09/15/07 Early Check in September 15, 2007 Eastern

[nikkistevej]

Just found this thread, booked this one about a month ago- my first DCL cruise!!!!!! I am so excited and it is sooooo far away.

 

[Hixski]

Just found this thread, booked this one about a month ago- my first DCL cruise!!!!!! I am so excited and it is sooooo far away.

Welcome!!! You will have a lot of reading to do to catch up.

 

[captaincrash]

Just found this thread, booked this one about a month ago- my first DCL cruise!!!!!! I am so excited and it is sooooo far away.

Welcome to our sailin'!!!! It's nice to make your aquaintance!!! Is that how the expression goes???

 

[captaincrash]

And my black friday report is...

I drove out at 9:45Am to "scout" the situation thursday nite and saw huge lines at Best Buy and a developing line at Circuit City. I returned for humor to look at Office Depot where I had NOT checked as I might find things there to buy - but they had a developing line and the BB line wrapped around to the back of the uilding (must have been near 500+ people in line). AND circuit city had a THICK 70 or 80' line. ONE THIRTY AM .... I turned and went home. At about 4 AM my spouse awakened me to tell me she was going to go out ... was it OK to do so. Why... of course I encouraged her! And at 1PM she returned home... like the wolk who just had an afternoon in the chicken coop! Yup... nine and a half hours she shopped! Late friday nite I went out at 10:45PM and got into Best Buy. I found one Von Hellsinger DVD and bought it as "MY BF Shopping Trophy"... and as I left they guy at the door could be overheard as quipping "he's the last one making it exactly 800". I was wondering whether they mean I was the 800th purchasing customer or... what? Is 800 a big or small number? I would think 800 buying customers was a SMALL number for a place like that. So... what did "800" refer to? Any thoughts on that folks???

Oops... just noticed I already wrote some of my BF observations above.... pardon me! This at least bumps our thread back to life onto page one for a while!!!

 

[kamgen]

Bump!

 

[PoohBearnTigger2]

Hi everyone! Just booked the 9/15 Eastern today! Looking forward to getting to know you all.... Will be me, DH, DD (11) and DS(5) Trying to convince my sister, her hubby and son to make a ressie for the same week before it fills up! Can't wait!!

Danielle

 

[captaincrash]

Hi everyone! Just booked the 9/15 Eastern today! Looking forward to getting to know you all.... Will be me, DH, DD (11) and DS(5) Trying to convince my sister, her hubby and son to make a ressie for the same week before it fills up! Can't wait!!

Danielle

Welcome to our sailin'!!!! We have 2 DDs who will be 3.75 and 6.5 nrxt September. Plus I'm sure we'll have a real collection of critters by the time we sail.

So I see you're aparently new to the DIS - this being your 4th posting. Has your family cruised much or done DCL before? We were on our 3rd DCL sailing before we discovered the DIS!

 

[PoohBearnTigger2]

Welcome to our sailin'!!!! We have 2 DDs who will be 3.75 and 6.5 nrxt September. Plus I'm sure we'll have a real collection of critters by the time we sail.

So I see you're aparently new to the DIS - this being your 4th posting. Has your family cruised much or done DCL before? We were on our 3rd DCL sailing before we discovered the DIS!

[CENTER][QUOTE]

Thanks for the welcome! This will be our first cruise ever. We never been on a cruise before. It so much fun planning for this. The only downside to this cruise is that my kids will be missing a week of school. This was strictly a budget decision as the rates are lower in Sept. I know many other families who have taken their kids out of school for vacations and they did fine. Well - thanks again for the welcome. Is it September yet???

Danielle​

 

[kamgen]

Welcome Danielle!
Our group is me, dh, our two ds's (age 2 and 9mths at sailing time) and my mom. We also have dh parents and some friends who are posting on this thread too!
I have been on many DCL trips and LOVE IT! This will be our first one with the kids, so we are so excited....

Welcome!

 

[captaincrash]

Welcome to our sailin'!!!! We have 2 DDs who will be 3.75 and 6.5 nrxt September. Plus I'm sure we'll have a real collection of critters by the time we sail.

So I see you're aparently new to the DIS - this being your 4th posting. Has your family cruised much or done DCL before? We were on our 3rd DCL sailing before we discovered the DIS!

