10/22/11 Parley!! Will this get me on the ship any faster?

[Tart Annihilator]

We didn't do a lot of walking. It was kind of hard on Mike.

 

[Tart Annihilator]

Joh...

Do we get to see WDW piccies? We need a Disney fix!!!

 

[Tart Annihilator]

I saw some of those pics, looks like a wonderful place

It was nice. Mike wasn't impressed with the breakfast. They made individual little cassaroles with egg, cheese and hashbrown mixed together. Mike doesn't like his food mixed together. He wasn't a happy camper. He went a little hungry that morning.

I thought it was funny! If you'd have seen his face when the girl put it down in front of him...his eyes were as big a saucers. (with that "What the heck is this stuff" look)

 

[Karen Mouse]

Loving the picciesw Dawg and Robin - looks a lovely place

 

[wilma-bride]

It was nice. Mike wasn't impressed with the breakfast. They made individual little cassaroles with egg, cheese and hashbrown mixed together. Mike doesn't like his food mixed together. He wasn't a happy camper. He went a little hungry that morning.

I thought it was funny! If you'd have seen his face when the girl put it down in front of him...his eyes were as big a saucers. (with that "What the heck is this stuff" look)

OMG Robin, how funny - it sounds exactly like the breakfast we were served at a B&B we stayed at in St Augustine. Neither DH nor I could eat it - I am incredibly picky and DH tried it and didn't like it - we were mortified as the guy had clearly gone to a lot of effort rather than dishing up the usual eggs and bacon or pancakes. We would have both been perfectly happy with either of those things though. It was a great B&B though.

I will try and post some piccies soon - we did much more than just WDW on this trip

 

[wilma-bride]

A few photos from our trip - there will be a few more to come tomorrow but it is late here now. Just wanted to post some from the first few days of our trip...

We started our vacation at Universal, staying at the Royal Pacific Resort - while it was very beautiful, it just wasn't WDW if that makes sense.

We spent the mornings in the parks (either Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios). Wizarding World of Harry Potter was great although I wasn't that impressed with the new ride, Forbidden Journey.

Our afternoons were mainly spent by the pool, which was very relaxing (just what we wanted).

We ventured out to Mall at Millennia one day for cheesecake - I luuuurrrrrvve cheesecake

And, on a trip to Downtown Disney one evening, I finally treated myself to the Dooney and Bourke handbag I have been lusting after for months.

After Universal, we drove up to St Augustine as DH and I have always wanted to visit. It is an amazingly beautiful place and we will definitely go back there. We stayed at a wonderful little B&B called At Journey's End.

We took the Old Jailhouse tour, which was very entertaining.

We marvelled at some of the amazing architecture.

We also visited Castillo de San Marco.

And the St Augustine lighthouse.

We returned to Orlando and finally got to WDW and it felt like coming home. Will post some WDW pictures tomorrow.

 

[minnieandmickey]

Looks like a great time wilma-bride (sorry I am horrible with names) I would love to do a trip exploring Florida with the hubby someday.

 

[Tart Annihilator]

Great pics Joh... I've been dying to go to St Augustine, but I hate to take my vacation time away from WDW or DCL. We planning on spending our retirement winters in Fla. I guess I can wait till then to visit it...Great historical city!

 

[tow-mater-1]

Love the pics Joh!! So when's the next installment of your trip report I need to get my disney fix vicariously though you!

 

[Karen Mouse]

Fab piccies Joh... we always intend visiting St Aug, but we never have enough time You're making me drool posting those cheescake photos Looking forward to more piccies

 

[wilma-bride]

Looks like a great time wilma-bride (sorry I am horrible with names) I would love to do a trip exploring Florida with the hubby someday.

It's Joh (short for Joanne) - don't worry about it, I am useless with names too. DH and I are planning to explore lots more in the future, now we've ventured out of the Disney World bubble for the first time

Great pics Joh... I've been dying to go to St Augustine, but I hate to take my vacation time away from WDW or DCL. We planning on spending our retirement winters in Fla. I guess I can wait till then to visit it...Great historical city!

I know what you mean Robin, we never got round ot it before for the same reason but this was just DH and I and was supposed to be less theme parks orientated and more the stuff that DH has always wanted to do - we went and saw a NFL pre-season game too, it was great

Love the pics Joh!! So when's the next installment of your trip report I need to get my disney fix vicariously though you!

