4/10/2010 eb ta "bound for barcelona"

[emma'smom]

Yes...small world. I grew up in Baltimore too---but now live in Ohio.

First visit to the Magic Kingdom, YEAH! That is so exciting!

My inlaws live in Chevy Chase and I grew up in Baltimore. I miss the snow, but not the mess it makes.

 

[kileybeth]

All this talk of parasailing made me just sign up the whole family! You folks are costing me big bucks!

soooo funny! I had my finger hovering as well but finally decided it was more excitement then I needed in my life, I know I am such a wimp! Maybe will gather some bravery up before we go. . . or some extra mula in the budget might too

I am riding a cable car along the way someplace though, I cable cars. My favorite has been over Royal Gorge out in Colorado so far.

 

[kileybeth]

Wow, all the talk about DC, Maryland, PA, NJ. . reminds me why I love living in DE. We are just not that far from anything! And convenient to all the major attractions and roadways. I always say I love to travel but I want to live in DE. It's a good home base.

With our current crazy winter weather though, our son is laughing at us as he spent his highschool/college years traveling and living in places like Russia and Minnesota! He thinks we are all funny with our overreactions to the white stuff

I just read one of those trip reports over on the EBTA/MED webpage. It was either written tongue in cheek or someone really did not like sea days very much. I hope to have much more variety and fun and maybe a few less naps! The weather on that EBTA in April '07 certainly looked interesting. Gotta wonder what we will get this go around.

Guess I'm calling it a night with 6 or so inches of the white stuff on the ground. Tomorrows wake up should be interesting!

Night All!

 

[Michelle2]

We did main dining on the last TA. It did not work out great for us.

The time changes made it feel like the days were just too short.

Also, DD's LOVE the shows. The were falling asleep at the shows. To be honest they don't care about the food. They like the dining rooms for the fun but they order the same things every night anyway.

The Dine and Play program has made late dining great! About 45 mins into dinner CM's from the kids clubs come to the dining room and pick up the kids. It is great for us. DD's are wide awake for the shows, they come to dinner for a little bit and then head to the clubs for either fun or down time. After dinner we pick them up based on what activites are going on. DD 8 tends to close down the clubs every night where as DD 4 likes to comes back to the room earlier.

There are not that many port days but main dining (again, esp with the time changes) makes you have to be heading back to port sooner. Take pirate night for example....you have to be back on the ship and ready for dinner but since there is no show that night (not till deck party at 10:30) then you can head back to the ship closer to 7 vs 5 for dinner.

Our tablemates last time were late to the main dining. They were on a DCL excursion and there were people who were late getting back to the bus. They waited for the people which caused everyone to be late getting back to the ship. The one guy with us was VERY unhappy. It was not a show night so they would have been better off not having main dining and not stressing themselves out.

I know other people love main seating but for our family it worked out better now that we do late dining.

We did main dining on the last TA too. We will be trying late this time.

 

[KrisannB]

and here we go again, hunkering down for yet another snow storm, forcasted up to 20inches here.

come on April 10th!

Stay warm and just keep talking to all of us here

I haven't given the time change thing much thought as I have never traveled internationally so that is certainly something to think about! Either way, we did enjoy late dining.

So I guess I will be losing an hour each day or so? From Eastern seaboard here in US I guess I mean? And then the flight home is 7 hours but it seems like 2 or something according to the clock? I just expect to be totally confused the whole time

One of my first things I plan to do onboard is buy a cheap watch! I never wear one at home and last cruise we never knew what time it was until my DH and I stumbled upon the $10 watch bin in one of the stores! Cute and cheap and good enough for 14 days use! WE both picked one up! I thought I would wear it at home but it was right back to the cellphone as soon as we docked.

Last cruise I was on they had watches with the ship on them for 9.95 - I bought one for both my husband and I for the cruise. I am so accustomed to just using my cell phone. I could not believe how nice these were for $10.

Our first time we did the late seating. We had a 6 year old and a 9 year old. They were falling asleep at the dinner table, literally. We switched on the second cruise to an early seating and it went great.

We did late seating on the first cruise but hated it - we felt like the kids missed all the fun things because dinner is the one thing we do together every night. We now do the early dinner and it works out great. We are late night people and sleep in - so we get up and have "brunch" around 11 or 12 and might have a small snack during the day, then eat dinner at the early time, then have an evening snack or enjoy some finger foods at the bars or fruit from room service. So for us, even with the time changes, we are going to stick with early dinner and just use it as our 2nd meal of the day.

All this talk of parasailing made me just sign up the whole family! You folks are costing me big bucks!

Sorry I am the one who started asking questions - but I think it will be fun! I have our whole family signed up too - still trying to talk DS 12/13 into it. We have the 11:30 time slot - what times does everyone else have? I do not know how many go out at once on the boat.

Krisann

 

[scottjm]

Sorry I am the one who started asking questions - but I think it will be fun! I have our whole family signed up too - still trying to talk DS 12/13 into it. We have the 11:30 time slot - what times does everyone else have? I do not know how many go out at once on the boat.

Krisann

We are signed up for 9:30. But shhh .. it is a surprise!

 

[scottjm]

and here we go again, hunkering down for yet another snow storm, forcasted up to 20inches here.

come on April 10th!

I hope all of you up north stay warm and have power, but also have fun in the snow. In Raleigh we had quite a storm (for us) and had a great time last weekend. We are just getting a day full of rain here. Good night an good luck!

