christa4

Just a quick check in since things are a bit hectic down here in South Florida!

There is definitely some damage from Hurricane Irma but I haven't witnessed as much as I thought I would have come across. There are handful of places like gas stations and Dunkin Donuts that have some boarded up windows. There is a lot of debris from trees laying around in piles on the sides of the roads. There is a marina down the street and there was definitely some substantial damage to it; boats were standing on end leaning up against/through the side of the large storage building. We've experienced a lot of road closures, a lot of traffic lights don't have power, and stores still aren't fully stocked. For the most part, we haven't been too bothered by all of this. The biggest problem was when we tried to get breakfast and coffee from Dunkin Donuts and they didn't have food, just coffee and donuts. ;p:hot-beverage:

Some of our guests had and are having issues with flights. One of my cousins ended up having to drive from North East Ohio yesterday with 2 of his sons because their flight was completely booked and it was crazy expensive to put them on another flight. He drove straight through and they arrived around 4:00am today.

We didn't have any trouble with our flight. Our room was upgraded from a Studio Suite to a 1 Bedroom Suite with Sleeper Sofa. We used my car (thanks for driving it down here, dad), to run errands this morning.

Currently, we are trying to decide if we should just order pizza for our group to eat at our hotel tonight to hang out and distribute our welcome bags. We did go buy 5 cases of beer and a couple bottles of wine today at Walgreens while we were our, just in case. :beer-toast:

Lastly, it has been confirmed that Kelsey Grammar will be on our cruise sailing, as he is filming his upcoming Netflix Comedy, Like Father. There is word that it will interfere with some of the conveniences we thought we were signing up for. We will find out more in the upcoming days!!

Time to go get ready, our guests will start to pour in shortly! :hearteyes:

I'm just catching up on all of this. I will say that I have been looking forward to our wedding cruise for like 20 months so I'm going to be really bummed if we paid the amount we did for our Sky Loft Suite and some of our perks are taken away. They should be paying us a portion of what they are taking away if this is in fact all true. I'm probably over reacting but seriously though, I feel like I'm getting jipped, along with my other 17 level guests. That just tops off the fact that all 6 over water cabanas were damaged in Haiti so we can't book one. Literally if it could go wrong, it has. Im so bummed, the least he can do is attend our wedding as a starting point.

We made it to Atlanta! Quick layover then FLL bound! 🛫

- Christa 💜

How great is this update? Kudos to you, State of South Carolina! [emoji122]

- Christa 💜

Here's my dad at Matt's smoothie and juice bar! [emoji525] [emoji531] [emoji524]

- Christa 💜

Hi Fun Followers: My aunt, who is in the middle of the 1,300 mile drive from North East Ohio down to South Florida stopped last night just outside of Georgia. She said the traffic was pretty heavy so they got up early and got back on the road this morning. My dad, who also left yesterday to make the 1,300 mile drive, made it to Rock Hill, SC. Funny thing that he didn't realize, he stayed at a hotel 1/2 miles from our groomsman's work. Matt (groomsman) owns Pulp Smoothie and Juice Bar in Rock Hill so my dad stopped by this morning prior to getting back on the road again and sent me a picture!

A little status update on the stuff that was checked off the list today. Ring ✔ Nails ✔ Gopro accessories ✔ 4T External hard drive ✔ Tumi bag ✔ Dog/house/cat sitter ✔

- Christa 💜

Just managed to move out Escape room on day 5 to 4pm, we are back in as show and crawl [emoji16]. Ralph and Eva JS 11632. Looking forward to the fun

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

That's fantastic! Looks like you will get to come hang out in our room on Day 5 for a bit!! I can't wait to meet you both! [emoji106]

- Christa 💜

Sitting in the salon about to get a mani & pedi and I ran into my twin.

- Christa 💜

Christa, if you're still interested in doing photos on our balcony, have Sebastian contact our Genie (Reyno) and he will let us know when to be there or just call our room (9730). I don't carry a cell phone around when I'm on a cruise so that whole app thing won't help us.

