2013-10-26 Disney Fantasy Cruise

[PrincessTrisha]

Do all three of you drive? Do you switch off?


I have a 9 minute ride to work and cry about that . . . there is no way I could make it that far!

. . . but I do pass 3 Dunkin Donuts on that journey . . .

my mom used to drive but can't since the stroke, I only have my learner's permit so I can't drive in the US, my dad however, LOVES to drive so it's no hardship on him to do the whole thing. When I young, for our family vacation we drove from Toronto, to California, up to British Columbia, back down to Vegas, and all over the USA and Western part of Canada - it was 6 weeks of driving (with short stops in between - like DisneyLand and Expo 86 and the Corn Palace and a couple of days in Vegas - stayed at Circus Circus for my birthday when it was actually a cool place to stay). It's one of the reasons why I like WDW and cruises - no more "driving" vacations, we actually stop and stay somewhere!

I love my Tim Horton's here in Canada but I LOVE dunkin donuts in the US - I think it's so cool that you can add a flavour to your coffee for no charge and at some places you have a choice of 10-15 different flavours - not that it should really matter to me because now I almost always get blueberry flavour! (at Tim Horton's you can add a flabour shot for 50 cents and they only have a couple like vanilla or hazelnut - nothing good like blueberry, raspberry or coconut flavours).

 

[wilma-bride]

Ha Trisha, you sound just like me - I change and change our plans, usually because I am putting off doing something else. At the moment, I have got a huge pile of clothes that need to be ironed before we can pack them. However, I am steadfastly ignoring it in favour of rewriting our itinerary or printing yet more magnets

 

[tow-mater-1]

I hear ya about the over planing thing. Although with all my last minute changes to our itinerary and having to book my sisters hotels I feel a little discombobulated! I did use hotwire for our Thursday night so there's no going back now.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

My excitement has been dampened - and not because of anything to do with Disney or cruising but because of work.

I took a test earlier this month for the manager's hiring process (yes, in the government we "compete" for jobs by taking tests, extensive interviewing and something called validated self assessments). I got the results back yesterday and I failed . My score was 216 and the pass mark for this hiring process was 225.

So no manager position for me for a couple of years....

Everyone was so sure that I would pass and that I was a shoe in for one of the 2 open positions in my sector.

I guess that it's just not meant to be.

 

[tow-mater-1]

My excitement has been dampened - and not because of anything to do with Disney or cruising but because of work.

I took a test earlier this month for the manager's hiring process (yes, in the government we "compete" for jobs by taking tests, extensive interviewing and something called validated self assessments). I got the results back yesterday and I failed . My score was 216 and the pass mark for this hiring process was 225.

So no manager position for me for a couple of years....

Everyone was so sure that I would pass and that I was a shoe in for one of the 2 open positions in my sector.

I guess that it's just not meant to be.

Darn That stinks! Well this cruise is just what you need then

 

[wilma-bride]

My excitement has been dampened - and not because of anything to do with Disney or cruising but because of work.

I took a test earlier this month for the manager's hiring process (yes, in the government we "compete" for jobs by taking tests, extensive interviewing and something called validated self assessments). I got the results back yesterday and I failed . My score was 216 and the pass mark for this hiring process was 225.

So no manager position for me for a couple of years....

Everyone was so sure that I would pass and that I was a shoe in for one of the 2 open positions in my sector.

I guess that it's just not meant to be.

Sorry to hear that Trisha Do you get to retake the test at a later date or is that it now?

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Sorry to hear that Trisha Do you get to retake the test at a later date or is that it now?

Thanks Joh. There's a 180 wait period for retesting so for this process, it's too long - they should have this one wrapped up by the end of November (and they can keep these pools for 3 years but I'm hoping that isn't the case this time). I'm hearing that there are a lot of people who didn't meet the pass mark which means they may be creating a small pool (which means that they'll have to do it again in a year or so).

Diappointing but I'm (slowly) getting over it - it really does help to have a Disney cruise only days away .

