11-29-08 Nanaheads 3:Tiara Bob & The Dreamboats reunion Cruise

[LindaBabe]

As promised, St. Thomas. But first a word or two about an unplanned activity. It wasn't hard to get up for immigration on St. Thomas morning, because I had barely slept - not breathing will do that for you! So, I ventured down to the clinic, even before Crew Call was over.

Based on the article on Cruise ship medical facilities in the January 2007 good housekeeping, Disney's ships clinics are one more reason to be glad you're sailing Disney and not, say, Carnival or Royal Caribbean. That was certainly my personal experience.

In fact, I'm going to blow up the journaling here so you can get the full comparison between the old internet joke, and my reality:

In short - ONE HOUR after visiting the clinic, I was ready to go ashore in St. Thomas. I might better have taken the hint and stayed on the ship.

My vision for St. Thomas had been similar to Cozumel, two years before. A modicrum of shopping for native crafts, a brief and beautiful sightseen tour, and several hours on a beautiful beach with beachboys bearing ice cream and foofoo drinks. The reality was somewhat different.

Too many jewelry shops - too many teeshirt shops -too many people saying buy here -overpriced lunch where the unposted special cost twice the price of anything on the menu - (I should have gone back to the ship then - but the tour company already had our beach bags AND our money) .

Too long "sightseeing" in a too crowded "bus" with an incomprehensible spiel (no we weren't on Sonny's bus in the beginning) left too short a time before sail away for us to dare to stay on the beach.

And the ride home from the beach where I YEARNED to be lying was a painful experience of praying for it to be over before my ears or my stomach gave out "Every DAAAAAAAAAAAy of the WEEEEEEEK" . Sonny, you're a cutie pie, but NEVER again babe, never again.

THAT night was the choppiest I ever saw. I sat on our veranda and watched the waves meet the wash from the boat and send fountains of foam to the 4th deck and higher.

It was REALLY REALLY nice to pull into the lee of the dock at Castaway Cay.

FINALLY I had my perfect day on the beach - thanks to the WONDERFUL woman (who's name momentarily escapes me but her photo is prominent on the friendship page!) who ran ahead and saved me a hammock. I lounged. I paddled out on a float and was towed home by my sweetie. I had lovely lovely lunch and ohhhhh YUM a KONK KOOler. What a blissful day!

Unfortunately, a blissful day means "it's OVER" on the Disney cruise line. And so it is with this trip report. The next day, we had one last hug with some, and went our seperate ways. That's the hardest thing - but "you'll be in my heart" because on this trip YOU were everything.

The end.
(THis trip report begins on page 24, continues on page 25 and ends on page 26 of this thread.)

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Morning everyone,
Lorna, glad your officially booked.
Denise I forgive you for not being on deck 7, you welcome to come on up and join us for a visit anytime!! Just follow all the noise

well today is starting much better than yesterday.
I talked to DD last night and she is in a lot of pain but doing well and my grandson wasnt hurt, but he was scared. The other driver was fine, he was in a low rider car, that is why it didnt injure her worse, he was so low down, but it did throw her into 3 cars and knocked her out for a bit.
Plenty of witnesses on her side,so she wont have any problems with the insurance compnay. Thankgoodness they are ok.

Then last night my other daughter contacted me and said at school one of the kids got ahold of a can of bathroom cleaner and sprayed it in her face.
Luckily it was a milder cleaner and she got it out of her eyes and mouth immediately. She works with mentally and physically challenged kids, so the boy had NO idea what he was doing. There are no cleaners in their bathroom, but it had flooded so they had to take the kids to a different bathroom in the school and there was a cleaner in there.
So both of my DD's had a bad day yesterday.
If this keep up I will be all GRAY by this cruise!! Miss Clairol can only do so much

Today is much better and will be a great day. I actually feel very fortunate today to have everyone doing well.

Hope we get some good posting done today, gotta keep us off page 2!!

I will check back later to see who is here today,

Kathy

 

[Dixielady908]

Morning all: Just heading off to work in this wonderful sunny sub-zero windy day.... I believe our high 9 degrees with windchill minus something...just gotta love the winters her in Illinois.

Kathy sorry to hear about both of your daughters and grandson. But also glad to hear they are all ok.

Well may do some grocery shopping.....and thats about it today after I get home. I dont like being in this weather so we try and stay in as much as possible.

Well I have to go....later all

Denise

 

[J&C's Mom]

Hi guys,
I decided to pop over and read the '08 thread--man I want to come on this one too! Problem/delema (spelling???) for me is: DS17 will be in college at this time and it will be close to his midterms (I am guessing)...would have to cruise with just the 3 of us...we have always done things as a family of 4...not 3 . I am not ready to move onto this next stage of my life.
Don't know if it would be right to go without "joelidol" WHAT DO I DO??????

