10/02/04 Antigua Cruise

[1971visitor]

I teach at a school named Pixie School in Lebanon, TN. (no joke). We are currently on Spring Break. I've been in my classroom today doing some spring cleaning... brings a whole new meaning to the words "pixie dust"!

My license plate on the front of my van says "PIXIE SCHOOL". It tears the people at the cruise line gate up every time!!!

We've been looking at the atlas tonight plotting our cruise and don't know how we'll make it through the summer!!!


Jamie

 

[Viking]

Our IT-guys killed my 'puter. They wanted to upgrade it from Windows NT to XP (Most of our PCs have to stay on NT as our CAD-system doesn't yet work on XP) and it worked fin. Then they wanted to do me a favour and change my hard-disk partition. Whoah, and off to nirvana it went But this leaves we with enough time for filing away the mountains I collected in our to-be-filed-baskets - And additionally I'll have the pleasure to spend Saturday at the office

Renee,
pixie Dust to you and Haley ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
You'd better keep her well hydrated, because dehydration is a big danger for little ones with an upset digestive tract.

 

[Viking]

Congratulations on post #1900, Jamie

OK Folks,
I already got some mails for our St Thomas five/snorkel-excursion. Nevertheless I'll send a mail to everyone this weekend advertising it further.

BTW, what about plans for Antigua? Did anyone come up with an idea? I think I read something about an eco-tour on the thread, but can't remember it clearly - Sign of age or so

 

[piglet33]

Eric,

She is drinking a lot of Pedialyte (like Gatorade) and white grape juice. Her doctor was happy to see how much she's been drinking of it. She said as long as she keeps drinking it, then she'll be well hydrated.

She's been a real trooper through the whole thing since she really doesn't understand what's going on.

Renee'

 

[two-foxes]

Eric-
The eco-tour excursion we booked in Antigua can be found at www.adventureantigua.com It is a snorkling tour that includes a buffet lunch on a beach and some hiking (although is seems like some very light hiking...no Colorado Mountains on this one). Pick up is at 10 am, drop off at 4:15. It is $90 pp, with a $20 deposit due at booking, the remainder due in cash or travellers checks the date of the tour. I read through the cancellation policy and you will be refunded your deposit if the ship fails to make it to Antigua, you will also be refunded your deposit should you choose to cancel, however, 24 hour notice must be given or you will lose your deposit. No shows will lose deposit.

I must say, I am pretty excited for this one. They will book a max of 25 people per excursion (so it won't be too crowded), and the lunch sounds yummy! Oh, and you get at 10% discount if you book through their web site.

Since DCL has not released any excursions for Antigua yet, we may end up switching if we see something we like better, but I doubt it.

Gotta go and vacuum....getting our carpets cleaned today. Having a 95 lb dog and two cats is not nice to your carpets.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Just wanted to say Happy Tax Day to our American friends.

Ours isn't until April 30th.

Sorry about your computer Eric. Frustrating esp as now you have to work on Saturday.

Must go and get some work done as I'm leaving here at 2pm to take DS to physio. Hopefully it will go well.

Fiona

 

[Viking]

Originally posted by two-foxes
Eric-
The eco-tour excursion we booked in Antigua can be found at www.adventureantigua.com It is a snorkling tour that includes a buffet lunch on a beach and some hiking (although is seems like some very light hiking...no Colorado Mountains on this one). Pick up is at 10 am, drop off at 4:15. It is $90 pp, with a $20 deposit due at booking, the remainder due in cash or travellers checks the date of the tour. I read through the cancellation policy and you will be refunded your deposit if the ship fails to make it to Antigua, you will also be refunded your deposit should you choose to cancel, however, 24 hour notice must be given or you will lose your deposit. No shows will lose deposit.

I must say, I am pretty excited for this one. They will book a max of 25 people per excursion (so it won't be too crowded), and the lunch sounds yummy! Oh, and you get at 10% discount if you book through their web site.

Since DCL has not released any excursions for Antigua yet, we may end up switching if we see something we like better, but I doubt it.

Gotta go and vacuum....getting our carpets cleaned today. Having a 95 lb dog and two cats is not nice to your carpets.

