December 12 - 19, 2009 Western Magic

[poohfriend]

We only have two and Christmas stockings I asked mine "Do you want a cruise or presents?" and they choose the cruise.

This is the second year we have done this and the family is loving it!

I can only dream that we'd be able to do this next year. I'd love to go the same week if the kids schools will allow it. We however did not re-book onboard.

our pictures of the tornadic activity are on my DH's computer. Mine are very similar to yours. Wish I'd thought to do a video.

We get lots of tornados in the Spring and Fall here. It was facinating to see the things the weather folks are taking about: Wall cloud...rotation...the fact that they can dip down and back up just as quickly.

We saw all those slender tornados you mentioned...but they didn't photograph well. The camera wanted to "focus" on the ocean and by the time we'd manipulate the camera, some of the tornados would be gone.

The rain didn't ruin our stay in CC at all. Reality is a lot tougher than a rainy afternoon!

By the way this is my 1000th post!

 

[bevtoy]

I would have loved to get a photo of them all at once but they do go back up in the clouds as quickly as they drop down. Post your pictures please? I would love to see them.

I can only dream that we'd be able to do this next year. I'd love to go the same week if the kids schools will allow it. We however did not re-book onboard.

our pictures of the tornadic activity are on my DH's computer. Mine are very similar to yours. Wish I'd thought to do a video.

We get lots of tornados in the Spring and Fall here. It was facinating to see the things the weather folks are taking about: Wall cloud...rotation...the fact that they can dip down and back up just as quickly.

We saw all those slender tornados you mentioned...but they didn't photograph well. The camera wanted to "focus" on the ocean and by the time we'd manipulate the camera, some of the tornados would be gone.

The rain didn't ruin our stay in CC at all. Reality is a lot tougher than a rainy afternoon!

By the way this is my 1000th post!

 

[Shelebeen]

We booked another trip while we were on board, how many others did the same?

Also did anyone else see the tornadoes at Castaway Cay? I have photos and some video footage of them I believe we counted six different ones it was amazing but I had a limited camera and you can only see two at a time.

Wow it was quite an experience!

We have some great footage of them as well... waterspouts, tornados, etc.. I think everyone was on their starboard balconies watching

 

[pxlbarrel]

Darn, I was in the Promenade playing trivia! LOL The Captain's announcement came on the speaker system and Oscar entertained us with some pantomime while the captain "droned" on.

 

[Juney]

We had one of those WOW moments too--my son was the one that lit the Christmas Tree for the cruise. It was fantastic.

SueEllen we watched this. He is adorable. Afterwards we saw the two of you several times during the cruise and everytime my daughter would say "LOOK .. there goes the prince."

 

[msladyg32]

Wow! What a great cruise!! Other than those rough seas friday night (walking while carrying my 3yr old was quite a feat that last evening!) and the bad weather that hit CC in the afternoon (after we were back on the ship!), we had a wonderful time!

The concierge was nice enough to give us a heads up last night that we were looking at 2ft of snow back home today, so we were able to pack an additional night's clothes in our carry-on before we checked our luggage. Sure enough, all flights to the DC area have been canceled so far. United has us booked on a flight out Sunday morning so we're hoping we make it out on that one! We had no problems getting a room at the Hyatt. (Now to read our travel insurance to see if it covers the costs!) Figures the one time we decided to use Disney transfers and onboard checkin, and we really could have used the flexibility of having a rental car and our bags. If anyone else is in the Hyatt tonight, let me know!

I hope everyone had a fabulous cruise! We had a blast. Do you think if Snow White and the whole Shutters crew knows my daughter and her "Princess Bunny" by name that we had a bit too many pictures taken? Thank goodness for the photo CD! Made our onboard account much more manageable. That and prepaid tips!

Was glad to see everyone at the meet-up on embarkation day, and some of you throughout the cruise. And the fish extender gifts! Wow!! It was absolutely amazing!! It seemed like every time we opened the door there was something waiting out there. You guys are all so creative, it was amazing!

Cathleen

We are able to get a CD? I was not aware of that. I wish I would have known that because finding my pics was terrible. I just think there should be a better system in place.

 

[HallsofVA]

We are able to get a CD? I was not aware of that. I wish I would have known that because finding my pics was terrible. I just think there should be a better system in place.

Yes, they started selling CDs in early 2009. There are several threads that talk about the CDs which is how I knew about it since it was new since our cruise last December.

I think it was advertised on the same flyers as the print credit packages. For the 7nt cruise the CD was $399. While very expensive, we still paid less than we've paid on other cruises and got more pictures. They put all of your pictures that you can see on the kiosk on the CD the last night of the cruise. Two drawbacks are that you also get the rejects (eyes closed, etc that they generally don't print) and you don't get any borders or other enhancements. Once we decided to buy the CD we took advantage of every photo opportunity we could since we knew we'd get the photos on the CD for no additional cost.

