Preparing for Cruise #7: Part 5

Well this has been a crazy week.  I have been packing for our vacation next week (we leave Monday!) while watching the coverage of Hurricane Matthew and wondering if we will even have a vacation at all.  We are supposed to be at Universal Studios on Thursday, and then get on the Dream on Friday, October 14 for a 3 night sailing.  I know the storm will be long gone by then (unless it loops back like some models show – yikes!), but I have been cosidering that if there is a lot of damage from the storm, it could still interfere with our plans.  If you haven’t been following, there have been some major changes to Disney cruises that are sailing this week and next.  Here is the latest update from DCL about all of the cancellations and itinerary changes:

DCL Advisory Message

First of all, if you haven’t been following along with this series from the beginning, you can catch up by clicking here.  Right now I am hopeful that our vacation will still happen as planned, so I am moving forward full steam with packing and other preparations.  Other than last minute items like toiletries, I have managed to complete everything on my to-do list that I started months ago:

And here is the packing list I have been adding to for the last month or so:

I have crossed off a few items that I decided not to take after all, and noted items for my carry on bag with an asterisk.

For big trips like this, I still pack for my kids, especially since we will be on a cruise ship and it is not quite so easy to just run out to the store and buy something you forgot.  So, what you are about to see is my packing efforts for all 3 girls as well as myself.  When I started packing a few days ago it looked like this:

This is the stage of packing that I dislike the most – when everything seems chaotic and unorganized.  I am admittedly a bit compulsive when it comes to being neat and organized, so seeing things like this causes some anxiety.  I quickly pulled out my packing cubes (you can read my review of packing cubes here) and began organizing.  Before too long, the girls’ suitcases looked like this and I was able to relax:

Then it was on to my stuff.  I am historically not a light packer, but I was proud of myself for getting it down to this (minus toiletries which will be added the morning we leave):

I have clothes in the pink packing cube on the left, and the smaller pouch on the right contains undergarments while the larger pouch contains swim suits.  If you are interested in the pouches, they came with this set of packing cubes:

 Mossio 7 Set Packing Cubes

Then I put it all in my suitcase and still have plenty of room left for toiletries:

I am still undecided about how to pack this princess dress (excuse me while I cry a bit inside about the fact that my girls are growing up and now I only have ONE who still likes to dress like a princess):

When I pack princess dresses that are really puffy and glittery, I use this method, but this dress is not very glittery, and it is made of a thick satin that I think would wrinkle much worse than the typical princess dress.  I didn’t really want to take a garment bag, but I may end up doing so.  The 2 shirts I plan to wear before getting on the ship, so I may just hang those on a hook in the car, carry them into the hotel and not even take them on the ship.  We’ll see.

Now onto the carry on bags.  We will have 2 carry on bags this time.  We usually only have one, but this will be the first time we will swim immediately after boarding so we need to have all of our swimming stuff with us and that calls for 2 bags.  Here is everything that I put in the first one:

 1.  Passport wallet with passports and Disney VISA Rewards card.  These are the 2 passport wallets that I own:

WINCAN Hands Strap Travel Clutch Bag Passport Wallet

Zero Grid Travel Wallet & Family Passport Holder

2.  External Battery Charger for cell phones/devices.  This is the one I use:

Jackery External Battery Charger

3.  Folder with travel documents, confirmations emails and cash envelopes

4.  my wallet

5.  my lanyard for carrying my key card on the ship

6.  ear plugs

7.  my make-up bag

8.  Wet Ones wipes

9.  a pen

10.  My cameras and their charging cords, and extra memory cards.  You can read all about my favorite underwater camera by clicking here.  I am old fashioned and still carry a separate video camera.  The underwater camera takes video as well and sometimes I use it for video, but it fills up the memory card so fast that I prefer to use my video camera most of the time.  My phone is always too full to take very many pictures, let alone video so that is not an option for me.

11.  My phone charger

12.  random assortment of plastic bags for any circumstance that may arise

My phone will go in here as well, but I was using it to take the pictures so I couldn’t show it.

After I took the photo above, I realized that I had left 2 things out, so here they are:

13.  Float strap for underwater camera.  This is the one I have, only in red.  I guess the yellow isn’t available right now:

Olympus Foam Float Strap

14.  Medications

Now onto carry on bag #2, which is my new KYSS (Keep Your Stuff Safe) Lockable Bag (pictured).  I just bought this because we will have all of our valuables with us (passports, wallets, cash, phones, etc) when we hit the pools after boarding and I don’t want to be worrying about anyone taking it.  I will probably use it on Castaway Cay as well and will give you a full review when I get back.  Here is what I have so far:

1.  Goggles for my kids

2.  Sunscreen and bug spray.  My all-time favorite sunscreen is the stuff on the right side of the bag (Sun Bum – click here for details), but I had some other stuff leftover so I packed it as well.  Plus, the spray is easier for reapplying.

3.  Waterproof watch.  I use one like this:

Casio Womens Watch

4.  Jellyfish Sting Aid (click here for details or to purchase).  Ever since my daughter was badly stung by a jellyfish in Grand Cayman on our last cruise, I carry this stuff with me.  Thank goodness the boat crew had it on hand because we tried vinegar first and it didn’t help at all.  You can read all about the excursion and jellyfish sting here.

5.  Swim suits for everyone

So the plan is to board the ship, change into our swim suits, store all of our clothes and non-valuables in the regular carry on bag and then lock up all of the valuables in the KYSS bag.

So, we leave on Monday and plan to take several days to make the drive to Orlando, stopping on the way to pick up my niece in Georgia.  We will be at Universal Studios on Thursday, and then board the Dream on Friday.

ETA:  We are back and you can read my trip report here.

Finally, make sure that you like me on Facebook (click here) because I plan to post photos and updates throughout our trip, hopefully several times a day.  You won’t want to miss it!

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