Packing Must Haves
- Athleta Bookbag – I used this for our flight, a carry on when boarding the ship and for when we stopped at each of the ports. This was much easier to carry around then a beach bag that tends to get heavy being carried on one shoulder.
- Stanley/Yetis – We used these the entire trip. Filled them up at the airport, at the Windjammer and Cafe Promenade on the ship and took them to the beach/pool.
- Magnetic Hooks – These were really helpful. We actually took a rope and used two hooks to make a clothesline to hang all of our swimsuits and wet clothes. We also used them to hang toiletry bags in the bathroom and bookbags in our stateroom.
- Sunscreen
- Water Shoes – These were definitely needed on Rainbow Beach in St Croix
Flights
Allegiant Air Harrisburg Airport to Orlando Sanford ✈️ = $0
We fly Allegiant Airlines fairly often traveling in and out of Harrisburg, PA which is only about twenty minutes away for us. Frequently traveling to Myrtle Beach, SC to see my mom or to St.Petersburg/Clearwater to visit my dad, the Allegiant Credit Card was a no brainer for us. We rack up points from flying their airline in addition to this being our primary credit card. We lucked out for this trip and had enough points to cover our flights. Added benefits – priority check in, priority boarding and one free beverage in flight.
In addition to being a quick, direct flight, we really appreciate that they support our US Active, Reserve and Military Veterans. Their Allegiant Honors Program allows Frank to take up to two checked bags (no charge for being over sized) and one carry one. When he flies with us, as long as I have my Military ID on hand, those benefits extend to me as well. This allows us to fly with no baggage fees – a savings that really adds up! We have never opted to pay to pick our seats and they have always seated us with one adult with one kid or one adult with both kids and the other adult nearby.
Ground Transportation
Total Uber Cost = $322.31
- Orlando Sandford to Residence Inn Cape Canaveral = $123.07
- Residence Inn Cape Canaveral to Port Canaveral Terminal 5 = $21.94
- Port Canaveral to Orlando Marriott Lake Mary = $139.30
- Orlando Marriott to Orlando Sanford Airport = $38
We flew into Orlando Sanford the night before our sailing and wanted to stay as close to the port as possible. We reserved an UberX in advance for our trips to and from the airport which I highly recommend! When we flew into Orlando Sanford, I liked that we could add our flight number and not needing to worry about landing early/late or waiting especially with us landing at 11:30pm with two kids. Since we needed to leave the hotel at about 4:30 am for our flight home, it was nice to know we had a driver booked who would be right on time instead of needing to hope we would catch someone on the fly that early in the morning. *Residence Inn did have a shuttle at 9:30 and 12:30 to Port Canaveral but we had an 11:00 check-in and were expecting an Instacart order at 10:00 so we just Ubered instead.
Hotels
Total Hotel Cost = 535.36
Residence Inn Cape Canaveral = $263.32
- 5 minutes from the port
- Complimentary hot breakfast
- Marriott Rewards
- Mobile Key – it was so nice to check in on the app and then use the mobile key to go straight to our room since it was already 12:30 am
Residence Inn is all suites so it was nice with all of our luggage to spread everything out and have plenty of room. It was a beautiful sunny morning so we grabbed breakfast from their buffet and sat outside to enjoy it. It was a great way to start our first day of vacation. My only negative comment was that the mattress for the pull-out coach hurt my back just looking at it but the kids didn’t seem to care.
Orlando Marriott Lake Mary = $299.04
- 15 minutes to Orlando Sanford Airport
- Outdoor heated pool
- 1501 Kitchen & Bar inside the hotel
- Additional restaurants within walking distance
We LOVED Orlando Marriott Lake Mary and will definitely keep that on our list for preferred hotels. We arrived late morning and dropped all of our luggage at the front desks. Then the kids changed into their swimsuits, we grabbed some towels and headed for the pool. Even though it was January and not what I would consider pool weather, with the pool being heated they were able to enjoy swimming for a while before we grabbed lunch at 1501 Kitchen & Bar. Our food and drinks were great and by the time we were finishing up, our room was ready. This hotel is beautiful – our rooms were updated, clean and had plenty of space for us and our luggage. The two queen beds were really comfortable – after an amazing 8 Night Royal Caribbean Cruise we were also exhausted so we took a quick nap. Then we walked right around the corner (.01 miles) to FishBones. Since my dad lives in Lady Lake, we had opted to stay an extra night and meet him and Joanne for dinner instead of flying home the day we disembarked. FishBones was fantastic, everyone loved their meals and they comped us ice cream for my birthday.
