August 1st 2009 - Eastern 8/1/2009 The Eastern Caribbean Castaways

[MrsJobba1]

Woo Hoo! 900th post! Ok now I'll get on with the preparations to leave!

Congratulations


you are officially a pirate

 

[MsLeFever]

ARRRGH!

 

[MrsJobba1]

We sail today !!!

 

[wltdsnyfan]

Helen Marci and everyone on the 8-1-09. Here you go. Hope you are all having fun.

 

[joycsk]

It does feel good to sit on my own sofa and have room for 4 to walk around in, but my house is still rocking, and I really wish I were sitting in Lumiere's right now instead of waiting for Papa John to arrive with pizza. I don't think Palo is in any danger there!

Anyhow, I hope that everyone has arrived or arrives safely. To those who are rebooked, congratulations! We are hoping to sail again in 2011 and waiting for those itineraries. I'm jealous that my parents are going to England, France, Spain and Portugal next summer, but my DH just can't handle 2 cruises in a row. We're looking at sticking close to home. Ah, well. Back to reality. . .

 

[LadyRob]

We made it home safely as well but oh how I wish I could go out to my favorite chair on deck 4 with a good book. Thanks to all of you for the wonderful FE gifts. My girls enjoyed checking for the goodies each day. I did rebook onboard but it will most likely be pushed to 2011. I really want to go to Jamaica next summer. Wish me luck!

 

[MsLeFever]

Sorta Kinda unpacked. I've got a bunch of great photos of Allison and Johnna! It is really hot in Pittsburgh and we don't have AC so I am missing the cool of the ship.

Kids are vegging out and I'm remembering that I PLANNED to clean the house before we left.

It was really wonderful to meet you all. While there were plenty of friendly faces on board it was special to know some of them personally.

 

[disneymom8589]

We flew back into Seattle last night, arriving just after 9:00 p.m. (PDT). Our flight didn't leave Orlando until after 6:35 p.m.

Dave and I really enjoyed meeting so many of our DIS friends. The DIS meet on Saturday and the Palo brunch on Sunday were wonderful!! We also enjoyed running into several of you around the ship during the week! Helen and Dave it was a blast having you as dinner tablemates and hanging out with you at Castaway Cay (even though the rain put a damper in the afternoon beach relaxing!) Brian and Danielle, your wedding pictures were beautiful and we enjoyed getting together with you, Helen, and Dave on Thursday night.

Hopefully, we'll see some of you on another cruise!

Kim

 

[disneymom8589]

The dust has barely settled off our luggage and we have our next cruise booked! We're doing the 5-night Bahamas cruise next August 17th. We will be traveling with our DD, DSiL, DS, and DDiL. Also, our DSiL's family will be joining us. We can't wait!!

I know Dave and Helen are going on the Med cruise next summer and I saw Marci at the reservation desk on the cruise, so I'm assuming they're taking a cruise, too.

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi all,

Dave and I have finally come home - and down to earth with a bump!

I really enjoyed this holiday and feel the post cruise blues coming .

Thankyou to all who came to the meet and I really enjoyed the Palo brunch.

Dave and Kim special thanks - you were fab dinner partners and it really made our cruise sharing with you. Hmmm I can taste those curries now

Glad you are booked for next year - its the same time as when we r on the Magic.

Ok I confess I bought 8 pairs of shoes in the states

Thankfully we were not stopped at customs

Night all

 

[marcij]

Flo -- thank you for posting the pics of us leaving port. How I wish we hadn't left yet, though.

It was a terrific time, and I enjoyed meeting everyone at the meet. You are a bunch of fabulous people, and I only wish I had more time to visit with you all. The FE gifts were fabulous, so thank you everyone who participated and special thanks for the organization of it!

Helen -- thank you so much for arranging everything. The meet and brunch were so much fun.

We did rebook, but just a dummy date for 2010. We won't cruise again until 2011.

A few things we heard from a reliable source, but I don't remember if I got this down correctly. We were told that the Magic would go to the west coast to cruise after the new ship delivers in 2011, and she would eventually do Alaska and Hawaii. We were told the ship in 2012 would most likely cruise europe. Don't quote me word for word, but that's basically what I understood. We heard from another source that the new ships will have an entire floor of suites and their own concierge lounge. We weren't told anymore than that.

If anyone has any pics from the meet, I'd love to see them. We were so busy unpacking and trying to help our neighbors settle in that I didn't think to bring a camera.

Post cruise blues have settled in, but we are going to WDW at the end of December, so that helps a little. I swear I swayed for a few days after we got back on Saturday.

I hope everyone is well!

Marci

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say Dave and I have put back our Med cruise next year as

We r going to ALASKA 2011

I think I must be mad - how we'll get there from the uk I dont know

But it just means more planning

Anyone else going?

 

[Doingitagain]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say Dave and I have put back our Med cruise next year as

We r going to ALASKA 2011

I think I must be mad - how we'll get there from the uk I dont know

But it just means more planning

Anyone else going?

We are on the July 6 sailing!