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi Okie,
Maybe you should ask Josh what he thinks about it???
When you kids reached college, coming on a vacation with mom and dad wasnt the cool thing to do
I remember the mixed emotions of feeling good they are growing up and making their own way in life, and the sadness that they were no longer dependant on me.

Let us know what ya'll decide?

We would love to have you along with us!!

Kathy

 

[firemans wife]

Yikes we were on page2!! It is very cold today. I just got home and I am staying in the rest of the day. It is really windy out. We have friends coming over tonight. Today I will be doing laundry. Not much excitment.

Kathy-I am so glad both your daughters are OK!! How scary. Today will be a better day. Glad to hear you and Pat survived the storm.. How awful for all of those people who have lost their homes and for the people and their familes who have lost thier lives.

Linda-Great scrap book pages!! John and I have 6:00 dinner. We would love to link our reservations. We did request the same servers we have had on our last 2 cruises. What time is your dinner?

Okie-Good to hear from you. Hope you can join us on the 08 cruise!!

Sarah-That was very funny!! Thanks for sharing. I hope you are staying warm up there in Canada!

Talk to you all soon.

Lorna

 

[woogal]

Hi guys,
I decided to pop over and read the '08 thread--man I want to come on this one too! Problem/delema (spelling???) for me is: DS17 will be in college at this time and it will be close to his midterms (I am guessing)...would have to cruise with just the 3 of us...we have always done things as a family of 4...not 3 . I am not ready to move onto this next stage of my life.
Don't know if it would be right to go without "joelidol" WHAT DO I DO??????

Okie, we had the same thing in 2005 with my nephew who was a freshman at Wesleyan (CT) at the time. Solution? He talked to all of his profs and made special arrangements where necessary to get all of his studies done, and in some cases, take midterms/finals beforehand.

 

[Dixielady908]

Afternoon all: Is everyone surviving this wonderful weather......?????
Cheri.....you ok up there?????

Just got back from grocery shopping and all i have to say is......yikes it is frigging cold out!!!!!!

Anyway, Kathy DBW has a question for you.....he would like to know your honest and true opinion on....."is it worth 600.00 more for a veranda room"????
Bob, I believe that you and Lisa also had a veranda....whats your opinion?

Let me know please....

Later nana heads.....

Denise

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Denise, Tell DBW that
for us I would say yes it is. Greg loves to go out early and enjoy the view and love to look out and watch the other cruise ships near us. sometimes we pass each other back and forth a few times. They look awesome after dark when they are all lit up.

we have looked below our verandah and watched huge fish following the ship. That was really fun to watch, wish I had a pole to snag one!!!
Plus it is easier to see the tiny flying fish when we encounter them too. They are way to hard to see from decks 9 and 10. deck 4 is ok for viewing them.

Also when in port we enjoy looking at the view of the island we are at. we watched people on a small fishing boat docked near by catching all kinds of huge fish one day at St. Maartin while we were in the room.

some of our best shots of sunsets were taken from our verandah. we love the fresh air too.

Late night coffe or dessert out there or to sit quietly for a bit and read a book is nice too. sometimes you just need a little quiet but dont want to be inside or around a bunch of people.

But if none of that interests DBW tell him to take his binoculars and from his balcony he can look across to the ship docked across from us. You can invade peoples rooms, nobody closes their curtains!!
This is a family thread so I cant say what Greg and Peter have encountered on previous trips Of course I had to look just to make sure they were telling the truth!!! I ALWAYS close my curtains now!!!

It can get a little interesting at times

Remember there are different kinds of verandahs too. Some are not as open for the view as others. some are port hole views, some have a solid half wall and others are all clear plexi glass half wall for complete viewing. All are good, just some you have to be in a standing position to see out, others you dont.

So for us it is worth it. we dont spend much on ourselves during the year, so that is how we splurge on ourselves. we figure we are worth it!!

We have had an ocean view port hole room before too and they are nice, but on the longer cruises we really like the balcony.
Kathy

 

[woogal]

Anyway, Kathy DBW has a question for you.....he would like to know your honest and true opinion on....."is it worth 600.00 more for a veranda room"????

Well, you didn't ask the Mutt or the Woo ... but I have an opinion as well. Wally, my love ... you wake up and have coffee on your veranda, you can read and wind down on your veranda, you watch as you pull in and out of ports ... heck, you can be butt naked in the middle of the ocean on your veranda ... and you can smoke on your own veranda, anytime of the day or night. How's that?

