September 22, 2007 -- WESTERN

[eva]

Just remember Karen, when you get grandchildren they are God's gift to you for not killing your own. Love our children, but the grands are a lot more fun.

Amen, Mike! As a matter of fact, I am up early at 5:30 am waiting for my DD to bring over my DGD for the day. Her Mommy and Daddy are going fishing and I get her for most the day! Yippee!! She is so sweet!

11 weeks from today, 77 days from today we will be chomping at the bit to board the Magic. Mike

I can't believe it, only 77 days! And only 75 days until we leave home!

Karen, did you say you are leaving for Spain on Tuesday? Or are you leaving this weekend? Just be sure to have a safe trip. We will sure miss you on the board.

 

[CustardTart]

Have a great day with your DGD, Eva!

...Karen, did you say you are leaving for Spain on Tuesday? Or are you leaving this weekend? Just be sure to have a safe trip. We will sure miss you on the board.

OMG I'm going to miss you guys sooo much! Yes, I'm off on Tuesday afternoon with both my DSs - DH joins us next weekend for the remaining 3 weeks and our DD will be popping over for the final week so it's a real family affair. We go to the same place most years (we own 4 weeks timeshare there) and it's a beautifully maintained white-painted resort with fantastic landscaping - I'll share some photos when I return...

 

[papa]

Karen be sure to get some photos of Richard in his speedo and tights, rehearsing for his role in the virgin protecting service while in Spain. Most of us that are large waisted men, will fit right in with the pregnant ladies.

Please for those that do the online check in, do not forget to print out the necessary paperwork to take to the port with you. Also I am sure that we will be tendering in Grand Cayman. If you take a back pack ashore, get an inexpensive poncho and take it with you for those unexpected tropical rain storms. It can be sunny one minute and have a down pour the next. Mike

 

[papa]

We will be in port in Grand Cayman with the Carnival Legend according to this website.http://www.caymanport.com/schedule.htm According to the port authority there we will be arriving at 6:15am and departing at 5pm. I know our schedule that is sent with the confirmation is different, but that gives them time to clear customs and such before we disembark. Mike

 

[Lucky Penny]

I think I'm going to have to keep that in mind over the next few months, Mike! My eldest DS (almost 22) has returned to live with us full-time after spending most of the last 3 years away at Uni - he doesn't have a job yet and is spending way 2 much time under my feet. I love him dearly but I love my space too! Once the summer's out of the way, he's promised faithfully to hunt down employment with energy and determination...

Karen, I know just what you mean about loving them dearly - and still needing your space My youngest DS moved back twice - once at age 20, from school in Minnesota, stayed for almost 2 years, then last summer (age 24) when his landlady unexpectedly gave 4 weeks notice that she was moving to California He asked if he could stay with us 'if he didn't find another place by the end of the month' - and of course we said, "Of course!" at which point he STOPPED LOOKING! He moved again about 3 months later, and he's happy in his new place. We have three DSs, one DDIL and one DD living fairly close which is nice, one DD and DSIL living in Utah and one DS, DDIL and two DGDs in Florida, which is hard for us - and they hardly notice

Amen, Mike! As a matter of fact, I am up early at 5:30 am waiting for my DD to bring over my DGD for the day. Her Mommy and Daddy are going fishing and I get her for most the day! Yippee!! She is so sweet!

Eva, I hope you enjoyed your day with DGD - we miss ours so much now that they moved to Florida - but that just gives us more reasons to travel to Orlando every chance we get!!

Have a great day with your DGD, Eva!
OMG I'm going to miss you guys sooo much! Yes, I'm off on Tuesday afternoon with both my DSs - DH joins us next weekend for the remaining 3 weeks and our DD will be popping over for the final week so it's a real family affair. We go to the same place most years (we own 4 weeks timeshare there) and it's a beautifully maintained white-painted resort with fantastic landscaping - I'll share some photos when I return...

Karen, I know you'll have a wonderful time! We'll miss you too - and look forward to hearing all about it and seeing some pictures when you get back!

Please for those that do the online check in, do not forget to print out the necessary paperwork to take to the port with you. Also I am sure that we will be tendering in Grand Cayman. If you take a back pack ashore, get an inexpensive poncho and take it with you for those unexpected tropical rain storms. It can be sunny one minute and have a down pour the next. Mike

Mike, thank you again for all the wonderful tips!

 

[papa]

Good morning all. Hope that everyone has a great day.

Karen, enjoy your holiday in Spain with your family. I know that everyone on the thread will miss you. Take lots of photos and maybe you can bring a few with you on the cruise, or post some to a website.

Penny, and all the rest of our fellow cruisers, make sure that you all stay hydrated while you are enjoying your vacation. I know that sometimes we forget to drink enough fluids. It is easy to forget while you are having fun, but heat exhaustion is no fun. Old people like me on fluid pills, have to keep one eye on our fluid intake, and the other on the restroom locations. (That is Loo to you Karen dear), or water closet to our other European friends.

English and American's have some different sayings for the same thing. We call the storage area of our auto's a trunk. In England it is call a boot I believe. In Tennessee we say tater, everyone else says potato. We say diaper, other people say nappy. We all speak the same language when it comes to cruising, FUN Mike

 

[American Scrapper]

Hello everyone!! Just popping in real quick to see what's up. I haven't been on much with so much running this summer between baseball and swimming. Whew! I will need this vacation!!!

I just booked the Fury Catamaran in Cozumel and was wondering if anyone has done this yet? If so, do you know what beach they go to afterwards? We were undecided between this and the dune buggy excursion, which we had booked the last 2 times we tried to get to Cozumel.

