9/23/07: Life Stinks! The 2nd Season! -The Final Episode. :(

[Mozart]

Wonderful, so far! Sorry we'll be missing you in 2007 and 2008 by mere weeks. But this way, we won't have competing TR's right?

Isn't the Passporter great, by the way? There are so many great tips in there. I think we're going to try out their "walking tour" of Nassau. I might even have to pop over to the straw market again for one of those genuine purses......

Keep it coming!

The last thing I need is another competing trip report. Joel's report (the one called Shhh!! It's a suprise wedding) is from our same cruise. And a surprise wedding is definitely more interesting than little ole me.

I love my passporter. I just have to get it back from my FIL, who borrowed it to look at the excursions. All we're doing in Nassau is Del Sol, the Straw Market, and probably the Pirate Museum. Most of the other stuff they had listed we saw either on our first trip walking, or they drove us by it on our way to Atlantis. Too bad I don't understand what most of it is because the bus driver's mike was horrible. And I never did figure out what was so great about a water tower. It's old, but is that it?

 

[Mozart]

Well, we’ve now passed the 75 day mark, and my in-laws were able to make their reservations. Everything went well for them, except that we still are not able to get dinner and brunch for 4, even with changing our times. Just 2 tables of 2 for both. Guess I’ll be racing to Wavebands as soon as I get onboard to straighten out that little dilemma. I swear I think we scheduled 50% of all the massage, pedicure, and manicure times they have.

I did decide it would be better to have brunch at 11:30 instead of 10, so we can treat it like it’s a lunch almost. For some reason, King Crab Legs and Pizza just sound like they would go better if it’s not considered brunchtime.

For now…it’s deadtime. Nothing else to plan, no reservations to make, and it’s a little too early to begin packing. Only thing I really have to do is check in online, but I’m going to try and spread that out a little while, so I have something to do when I’m really going stir crazy.

So now comes the question. Do I:
a) Start on the planning in depth for the 2008 5 nighter?
b) begin planning a potential trip to WDW for the food and wine festival we’re discussing? Looking at sometime in October. I just have to make sure I avoid Erica. She’d drink me under the table, I think. I won’t need my pride hurt again after Joel does that on the cruise.
c) Start working on our unscheduled, 2009 7 night eastern caribbean cruise? How much longer do I have to wait for prices to come out, anyway? And should we go in September or February? Decisions…decisions.
d) Take a break from planning and buy some Disney pins for my wife.
e) Buy her a new house

74 days…Hurry up

 

[smh071]

Well we have gone and done it....We booked the '08 5 nighter. Thanks for the advise. We will see if we can get a better price once onboard the Sept. 23 cruise.
We have made all of the reservations that we wanted so far for '07. I think I will try and get a Mani and Pedi for my wife. Sounds like a plan...We received a new DCL video today. We are going to have a family fun night and watch the video. We are all getting excited.
If i close my eyes, I can taste the boat drinks already.

 

[smh071]

Wife now has Mani and Pedi on Nassau day!!!
SHHHH everyone it is a surprise.

Withn the surprise trips, weddings and excursions happening on this cruise, I needed to do something so that we wouldn't be left out!!!

 

[zweihund]

Well, we’ve now passed the 75 day mark, and my in-laws were able to make their reservations. Everything went well for them, except that we still are not able to get dinner and brunch for 4, even with changing our times. Just 2 tables of 2 for both. Guess I’ll be racing to Wavebands as soon as I get onboard to straighten out that little dilemma. I swear I think we scheduled 50% of all the massage, pedicure, and manicure times they have.

I did decide it would be better to have brunch at 11:30 instead of 10, so we can treat it like it’s a lunch almost. For some reason, King Crab Legs and Pizza just sound like they would go better if it’s not considered brunchtime.

For now…it’s deadtime. Nothing else to plan, no reservations to make, and it’s a little too early to begin packing. Only thing I really have to do is check in online, but I’m going to try and spread that out a little while, so I have something to do when I’m really going stir crazy.

So now comes the question. Do I:
a) Start on the planning in depth for the 2008 5 nighter?
b) begin planning a potential trip to WDW for the food and wine festival we’re discussing? Looking at sometime in October. I just have to make sure I avoid Erica. She’d drink me under the table, I think. I won’t need my pride hurt again after Joel does that on the cruise.
c) Start working on our unscheduled, 2009 7 night eastern caribbean cruise? How much longer do I have to wait for prices to come out, anyway? And should we go in September or February? Decisions…decisions.
d) Take a break from planning and buy some Disney pins for my wife.
e) Buy her a new house

74 days…Hurry up

My reputation precedes me.

 

[PLANNER88]

Great pre-trip TR, can't wait to hear the post Tr.

 

[Mozart]

Well we have gone and done it....We booked the '08 5 nighter.

Make sure you read the meet thread for that one. The amount of stuff they're planning is amazing. PJ breakfasts, meets, stateroom tours, wine and cheese tasting in the Roy Disney suite, etc... I think the grass skirt fraternity is the best idea I see on there though. I WILL be taking part in that one. Wanna do that on Sept 23rd?

