"Cruise Therapy: An Infusion of Magic" Pre-Trip Report for June 20th *COMPLETED*

[RoyalVizier]

Cruise Therapy: An Infusion of Magic
June 20th Eastern Caribbean DCL Cruise
Tortola * St. Thomas * Castaway Cay​

Infuse – transitive verb
Pronunciation: \in-ˈfyüz\
Meaning: 1 a: to cause to be permeated with something that alters usually for the better.​

We have never needed an escape from reality like we do right now. Never has a twelve-month span of time wrought such stress and exhaustion like the last twelve months have exhausted my family and myself. After 32 years of life, this one stands out over the rest.

Hi all. My name is Ward (also known as RoyalVizier, also known as RV) and I have not properly Dis’d in about two years. That’s because I haven’t properly vacationed in that amount of time. My Dis cycles tend to ebb and flo with my vacation plans, and this family has seen no vacation plans in quite some time. So, sad to say that my Dis habits have diminished. But that is about to change because...

I’M GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE LINE VACATION!!

June 20th Eastern Caribbean special itinerary with stops at Tortola, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay! We. Are. BESIDEOURSELVESWITHEXCITEMENT! This will be our fourth DCL cruise. The events and the decisions leading up to this cruise are different from years past. I’m in a different place than I’ve been before. My family is in a different place then we’ve been before. Here’s a brief (Brief. HA! That's a laugh) rundown so that you will understand my mindset going into this vacation:

In April of 2008 my wife was laid off from her job, which she’d held for seven years. She liked her job, was able to work from home everyday in a home office set up, the pay kept us comfortable, and she was very, very good and what she did. Then one April day she went out to get the mail and found her severance package waiting for her in the box. How’s that for a surprise? So after a phone call to the office she found out that she and many thousands of other people around the country were no longer employed with that company. Seems there was some sort of mix-up and some of the severance packages went out in the mail before in person notifications could be made. Oops. They say that loosing a job is a major life event, very similar to experiencing the death of a loved one. Now, having witnessed the process first hand I have to agree. There is a mourning process of shock and pain and anger and grief and it must be worked through, and unfortunately it isn’t something that you recover from quickly. So… April ’08 was when someone flushed, and our lives began to swirl, swirl, swirl around and around the rim.

So that brings us to June of 2008, and my wife is firmly embedded in the grieving process and we are trying our hardest to deal with life, with a drastically different financial situation, and the general aftermath of the layoff, when suddenly we have to start the grieving process all over again in a different respect. Phone calls in the middle of the night are one of those things that can stop your heart. Something about hearing your ring tone from the depths of your purse or the dresser top at 2am makes your heart lunge into your throat. Even a Caribbean steel drum snippet sounds like the knell of doom in the wee hours. There are an infinite number of paths that life could shove you down in the two seconds it takes to utter “Hello?” through the curious fear threatening to choke you. You hope that the path quickly dead-ends in someone saying, “Sorry, wrong number” or heck, even some heavy breathing would be nice. So when I was pulled from sleep to the sound of my wife’s phone ringing downstairs the trepidation came fast. By the time we had both woken up and realized what the sound was, the ringing had stopped, and when she was halfway down the stairs to retrieve her phone the tone had sounded meaning a voicemail was waiting. The call was from her mother. Her dad had suffered a heart attack in their Kentucky home and had passed away shortly after arriving at the Emergency Room. Thus a new breed of grieving began, and by 5am that morning my wife and I were standing at the rental car counter at the airport to begin the drive up there to be with her mother.

After that impromptu trip to Kentucky and the settling of affairs, my wife and I convinced her mother to come to Florida and live with us. So we introduced her and her dog to our household in July of 2008, which brought a totally different dynamic of life to our house. Now, I had absolutely no issue with my Mother in Law coming to live with us, but the act of adding another human being and another dog to a household of three existing human beings and three existing dogs just changes things. Two more mouths to feed, two more emotions to take into consideration, two more bodies to fight for space over, and a million other little things… so the stress mounted amidst the grief of parental and occupational loss within a short span of each other.