Thanks, I'll try and post the rest of the pics tonight

Fab piccies Joh... we always intend visiting St Aug, but we never have enough time You're making me drool posting those cheescake photos Looking forward to more piccies

Thought you might like those cheesecake pics Karen, I remembered how much you loved the stuff and posted them especially for you I had plenty of yummy cheesecake on this trip but my fave was definitely the Chessecake Factory stuff

 

[Karen Mouse]

Does anyone know what discount we got rebooking onboard? - was it 10%?

Trying to get organised but........

Having a NIGHTMARE trying to book flights at the moment

Neither the outboard or return flights we wanted are available, or even anyhting remotely similar

We either have to be away for 18 or 21 days... a whole week flight of flights are already full.... I knew I should have been more organised and booked ages ago That means taking Ellis out for either 9 or 12 school days... school is NOT going to be pleased... unofficially we are allowed 10 days without tooooo much of a problem, any more than 10 days and they refuse you and you get reported to Birmingham City Council and it goes on their record Should I be a bad mother and have 3 weeks or be sensible and not face the wrath of school governers and councils? It actually $400 cheaper to go for 21 days than 18.

Either way its $$$$$$$$

We can fly out either Tues 11th Oct and return Nov 2nd or fly out Fri 14th return Nov 2nd. My only other option was to fly home Oct 25th - still onboard ship then, so thats totally out

Haven't even thought about accommodation or car hire etc.

 

[GOS]

as you can plainly see..Underdog married way out of his league.

We stayed mostly on the trails and walked(climbed) as little as possible because as some of you know...Underdog has a bad ticker.

Hey....here's two of my favourite US'ers. Great to see you both.

 

[GOS]

I think we've all been on a post WDW - Downer at one time or another. We can relate. Time to look forward to the next WDW High.

The sideways cabins do look more spacious...I agree. I'm not sure if they actually are either.

Not a lot going on here. We've been trying to take some weekend trips to get our travel fix in. Mike posted some of the pics from last weekend. I'm going to add some more now.

We've had sideways before and love them. Lots more room.

 

[GOS]

Great pics Joh... I've been dying to go to St Augustine, but I hate to take my vacation time away from WDW or DCL. We planning on spending our retirement winters in Fla. I guess I can wait till then to visit it...Great historical city!

It really is a lovely place Robin. I would recommend it.

 

[wilma-bride]

Does anyone know what discount we got rebooking onboard? - was it 10%?

Trying to get organised but........

Having a NIGHTMARE trying to book flights at the moment

Neither the outboard or return flights we wanted are available, or even anyhting remotely similar

We either have to be away for 18 or 21 days... a whole week flight of flights are already full.... I knew I should have been more organised and booked ages ago That means taking Ellis out for either 9 or 12 school days... school is NOT going to be pleased... unofficially we are allowed 10 days without tooooo much of a problem, any more than 10 days and they refuse you and you get reported to Birmingham City Council and it goes on their record Should I be a bad mother and have 3 weeks or be sensible and not face the wrath of school governers and councils? It actually $400 cheaper to go for 21 days than 18.

Either way its $$$$$$$$

We can fly out either Tues 11th Oct and return Nov 2nd or fly out Fri 14th return Nov 2nd. My only other option was to fly home Oct 25th - still onboard ship then, so thats totally out

Haven't even thought about accommodation or car hire etc.

Yes, Karen, onboard rebooking discount is 10%

I must admit, we were incredibly well organised and booked our flights yonks ago (pretty much as soon as VH released their flydrives for 2011). We fly out on the 15th and back on the 30th. Our schools are really strict here though - no authorised absences allowed at all for DS Luckily, Rea is in Year 12 now so no need for her to get permission as she is legally allowed to leave school anyway

As far as 18 or 21 days goes, how many days of school will he actually miss? I would be tempted to do whatever suits - it's only a few days after all.

Looking at car hire, we have got quite a good deal with www.usrentacar.com - a 7 seater minivan, which we pick up on the 15th, then drop off before getting on the cruise and then pick up after the cruise for the final two days - £300 Did consider just hiring the car for the full 15 days but that was £400 and then you've got the $105 for parking at the port on top of that.

C'mon girl, pull your socks up andn book those flights

 

[cntkg1]

WOW, I'm gone for a weekend and this thread takes off?? Perhaps I should just stay away more often then.

