Cranberry & Pineapple Continued.....Again.

[jiminyC_fan]

Heidi, I found my Italian Sausage recipe so don't worry about getting it to me.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Good morning! TGIF. I think we are going to play tourist this weekend and head down to CO Springs. We are going to take Chris's niece and the girls to Cave of the Winds, 7 Falls, and hoping to go to the Royal Gorge or Pikes Peak on the cog rail. We will probably stay somewhere down there Saturday night and then come back Sunday afternoon for my cousin's family birthday party (which my aunt still hasn't told us what time!)

 

[Jsme]

Hey everyone.

I have the bug that makes me want to book a cruise really bad. Well I went to the dentist yesterday and now I really want to go on a Disney cruise. Of course there is just no way I can do a 7 day cruise. So I am looking at a quickie 3 or 4 day. Jeff can not go. I just mentioned it to little butt and he does not want to GO!!! I am so ticked. Of course when I mentioned it to Mac she was all for it!! But I do not know if I want to spend that much for 2 people. I am now thinking about just booking the 3 day cruise before our 4 day cruise and making it 7 days!! Yes stupid and I could have booked a 7 day cruise much cheaper...so I am positive I will not do it now that that came to mind. So I am bummed.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Ah gee Selena. I have done something like that before. Booked a cruise, got the airline tickets and then realized that we should have flown in a few days earlier to go to WDW. I would never pay an airline change fee. At least you have one cruise to look forward to!

 

[cristit14]

Hey guys. We had a scary morning at work today. We were in the lab talking to someone who had just come in. She looks over and says, hey is Karen okay? We looked over and she was slumped over on the counter next to her microscope. Judy and I ran over and couldn't rouse her. Someone else went running to find a nurse or someone to help. We were holding her up so she wouldn't fall to the floor. The nurse came down and we called 911 we all ended up getting her to the floor. SHe had a pulse,but was barely breathing. Turns out she is diabetic (nobody knew, she is a fairly new employee) and her blood sugar was 15. The paramedics took her to the hospital. We did call her this afternoon and her daughter had just picked her up and was taking her home. SHe said they gave her a sedative and was kind of groggy though. It sounds like she is okay though. It was really scary though.

 

[Jsme]

Hey guys. We had a scary morning at work today. We were in the lab talking to someone who had just come in. She looks over and says, hey is Karen okay? We looked over and she was slumped over on the counter next to her microscope. Judy and I ran over and couldn't rouse her. Someone else went running to find a nurse or someone to help. We were holding her up so she wouldn't fall to the floor. The nurse came down and we called 911 we all ended up getting her to the floor. SHe had a pulse,but was barely breathing. Turns out she is diabetic (nobody knew, she is a fairly new employee) and her blood sugar was 15. The paramedics took her to the hospital. We did call her this afternoon and her daughter had just picked her up and was taking her home. SHe said they gave her a sedative and was kind of groggy though. It sounds like she is okay though. It was really scary though.

OMgoodness. I hope she is doing OK. I know all of you guys had to be scared. Prayers to her.

 

[Jsme]

Ah gee Selena. I have done something like that before. Booked a cruise, got the airline tickets and then realized that we should have flown in a few days earlier to go to WDW. I would never pay an airline change fee. At least you have one cruise to look forward to!

I did the research to see how much a 7 day from PC on RCI would be an it was about $400 more pp. Needless to say that made me feel really good and now have spoke to my TA. I normally just book myself but I let a friend who is a TA take over my August 10 booking. I felt it was only right for him to get the new booking too. I currently have 3 on hold. I spoke to my TA tonight and told him what numbers I have on hold and the booking numbers. He is going to check on it later tonight and book me something tomorrow. Either one of the rooms I have on hold or another one.

My TA seems to think that he can get me in the same room but my room is one of the best rooms on the ship for the price. It is similar to the hidden rooms on Disney. He is going to book me if he can get any room on the same floor with out talking to me. I also gave him the go ahead to book me in a deck 9 room without talking to me. Otherwise I want him to talk to me. There are certain decks I am not interested in. He did have me email him all the info and any requests I had. So I let him know which decks I am not interested.

