We booked the Grandeur of the Seas repositioning cruise for our first time sailing Royal Caribbean Cruises. This was a 13 night departing Baltimore and ending at Tampa.
Four other family members booked the deal so my two sisters, brother in law and mom were also sailing. All of us have sailed together on Carnival and were looking forward to trying a new line. Everyone lived in Kansas at the time of sailing except sister T. who lives in Washington state.
Because we lived a couple hundred miles from the departing airport and had an early morning flight we spent the night at a Kansas City hotel. We met the other Kansas family members at the Cheesecake Factory in Overland Park for dinner with my niece and her husband who lived in the area.
After a dinner of bang-bang chicken and shrimp and chicken chopped salad we were full so took a slice of Godiva chocolate cheesecake to go for the hotel room. We then checked in at the Clarion in a king room. It was $79 plus tax and included 14 nights parking.
Saturday, November 19th
Today was the “real” travel day. After having breakfast in the hotel restaurant with the family we took the shuttle to the airport at 9 am. Even though we had A boarding group, my mom, Steve and I couldn’t get in the same row.
We arrived in Chicago on time and grabbed lunch before boarding the next flight. Sister M and her husband had an later nonstop which arrived within a few minutes of us at Baltimore. We met Sister T at the airport and after getting our luggage grabbed the shuttle to the hotel.
We had bid on Priceline and got the Holiday Inn Airport which was a nice property. We were able to get a king size room.
The free shuttle took us to Bob Evans for dinner since there weren’t any restaurant in walking distance. This was the first time I had the grilled pot roast sandwich and I think it’s a new favorite! Steve had sirloin tips with side salad. We both indulged in dessert; pumpkin pie and hot fudge cake ala mode respectively. Everyone enjoyed their choices.
We called the hotel and the shuttle driver swing back to get us. Tomorrow we cruise!
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