Cruise 10/11/2003 Part 2

[scootersmom]

Good morning!

I can't believe it's June... we're at 53º. I want summer weather!

Doug--- I got your cell numbers and will do an update after we get back from vacation.
We leave Saturday a.m. and I should be packing or cleaning house or something.
Good luck to your team at the tournament!

Sammy Sosa was a hot topic at our house last night.

Colleen

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Colleen -- I hear you about the weather. It's supposed to rain today be somewhat nice over the weekend and then rain again next week. It wouldn't be so bad if it was warm but it's not -- 53F here today too. I think it's supposed to get a little warmer but not much.

Discussion at dinner last night about Sammy Sosa -- not too sure if it was a mistake or what but not good. The cubs are coming to town over Father's Day weekend but I guess we'll have to wait til later today to see if we get to see Sammy or not that weekend.

66F for an office is cold and I would definately be wearing a sweater or two!!! Wouldn't want it up to 80F though. Fans would be running at that temperature.

Chris doesn't start exams til June 17th so we still have a ways to go before the end of school here. Couldn't imagine going back to school mid August but I guess you would get used to it.

Take care everyone -- must go and do some work.

Fiona

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

Fiona...Sarah was bummed to hear that everyone else (practically) was out of school...Kelsie (Matty204) who she has been emailing is already out of school; Josh (scootersmom) is out on this Friday and Sarah has to go to school until June 13th and she has exams up until that last day (we are going away on this day so she is taking the two exams early so she will finish up on June 12th) but she certainly felt better when I told her that your son goes until almost the end of June!!! Sarah starts school the Tuesday after Labor Day. She was just accepted into the honors program for 8th grade (for 8th grade, we just do honors Math) so we were quite proud even though she wasn't too excited about it (she said her friends are all dumb and won't be in her class!!) so I told her she can now associate with some smart friends!! Kids are so funny!!

Weather here has been miserable...it is supposed to be nice tomorrow and then rain on Saturday so we may just have to start collecting two of each animal by then!!

Tulirose...am up for a meet on August 2nd..if the Baltimore crew can't make it, we can maybe shoot for somewhere in New Jersey or in the Poconos! Keep in touch.

We are off to Williamsburg, VA next weekend to meet up with Scootersmom...should be fun!!

Colleen...have a safe trip and we'll see you on Friday the 13th...for some reason, I couldn't open the Rudee's site so if you think of it, print out a coupon for us and GoofyNut!!

 

[RellingTwin]

Arlene, Captain Marvin's is a tour company that take people out to the area know as "Sting Ray City". This is an area where for many years the fisherman stopped to clean their fish. Sting Rays gathered there for the "free buffet"
Now they are docile, and tour operators take people out to the waist deep water where the Sting Rays interact with you.
DCL offers a tou but the word in the board is these tours have so many people on them that by the time everyone gets in the water it's almost time to get out!
Captain Marvin has small boats (max. 20 people I think) and offers a more personal type tour (cheaper too!). They have an office near the dock where you meet a van, who transports you to the boats.
A bunch of us have booked the 1/2 day 10 am tour for our GC day. They do require a credit card to make your reservations, but if we do not make the port for some reason you will not be charged.If you deside to book, mention you are with the DIS/Cruistoberfest group. They will try to keep us together on the same boat.
The web site is:http://www.captainmarvins.com/

 

[scootersmom]

Mary Jo--- Coupons are printing as I type. We'll see you next Friday for dinner. Can't wait to meet you all.

Josh's last day of school was today, so he's a little bit excited.

I'd better quit playing around and get more stuff ready for the trip!

Colleen

 

[Twinave]

Hi Everyone, Sounds like most everyones' summer is starting out well. DD has been out of school for two weeks now. But she has to go back at the begining of Aug.
I put in my notice at my real job, last week. Start my new real job on Friday 13th LOL. My co-workers, the doctors, and management were a little surprised. I've been there for almost nine years. Lots of mixed emotions about the change.
I never got a phone list either, and I think I sent in my nuber, but can't remember for sure.
Later, Ave'

 

[JenKatt]

I *almost* wish I had kids so I could share.. but then again I have two beagles and a husband, and about 1700 patients empanelled to me and my Doc, so I guess I have kids...

So how many nurses do we have? I counted about 5 or 6, maybe more. I was just curious what kind of nursing ya'll do. In fact what do ya'll do in general. I know what I read in your profiles in the mailing Viking does, but that's just a name....

Call me nosey, but I love getting a bunch of info on people I've never met and then try to figure out people when I meet them..