So August of 2008 brought Cheri and job. Four months of job hunting and resume submitting had returned nothing, until one phone call finally brought opportunity. She was hired as an Office Manager for a new office of a well-established aeronautics corporation, which was a blessing for sure, but an extraordinarily mixed blessing for the six months that followed are easily the strangest of her employed life. Now, I could go on and on about her job with this company, but I should spare you (as if any of you are still reading at this point anyway. What is this? A DCL trip report of the depressing autobiography of RV?). In the tightest nutshell possible: they hired her to be the Office Manager, told her to do whatever she could to get this office off the ground, ended up unable to get anything approved through the proper channels, was moved to the reception desk, was told by upper management that they didn’t really understand why she was ever hired because there is no such thing as an “Office Manager” position at that office, she was told that there was really no work for her to do, was told by the person that hired her that he “had no idea” why he hired her, couldn’t explain it to anyone… so there she sat for six months while they struggled to keep her busy, struggled to throw meaningless busywork her way only to be told in January that they’d held off as long as they could and they laid her off. So the grief wheel keeps on turnin’…

So now we’re in January of 2009. Severance packages and unemployment have been keeping us afloat, but the difference between both in a couple working and bringing in a paycheck and just myself working was, for us, astronomical. Finances were a huge worry, a huge stress point, and the cause for more than many sleepless nights. The uncertainty of each passing day overshadowed everything. All the fun, all the joy, was constantly bathed in a dimness that frightened us endlessly and sucked my wife into a pit of despair. So life went on…

April of 2009. To keep her unemployment going, my wife applied for no less than two jobs a week, and this time around it was as if her contacts and resumes were falling into a black hole. She would mail her resume, submit her resume online, and then… nothing. No phone calls. No emails. No follow-up. No nothing for the last four months. She hasn’t heard a peep about anything. And then at this time, my own job came into jeopardy. We’d heard rumors of possibly lay-offs. You know, the rumors and the chatter and the talk that would sweep the office, but I never let myself worry too much. Then, as the threat seemed to solidify, me and the peers in my department were told that we were “safe”, that the threat would be focused elsewhere, so I never really let myself get too awfully worried. Then the day came. We knew it was happening. Men and women in suits were present, and they were carrying folders and file boxes and they set up shop in one of the offices. People went in there, and they came out only to be escorted out of the building via a side door. It was troubling, and my heart went out to the people I saw them come tap on the shoulder and take away, but I still didn’t let myself get too worried for my own personal safety. Until they came and took one of my friends. The woman that sits right across from me. Then the fear struck fast, like an icicle right in the gut. My hand went to my mouth. My eyes closed. My heart rate doubled, and the same emotions of hearing a ring tone at 2am surfaced and burned my very soul. I wasn’t ready for life to shove me down another path. I was perfectly content on this one. I knew the way. I knew the landmarks. With my wife’s situation and our home/family situation as it was, I couldn’t travel down that darker path myself. It all flashed before me as I watched the dementors (a tribute to my fellow Harry Potter fans) come for another one. My friend that sits two desks away.

Ultimately, I was spared. Come end of day, I’d lost five close friends and heard of about 25 others across the office that lost their jobs that day. It was a gash. A gaping red gash across my work life and the work life of all of my peers. When you work somewhere long enough as I have (almost eight years) it’s not just a job, but it’s a family, and I dearly love all of whom I work with day in and day out. So even though it was over, for the next several days there was somberness and a silence. The office was so quiet. There was a hush. Everything I did from that day on: look at an email that had those people’s names on it, walk by their cubicles, have someone ask about them… it was yet another form of grieving.

Which brings me to today and to talk of the cruise. Unbelievable, there IS talk of DCL in this DCL trip report! My wife still doesn’t have a job. She hasn’t heard a peep from any of her resume submissions since she was laid off in January for the second time. My mother in law and her dog are well settled in. The unemployment checks are still coming and I’m still employed but there is a stress ever present. There is a stress so thick living within our walls. It’s black and it’s thick, and our lives need a serious infusion of magic. So my wife and I started reminiscing about the last cruise we took back in March of ’07. We looked at our past cruise photos and placed ourselves there. It was a 7 night Eastern cruise on DCL, and we actually took her mom and dad with us to give them the best (and only) vacation experience of their lives. If you’re curious you can read the trip report from that cruise here: Sharing the Magic with the Unmagic'd.