After looking at all of this I then went to Carnival and looked and I could have done a 7 day for about the same cost. It would have been the Western but it had 2 stops we have not been too. That was a bit of a downer but that is OK. I am really excited to do a B2B even if it is a 4 day and then a 3 dayer.

 

[Jsme]

As you know I have the August 12 Comfort Suites for the usage at the Atlantis. Well now I am rethinking that.

Basically we wanted to go to Atlantis and do the wave runners. The wave runners are at their private island. Now with doing B2B we still really are only looking at 2 excursion we are interested in. We have looked and looked and could not find much more we are interested in doing. Maybe we have just been to Nassau too much. lol

The Atlantis via the CS is costing about $250. This does not include transportation or lunch. Transportation by taxi is $5 pp. Which is $20 back and worth. If we do the value meal at the pool our lunch will be $25-30. Which makes the day $300. This will not include drinks or water. Yikes right?

I have $100 OBC that is only for the first leg of the cruise. It can not be transferred and it is broken up $50 for me and $50 for Mac. We had planned to use it for the wave runners. However, this would mean both excursions would be on the first cruise. I did check to see how much the CS was for the last leg but since it is a Saturday the pricing is well over $300.

SO....what I think I am going to do is this...since I have to use that $100 OBC on the first leg of the cruise and we only want to do one excursion per cruise. I am looking at booking the Atlantis with RCI. It would be $330 but with the $100 OBC it would make it feel like I only spent $230.
However, with the tour with the ship, they take you there, then you do the "tour" and then you have the rest of the day to enjoy the pools, slides and beach. It also includes lunch at the Dig by coupon and transportation back. Well you have to leave by 5:00pm if you want the free transportation. The pools and slides stay open until 7pm and if we chose to leave later we would have to pay $10 for the ride to the ship. We are there until midnight.

The $100 OBC was suppose to be all in my name but they did not process it correctly so they split it between Mac and me. In the end it realy does not matter but if she does not use her $50 they will actually give it back to her verses applying it to the bill.

One of my friends pointed out to me if I book the Atlantis with RCI then if something happens and the excursion is canceled then I will not lose my money. I did not even think about that!

Due to wanting to book the excursion and use the OBC I can not book it until I am on the ship on August 10. I am lucky that is the last day I can cancel the CS room. I have until August 10 at 4pm to cancel.

Needless to say my first stop on the ship will be to the excursion desk. As soon as I secure this I will call Jeff and have him cancel the excursion online or I will call the main reservations and cancel myself.

Are you totally confused now?

Do you think this is the correct move to make?

I just keep on doing the math and it really is going to save me about $100 to do the excursion with RCI. Which means since I way over think crap I am wondering where the catch is.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Whoa, Selena, you have me sooo confused but if I read it right. I think you are doing right. I never even thought about booking with RCI. Are you using it like a last minute getaway and not using points/weeks? Great thinking.

Marcie, that had to have been very scary. I am glad that you guys now know that she is diabetic. I always lived in fear that I would find my mom like that. Luckily I never did. Good grief, 15 is so horribly low. I know my mom got in the single digits a couple of times. Scary!

Nasty lightning here this afternoon.

 

[Jsme]

We have been on Royal Caribbean Internation or RCI 4 times and with the B2B that will complete 6 cruises with them. RCI is a decent cruiseline. We loved the Sovereign which was our 3rd cruise and we did for our anniversary a few years back. The Sovereign is no longer in the States. It was sold or it was moved a a European Cruiseline. The Monarch is the ship we are going to be on and it is a sister ship to Sovereign and one of the oldest RCI still has afloat.

We booked the first leg of the cruise in May as a get away for Mac and I as a mother/daughter cruise. Then on Friday I had a cruise bug so bad I started looking at Disney. Found some decent deals on Disney. Thought seriously about going with them but their lowest cat is $600 more than the highest oceanview on RCI. I just did not see the difference in price.

Then I started looking at all cruiselines and on RCCL.com which is RCI they were showing a residency rate for NC on the August 14 cruise. I also looked at the cruise before the 4 day one we have booked but it did not offer the special pricing.

