12/15/02 Cruise

[rae519]

Hi!
Anyone going on the 4 day cruise starting December 15, 2002?
We are doing the 3 day at WDW first and looking forward to meeting other cruisers.

Rae:wave: :wave:

[paulmc80]

We're doing the 4-day Wonder cruise on 12/15/02. Just me and DW. We got what I thought was a good deal with the military raates DCL was offering and I just could not resist. This will be our first cruise.

Gonna meet DW in Atlanta on my way over to MCO. By the time we do the cruise it will be over 6 months 7 months since I last her. We are definiltely looking forward to this.

[rae519]

HI!
We are retired military and it's great that you are now able to get some good benefits from the civilian world! Way back when....we weren't offered much except airline discounts.
Looking forward to meeting you and your DW! Hardest part of being military is the separations - the cruise will be a wonderful way to "say hello".
It can be as exciting or as relaxing as you choose - so enjoy!

Rae

[paulmc80]

Hi Rae!
Oh I know that part about separations very well! DW is the military type in the family and she's over near Atlanta, GA and I'm over here in Hawaii now. I agree, it is great that they are offering some excellent disounts for military folks now days.

We love Disney! Go to WDW whenever we can. Always try to figure out what it is we like it about, but I guess its just the atmosphere or ambience we enjoy more than anything I can put my finger on.

Its just the two of us, and we are really looking forward to the cruise! Gives us something to focus on and have fun planning.

[rae519]

Tom's been in Texas, Arizona, Minnesota, California, Maine, Greece, England and finally retired in Indiana.
I've been to Texas, California, Korea, Italy, Nebraska and as a dependent wife to Maine and Indiana.
I was in Hawaii for a 2 week vacation years ago - stayed at Bellows AFS.
Loved Italy best!

We also love Disney - we joined the Vacation Club during our last cruise. A good deal for us - even if we didn't have Michael.

I saw Disney at Christmas years ago and was so excited about it -although we love the cruises best, Disney at Christmas really tempted me this time. I think maybe a Christmas cruise someday will be in store for us.

I think this is called "our second childhood"!

Enjoy the Island while you can - I know it's not the same as it was in the 1970's but still.........

Rae

[paulmc80]

Sounds like you all have been to quite a few different places with the military. My DW has wanted to get over to Germany, but never got that assignment .. yet anyway.

I grew up here in Hawaii and have always appreciated what the islands have to offer. Well ... except for some of the high prices, but what can you do huh? :D

Great that you all are DVC members now! We have often thought of that. We have a timeshare in Kona on the Big Island here. Very nice, but not WDW. You all should be able to spot on on the cruise - we have matching his and hers christmas aloha print shirt and dress that we plan on wearing since it'll be the season. :D

[ta2025]

The Adams - Duritsch Family will be there!

Grandma and Grampa, Mommy, Daddy and two lovely daughters, age 8 and 5 will be enjoying our first Disney Cruise on the Wonder!

Counting the minutes....

[paulmc80]

Now makes 4 parties from the DIS board on the 12/15/02 cruise that we know about. :D

We're anxiously looking forward to it every day.

[rae519]

Welcome Adams-Duritsch Family!


First cruise, ehh?! Wow! I can remember my first one - I never thought I'd last the three days - but when we had to leave, I was ready to go back for another! Even my son said he'd rather cruise than go back to WDW!

I will be looking forward to meeting everyone at the Sail Away Party! We can figure out the time and place later - and of course, with the exception of paulmc80 and his DW - who will be in Christmas Hawaii shirts - what we might wear!

I know for the 9/28 cruise - we (me, my Mom and my DS (age 7))are doing light blue t-shirts with decals. Maybe we can come up with some ideas of our own! My DH will be accompanying me and DS in December.

I really hope that you will enjoy this experience! If you have any questions you can ask - because there are many people who are very willing to assist on these boards - wonderful place to meet and greet folks!

See you then!
Rae

[paulmc80]

Hey! You remember the Hawaiian Christmas outfits I said we would be wearing. I almost forgot about them myself. lol

Now decals on shirts is a pretty nifty idea. Easy way to spot everyone in the group. :)

[rae519]

I am definitely looking forward to seeing you and DW in those shirts, Paul! How could I ever forget?! My stepfather's brother and his family live on Oahu - met him once. They rave about the island but when I visited, I felt that I'd get a bit crazy after a while. His family is BIG into watersports and I'm definitely a shade, don't get wet type of girl. Maybe that's why.

What's your take on living on an island?

Rae

[paulmc80]

We're looking forward to this vacation. It will be here soon enough too I'm sure. I bug my wife everyday writing her something different about our upcoming vacation. lol

Oh living on an island here is different from some I supposed. Its a lot bigger than most people think and there are the mountains as well as the beaches. More a mountain person myself. Guess it comes from my family being ranchers on the Big Island. Can go months without seeing a beach. Very different world up in the mountains, even snow.