So we started pondering, and wondering, and evaluating finances, and praying, and agonizing, and we came to a hard realization. We realized that sometimes the need for escape from reality greatly outweighs the need to be financially responsible. This cruise is a huge splurge for us at this time in our lives, but we have some savings, and quite honestly, I worried just a bit about what would happen if I didn’t whisk my wife away from the harsh light of her everyday chaos into a vacation dream that knew nothing of “real life”. So the other day we talked it over, and over, and over… for hours, discussing all aspects of the decision and we booked it. We just did it. Once the final button was pushed on DisneyCruise.com, there was silence. We were shocked. We were uncertain. But ultimately, we knew that it was the right choice for us. And with each passing day since then, we’ve become surer and surer, and the excitement has mounted, and already the troubles of reality seem a little bit easier to handle. Cruise planning has taken over which, for us, is a HUGE part of the cruise experience. So the need to make lists and the research about the ports of call and the daydreaming is pushing reality into the corners where they’re present, but they’re covered more in shadow.

So we’re very much looking forward to our infusion of magic on the Disney Magic. We need it. Our lives need it. Two years without a “real” vacation is a long time for us. Driving up to Kentucky because of tragedy does not count. So there you have it… a drama-filled year in the life of me. If you’ve actually read this whole thing and your eyeballs are still firmly fastened inside of your sockets… kudos to you! If not, then I promise you that the actual trip report will be 500 times more riveting, because there has been no magic in my life for the last year. The magic is ahead of us waiting in the Caribbean.

Up Next: The Plans

 

[LindaBabe]

WOW! My heart goes out to you and your family! What a terrible, horrible, awful year you guys have had. One day, the stormy seas *WILL* calm for you, RV, and the sun will shine again. I'm glad you have your Disney Cruise vacation to look forward to in the meantime!

 

[catluvr]

Cruise Therapy: An Infusion of Magic
June 20th Eastern Caribbean DCL Cruise
Tortola * St. Thomas * Castaway Cay​

Infuse – transitive verb
Pronunciation: \in-ˈfyüz\
Meaning: 1 a: to cause to be permeated with something that alters usually for the better.​

We have never needed an escape from reality like we do right now. Never has a twelve-month span of time wrought such stress and exhaustion like the last twelve months have exhausted my family and myself. After 32 years of life, this one stands out over the rest.

Hi all. My name is Ward (also known as RoyalVizier, also known as RV) and I have not properly Dis’d in about two years. That’s because I haven’t properly vacationed in that amount of time. My Dis cycles tend to ebb and flo with my vacation plans, and this family has seen no vacation plans in quite some time. So, sad to say that my Dis habits have diminished. But that is about to change because...

I’M GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE LINE VACATION!!

June 20th Eastern Caribbean special itinerary with stops at Tortola, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay! We. Are. BESIDEOURSELVESWITHEXCITEMENT! This will be our fourth DCL cruise. The events and the decisions leading up to this cruise are different from years past. I’m in a different place than I’ve been before. My family is in a different place then we’ve been before. Here’s a brief (Brief. HA! That's a laugh) rundown so that you will understand my mindset going into this vacation:

In April of 2008 my wife was laid off from her job, which she’d held for seven years. She liked her job, was able to work from home everyday in a home office set up, the pay kept us comfortable, and she was very, very good and what she did. Then one April day she went out to get the mail and found her severance package waiting for her in the box. How’s that for a surprise? So after a phone call to the office she found out that she and many thousands of other people around the country were no longer employed with that company. Seems there was some sort of mix-up and some of the severance packages went out in the mail before in person notifications could be made. Oops. They say that loosing a job is a major life event, very similar to experiencing the death of a loved one. Now, having witnessed the process first hand I have to agree. There is a mourning process of shock and pain and anger and grief and it must be worked through, and unfortunately it isn’t something that you recover from quickly. So… April ’08 was when someone flushed, and our lives began to swirl, swirl, swirl around and around the rim.

