08/08/07 Well, Olbia Monkey's Uncle! We're cruisin' on the 10nt Med Cruise!

[giggles_32181]

Welcome Deb,


I have puppy news everyone we have 8 healthy puppies. If I can figure out how to add a photo I will put one on. But mom and babies are doing great. We have 4 boys and 4 girls. They are all black right now but that is common with German Shepherd puppies they will lighten as they get older.
It went really fast we started at 9:30 and we done by 1:20. We had a little trouble with baby #4 and had to take him to emergency. His ubillical cord was torn off and he was bleeding bad but he is ok now and back with mom.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.
~Keli

I think if you click the link you can see the puppies now they are from 3hours to 15minutes old in this photo.

 

[scrapycruiser]

giggles...that's exciting news ! Glad Mom and her puppies are doing well ! They must be adorable ! They should keep you busy til the cruise GINA


Is anyone going on the Genoa DCL excursion ? We decided to cancel our private guide for Florence. I didn't think 4 1/2 hours was worth the 2 1/2 hr ride there and back. So we're considering Genoa or Cinque Terre. Any thoughts ? We were going to book Lucca but it's not available.

GINA

 

[kugalbelle]

Hi all,
Checking in for the day. I'll be around the weekend, have too much to do before our trip.
As we're doing 3 cruise's I'm posting in 3 threads at the moment and thought you may find this info that I posted about Jetlag helpful.
We communted between London and Boston every second week for about 2 years before our actual move to the USA. My DH never get's Jetlag and would arrive into Boston or London and go straight from the airport into the office. My DD (who still travels between the USA (home) and London (College)) and I have the same problem which is on the UK/European end.
UK/Europe to Boston, would be fine - just a long day and we would stay awake until bed time, collapse into bed and quickly get into the MA, USA timezone.
However the USA to UK trips are the worst for us. We always end up leaving the USA at night as most Transatlantic flights do, which is actually early hours of the morning in Europe so by the time you arrive at your destination you may have been able to get a few hours sleep if you're lucky. What we try and do now is as soon as we're on the plane and settled, is to get to sleep ASAP and when arriving into Europe try NOT to have a nap until bed time - which tends to be very difficult as we are exhausted!! We found that once we napped we would end up being competely out of time with the timezone and would go to bed at 4am and only wake up at lunch time.
We also set our watches to the destination time as soon as we board the plane that give's us an idea of how many hours possible sleep we'll get on the plane.
Hope the info helps.
Charmaine

 

[2Tinks]

Hello everyone new to thread, looking forward to getting to know everyone before getting onto the ship. DD 7 looking to find friends on board the magic.

DH DW DD 7

 

[kugalbelle]

Hello everyone new to thread, looking forward to getting to know everyone before getting onto the ship. DD 7 looking to find friends on board the magic.

DH DW DD 7

Welcome 2Tinks

 

[scrapycruiser]

Welcome 2tinks ! Wish my 7 yr old Grandaughter was coming...just her brother, he's almost 11. What tours are you doing ?

Kugabelle.... thanks for the jetlag advice. Did you guys take anything to help you sleep ? GINA

 

[JeanieP]

Hi there!

Welcome! My DD who is 6, going on 7, will be on the cruise! I am so excited to have finally found someone with a daughter around the same age! She will be going to the Oceanner's Club, will yours? So happy to welcome you!

 

[kugalbelle]

I read this link and it interested me. All of you are on the 10-day Med cruise leaving 08 AUG? Are you already familiar or is this for getting introduced prior to sail-date? I read the part on the link about formal and semi formal nights. Are these listed somewhere that I missed, or are they organized through your group?

My family and I will be also on this cruise (I think I'm more excited than my boys) and we're also doing the westbound trans-Atlantic just afterwards.

Deb

Welcome aboard Deb.

 

[kugalbelle]

Welcome 2tinks ! Wish my 7 yr old Grandaughter was coming...just her brother, he's almost 11. What tours are you doing ?

