12/24/08 Christmas Cruise on the Wonder

[drag n' fly]

Ok now I get it...you are not the same person but you ARE. You two must be married....or really close friends

 

[scuba diver]

Ok now I get it...you are not the same person but you ARE. You two must be married....or really close friends

Life is full of questions and surprises.

 

[scuba.mom]

Ok now I get it...you are not the same person but you ARE. You two must be married....or really close friends

Married for almost 23 years!!!!

 

[scuba diver]

Married for almost 23 years!!!!

I knew you would take all the fun out of it.

It's pretty easy to tell who the fun one is in this marriage.

 

[AndymanGA]

It's pretty easy to tell who the fun one is in this marriage.

Definitely your wife

 

[scuba diver]

Definitely your wife

I like that. You got me there.

 

[brendalee59]

ohhh Ya'll seriously pulled one over on us You're good


Courtney, Scuba Mom is right.Keep checking back. There will most likely be cancellations. I'd call everyday, and if possible, ask to be waitlisted for the cat you want.

Adrianna, your next cruise will be worth the sacrifice of a 2009 vacation.

Andy, wish I could lose a lb in that amount of time. That could amount to 5 to 7 lbs a week. Wonder if Dale would consider moving to your neck of the woods

Annette, how is work going? You strung anyone up yet?

Dale is leaving in the early morning hours tomorrow, so I should have more time to check in here.

 

[AndymanGA]

Brenda I'll sell you my house... we're moving in a month. I'll even throw in a month of the boot camp I've been going to (but you'll have to wait until next July or August to get this kind of humidity to give you that 1 lb loss in an hour).

In case anyone is wondering (or not) I am down 24 lbs since the start of the summer. I'm almost at the weight listed on my drivers license

 

[drag n' fly]

ohhh Ya'll seriously pulled one over on us You're good


Courtney, Scuba Mom is right.Keep checking back. There will most likely be cancellations. I'd call everyday, and if possible, ask to be waitlisted for the cat you want.

Adrianna, your next cruise will be worth the sacrifice of a 2009 vacation.

Andy, wish I could lose a lb in that amount of time. That could amount to 5 to 7 lbs a week. Wonder if Dale would consider moving to your neck of the woods

Annette, how is work going? You strung anyone up yet?

Dale is leaving in the early morning hours tomorrow, so I should have more time to check in here.

Wow I had forgot after all these years about drama and politics in the work place. I swear to god it is like being back in high school again. Today is our first real staff meeting....should be interesting Things have pretty much quieted down. I just go in and do my job well and go home and stay out of the drama.

 

[drag n' fly]

I like that. You got me there.

Wow looks like we have some seasoned cruise experts on the thread! Any inside info you care to share?????

 

[adrianna_sarah]

Brenda I'll sell you my house... we're moving in a month. I'll even throw in a month of the boot camp I've been going to (but you'll have to wait until next July or August to get this kind of humidity to give you that 1 lb loss in an hour).

In case anyone is wondering (or not) I am down 24 lbs since the start of the summer. I'm almost at the weight listed on my drivers license

Are you leaving Atlanta, Andy? Moving with a new baby is a beast. I say this from experience. Twice.

 

[AndymanGA]

We were looking in no hurry, found dream house, they were motivated to sell, so we bought. Moving maybe 15 miles from where we live now. Better schools (yeah I know he's only 7 weeks old) and closer to a lot of our friends.

We're going to take our time moving. We close Oct 10 and going to have the painter immediately in after that (gotta remove some of the wallpaper and change a couple of colors of paint, too) and also the contractor to build the bar in the basement. I'm in Minneapolis for 3 days about that time too. Add to this that the wife is back to work and also going to grad school and you can see why we'll be taking our time.

 

[AndymanGA]

New house

New Tat

 

[adrianna_sarah]

Wow! Gorgeous house. Mature landscaping really makes a difference. Scott and I have serious homeowner envy. At age 35, we have never owned a house, which just seems like a right of passage most people our age have been through multiple times. The military moving us every few years, sometimes with little notice has held us back, but I think we are ready to take the plunge... provided we don't draw an overseas assignment this time. I am from the Seattle area where the average family home is $400,000+, so I can't get over how affordable houses are in the midwest and south.

 

[drag n' fly]

New house

New Tat

Hey cool Tat Andy. I just got the last of mine finshed.

I cannot believe that house. A house like that here would list for approx 800,000 dollars. Our house is a basic 1610sq ft (not including the sq ft in the partially finished basement) with three bedrooms on top and one in the bottom with an attached garage. We are cramped. 2 adults, three kids, three cats, a dog and 4 birds (two of them parrots) Our house is valued at 435,000 cad. prices are ridiculous here. We could only dream of ever owning a home like that here

 

[drag n' fly]

Well it is supposed to be a glorious sunny day here....off to the farmer's market!!

 

[drag n' fly]

Holy guacamole I hope you folks down in Texas are ok! Please check in when you can so we know you are alright!

 

[brendalee59]

ok, my calender says we are in the double digits!


Andy, what a beautiful house! I'm green with envy

Courtney, hope Ike didn't hit you guys in DFW area too bad. We got lucky and it didn't come anywhere near us.