 

So glad that it looks like things are going to proceed.

That sounds perfect! We are having a cocktail reception from 6:00-8:00pm at Jazz on 4 then dinner in the MDR at 8:30pm. I'd imagine we would shoot for just before or just after the cocktail reception. Maybe after so we can be a tad bit late for dinner to make an 'entrance'. I will have my team reach out to your team. ;p [i feel snooty saying that but I just couldn't resist.] I can't wait to meet you and also hang out on Day 5 for the Cabin Crawl! :champagne-toast:

It looks like St Kitts replaces St Marteen on Eastern Caribbean route, our itinerary is still the same at the moment. Labadee, Falmouth, Cozumel

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Ok, great! Thank you for the information!!

Christa, I just called the Residence Inn Cruise Port, and unfortunately still no power to the hotel. Hope to see you and your party there before our cruise on Wednesday on the Allure, but I may just bail if no power.

Too bad - we will be arriving Thursday. I hope you are able to find a convenient place with power!! (yn)

I see you're from Rock Hill? One of our groomsmen lives there. He owns Pulp Juice and Smoothie Bar on Celanese Rd.

I just booked 2 rooms there at the same Residence Inn Cruise port. The hotel has no power as of now, and no idea when they are getting it obviously. I'm flying down tomorrow morning with my infant baby for our postponed cruise and don't want to being an infant to a bad situation with no power. Have you heard anything/.

Oh my gosh! What a story! A postponed cruise and an infant AND attempting to fly down tomorrow. I wish you all the luck!

I haven't heard anything... I did speak with a person yesterday early evening. Everyone was still managing to have fun. I hate to say this but luckily this hotel, even without power, is still hosting guests. I was informed today that some of our other guests that were going to stay at another hotel were also booted because of damage. I wish this weren't the case but to me it sounds like we should all be happy we even have a place to sleep. [*sigh*] Isn't it crazy to think that our expectation bar is set that low right now?

I did hear that some power was shut off, not going off because of damage, but because it was physically cut off by the power company. So, wishful thinking but since the curfew band was lifted at 10am today in that area, maybe they will start restoring power to those not damaged? I'd also like to think that certain businesses would have a higher priority level for power restoration such as hotels, stores, etc. If I hear anything, I'll let you know immediately! Again, good luck tomorrow, I'll be thinking about you guys. I'd love any updates you could provide as we are scheduled to fly down first thing Thursday morning. ;)

Following looking forward to your reports and photos, we will be on the Oct 21st sailing of the Harmony.

Great! Definitely follow along, even if the information I'm providing isn't relevant, when you see my cruise photos, it will definitely excite you for your upcoming cruise! What type of room did you go with? :ship:

Just made the vehicle switch with my dad. He gets on the road tomorrow morning for the 1,300 mile drive. He's taking my SUV so he can take more of our stuff to allow us either lighter arms flying or if we have to, room to take a checked bag for last minute items.

The new licenses plates came in today so I promptly switched out the old ones for the new monogram. CMK [emoji177]

Still on the to-do list: find a house/dog/cat sitter for 4 nights. [emoji537] [emoji190] [emoji190] [emoji192] [emoji192]

- Christa 💜

You are such a capable and confident young lady...does a body good!

 

I have no doubt your wedding will be a humongous success. Wish more people could be so positive.

 

You go girl!;p

Thank you!! We are soooo ready! I might have aged 5 years in the last week. I need some of the Caribbean air to rejuvenate me! ;p

So far our ship is a "go" with a little change to St. Kitts.