So that brings us to June of 2008, and my wife is firmly embedded in the grieving process and we are trying our hardest to deal with life, with a drastically different financial situation, and the general aftermath of the layoff, when suddenly we have to start the grieving process all over again in a different respect. Phone calls in the middle of the night are one of those things that can stop your heart. Something about hearing your ring tone from the depths of your purse or the dresser top at 2am makes your heart lunge into your throat. Even a Caribbean steel drum snippet sounds like the knell of doom in the wee hours. There are an infinite number of paths that life could shove you down in the two seconds it takes to utter “Hello?” through the curious fear threatening to choke you. You hope that the path quickly dead-ends in someone saying, “Sorry, wrong number” or heck, even some heavy breathing would be nice. So when I was pulled from sleep to the sound of my wife’s phone ringing downstairs the trepidation came fast. By the time we had both woken up and realized what the sound was, the ringing had stopped, and when she was halfway down the stairs to retrieve her phone the tone had sounded meaning a voicemail was waiting. The call was from her mother. Her dad had suffered a heart attack in their Kentucky home and had passed away shortly after arriving at the Emergency Room. Thus a new breed of grieving began, and by 5am that morning my wife and I were standing at the rental car counter at the airport to begin the drive up there to be with her mother.

After that impromptu trip to Kentucky and the settling of affairs, my wife and I convinced her mother to come to Florida and live with us. So we introduced her and her dog to our household in July of 2008, which brought a totally different dynamic of life to our house. Now, I had absolutely no issue with my Mother in Law coming to live with us, but the act of adding another human being and another dog to a household of three existing human beings and three existing dogs just changes things. Two more mouths to feed, two more emotions to take into consideration, two more bodies to fight for space over, and a million other little things… so the stress mounted amidst the grief of parental and occupational loss within a short span of each other.

So August of 2008 brought Cheri and job. Four months of job hunting and resume submitting had returned nothing, until one phone call finally brought opportunity. She was hired as an Office Manager for a new office of a well-established aeronautics corporation, which was a blessing for sure, but an extraordinarily mixed blessing for the six months that followed are easily the strangest of her employed life. Now, I could go on and on about her job with this company, but I should spare you (as if any of you are still reading at this point anyway. What is this? A DCL trip report of the depressing autobiography of RV?). In the tightest nutshell possible: they hired her to be the Office Manager, told her to do whatever she could to get this office off the ground, ended up unable to get anything approved through the proper channels, was moved to the reception desk, was told by upper management that they didn’t really understand why she was ever hired because there is no such thing as an “Office Manager” position at that office, she was told that there was really no work for her to do, was told by the person that hired her that he “had no idea” why he hired her, couldn’t explain it to anyone… so there she sat for six months while they struggled to keep her busy, struggled to throw meaningless busywork her way only to be told in January that they’d held off as long as they could and they laid her off. So the grief wheel keeps on turnin’…

So now we’re in January of 2009. Severance packages and unemployment have been keeping us afloat, but the difference between both in a couple working and bringing in a paycheck and just myself working was, for us, astronomical. Finances were a huge worry, a huge stress point, and the cause for more than many sleepless nights. The uncertainty of each passing day overshadowed everything. All the fun, all the joy, was constantly bathed in a dimness that frightened us endlessly and sucked my wife into a pit of despair. So life went on…

April of 2009. To keep her unemployment going, my wife applied for no less than two jobs a week, and this time around it was as if her contacts and resumes were falling into a black hole. She would mail her resume, submit her resume online, and then… nothing. No phone calls. No emails. No follow-up. No nothing for the last four months. She hasn’t heard a peep about anything. And then at this time, my own job came into jeopardy. We’d heard rumors of possibly lay-offs. You know, the rumors and the chatter and the talk that would sweep the office, but I never let myself worry too much. Then, as the threat seemed to solidify, me and the peers in my department were told that we were “safe”, that the threat would be focused elsewhere, so I never really let myself get too awfully worried. Then the day came. We knew it was happening. Men and women in suits were present, and they were carrying folders and file boxes and they set up shop in one of the offices. People went in there, and they came out only to be escorted out of the building via a side door. It was troubling, and my heart went out to the people I saw them come tap on the shoulder and take away, but I still didn’t let myself get too worried for my own personal safety. Until they came and took one of my friends. The woman that sits right across from me. Then the fear struck fast, like an icicle right in the gut. My hand went to my mouth. My eyes closed. My heart rate doubled, and the same emotions of hearing a ring tone at 2am surfaced and burned my very soul. I wasn’t ready for life to shove me down another path. I was perfectly content on this one. I knew the way. I knew the landmarks. With my wife’s situation and our home/family situation as it was, I couldn’t travel down that darker path myself. It all flashed before me as I watched the dementors (a tribute to my fellow Harry Potter fans) come for another one. My friend that sits two desks away.