 

[disneymom8589]

We won't be on an Alaska cruise, but will be doing the August 17-22, 2010 Key West and Bahamas cruise with our DD, DSiL, DS, DDiL (just married this past Saturday - Sept. 19) and friends. We are looking forward to our big family cruise!! I've been joking with the 2 sets of newlyweds that they will have to hold off on starting any families until after the cruise!

 

[marcij]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say Dave and I have put back our Med cruise next year as

We r going to ALASKA 2011

I think I must be mad - how we'll get there from the uk I dont know

But it just means more planning

Anyone else going?

Oh how fun! If our next sailing was without kids we might just want to join in on the Alaska sailing. My parents loved their Alaska cruise and especially their excursions.

We are on the July 6 sailing!

Have fun!

We won't be on an Alaska cruise, but will be doing the August 17-22, 2010 Key West and Bahamas cruise with our DD, DSiL, DS, DDiL (just married this past Saturday - Sept. 19) and friends. We are looking forward to our big family cruise!! I've been joking with the 2 sets of newlyweds that they will have to hold off on starting any families until after the cruise!

That sounds like fun! I know your son's wedding was just as much fun as your daughter's was. How neat to have everyone together.

I was not that excited about 2011 summer offerings. My boys really just want to go to the beach, and since we can only go during the summer we are limited. I said I wouldn't do a shorter than 7 night cruise again, but it looks like we might be doing that in 2011. I'm concerned about the prices on the new ship so I doubt we could do b2b but we'll see.

Anyone have any group shots of us from our cruise?

This is the only one I managed to get.

 

[disneymom8589]

Oh how fun! If our next sailing was without kids we might just want to join in on the Alaska sailing. My parents loved their Alaska cruise and especially their excursions.



Have fun!



That sounds like fun! I know your son's wedding was just as much fun as your daughter's was. How neat to have everyone together.

I was not that excited about 2011 summer offerings. My boys really just want to go to the beach, and since we can only go during the summer we are limited. I said I wouldn't do a shorter than 7 night cruise again, but it looks like we might be doing that in 2011. I'm concerned about the prices on the new ship so I doubt we could do b2b but we'll see.

Anyone have any group shots of us from our cruise?

This is the only one I managed to get.

I only have one group shot and it is pretty much identical to yours, Marci! By the way, I love your family picture in your signature!! Is that in St. Thomas?

 

[marcij]

Hi Kim. Thank you. No -- that was actually St. Martin. We had hoped to have the Magic in the background, but our guide seemed to miss the point. My favorite pic from the cruise is formal night with Minnie. I think that will be our Christmas card this year.


Have y'all been to Nassau before? A lot of people complain about it, but I love it. We always go over to the Atlantis and will be taking our second vacation to the resort next summer.

 

[disneymom8589]

Hi Kim. Thank you. No -- that was actually St. Martin. We had hoped to have the Magic in the background, but our guide seemed to miss the point. My favorite pic from the cruise is formal night with Minnie. I think that will be our Christmas card this year.


Have y'all been to Nassau before? A lot of people complain about it, but I love it. We always go over to the Atlantis and will be taking our second vacation to the resort next summer.

We have been to Nassau twice before on the Wonder, but have never been to Key West. Dave, my son, son-in-law, and his dad are planning on scuba diving in Nassau. I don't know what us girls will do. There really isn't a lot in town...you can only go to the Straw Market so much! I know my daughter would love to do the Atlantis excursion where you get to go on all of their waterslides (her dream!), but it's pretty pricey!

 

[marcij]

The first couple of times we went to Atlantis, we just did the Dig and tour and had lunch and walked around. That was without kids. The next time, we were on a RCL cruise on a work retreat. They had a beach excursion that was reasonable but didn't include slides. Both boys were still young then so that worked for us. When we were there on the Wonder, we got a terrific deal on a room that was much cheaper then the Disney excursion. We liked it so much we went back last summer for 3 nights. It looks like that will be our vacation next summer as well, but we'll go for a week.

You might find it fun just to take a taxi over there for lunch and to see the Dig. Then you could do Spa time on the boat. Whatever you decide on, I'm sure it will be fun since you're with family.

 

[disneymom8589]

The first couple of times we went to Atlantis, we just did the Dig and tour and had lunch and walked around. That was without kids. The next time, we were on a RCL cruise on a work retreat. They had a beach excursion that was reasonable but didn't include slides. Both boys were still young then so that worked for us. When we were there on the Wonder, we got a terrific deal on a room that was much cheaper then the Disney excursion. We liked it so much we went back last summer for 3 nights. It looks like that will be our vacation next summer as well, but we'll go for a week.

You might find it fun just to take a taxi over there for lunch and to see the Dig. Then you could do Spa time on the boat. Whatever you decide on, I'm sure it will be fun since you're with family.

I'm liking your ideas! I had heard that it can be cheaper to book a hotel room for the day to use the waterslides than pay for the excursion through Disney. Atlantis might be the way to go this time...at least for the ladies!!