Actually, I rarely travel because of my work! I'm a cosmetic and general surgeon and share call with one other surgeon in town. Between the two of us, we cover 363 days per year. It's hard to travel when your patients depend on you.

This week, I travelled to San Antonio for a Hyperbaric Medicine course. Part of my work is wound care and our community is opening a wound care center complete with hyperbaric chambers. Since I've never used them before, I figured I needed some "schooling." (Not to mention that one HAS to take a course like this to be certified as safe...)

Anyway, glad to see folks on the boards. I fly home tomorrow and can't wait to see my husband and second parents (my real parents are on a Canadian cruise and won't be back until Tuesday). I haven't seen Adam in 10 days...so very excited to come home! I'm pretty sure I'll have an enthusiastic welcoming party at the airport...followed by a "catch-up"dinner at Melting Pot. No plans for Sunday...just vegging...

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Yes very impressive! Hey maybe I can get in line after dawg.... after 5 enormous babies I need a "mommy makeover"
Well dawg I have to say being psych nurse maybe I could also be of service to you.

Oooooh, a surgeon AND a nurse?? I won't worry about getting sick on the ship anymore now. Char, I was on a thread once that really could've used your professional help. YIKES!! Talk about drama!

Hi guys, yet again I have been AWOL from this thread (no excuses except DH and I took a little trip to WDW and I have been on a post-WDW downer for the last fortnight). Anyway, I am back into full holiday-planning mode and have started to look at past navigators and possible excursions. Has anyone else got any ideas of what excursions they might be taking?

We have also booked an additional stateroom as we decided it would be a bit cramped with the four of us in the one room for the whole week. An additional SR will give us a little more room to manoeouvre and a bit more space to get ready in the mornings and evenings. I have requested rooms 6511 and 6515, 2 sideways cabins which actually look a little more spacious than the regular 11B's - not sure if they are or it's just because the layout makes it look that way

How is everybody else? What have I missed?

The only thing we MAY plan is an excursion to St Johns since this will be our third time on an Eastern itinerary and never made it to St J's at all.

Joh, my kids had a sideways and just loved it. I really believe there actually is more room too.

It was nice. Mike wasn't impressed with the breakfast. They made individual little cassaroles with egg, cheese and hashbrown mixed together. Mike doesn't like his food mixed together. He wasn't a happy camper. He went a little hungry that morning.

I thought it was funny! If you'd have seen his face when the girl put it down in front of him...his eyes were as big a saucers. (with that "What the heck is this stuff" look)

Hmmmmm, payback??

 

[cntkg1]

Great pictures Mike, Robin and Joh. I do think "someone" out there owes us some cruise piccies too. Ahem......

 

[Karen Mouse]

Yes, Karen, onboard rebooking discount is 10%

I must admit, we were incredibly well organised and booked our flights yonks ago (pretty much as soon as VH released their flydrives for 2011). We fly out on the 15th and back on the 30th. Our schools are really strict here though - no authorised absences allowed at all for DS Luckily, Rea is in Year 12 now so no need for her to get permission as she is legally allowed to leave school anyway

As far as 18 or 21 days goes, how many days of school will he actually miss? I would be tempted to do whatever suits - it's only a few days after all.

Looking at car hire, we have got quite a good deal with www.usrentacar.com - a 7 seater minivan, which we pick up on the 15th, then drop off before getting on the cruise and then pick up after the cruise for the final two days - £300 Did consider just hiring the car for the full 15 days but that was £400 and then you've got the $105 for parking at the port on top of that.

C'mon girl, pull your socks up andn book those flights

I've been hunting and searching the internet all evening and not found an alternative flight yet. Found a couple of nice villas though

When I spoke to Virgin they informed me that I have to pay for car insurances etc up front now as too many people had cottoned on to the fact that you could buy the flydrive cheaper than the flight alone (we did it last time) and so you have to pay for full car hire charges up front instead of being able to pay once you arrive in Orlando. Our quote just covers 7 days , then I'll sort out the rest myself. 7 days hire was the minimum. Hoping to get the flight sorted in the next couple of days.

 

[Dyerneeds]

Great pictures Mike, Robin and Joh. I do think "someone" out there owes us some cruise piccies too. Ahem......

hey!!! welcome back Miss Goose.

hows was the trip? any pictures for us?