Kathy

 

[American Scrapper]

Hi again! Just reading through some of the old posts that I missed.

Karen enjoy your holiday in Spain!!

Stacy - I'm so glad Tegan will be joining us!! She is a doll!! I am sure that there will be plenty of people around to keep an eye on her! LOL!

Kathy

 

[FatCat]

There seem to be a lot of people from IL on this board. We should have rented a giant RV. We could then stop halfway at Mike's house(aka papa).

 

[bbaltes]

Howdy, Cruisers!

I guess it's about time our family comes out of the shadows and announces that we've been looking at all your posts for a while now!

We're excited to be going on our second cruise with the Ear-minator.

We'd love to connect with any families in our area prior to the cruise for a get together so that Lily can get to know people before we actually set sail.

She was ok with the kids activities, but wasn't overjoyed - only because she didn't know anyone there. It would be great to have some contacts prior to coming there.

We'll be coming in the day before, like last year, and arriving at MCO around noon. We're taking a limo and would be glad to share the cost to and from. We're staying at Cocoa Beach the night before. Just too scared to try and fly from up here that day... so much could happen.

Looking forward to meeting all of you...

Ben - DH (baba - that's Chinese for dad)
Jenny - DW (mama - well, that's obvious)
Lily - DD4.5 (our little xiao bao bao - "little treasure" in Chinese)
Sun Prairie (outside of Madison), WI

Eastern on the Magic - 9/2/06
Western on the Magic - 9/22/07

 

[susan514]

There seem to be a lot of people from IL on this board. We should have rented a giant RV. We could then stop halfway at Mike's house(aka papa).

Raising my hand, I have been lurking for some time. It is my DH John and myself and this is our third cruise. Hey Mike, remember sitting next to you on our first cruise in 2001 in Palo's for brunch. I think we may even be in some of your pics

We live in the northern suburbs of Chicago and I used to work at a Disney store before they were sold. I now work at Pottery Barn Kids, have for 3 years.

Our DD Diane was married just last weekend, which has kept us busy but I am known as a "lurker"

I really need this vacation

 

[FatCat]

We are staying at Country Inn and Suites nite before the the cruise. 9/21.
Flying out of MKE on Midwest express at 2:35p.
9 of us. Covering many age groups

2,5,13,16,21,33,35, 40+ , 40+




Who knows I may bump into one of ya.

bbaltes - Both me and my wife are UW-Madison Alumni.

 

[papa]

Welcome aboard to all of our new cruisers and lurkers.

Susan i will have to locate those photo's to refresh my memory.

Hope that everyone is having a great weekend. Mike

 

[scrapperjill]

OMG.....We have so many new cruisers joining our group. Well....not all are 'new' to cruising but...'new' to our group Anywho....WELCOME everyone.

I have to say...Papa (Mike) I too have been enjoying all of your bits of information and tips your sharing. There have been many great ones mentioned. Now about one of the last ones you posted...the one reguarding keeping hydrated. I don't recall having any trouble keeping a 'drink' in hand...but I guess I may need to rethink the drink that is in hand. I don't know how well you keep hydrated with those "Drinks of the day"

Nachi Cocum....that was one we were looking into maybe doing. I'm thinking I'd better get looking a little more and decide on something

Karen....Have a GREAT time on your holiday I can't wait to see some photos when you get back.

 

[susan514]

Welcome aboard to all of our new cruisers and lurkers.

Susan i will have to locate those photo's to refresh my memory.

Hope that everyone is having a great weekend. Mike

If you have any pics from our cruise to octoberfest, I will let you know who we were.

I don't know if Mike has told you all about that cruise. We were the first 7 day cruise after 9/11. We all were waving American Flags for sailaway that the group had brought. It was touch and go, we all had no idea if there even was a cruise. It was very strange, especially since we had coast guard helicopters escorting the ship out of the harbor.

 

[CustardTart]

aboard Ben, Jenny and Lily and Sue and John!!!

Nice to have you guys along - the more the merrier...

 

[eva]

aboard Ben, Jenny and Lily and Sue and John!!!

Nice to have you guys along - the more the merrier...

Couldn't say it any better! Welcome to all!

 

[#1 Minnie Lover]

Welcome to the newbies!!

Mike- Thanks for the excellent info, keep it coming.

We just got back from a trip to Orlando on Saturday, very relaxing. Got me thinking about our cruise and wondering if everyone will be doing MNSSHP. While living in Orlando I never went but would like to now. Not sure how dd would do since she will only be 16 months old and it is from 7pm- 12am but it is for dh and myself right? She can sleep in the stroller as we push it.

The schedule shows 9/21 the night before the cruise and 9/28, the day we get back. Question: would you go the night before the cruise and risk being tired the next day OR book for the night we get back? We won't be able to check into a hotel until around 4ish and MNSSHP doesn't start until 7pm so what to do for so many hours??

What do you all think?

 

[FatCat]

The halloween hard ticket event I believe will actually start to let you in earlier than 7pm. So you can have a few hours of park time. I think it is 4pm or 5pm. Not sure.

I would say since you get kicked off the ship so early to check into the hotel and relax for the afternoon and then goto the Halloween party that evening after the cruise. It is a bit of gamble. It all hinges on you being able to get early check in to the room.

 

[disneyfan551]

The schedule shows 9/21 the night before the cruise and 9/28, the day we get back.

Actually, we don't get off the ship until 9/29, and there is no Party that night. We'll be going on 9/21, and will be the exhausted ones on the ship that day!