November 7, 2009 ~~~~ AHOY ST.CROIX ~~~~

[Silly Little Pixie]

Sun., Nov 8
Cowboys at Eagles, 8:20 p.m.
Mon., Nov. 9
Steelers at Broncos, 8:30 p.m.

Alrighty, Christine and other football fans..... have you noticed that the Eagles/Cowboys game falls on Formal Night? Aaarrrgggggg ... and not in a pirate way!

That stinks! We had planned to go to Palo on formal night! Wait, would it work out if we had an early ressie, like 6 pm? 2 hours is enough? I was actually going to call my DFTW planner tomorrow since my 105 day window is open now, and have her book Palo for me. We've never done Palo.

Should I stick with formal night, or go for semi formal night instead? I want to be sure we can watch the game hopefully poolside with my fellow football fans!

 

[glindamood]

That stinks! We had planned to go to Palo on formal night! Wait, would it work out if we had an early ressie, like 6 pm? 2 hours is enough? I was actually going to call my DFTW planner tomorrow since my 105 day window is open now, and have her book Palo for me. We've never done Palo.

Should I stick with formal night, or go for semi formal night instead? I want to be sure we can watch the game hopefully poolside with my fellow football fans!

I would either choose an totally different night or go formal night (not being a football fan) but not semiformal as that is lobster night. But, I like lobster and while they will serve it to you in Palo, then you don't get a chance to order the other dishes. Meals are long in Palo and you shouldn't have to rush.

 

[LindaBabe]

Fellow Ahoyers!
As we get closer to sailing time, would you seasoned veterans be willing to share some tips for packing? What are we first timers going to forget? What did you wish you brought last time and what did you bring that you didn't need at all?

You won't need near as much stuff as you think you will. For little boys "church clothes" works for formal night. Naturally, they look cute as a button in their tiny suits or tuxedos (yes, i've seen them) but it *isn't* necessary.

Some people come to everyday dinners "unchanged" from the day, but I like a bit of a brush up and some fresh clothes. I do repeat, and it's not always a dress. I don't take a ton of shoes - they don't show in photos, so you can wear the same ones every night if you like. For me, two pairs does it - sandals and either sandals or comfy walking shoes for shore. Likewise - purses. One small one for a tissue and key to the world card at dinner, and one beach bag to carry to the pool and ashore is sufficient for me.

Count me among those who MUST have the over the door shoe holder - not for shoes but for all the miscellaneous flotsom and jettsom that would otherwise accumulate on the limited table/counter space.

I put a pop up hamper from the dollar store in the closet for dirty clothes and lug it off to the laundry room when it's full. I also bring my premeasured laundry soap in zip locks. Let me rephrase that - DH lugs it off to the laundry room when full.

Glow sticks. Pop a couple, put them on the floor next to the wall, and light your way to the bathroom in the dark.

Sunscreen. hat. two bathing suits (nothing worse than putting on a damp bathing suit) clothes pins.

I have a *lot* of hair but I don't find the hair dryers an issue.

-----------------
PALO deserves not to be rushed. I like to go on Pirate night because I"m not fond of the menu that night, nor the hullabaloo in the diningroom.

 

[glindamood]

Laurie - one other thing that I forgot. It isn't anything that I take but I tend to leave my watch in the bathroom so I know what time it is. There is a clock in the cabin but it doesn't light or glow so it can be read without turning on the light.

The glow sticks are a great idea. The coffee table (we are in an inside cabin so the bed is the farthest from the bathroom) has gotten me several times.

Are we there yet?????????? I could use this vacation right now - I could be packed and ready by morning. I know I could. But, there would be no FE's so I guess not. Patience - it is a virtue that I do not have.

 

[GoofyTraci]

Laurie - one other thing that I forgot. It isn't anything that I take but I tend to leave my watch in the bathroom so I know what time it is. There is a clock in the cabin but it doesn't light or glow so it can be read without turning on the light.

The glow sticks are a great idea. The coffee table (we are in an inside cabin so the bed is the farthest from the bathroom) has gotten me several times.

