely heavenly in so many ways... including what I think was the PERFECT day... a 2-tank scuba dive with a friend of mine whom I turned onto the underwater world 8 years ago (snorkeling) and who got so into it that she got her scuba certification last year--I hadn't gone diving in 15 years so I did a recertification before the cruise... after the dive, a late afternoon in the ship's sauna (steamroom, jacuzzi, heated tile benches, etc.)... and dinner on the ship's very fancy Remy restaurant (named after the rat from Disney-Pixar's movie Ratatouille) and a sea bass dish that I thought was the best fish I'd ever had in my life... Mmmmmm!!

After we got back on land, one of my cruisemates and I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.

With all of that, I managed to travel with just my Western Flyer and a Packing Cube Backpack. I gained some stuff shopping but also shed some throwaways and kept adjusting.

I haven't unpacked yet so I'll try to take some photos and post a packing list. Everyone else had at least one large rolling upright they checked in (which by the end of the trip were overweighted so they had to redistribute some of the weight into their carryons)... two of them had two check-in suitcases each, plus a maximum-sized rolling upright and big carryons. AND they weren't doing the half marathon. I was careful not to make any comments about all their stuff. :-D

[Shiva]

Lani: wow...impressive! And the cruise does sound great....

[nukediver]

I'm just about ready to book a 4-day on the Dream for this summer, then a 7-day on the Fantasy next winter, thus completing cruises on all 4 Disney ships (and 8 cruises total)! And if you were just on the February 16th sailing, you were with my whole family! I couldn't make this trip due to work :-(

I've only been on the Magic and Wonder so far, and am really looking forward to sailing on the new ships; glad to hear you had such a wonderful time!

[nsh]

How was the Princess half? It is one of my dreams to run that half marathon with some of my girlfriends and I would love to hear what your experience was like.

[helen_uk]

Wow, I'm very impressed!

[Lani]

I'm just about ready to book a 4-day on the Dream for this summer, then a 7-day on the Fantasy next winter, thus completing cruises on all 4 Disney ships (and 8 cruises total)! And if you were just on the February 16th sailing, you were with my whole family! I couldn't make this trip due to work :-(

I've only been on the Magic and Wonder so far, and am really looking forward to sailing on the new ships; glad to hear you had such a wonderful time!

Hey Nukediver -- Eight Disney cruises; that's nice! This Fantasy cruise made it #5 for me so I'll finally get my Castaway Club gold lanyard for my next cruise. Sorry you couldn't make it on this last cruise. Guess the only good thing that you missed it was that we couldn't go ashore at Grand Cayman due to the choppy seas and the island needing a tender and all.

This last cruise also meant I have now cruised on all 4 ships in their fleet.

So... do you plan on packing just your Tom Bihn carry-ons for the cruises? It's VERY doable, especially for TB forum regulars (who I think are typically more packing-savvy than the general traveling public).

How was the Princess half? It is one of my dreams to run that half marathon with some of my girlfriends and I would love to hear what your experience was like.

The Princess half was a blast! I thought I was getting in the spirit in a pink shirt and visor, but ohhh no. There was a SEA of women in tiaras! Definitely a lot of estrogen (there are some guys, as with the Tinker Bell half, but only about 10%), lots of pink, and lots of tiaras and costumes. Costumes seemed quite popular. Not as many fundraising runners (I don't think Team in Training had a big showing for this; not like the WDW half and full in January).

The only disappointment for me was the expo this year. Due to (what we suspect was) Major League Baseball having their Spring Training at the Wide World of Sports, they moved the fitness expo to Coronado Springs. The layout of the expo floor was a little poorly designed, thought. A third of the space was set aside for bib pick-ups, but they only had a tiny little space for official merchandise. I was shocked, really--one of the reasons Disney likes to do these women-focused events is because ladies like to shop so much and the official merchandise (including expensive Dooney & Bourke purses priced the same as Aeronauts and Tri-Stars) just fly off the shelves... it took 20 minutes in line to even get INTO the official merch area (so they could keep crowding to a minimum).

By the time I got there on the second day, they were sold out of a lot of the merchandise (thank goodness I had someone purchase some stuff for me on the first day of the expo, or I would've been crying).

That's not the worst of it, though. Even though the Coronado Springs Resort is one of Disney's official convention hotels, they prohibited expo attendees from parking there. Everybody had to park at Downtown Disney and take a shuttle bus. They were even turning people away who were WALKING up to the entrance of the hotel from the sidewalk--can you believe that?!?!? What a terrible decision they made. They could have at least allowed people to get dropped off if they were worried about parking. I don't know what they were thinking. I hope they don't repeat THAT again in the future. Bad idea.

