09/28/2002 Cruise

[GoBlueGuy]

You'll just have to go on 11/30 if you need a good stalking!

If not, I guess we'll just have to find someone else!

I really don't understand why it was SO much more on 9/28 than 11/30. It'll be better for the kids, they'll be able to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving, and then a cruise!

I really will miss all you guys!

Gary

 

[kid@heart]

We just got back from a 15 night stay at VB & BC. It was great. The only way to get over the blues was to start thinking about vacations next year. We will be on the 9/28/02 cruise. We went last year and loved it. THANKS for the thread! I needed this!!!

 

[KellyR]

Hello!!!!

Patty and Lynette ~ hope you girls have a great time together! Let us know how it goes!

Hey Tiiiigergirl! Hey Goofy Karen! Hey GoBlueGuy! Don't you guys miss John's nightly journal entries?! Well, at least he emails every once in a while.

Anyone thinking about a January cruise for the great $99 Fall special? Can you imagine, 3 cruises in one year? January, September 28, and a 3 day in the Fall, also! Decent prices for FL residents in January, too. I'll keep dreaming!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Gary, I wish Nick was old enough for the LEGO tourney. He loves the real ones and anything related to science. Can't wait until next weekend at the MOSI!

Take care all you 9/28'ers!

 

[papa]

Welcome to the cruise kid@heart!

 

[papa]

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Me, I gotta go to work to pay for my computer. I work every weekend that rolls around. It just works out best for us now that Mike is at home.

Can't wait for next September.

Rosemary.

During the night it has gotten warmer here. 66degrees this a.m. Maybe it's my 'mones or lack of but it is hot!

The birds are calling me to feed them and the dogs need out, the cat wants food, the ferrets were cleaned out last night but want treats and I gotta feed the fish. Whew! My day is beginning. Now to get a nap in before I have to go in tonight and slave over the hot babies. Just hope I don't get pulled to an adult floor. I love nursing but hate to be pulled.

Well, take care everyone. Hope you have a good time this weekend. Kathy

 

[peagreenid]

Welcome to our Group Kid@heart, I know that you will meet a lot of really fun people here.

Would someone please tell me, why is it, that when you take a day off they make you work 3 times as hard before you leave......... I mean
WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?????


I'm going to be Worn out before I ever get to see Lynette!

Take care everyone........I'm going to bed.

smiles Patty

 

[lynetteSC]

Patty will expect towel animals while she is here???

I was putting clean sheets on her bed a minute ago and thought about that ... we ALL know how disappointed she was on DCL when her roomlady didn't make any animals for her ...

 

[KellyR]

Kid@heart ~ Welcome! We've got 10 months to get acquainted with one another.

Lynette, are you saying that Patty's cabin steward NEVER made one towel animal the entire cruise??? With all the problems Patty had with her I sure hope she left her a very small tip (if any). When's Patty getting there? I thought it was this weekend.

I just got off the phone with Michelle of Clearwater. She'll be booking 9/28 very soon. Waiting on a reply from Dreams.

I also "spoke" to Carolyn (Happy Gilmore). She had sent me the $50 first time cruiser postcard. She and her DH went on a 4 night the week we got back. Now, they want to do a 4 night in January for the $99 vouchers in the Fall. I wish some money would come my way! I'd love to do 3 cruises next year. How about the rest of you?

Kathy, I can't imagine having your job! You take care of the preemies, right?

 

[lynetteSC]

KellyR~ Patty will arrive Sunday nite I think her roomlady made one or two animals ... but nothing like everyone else's!!!!! She and her family were kinda disappointed (rightly so).

Glad everyone is making plans to go on 9/28 ...except GoBlueGuy!!!! Everyone will miss you!!!!

We still aren't sure what we are going to do. Kinda depends on what is going on dh's job.

Kid@heart~ You will LOVE these guys! They are sooo great!!!!! It really makes a difference to "know" people onboard the ship!

 

[papa]

Kathy and I saw the atocha treasures here at a local jewelry store and we able to hold the first bar of gold that Mel Fisher recovered. If it is not too late when we get to Key West maybe we will be able to go through the museum.