Ultimately, I was spared. Come end of day, I’d lost five close friends and heard of about 25 others across the office that lost their jobs that day. It was a gash. A gaping red gash across my work life and the work life of all of my peers. When you work somewhere long enough as I have (almost eight years) it’s not just a job, but it’s a family, and I dearly love all of whom I work with day in and day out. So even though it was over, for the next several days there was somberness and a silence. The office was so quiet. There was a hush. Everything I did from that day on: look at an email that had those people’s names on it, walk by their cubicles, have someone ask about them… it was yet another form of grieving.

Which brings me to today and to talk of the cruise. Unbelievable, there IS talk of DCL in this DCL trip report! My wife still doesn’t have a job. She hasn’t heard a peep from any of her resume submissions since she was laid off in January for the second time. My mother in law and her dog are well settled in. The unemployment checks are still coming and I’m still employed but there is a stress ever present. There is a stress so thick living within our walls. It’s black and it’s thick, and our lives need a serious infusion of magic. So my wife and I started reminiscing about the last cruise we took back in March of ’07. We looked at our past cruise photos and placed ourselves there. It was a 7 night Eastern cruise on DCL, and we actually took her mom and dad with us to give them the best (and only) vacation experience of their lives. If you’re curious you can read the trip report from that cruise here: Sharing the Magic with the Unmagic'd.

So we started pondering, and wondering, and evaluating finances, and praying, and agonizing, and we came to a hard realization. We realized that sometimes the need for escape from reality greatly outweighs the need to be financially responsible. This cruise is a huge splurge for us at this time in our lives, but we have some savings, and quite honestly, I worried just a bit about what would happen if I didn’t whisk my wife away from the harsh light of her everyday chaos into a vacation dream that knew nothing of “real life”. So the other day we talked it over, and over, and over… for hours, discussing all aspects of the decision and we booked it. We just did it. Once the final button was pushed on DisneyCruise.com, there was silence. We were shocked. We were uncertain. But ultimately, we knew that it was the right choice for us. And with each passing day since then, we’ve become surer and surer, and the excitement has mounted, and already the troubles of reality seem a little bit easier to handle. Cruise planning has taken over which, for us, is a HUGE part of the cruise experience. So the need to make lists and the research about the ports of call and the daydreaming is pushing reality into the corners where they’re present, but they’re covered more in shadow.

So we’re very much looking forward to our infusion of magic on the Disney Magic. We need it. Our lives need it. Two years without a “real” vacation is a long time for us. Driving up to Kentucky because of tragedy does not count. So there you have it… a drama-filled year in the life of me. If you’ve actually read this whole thing and your eyeballs are still firmly fastened inside of your sockets… kudos to you! If not, then I promise you that the actual trip report will be 500 times more riveting, because there has been no magic in my life for the last year. The magic is ahead of us waiting in the Caribbean.

Up Next: The Plans

This trip is exactly what the doctor ordered!! In my opinion, this trip is the start of many new positive, happy experiences for all of you!

I know exactly how you guys feel about a few things. I too lost my dad suddenly, with no warning, to a heart attack. He was cutting down a tree just the day before. No one could believe he was gone. Disbelief was the predominant feeling for about a few weeks.

My mother was absolutely adrift. After 53 years of marriage to my dad, we all wondered how she would function. Luckily she lives only 9 minutes away from us and we have been doing all of the things my dad did for her (yard work, car stuff, etc).

We will be moving my mom and her dog into our house (with our dog and 3 cats) next summer.

We hope to meet you guys on the trip! My husband, Russ, and our daughter Rachel (13) and her friend Kim (13) are all excited. We have been emailing people from the cruising group for a month. They seem great!

If you want to email, our emails are :

me (Sue) mrsbou@sbcglobal.net
Rachel rayrayandcatz@sbcglobal.net
Russ RSRB4HM@sbcglobal.net

I am also on the Tortola Dis thread at Catluvr

 

[catluvr]

Hi!

oops...Russ' email is RSRB4HIM@sbcglobal.net

 

[RoyalVizier]

One day, the stormy seas *WILL* calm for you, RV, and the sun will shine again.

Thanks. I do believe this, but it's just hard sometimes. Just as long as there are no stormy seas between June 20th and June 27th!

I know exactly how you guys feel about a few things.

