Carnival Celebration - Getting There Part 1

 The problem I’m having with this new incarnation of the blog is I’m not taking enough pictures.  So, for example, this post will probably have none because I didn’t take any pictures from Friday noon to Sunday noon.  But anyway….

Getting to this cruise involved a lot more planning than usual - mostly because we were trying to accommodate some of Cpher’s preferences and he wasn’t the best about providing them or making decisions (in fact he got ‘charged’ extra because he couldn’t make a decision about what cruise and missed a deadline to get a free drink package…..so he had to pay for it).  

The air travel had two choices - either LAN-ORD-Florida or DTW-Florida.   At one point Cpher and Madi were pushing for the LAN option but cost and the concerns about delays with the extra leg made DTW the choice.  Plus it allows for upgrades for Suzanne and me.   Turns out this was exactly the right choice since a huge winter storm hit Fri/Sat and American cancelled a ton of flights out of ORD on Saturday.  

We ended up flying into Orlando….which isn’t optimal for a cruise that leaves out of Miami.  More on that in a minute.   Getting to DTW was different than all of our other trips - it would have been a very tight fit with luggage in the Y for the trip down PLUS we weren’t thrilled with leaving the Y in a parking lot in sub-zero temperatures for a week plus.  So…we rented a car.  One of the perks of my job is that with our national agreement there is no penalty for one-way rentals in the US…..and on of the other perks of my job is that I’ve travelled so much in the last 2 years that I have executive status with National.  So I can rent an intermediate car and pick anything….like a mini-van.

So Friday was a trip out to Lansing airport to pick up the car….then an early 6 am departure to DTW where I dropped the 3 of them at the terminal.  Returned the car, shuttled to the terminal, and the plane left on time and we made our way to MCO.   Stayed at the Marriott timeshare where we are owners - Suzanne and dropped the other two at Universal and went and had dinner after an aborted try to get to Disney Springs - and then another early start on Sunday morning to get to Miami.

I think I’ll leave that story for its own post.  :)

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