 

[peagreenid]

I didn't get upset about the lack of towel animals. Although we all want a room hostess that makes towel animals...... I was just disappointed that mine wasn't even nice. Everything appeared to be a bother to her. And the look on her face when she came to the door and DH and DS were standing on the verandah with the door open............the DEATH STARE...with the "DIDN'T YOU READ THE SIGN, LOOK! and then the comment that we should close the verandah door. And the Death stare that she eventually gave Lynette and Tony when they brought the Towel Monkey to our room to show Tommy. I always had the distinct impression that we were IN HER WAY. She wasn't nice to the kids. She never talked to them. And it was funny, because I saw her approaching younger kids and talking to them.
We are not rude nor do we expect much. It irratated DH, with the service we got. He didn't like being waited on hand and foot all of the time, nor did he like the attitudes of some of the other travelers, who treated the CM's like they were all slaves or something. We never asked for anything additional from our hostess.
Remember Salvatore' telling us that they rotated out the big meeting room for brunch. The other wait staff was giving him a hard time because it was his today with a group of 15 people and how HORRID it would be. Because sometimes with groups he said you just can't please people. He was so so surprised that we were all so easy to please and we were having a good time.
Sometimes I think these boards are bad in the sense that we read these and expect something........someone elses vacation.
I was very disappointed in our dinner at Palo. One, we had requested Salvatore' and they just gave us another server. I had also told them in advance that it was our wedding anniversary. Although I know they aren't required to do anything special, I thought they would.......what would be the point of telling them otherwise. So it started out bad......and I wasn't feeling well. Although our waitress was friendly, she didn't do anything extra at all. There were no suggestions of what to order or try. She didn't bring anything else out to try, no pizza's or anything else. Things everyone told me they had received while eating dinner there. So I had this thought in my head of what to expect and it didn't happen at all. We ordered our dessert and ate it and left.......I still kept thinking they would come over and tell us happy anniversary or something to that fact and it never happened. Now the cold was kicking in, I was disappointed and leaving all my new found friends and I wanted to surprise my dh. I got to the elevator........and the tears came. Poor DH didn't know what to do. I was mad at that point that I had missed my last evening with our friends for only a slightly better dinner and less service than my normal servers provided me. I know that my regular servers and Sandra my wonderful head server would never have forgotten my anniversary.
We all want that special experience. We want to eat with the captain and toot the mickey horn! But, I know we will all never get it.........even if I cruised 50 times.
BUT, I do expect someone to be friendly enough so that I am not feeling uncomfortable or awkward. Don't make me scared to go to my room. I paid for it!
enough rambling.........gotta pack
smiles Patty

 

[peagreenid]

So glad that you are getting together with Michelle for My birthday. Have some cake and Icecream for me. I like chocolate!

smiles Patty

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Last night Warren and I took George, the new purple wheelchair, out for a spin at the Gateway shopping center. Ok Brandon named George. Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue!

Now, Gateway is a fabulous new mall with all kinds of great stores and upscale shops that have never before set foot in Utah. Now only one problem. IT IS AN OUTDOOR MALL! In the winter we have several feet of snow and it can dip below zero degrees. In the summer we have several days in the high 90's and even quite a few in the 100's. What were these people thinking!? An outdoor mall in Utah? This is not Florida or California.

We did eat at the California Pizza Kitchen. Our server, Donna, was from Beverly Hills and gets my highest praise. She could be a server on a cruise. With the exception of the crumb scraper, the fact that she didn't put the napkin in our lap and we got a bill at the end, I almost thought we were on the cruise again. Of course the food wasn't quite as good but hey since we usually consider McDonald's a culinary treat and we have forgiving memories, it was pretty good.

Hey is everyone ready for Christmas?

 

[KSTIGGERSDAD]

SO, SOME OF YOU DO MISS BAD POETRY?I`M FLATTERED. WILL SOUTH CAROLINA STILL BE THERE AFTER THIS NEXT WEEK?ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE CALIFORNIA THAT GOT ALL THE BAD VIBS AND WAS HEADED TO MEET ATLANTIS.

JUST LETTING YOU ALL KNOW I`M STILL AROUND AND LURKING SOME TIMES. CRUISES ARE ON OUR MINDS TOO. BUT IT WILL PROBABLY BE A COMPETITOR. PRICES YOU KNOW. LAST TIME WAS FUN BUT NO PRICES LIKE THAT FORTHCOMING.

