Amtrak offers full bedroom upgrades which come with a private bathroom and shower, but we couldn’t justify paying several hundred dollars more for one.
Instead, roomette passengers share a shower room and public bathrooms — in our car, I counted one upstairs and three downstairs. At least one was always available when we needed it.
The bathrooms were just fine, though the toilet’s loud, dramatic sucking sound during each flush was a bit jarring, and it was tricky to use the small sink basin without getting puddles on the floor.
My girlfriend also found out the hard way when somebody almost walked in on her that she had to pull the bathroom door shut and muscle the lock to the right, like she was sealing an airlock, or the “occupied” light wouldn’t turn on.
There’s limited counter space in these bathrooms, so I suggest bringing a personal toiletry bag with a loop that you can hang it on the door hook. You’ll thank me.
The shower room, located next to the lower-level bathrooms, had a fold-down changing table, small seat area, counter space, and a handheld shower head that swayed with the train. I kept it aimed away from the shower door to avoid enacting Noah’s flood.
Water pressure? Not great, but adequate. Water temperature? Surprisingly excellent.
Amtrak provided us with towels and a wrapped bar of soap, but no shampoo or conditioner. You’ll probably want to pack your own.
2024 was a big year in our household. All three kids were graduating — our oldest from high school and our twins from junior high.
When it came time to celebrate these achievements, we gave them an option. We could throw a party or use the money for an awesome family vacation instead.
So, before our oldest left for college, we came together one last time for a seven-day trip to Alaska on our first-ever cruise.
We were all excited about the idea, and honestly, everyone had a fantastic time. However, I don’t think any of us were completely prepared our first cruising experience.
Here are four things I wish we had known before boarding the Celebrity cruise ship.
Turning our phones on airplane mode would’ve saved us a lot of money
Our phones are such an important part of our lives that it’s almost unheard of to go without them for minutes, let alone days. However, we purposely didn’t purchase the ship’s WiFi package because we wanted a chance to disconnect and enjoy Alaska’s beauty.
What we were unaware of, however, is that once we got away from land, we should’ve put our phones on airplane mode. Since we didn’t, they switched to a service called Cellular at Sea, which uses satellites to keep the phones connected. However, this can be expensive.
Luckily, after racking up $100 in charges within hours of setting sail, AT&T cut my device off until I contacted them. However, this was a costly lesson.
Next time, we’ll be sure to turn on airplane mode and call our cellular provider to talk about cruise packages.
I wish we would’ve known about the formal night
We didn’t come dressed for formal night.
Chris Thomas
We’re typically a jeans and T-shirt family. It’s not that we don’t clean up well; it’s just that we don’t do it often. So, a formal night wasn’t even on our radar.
We knew we needed nicer clothing for our dinner reservations on the ship, but we didn’t know that one night, everyone would go all out.
We skipped dinner that night and hit the buffet instead (which, honestly, we did more often than not anyway), and we certainly weren’t the only ones not dressed up.
However, I wish we had known about this in advance, as it would have been exciting to join in on the fun.
Excursions through the cruise line can be expensive
Luckily, we found a cheaper excursion to visit a dog-sled team.
Chris Thomas
It’s no secret that cruising can be expensive. So, when it came time to book excursions, we knew they would be pricey. However, we still weren’t prepared for just how pricey they would be.
Luckily, almost every port we stopped at had third-party companies who would pick passengers up at the dock and take them to do fun and exciting things.
For example, being in Alaska, we wanted to learn about and visit a dog-sled team. Although the cruise line offered this experience, we saved more than 50% by booking with an outside party.
However, it’s important to know your schedule and check to make sure the third party will guarantee you’ll be back on time — because if you’re not, the ship won’t wait for you.
Getting a good space on the deck on cruising days can be hard
On the days the ship doesn’t stop at a port, the tables at breakfast, couches by the windows, and lounge chairs by the pool all become valuable real estate.
Instead of waking up early to claim a space near the pool, we chose to sleep in instead. However, because of this, we should’ve been prepared to settle for a less-than-prime space to sit and relax.