Other than that, though, the weather was humid but we never experienced the rain or high heat some were predicting, so while I was very sweaty at the end, I didn't have sloshy shoes or hydration issues. Had a great time!

[nukediver]

Hey Nukediver -- Eight Disney cruises; that's nice! This Fantasy cruise made it #5 for me so I'll finally get my Castaway Club gold lanyard for my next cruise. Sorry you couldn't make it on this last cruise. Guess the only good thing that you missed it was that we couldn't go ashore at Grand Cayman due to the choppy seas and the island needing a tender and all.

This last cruise also meant I have now cruised on all 4 ships in their fleet.

So... do you plan on packing just your Tom Bihn carry-ons for the cruises? It's VERY doable, especially for TB forum regulars (who I think are typically more packing-savvy than the general traveling public).

My plan is to just use my Aeronaut and a medium Cafe Bag - I figure it will be a piece of cake since it will be July, and I won't need any heavier clothing :-)

[darbs]

Lani, I did a 5 day cruise with carry-on only and my coworkers were all shocked! It is fun to see people's faces when you say "this is all I have".

I had a ton of friends running the Disney Princess this past weekend as well and they all had the same complaints about the Expo. Several of my college girlfriends and I have just gotten into running recently and have all committed to running this race next year. I'm really excited about it, but hope they work out these kinks. How'd you finish?

Oh, and are you going to post a packing list? I'd love to see what all you took for your cruise. I'm hoping to pare down my bag even more for our next cruise in November. :)

[Lani]

Oh, and are you going to post a packing list? I'd love to see what all you took for your cruise. I'm hoping to pare down my bag even more for our next cruise in November. :)

That's my plan. I actually have some pretty grandiose plans but it requires sitting down and taking lots of photos, since I think in the end, people will want to visually see everything I took. I also have a list of things I didn't need to take, etc. I will be sharing the info here, on my Travelite site, as well as running an article over at MousePlanet. That last site, I suspect people will be the most shocked. They will think I am completely nuts. Hehe.

[Lani]

My plan is to just use my Aeronaut and a medium Cafe Bag - I figure it will be a piece of cake since it will be July, and I won't need any heavier clothing :-)

Awesome!

About the only thing to think about is how formal you want to be on formal night(s). One fellow in our travel group packed a tuxedo. It looked awfully nice, but he also had the most luggage out of anyone. I think you should be fine taking just one nice shirt (you can iron it on board or even send it out for dry cleaning on the ship, I believe) and a couple of ties WITHOUT taking a jacket.... UNLESS you're dining at Remy or Palo, in which case a jacket is required. You can take a lightweight one with you, though. And for guys, the trick is taking a few different ties and nobody will be the wiser because they will only notice the different colored tie. You may, however, need to pack a pair of nice shoes. Hopefully a relatively light one that you can pack in one of the end compartments on the Aeronaut. Then you can wear your sneakers/running shoes and pack a pair of flip flops and you're all set.

They also sell some Mickey Mouse ties at the gift shop, if you want.

[nukediver]

Awesome!

About the only thing to think about is how formal you want to be on formal night(s).

On the 7-day cruise on the Magic last year, I was very disappointed to see how casually everyone dressed on the formal night. We were in black dresses (sent for dry cleaning the minute we set foot on board), while at least HALF of our fellow cruisers were dressed in what barely passed for "casual" cruise attire. There were even a number of men in shorts, sneakers, and Hawaiian shirts. I hadn't been on a 7-day cruise since 2004 and was surprised at how casual things had gotten in the dining rooms. I had packed (and will pack again) an interchangeable set of semi-dressy separates - black top, black pants, black & white top, and black and white skirt - that I wore to dinner each night, with the exception of Pirates night and formal night. They served me well, and were more than adequate for our dinner in Palo. The nice thing about theses items is that they pack really small. I only had 3 pairs of shoes on the trip - black Keens, black Clarks leather sandals, and generic black dress shoes for formal night.

The other clothes I took include a bathing suit (I never have needed more than one), several Deva Lifewear shirts and Deva Lifewear pants, two pair of quick dry shorts, and 2 t-shirts. This list will be pared down for a shorter cruise, obviously.

I've changed my original thinking, and will probably *overpack* (for a TBer, anyway) and take my Synapse instead of the MCB so that I will have souvenir room on the return trip.

[Fat Crip]

They also sell some Mickey Mouse ties at the gift shop, if you want.

I'd have to wear my Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner and Daffy Duck ties just to be a rebel :)