[rae519]

Wow - so you are native, ehh? Wow! I never thought about what you said, I do remember the drive through the middle of Oahu having altitude though! What type of ranch does your family have? Yes, I prefer the mountains also - coming from upstate New York originally. I guess I always assume that everyone in that lives on an island is Joe Surfer - bad assumption on my part!

I am glad that this will be a time for you and DW to have alone together. That's so important in any marriage - we just had 20 years ourselves! Seems like yesterday at times, and then at times, it feels like we have always been together! Just the way it is, I guess! I would sure like to have some time alone with DH but for now it's "the three of us"! Maybe later!

Have a great day!
Rae

[paulmc80]

Oh yeah. I'm from here. Family immigrated from Portugal to the Kingdom of Hawaii back in the 1870's.

Well its my Uncles that have ranches. My mom's side of the family and all the boys inherited the land. How it was in those days. They are mostly doing beef cattle now days and shipping them to California. Used to be mostly dairy cattle 15 to 20 years ago. But times change.

Oahu definitely has some altitude. Highest points on the Waianae range, Mount Keala. But the Big Island has the highest altitude on Mauna Kea where they have all those obseratories. Lots of snow too. Very different sort of place for sure.

Oh I can relate to having time being together. By vacation tiem it will be over 7 months sinec I've seen DW. What is your son's age? You may have mentioned it before, but for the life of me I draw a black right now.

[rae519]

Paul,
Thank you for sharing so much with me/us! Your family history sounds so fascinating! I can't imagine how different things were for your family in 1870 - crossing halfway across the world to a different climate/country - wow! You have to give them credit for their courage!

Seven months! Wow! Poor DW! Poor you! I have two words for you "ROOM SERVICE"! ; )

Michael is 7 - we adopted him when he was 3 weeks old and I home school him. It's been wonderful. We have a son, Christopher, that will be 22 next week and living in Indianapolis while attending college. I home schooled him for high school after our accident in 1994. Our daughter Kayla passed on then at the age of 7 when we were rearended by an inattentive 16 year old. We all had injuries but her's were fatal. We chose to donate her organs and have always felt blessed to have had at least those 7 years with her.

What is your dining schedule? And would you be interested in sitting with us for diner? I can link our reservations up if you are interested. I am thinking of changing from early to late dining. We've always had early and miss a lot of sunsets that way.

Let me know,

Thanks,
Rae

[paulmc80]

Oh yeah, they definitely were a quite adverturous to have come all the way over here.

You all have a great attitude about your daughter. I think that is the best perspective.

Great adoption at 3 weeks. Will Michael be on the cruise? I work for the State courts at a Children's Justice Center .... always lots of kids around. I get a kick out of them for the most part. My wife says a lot of people she works with do home schooling of their children. I always thought that was the best way to go as I seemed to have learned more at home that at school.

We have late dining scheduled. Sure! We'd enjoy sitting with you all for dinner. Let me know what you're gonna do if you chage times or not. You can email me at paulmc@hawaii.rr.com.

[rae519]

I think the sad part is that there are so many people who never met her. She was a great person.

Yes, Michael will be with us! He will be 7 1/2 by the time we meet up - he is quite interesting! We just never know what he will come up with.

Sounds like you have a job that affords you the opportunity to help the kids. In Indiana (back in the 1980's), the black social workers didn't want white couples adopting black or biracial children - so many kids went through their entire childhood and adolescence in foster care. We never gave it much though (the color issue) - just felt we could provide a home for a child and that was all that mattered.

Oh, Paul, I just love homeschooling. I know exactly what Michael can do and what needs to be worked on - his challenges are just a way for us to celebrate the victories with his success. It isn't easy but it's definitely worth it IF people can discipline themselves to make a plan and follow it!

I think I'd like to change to late and have seating with you and DW. I'll e-mail you privately about what information I'll need from you. If you and DW want to go to Palo's one night with us - we can do that also. There are NO children there!!!!!!!!

Will write more privately,
Aloha!
Rae

[paulmc80]

Sounds like a very good point of view for home schooling. I don't know, but all the kids I have ever seen that were really home schooled were quite intelligent and respectful. At least they were around me. :) One place I definitely feel a child should not be growing up in all of their life is a Foster home. Just doesn't seem like they really have anything that way.

Great! Glad Michael will be there with you all. Did he see Lilo and Stitch? I saw it but my DW didn't as yet anyway. I went with my brother the theatre guy taking the tickets couldn't resist kidding us about being too old to watch cartoons. lol Oh well!

Great! Go ahead and let me know what you'll need for the dining arrangements. Palo sounds good too. We're not particular when or what time we go. We just sort of go with the flow of things. We'll be at POFQ the evening before the cruise. Hope to be in by 5 at least and get some time in at EPCOT. Would love to see the Candlelight Processional. But we'll see.