Hey I'm weird

 

[padisneyfan]

Hi Everyone--- Just got back today from our 2 weeks vacation. Which my 19 yr old said was way to long to spend with his parents.. He said h*ll week for his fraternity was a piece of cake compared to spending that entire time with us. He was tired of not being allowed to sleep in, Norm’s snoring, and being away from his friends especially the “girl friend” for that long. Overall, he had a good time especially on the cruise. I think it would have been better if DS#1 had gone along and then he would have had someone to hang with instead of Mom and Dad. DS#1 had chosen not to go because he had the girlfriend who was to graduate while we would have been on the cruise. Of course, don’t they break up like a month before the cruise. However, it was to late to change our plans as there were no cabins for 4 available. I did offer to fly him down for the 5 days we were at WDW, but he is tired of Disney. Therefore, he stayed home and worked.

While I was gone, I won a election for 4th VP of the High School hockey league. Since no one else wanted the job, it was an easy victory. I know I had said I was finished with hockey after this season, but when the time came to give it up I just couldn’t.

At WDW, we were treated as VIPs since we were returning guests. This most be a new program since my last visit in Dec. I received an upgrade at both CSR and All Star Sport. We got waterview rooms near El Centro and received free gift at CSR along with turn down service each night. At All Star we got a preferred room in the Surf Up building. It was a great room site, 1st floor and right next to the main building. Easy hop over to food and buses. Plus the location had very little traffic going past our room. We moved two chairs over and made our own porch. The weather for me was perfect. Very little humidity and sunny skies, except for rain the last day. We did all the parks and Islands of Adventure at Universal. Brian loved the roller coasters @ IOA. To me it seemed more like a Six Flag Park. I like the old Universal Park better, but Brian would go back to IOA in a heartbeat. The only real crowds at any of the parks were school trip groups. All Stars which is usually sold out a lot of the times, had entire building empty at both Music and Sport. Only Music seemed full. I checked them out each day on my morning power walks.

The Disney Magic will always be my first love, but we did really like the Carnival Pride. I would go on another Carnival Cruise. Not many young kids on it, but for older children and adults there were plenty of things to do. I think the food is better on Carnival and huge midnight buffets every night, plus the best hamburgers. They had a great gym, so each day I did 4-6 miles on the treadmill to work off all the food. Disney has much better entertainment, longer time in Port with better port spots, and more diverse things during sea days. The service seems equal on both ships by both the dining room staff and room stewards. Our head waiter was great and was from Crotia and he spoke perfect English. He told us that Disney is the cruise line that the crew members try to get on for the better benefits. Apparently, Disney base pay is better and they have more time off during the cruise then on other cruise lines. Disney has a waiting list of crew members who want on their ships.

Tina how was your cruise? My sons still want to do one of those Voyager class ships. Maybe next year’s family cruise.
Will fill you in later on some of the ports of call. I do remember Key West well, as for Cozumel after Carlos and Charlies it was pretty much a blur.


Nancy

 

[padisneyfan]

I'm one of the nurses. I'm an ET Nurse (Wounds. Ostomy, Continence Nurse). What is your specialty?

I just got back from vacation, so am still catching up on the posting plus didn't download the lastest list. I think you are at my table (The Other Table). I also have 2 beagles who bark constantly.

Nancy

 

[JenKatt]

Nancy.. you're the "poop" nurse .. I give credit to ET nurse, I couldn't do it!

I was a NICU/ PICU/ Peds nurse when I was a civilian nurse, now I'm a jack of all trades in the military, I do a bit of everything.. which has it's highs and lows I guess

 

[RellingTwin]

Nancy, I am so glad you had a great time. Did you do any shopping or sight seeing at the ports of call?
My inlaws are due back from their Alaska cruise this Sunday. I can'y wait to hear all about it.

My 2 children are also out of school. DD leaves for Girl Scout camp (sleep a way) on Sunday, for a week of horseback riding!

JenKat..I am an LPN and work in a OB/gyn practice attached to MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina). All the doctors I work with are on the facility. It is a very exciting place to work because people come from all over the South East to see the doctors at MUSC (our office included) so we see some pretty interesting cases. We have 6 OB/gyns, 1 Uro/gyn, 1 endocrinolgist, 1 Internal medicine (who only sees women) and 2 nurse practictioners. But, there are never more then 3-4 providers in the office at any one time (thank goodness )
My DH is a self employeed contractor. He does home repair/ remodeling.He is currently redoing a kitchen for a co-worker of mine.Our kids are DD 10 (almost 11) and DS 9. We will be married 16 years this November! Seems like just yesterday! Gosh, how time flies!!Oh...I am an identical twin (TwinAve is my sister).
This will be our 4th cruise on DCL, we did the 4 day in 1999, then the 7 day 9/22/01 (11 days after 9/11 attack) and went again last 9/28/02 when we were diverted from the Western to Eastern by hurricain Lilli. Hopefully this Oct. we will make it to Mexico!!

