JamieLogical's Live from the Enchanted Princess 8/10

[JamieLogical]

Here's what's going into my bundle tonight. It's less than it would normally be because I put all my bras, swimsuit tops, socks, and underwear into our shared checked bag this time and I am packing slightly fewer things since I will have access to self-service laundry onboard. I always use shoes as the "core" of my bundle. I don't like that in the video I posted they used a toiletry bag. First of all, if you need to access any of those toiletries en route, good luck! Second of all, I think that toiletries have a higher likelihood of getting flagged by TSA for search. Can you imagine the TSA tearing apart your bundle and then just trying to cram everything back into your suitcase?!?!

 

Boat Shoes

Raincoat
Trail Pants (x3)
Camisoles (x10)
Long-sleeve Linen Shirts (x5)
T-shirt (x1)
Moisture Wicking T-Shirts (x3)
Pajama Pants (x3)
Cruise Pants (x6)
Spanx (x1)
Sweaters (x3)
Dresses (x3)
Swimsuit Cover-up
Swimsuit Bottoms (x2)
 

 

Edited August 8 by JamieLogical

[HotRoot]

13 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Question for you, since I have never tried building the bundle inside the suitcase. So assume you build it with just having the pant legs and sleeves and shirt tails trail over and out the sides and then wrap them all around at the end?

 

That is exactly what I do.  

[WisCruiser2]

11 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Question for you, since I have never tried building the bundle inside the suitcase. So assume you build it with just having the pant legs and sleeves and shirt tails trail over and out the sides and then wrap them all around at the end?

 

A number of years ago I read/saw something on packing while, if not "bundle," sounds similar. I start with the dresses (all knit jersey)in the bottom, alternating over the sides, then fold over right in the suitcase. Shirts that I hang I do outside the case, just layer and then fold in the sleeves. I've done that with t-shirts also or use a packing cube. Underwear I put in packing cube and then just put the whole thing into a drawer. We always take a big suitcase each, so not sure if this method works with carry-on!

[arizonaperson]

@JamieLogical I have never seen or heard of bundle packing. Interesting.

Happy travels to your cruise.

[JamieLogical]

Getting a little nervous about our flights. We got an email from Delta saying "Our meteorology team is forecasting inclement weather  due to Tropical Storm Debby that could impact your upcoming flight." Our local weather is showing rain and thunderstorms through the morning and afternoon. They should clear out before our flight at 6:43pm, but I am concerned they may cause a cascade of delays that will impact our flight. We really don't have a lot of options if things go sideways. There are only three flights out of Rochester Saturday morning that could get us to FLL on time for the cruise and there are limited seats available on any of those.

[JGmf]

15 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Getting a little nervous about our flights

 

Oh boy, I know the anxiety related to weather and flying out of upstate NY.  Our options are limited.  Good luck. Hopefully no sangs.  I'm rooting for you.

[JamieLogical]

I am now seriously considering booking refundable back-up flights for Saturday morning. I just live-chatted with Delta and they said that if you book refundable flights, you can cancel anytime, right up until the departure time, for a full refund. If our flights run as scheduled tomorrow night, we could cancel and get a full refund of the Saturday flights. The only question really would be what happens if our flights don't run on time tomorrow and Delta would have just moved us to those Saturday flights for free?

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

55 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Getting a little nervous about our flights.

Booking that back up sounds great if you can. That’s what I’d do tbh.

 

we’re at a London Heathrow hotel tonight and fly to Miami tomorrow. Our 2.10pm flight has already been delayed until 3.30pm. The plane we’re on is coming from Houston to Heathrow. We wondered if the route that has to take to get to LHR means it’s affected by Debbie hence delay.

 

Still plenty of time to get to Ft Lauderdale but it’s going to feel like 2.30am when we get to the hotel in ft Lauderdale 🥱 

 

I hope your flight isn’t too affected by the storm and you can catch the original so things are not too rushed. Happy travels ✈️ 

[peanutter]

Jamie, best of luck on your flights and hope you (and others) traveling over the next few days have safe, on-time flights.  I'm looking forward to reading your experiences and appreciate you taking time out of your days to bring us along.  Also, thanks for the bundle packing video - interesting. . . . . 

[startedwithamouse]

We bundle pack our capsule wardrobes. 

 

No prints or wrinkles in sight!

[JamieLogical]

23 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

We bundle pack our capsule wardrobes. 

 

No prints or wrinkles in sight!

 

That's actually how I discovered bundle packing. I was searching for packing techniques to minimize wrinkling. It just also had the huge added advantage of allowing you to fit way more stuff than traditional packing methods.

[parrothead33]

Following along.  Good luck with your flights!

[voljeep]

Hit the road, Jack ... 

