20051123 - November 23, 2005 Thanksgiving Wonder Cruise

[BethC1952]

I'm ready! It's COLD here this morning! I'm in Atlantic City today, and it's 30 degrees colder than it was at this time yesterday (record high temperatures in the 70's)!

 

[genmasjoy]

Hi all, I am planning to pack and get ready this weekend because I have to work Monday and Tuesday. I'm looking forward to the cruise and hope to get to say hi on our sail away day. Meanwhile, it looks like Tropical Storm Gamma is heading our way - I just can't believe it - we've had enough already this year. Hoping it goes away....anyway, it is supposed to be here Monday so if that is the case it will be gone by sailing day.
Beth, are you doing any gambling in Atlantic City or is is strictly business?

 

[BethC1952]

genmasjoy--

It was all strictly business...except for the hours after 5 PM! I really wasn't going to gamble, but I had a pocket full of change, and, at the Tropicana you can't get to the hotel without going through the casino, and all of the quarter slots were empty and...well, let's just say my cruise will be a little bit happier!

It was three tough days (really--I'm not used to standing for eight hours being nice to total strangers and telling them all about how wonderful my city is over and over). My feet still hurt, my back still hurts, my shoulder is sore from shaking hands, but it's also a lot of fun. Plus, of course, I get three days in Atlantic City!

I'm home now, officially on vacation, packing and getting ready to head off to my neice's Sweet 16 party, and then home again to repack everything for the cruise on Monday.

We will be leaving home on the 12:24 AM train on Tuesday morning to Newark Airport (a 50 minute ride, but it's the last train out of town), and then the first flight to Orlando. I'll be at Pop Century long before noon on Tuesday (that is, of course, if Gamma doesn't slow things down), and ready to cruise on Wednesday.

I can't wait to meet everybody in less than a week!

 

[slindamood]

I can't believe it is almost time to cruise!!

Some of you are already enjoying Florida's warmth. I too work Monday and Tuesday, arrive in MCO at 11:30 Tuesday night and stay at the airport Hyatt (a real treat) then take Disney bus the next AM.

There will be 20 of us cruising together, ranging in age from 18 mos to 84 years. - we have these neat matching t- shirts - blue for boarding day - courtesy glindamood and family. You can't miss us.

It got so cold here mid-week - and each day while waiting to cross the street where I work (and where the winds off the river are the worst in the city) I would say - a week from now I will be on the Wonder.

See you all soon. Happy and safe journeys to all.

Suzanne

 

[genmasjoy]

Well the latest news is Gamma is not coming this way. We had very nice sunny weather here today and it is predicted to be nice all week - yea! Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

 

[BethC1952]

The next time Wonder sails, we'll be aboard! I can't wait! I'm going to do my packing tomorrow, and then we leave at 12:15 AM. I'll see you all in a couple of days!

 

[thegales]

I just finished our t-shirts and door magnets. We will be sporting bright yellow t-shirts (they didn't have the lime green in my DD7 size). Our names are on the front and The Gales is on the back. If you see us before the official meet at 3:15 pm, please be sure to say hello.

We are on the 10:30 shuttle from the Radisson, so we will be wandering around the terminal all morning.

Also, please be sure to stop by state room 2608 to see my handy work.

 

[BethC1952]

We won't be arriving at the Port until later, because we're coming on the bus from WDW. No T shirts or door magnets, but you can't miss us. We look just like our picture in my sig. More people have recognized us based on the picture rather than on any lime green tags or ribbons that I took so much time to make! You can't miss Jim's red and gray beard.

Just in case anyone misses our meet (3:15 PM, Deck 10 all the way aft), or there are any lurkers who haven't posted anything on this thread, my room number is 2601. You can always call and and we'll arrange to meet somewhere to say hello!

I was just looking at the weather forecast, and it's not looking too good for our flight down, but we'll be at the airport early, so we should be fine.

See you all Wednesday!

 

[thegales]

We leave for the airport in 30 minutes. Just read a post by Shirley, and we see that the temperature has dropped. We have grabbed some sweatshirts and hopefully we won't be too cold. Worse case, we stop by Target on the way to the port.

Looking forward to meeting everyone. 3:15 by the outside windows to Palo on Deck 10.

 

[thegales]

We are at the Radisson. We flew in this morning. Played a round of Miniature Golf at Winter / Summerland. Had a delicious lunch at McDonald's (okay, I lied. make that... Had lunch at McDonald's). We checked in at the hotel. Stopped off at ABC Wine and Spirits for a bottle of wine to take on board (and some drinks for us tonight! ), and I have returned the car to Budget. The girls have gone for a quick swim (brrrrrr). We will grab dinner next door in about 30 minutes. Probably fall asleep early, so we will be ready for the 10:00 am shuttle.