Although I could not get out of my 4 day cruise,I did look at every line to see if a 7 day would have been cheaper but I found that none would have been cheaper. I wanted to make sure the B2B total 7 days would not have been more. I would not have booked it if that were the case. I am just way to frugal to do that. At first I thought the Glory on Carnival was cheaper but Jeff pointed out I was not looking at the total price. I was looking at cruise price minus the tips and taxes and port charges. So the cheapest 7 day cruise I could find was still $400 more and that would have been on their lowest cat.

I really am excited. I ordered Chocolate covered strawberries for the first leg to surprise Mac. They are one of her favorite things.

I did find yesterday that I am in sore need of a new beach bag. Mine is missing. It was a pain to carry in 4 towels and change of clothes along with everything else you must have to the Waterpark of the amusement park yesterday.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Silly me, I thought that RCI was the international club that we belong to. All these accronyms (sp) start blending...lol.

 

[Jsme]

Silly me, I thought that RCI was the international club that we belong to. All these accronyms (sp) start blending...lol.

LOL I figured you had no clue what I was talking about. Plus with Royal Caribbean offically they are Royal Caribbean International or RCI but for many years they were known as RCCL or Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

Thus the reason of my last posts. I figured you were confused and I knew if I put it in actual wording you would understand.

Hey did anyone go to the place Jrsy mentioned this weekend for the adult swim?

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Selena - Wow, if you are saving $100 I would definitely change. How exciting to add on 3 more days! I think the adult swinn Jrsy was talking about is on Wednesday so it hasn't come up yet.

This weekend we went to Cave of the Winds and Pikes Peak. At the Cave of the Winds we took the lantern tour which was a lot of fun for most of us. Unfortunately during our latern tour they told true ghost stories and scared the heck out of the girls so they cried through most of it. Brittany enjoyed it though. At one time we blew out all the lanterns and it was pitch black and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I told Chris I am now joining a cave group to go splunking!

 

[Jrsy Boy]

Selena - Wow, if you are saving $100 I would definitely change. How exciting to add on 3 more days! I think the adult swinn Jrsy was talking about is on Wednesday so it hasn't come up yet.

And apparently all of the ladies have plans to go see The Proposal and have drinks afterwards so it would be just the guys. Unfortunately, Alex doesn't have his church youth group get-together this Wednesday, so I wouldn't be able to go, anyway, without ditching him.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

And apparently all of the ladies have plans to go see The Proposal and have drinks afterwards so it would be just the guys. Unfortunately, Alex doesn't have his church youth group get-together this Wednesday, so I wouldn't be able to go, anyway, without ditching him.

Woohoo!

 

[Jsme]

Oh you gals are so lucky to go out together.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Oh you gals are so lucky to go out together.

That we are. I just wish all of you could come with us some time.

 

[cristit14]

Oh you gals are so lucky to go out together.

Wish you and Marcie could come too!

 

[Jsme]

Sandy and Cristi, both of you are so sweet. I wish I could come but I am glad you all can go together and have a grand time.

I am suppose to be going out tomorrow but I am trying so hard to cut back on the junk I eat and drink. I have been eating and drinking way too much lately. Everyone is going on for wings tomorrow but I really do not want to waste my points on wings. I would not be able to eat anything but veggies all day and I want food. lol

I made a good dinner though and have come up with something else I want to try. I made a noodle bake recipe I have made before but I tweaked it a bit. It is Rotini pasta. The sauce is crushed tomatoes. This is where I tweaked. I added one bay leaf to cut the acid taste of the tomatoes, Italian seasonings and a clove of garlic. In that I added cooked 1/3 lb ground beef I had frozen a while back. You leave it with cheese like you do lasgana. It was the best I have made thus far. I then sauted zuchinni and squash with Italian seasonings, olive oil, 2 gloves of garlic and lite mortons salt.

Next time I want to take the sauce and the veggies to put on my rotini. I do not need the beef and this would cut points. The veggies were awesome.

Took Mac to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past this evening. It was a bit slow at times but over all a good movie. We had a blast. lol We both are such cry babies we cried a few times and then had to laugh about it. We are so dorky!!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Selena - That recipe sounds delicious. How many points is it? We all saw the Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Mathew is so HOT!!!! I am a cry baby too!

Can you imagine how fun it would be if you and Marcie could meet up with us. I hope one of these days we can all meet up.