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Well, we're packed - mostly. I have a sticky note of stuff I forgot (hair straightener, my mom's white sweater, hairbands, hat for my dad) nothing too outrageous or important but it means that I have a bit of stuff to get done tonight.

We are taking 8 suitcases / bags with us:

Travel suitcase - this is packed for our 3 travel nights and contains mostly our clothes, toiletries and medicine bag (yes - I carry an entire makeup bag full of medications and first aid stuff - I used to be a girl guide and I still have the motto of "be prepared!")

Carry on suitcase - this is another small rolling suitcase which have 24 cans of soda (assorted kinds but mostly sugar free, caffeine free choices for my mother with a few diet pepsi's added for my dad and I); it also carries the maynards candy and the chocolate bars for our first day meet and greet and the ziploc baggies to go with them; plus I decided to toss in 12 miniature bottles (mostly flavoured vodkas with a couple of black current whiskey). I don't know if I'll end up drinking any of these but if I don't then the room steward will end up with an extra alcoholic tip at the end of the cruise .

Main suitcase - this is the big one! It contains most of the clothes and 1 part of our FE gift.

Secondary suitcase (second biggest) this one contains a little of this and a little of that. It has the other part of our FE gift, the magnets, the FE itself, shoes, mom's cane, hats, tervis tumblers, junk, kitchen sink, the lost world of Atlantis and the ark of the convenant. Or something like that....

"flower" bag - this bag is probably better travelled than most people I know. It's been from the east to the west in the USA - from Northern Canada to the Southern most tip of the USA, to every Bahamian and Caribbean island I've travelled to and in it's early years, it went to London England with me (that's the trip it was purchased for - I went many, many years ago when I was 16). This has our overflow clothes (because I just couldn't pare it down!) and a pair of shoes (or 2).

Castaway Club Backpack - this is for my Dad's cpap machine. It's easy to carry and my mom can wear it on her chest (so, a chestpack you'd call it then?) when we board the ship to make sure it doesn't get damaged.

Shoulder Bag / Purse for me - I have a big pink flower beach bag I'm taking with all the "stuff" that seems to end up being my responsibility plus I've put a purse in there so I can easily keep track of the passports and wallet. I have to add a few things to this bag as a lot of stuff is at home charging right now - tablet, cell phone, mp3 player, and ereader (I have this and yet I also packed 3 paperback books - I am crazy sometimes , well, most of the time but we won't mention that....)

Car bag - this is my new land's end bag which sadly won't be joining the cruise portion of the trip, it will remain behind to guard the car. It currently contains some snacks (pretzels, welch's fruit snacks and maybe a package or two of swedish fish and fuzzy peaches that I nicked from the M&G candy) plus 2 tervis tumblers for use in the car.

We've also pulled out some late fall/early winter jackets (not the below zero kind but cozy warm none the less) to leave in the car. Since it will be November when we arrive back in Canada, I'm expecting that the last day of driving we'll need something more than a thin sweater.

My mom's new wheelchair also arrived in time for this trip (thank goodness!). Of course, it's exactly the same as the old one (except no wear and tear) so no one will notice any differences except us (the new brakes work really well!)

Yesterday my dad tells me that he went to check on the rental car from Hertz (I booked months ago - like February) and apparently they have no full size cars available (which is what I reserved). The best they could give us is a Toyota Camry. There is no way all of our luggage, us and a collapsible wheelchair will fit in one of those! My dad did really well though - instead of calling me, he went to the place where his work gets their rental cars from (R&G Automotive) and asked if they rented cars for personal use and they do! So we have an Impala now (though it's $100 more than Hertz) but we're once again, back on track and good to go!

Tomorrow is our big day - we start the insanely long drive down to Port Canaveral!

 

[wilma-bride]

Have a safe trip Trisha - looking forward to meeting you on Saturday

 

[dizney-cruiser]

Travel safe!! See ya real soon!!