Another advantage of the CD was that if you did want to buy any prints, the packages were further discounted another 50% from what they were selling them for. My time in Shutters this cruise was limited to deciding if I really wanted the picture with the border as printed or if I could live without the border and print it myself.

 

[pxlbarrel]

We didn't intend to do the photo thing but we ended up paying $300 for the 50 photos. We took our own photos too...but unlike the photographers at the park, these guys actually knew what they were doing and took some really good photos. We never have a family photo done up professionally so we took this opportunity to get them done during formal night. And then my brother and I got carried away "stalking" the characters. LOL We kept telling my mom, "Don't ask" when she asked how much we were paying for the photos.

I considered the CDs but by the time we had decided on actually buying so many photographs, we had already missed out on a lot of photo opportunities.

 

[Juney]

I posted about this on the main cruise board just yesterday. The CD thing with Shutters really annoys me. Last year we bought the PhotoPass CD in the parks. I think I paid $125 for it and we had over 400 photos on our photo pass CD. It was a FANTASTIC deal. I loved adding the borders and stuff online. Here is my issue with Shutters .. not so much the cost (which is outrageous) but when you purchase the CD you lose all of the borders on your photos. I still bought the stinkin' CD, but I'm really annoyed by the loss of borders.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I posted about this on the main cruise board just yesterday. The CD thing with Shutters really annoys me. Last year we bought the PhotoPass CD in the parks. I think I paid $125 for it and we had over 400 photos on our photo pass CD. It was a FANTASTIC deal. I loved adding the borders and stuff online. Here is my issue with Shutters .. not so much the cost (which is outrageous) but when you purchase the CD you lose all of the borders on your photos. I still bought the stinkin' CD, but I'm really annoyed by the loss of borders.

Yeah, I thought that the cost of the CD was high and because it didn't include the border it became another reason why not to get the CD. HOWEVER, that being said, I paid $18 in a photoshare for the photopass CD last year and while there were some good photos in there, I didn't think I got my money's worth out of it because some of the photographers at the parks were just brutal. Half of my photos were out of focus or my feet were amputated or just badly framed. The photopass photographers aren't trained very well, IMO but the cruise photographers really impressed me. I'm an amateur photographer and I watched them setting up the areas with great interest and tried to learn from their technique.

But you're right, there should be a way to get those borders back in there...even if it's a add on software so you can get it printed out that way.

 

[HallsofVA]

Since we're talking about photos, I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite shots from this cruise!

My most favorite are the shots of my daughter holding Tinkerbell. Unfortunately they didn't appear on my CD so the Shutters folks are sending me the files separately (I'd lost my KTTW card and I guess the facial recognition didn't pick them up since she's looking down at Tinkerbell in those shots.) Other favorites include the lifestyle pictures, pirate night pictures, and formal night pictures.

Here are some of my other favorites though: [edited to remove pictures since I don't want to leave them out in public too long!]

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

I just posted a ton of pictures on the Facebook page. SueEllen some of your son as well, but from above. You can right click and save to your computer if you want them.

 

[SueEllen]

Thank you! I took quite a few shots, but the camera didn't focus properly on several of them. Nice to see another view of the ceremony.

I agree about Shutters. The CD is very overpriced, especially since you cannot get the borders on the pictures if you want them. However, on the other hand they do take some fantastic pictures. Our family portrait for the last couple of years has been taken on our cruises.

 

[bevtoy]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's everyone. I think this one of my all time favorite vacations!

 

[kcashner]

We got home late Sat night ...DD and I both came down with upper respiratory crud on Monday. I'm so glad that we are sick this week and not last week! Hope everyone is having a good holiday!

 

[Shelebeen]

Who is doing the facebook invites? Thanks.. I have a few photos to share...

Jim and I have colds as well this week.. Although I did have a very sore throat during the cruise, was not well for Grand Cayman, Cozumel and the second sea day...

Merry Christmas all!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

My DH was sick on the cruise for two days..Cozumel and the sea day. Sore throat and body aches. No fever or anything, he just slept. I got it on Sunday after the cruise. DD6 is acting funny today, but hopefully she isn't getting it!!!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Did anyone here get pictures of Jim Furyk in the Farewell show??? The one night I didn't take my camera to the show!!! DH is a HUGE fan of his and we knew he was on the ship, but didn't run into him until Castaway Cay and we would love to have some pictures of him in the show. If you aren't on the Facebook site to post them there, can you send them to me somehow? Thanks!

 

[poohfriend]

We got home late Sat night ...DD and I both came down with upper respiratory crud on Monday. I'm so glad that we are sick this week and not last week! Hope everyone is having a good holiday!

Dh and DD both have it pretty bad. the rest of us, more mild. DH started to feel bad on Thursday of the cruise. DD after debarking Saturday. DH went to the dr -- sinus infection which he is prone to. If DD doesn't feel better by Saturday after Christmas, we'll take her to the dr. as well.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

 

[bevtoy]

Anyone know what this is?