I spent all night last night in the hospital with Michael. He had some sort of servere attack at the football game,and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital. I told them I'd drive him over. Heck I wasn't gonna pay big $$$ for them to drive him across the street...seriously....the stadium is directly accross the street from the hospital. They thought it was his appendex, elevated blood count, and tenderness in the right places. Cat-scan showed a healthy appendex, so they are thinking dehydration brought on a colin or bowel spasm,which dr said would account for the exessive sweating he was experiencing. He's back to his usual ornery self tonight. I did find out power ade isn't the same thing as gatorade. He isn't allowed to drink powerade again, Esp when humidity is high and he has to present the colors at a ball game in full dress uniform.
That's the excitment for my weekend. Hope everyone is enjoying thiers.

 

[AndymanGA]

We're hoping you Texans are doing well.

I think I am going to call the TA tomorrow and book REAS and then Paulo...

 

[scuba diver]

Wow looks like we have some seasoned cruise experts on the thread! Any inside info you care to share?????

Scuba Mom and I discussed this Friday night over dinner. We will share some ideas with you, but remember they are only our ideas about what works for us. They may not work for you, but through trial and error we have found ways to make DCL a great family vacation, for us.

I'll let her reply with her own ideas.

My ideas......pack your own wine and don't feel bad about taking it into breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I like wine, but don't like to pay the high premium when I can just bring it with me. I will pack a few large plastic wine goblets, fill them up, and take them into dinner. Never had a problem. My DD will carry my small port glass for me. I will take champaign to breakfast and they will add the orange juice.

Try new things on the menu and this goes for your children as well. This is a time to explore. It's included. If you don't like it, that's okay. Order something else. We have had family table mates where the kids only order chicken fingers. I think that is a waste. Try something new and if they don't like it then order chicken fingers. We have been with kids would did not like to venture, but did when eating with us and they loved it. Now they order only the expensive stuff. That is the down side.

Order what you want, but eat what you order (unless you really don't like it) I will order every desert every night. I love desert. I will try them all. Some I don't like and won't finish them, but all the others are history. I will order multiple apps, they are small and I like to try them. I like to combine dishes and the servers will try their best. They are there to have help us have a good time. Don't abuse them, but ask for what you want and show appreciation when they come through. And don't forget to pace your food in take. It's a long cruise and there is more food right around the corner.

Remember that you can't do it all. There are to many things happening to try and fit them all in. One Christmas cruise DW actually made a spread sheet for each of us showing what we would be doing each hour of every day. We did a lot that cruise, but were dead tired. Now we just plan a few things and then let the day just happen.

Remember too it won't all be perfect. Something just won't live up to your expectations. It might be bad table mates, weather, ect. No vacation is perfect so just make the best of it and enjoy what you have. You could be at work.

Order room service. It's included. Make sure you tip the waiters. We like having the cheese plate in the afternoon since we have late dining. The kids love ordering sandwiches, etc. Having the cheese plate with a nice glass of wine is a great start to the evening.

Unless you have an early flight, don't rush off the ship on the last day. We go up to Topsiders, sit down and enjoy the morning. We have stood in the line before, but no more. We don't mind being the last off. We do a review of the cruise, what we liked and did not like, and do the survey. It's our time to relax before heading back to the real world.

Don't stop at McDonalds on the way to the port. On our first DCL we left work at 12N to drive to the port. We stopped for lunch and got there at the last minute. We then tried to get reservations (that was before they did them on line) We did not get anything. We did not know they severed lunch at noon. Now we get there early and enjoy the day.

Let the kids do what they want to do. It may not be what you want them to do. When the kids were younger we made several decisions for them. We thought DD would have a better time at Atlantis then learning to draw Mickey with her program. We were wrong. We thought DS would rather do something with us then play hockey on the deck with his program. Again, we were wrong. It took those to experiences to remind us that this is their vacation too. Let them pick what interests them. They will have a good time.

Speaking of kids, get them involved in the program on the first night so they can make friends. We can't entertain them like DCL. They are experts and do it every day. Let the kids have fun in the program. On our first cruise we were concerned until we went to pick up DS at midnight. He was dressed in a lab coat. They were about ready to make Flubber. He begged to stay. Now that they are older we have just three rules for them. 1. Don't leave the ship, especially if we are not in port. 2. Meet us for dinner. That is our time to hear stories about their day. 3. Don't be the cause for Security or another DIS parent to knock on my door.

The same goes with the spouse. We don't expect to do everything together. Some things just work naturally better together, but there are many times when we do different things. That's okay.

I love the Rain Forest. There is no better place, except Palos. Take a book, a glass of wine (of course) and enjoy.

You don't have to do a shore excursion in every port and if you do, consider a non-DCL excursion. We now book all our excursions directly. They are cheaper, smaller crowds, and some times totally different. Of course there is a risk that if you don't get back you will get left, but good planning should cover that. On one trip we wanted to do the 12 metre yacht race. DD could not because DCL required age 14. However, the operator required only age 10. We booked it direct and she had a great time. There are all kinds of things to do at the ports if you spend a little time on the internet.

And the biggest piece of advise....read DIS boards. There is a great deal of information here on the boards. You will have to shift through it all, but it is all here from menus to day planners, etc. But remember, you can't do it all.

These are just my thoughts and they make not work for you, but I'm happy with them and more importantly.....DW is happy with them. If she is happy then we are all happy.