Can't wait until we board!!!!

 

[ImMarcik]

thegales...I have some pictures of my DD building sandcastles with yours that I will try to post later if you want to see them. How did the pictures come out of me playing Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer? I took soooo many pictures I've spent a good deal of the day going through them to make a scrapbook. My goal is to be done before the next cruise. LOL.

It was great meeting everyone that I got to meet.

 

[genmasjoy]

Just wanted to say it was fun to meet you, although I didn't see Marcie. We were so fortunate to have such lovely weather and calm seas. John and I ahd a great time, and I'm sure all of you did as well.

 

[BethC1952]

Hi, everybody! It was great meeting all of you!

We arrived at Coronado Springs this morning after a fabulous second cruise! It's hard to believe that the whole cruise is over. Before we left home, Jim was starting to talk about planning next year's cruise. Last night, he decided that perhaps we shouldn't cruise in November or December--unless we cruise in April or May first!

I took more than 375 pictures, which I'll start posting when I get home. I decided not to get the High Speed Internet Access here because then I would feel obligated to do some actual work. My boss will just have to wait until Monday when I go back to the office.

I'm going to post a message on the Cruise Line Trip Reports board in a few minutes about my experience in remaining on board between cruises (yes, they did let us stay on board), and a full trip report sometime in the next couple of days.

Our table-mates for our first cruise were very nice people, although not DIS'ers. They were Bill, Renee and "Typhoid Tommy" (name changed there to protect the guilty). One of the souvenirs that I brought home from the cruise is a terrible cold, caught from "Typhoid Tommy". I felt so awful this morning that all I wanted to do was check into the hotel and take a nap! We're getting ready to head out to Downtown Disney as soon as I can get Jim up from that nap. It's really kind of chilly here today, I wish I could head back to the Bahamas one more time!

Beth

 

[thegales]

thegales...I have some pictures of my DD building sandcastles with yours that I will try to post later if you want to see them. How did the pictures come out of me playing Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer? I took soooo many pictures I've spent a good deal of the day going through them to make a scrapbook. My goal is to be done before the next cruise. LOL.

It was great meeting everyone that I got to meet.

I am still in recovery mode and am trying to catch up with work. Yes, we would love to share pictures. Two of mine came out somewhat decent of you playing the game. (start humming it's a small world...). My family decided to go to Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. We were sitting near the front so DD's could get a better view. We never got picked, but once this woman from the back area was picked. Christian (the MC) asked her name and she said Marcie. DW picked up on that (good job DW!) and asked if that was THE Marcie. She said she was from Texas and was hit by Hurricane Rita (ding ding), and I looked to the table she came from and there was a girl who looked to be Marcie's daughter's age (ding ding, we have a winner). So I took some pictures. After she finished playing (AND SHE WON THE GRAND PRIZE!!!), I went over to introduce myself.

I have lots of pictures as well. I will try to get some posted too. Maybe over the Christmas vacation I will do some of that.

 

[BethC1952]

I'm back at work now, too. I was gone for three weeks and my desk looks more like I was gone for three years! I spent most of last night organizing my pictures, and will start posting them tonight (I hope), along with my trip report!

I hope that anyone who's going to be affected by the snow storm heading up the east coast can stay warm by thinking about planning another cruise!

Beth

 

[BethC1952]

I just posted the first of my pictures. These are the pictures of Magic at Castaway Cay. You can find them here. However, right now the site seems to be down. If it doesn't come back again by the morning, I will repost them elsewhere tomorrow afternoon!

Beth

 

[BethC1952]

OK, I have an internet connection (at least for a little while), so I started posting my trip report. Of course, the 11/23 trip is first, and the first post in the thread is here.

I've also started posting my pictures. In three nights at WDW and eight nights on Wonder, I took over 300 pictures, which are taking a while to sort and label! You can see the pictures on my website.

 

[BethC1952]

Just posted some onboard pictures here. Added the Nassau pictures--lots of pictures from Ardastra Gardens and our visit to Fort Fincastle and Atlantis! Go to my website and scroll down to the bottom of the page for links to pictures from this vacation. I'll post all the new links there as I post more pictures.

I also posted the second part of my trip report here. If I can keep this connection alive, I'll post more in a few minutes. I have to do some laundry now or I'll have to go to work in my pajamas in the morning!

 

[BethC1952]

Merry Christmas, everybody!

The next installment of my trip report is FINALLY posted! Enjoy! The next installment will be Castaway Cay day!