Christmas Cruising 2005

[magiroux]

I just want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas Cruise!!!!

We were on the Christmas Cruise last year and my thoughts are definetly with "cruisin with the Mouse" about now.

Have a great time and enjoy all the DIS friendships you have made!!!

 

[domiii]

T’was the night before Christmas when all through this thread,
No one was posting, had they all gone to bed?
No, to Walt Disney World some had departed.
To gather together and get the party started.

The rest will catch up on Christmas Eve,
Why? Because, it’s the day we leave!
Emotions are high on this very day,
A week we will all have to laugh and play.

We can not wait for our first cruise meet,
To swap out treasures, which is really neat.
Nan with the boxes that Jill and Tig did deliver,
And Aisling with her rats, they will make us all quiver.

Dede and Grim as pirates will dress,
I can’t wait to see them, I now must confess!
Our friends from England have come for a visit.
Lynn and Keith, now isn’t that exquisite?

Jim likes to fish, he has told us so.
(At least that’s how his story does go.)
Kris is from Nebraska out in the mid-west,
It’s the Husker games she fancies best!

There’s Molly and Wilson, Jack, Marcus and Hailey,
Jesse, Chad, Kayla, Tori, Brittany and Stefanie.
With age ranges varied from six to twenty,
There’s stuff for all to do a-plenty!

This cruise has been planned from A to Z
Tig and the rest have planned with glee.
Family and friends we soon will be,
And treasure the memories we’ll make at sea.

Happy Holidays to you for we now must fly.
I can’t believe it’s finally here, I just might cry.
From Newark to the Magic with Mickey and Minnie
The Christmas Cruising 2005 Crew has left you this ditty!

 

[Verandah Man]

Have a MAGICal time everyone!!!

The Magic being kissed by the sun, it's about time for the muster drill.

It's time to sail away!!!

Sailing by the Two Palms cam

 

[tiggerwannabe]

The Pictures are Awesome Verandah Man!!! Thank You!

Well, we're only on day three and having an incredible time!

Trip reports and lotsa pictures will follow...too busy here for live trip reports, so sorry

LYMI!

~colleen~

 

[domiii]

Veranda Man - the pictures are great. BIL will love them!!!

(Keeping us on the front page.)

 

[LynnTarrant]

Hi everyone
Keith and i are safely back in the UK, we had a wonderful cruise and enjoyed meeting and talking with you all. thanks for the goodie bags they were lots of fun and Colleen Jill and Aisling we got our rat Thank you!!
I know many of you are staying for a few more days so have fun and we both wish you and your families a sucessful and happy 2006 and hope we can meet up agin some day.
Love Lynn and Keith

 

[Grumpy's Mom]

Thank you! I haven't been on the boards in such a long time, and had forgotten about those shots. They will definitely be included in our scrapbook for this trip.

It was a wonderful trip. I can't decide whether I prefer the Eastern or Western - they were each MAGICal in their own way.

I hope everyone arrived home safely!

I am kicking myself that I did not rebook something....anything....onboard...................

 

[KKB]

Cripes, I gotta get these nails removed--typing is near impossible!

Everyone still playing....not so much here....sick, sick, sick.
Probably a good thing I saw so little of you all Hailey had an earache all week (advil daily...it finally ran its course). I missed Pirate night & St. Thomas(Dan took kids to beach w/o me!), might have been my transderm patch (no problems last cruise ); Jack had stomach flu Friday...(Dan & I tag-teamed Castaway Cay--it did give me time to pack!)..I had it Sat. (thought it was a bad chicken salad sandwich at the airport!), but Marcus & Hailey were sick all last night! I actually LOST weight! (HARD to belief w/ as much as I ate at Palo on Sunday & Monday--yup, 3x in 2 days! caviar IS good, and KEY LIME PIE & CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE!--this from one who doesn't do dessert much, especiallay chocolate!)

I thought the rest of the desserts were OK, but I was always too full for them anyway. Nice thing on Princess, portions are about 1/2 of Disney, so you can have 5 courses and not feel stuffed!