[rae519]

We just watched (and sang!!!!) as the Disney Magic sailed past the Two Palms live cam -

Just thought I'd whet your appetite for December 15 - not too many days to go~!! My DH says I am being sadistic to him too since he won't be on the 9/28 one with us -

Will change to private e-mail now -

Rae

[paulmc80]

Awwwww ... man you know I always miss that on cam. I just try to blame the time difference. Still morning here so it doesn't occur to me its time! lol

That is close to verging on sadism since he's not on the 9/28 cruise.
:D

[rae519]

No sadism is making him wait for his steak!!!!!

Time now is 4:45 in Indiana. (5.45 on the ship!)

What time do you have there now?
Rae

[paulmc80]

Yeah! That is true! lol

Well it would have been 11:45 here at that time. Right now its 12:00 noon for me.

[rae519]

Okay five hours difference - got it!

By the way, are you into football? I go with whatever team Doug Flutie is playing on personally - that's the San Diego Chargers right now.

Rae

[paulmc80]

Oh yes, I like football. Don't ask me why, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are my favorite team. I think since they were new when I was about 14 I just decided to adopt them then. Makes sense sort of especially being there is no professional football team here.

Flutie is with San Diego now? Great! You know the University of Hawaii football team's head coach previous job was as interim head coach for San Diego. You may have heard of him as he has an easy to remember name .... June Jones. He has done wonders since he's been here. Actually got the team in the top 25 or 30 rankings by the end of the season. They just get overlooked for bowl bids though because they are not a big draw.

[rae519]

Paul - Michael's favorite team is the Buccaneers also. He aspires to sit in their ship and shoot the cannon. We now call it the Johnson Show - Brad vs Rob.

June Jones! Yeah! Wow! Heard he was a gentleman's gentleman also. I know Flutie was very nice to us when our eldest son was about 6 and we met him at WDW. Flutie just got down to Chris's level and talked and talked with him. Amazing now-a-days that an athlete will take time for a child fan.

The steaks were great. Anytime you are in the neighborhood -stop in. (evil aren't I?!)

Have you been to the sites with the menus's and navigators to scope out the activities? I know this time we will be in Freeport.

Verandah/Navigator's or not - we went to a DVC information session and was in one of the inside staterooms. Hello claustophobia! The Navigator's is okay, but Michael had to stand on a chair with us holding him to see the water. Could be an intimate place since there is so much wood around you.
We prefer the open verandah, that way the plexiglass allows him to see the water and makes the room seem larger.
Although I am friendly, I do like my own space and want time in the room on the verandah alone. But it all depends on what you'd like and money, of course. If you can get a deal on price, then shoot for it!

Rae

[paulmc80]

Michael's favorite team is the Buccanners?? Oh boy! He's my kinda guy! Used to be a time when everyone laughed at me for having them as my favorite team. Not that I blamed them. lol

Oh yes, June Jones is a very classy guy. Never hear him say a bad thing at all. He's got an huge amount of respect here. Reason he ended up the coach here is that he played for the University of Hawaii and he likes it a lot here. He certainly could make more coaching in the NFL that's for sure.

I got the Personal Navigators from a friend that was on the 4-night Wonder cruise on June 16, 2002. Actually, I did not even know he went until after he went. I was at his apartment fixing his computer for him and the subject came up. His wife gave me the navigators with all the inserts and stuff. Really neat! I scanned them all in and e-mailed them to my wife. I was reading some of the menus and got too hungry to continue. lol

I think it makes sense to have a full verandah for sure so Michael can see out. Rough being a kid sometimes. I remember always wanting to be taller when i was akid so I could see what everyone else could. I'd go for a Nav or regular verandah room.... its just that I find it so hard to pass up the savings we're getting on the cat 9 room. LOL .... My big flaw .... I mess around with numbers too much. I definitely like the layout on deck 5 and the only rooms still open there are nav verandahs. Oh the choices I have to make.
:)

[rae519]

As Tevya in "Fiddler on the Roof" says, "There is no great shame in being poor but there's no great honor either!"

I like to think of myself as "thrifty" - I can give up a lot of things but that verandah is not going to be one of them!

Glad you had the time to see the Personal Navigator's - so many things to do and you don't have to do any of them if you don't want to! Since I can't see without my spectacles and don't care much for water sports, I can give up the snorkeling and beach time easy! Tom loves his movies and if they only had popcorn, he and Michael would be in heaven. The shows are pretty good also.

Hope you are having a nice weekend! We did Mexican today after Church - love the chorizo!

Michael says you can join him when he finally gets to sit on the ship and watch the game, but HE gets to shoot the cannon!

Rae and Your Stateside Buc's fan, Michael