[/CENTER][/QUOTE]

Thanks for the welcome! This will be our first cruise ever. We never been on a cruise before. It so much fun planning for this. The only downside to this cruise is that my kids will be missing a week of school. This was strictly a budget decision as the rates are lower in Sept. I know many other families who have taken their kids out of school for vacations and they did fine. Well - thanks again for the welcome. Is it September yet???

Danielle[/QUOTE]

Danielle:

We hear ya' on the missin' school and dine pinchin' tactic. We have 2 kids... one age 3 when we sail who is in P-school (non-issue there for school) and the other age 6 who will have just started 1st grade. In these early grades we expect to be able to miss a week and not put anyone in crisis. but when the kids are a bit older we would only do this if our kids were well adjusted and doing well in school. We expect no less and look forward to ocassionally travelin' during the school year. Savin' a buck is OK with some restraint and compromise. IE, we'll not be takin' 29 days so sail to Antartica on the KAPITAN KHLEBNIKOV (its' a Russian Ice Breaker chartered by Quark Expeditions) which would also set us back $25-34,000 per person. [url]http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/vrates_aa07_1_3.shtml[/url]

[CENTER][IMG]http://www.victory-cruises.com/graphics3/KhlebnikovOnIce.jpg​

I mention the KAPITAN KHLEBNIKOV because I was watchin' this HD Discovery show about cruising Antartica on this historic Russian Ice Breaker. It seemed really cool until I paused to conisider that for this kind of money I could sail on the maiden voyage of Cunards' Queen Mary 2 for 81 days around the world. The sailing departs January 10th of 2007 and a veranda cabin is only $26,645! Or... if I was willing to part with $60,209 per person than I could sail on Silverseas Silver Shadow in a SUITE around the world. It would depart on January 15th of 2007 and last for 126 days. http://www.cruises.com/s/c/results....&clp=1&sort=7&submit.x=38&submit.y=16&index=2

And you DON't wanna know what gratuities run on the Silver Shadow round the world cruise run. I figure its $15 per day per person - so each pair in a cabin would (should) cough up a minimum of $3,780. My family of 4 would trigger $7,560 in minimum gratuities on this Silver Shadow voyage! Of course, that is pretty modest in gratuities considering we would have spent about $200,000+ on cruise fare, port and taxes! Comparatively speaking... when was the last time you spent $20 on lunch and left a 3.75% tip... or $0.08 on the table? Yup, that's what it would be like to drop $200K and leave tips of $7,560!

SO if you were cruising on this voyage in a quad would you bump the gratuities up from 7,560 to say $20,000 to keep it at a paltry 10%?

 

[pmcougar05]

Well we are getting ready for my birthday gathering, seeing as that my birthday was about a week ago, plans kept us from celebrating with friends then. Megan, is frustrated...she can't sign back on to the dis boards for some reason, so she is using me to send a message from the other side..., she says hello, she can't wait to meet everyone and that she is in a great mood because we saw the priest today and seems we will be getting married in may.... She also wants to know if anyone else has had any problems signing and how you overcame the problem. Then again if you are having problems signing in then you probably aren't reading this post. Lets see, any other news....umm, finally got an office at work rather than a cubicle, had my review, went very well but was informed since i make so much i will probably move to salary at my next raise. Ok, well joey is home, see everyone soon.

P-dawg

 

[2canadianfans]

Signing in problems..YUP.me..I had the cap lock on ..sharon

 

[captaincrash]

Seems sort of quiet...

... I'm holdin' down the fort against our two little indians tonite an' tomorrow. The spouse is in Newark for a nite gettin' in tomorrow near midnite. So... it's been busy but survivable 'round here...

This last weekend we hit Disneyland on Friday and Knotts on Saturday. Knotts ran a toys for Tots deal where we got free admission for each toy of $10 or better value donated. We hooked up with 4 other families for the parks. And today was a quiet day with a rehersal for a Christmas skit that our Bible study group is puttin' on next week for the Church Christmas Program. I get to play Joseph and my spouse shall play Mary. In one scene she gets to declare that the baby Jesus is about to arrive as her water has just broken... and then she'll drop a few water bottles which should bounce away with dramatic humor.