Are we there yet?????????? I could use this vacation right now - I could be packed and ready by morning. I know I could. But, there would be no FE's so I guess not. Patience - it is a virtue that I do not have.

I am so with you. I could also be ready by tomorrow. I really need a vacation. And patience is not my virtue either. Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[wrabitdad]

Hi All,

Count us in on this cruise.

We haven't had much time to post as both DW and I are working on major projects related to stimulus funding with real aggressive timetables. Lots of work and little play. So we're really looking forward to this cruise, is it time yet???

Traci - sent you a PM with FE list info.

Take care and see everyone soon.

Bob

 

[glindamood]

Hi All,

Count us in on this cruise.

We haven't had much time to post as both DW and I are working on major projects related to stimulus funding with real aggressive timetables. Lots of work and little play. So we're really looking forward to this cruise, is it time yet???

Traci - sent you a PM with FE list info.

Take care and see everyone soon.

Bob

Bob - we have sialed together before, we were on the southern as well. And, didn't we even dine together??? We would be David and Gail - and if we did dine together, we were the couple that always sat across from each other.

 

[LindaBabe]

Patience isn't one of my virtues either! Traci, how's it going, babe? Gail, ready for the next wedding?

 

[GoofyTraci]

Hi All,

Count us in on this cruise.

We haven't had much time to post as both DW and I are working on major projects related to stimulus funding with real aggressive timetables. Lots of work and little play. So we're really looking forward to this cruise, is it time yet???

Traci - sent you a PM with FE list info.

Take care and see everyone soon.

Bob

I have added your family to the list. We are happy to have you.

 

[GoofyTraci]

Patience isn't one of my virtues either! Traci, how's it going, babe? Gail, ready for the next wedding?

Thanks for asking. I am hanging in there. Just ready to kick back and relax on the magic.

 

[glindamood]

Patience isn't one of my virtues either! Traci, how's it going, babe? Gail, ready for the next wedding?

I am not quite over the last one but I think almost. You know that Christmas letdown, after all the gifts are opened, dinner done and everyone leaves - I had that last week (when I thought I would just be exhausted) and then this week the exhaustion set in. But, I think I have caught up on my sleep and am ready to begin thinking about the next one. Kristie's shower is the 15th so I do need to do some shopping regarding that and of course, I need to find a dress for the wedding. I didn't find that little pink number until about 3 weeks before Nick's wedding (way to go Coldwater Creek) so I have lots of time. I am heading to Ohio after Kristie's shower for a visit with my parents and there will be some power shopping done then so maybe I will find something early.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

 

[glindamood]

Page two?? Hardly! That will be us boarding 14 weeks from today!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Howdy everyone,
Its time to get this party started

We have just booked this cruise!! WOO HOO!!
We had 3 days of 105 degree weather so we decided we needed a cruise to cool off.
I am Kathy and DH is Greg, this will be DCL cruise #20 for us

Do we have a meet scheduled?
Is there a cruise list of everyone so I can learn who is who?
I am awefully nosey arnt I?

This is our 6th Eastern cruise so if anyone has questions I may be able to help. So please feel free to ask any questions you might have.

I see Linda and Bruce are here too. Hi Linda, it will be so much fun to see you again so soon. Linda, I just finished 2 more scrapbooks i gave as gifts. Now I am thinking about getting a Cricket to make it a bit easier and to make more options availabe. I love doing those books

Gail, I cant remember 100% because we have done so many cruises, but I think we may haved cruised with you once before or it may of been your sister I think?? So many wonderful people, so many cruises I sometimes get mixed up but your name is so familiar to me.

Count us in for the FE exchange. Traci, I will send you our info soon. Now I need to decide on what to give? I love those kinds of decisions!