TAKE CARE , JOHN

 

[papa]

Hi Tiiiigergirl, I think George is a nice name. My dad's name was George. His favorite color was purple. I think it goes together. You are right, an open mall in a place that gets so cold and hot. What's up with that? We do have a new mall that I don't really enjoy here but it is really pretty. The smart ones at Opryland closed the theme park and built this huge mall full of expensive stores that I don't shop at and called it Opry Mills Mall. I just don't go there cause all I can think about was the fun summers that we spent there with our children while they were growing up. It is about 2 miles from here and it is an enclosed mall but I just don't feel any loyalty for that place. I like Walmart .

Mike is fixing supper and since I came home from the hospital this morning and he was still asleep I just went to bed without eating anything and now I am hungry. I'm going to see if I can sneak a bite of something. Take care, Kathy

 

[GoBlueGuy]

They opened one of those in Fort Wayne too. They call it a "Life-style center" (Here I thought it was just a shopping mall, silly me ) I think I saw a report on the news saying that the reason they've been doing "Outdoor" malls lately is to get rid of the loitering kids. Seems they don't like standing around outside. I did notice that there are not as many kid/teen oriented stores at the place. We'll see how well they attract the "Older" crowd during the winter. I don't think w'll enjoy slogging around in the snow/slush/wind much either! We'll see.

Gary

 

[papa]

We here in Tennessee seem to be slower than anyone else. I would have never thought about an outdoor mall that discourages teens. Hum. Oh well, I guess I just am not a "mall" person.Never noticed that many teens at the mall when we went. But, I like to shop at Home Depot and Lowes and of course Walmart. Kroger gets my grocery money but to be honest Mike does 99% of the grocery shopping. I just don't care to. I guess I am a "stick in the mud".

KellyR, I do take care of premies and sick newborns. The premies are fun to work with but if we get a sick newborn (term infants) they just scare the heck out of me. They can be so sick so fast. You really have to have your assessment skills with those babies. (Like you don't use them anyway) Yes, I do love my job although I sometimes am tired of the upper management who are not in the health field but in business field who decide how many nurses are needed to take care of the babies. They never seem to think about the moms who walk in off the street, go into labor at the bus station, or at a 4th of July celebration or take crack and all of a sudden they go into labor and the babies are in trouble and need our help. That bottom line is all they are interested in. I know that the bottom line is also what keeps us up and running too but there has got to be a happy middle there somewhere. Enough of the fussing.

Sure hope lynetteNC remembered the chocolate on the pillow at night when she turned down the bed.

Breakfast is smelling so good. My DD1 is here to go to the doctor this morning. She arrived late yesterday afternoon. We thought she was going to make it till this morning but had to go to the ER last night afterall with a severe migraine. They gave her some good "stuff" and sent her home with me around 2 a.m. and now we are going to the doctor this morning. I feel like she is on a merry-go-round. Just hope she gets the brass ring this morning and they find out what is causing all the pain and can fix it. She hasn't been able to work in a year. Her poor hubby gets all the flak.

Take care, Kathy

 

[GoofyDisney]

Howdy gang!!!

What a wonderful weekend. My brother and his wife welcomed Ryan Warner on Friday! Whipeee!

J & A and I were out of town this weekend. Dh is on the board of the big festival we have every year, Alpenfest. And this weekend was the big MI Festival Association conference. We went to Kalamazoo and stayed at the Radisson. In one weekend, we got to swim in a pool, eat Outback, shop at a mall with a real Gap, eat Olive Garden, shop at an Old Navy, eat Scholtchsky's, and go back to the mall!!! What a great weekend!!!!

And yes, Tggrl, I was telling Dh that even a month later, service at the hotels and restaurants seems almost rude compared to the cruise. And that if you do get exceptional service somewhere, you kind of kling to that person!

Our room hostess was more like Patty's. No death stare, but we didn't get towel animals as much. We got four. My Inlaws got cool ones every single night. On our first night, our hostess was sick, and 'someone' was supposed to do her rooms. But our wasn't done. WHich meant no chocolates and no personal navigators. So, I called the front desk. Ava apologized later, and I didn't mean to get her in trouble, but I wanted my chocolates and nav.