Wow. There are more than a few similarities between our situations. Plus, my wife's father's name was Russ, so... thanks for the understanding and the kind words. We're hoping that this vacation infuses a new outlook and a new attitude to continue forward!

More Pre-Trip coming right up...

 

[RoyalVizier]

Cruise Therapy: An Infusion of Magic
June 20th Eastern Caribbean DCL Cruise
Tortola * St. Thomas * Castaway Cay​

Infuse – transitive verb
Pronunciation: \in-ˈfyüz\
Meaning: 1 a: to cause to be permeated with something that alters usually for the better.​

The Plans

Alright, that’s enough of the doom and gloom. Let’s move on to the good stuff…

As I said, this will be our fourth cruise, all with DCL. We started with a four night just to see if we’d like it. We thought we should probably start with a shorter cruise just in case we didn’t take to life on the ocean. We didn’t want to get on a ship and be trapped there for 7 nights if we were going to be sea sick ( ) or bored, but as I’ve heard and read a million times before, we reacted the same as most, and when the fourth night hit we dreaded the thought of having to get off of the ship. So from that first cruise we were hooked. Then we graduated to a 7 night Western in 2006, then a 7 night Eastern in 2007 (with the in-laws), and here we are in 2009 prepping for our fourth. So it’s been a little over two years without a significant vacation, and that is a long time for us.

This will be the latest in the year we’ve ever cruised. We have cruised in late March, April, and May, but never past May. So this cruise falls within hurricane season and given the way my year has gone, I would not be the least bit surprised if a monsoon occurred or if a kraken rose from the deep to devour me while sunning on deck 9. I admit I am a tad worried about the weather. Heck, I’m worried about anything that could possibly mar any aspect of this vacation. I’m a worrier by nature, but my worry gland is working triple time given the circumstances and the long stint of bad luck and circumstance we’ve been dealing with. Someone reassure me!!

This will be our first time visiting Tortola. I’d never even heard of Tortola until it became a stop on DCL’s special itinerary cruises, but it sounds wonderful. What a great word: Tortola! So since Tortola is the newest aspect of this vacation for us, that is what our research and planning has focused around. We reviewed the excursions, checked out websites, read the DIS (of course), read other accounts of Tortola through trip reports, and have become quite enamored with The Baths at Virgin Gorda. It looks completely stunning. So we noticed that there are two Virgin Gorda excursions through Disney, but we also read more than a few people here on the DIS that took in The Baths all on their own, arranging ferry and taxi rides. It doesn’t sound difficult at all, plus it’s cheaper. So we’re going to go that route on Tortola day.

St. Thomas day we’re deeming “wing it” day. We’ll just leave it open and see what happens. When we cruised the Eastern itinerary in 2007 we did an excursion over to Trunk Bay on St. John, and it was one of the most amazing highlights of our entire cruise. What a gorgeous place!

We would dearly love to do that again, but this vacation has to be more bare bones that the previous cruises, and quite honestly we are suckers for the shipboard photography, so our money would be better spend towards photos. On a future cruise, once my wife is again employed, I have no doubt that we’ll be visiting Trunk Bay on St. John again. So for now we just plan on getting off the ship and wandering and seeing what kind of trouble we can get into. Anyone have any other suggestions that don’t involve excursions or you know… money?

So really, there’s not a whole lot of planning involved concerning the ships itinerary or ports. It all came together quite nicely in that regard. Now don’t get me wrong. There are lists. Lord, there are lists. My wife is a rabid list-maker, and everywhere I turn there is a list reminding us to do this and buy that. There is a list for things that need to be purchased, there is a list of questions to research or ask about the islands, there is a list for the mother-in-law of things to do while we are gone.

So aside from a few random purchases we’re pretty much ready. Now all we can do is watch the clock and watch the days creep by on the calendar. Oh, and there’s one other aspect of this getaway that I haven’t mentioned yet…

Up Next: The Ollie Factor

 

[DisneyKid@heart]

Wow what a great beginning to your trip report. I whole heartedly agree that sometimes infusing the magic into your life is more important than (what appears to be) financially responsible.

Really you are interupting this downward pattern and inviting the pixie dust in!

Looking forward to reading more!
Shannon

 

[DisneyKid@heart]

And, when you think about it, a Disney Cruise is WAY cheaper than your DW and you paying for a therapist. See, you're saving money!