At any rate, she missed the rehersal as she was already in the air for Newark. I'm fabricating some funny props - with any luck they will be ready next weekend!

Hope your weekend has been as pleasant!

Cheers,

from Captain Crash... Oh.. and my younger one just crashed on my lap... oh boy! <edited in> Now I have both kids trying to fall asleep... it seems pretty good for now. Its' now a little over 9 months til we sail... sort ta like the time needed to have a baby, eh?

TT

 

[captaincrash]

Mom is back and all has gone well....

... Wed we might slip away just before traffic for a midweek Disneyland visit. And - we've just noted that the tickets we bought for Maui about 4-5 weeks ago for $350 or so on United are now $1800+. IE, United has sold out all the coach seats on the return and there appear to only be 2 seats left to sell on the out bound leg... one coach and one first class. SO... we might get a volunteering opportunity on both directions if we're real lucky... it almost happened before on other flights.

Wouldn't that be something? We only hope that we can be substituted with a decent alternate flight should that happen. Its' still about 19 days til we fly so I'm gonna predict that most if not ALL of the flights on our travel days will be sold out! We're flying out on Christmas eve and returning on New Years' eve. New years' day the flights are already all sold out for the whole day!!!

So... we'll see how it goes. If my predictions hold true I'm gonna say we get ONE volunteering opportunity on one segment... and we're flying directs.

My predictions are now down for the "record" here!

 

[2canadianfans]

Dianna..hope your shoulder sx went ok and recovery has been smooth..sharon

 

[captaincrash]

Where has everyone gone?

I guess it's busy for most folks - as I know its' been so for us. This weekend we were gonna visit Magic mountain (Boys & Girls' club promo - free admission with a $15 toy donation) + a Church Christmas party with our Bible study group contributing side dishes and a skit. I'm playing Joseph and my spouse will be Mary. Then Sunday we're hooking up with my Cousins and some friends at Disneyland. It's the last day of 2006 where our semi-restricted annual passes allow entrance.

Then next weekend we have 2 Christmas parties on Saturday (one with a Santa visit!) and then Knotts Berry Farm on Sunday with a Toys for TOts toy donation promotion. Free entry is given for a $10 toy donation. We did this Knotts thing last weekend and had a nice time sharing the visit with 4 other families.

THEN... 2 weekends from now will be Christmas eve - and we're outta' here for a visit with family for the week between Christmas and New Years. It's busy - busy - busy with all this stuff going on!

So - if anyone is lurking... what are you up to?

Below is what I've been enjoying this evening on DVD....

 

[Grandma4ever]

Janet and I just got back from visiting family over Thanksgivings. Then worked for a week almost non stop. Last night I got a call from my dad who informed me that my brother-in-law may not make it through the night. So now I may have to drive for two days to Arizona to help my sister. He needs open heart sugery but is too weak to survive the surgery at this point. They want him to get stronger but he may never be strong enough. This really sucks. I can deal with the loss and work has given both of us the OK to be gone yet again. However I have two beautiful almost 9 year old nieces who may lose thier father and I find that very upsetting.

Sorry to be such a bummer. I hope for the girls sake if he is going to die it happens sooner rather than later so it will not be as close to Christmas. I would hate for them to have to deal with such a great sorrow on a day that is supposed to be filled with such joy.

If any of you out there believe in the power of prayer, my sister such could use them now. Their names are Rob and Debbie. I only ask that we pray for God's will. At this point we really don't know what will be best. The damage that the infection may have caused could be so bad that even if he was to survive he may not have any quality of life. I am fearful that my sister will just need to care for him as well as the grils.

This too shall pass and I believe that most things happen for the good. I have been reading the post for the last week but haven't taken the time to post.

Welcome to the newcomers. I am looking forward to hearing more from you. Hopefully my life will calm down and I can get back to the business of planning this cruise. Lois

 

[captaincrash]

Sorry to hear of the developements ...

... with your BIL. As has probably been mentioned by me somewhere - we've had so many around us (family, friends and parents of friends) who have developed varying chronic problems. All are quite serious and more then half threaten life in the next couple of years (or less). Right now we're waiting to hear how the biopsy went for my father in law - as we are narrowing down what his "growths" are. He's a retired chest surgeon. He was the chief of surgery at his hospital and quite accomplished professionally in his corner of PA. However, now he is probably facing something that he used to work on.