And Tggrl, they are building an outdoor mall in our town. We get well over 100" of snow every year. And the first year we lived here, we had 100" of snow in November alone! So, yeah, who's the marketing genius who came up with this one.

John, so good to see you!!! At the prices that are out there, how could you not take some of the cruises they are offering!!! Just make sure you tell us what you had for dinner!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATTY! (this weekend) And yes, the end of your cruise did start to go downhill, tell DH that is why you have to do it again! And just remember, Gary's was worse!

Lynette, make sure you leave the little envelope on her bed on her last night there! (KellyR, I have a couple of extra if you want one! )

What museum is on Key West?

Dreamed last night that we just showed up and got on the cruise. We didn't have any luggage, but didn't care!

Have a great day!!!
karen

 

[papa]

Here's a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ryan! Congratulations, send me your mailing address and I will try to send you some bibs I make for the little one.

Karen, Mike and I went to one of the jewelry stores here last Thursday and they had some of the treasure from the Atocha,a Spanish galleon that Mel Fisher found in 1985. The ship sank off the tip of Florida in 1655. Can you imagine? Several million dollars worth of gold and silver were aboard the ship and it is beautiful. They are still finding things under the ocean down there and to finance the operation they are selling pieces from the Atocha. Oh how I wish I could afford something from that. The emeralds alone are just gorgeous.

Any way the museum of Mel's is there in Key West and Mike and I are going to go and see the rest of the things they have found. I don't think we will be disapointed. Some of the divers were here with the gold, silver, emeralds and talked with anyone who wanted to ask questions. I had lots, Mike and I used to scuba and the stuff they are finding now is in 25 feet of water. I could do it! (Of course with permission, the last person who did without permission is now in the federal pokey. Anyway they don't want any of our help. Just thought to throw that in.)

We are also wanting to go see the place where Jimmy Buffet has a (?) shop, museum, resturant, something. Oh surely there is something to do there.

Still waiting on my computer to get here. This is as bad as waiting for our docs to come last Sept. Oh I just can hardly wait for next September!

Every one, hope you had a great weekend and glad to know that both Ryan and Hannah Noel got here in great shape. How much did he weigh and how long was he?

Take care, Kathy

 

[GoofyDisney]

Howdy gang!

I giggle to myself when I read those thread titles, "Shouldn't my docs be here?" I remember that feeling! I loved that feeling! (well, really I hated it, but now I remember it fondly!)

kathy, I would LOVE if you made bibs. How sweet of you to offer!!!

When I was pregnant with my DD, our doctor and hospital was 1 1/2 hours away in Traverse City. The hospital is more advanced. I could have an epidural. (You can't have an epidural here in our little town.) Also, the hospital in TC has a neo-natal unit. The one here doesn't and if anything is wrong, they take your baby to this other hospital 45 minutes away that I wouldn't go to to have a splinter removed. And the mommy stays here in this hospital. So, all of that to say, we traveled to have our baby, and were so happy with that hospital and the staff. THey were the very best!!! (Our OB is the chief OB) Also, one of my dearest friends from my childhood is a neo-natal nurse. And one of my dearest friends here was a neo-natal nurse in Oklahoma before she left to start a family. Lots of neo-natal nurses in my life!

I think my DH would LOVE the Fisher museum!!! Is it on Key West? I am sure Dave from Marietta has a web site for it!

I want to eat at the Cheeseburger in Paradises in the Hawaiian islands again! Best hamburger I have ever had was at CIP on Maui!!! And we got to keep these mugs that turn blue when they are cold. Of course, in Northern michigan, up in our cabinet, they are almost always blue. Seems they miss the tropical climate too!

With travel prices so low, I would give my right arm to go to Hawaii right now. Everything is so cheap!!!! But, I we have spent most of our vacation money already (cruise) and what is left is for Disneyland at Christmas! Ho-hum. A new year is coming!

The dream I had a few nights ago about going on another cruise, has made me think about it soooo much. Makes me want to go right now!!! (SXM today, and SXT ? tomorrow) Where is Lynette when I need her.

I am sure Lynette and Patty are having the most fun!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear about it!

Ya'll have a great Tuesday!
karen