 

[KrisannB]

ok now I am having second thoughts about the parasailing. I am reading that many have been forced to do it tandem with strangers. My daughter does not like that idea. My son could go with my hubby but depending on the weight limit (have seen 300 and 375) not sure if we can do it any other ways with our group and I am not sure we want to risk this. Maybe we can use the $300 to play BINGO

Krisann

 

[TheCruisers]

We are signed up for 9:30. But shhh .. it is a surprise!

We (DS and I) are also signed up for 9:30......and its a surpirse too! So. if you don't tell, I won't tell either!


We will be doing it in tandem.

Eleasa

 

[grlzmom]

Yes...small world. I grew up in Baltimore too---but now live in Ohio.

Very small world, we lived in Ohio for a couple of years!

We did late seating on the first cruise but hated it - we felt like the kids missed all the fun things because dinner is the one thing we do together every night. We now do the early dinner and it works out great. We are late night people and sleep in - so we get up and have "brunch" around 11 or 12 and might have a small snack during the day, then eat dinner at the early time, then have an evening snack or enjoy some finger foods at the bars or fruit from room service. So for us, even with the time changes, we are going to stick with early dinner and just use it as our 2nd meal of the day.

Sorry I am the one who started asking questions - but I think it will be fun! I have our whole family signed up too - still trying to talk DS 12/13 into it. We have the 11:30 time slot - what times does everyone else have? I do not know how many go out at once on the boat.

Krisann

Four of us are booked for 11:30. Me, dh, dd15 and dd8 I also read about having to go tandem with strangers for weight limits/safety restrictions. But I don't think everyone goes tandem do they? Dd8 will go with either me or dh and if they want to make my dd15 go tandem it would also be with either me or dh, or she goes solo Maybe you can call and ask how many people are put in each time slot and they can give you some reassurance. And you can cancel up to 3 days prior so you have time to think about it! Maybe we will be a boat load of DIS peeps!

We went back and forth on dining time so much and finally decided on late. Benefits being time change, dine and play and hopefully getting kids to come to all the shows prior to dinner. We prefer eating early and agree that alot of good kids activities seem to go on during the late dining time. For us late dining always takes longer than early. Uh oh, I'm waivering again....

 

[rbcheek]

Good morning my fellow cruisers, we "Sail Away" in 9 weeks

 

[scottjm]

Good morning my fellow cruisers, we "Sail Away" in 9 weeks

Now THAT is a happy thought!

 

[obobber]

Good morning all. Looks like we won't get the 20+ inches predicted for the Wilmington area. Last report I saw on local news was about 8 inches so far. Hope that pleases, Kileybeth.

I chuckle about how we "southerners" (I've lived in this area for over 40 years now) react to snow, though. Having grown up in the Albany NY area, I don't think we should panic at about a foot of the white stuff. But the wind out there is something else.

Since our governer has declared a state of emergency and we can't be on the roads, I'll stay in cook, eat, and dream about April!

 

[rbcheek]

Yes...small world...

Very small world, ....

I agree, it is a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it...

 

[joius24]

Snow is up to my door now ..I do like that word too..snowpacalypse...
I love the television drama that comes with a storm around here....

Just another reason to hang out in my PJs till....all day !!!!!

 

[woody73]

We leave in a few hours for our cruise on the Sapphire Princess.

I'll catch up when we return.

Woody

 

[katypop]

We leave in a few hours for our cruise on the Sapphire Princess.

I'll catch up when we return.

Woody

Enjoy! Have a great cruise

 

[rbcheek]

I don't know how you all put up with all that snow, here in San Diego, if we get an inch of rain, people freak out.

 

[bound2travel]

Good morning all. Looks like we won't get the 20+ inches predicted for the Wilmington area. Last report I saw on local news was about 8 inches so far. Hope that pleases, Kileybeth.

I chuckle about how we "southerners" (I've lived in this area for over 40 years now) react to snow, though. Having grown up in the Albany NY area, I don't think we should panic at about a foot of the white stuff. But the wind out there is something else.

Since our governer has declared a state of emergency and we can't be on the roads, I'll stay in cook, eat, and dream about April!

In the 80's, it rained in Florida and then froze, then it snowed. Since the ground was frozen, the snow stuck (all 1/4 inch of it). The icy roads shut every bridge down in Jacksonville. That means - you can't go ANY where.

I lived in TN for 7 years. Just the MENTION of the possibility of snow made people flee for the stores for milk, water and bread. Oh and batteries.

Down here in FL, when hurricanes start brewing and they think it might come within 200 miles - gas, batteries, milk, bread and water.

Of course, the two aren't quite the same, but it is an interesting phenomenon. When Fay came through it took me 4 tries to find a gas station that still had gas. I didn't realize they had issued any kind of warning (work and then appointment) and my car was running on fumes.
Won't do THAT again.

Kristi

 

[TiggerPU88]

We are inb late dining, too. We'd love to get a group of late diners with kids --sorry If I sound like a broken record (remember those?)! If you are doing late dining and have kids, feel free to PM or email me. I know our DS (age 8) would have more fun at dinner if other friends from the Lab/Club were there. And then they could all go as a group back when the counselors come to get them and we parents can enjoy the quiet. <g>

Snow here in NJ, too. I've had to cancel a service project I was running at a local food bank today.