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

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Ter.... I may just take you up on that. You've renewed my faith that Florida people are very nice. I had some doubts about that the last few nights of the cruise. Apparently SOME residents of your state enjoy making prank phone calls on board!!! Woof woof woof indeed.....

Its true, Bob. Duesey does behave better than I do....way better.

Kathy...you've been on the westerns. What are the best excursions? (that questions partial curiosity and partially to show that I'm nuts about planning early). I want to swim with the dophins. I also want some of my monkey relatives to visit me. This cruise is gonna be the "back to nature" thing for me.

Time to go tend to the boy....bbl

Yep, we did the Western before but after the Whoof Whoof comments I am not sure if I should answer you , even if you are right in your comments

You can come to our house too, we are closer than Terri and have a large dog house for you and several bedrooms for Shell and the baby.

Western:

It depends on what you like to do.
Some of the best snorkeling in this part of the world is at Key West. Our family did the Key West Sail and snorkel tour and saw tons of fish and the catamaran was a great,exciting ride.
We stay in Key West all day until about 11 p.m. so plenty of time to explore other things there and an excursion.
The Pirate museum, ship wreck museum and aquarium are right by the port area. Everything is within walking distance of the ship.
If you google Key West Tourism you will see lots of things listed to see and do on your own and some offer coupons to save on admission.
Of course there are 2 world famous bars there.
Sloppy Joes and one other that I cant remember off hand. You gotta take your photo there

Then late in the evening at mallory square they have a huge party to watch the famous sunset there. This is 5 minutes from the ship.
It was cloudy when we were there , so no sunset but the party will go on reguardless of the weather.

Grand caymen I didnt care for. way too modern for me, it just didnt seem like a tropical island to me. It felt like home with heavy traffic and tall buildings.
but we did an island tour which stopped at the turtle farm, rum cake facotry and 2 old houses which looked like old shacks you could see from your van. The only good place on the tour was Hell.
It was these wicked rock formations in the middle of no where. what was fun was to buy a post card there and send it to friends at the post office there. the postmark says the card was mailed from hell. They had some hilarious cards there too.

Cozumel we was closed due to hurriane damage so we went to costa maya. But last summer on carnival we went to Cozumel. It was really nice.
We did a jungle hike and saw iguanas and tropical birds, old mayan ruins.

Some people's tour there was on ATV's which would of been fun through that area. the beaches we went by looked great too

so i really dont have a lot do advice for the western, but key west is awesome. Plan from early to late for that day. It is really easy to get back on the ship for lunch and dinner and go off in between the meals if you want to unload souvenirs.

Whoof Whoof!!

kathy

 

[firemans wife]

Ter.... I may just take you up on that. You've renewed my faith that Florida people are very nice. I had some doubts about that the last few nights of the cruise. Apparently SOME residents of your state enjoy making prank phone calls on board!!! Woof woof woof indeed.....

Its true, Bob. Duesey does behave better than I do....way better.

Kathy...you've been on the westerns. What are the best excursions? (that questions partial curiosity and partially to show that I'm nuts about planning early). I want to swim with the dophins. I also want some of my monkey relatives to visit me. This cruise is gonna be the "back to nature" thing for me.

Time to go tend to the boy....bbl

Hi Bill, John and I have done 4 Westerns. We usually go to Chankanaab National Park in Cozumel. You can swim with the dolphins there. It is cheapest to go on your own. It is a short taxi drive from the Port. I could not find a web site, but I found a write up on it on this web site .http://http://www.caribbeanportreviews.com/CozumelChankanaab.htm

There is also a beautiful beach there and you can snorkel. There is something for everyone there.

Grand Cayman you can swim with the StingRays. We did this back in 04. It was neat, but I don't think we will do it again. The kids don't want to. I am checking into a Pirate Ship boat ride. It is right in the area where we dock.. Sounds fun for the kids. They shoot at the cruise ships and actually take you out to snorkel and you can "walk the plank"

Key West we usally just walk around.

Hope this helps you out in you early planning

 

[firemans wife]

Happy Sunday I stayed home from church today with DD. She is feeling much better, but I wanted to let her sleep in a little. Today we are decorating our tree. John and Madison just put the lights on. We got some of those LED lights. They give the tree a different look. I am also finishing up other than that just staying home and relaxing Hope everyone has a good day. I will try to check back later.

 

[joelidol]

Not a lot of posts on this tread. Especially since it's the weekend.

 

[disneediva]

Bill, glad the baby is doing well..we were thinking(that means me) of dolphin swimming too, I did it at Discovery Cove and loved it and Mike has been wanting to try it.

 

[firemans wife]

http://http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel/


Here is another link for the Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel. That last link did not copy right.

 

[cruisemutt]

Thanks Lorna....'preciate it. I'll check the site out after dinner.

Gonna be fun doing things with you guys again, Wendy.... Now I just have to talk Woo into dolphins. Here Flipper.......<whistle> c'mere boy.......

On to supper.....

 

[jd99]

Hey Everyone.
Great lookin pup Bill and Shell. Congrats!