Instead of a view of the ocean and the mountains, we got stuck in the middle of the ship near the bathrooms.
Even with these small missteps, none of it was enough to put even the slightest damper on what was a fabulous time aboard our first cruise. The next time we take to the seas, though, we’ll be better prepared for what’s to come.
This story was originally published on January 31, 2025, and most recently updated on February 25, 2026.
I’ve been to Disney World many times, and I like to think I know how to do it on a “budget” … at least, a loose one.
Recently, my partner and I planned a last-minute trip to the theme park on our way to visit family in Southern Florida for the holidays.
Between flights, transportation to and from the airport, lodging, park tickets, food, and souvenirs, we spent about $1,600, or $800 each … for about 48 hours in the Disney bubble.
Here’s a look at what we spent, ways we saved, and what we might do differently next time.
We stuck with a value resort since we wouldn’t be spending much time in our room
All-Star Music is a value resort at Disney.
Jordyn Bradley
We spent $237 on our flights from Fort Myers, Florida, to Orlando and landed a few hours before we planned to visit Disney World.
By the time we arrived at our value resort, All-Star Music, our room was ready for check-in ($319 for two nights).
We tend to choose value resorts because they are the cheapest hotels on Disney property. Plus, stays come with complimentary bus transportation to the parks and Disney Springs.
All-Star Music was the cheapest of the five Disney value resorts when we booked, and our room provided us with enough space for our short stay.
After grabbing some snacks at the hotel food court ($25), we took a much-needed nap and got ready to visit Magic Kingdom.
Since we attended a seasonal event, we didn’t need buy separate park tickets
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was fun.
Jordyn Bradley
Fortunately, past me unknowingly helped me save during the trip.
I had two unused tickets to last year’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party — an additional ticketed event held at Magic Kingdom — that I was able to put toward a new party date. I just had to pay the difference, which was $21 for both tickets.
These tickets typically run $169 to $209 per person, and they felt virtually free since I’d already paid for them in the past.
We also didn’t need to buy a park ticket because we were able to enter Magic Kingdom at 4 p.m. on our event day — and we could stay until midnight.
Several drinks and treats were included with our ticket
Our Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party tickets came with some freebies.
Jordyn Bradley
When we arrived at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, we each got an ornament and a Mickey-shaped peppermint marshmallow.
Our ticket also included festive treats and drinks, like cookies and hot chocolate, that we picked up throughout the evening. I’d estimate we consumed at least $30 worth of treats.
We got our sugar fill with those and purchased a few savory bites, like my favorite meal at Magic Kingdom, the ham-and-Gruyère croissant sandwich with chips ($11) at Gaston’s Tavern.
We also got popcorn for only $2.50 because we got a refill in our reusable popcorn bucket — it’s a must-pack item for every Disney trip.
I kept my souvenir purchases to a pair of mix-and-match character ears ($46 for a headband and two characters to go on it) and a commemorative event pin ($23).
The party also included performances, a holiday parade, fireworks, character meet and greets, and access to classic rides (which sometimes have shorter waits than a normal park day).
We got to ride all the Magic Kingdom rides we wanted to (some multiple times) without having to pay extra for line-skipping Lightning Lane passes.
A Magic Kingdom ticket on its own can run upwards of $200 depending on the day, so the special event add-ons, like unique character meet and greets and complimentary snacks, definitely make the ticket price worth it.
These events are my hack to a cheaper Disney day ifyou’re down to have a late night and stay in one park instead of opting for a flexible-but-pricier park-hopper pass.
If it’s your first time at Magic Kingdom and you can get a one-day ticket for the same price or less than the party ticket, I’d stick with the former so you can go at your own pace.
Our second day was focused on eating around the world at Epcot, and we didn’t spare any expense
I don’t regret buying the carrot cake.
Jordyn Bradley
We purchased two single-day tickets to Epcot for our second day, which cost us $381.
On longer trips, we normally opt for the flexibility of park-hoppers, but we didn’t want to spend our limited time traveling between parks. Plus, the flexible multi-park ticket would’ve cost over $70 more per person.