 

george35

I just looked at Royal Caribbean's itinerary change website and didn't see this listed. Were you able to get some insider info? If so, please share!!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! Mine was a busy prep weekend. Purchased lots of supplies to go from Ohio to Fort Lauderdale with my dad in case goods are still hard to come by when we get down there. Got my hair done. Had a house guest so I was forced to brush up on my beer pong skillz. Splurged on some beauty supplies at Ulta. Picked up last minute welcome bag items and finished filling the toiletry/travel bag inserts. Started packing. Rebooked a hotel since we got booted from our other one due to hurricane Irma damage. Had an ice cream break. Watched some football. Lots of laundry. Busier days ahead! Stay tuned!!

- Christa 💜

Packing with my helper. [emoji192]

- Christa 💜

I hate to ask, but what hotel were you to stay at?

I'm happy to answer! We were booked at the Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal, Il Lugano. It was on the intracoastal waterway so I'm sure that had something to do with their flooding.

I will say, I wasn't very pleased with the lady calling, though I should cut her some slack for what she was dealing with (stupid Irma). I felt like she was belittling me. After she told me of the cancellation, I told her we have a block of rooms and asked if for some reason they were able to make the repairs prior to the date of our reservation, if our reservation would be reinstated. With a [special] tone, she said something to the idea of, 'in case you didn't know, we are experiencing an extremely large hurricane right now'. I told her that I was well aware, that I have family down the street from their hotel and that another person that lives down the street from the hotel flew to Ohio to come stay at our house to get away from the hurricane. I asked again about the possibility of their hotel reopening and she said they were having some flooding and will be closed until an undetermined time but she thought it'd be a week or so. When I got off the phone, the 4 people in the room with me were asking me why she was being so rude to me. They could hear her on the phone and heard her harsh tone. Oh well. We are all booked up at a different Residence Inn now. The cruise port location. They offer free airport transportation, which the other hotel didn't, so that's a bonus.

Now on to the next hurdle, since we had plans to go to dinner as a group of 35+ at the restaurant (Bokampers) next to the hotel, my task first thing tomorrow is to make new arrangements - if that's even possible. I'll do much better with everything once we know the overall damage that Irma caused in the Fort Lauderdale area. Time will tell.

Luckily I acted fast and booked 12 rooms at another hotel before they sold out. We have plenty of rooms for everyone and it's been really easy to switch the reservation from my name to theirs. I'll chalk this up as a win.

- Christa 💜

Quick update - I just received a phone call from the hotel where we have a block of rooms in Florida prior to the cruise. They stated that they sustained damages from Hurricane Irma so they cancelled our Groups rooms. At their initial evaluation, they estimate it will take about a week to make repairs. I'll update you on the status of Plan B a little later!

OMG! your dogs are so cute and they are eating a puppuccino :)

 

I will be following along on your journey. Congrats on the wedding and Happy Birthday! I hope you have an amazing trip!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! This was their very first puppaccino!!! Which is actually kinda hard to believe. They loved it and if you look at my Instagram page, you will see they shared it nicely. ;)

Instagram: christa4

Wow this is just so special, I feel like a wedding guest and so thrilled you are sharing it with us here. Such a happy occasion to balance the angst of 2 major hurricanes. Thank you so much and many prayers and well wishes for a long and happy union!

 

I will be saying the same prayer you will...that Irma will not hamper your plans.:hearteyes:

You are absolutely a (virtual) wedding guest!! Thank you! Our Best Man (fiance's brother) flew in from south of Fort Lauderdale and arrived here in Ohio last night. His lovely girlfriend is still down there with her family. I've been in close touch with her all week getting updates; talking at least every hour. She said it's already starting, they've had 2 tornados touch down this evening and 2 blocks over has been without power all evening. We hope all goes well in the next 36 hours and that everyone is safe along with the airport & cruise terminal staying in tact.

Prayers for Florida and everyone in the path of Irma!!

too bad I posted such a lousy picture. I was getting frustrated trying to find a picture as the curly headed little one (post 16)seems to have taken over my camera so as soon as I found one of the dogs, it got posted.

Isn't it funny how our special people (in my case, dogs) take over our cameras?? :D