Sounds great,
how can we make sure that we're in a group with the other DISers? And how many of our group have already booked? I think I'm going to book it tomorrow or during the weekend.
Hiking shouldn't be a problem for us, we run between 20 and 30 miles a week.
I know what you mean when talking about hiking in CO. During my stay in Denver last year we went to Rocky Mountain National Park with my boss, who already has done more than 20 of your 50 or so 14,000 ft+ peaks - intending to conquer them all. We drove there with our rental and only walked about two or three miles at both of our stops. But walking in the 12,000 feet + range was like running at full pace in Frankfurt (Elev 364 ft). The next weekend when our boss was gone, we took the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak, and we both had some wobbly knees during our first steps up there
I also went for a run every other morning before breakfast, just 3 or 4 miles around our hotel in Englewood, but it felt like 6 or 8 in Frankfurt.

My PC at work got fixed shortly before I left, but I'll have to work on Saturday anyway. It's no problem as Anja has to work too, and I'll give her the usual weekend-lift to the hospital And the weekend after next I'll probably there again - But more overtime also means more cocktails and more souvenirs during the cruise
BTW, this month I'll get my annual tax-shock: In April we get an extra monthly payment, which is usually paid before xmas (Called xmas-money in Germany, but our company pays it in April. Then we get an annual subsidiary for vacations, lunch and commuting cost, and then there is our success-sharing- All added to our regular salary, which then drives our tax-quota into the highest regions But as our CEO once said: 'I'd rather pay lots of taxes on a high inccome, than no taxes on no income!'
But I'm also filing my IRS-report within the next weeks, which should give us a nice refund shortly before the cruise.

Bed-time now, we had our usual Thursday-workout: 5miles and an hour of The Pump - Now we're wasted and need some sleep.

See Y'all tomorrow on the Boards

 

[RellingTwin]

Here is an e-mail from the Coki Beach folks.


Hello! We will be visiting you in Oct with a group of divers and snorkelers from the Disney Magic. We are in the process of getting everyone organized to make their reservations, but I have a few questions about the beach itself. Are there umbrellas and chairs for rent? If so can you give me an idea of the cost? Also, it there anyplace to buy food and or drinks? Are alcoholic beverages allowed on the beach?
Thank you for your attention to these questions.
Mary
Hi Mary,
Coki Beach is a public beach, there are different vendors that rent chairs, umbrellas and that sell food and drinks (with alcoholic and without -smoothies). Probably the cost per day for the chair is $10.00 , same for the umbrella.
If you are interested in diving for beginners, please make sure to check the medical form on our web site www.cokidive.com , just to make sure that anyone that is interested is not suffering from any medical problem that would keep them from diving.
Thank you and have a nice day,
Laura

 

[Hygiene99]

Well we have to got to Disney World AGAIN...
And Stay at the Boardwalk Again....

We got Airfare for 135.00 per person ... nonstop R/t
On Song..... Not til June 10 though.......

 

[Tulirose]

A hello to all! We had a wonderful trip - great family wedding in Fort Pierce and fun time at WDW! *Thinking* of joining DVC. Mary - Sending you a P.M. Please check. Thanks

 

[fortierv]

Originally posted by Viking
The next weekend when our boss was gone, we took the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak, and we both had some wobbly knees during our first steps up there

Eric,
When I finished High School in Colorado Springs I worked as a laborer on the PPRR for a summer. Imagine working at that altitude. We had some days when we would leave the bottom of the hill in t-shirts and get snowed on above the tree line. Our ride up wasn't in one of those nice trains either. We rode on a flatbed without any creature comforts. I still thank that job for making me see the light and go back to school. Sent you an e-mail for the dive trip tonight.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Hi Rosemary -- glad that you had a good trip.

We've just booked OKW for Oct 10-15 so we will be staying after the cruise. We rented points from a Diser here in Canada who unfortunately can't use his points b/c he's waiting for a knee operation. We still need a place to stay on the Saturday night after the cruise as it was going to be way too much money to stay at OKW for that night. Really looking forward to it though.

Back to work. Busy today and the Jays play tonight.

Fiona

 

[Viking]

Fiona,
try this LINK , it will lead you to the Sevilla Inn a nice motel located in Kissimmee. We stayed there in 95, 97, 99 and 01. It's clean, inexpensive, and just 15 minutes from WDW, there's lots of eateries around it, and DownTownDisney is also just 10 to 15 minutes away. It should be OK for a night.

Hi Rosemary,
good to hear from you
Grüße aus Deutschland
to you, Richard & Richie

Van,
I wouldn't want to work there, but I guess as soon as your body has adapted to the thin stuff you mountain people call air and built up the necessary hemoglobin-level it should be manageable.
BTW, shall I ask the Dive-Center to fill your tanks with "Diet-Air"?