Since we were staying in Epcot, we didn’t buy Lightning Lane passes.
I don’t think they’re worth it here because the park doesn’t have many rides — plus, we could use single-rider lanes to skip large waits at both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Test Track.
Most of our money was spent at on food and drinks from booths at Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
We got a lot of drinks and bites during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
Jordyn Bradley
We revisited festival classics, like the filet mignon with mashed potatoes ($20 for two orders) from the Canada pavilion, and tried some new favorites, like the flauta de barbacoa ($9) from the booth in Mexico. We loved the latter so much we got it twice.
Other favorites included the warm carrot cake with cream-cheese icing ($5), which I get every year, and my favorite drink, the Ottawa Apple ($16.50).
The chicken dumplings we had were just OK.
Jordyn Bradley
Some bites were just OK, like the chicken dumplings ($6) in the China pavilion.
However, I’m glad we looked into festival menus in advance to plan which booths we wanted to prioritize. This helped us save time and money while getting me more excited about our trip.
I shelled out the most money on collectible pins
I often meet characters and trade pins when I visit Disney.
Jordyn Bradley
Every time I go to Disney, I know I’m going to put most of my souvenir budget toward collectible enamel pins, and this trip was no exception.
Many of these pins can only be purchased at Disney parks, and collecting and trading them is a popular hobby.
On this trip, I was trying to complete a set and only needed one more pin, so I bought multiple mystery two-packs at about $23 each.
Ultimately, I spent $165 on mystery packs, which is more than my share of the hotel. I didn’t complete my set and I ended up with way more pins than I wanted (or needed).
Next time, I’ll buy one or two pins that I can pick out myself instead of mystery packs. I also plan to hold off on buying more until I can swap the ones I don’t want at one of the trading stations in the parks.
We ended our trip with a free activity
After our full Epcot day, our last afternoon was spent walking around Disney Springs.
The shopping and dining spot has free parking and is a nice place to wander if you’re wanting to be part of the Disney bubble without forking over hundreds for tickets.
Then, we headed to the airport for our flights home ($197).
All in all, we enjoyed ourselves and made the most of our 48 hours
I didn’t calculate what I spent until I got home, but I didn’t shy away from lots of snacks and mystery pin packs, so it’s not surprising how we got there.
Jordyn Bradley
Many people could spend what we did on our two-day trip and stay at resorts with nicer amenities or have more park days and sit-down meals.
However, because this trip was last-minute, we were happy with anything we made the time for, and since it was shorter, we felt better about having a higher food and souvenir budget.
Those were our priorities, especially since we never spend enough time at our hotel to justify booking a nicer one at a higher nightly rate.
We could’ve made the trip more affordable by spending less on souvenirs, which we will likely do next time. However, now I have more pins to trade for my next trip — and a way to remember one of our favorites.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX just overhauled its to-do list.
In an X post on Sunday, the CEO said that the company is shifting its focus from Mars to creating a “self-growing city” on the moon.
“It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time),” Musk wrote. “This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.”
The announcement is a big departure from Musk’s previous comments about reaching the red planet this year.
In 2020, the SpaceX CEO said he was confident that the company would land humans on Mars by 2026.
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“If we get lucky, maybe four years,” Musk said at an awards show in 2020. “We want to send an uncrewed vehicle there in two years.”
The space company has historically delayed ambitious projects because of their complexity and regulatory challenges. Last week, the company delayed the Artemis 2 moon mission, the first human moon mission in more than 50 years.
Mars is still part of the plan
In Sunday’s post, Musk added that SpaceX would continue building a Mars city, starting in five to seven years.
“But the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster,” he wrote.
Last week, Musk announced that SpaceX would acquire xAI, his AI company behind the chatbot Grok. XAI purchased the social media platform X in March 2025.
The CEO wrote that SpaceX’s xAI acquisition would create “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform.”
In the memo, Musk shared plans to have “self-growing bases” and factories on the moon. He also mentioned having “an entire civilization on Mars.”