Am exhausted--cruising w/o kids is much more relaxing! Kids w/ their cousins certainly enhanced that!

The swap boxes were such a hoot--Hailey digs through hers daily!

Tig, Nan & Aisling, enjoyed our brief chats!

Karen(well, Kayla)--thank you for Hailey's bracelets! She was thrilled!

Grim & Dede--missing pirate night was a sad thing! Sorry to have missed you entirely!

Well, MY tummy is yucky again...I am just sick of lying down! And I have things to do--gotta go back to work tomorrow!

Hope you are all having a wonderful time!

Kris

 

[nskjerven]

Haven't had time to read the posts (from our leave of 12/17-today) so I'll check back with real notes later.

Just wanted you all to know that we're home safe and sound....a little event on the flight, left Orlando a bit late, Wilson got a case of the upset tummy that followed him thru onto the connection in Vegas, but lots of barf bags and helpful flight attendants made it ok. We arrived home at 2:30am...we are tired... Wilson is home from school sick today, Miss (perfect attendance) Molly is there, I'm still in jammies, but just finished paying those darn Jan first of the month bills (that arrived after we left) and now we are going out for Starbucks and bagles.

Miss you all!!!!

Check back in tonight....

Nan

p.s. fingers crossed, the HMB house is still availble, we're headed over hopefully this afternoon to see it and maybe make an offer....Better run that credit report prior to the cruise bills hitting it huh????

 

[trinibjill]

Hi Gang

We are back home also. I enjoyed meeting everyone. Lots of memories have been made. We had an awesome time. Got to go unpack. Let's keep in touch.

Jill

 

[Aisling]

Hi Gang,
It took me the last 2 days to recouperate after what happened to us!

After we got off the ship, we took the Budget rental van to the Budget office, where we had an SUV waiting for me to drive us to Tampa for the flight home. Paperwork done, the woman was about to hand me the keys, and then a red flag came up on her computer that my license was suspended for non-payment of parking tickets, and she couldn't give us the car! I thought I was going to faint. I asked if it could be rented under Chad's name, but you have to be 21 years old. OMG I was in an internal panic. She said she was sorry, and me and the kids sat outside te office on the curb trying to figure out what the hell we were going to do. Taxi to Tampa? Ok, that'll be $400.
Then I told myself to calm down, and solve this freaking problem without having a nervous breakdown. So I called Song airlines, told them my situation, that I was stranded in Port Canaveral without transportation to Tampa, and I asked them to get us on a plane out of MCO. The agent was VERY helpful, was able to get us on a plane that was filled, but just this morning 3 people cancelled (there is a God), and they were 3 seats together. If we could get to Orlando in 2 hours, we'd make the flight.
So I went back into the Budget office, asked for the phone number of a car service to MCO, and she advised us to go back to the port where the taxis had less expensive rates for cruisers. Ok, she put us back into the Budget van, dropped us off ao the port, and we were left there in the middle of the crowd waiting to board.
I went to an officer at the closed gate, and he let me look through the book of phone numbers for car transports. I called one, and they said they'd be able to take us right away to MCO. Well, we waited for 45 minutes, and then I started to panic again, because we were going to miss that plane, I just knew it. Chad decided to flag down a taxi that just did a drop-off, and she agreed to take us to MCO for a flat fee of $100 cash. We jumped in the taxi, and Jesse proceded to fall asleep on my shoulder. He was hot, tired, and hungry. I felt like crap, like I screwed up a beautiful vacation for my kids. I wanted to cry.
We got to MCO with ahalf hour to spare. We curb-sided, and ran to our gate. We then saw the security line...at least 300 people, no freaking kidding. I told a security guard that we needed help getting through the line, because our flight leaves in 30 minutes. He went off to see what he could do, and never came back. I was ready to take my kids and body-slam people in order to jump the line, but then a woman came down the line checking boarding passes. When she got to us, she pulled us out of the line for a more thorough search. We went to the front of the line, and off to the side. (There is a God.) We got the pat down, everything was taken out of our carry-ons, everything examined, and then she asked me where the cork screw was. Cork screw, what the hell was she talking about, I didn't have a cork screw. So she patted me down more thoroughly, had me walk through the xray machine, and low and behold, I forgot I had a pocket knife that I bought for Fr. Casey with a pirate motif on it, something he asked for and I had a heck of a time finding, but finally did on St. Thomas.
The agentlooked at me like I was a liar, and I swore I forgot about it, that I just shoved it into my pocket still in it's paper bag, in a rush to get off the ship. The cork screw, by the way, was one of the pull-out attachments that was visable in the xray machine. I apologized profusely, explained what happened, and they then confiscated the knife, which I can perfectly understand. Safety first, even at my expense.