I only read back a few pages but i believe Laurie asked about Blackbeards Castle excursion? We have done that excursion.
We really enjoyed it but it really has nothing to do with Blackbeard accept for some pirate statues.
You start off in small open air trucks and make a couple of stops for awesome views of the island and bay. Then you stop at the place referred to as Blackbeards castle which is just a small stone tower on top of a hill where Blackbeard did stay and watch out to sea for his enemies for awhile.
It is a tribute to him but NO castle there. So if your booking to show the kids a castle don't do it. Because they will be disappointed. It moves very fast too at this point of the excursion. We missed some of it.

Ater walking around the pirate statues you walk down many steps and tour a couple of old houses which are furnished in lovely old furnishings and your guide explains how people lived long ago there. Then we walked past a small back yard where they had an archological dig going on. Lots of stairs to walk down on this excursion.
By now your back down to a park setting where they turn you loose to walk to the shopping area, just a couple of blocks and can catch the tender there to go back to the ship or if you docked there is a small free bus to take you back to the pier area.
We as adults loved the excursion, lots of great history was shared with us and i love antiques.

If your kids are looking for a fort to see St. Croix and St. Thomas both have forts you can visit. Not sure if there i an actual excursion there or if you need to grab a cab but i know they are there.

Hope that helps you some.


Ok to finish introducing us, our kids are grown with families of their own so its just us coming. My kids now are furry and have 4 legs
We have lived in Florida for the last 9 years but we are now in Oregon for awhile. Family are here, so that is nice for us.

I love all things Disney and cruising
Our home in Florida was decorated with lots of Disney stuff and one bedroom was totally Disney themed for the grandkids when they visited. We even have silouettes of Mickey, Donald and Goofy on our pool deck

The neighbors really wonder about me sometimes
I just tell them I am a little kid in a old womans body and I refuse to grow up

I guess I have chattered long enough.

You'll soon see i post everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. I cant wait to meet everyone.

Kathy

 

[stampinshauna]

Welcome Kathy! I recognize your name, maybe we've cruise together before (Oct 04 or 05 maybe) or maybe I've just read some of your posts.

Do you have any great ideas of what to do with a 2 year old in St. Thomas (or St. Croix)? DH and FIL are going to SCUBA, so MIL and I are trying to decide if there is something great to do or see, or if we should should just wander through the shops at the dock.

 

[glindamood]

Kathy - Were we not on the Antigua Eastern shortened my Jeanne several years ago? I think so. Do you still have your place in Flordia or are you in Oregon full time? That is a pretty big weather change. You may have also cruised with Suzanne and Sherman (my DSIL), or maybe you have just seen her posts, our screen names are pretty similar.

OK. I have our "plans" all together at this point. I know what excursions I want and when I want to book Palo so I will be all ready come Sunday to log in and get that taken care of. How about the rest of you? We are going to snorkel in St. Thomas (to Buck Island) and do one of the land tours in St. Croix (the one that goes to the Cruzan factory, or would that be distillery?). Bring it on!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Welcome Kathy! I recognize your name, maybe we've cruise together before (Oct 04 or 05 maybe) or maybe I've just read some of your posts.

Do you have any great ideas of what to do with a 2 year old in St. Thomas (or St. Croix)? DH and FIL are going to SCUBA, so MIL and I are trying to decide if there is something great to do or see, or if we should should just wander through the shops at the dock.

Howdy Shauna,
We havnt been to St. Croix before so I cant speak for it but at St. Thomas the little ones love the butterfly farm, at least my grandson did. You ride a nice big bus there, not too long a ride and see lots of butterflies and they land on your hands and noses which the kids loved. Then a short shopping stop before returning to the port. I dont know how long it was, but not too long.
Also you might consider Coral Wrold. It is easy to do on your own if you dont want to go with a large group and follow their time schedule which can be hard with a 2 year old. The ships tour will take you there and do a semi sub to see lota of fish and the windows are large and easy for kids to see the fish.