Peter,
that sounds very affordable. We'll go to the Baltic Sea in June to get a tan - hopefully the weather will be right for it in the short week we're going to spend there.

Mary,
how comes that you're inquiring about booze on the beach
Change of topic: Is there an exhibition of the 'Hunley'? And is it really correct -they reported this in a German magazine- that with the funeral of the crew, the last order issued by/to the Confederate Army will be executed?

 

[@GoofyNut]

Hope Halie is feeling better and so is Mommy.

Mary Jo ... hope your choppers are better and you got thru the Confirmation without too many questions. Tell Sarah we said Congrats.

Fiona -- How's the son's ankle?

Bette and Kim ... How is your sick ward?

Eric ... BooHoo on your puter problem.

Rosemary ... so nice to hear from you. GLad you had a nice trip but I have a questions ... Did your glasses go home with your?
HeHeHe.

Peter and Jenn ... How you guys doing. Everytime I hug AshLee I think about you guys.

Well it's official ... I have outgrown the "gotta take on the Cruise bag" now I have to resort to the storage box I usually use. I have an assortment of toys for the adults to play with in Serenity Bay and various other must takes. Anyone else start "collecting"?

Weather here is supposed to be really nice this weekend. Maybe I can finally get some of my Christmas stuff in the attic. (Was frozen to the ground till just lately!)

Back to work ...................

 

[Viking]

I got some interesting mail from my telephone company today: They're offering an upgrade to DSL with 2,048 kbit/second from my current 768 kbit/second-DSL for an additional €3.00 per month (But free of charge for the next 6 months), or to 3,072 kbit/second for an additional €8.00 per month. But my AOL would then go up another €20.00 as well
I'm thinking about it, as this would really speed up my downloads, and surfing would be much more comfortable as well.

 

[@GoofyNut]

In case you want to learn some of those really cool facts about WDW food, the Food Channel is having a special to be broadcast Saturday at 4 PM and Sunday at 5 PM.
DH and I saw it last weekend (Thanks Mike for the heads up).
Wait till you hear just how big the turkeys are that have those legs!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Update on DS -- went to physio yesterday which went ok except that the physiotherapist thinks there might be a stress facture because of the nature of the swelling. We won't know for another week though. He's to go 3 times next week and then we'll see where the swelling and pain is at. He was not too thrilled when she said that it would probably be 12 weeks before he's playing basketball again although he should be off crutches long before then. He has exercises he's supposed to do but he was warned not to over do it.

He went last night to the amouries where they had a swimming test which the physiotherapist told him to skip. Did he? Nope, course not -- he just didn't use his leg to swim two lengths and tread water for 5 minutes. His ankle was sore this morning not surprisingly.

His one comment was that the ankle felt better when he was wearing the army boots. The next few weeks could be interesting.

Back to work so I can get to the Jays game.

Fiona

 

[RellingTwin]

ERic, booze on the beach...I was thinking I MIGHT drink a cold beer( or 2!)
They just had the funneral for the submarinars who died on the Hunley. George was stopped for gas and he saw a truck load of Confederate soldiers in antique uniforms, getting out of a truck at the gas station. Yes, the final orders of the confederacy were given during the ceromony.The HUnley is on display at the former Charleston Naval base. We will get tickets before you get here.We have not see it yet, and your visit gives us a great excuse to go see it.
I just signed up for DSL "Light" which is half the price of the regular DSL. It is connected via the phone line but allows phone calls while on line. It is much faster then "dial up" and allows for the "streaming videos". I still have AOL but will probably "wean" myself off AOL over the next few months.

Peter and Jen...great deal on the airfare. LUcky you going to WDW again!

Rosemary, nice to hear from you. I sent you a PM.

I am glad to see this week come to an end!

 

[Hygiene99]

Eric we have , a cable modem...much better than dial up ....
and yes we also have Aol.... use internet explorer mot everything ,,But Jen likes AOL so we Keep it....

Thinking of changing rate plan to light use since aol just went up from 15 to 25 and that is BYOA....

 

[Twinave]

Hi Everyone, So glad the weekend is here. Although I have to work Sunday.
Eric thanks for the dive list. Now that we are starting to plan the excusions, the trip seems more"real". Still trying to figure out what we want to do in Antigua.
Had a great day today. Met my former "Starfish" teammates for lunch. (At my last job we had teams and I was a team leader. My team won "Team of the Year") Anyway, we had a GREAT time catching up.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Later, Ave'