OK JenKat...your turn

 

[taswira]

Originally posted by okwmiester
Shari: Our Family will be staying at the Beach Club villas the 15th through the 20th of June. Will you still be at WDW then?? Christy and I would love to hook up if possible.

Since I live full-time in FL now, just over an hour from WDW, it is pretty easy for me to get down there almost any time unless I am off on a shoot (photos) - - My only "work day" the rest of this month is the 19th.

I was at AK and MGM today. Both were unbelievably crowded compared to recent weeks. I guess summer IS here (along with the thunderstorms).

 

[JenKatt]

OB... another career feild I would never go in...

Well what can I tell you about me? I'm an RN, 3rd generation nurse, Mom is an LPN school administrator, Grandma was an LPN. I kinda fell into nursing as I didn't know what I wanted to do, but loved working with kids.
My job now has very little nursing involoved, so little my skills are slipping away. I'm a glorified secretary, administrator, quaterback type person. Military primary care is broken down into teams, a doc, nurse, two techs and an administrative/ secretary person. All the deployments have blown that concept ot of the water. Right now it's one tech per doc, 1/2 an admin person per doc, and if you're lucky a 1/3 of a nurse to 1/2 of a nurse per doc.. meaning I'm doing the work of 2 or 3 nurses. Relief isn't in sight as the deployments to Germany aren't coming back anytime soon... so my paper pushing abilities are maxed out.. I love the military, but the shoft staffing is ridiculous..

Anyways, so in a nutsheel, I'm a nurse who doesn't do nursing any more..

I thought I would go back to the NICU when I seperated from the military next year, but now it looks like I may stay in, so I'll be hanging up my pedi scope soon I guess


Anyways, on a brighter note 127 days left!!!!!!!

WHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Viking]

Jen,
to satisfy your curiosity:
Anja is an RN at the orthopedic ward at the second-largest hospital in Frankfurt. Her ward specializes on hip- and shoulder replacements, but take care of the other joints, too.
I'm a senior compiler working for a Boeing subsidiary producing aeronautical chart and providing other services to the aviation industry. From the beginning of July I will change my job within the company and will do the revison preparation and planning. This means that I have to decide if and when our charts have to be published.
When we're not working I'm a volunteer at St. Johns Ambulance Service. I used to be a professional paramedic, but after changing into the field of aviation I retreated to teaching first aid on teh weekends.
Anja and I spent a lot of time at our gym, love traveling, reading and movies - And of course Disney When the weather is fair we board our small convertible and roam our country and the neighbouring countries like France, Switzerland, Denmark, etc.

 

[Viking]

Folks,
I will do an update tomorrow night (CET). So please mail all wishes for changes til 2pm EST Saturday!!


Shari,
I just bought a new camera: A Nikon Coolpix 5700. 5.0 Megapixels, 8x optical zoom. I ordered it from Amazon.com and have it delivered to a friend of mine in Denver to pick it up there in a fortnight. Due to the better price in The States and the low Dollar it was about 300 bucks cheaper than over here
A colleague of mine will buy my old cam, which will pay for an x-drive, a portable 20GB-harddisk which automatically copies the memoycards. 20 Gig should be sufficient for a vacation

 

[eeyorekjs7]

Colleen-

Just wanted to let you know that we'd definitely be open to a meet at either the State Fair or the Columbus Zoo. Two of our favorites! It's not summer without a trip to the zoo or greasy fair food!!!

Kate

 

[Hopkins]

padisneyfan and others,

My sister and I just got back for a wonderful week long vacation on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas (sister ship of Voyager of the Seas). It's the largest ship and earth and being such, it offers things others don't, like an ice skating rink, in-line skating, rock climbing, miniature golf course, larger main pools, larger adult pool, larger kiddie pools, larger game room, casino, large three story (level) main dining room (impressive!), large three level (balcony) main theater (impressive!), large library, board game room, atrium promenade with shops and sports bar inside the middle of the ship with interior rooms overlooking the three story atrium... .

The food was comparable with DCL, but I like Disney's better. Presentation was impecible, but I like the different selections of foods with DCL.