Kugabelle.... thanks for the jetlag advice. Did you guys take anything to help you sleep ? GINA

Hi Gina,
No we have never taken anything. I know some people take melatonin - I just have a system that's sensitive and i'm a little worried to try anything.
If you are thinking of taking something my advise would to try it out before you travel. Also if you are connecting I would advise not to take anything - too much risk if you end up groggy at your connection point.
We had on occassion of falling asleep from exhaustion at the gate - but did manage to make the connection.
Charmaine

 

[2Tinks]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, we're really looking forward to the trip.
Jeanie P - my daughter is currently 6 and will be turning 7 before the cruise, and she will be in the Oceannear's Club.

scrapycruiser - We have booked the Palermo for Kids, Amalfi Coast Drive and Pompeli, Day at Sea at Maddelena and VIP Visit to the Vatician after that not sure.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Has anyone been following the hilarious Davidson Drifters live blog of the Transatlantic cruise?:

Hi,
Could you post a link to the blog page please.
Thanks.

Mick.

 

[kugalbelle]

Hi,
Been reading in the Live report forums about problems with Credit Cards in Europe etc.
I think I may know what the problem with Credit Cards could be. Europe and the UK have changed to a 'Chip and Pin' system. They have little SIM chip cards in their Credit and Bank cards - it's a visable gold card in the card itself. The cards are not swiped and are inserted into the top of the card reader and the individual then types their pin into the reader. I was in the UK last year and had similar problems with my USA cards - luckly I also have UK bank accounts and cards and I was able to use my UK card.
However we later found that we could use our USA cards - just be sure to tell the checkout clerk that your card is a foreign card that does not have 'chip and pin' and needs to be swiped.
-Charmaine

 

[d3boyz]

My younger boys will enjoy meeting your daughters! My middle boy was just 12 on Friday.

Deb

 

[jillnan]

Hi,
Could you post a link to the blog page please.
Thanks.

Mick.

Here is a link to the Davidson site.
http://davidsondrifters.blogspot.com/2007/05/day-10-another-day-at-sea.html

 

[UMTerp]

Welcome new posters!

kugalbelle - Your advice on jet lag and credit card problems is extremely helpful! Thank you so much! This will be our first time to Europe so it's great to have an idea of what to expect!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

UMTerp

 

[JeanieP]

2Tinks -- I am so happy I have found my little girl a buddy before the cruise begins! I will try and remember to send you a PM so you can find us. We will likely be bringing some sort of container to hang outside our cabin door (fish extender) to exchange notes with other cruisers! She turns 7 in September, so its sounds as if our daughters are close in age.

Now, who out there has a DS who is 4 years old?!

 

[corinnak]

Now, who out there has a DS who is 4 years old?!

I do - or I WILL anyhow. My DS turns 4 at the end of June!

 

[Meg'n'walt]

Now, who out there has a DS who is 4 years old?![/QUOTE]

Our DS will become 5 on our sailing (08/12).

 

[scrapycruiser]

Hi ! It's so much fun reading these trip reports from cruisers already in the Med !! And our group keeps getting larger each week !

2Tinks...I think the Palermo for Kids will be alot of fun .And so glad to know someone whose going ! Sicily is where puppetry all started. I have read a little about the marionette show and think this is the best thing to see ! Friends of mine are into puppetry, so I plan to bring them one back.

D3BOYS.... Sorry if I'm repeating myself...I forget who I told what to.
But my 11 yo Grandson,Jack, will be with us. I was glad to hear you had a son that's 12. Will he go to the Oceanears Lab ? Jack says he doesn't want to ,but I think he'll change his mind once he meets some guys his age.

We have decided ( my final decision HA ! ) to do the Florence on Your Own Don't know when we'll be back so in spite of the distance we're going. Maybe we'll take a nap on the bus ! Anybody doing this tour ? GINA

 

[momma4v3]

We have decided ( my final decision HA ! ) to do the Florence on Your Own Don't know when we'll be back so in spite of the distance we're going. Maybe we'll take a nap on the bus ! Anybody doing this tour ? GINA

We are doing Florence on our Own as well. We were in Florence last year with a tour and missed a few things. Most of our time I believe will be looking at art. My in laws and 3 DDs will be on this tour as well. The girls did well at the museums last year. Since we homeschool; what better way to learn about art than to see the originals and where they were made?

Linda