We headed over to the gate, so ready to get home after all this, and then saw our flight was delayed 90 minutes. The 3 of us fell asleep in our chairs, really sleeping soundly, where Jesse had to wake me because I was snoring and drooling! I know, TMI!

Anyway, we got home safely, in time to par-tay for NYE, had great seats on the plane, was met by Mel bearing Chinese food, ran to the car in the rain, and dropped our luggage all over the livingroom floor, still there, by the way!

So that was my after-cruise adventure.

I miss you all so much.

 

[grimgrinnin]

Well, we just got back

Aisling - how awful!
So, tell the truth - do you HAVE unpaid parking tickets???


We had a great time. It was wonderful hanging out with all our new DIS friends. So sorry we didn't get to meet Kris.

After the cruise, we rented a car from AVIS and drove to OKW. It was our first time staying there, and it was very nice, but I still prefer the 'hotel' feel and location of the BCV. We went to Epcot on NYE. Had dinner at Alfredo's in Italy. Dinner was very good! I hadn't heard much about Alfredo's and was pleasantly surprised.
They did Illuminations twice - 7:30 and Midnight. After the 7:30 show, they did an extra NYE fireworks show I wasn't expecting. After the 1st show, we'd both about had it - we were just exhausted. We headed back to OKW and promptly passed out. Woke up at midnight by what sounded like WWIII. Went out on the balcony and had a view of the DD fireworks, but they were obstructed by trees. Looked like a great show though.

Sunday, got up early and went to MK, hoping everyone else was recovering from NYE. Worked pretty well. Crowds didn't get bad until 10:00 or so. Had dinner at Citricos. Good stuff.

Monday, went to AK in the AM. Ran into Nan, Molly and Wilson in a gift shop on our way out. Said our last goodbye's
Went to MGM later that night. Had dinner at Mamma Melrose - first bad experience we've had there. Actually overheard a waitress call her customers 'stupid'.
Walked to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club - Ahhhh - felt good to be 'home'. I ordered a banana split - HUGE - I ate about 1/3rd of it.

Packed up this morning, drove to MCO, had the flight from Hell (Dede and I sat in the middle of a family of 4 - dad, kid, me, isle, dede, mom, kid - loud obnoxious children - the kid next to me kept kicking me and putting his feet on me as he was laying in his seat). Feels like we've been gone for a month, but so sad it's all over.

More later...


grim

 

[nskjerven]

We made an offer (oh my gosh...I have to tell you because you'll find out anyways) 1.4 mil That is OBSCENE!!! Only way we can do this is that we are really luck and have equity to roll up, not alot we'll have a cool mil mortgage. Needless to say I have to go back to work FULL TIME....and Paul better bill alot too. We may not know if the offer gets accepted for a while. The seller is a nut case. Has to sell due to legal leins or something like that. The sellers agent is strange too (long story, not interesting) The funny part about all of this is that the house is a total piece of crap house. It is large (by our standards) 2 story 3000 square feet. Badly abused by tenants for 20+ years. We'll have a lot of clean up and repairs to make it liveable, which will be a joy to do on no money since we are now mortgage poor. I'm so glad we had that vacation, since we'll never have another one again in our lives....

OKay, enough on the house. Once the offer is valid (or not) I'll let ya know. Until then please send prayers and pixie dust.