 

[RoyalVizier]

And, when you think about it, a Disney Cruise is WAY cheaper than your DW and you paying for a therapist. See, you're saving money!

TOO TRUE! Thanks for pointing that out. I'd never thought of it that way! A couple thousand bucks now, or $300 bucks an hour for the next couple of years.

 

[firstmickey]

Ok...I'm late but I'm here! and ready to read all about it!

Nothing like another RV trip report.

 

[smeecanada]

Great start. DH wanted to know if I wrote the beginning of pretrip plan.

Our first cruise (a 4 day) started out as a tack on to a very hastely planned trip to the WDW after my Dad passed away, as a sort of escape from life. I was obsessed and had to be on the ship as I didn't have a clue when we would travel back to Florida. We live on the other side of the country - little did I know then that we would be making our third flight to Florida within 3 years this year. Wonderful TA made it happen - we paid way too much for that cruise, but it was so worth it in the end. We were just going to see if we liked it and maybe it would be our one and only Disney cruise as the kids were pushing the limit (at least we thought) on enjoying the Disney aspect. Boy, were we wrong. Never thought Disney could go to the next level - well they did with the Cruise Line - knew within minutes of boarding the ship. We too - left the ship and pined for months about going back. Solved the problem with snagging a cabin on the EB Repo (15 wonderful days on the Magic) in December when people jumped ship with the new itineries. Next up is a 7 day Eastern in July - same cabin and we've only been off the ship less than a year. I think we're addicted.

Anyways, both times we've travelled have been in August - no problems with the weather. Other than a few short downpours. So, don't worry and go and enjoy your therapy. If there are issues - believe me you'll be safe with Disney and you'll have lots of fun anyways. Really doesn't matter where you go as long as you are on the ship.

 

[SteamboatWillie1021]

Geeze, sorry to hear of your bad luck. Just an idea.....you are a FANTASTIC writer! Why don't you write a book? I was glued to your post and am going to read all of them!

 

[RoyalVizier]

Nothing like another RV trip report.

Thanks for finally showing up!

Really doesn't matter where you go as long as you are on the ship.

That is exactly what I've always said after returning from our very first cruise. The joy for me comes from the cruise and the ship itself. The stops along the way to the different ports and islands are extras in my eyes, I just need to get on that ship and sail away! Three weeks from today!

Just an idea.....you are a FANTASTIC writer! Why don't you write a book? I was glued to your post and am going to read all of them!

Thanks so much! The thought has crossed my mind to attempt to write something more than a trip report, but I don't know. I appreciate the kind words!

Alright all... next part is coming up later this afternoon. Watch for The Ollie Factor.

 

[firstmickey]

You had me checking cruise prices for July.


shhhhhhhh....don't tell my husband!

 

[RLccweems]

First I'm so sorry to hear all about your troubles. Also, I'm enjoying your pre-trip report and the last thing...I'll be on the same cruise as you and your family! I sure hope I get a change to meet up with all of you.

 

[anetnmike]

RV, I agree, your intro to your TR is really awesome and very inspiring! Sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith and go for it. I could almost feel your wife's grief begin to lighten then minute you said you pushed that "book cruise" button!
The weeks of anticipation and planning (and list making) are terrific therapy!Not to mention the trip itself!

 

[RoyalVizier]

Cruise Therapy: An Infusion of Magic
June 20th Eastern Caribbean DCL Cruise
Tortola * St. Thomas * Castaway Cay​

Infuse – transitive verb
Pronunciation: \in-ˈfyüz\
Meaning: 1 a: to cause to be permeated with something that alters usually for the better.​

The Ollie Factor

There has been one thing… one single thing that has kept my wife from coming completely unglued during all of this drama and trauma, and here it is:

No folks, it isn’t me, the loving and supportive husband, but it is the new pup of the house. His name is Ollie, and he is the sunshine, the omnipotent dapple lover-bean, the weenie of her eye, the seal-like elephant-eared babe, the darlingest doxie-lovin’ love pocket, and the love of her life. This pup has completely altered my wife’s life since his arrival into our household in October of 2007. She feels (and I admit I have to agree with her) that God brought the little sweet baby into our lives, that God had his little soul on hold just for her, so that she would have something to console her when the times began to get rough, because his arrival into our lives wasn’t expected or planned.