The rest of the place is set up with Marine exhibits and off to one side is a sandy beach area where you can get your feet wet or they rent snorkeling gear. They also have snacks and souvenirs for sale. Little kids generally like to see colorful fish and theres plenty of room for him to stretch his legs, get tired and sleep all the way back to the port

I think they have a web site, www.coralworld.com and you can explore the site to see all thats offered there. If that doesnt work just google Coral world St. Thomas and a few sites will pop up. Thats where I learned about it, much better information there than on the cruise excursion site.

We did do an October cruise in 05 so perhaps we have crusied together before. Perhaps when we meet in person on this cruise we will remember for sure.

Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Kathy - Were we not on the Antigua Eastern shortened my Jeanne several years ago? I think so. Do you still have your place in Flordia or are you in Oregon full time? That is a pretty big weather change. You may have also cruised with Suzanne and Sherman (my DSIL), or maybe you have just seen her posts, our screen names are pretty similar.

OK. I have our "plans" all together at this point. I know what excursions I want and when I want to book Palo so I will be all ready come Sunday to log in and get that taken care of. How about the rest of you? We are going to snorkel in St. Thomas (to Buck Island) and do one of the land tours in St. Croix (the one that goes to the Cruzan factory, or would that be distillery?). Bring it on!

Howdy Gail, it may have been your SIL we cruised with. I just know your so familiar to both of us. Either way we are cruising together this time
Yes we are in Oregon full time for now. Greg has a good job here in housing construction and with the bad economy there arnt any good jobs in his field in our area of Florida right now. I was born and raised in Oregon, so I am use to the differences. I do hate the cold winters here though.

Later
Kathy

 

[glindamood]

Howdy Gail, it may have been your SIL we cruised with. I just know your so familiar to both of us. Either way we are cruising together this time
Yes we are in Oregon full time for now. Greg has a good job here in housing construction and with the bad economy there arnt any good jobs in his field in our area of Florida right now. I was born and raised in Oregon, so I am use to the differences. I do hate the cold winters here though.

Later
Kathy

OK -now it is really going to bug me until we figure this out. Don't you (or didn't you anyway) have really long hair? Could be I am just confused but I really don't think so - I can see us standing in Promenade (well, someone was there any I think it was you) at a DIS meet. Did you sail the week before Christmas in 2006 (I think it was that year, we got off the ship on 12/24/?? Gonna drive me

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

OK -now it is really going to bug me until we figure this out. Don't you (or didn't you anyway) have really long hair? Could be I am just confused but I really don't think so - I can see us standing in Promenade (well, someone was there any I think it was you) at a DIS meet. Did you sail the week before Christmas in 2006 (I think it was that year, we got off the ship on 12/24/?? Gonna drive me

YES YES YES!!!!

Accept i think it was 2005.
I did and still do have longer brown hair. Although now it has a lot of white and silver ( you notice I didnt say grey) highlights

We had our oldest DD and her family with us. Her name was Marie and I'll bet you would remember her because she had bright pink hair and it faded in the pools and left her pink on top and blonde on the rest

Your a genius You saved us from both going nuts
We had been talking earlier that we were sure we had met you and I have a brother with the same name as your husband which rang a bell too.

As Paul Harvey would say, Now you know the rest of the story


Maybe this will help. This is me and DH last November on the Magic on our anniversary.

Kathy

 

[glindamood]

YES YES YES!!!!

Accept i think it was 2005.
I did and still do have longer brown hair. Although now it has a lot of white and silver ( you notice I didnt say grey) highlights

We had our oldest DD and her family with us. Her name was Marie and I'll bet you would remember her because she had bright pink hair and it faded in the pools and left her pink on top and blonde on the rest

Your a genius You saved us from both going nuts
We had been talking earlier that we were sure we had met you and I have a brother with the same name as your husband which rang a bell too.

As Paul Harvey would say, Now you know the rest of the story


Maybe this will help. This is me and DH last November on the Magic on our anniversary.

Kathy

You are right on the year, it was an odd numbered year as we had been on the Wonder for Thanksgiving with DH's family. My son got engaged on that trip and is the one that got married a few weeks ago. Well, I am glad we got that one settled. I look forward to seeing you again. Yippee - glad we got to the bottom of that.