That thread is almost always on the first page of the meet board.

My reputation precedes me.

Just got finished reading your first TR the other night, and was going by that. I've been watching for giant mutant sharks swimming underneath the ice on Ice Road Truckers ever since I finished your report.

 

[Mozart]

Remember how I said in my first post that we would have to make changes to our hotel reservations a few hundred times between now and the cruise? Okay, I lied. Only one. We just switched from spending the night before in a bed and breakfast in Titusville to staying on property. Looks like we’re going to be at the Pop Century resort the night before. We figured we’d go ahead and get started with the Disney feel as soon as we got to Florida, so we decided to do that, and eat at our beloved Pei Wei in Orlando the night before. Mmmmm…I can taste the Kung Pao right now.

Meanwhile, I’m bound and determined to get a meeting of the grass skirt fraternity together for this cruise. I’ve already picked up a grass skirt and lei to wear. I might be the only one, but I’ve decided I’m going to wear one no matter what. If you see an idiot at the Sailaway Party on September 23rd wearing a grass skirt and looking like a dope, that’ll be me. Hopefully, I’ll have had just enough beverages to make me not care. I’ve got to try a grass skirt drink, though, and see how those taste first, or else I’ll stick with my normal cruise drink Bahama Mama.

 

[zweihund]

Remember how I said in my first post that we would have to make changes to our hotel reservations a few hundred times between now and the cruise? Okay, I lied. Only one. We just switched from spending the night before in a bed and breakfast in Titusville to staying on property. Looks like we’re going to be at the Pop Century resort the night before. We figured we’d go ahead and get started with the Disney feel as soon as we got to Florida, so we decided to do that, and eat at our beloved Pei Wei in Orlando the night before. Mmmmm…I can taste the Kung Pao right now.

Meanwhile, I’m bound and determined to get a meeting of the grass skirt fraternity together for this cruise. I’ve already picked up a grass skirt and lei to wear. I might be the only one, but I’ve decided I’m going to wear one no matter what. If you see an idiot at the Sailaway Party on September 23rd wearing a grass skirt and looking like a dope, that’ll be me. Hopefully, I’ll have had just enough beverages to make me not care. I’ve got to try a grass skirt drink, though, and see how those taste first, or else I’ll stick with my normal cruise drink Bahama Mama.

LOVE Pei Wei.
We would go way more often if we lived a little closer......but every time I'm up that way I want to stop in. Of course, then I look at the Starbucks next door and I'm like, "does garlic and ginger broccoli go better with a raspberry mocha or a vanilla frappaccino?"

I love the grass skirt idea. Pictures, please.

 

[Mozart]

I love the grass skirt idea. Pictures, please.

Comes from the Double Dip thread for Sept 2008. There's a group that does it on all the special cruises, apparently. Pictured in the post I'm linking to are Bob and Scott, who I believe are the founders of the DCL Grass Skirt Fraternity.

Just in case you don't know...a grass skirt is gin, grenadine, pineapple juice, and something else I can't remember right now.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=13064599&postcount=4445

 

[Mozart]

Like a snowball rolling downhill, time keeps ticking along. The number of days until the cruise continues to count down. Only problem is that the hill isn’t very steep and the snowball just got passed by a turtle. I keep doing a virtual cruise in my head. 6 weeks from this moment I’ll be getting a cabana massage. 2 months from right now I’ll be just boarding the ship and heading towards lunch. 5 hours from now I’ll be enjoying a cool beverage on my back deck. (I guess that part’s not really cruise related, now is it?)

So, I figured I would share with the board some of the little things I do to pass the time until my next cruise.

1) Buy Evian water and carry it around in a strap. At a NASCAR race.
2) Use H20 shampoo. Only problem is that I’m out, and even the metrosexual in me can’t justify spending $14 on that small of a bottle of shampoo.
3) Make Bahama Mama’s in our Disney cruise glasses. I’m talking lots of Bahama Mama’s. Co-workers think I have a new kind of cologne, but it’s just the rum. (Speaking of cologne. I just found the best one on the shelves right now. Believe it or not, it turned out to be Paris Hilton for Men. Ethical decisions abound.)
4) Listen to the Castaway Club CD. I’ve also started listening to DISradio some at work. I really like it when they play the soundtracks from rides that don’t exist anymore. Makes me all sentimental and crap.
5) Review navigator’s and see if there’s anything I want to do that I missed in the 1,000 previous times I looked at it.
6) Watch the DCL show on the Travel Channel
7) Watch ANY cruise ship show on the Travel Channel
8) Okay…I just flat out watch the Travel Channel. Samantha Brown is hot, in a goofy sort of way.
9) Make door magnets.
10) Sing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah as loud as I can in the office and make everyone think I’m possessed.
11) Read my passporter again. I just bought one for WDW just because I was getting tired of reading the DCL one.
12) And when I absolutely run out of ways to waste time…I do some work. It’s not like Big Blue is paying me to write trip reports, now is it?