Without going into too much more - I'm trying to say that I am very sympathetic to the trials that are facing your family. They are similar to that which faces our family as individuals on my side of the family as well as a couple on my spouses' side are threatened.

This used to not be the case in past years ... as nothing seemed to ever change among those around us. Now I look on the things that matter to us as true precious moments to savor. Both the happy and pleasant times we make - as on a Disney cruise, kids' activities, family gatherings - as well as the gracious sacrifices we make in support of those we love and care about who are facing trials.

I look back on the sacrifices I made to care for my Mother about 19-18 years ago when she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a cancer of the plasma cell (blood). It was a tough and hugely challenging experience as I was the primary care giver. My Dad sort of broke down and was kind of complicated to deal with. And the family business had to be run by someone while all this was going on - that became me. We did not engage any significant hospice care - and we sharply under-utilized the critical care benefits available in the home - in part because I was available I guess. I was much closer to by Mother in those years than anyone else (several in the family seemed to stay away) - and I am glad for having made the sacrifice to be at my Mother and fathers' side when they needed help most. Even through the conflicts and painful confusion of it all. As a result I suspended my education and my life went on "hold" for years. It was a lonely and difficult path that leaves me with a fairly thick skin in some ways - and a somewhat thin skin in other ways. As a result I can sometimes be decisive, intolerant and demanding while at many other times I am totally unconcerned. No - I don't think I'm psychotic - just selective in taking a stand on certain issues and questions.

So - my hat tips your way in support of your efforts to rally to your sisters' side. It will be better because of your efforts - no matter what comes - it certainly sounds as if you're doing the RIGHT thing.

Gotta run now... please remember to drive EXTRA CAREFULLY going and on the return. Don't drive when too tired - and take rest breaks when you need them. Show up 90 minutes late but safe. Be extra careful on the road during difficult times. I ONCE pushed myself driving home late one nite. I relaxed a bit when I was only 4-5 blocks from home (big mistake). The next thing I knew I was waking up and thinking the car was awfully bumpy riding... and the car glided to a stop. Stepping on the gas a little the drive train made an unforgettable nasty grind. I had struck the curve at 60 or 70mph narrowly missing a wooden utility pole by inches! Hitting that pole would have seriously hurt me - if not killed me out right! My car on the right side was more or less destroied. My wheels on that side were "D" shaped, the trans axle was pulled away from the car and behind was a huge trail of little metal parts. All four fenders were twisted from the impact on one side!!! I called my spouse who drove out ... and the look on her face was stark and apprehensive. She knew that evening might easily have been my last. Don't let anything like this happen to you - especially during these next few days and weeks.

With prayers and wishes for the best to your expanded family...

Tom, AKA Captain Crash

 

[captaincrash]

By the way....

If you're thinking of driving from Kansas City, MO. to (for example) Phoenix, AZ - with only a 2 day advance - as searched for on ORBITZ.com... using MONDAY (it's after midnite Friday evening - so now saturday morning)... with a return arbitrarily choosen as the following Monday the 15th ... the cost to fly is only $197 + $27 in taxes and Orbitz fees! There are 12 non-stop flight pairings with America West or several dozen single connection flight pairings on America West, Delta, American and United. The drivng distance according to Yahoo mapping is 1,425.4 miles - consuming an estimated 19 hours and 48 minutes each way. Just the gasoline at 25 miles per gallon would be 114 gallons. At $2.40 per gallon that would cost you $276!

So - flying would be cheaper IF you can plan it with a monday departure - then check the airlines for the cost to change the return as needed. Specify the emergency nature of what you're doing and as I recall ... SOME AIRLINES used to have special rules extending some courtesy to families in difficult times. Otherwise - flying at these prices is the way to go. Consider the dates of availability you have.