 

[woogal]

This is a family thread so I cant say what Greg and Peter have encountered on previous trips Of course I had to look just to make sure they were telling the truth!!! I ALWAYS close my curtains now!!! It can get a little interesting at times

Oh c'mon Kathy! Ya gotta dish a little dirt sometimes LOL

 

[Dixielady908]

OK: Kathy I think that you convienced DBW about the veranda.....I belive it was the part about bringing your binoculars....and doing a little "ship watching" ......that and of course what Shell had added...about a "full moon over the caribbean" ......
Anyhow, we did bump up and our new cabin number is 6576. We decided on deck 6. So we may have to have two parties going on at the same time......Hey Bob.....were just a short walk down the hall from you guyz.....

Well everyone have a great evening and talk with ya all later....
DBW will be on later this evening to add his comments about booking a veranda.

Denise

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Oh c'mon Kathy! Ya gotta dish a little dirt sometimes LOL

Remember Shell,you asked for it!!
well I need to clean up the dirt for the family boards.
Let's see, how can i put this in a delicate way??

While standing on our balcony we had such a lovely day we decided to use the binoculars to bird watch. That is how we discovered that:
Most people on RC have a balcony. For some reason people on RC like to watch the ship pull n while standing on their verandahs in their PJ's. We have seen this many times on several cruises.

As soon as they are all docked they are ready to go inside and shower and change their clothes to get ready for the days fun. Just imagine a 60 year old, 200 pound woman putting on her bikini underwear as her hubby is scratching things best left undescribed.
Then since she took so long to dress he decided to have coffee and donuts on the balcony without washing up first.

Or the 50 year old couple that has suddenly decided that they had better take advantage of the dose of male enhancing drugs before they wear off. It aint a pretty picture

Then there is the young couple who doesnt believe in pajamas and decides to cuddle some after getting out of bed. of course at that point the binoculars are steaming up from the humidity so I take them away from the guys so they can acclimate.

By the time they acclimate to the humidity and they find my hiding spot they decide to take one last peek at our new neighbors when the 2 young men across from us had gone inside to ready for the days events. NO comment on that room!! But they put away the binoculars in a hurry and didnt do any more bird watching at that port.
Need I say more And that was only one trip, we have taken our binoculars on 9 or 10 trips now.

I could write a book. Other lines are almost as good, but RC is the best.

Kathy

 

[woogal]

OMG ... I just laughed my *** off reading that Kathy. My favorite was:

Or the 50 year old couple that has suddenly decided that they had better take advantage of the dose of male enhancing drugs before they wear off. It aint a pretty picture

Oh my ... I need something to wipe the tears away ...

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I tried to state it as delicately as possible

Kathy

 

[LindaBabe]

That was delicate all right! The imagination can fill in the details just fine.

Oh Denise, I think I have a door sign for you! You'll only need to substitute yours and Wally's photos for Bruce's and mine - the room number is already there.

The recipe book has gotten to 80 pages. . . from 12 contributors. Authors? The deal was - if you contributed, you receive the finished e-book. But I just KNOW it's going to be a hot commodity. What shall we extract from the non-contributors if they want the book?

Authors - please email ne your favorite clear photo of yourself or you and your family - from this most recent cruise. Thank you!

 

[TiggerKing]

OK: Kathy I think that you convienced DBW about the veranda.....I belive it was the part about bringing your binoculars....and doing a little "ship watching" ......that and of course what Shell had added...about a "full moon over the caribbean" ......
Anyhow, we did bump up and our new cabin number is 6578. We decided on deck 6. So we may have to have two parties going on at the same time......Hey Bob.....were just a short walk down the hall from you guyz.....

Well everyone have a great evening and talk with ya all later....
DBW will be on later this evening to add his comments about booking a veranda.

Denise

Hey Denise, with you, Wally, Lisa and mysef on deck 6, that is a party right there!

 

[woogal]

Hey Denise, with you, Wally, Lisa and mysef on deck 6, that is a party right there!

You and Wally can pass the binoculars back and forth

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Good morning everyone,

Linda,
I will look for a photo today and se what I can come up with. Just dont let Shell or Bill send you one of me, they have a favorite they like to show off I am excited to see the cookbook.
I will give some thought to what you should ask for from those who didnt contribute??



Pretty quiet today around here. I think I will make some cajun wings to nibble on for tonights game.
Anybody having a super bowl party?? What are you having to eat??


Let's keep us off page 2 today, ok??

Kathy

 

[TIGGER41681]

Good Morning ,
It is in the teens here for the next 4 days !!! That's too cold!!! My sisters' came over yesterday to see their nephew. It was a very nice visit. Well I am off to make gravy and meatballs for dinner while DS takes his morning nap. Talk to you all later!!!

Linda: Your scarpbook pages look great!! I especially like that little boy in afew of the pages .. Great Job on the cookbook!!! Can't wait to see it!! Was my picture okay???

Kathy: Thank you for the dirt!! That was too funny !!!