Maybe we should just leave that last question alone…(Sorry about being late with this report, boss. I’m just really slammed right now.)

If you have any more suggestions for how to pass the time, please post them. I’m tired of actually working.

 

[smh071]

FYI-I put this on the Sept. 23 thread-
Thursday, I got an e-mail from my TA that said there were Florida Resident Rates available on the Sept. 23 Cruise. I was able to upgrade to a Cat 5 (from a Cat 6) and get a $175.00 refund There is limited availability.
Good Luck All
It is getting close.

 

[Mozart]

It’s time to get excited, finally, if I wasn’t already. The bags are out, clothes are coming back from the dry cleaners, and college football has started. That’s my queue for the fact that the cruise is coming soon. I think even the in-laws are starting to get excited.

We overpack. That’s a realization that I’ve come to. We have one suitcase that’s the size of a small elephant, and it’s going to be absolutely slammed. Then we have a nice hang up bag that’s full. My athletic bag is the maximum size allowed as a carry-on, and it’s going to be full. We’re probably going to need one more bag, and this is only for a 4 night cruise. I can’t figure out what to leave behind, though. One set of clothes for each day, one set for dinner each night (and we’re both only taking one pair of dress pants), a bathing suit and t-shirts for lounging around, and then our various sundries like snorkeling equipment, grass skirt, underwear, etc…and all these bags are packed. We wanted to be able to drive just one car to the port but I don’t think we can do that with 4 people and our bags considering all we are taking. The biggest car we’ll have is one of those mini-SUVs, and I never realized that those didn’t really have a lot of luggage space until after we got it. I hate to see what packing for the 5 day cruise next year will be like.

 

[Mozart]

Just wanted to say:

YES! We're sticking around an extra day to do EPCOT too!

Now back to your normally scheduled programming.

 

[Mozart]

With all the things I've stressed out about on this cruise, the possibility of us being affected by a tropical storm is the last thing to think about, but there's a potential storm brewing out there that has me concerned. The models seem to be starting to show a scenario that has it in the Bahamas area while we're on our cruise. This is my worst case scenario for my cruise starting to rear its ugly head.

If you know how to read the tropical models for storms, look at invest 91L. 7 days from now it puts the storm due east of CC, and on a westward bearing on a timeframe that puts it in our area right during our cruise. I don't need this.

Just something else to worry about...

 

[Tink rules]

Mozart....

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't mention this to Joel....

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy has much more to worry about than a tropical storm!!!!

They're going to have to pick the guy up off the deck if there's a storm... Crystal or not....

 

[smh071]

I saw the storm that you are talking about this morning. My favorite weather site is www.weatherunderground.com go to the tropical section and it has several different computer models. I am concerned.
We will just have to wait it out until closer to departure.....I need a drink!!!

On a positive note we received our cruise documents today

We are getting close

 

[ILUVEVERYTHINGDISNEY]

It’s time to get excited, finally, if I wasn’t already. The bags are out, clothes are coming back from the dry cleaners, and college football has started. That’s my queue for the fact that the cruise is coming soon. I think even the in-laws are starting to get excited.


AHHH ! College Football. Its here at last. The only thing I have to look forward to other than this trip report. It stinks right now cause I Do not have anything planned (vac.). No cruise, no parks. I am just plain sad!!!! I am living through all of you all trip reports. Its giving me hope that someday me and the mouse will meet again.

Loving the pre-trip report. Keep them coming. You and ashman are in a class by yourselves. Can't wait til your trip report. Make sure we get pics along with the report. Can't beat Ashman in the tub, though!

 

[zweihund]

Mozart, with much luck and pixie dust it will take a sharp turn and leave you with nothing but stunning sunny days in the Bahamas. A few years ago, it happened to some friends of ours.....they diverted to Cozumel and got lots of free drinks.

Here's hopin'!

 

[Mozart]

Well, Ingrid doesn't exist anymore so that's one bullet that we've missed. But now, there's a system developing off the coast of Florida that they think could be a problem. It's supposed to move into the Gulf of Mexico sometime soon, so it may be well west of us. I'm still watching the tropics very closely, though.

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to handle the drive on Saturday. Clemson plays NC State at noon, and I have to figure out how to keep up with the game since I'll be on I-95 and I-4 while the game is going on. Is there a sports bar at Downtown Disney? I'm trying to think of someplace the game might be on so I can watch it once we get there.

Had our official Bon Voyage party on Sunday night. The menu featured grape and goat cheese pizza, Italian chicken, Sweet Potatoes with sour cream and onions, and Parmesan Asparagus. I love every one of those recipes. The highlight of the evening was when we announced to the in-laws that we were buying them a cabana massage. At first they thought we were just joking. They've paid for so many condos in Hilton Head in the past that we felt like we owed them one. It's not the same thing as when we bought my parents a complete cruise, but then again it's not their 50th wedding anniversary either.

We leave in 3 days, cruise in 5. I'm worthless at work right now. My boss might say that's no different than normal, though.