In early of October of 2007 my wife and daughter were browsing in a Christian bookstore, and they ran into a young college student who was perusing the shelves. She had a little dapple doxie in her arm and my wife and daughter went nuts over him. Upon catching sight of him in the young woman’s arms, they reacted the same way I react when someone dangles an Oreo Earthquake sundae from DQ in my line of sight. My wife and I had always talked about what breed of dog we would want when we were ready for another pup, and we had pretty much settled on a dachshund. So she got to talking to this young lady, and the young lady said that she would email my wife the breeder’s information that she got this little baby from. So they exchanged email addresses, gave the little baby a little more love, and then parted ways.

Well the next day, we got an email from this young lady, and basically, she wrote that she adopted the doxie because she had just experienced the untimely death of her brother, and she thought that taking care of a little baby pup would help her deal with the grief, but unfortunately it was having the opposite effect. Between her emotional upheaval and tending to her college courses, she was struggling to give the pup the home that he needed, so she knew how wild my wife went over him, so she asked us if we would take him. Well… that was it. My wife begged… and pleaded… and reasoned… and groveled at me. I watched her face and looked into her eyes as she reasoned with me, all the while attempting to block out the barking and ruckus and clickity-clacking of paws from our already established dogs, THREE OF THEM! Honestly, it didn’t really take all that much convincing. So this little dapple doxie fell into our lives.

Now, there are no words that I could type to fully express how my wife feels about this dog. She feels love and adoration towards this dog that is rivaled by no other. They depend on each other; communicate with each other in a way that I have never witnessed between K9 and human. They are inseparable. When I get out our monstrosity of a vacuum cleaner, she even protects him by carrying him around in his brand new baby sling:

Here is a little sample of what I hear throughout the day: (this must be read/said in the most repulsively sweetly honey-dripping baby talk humanly possible)

Oh you widdle baby cake. You widdle pocket full of love. He’s a widdle pocket full of love! Aren’t you? He just wants his momma. Oh my, baby loves love, the little love loves love. Oh baby, do you have a widdle fuzz-be in your widdle ear, let me get it. He’s a widdle snug bug, yes he is, I just want to kiss his little temple and give him kisses on his snoot.

Okay, you get the point, but believe me I could go on and ON and ON! So anyway…

The longest she has been away from Ollie is two nights, and you’d think that we had left the country and were never going to see him again. So this 7-night cruise is looming, and although she is excited and wants to go, there is trepidation and anxiety about leaving the baby alone with her mom. We know that he will be well taken care of, but she is going to miss him terribly. He sleeps with us in our bed every night. He roots his way under the covers and sleeps nestled at her side (meanwhile I’m clutching at the sheets trying to avoid plummeting to the floor).

So when I write the actual trip report I am going to keep track of how many times Ollie is mentioned during our week on the sea. At the top of my notebook I’m going to write, “I miss baby.” and keep little tick marks next to it. I’ve mentioned the insane amount of lists my wife has going. Well one item on one of those lists is to call AT&T to see what the ship to shore rates are so she can check on the little love pocket.

So that’s where we are… three weeks from today. The suitcase is in the middle of the bedroom. A duffle is on top of it already filled with a 4-load bottle of laundry detergent, a medical kit, and a nightlight.

The waiting game continues…

Up Next: A Late Start in Life

 

[anetnmike]

and a full color portrait of the pocket full of love ready to go with that luggage too!
who wouldn't fall in love with that adorable puppy? how can you possibly resist?

 

[TotallyAngelic]

So sorry to hear about the terrible time you folks have been having - it has really been tough for you. We have had a horrible time of it lately also- losing my Dad, Nan and my sister within a year, and I know what you mean about needing a vacation to preserve your sanity! Hopefully the Disney cruise will be just what you need to get you through all of this.

Looking forward to hearing all about your cruise - amazing writing style by the way!

 

[RoyalVizier]

I'll be on the same cruise as you and your family! I sure hope I get a change to meet up with all of you.

Hey RL, I'm RV! It's getting close, isn't it?!

I shouldn't be too difficult to find. I'll be the one that has melted into a pool of serenity as the stress probably very literally seeps from my body by the Goofy pool.

and a full color portrait of the pocket full of love ready to go with that luggage too!

RIGHT! She just said yesterday that she needs to print a few pictures to take with her.

Looking forward to hearing all about your cruise - amazing writing style by the way!

Thanks so much. Looking forward to sharing it!!