REMEMBER... use Orbitz to identify the lower cost airlines - then call the airlines directly to ask the agents about their rates on the same flights that Orbitz has identified - you may find the price is the same or better calling direct - plus you can ask all kinds of questions. THEN... you may want to in turn again to BUY off the airlines' web site to save even more! The lowest prices are often found on an airlines own web site - and certainly all booking fees are typically waived when booking on their sites. Generally, this is what we do to identify low cost flights. Plus we research flights using Kyak - but that can get more complicated then Orbitz.

Plus - renting a car seems reasonable according to an initial search using Orbitz. Using the same thoeretical Monday to Monday period - it is only $238 for an economy up to $284 for a full sized car inclusive of taxes and fees from FOX rent a car. They are IN THE TERMINAL at Phoenix. So if your Sister is far but within a driveable distance from Phoenix - then by renting a car they don't even have to come out to pick you up. Of course, if they're IN Phoenix or near a major airport then you could hop a cab or super shuttle and forego a rental car. $100 goes a long way in a cab or super shuttle... each way.

At any rate, I hope this might help a little. I've helped other family members navigate and find appropriate flights during urgent times. I even gave my frequent flyer miles when a cousin had insufficient funds to fly from Hawaii to Ohio for a medical emergency. Their flight needs were usual and the cost to enable it was insulting... so I chucked miles and it became a bargain. A couple of years ago my spouse and I had just shy of 1,000,000 miles banked with United. We both used to fly a lot for business and now with the kids my travel has dropped about 95% - and my spouses' has tapered off 75%. We refuse a lot of business travel now-a-days. And yeah - we lose business opportunities - but that is OK.

OK... so much for all the travel planning babbling...

Cheers,

from CC

 

[Grandma4ever]

By the way....

If you're thinking of driving from Kansas City, MO. to (for example) Phoenix, AZ - with only a 2 day advance - as searched for on ORBITZ.com... using MONDAY (it's after midnite Friday evening - so now saturday morning)... with a return arbitrarily choosen as the following Monday the 15th ... the cost to fly is only $197 + $27 in taxes and Orbitz fees! There are 12 non-stop flight pairings with America West or several dozen single connection flight pairings on America West, Delta, American and United. The drivng distance according to Yahoo mapping is 1,425.4 miles - consuming an estimated 19 hours and 48 minutes each way. Just the gasoline at 25 miles per gallon would be 114 gallons. At $2.40 per gallon that would cost you $276!

from CC

Thanks for the info but I really perfer to drive. It is much more relaxing. We can do this trip for about 600.00 round trip including food and motels. We stop at least every two hours for at least a few min just to walk around. I swore last year I would never fly again when the airline cancled our nonstop and gave us a lay over. I hate the landing part of flying. As I age my ears seem to becomming lest tolerant of the change in presure. We tend to drive move the first day and have a shorter day the second day because we are more rested the first day.

As far as the nasty illnesses that are affected so many of us. My youngest sister has MS and a number of other affections. I have be diagnosised with Fribromyalgia (sorry if I misspelled that) and I believe that my mother died from medication used to treat the symptoms of who knows what. I feel it is in the lack of a good diet and the additive put in processed food as well as all the polution in the environment. I think that our bodies just can't handle all the crap. Since I have changed my diet, increase the water I drink and begun taking Tai Chi I have begun to feel much better. (No sugar, no artificial sugar, whole foods, supplements to give me the vits that are no longer if out soil or food, and trying to keep my stress down.) That is the prescribtion that I am using to improve my health and it is working. I have done this without the doctors because what they were doing was only making matter worse and they (3 of them over one years times) said there was nothing more they could do. The answers are out there. I used a book call 1,2,3 Pain Free and the Maker's Diet to get some of the ideas I used in regaining my health. If I don't follow the plan I again find myself in unrelenting pain. So I am not as healthy as I want but am on my way. It took me years to get sick I really can't expect to get well in any less time.

OMG that is enough of that. I will let every one know the out come when I return home at the end of the month. We are going to give my nieces the Christmas they deserve. Just because thier dad is sick is no reason for their Christmas to be cancled. However, my sister is afraid to leave her husbands side and I can understand that. so some one else needs to stepup and take care of the kids. I guess that will be us.

I closing I just wanted to say thank you for your kind words. I will keep you and your family in pray. Hope every one has a wonderful holiday season and that you and your families are blessed in the new year. Lois