[geehp]

Wishing well all of you who are dealing with the weather challenges getting to Ft. Lauderdale. We are counting our blessings, having taken off this afternoon from Logan only about 40 minutes delayed, and now en route. We are apparently adjusting our route a bit to skirt the storm, and taking a bit longer to land, but grateful to be in flight.  Booked the Thursday flight many months ago, just because the fare was good and the times convenient, but we lucked lucked out, as we have missed the storm’s advance into the northeast on Friday. We are sorry a number of you are having to deal with that. Wishing all safe (and timely) travels.

[JamieLogical]

We ended up booking the earliest flight out on Saturday morning with a refundable fare. If things go completely sideways tomorrow night, we will have that to fall back on. Hopefully, it will be completely unnecessary and we can get a full refund. I am doubly hoping that because this flight cost us almost twice as much for Main Cabin Economy as our original flight cost us for first class! 

[Wishing on a star]

Ouch!!!!!

Hopefully you can cancel that one...

Either way, you WILL be boarding that cruise!

[JamieLogical]

I am feeling more confident about my flights tomorrow evening. Now that we are inside 24 hours, I was able to track the actual plane I will be on from Rochester to Atlanta and tomorrow the plane is traveling from San Antonio to Atlanta early in the morning, then back and forth between Knoxville and Atlanta. It doesn't head to Rochester until after 3:00pm and by then the storms should be moving north east of Rochester, so I don't think there will be any need for that flight to be delayed. San Antonio, Atlanta, and Knoxville all look like they should be clear tomorrow.

[avonlady6390]

Two years ago I took a cruise out of San Pedro and my return flight home to Orlando was changed to an earlier flight and was worried I wouldn't make it it was a non refund flight on Delta, so I booked a refundable flight on Delta for the next day just in case checked hotels and knew I could get one just in case.  I made the first flight so cancelled the other one and got my money back it was easy just did it in the Delta app.

[JamieLogical]

15 minutes ago, avonlady6390 said:

Two years ago I took a cruise out of San Pedro and my return flight home to Orlando was changed to an earlier flight and was worried I wouldn't make it it was a non refund flight on Delta, so I booked a refundable flight on Delta for the next day just in case checked hotels and knew I could get one just in case.  I made the first flight so cancelled the other one and got my money back it was easy just did it in the Delta app.

 

Yeah, there was a cruise a couple of years ago when we were returning to FLL and flying home to Rochester in January. A big storm was actually hitting FLL then, not Rochester. It was snowing in FLL that day! We booked a refundable back-up flight on Delta to be safe. Funnily enough, our back-up flight got canceled and our original flight was just fine!

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Yeah, there was a cruise a couple of years ago when we were returning to FLL and flying home to Rochester in January. A big storm was actually hitting FLL then, not Rochester. It was snowing in FLL that day! We booked a refundable back-up flight on Delta to be safe. Funnily enough, our back-up flight got canceled and our original flight was just fine!

 

Guess I misremembered that slightly. I just looked back at my blog for that cruise and this is what I said back then:

 

Sometime in the evening, we found out that our first flight had been canceled. We had originally booked our flights through Celebrity Air. But, sometime around Thanksgiving, our flight times were changed to ridiculously inconvenient ones. We were able to get our flights to FLL changed to something more reasonable, but didn't have any luck changing our return flights. Rather than pay $200/person in change fees to Celebrity, we decided to book our own return flights and keep the Celebrity ones as a back up. So we booked earlier flights on Delta that should have had us home around 4:45 in the afternoon. Well, those Delta flights were canceled, so we had no choice but to hope the AA flights through Celebrity still happened. We decided there was nothing we could do about it until the morning when we had cell service, so we did some packing and then spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Komang one last time.

 

I also hit up the casino briefly, but hit a pretty big win and cashed out for the cruise.

 

For disembarkation day, we had breakfast in the MDR and stayed on the ship as long as they would let us, since our flight out wasn't until 1:00.

 

The day of travel was completely miserable. Flight delays meant we didn't get back to Rochester until after midnight, where we then had to pay $70!!!!! for an Uber because four other delayed flights all landed at the same time as ours. Glad to put that all behind us now.

[azbirdmom]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

We ended up booking the earliest flight out on Saturday morning with a refundable fare. If things go completely sideways tomorrow night, we will have that to fall back on. Hopefully, it will be completely unnecessary and we can get a full refund. I am doubly hoping that because this flight cost us almost twice as much for Main Cabin Economy as our original flight cost us for first class! 

 

I did the same thing last month when I woke up on the Discovery Princess on disembarkation morning to a message about United cancelling our flight.  Having thoroughly enjoyed our cruise I was blissfully unaware of the CrowdStrike mess that was roiling flights.  I couldn't find another more suitable flight on United so I booked a refundable fare on Alaska Airlines leaving late morning.  While we were in the taxi to the Seattle airport I kept checking the United website and a flight later in the day in Seattle popped up and the connection was long enough that I grabbed it.  So I did end up cancelling the Alaska flight.  I was a little ticked that even though it was only an active reservation for two hours at most that Alaska did charge it to my credit card.  Within a week they processed the refund though so no harm done.  The moral of the story is that it doesn't hurt to make a back-up plan, especially when alternative options will most likely disappear later when you figure out that you need them.  Wishing you good luck!

