MR BACK's Back!

[deadheadbelle]

I say abso-friggin-lutely! You must let her express herself or she will never become her own Bichon. I love that she is a non-conformist.

 

[cadburysmom]

Okay folks. I need some parenting advice. Maybe you can help. Beanie has been begging me to let her have her fur dyed. I just don't know. What thinketh you?

OMG......is this legal?

 

[Bichon Barb]

I say abso-friggin-lutely! You must let her express herself or she will never become her own Bichon. I love that she is a non-conformist.

Hmmmmmm. Interesting. Thank you for your insight DHB. I guess I should be relieved that she wants to go pink punk and not black Goth or something like that. I'd hate for her to get her tongue pierced.

 

[Bichon Barb]

OMG......is this legal?

Yes, CADSMOM, it is. Thankfully human consent is required.

 

[castlegazer]

Sure, tug on my heart strings and bring everyone back together.

BB its really good to see you again. I do see you wandering around the forum - kinda like the saying, "a funny thing happened on the way to the forum". You funny woman, you.

 

[NC Belle]

Okay folks. I need some parenting advice. Maybe you can help. Beanie has been begging me to let her have her fur dyed. I just don't know. What thinketh you?

I think blue or purple goes better with Beanie's eyes.

 

[castlegazer]

OK to explain my outburst, I was under the impression that everyone had basically gone their own ways after Caroline was banned. (yes, you can refer to her and it would be stupid not to be able to talk about a friend). No one was posting here, and come to find out many of you were posting to a new thread (not on this board). I also want you guys to know that I erroneously thought it was a good idea to combine what I thought of as a group of friends into one thread. I now understand, though gentle edification, that is not the case and the threads were not connected at all.

I apologize if my misunderstanding caused additional issues (Oh, don't read this as me saying it was me who shut down the threads, it most certainly was not).

I do love the idea of a new Tagliarchy thread and fully supported its creation - its long overdue in its return.

Carry on. I just needed to get that off my chest.

 

[llebrekniT]

Is everything all better here now? It was a little scarey catching up just now.

Well lookie what the cat drug in - BichonBarb! That poor doggie! I'm sorry, but I disagree. Woman, that is just WRONG! Looks like she took a bath in Peptobismal (SP?). Poor thing. How'd the other one turn out? Let me guess, I lovely shade of grape?

 

[castlegazer]

By the way, look at my sig - MY BABY IS FIVE MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!!

TIME FLIES!

 

[cadburysmom]

Happy 5 month Birthday Catrina!!!

anyways, cadsmom, I left you a long bouncin' out of my seat message at the new thread, thinking that's where everyone would be

Um...so you want to hear about my recent Princess Cruise...ok...but you might reget it...I'm a bit longwinded today...

First of all, it was a great cruise with a great group of gals. Unfortunately, it was filled with fragile people, me being one of them. We were supposed to do the eastern route....St. Thomas, St. Martin and my favorite, Princess Cay. The ship was beautiful and Movies Under the Stars was awesome as ever.

The drinks of the day were delicious with the "Chocolate Banana" being my absolute fav....made of bananas, cream, chocolate syrup and Kahlua...YUM!!
Although I prefer traditional dining, it was full so we did anytime dining. The Caribbean Princess offers regular dining room service and also the Caribe Cafe which is a nightly buffet with waitservice for drinks only. We did the Caribe Cafe every night and it was awesome! The first night was a seafood buffet with all you could eat shrimp, crab legs and grilled lobster...I kid you not! This occurred later in the week but included Beef Wellington as well. Every night was a smorgasbord and I've gained 10 lbs to prove it!

Now to the fragile passengers and our itinerary changes.....

St. Thomas....we had two sea days and then were to dock in St. Thomas early on the third morning. However, a passenger had heart problems so the captian sped up and we docked in St. Thomas early, at 3:30am to be exact. How do I know this? Because I was out sitting on my balcony with drink in hand as we entered the beautiful St. Thomas harbor all lit up in the wee hours of the morning. I'm really too old to stay up that late...had fallen asleep at midnight but was awoken at 2:30am by our neighbors. So anyways, I fell back to sleep about 4am and was awoken at 5:30am by the smell of smoke! Yes, smoke and lots of it! The captain then annouced throughout the ship that a bldg near the harbor was on fire and the smoke had entered the ship's ventilation system. He was therefore turning off the AC to allow the smoke to leave the system. I luckily fell back to sleep and didn't wake til 11am....others didn't and it made for a very grumpy day. But I did get good prices on liquor and put my name in a drawing at one particular store....more about that later

St. Martin...got there as scheduled and left as scheduled. Not my favorite island ....it threatened to rain so we shopped a little then headed back to the boat.

Princess Cay...my favorite...but didn't happen on this cruise. Yet another fragile passenger...my heart goes out to him and his family. This poor guy fell in the casino and sustained a spinal injury They couldn't tender him off or airlift him out so we had to dock at the nearest island, which happened to be Nassau. I was very proud of my fellow passengers as NOONE complained about missing Princess Cays as we were so concerned for the patient's welfare. I happen to think Nassau is the armpit of the Bahamas but I'm healthy and happy and not complaining one bit about having to go there.