Another sad note. My Dad is back in the hospital. I found out on 12/31 that he went in on 12/26 and stayed until yesterday, but all day today he was feeling bad again and after Lee ragged at him he agreed to call the hospital to come pick him up. They did around 8pm tonight.

In to bed now. 5 bags unpacked today...5 more to go tomorrow....then I get to put it all in storage to sell my house, oh joy!

N

Aisling, so glad I didn't call you that day, for some reason I was so worried about your travel home (hmmmm....wonder why) glad you're home safe and I miss ya girlfriend (as Molly would say)

Tigg: Loved that text message...never got one before, saved it since you're my first

 

[nskjerven]

I forgot....Grim: Just think that kid could have been Wilson and puked all over you...aren't you glad you don't have kids yet????

N

 

[Aisling]

Aisling, so glad I didn't call you that day, for some reason I was so worried about your travel home (hmmmm....wonder why)

Nan, interesting you should say that. Chad was under the impression thst it "wasn't meant to be" for us to drive to Tampa, that our higher power prevented it to save us from something bad happening to us along the way.

I'm thrilled about your house offer. I hope hope hope it works out for you, I know how obsessed you are with HMB! 1.4 mil??? Maybe you can have Molly and Wil selling lemonade outside your house to help with the mortgage!


Tiggie, thanks for the text message. If I knew how to send one back, I would have! I loved hearing from you.

LYMI

BBL off to work/school with the kids

 

[trinibjill]

Aisling - I agree - the delay must have been God's fate & for a good reason. Also, see how strong you are - you definitely accomplished the mission.

Grim - You wrote soo much (or was that DEDE)

Nan - Oh, how exciting a new house!!!
You unpacked 5 bags. Well, I unpacked one & it's still on the bed. Maybe I'll put them away today. I did put the stuff from the little bags away. Sorry about your dad.

I just uploaded 500 or more of Nan's pictures. They are really great. I watched the Swimming with the Dolphin video. I got a little bit misty. We had such an awesome time. I am missing everyone.

Waiting for everyone else's pictures (so excited)

On NYE Nan's family & I went to Cirque. Hard to believe we kept dozing off. It was like someone was hynotizing me & I was fighting it..

This Sunday we are going over to DD Laurie for Xmas. It ain't over yet.

Sorry, nothing exciting happened on our trip home. We drove 1 hour around the airport (dropped off Steph.) and 10 hours the first day & about 6 hours the second day. Tiggs DH John made a absolutely fab dinner. (Last served dinner for awhile) Back to the old grind.

Decided not to go to work today. Time for Xmas shopping & need new uniforms & get my hair done.

The weather in Fla & seeing all kinds of bikes on the road made me feel ready to ride (how about you Grim) The stark reality of the cold Brrrrr weather also made me change my mind real quick.

Back at you later.

 

[Aisling]

Aisling - how awful!
So, tell the truth - do you HAVE unpaid parking tickets???

Yeah, but I swear I ws planning to pay them one of these days!

Jill, good for you taking the day off. Just bundle up and ride, baby, ride!

Nan, your dad's in my thoughts and prayers. Please let us know how he's doing.

Hi Molly and Wilson!!

Chad posted our pics. For those of you who prefer not to have your photos made public, rest assured that this photo site is by invite only, no one will see them except for us.
Here are the direct links:
http://community.webshots.com/user/deluxxtwofour7

 

[grimgrinnin]

Hi all!
(this is Dede)

Jill- I can't take credit for the long post. That was all Grim.

Aisling- I'm glad that you made it to the airport on time, and even if it was a hectic day, I'm so glad that it ended safely and happily. Was Mel wishing that he'd gone with you?

Tig- THanks for the cute text message. It was the only thing that could have made me smile at the end of our flight from Hades (except the simple fact that IT WAS OVER!)

Nan- prayers and pixie dust for the new house! I feel your pain about having to work full time. I could maybe maybe maybe have gotten a part time and gone back to school if we hadn't bought brand new again, but really can't complain because I love love love our new house. We're going out today to see what they did while we were on vacation.