The shows like the ice show and "Velvet Rope" were comparable with Disney's Dreams. The others were just OK. I'd say the two are tied or maybe the edge going to Disney.

The Adventure of the Seas was vast, but is easy to navigate your way around. DCL is easy, too. Overall ship amenities goes to RCI!

Themeing of the Adventure is definitely more like the Hyatt in the Orlando Airport (modern). I much prefer DCL's classic styling, but the other is good, too. Edge, DCL.

Our ports of call were St Thomas, St Maarten, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados. We did the BOB Underwater Adventure in St Thomas which is a underwater motor scooter. In St Maarten we did Mountain Biking or shall I say mountain walk your bike. In Antigua we did an island tour that took us to Nelsons Dockyard which is described as the "Colonial Williamsburg of the Caribbean". In St Lucia we did a 4 x 4 Adventure and island tour and hike. In Barbados we rented an island taxi for an island tour, went to Gun Hill Signal Station, Church, Malibu Rum Factory and Beach Club. Wonderful ports of call. One sea day. You could book excursions on-line, by-phone, in-stateroom by tv, in-person on ship. Very convenient to book excursions on RCI. You can even check your stateroom account by stateroom tv, watch pay movies. Edge, RCI.

Well, that about it.
Tina
PS: Can't wait for our cruise!

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

The sun has actually started to shine..we were beginning to forget what the sun looked like!! Rain tomorrow though!!

Hopkins and padisneyfan...how is your schedule for August 2nd...Tulirose and Arlene and Sarah and I and Cathy are hoping that we can get together before the cruise..either in Baltimore or if you guys can't make it, somewhere in NY or NJ...lets try to get something started now that you cruisers are back!!

Off to Williamsburg next weekend with Cathy and Art (GoofyNut) to meet Scootersmom from Ohio...just hope we have good weather and no rain.

papa..we leave for Branson on June 28th and spend a week there and arrive in Nashville on July 6th..we really have no definite plans except the Hermitage (Sarah gets mad because I have to throw a little history into our vacations) and we may drive to Memphis to do Graceland and Mud Island..we were already at both but Sarah thinks that she may like to do these..looks like it is only a four hour drive...anyway, I don't have your phone number so you will have to call me at Fairfield Nashville!!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Jen, I'm not a nurse although I did consider it during high school. It was fun reading what everyone does because I rarely tell people what I do for a living. As my DS said when I went back to school -- "I went to la-la school". He was 5 at the time and nobody had a clue what he was saying. People have a preconceived idea about my field and I keep being told that I don't "fit" into the model which is a compliment! One thing I will say is that I don't make the kind of money advertised on TV for my field as I work in a small firm far away from downtown Toronto. My brother who works in downtown Toronto for a large firm makes 3x what I do. He has gross hours though and politics which I don't have. It's basically a lifestyle choice. I chose more life and less $. My mother works out of home and is in the process of semi-retiring. Your family were nurses -- mine appears to be ............. but DS says no way. We'll have to see what my niece and nephew do. They are 3 in September and 1 in August respectfully so we'll have a while to go for that one.

I have one DS who's 16 and will be 17 in July. He's just finishing grade 11. Our school year is a bit different up here -- he finishes school June 16th and writes 4 exams June 17, 18 and 19th -- I believe it's 2 on the 17th but am not positive. (Details from a 16 year old I've discovered are rare). After his last exam his is then finished but has to go back to school on June 26th (?) to see what his marks were. He will return to school for his last year of high school the Tuesday after Labour Day in September.

He's not cruising though as Disney is boring, boring, boring. He's been lots of times (12 or 13) but has no use for it at the moment. I plan to spend my 40th in WDW in 2005 so he'll have to come for that one. He's going to be spending the summer away from home taking basic training as he has just (about a month ago) joined the reserves. He'll be a vehicle technican. I didn't realize that he could join the reserves at 16 but apparently you can. He can't be deployed til he's 18 which is a relief. He leaves June 29th (I think -- hey he's a teenager and details aren't his thing) and can spend the entire summer away although I believe he might come home some weekends (again details are a little vague).

The other half, Jim, has 3 teenagers of his own, all boys. They live with their mother and visit occassionally. The oldest is in university taking something to do with radio broadcasting, the middle one is just finishing grade 11 (same as mine) and the youngest will graduate from grade 8 this year and start high school in the fall. Jim designs web sites.

Boy that was long so I'll leave it for now.

Fiona

 

[Hopkins]

Sarah'sMomfromPA,

I'm up for a meet August 2.

Tina