Nassau....This is actually where my fragility came into play....we docked right beside none other than.....the DISNEY WONDER!!! It is the twin of Disney Magic which I had a blast on last January. I was missing my son pretty badly by then so when I stood on my balcony and saw a group of boys his age playing pingpong, I totally lost it. Not only did I burst into tears, but I dropped the wine glass I was holding....dropped it onto the balcony below me where other cruisers happened to be standing....and yes, the glass shattered and no, they weren't happy.

On the last day of the cruise, all liquor you have purchased(and not smuggled onboard) from the islands and aboard ships is delivered to your room. I had purchased 3 bottles from a store in St. Thomas and they had promised to deliver it to the ship for me, free of charge. So I happen to stop by my cabin to find TWO huge cases of liquor from that particular shop. Seems my name was drawn as the cruise winner of the week and I received 3 more FREE bottles of liquor (cheapo wine, rum and schnapps), not to mention a Jim Beam watch, travel clock, shot glass, wine opener and wine cooler....VERY COOL!

But you're only allowed so much liquor to be carried off the ship...I therefore had to hide it in my luggage praying the bottles wouldn't break and my clothing get pickled. Everything went smoothly upon debarkation until we were at the airport, bags checked and already through security when I hear my name announced over the intercom, my FULL name. My friends said not to go....the liquor probably is leaking and you'll get fined and in BIG trouble. But I went anyway and silly me, had dropped my passport in the ladies' room and some kind soul had turned it in to security. THANKS KIND SOUL, WHOEVER YOU ARE!!!!

And that was my cruise.....you should go too...you'd love it!!!

 

[NC Belle]

Cadsmom---you must have bootlegging in your blood ---my distant hillybilly relatives used to run moonshine between Atlanta and B'ham. I believe a couple of them were also into racing.

 

[cadburysmom]

Cadsmom---you must have bootlegging in your blood ---my distant hillybilly relatives used to run moonshine between Atlanta and B'ham. I believe a couple of them were also into racing.

No wonder you love Nascar so much....sounds like it's definitely in your blood!

 

[cadburysmom]

By the way, look at my sig - MY BABY IS FIVE MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!!

TIME FLIES!

Hard to believe she's that old already......

WOO HOO!!! Happy Birthday Catrina!!

 

[castlegazer]

Holy Crap that's an awesome story!!!! I would have gotten weepy too - no, down right bawling.

I AM going. I actually love St. Maarten. I am very very stoked to go again. I have a private tour set up with a woman there as I am a Francophile and need to go over to do some shoppng on the French side. I am very sad I can't figure out a way to get over to St. John while we are cruising, but its not easy with the wee ones.

My husband and I absolutely love Princess - we fell in love with the Grand Princess. I hear, though, that the service now stinks. Is that true? We talked our cousins into sailing them and they came back livid - they are big fans of RCCL and I guess Princess just didn't do it for them at all.

 

[llebrekniT]

 

[deadheadbelle]

Holy cow Cadsmom! You had a very eventful cruise!! You smuggler, you. Too funny.

Castlegazer, I can't believe Catrina is 5 months old already! What's she doing? Sitting up yet? Is she still sleeping well?

 

[deadheadbelle]

Castlegazer, what is your scheduled itinerary for your cruise? I wanna do a Disney cruise. Maybe someday.

 

[castlegazer]

OK guys, stop getting all sappy on me here - yeah, yeah, yeah hugs and kisses and all that BS. Its getting kinda crowded in here.

Man, I think my DIS time is at an all time high today.

Catrina is not sitting up yet, but we are trying - it lasts for about a minute then she teaters over - funny sight. She eats like the good line backer I know she will aspire to. She houses food - its actually kinda scary - her brother was like this too. She sits in her walker and her johnny jump up and has figured out how to jump in it. She hasn't rolled over yet either, but hopefully that will come soon - she hasn't figured out what to do with her arm yet, but gets almost there.

We do go to the geneticist tomorrow to see about all her little "things" and see if they altogether make up anything we should be worried about long term. Scary, but good to do it now. So tomorrow I will be out all day.

 

[cadburysmom]

Holy Crap that's an awesome story!!!! I would have gotten weepy too - no, down right bawling.

I AM going. I actually love St. Maarten. I am very very stoked to go again. I have a private tour set up with a woman there as I am a Francophile and need to go over to do some shoppng on the French side. I am very sad I can't figure out a way to get over to St. John while we are cruising, but its not easy with the wee ones.

My husband and I absolutely love Princess - we fell in love with the Grand Princess. I hear, though, that the service now stinks. Is that true? We talked our cousins into sailing them and they came back livid - they are big fans of RCCL and I guess Princess just didn't do it for them at all.

I loved the Grand Princess and miss it too.....the Caribbean Princess is very similar but your friends are right, the service sucked. We did the buffet each night so we didn't have to deal with waiters in the anytime dining room....too rushed...too many passengers coming and going at odd times. That's why I prefer traditional where your waiter gets to know you and your needs...makes for a very relaxing meal each night. But with that said, I still had a blast...mostly because of my friends and you can't beat the private balcony at a great price!

 

[castlegazer]

we are doing the eastern - you spend Sat - Monday at sea, then go to St. Maarten, then to St. Thomas - then a day at sea, then CC.

My husband and I have cruised this route three times now. Once, though, we went even farther south to Barbados, St. Kitts and Venezuela. That was a cool itinerary, but too many islands, not enough ship time.

We LOVE St. John, got stupidly drunk on St. Maarten, and basically are really looking forward to time on the Magic.

We love cruising and your kids are the perfect age.