We did the Western 2 summers ago and had a great time. In KW, we just wandered but in GC, we got a day room at the Westin and enjoyed the resort and 7-mile beach. Really love GC. We have stayed at that hotel for a week before and the beach is just immaculate. In Coz, we went to Paradise Beach - a great beach park - cheap eats and beers and great service. Some folks from our DIS group on that trip did the Dolphin swim through DCL and said it as one of the best things they had ever done in their lives. I'd like to give it a shot this time even if it's just me.

 

[firemans wife]

The dolphin swin does look fun. I asked the kids if they wanted to do it and they said YES I do think you will save a little $$ booking it on your own. I did look at the Disney shore excursion and if you book through them you can stay at the park up until 5:00. I originally thought once you did the swim, you would have to head back to the ship. John is interested in trying the helmet diving at Chankanab. Has anyone ever done helmut diving before?

Catch you all later

 

[disneediva]

I bet if there is enough of us we can do our own nana dolphin swim.

 

[mruhaak]

Hi Bill, John and I have done 4 Westerns. We usually go to Chankanaab National Park in Cozumel. You can swim with the dolphins there. It is cheapest to go on your own. It is a short taxi drive from the Port. I could not find a web site, but I found a write up on it on this web site .http://http://www.caribbeanportreviews.com/CozumelChankanaab.htm

There is also a beautiful beach there and you can snorkel. There is something for everyone there.

Grand Cayman you can swim with the StingRays. We did this back in 04. It was neat, but I don't think we will do it again. The kids don't want to. I am checking into a Pirate Ship boat ride. It is right in the area where we dock.. Sounds fun for the kids. They shoot at the cruise ships and actually take you out to snorkel and you can "walk the plank"

Key West we usally just walk around.

Hope this helps you out in you early planning

We've done Chankanaab in Cozumel as well, we did it on our own. We didn't swim with the dolphins, Chris snorkeled and I laid on the beach and had a really good margarita. I remember saying "wow this margarita doesn't taste strong at all...." uh...wrong... it hit me hard...watch out for those!

I have swum with the stingrays twice in Grand Cayman. I would recommend it for adults and older children to experience at least once.

I have some photos of Chankanaab on my work computer that I could post tomorrow. But they were taken before the hurricane hit Cozumel so I don't know how much it has changed since then. Chris & I loved Cozumel, but we were traveling without kids then so we did a lot of wandering and shopping we probably wouldn't do with our kids.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Happy monday all,
thought i would share some photos of WDW Christmas displays we saw on the weekend, for those of you who havnt been there at the holidays.

castle at MK.

looking down mainstreet from the upper area of the train depot

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

All hand carved chocolate display at the Contempory Hotel

this is what it took to make the display

a different angle.
there are 7 hidden Mickeys there. we found all of them

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Large gingerbread house at Grand Floridian Hotel side view

opposite side view view

Back view where you can buy all kinds of gingerbread goodlies

close up of one area where everything is edible accept the gumdrop holder and lights.

what it took to make it

distant shot. there are many hidden mickeys on it too.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

tree in the Grand Floridian

this bird was sitting next to me a tthe american pavillion at Epcot by the other gingerbread house

gingerbread house in the restaurant at the American pavillion at Epcot

tree at Epcot. The white railings over the walk way light up and blink to music at night.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

this is what you see as you enter the gates at Epcot. at night it all lights up

Germany had lots of wreaths and lights up too.

next trip to WDW will be MGM after dark and hopefully the Yacht and Beach club and Boardwalk hotels for their displays. They have a neat gingerbread carousel at one of them.


Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hope everyone had agood weekend.

we got the tree up but decided to be safe with Pixie being a curious pup for her first Christmas we wouldnt put any breakable balls or lights on it this year.

So I started digging through our stuff and found a few pretty garlands and some gold, red and shiny white bows to put on it. Then we had small candy canes made of beads I added and a small stuffed Pluto and Goofy dressed for the holidays I put near the top.
It looks old fashioned and I like the look. I miss putting cookies and striniging pop corn on it but I know Pixie would try to get them to eat.

I also got stockings up and a few decorations.

Today I start baking cookies and putting them in the freezer.

It is finally starting to look like Christmas around here.

Hope everyone has a good day and is feeling well,

kathy

 

[POOHWHORH]

My friend is going this weekend is it worth her stopping at the Poly. or not?

Thanks Terri

 

[GreekMinnie]

Hi everyone!

I finally found my way to this board.

Kathy - great pictures - thanks for sharing!

We loved Cozumel too - and the kids did also! It is just beautiful and the people were very friendly. Great outlook and optimism in light of the hurricane that had come through only a few months before we got there.

Hi Lynn and others from last year's cruise! Good to be back together again.

Have a great day everyone!

 

[TIGGER41681]

Good Morning ,
Well last night we were hit with an ice storm !! When DH left for work this morning he took my truck and slid down the driveway in it. Wow, is winter over yet??? Well today I have to get some wash done which is a everyday chore since my son wears more of the food then he eats !!! We also are were getting ideas for Princess Wendy Woo Linda room this weekend. Tomorrow, DS and I are running around. Have to go get my Mani/Pedi for Disney and get DH car inspected. Well that is all that is going on here!!

Shell and Mutt: How is the little boy doing???

Kathy: Thanks for posting the pictures of Disney all decoated it got me and DH excited to see all the decoration when we go next Sunday!!