Edited August 9 by azbirdmom

[JamieLogical]

The latest flight news is that the plane that FlightAware showed last night (the one spending most of the day going from/to San Antonio and Knoxville) is not the plane we are assigned today. We are now assigned a plane that is going back and forth between Buffalo and Atlanta a couple of times before coming to get us in Rochester. Since Buffalo is also swept up in this storm, I am feeling pretty pessimistic again. The plane just made its first run of the day to Atlanta from Buffalo and that ran on time, but the storm hadn't really moved in yet when that one left Buffalo. This next round to/from Buffalo is the one that has me worried. The next flight takes off from Atlanta at 9:20 and is scheduled to land in Buffalo at 11:14, which seems like it might be the peak of the storm for that area. So we will have to wait and see what happens with that flight and the return flight to Atlanta that is scheduled to take off at 12:21.

[JamieLogical]

While I continue to stress and worry about our flights tonight, I do have a lot of positive news. I finished up all of the cruise-prep I had planned for last night. I ran to the grocery store to get fresh salad fixings for my lizards and gift cards for our pet sitter. I got all my stuff transferred over into my new wallet. I ironed. I vacuumed. Most importantly, I packed my bundle! I decided to take some pictures as I progressed through the bundling this time so you folks can get a better sense of what goes into it and how it's built.

 

Six pairs of "cruise pants." These are pants I bought specifically for cruising after the restart. I only wear them on cruises and they are part of what I call my "cruise uniform." I bought them on Amazon and I love them because they are stretchy and don't wrinkle.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088R8JK7Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

Three maxi dresses. These are a similar fabric to the pants. Super stretchy and don't wrinkle. I didn't buy these on Amazon, so no link. I have bought them at stores and on eBay.

 

 

Three pairs of yoga pants. I use these as pajama pants. I sleep in whatever t-shirt or camisole I wore that day. They are soft and stretchy. I got these on Amazon at various points. Here's a link to the most recent item I ordered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RDDSPWM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

 

 

Three pairs of trail pants. I originally started buying these on Amazon, but I don't think Columbia makes these exact pants anymore, so I bought my most recent pair on eBay. I wear these on excursions and when going ashore on hot, sweaty days as they are moisture-wicking and quick-drying.

 

 

Swimsuit cover-up. I bought this on Amazon and I have seen LOTS of other women wearing the exact same one (sometimes in different colors) on cruises.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077PV3LRY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Five long-sleeved linen shirts. These have little buttoned straps in the sleeves that let you roll them to 3/4 length. I wear these over camisoles (see below) with only the bottom two buttons buttoned and the sleeves rolled up. These can get a bit wrinkly, but I used Downy Wrinkle Release spray on them and it works like a charm! These are part of my cruise uniform.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091BT8S7P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

Three sweaters. I wear these little sweaters over my dresses because I like to cover my upper arms. They have been acquired at various stores over the years, so no link.

 

 

One print t-shirt and three moisture-wicking t-shirts. The t-shirt is for my flight home at the end of the cruise and the moisture-wicking shirts are for going ashore on hot, sweaty days along with my trail pants. They are Under Armor brand and I bought them on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C12T8SSB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

Spanx and two swimsuit bottoms.

 

 

Ten camisoles. These are stretchy cotton and have a built-in shelf bra. They are part of my cruise uniform along with my linen shirts and cruise pants. I have bought them from Amazon and Walmart.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0Q2IN6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

Boat shoes. I use these as the "core" of my bundle. These are cheap, basically disposable shoes that I only wear cruising. They usually last 2-3 cruises, depending on the length. The insoles they come with are terrible, so I buy some cheap Dr. Scholls from the grocery store to swap out. This is a new pair I bought after my May sailing. Don't worry, I pack them in a plastic bag before wrapping my clothes around them!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097XX7956/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

And here is the completed bundle and my successfully closed suitcase!

 

 

 

This morning I finished packing the last of my toiletries, so I now have everything crossed off my packing list! I still have a few last things to do around the house. I need to make the bed, run the dishwasher, print the instructions for our pet sitter, and feed all the pets one last time.

[laudergayle]

Wishing you smooth flying today.  I love that you have a backup plan…which hopefully is not needed.

 

Looking  forward to your cruise adventure!!  Thanks gif doing a LIVE.

[avonlady6390]

Good luck hoping you make it to FLL I see on the board someone is also having trouble getting to Florida tomorrow because of flight interruptions.