Kris- sorry you were so sick and didn't get to enjoy St. Thomas. That was one of our best days. HIGHLY reccommend the Dubloon Sail and Snorkel on St. Thomas for any repeat cruisers out there. We have the drunken photos and video to prove that we had a smashing time.

Lynn & Keith- great meeting you! Will have to ring you if we ever get to the UK. I have a cousin who lives in London that I would love to drag Grim to meet in the not too distant future.

Karen- it was nice seeing you around the ship and visiting with you for the short periods of time that we actually got to chat. I love the idea that now as we chat with eachother that we can actually put faces to each other!

LOVED all the swap items...so cool to think about all the time and effort put into the items...Special kudos to havencruiser and daughter for the beautiful mini scrap item!


Ok so after looking at all of our cruise photos, I have come to the sad realization that I REALLY need to go on a diet. Wedded bliss has allowed me to think that because I have a husband who loves me that I don't need to work out....BIG mistake! So along with working on a healthier diet and a regular exercise routine, my other New Year's resolution is to spend less money!

Well, I'm hoping to FINALLY see Narnia today (please please please, Grim?)
I know that I should have seen it on the ship, but the timing was never right. At least I got a movie gift card from one of my students for Christmas!

Bye for now!
Dede

 

[KKB]

if NOT uneventfully! (sorry Aisling!)

Well, Momma (me) musta got sick again after cleaning up after the last 2 sick ones! I really needed to be there--big blank spots in my plan book today! But a wonderful teammate pulled things together for me, and I should be good to go tomorrow! Great way to jump start my diet!

Aisling, scanned through your photos ...need to upload mine today. Dropped waterproofs at Target Monday, then realized our LEAN budget this month...I can always pick them up on payday! Looking for CHEAP entertainment this month! (I think I have a bit of scrapbooking to do!)

Am reconsidering my 40th...found $200/night at the Omni Berkshire, $250RT and can get Broadway tickets for less than $100 for both of us for everything I want to see. This was Dan's original plan, but I know he really doesn't want to miss basketball games that weekend...Dan's aunt has been suggesting a girls weekend to NYC, which we girls would enjoy more...may have to look into that. Maybe we will scrap the fall cruise and hit Las Vegas in March (make both of us happy). I dunno. Guess I just need a trip to plan!

Well, still a bit woozy(this illness thing has clouded my visions of future cruising! suddenly I don't love it as much as I did before!)...but much better. Think a nap is in order...

Kris

PS Nan--WOW! I don't think you can get a house for that much in Lincoln! (I'm sure you could build whatever you wanted for that!--of course, property taxes would kill ya!) Hopefully congrats are in order soon!

 

[KKB]

if NOT uneventfully! (sorry Aisling!)

Well, Momma (me) musta got sick again after cleaning up after the last 2 sick ones! I really needed to be there--big blank spots in my plan book today! But a wonderful teammate pulled things together for me, and I should be good to go tomorrow! Great way to jump start my diet!

Aisling, scanned through your photos ...need to upload mine today. Dropped waterproofs at Target Monday, then realized our LEAN budget this month...I can always pick them up on payday! Looking for CHEAP entertainment this month! (I think I have a bit of scrapbooking to do!)

Am reconsidering my 40th...found $200/night at the Omni Berkshire, $250RT and can get Broadway tickets for less than $100 for both of us for everything I want to see. This was Dan's original plan, but I know he really doesn't want to miss basketball games that weekend...Dan's aunt has been suggesting a girls weekend to NYC, which we girls would enjoy more...may have to look into that. Maybe we will scrap the fall cruise and hit Las Vegas in March (make both of us happy). I dunno. Guess I just need a trip to plan!

Well, still a bit woozy(this illness thing has clouded my visions of future cruising! suddenly I don't love it as much as I did before!)...but much better. Think a nap is in order...

Kris

PS Nan--WOW! I don't think you can get a house for that much in Lincoln! (I'm sure you could build whatever you wanted for that!--of course, property taxes would kill ya!) Hopefully congrats are in order soon!