The Final Frontier (DCL without Young’ens)

[Steppesister]

Looking forward to it!

Especially after I got that counseling.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

See what you did Liesa? See?

Seems to be in her nature to turn over all the rocks and poke at sleeping critters.


No good tends to come from such actions, but from time to time the odd moment or two of excitement amidst all the unending monotony may show itself.

I believe you.

Now why on Earth would you do that?
No one I know personally believes a word I say.

Hope you don’t actually make a habit of believing stuff that you’ve read on-line.

Awwww... Soft kitty.

He really likes it when you rub his belly.



Go on…
Give it a try.

Wayyyyyy too tired to read now, so I'll swing back around when I have more of a will to live. This should sap that quite nicely.

Not a problem…


Pretty sure you ended up having plenty of time to work on it.

Yes. I recognized that this is going to look a whole lot like both of our TRs.

Not likely, mate…

Y’all’s are witty and entertaining.
Pretty sure, those two adjectives won’t be applied very often to my misbegotten ramblings.


Now stuff like “worthless dreck”, “abuse of the mother tongue”, “an insult to both literature and grammar”, or “ineffable effluvium”…

Now those descriptions will find a proper home within these confines.

Pointlessness must always be given a platform.

Or at the very least…


A scaffold.

Especially since it's currently rainy and 40 degrees outside as I type this.

Certainly things have improved since you actually typed that.




Right?

What about six?

Yep…
That’s a problem.
You’d need a couple of cabins or enough disposable mulla for one of the big suites.


Maybe a parent’s only cruse.
Or just go on and spend the kids trust funds and inheritance and do it any way.

Oh wait, I got it!
We’re all supposed to be getting a whole lot more wealthy and secure in the next year or so just slap it on the credit card and wait for all the extra cash to start rolling in later on.

You keep saying that, and we keep ignoring you.

Yeah…
Y’all are a right hard headed bunch.

But I’m just looking after you own welfare here.

Maybe not at work?

Maybe not…
But it was basically blurred out to the point where prime time television tends to be more suggestive.

Disney is always up on ways to cash in on a fad.

The Maniacal Mouse…
Disney has earned that sobriquet many times over.

And we’re all aware of it…
and gladly offer up our cash anyway.

The dining room is proud to present... your dinner.

Try the grey stuff…
(and maybe even the escargot…)

That's what I would have chosen as well.

I’d have been right properly stunned had you said otherwise.

See any hairy babies?

Hair of the dog… that I saw.
I needed a bit of that the next morning.

Not being a service animal, we had to leave our critter back on dry land.
He punished us for that when we got back though so don't be worrying too much on his account.

 

[pkondz]

Always good to know where you stand.

DANG IT!! Great. Now I've got that in my head for the rest of the day.

A little bit more truth:
December tends to be a bad month when it comes to battling the “monster” so I tend to check out (and November certainly didn’t do much good at preparing me for it).

Here when you need us!

 

[pkondz]

Seems to be in her nature to turn over all the rocks and poke at sleeping critters.

Nah. She's just evil.

Now why on Earth would you do that?
No one I know personally believes a word I say.

Hope you don’t actually make a habit of believing stuff that you’ve read on-line.

I said I believed you.
I didn't say it was a smart thing to do.

He really likes it when you rub his belly.



Go on…
Give it a try.

Okay!!!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Well, that was certainly an entertaining chapter. (That's where I"m starting)- a little food, a little entertainment, a bunch of tangents. ...

Thanks for the time you've invested in entertaining us.

Entertaining?

Has that become a synonym for unsettling?


Thank you all the same.
(misguided though the kind words may be)

Well now I'm crashing the party too!

But you were properly warned, so you might as well carry on.


Oh, and

All my other friends have been too busy with family and other holiday ramblings to update

It does tend to slow down a smidgen ‘round here in December.
Not generally to the extent that I tend to slow down during our calendar’s twelfth month (though it’s named in honor of the number 10), but the point is still valid.


I think…



Wait, what was I talking about?

(although I do owe @Captain_Oblivious a reply to his latest chapter with the Toddler serving Room Service)

Oh dear Lord…
I suspect that I’m now a couple chapters behind on that one.
So I shan’t be picking at you for not being caught up.

, but since I was on my phone and looking for entertainment, I popped over to the DCL board to see if there were any new reports on cruises on the Fantasy that I could use for research on my upcoming cruise.

Sensible...

I happened upon this report…

And I am sorry about that…

and took the last couple days to read through it

No!
Don’t do that.


Days?
Really?
Oh deary, dear… now I feel so bad for you.

and while I'm not sure that I will glean a lot of information before my upcoming cruise…

Well, I do have one that is completed which covers the same topic (just aboard the Dream).
Not that I’d suggest you actually read it, but it is there.

I’ve also been known to answer questions on the topic (even to the extent of giving away things from potential future posts), so feel free to toss out any queries you may have.

I couldn't help but get sucked in much the same way that you slow down on the freeway to look at an accident.

Ahhh…
I see that you are approaching this in the right spirit.
That description nicely personifies my work.

Now I’m not as worried about you.

First off, I envy and pity Max for his choice of Major.

And He appreciates both sentiments.
He’s got his concerns too, but wanted to take the risk.
I couldn’t do so myself, but I can let him take a crack at it.

I majored in saxophone performance back in the day.

I played reeds as well w-a-y back in the day (specializing in the bass & baritone variants)…
But the six-string is my true drug of choice.

Basically what that means is that I was learning to teach others to be unemployable except as "saxophone performance" majors, because we rarely learn jazz which is probably the only way that saxophonists could make a living.

Sounds about right.
I got lucky and drew a jazz major as my teacher in high school.
Loved learning from him, but going off to university afterward just wasn’t in the cards.

Even that is a risky business and I live in LA where studio musicians (those who could do it) can make a decent living.

Try doing such in the US Southeast…
I’ve already told him he ought to consider heading to Europe where music and art in general are still valued. Right now, he is focusing on becoming a teacher, preferably starting as an assistant in the high schools once he graduates. Given the Carolinas penchant for abusing and undervaluing both teachers and art, he knows that it ain’t gonn’a be easy, but music is the one subject that truly moves him. He’d prefer to play professionally, but is realistic about it. As a player he is good (very good). Only one or two folks on campus are in the same or higher realm on his horn of choice, but he’s not the single “best” around and there aren’t many spots for horn players. In that area he’ll have to contend with the Juilliard level folks and the vets that have been at it for decades fighting for the very few chairs available to classically trained musicians. He knows that’s going to be a battle.

I assume that you all are brass or percussionists, but probably brass players given your comments and propensity towards Drum Corps.

You’d think that wouldn’t you…
The boy is the trombone/baritone player. But oddly enough, I play guitars mostly (though I’m not “playing-out” right at this time). Back in my school days, it was bari-sax in the jazz band and bass clarinet in the concert ensembles. Thing is, the bass reeds spent a lot of time doubling low brass parts, and personality wise, I got along with those cats more so then the cliques dominating the higher register horns in my own section. But I was readily accepted as an honorary “bone-head”. My chosen evocation also meant that I was not eligible to be in a corp. But I still loved everything about marching bands and drum corps so I follow the goings on and try to stay a bit involved at distant levels (mostly through offered support). I even took my then fiancé (a piano player back in her youth) to a regional Corps show on the day that I proposed to her. It seemed only fair that she should know some of the lunacy that awaited her if she chose to stick around.

We didn’t push the boy toward music other than that there was much of it in the house and I was playing in various outfits on and off in my spare time (though going to watch dad play wasn’t his favorite thing, I mean, it’s just dad… how lame is that). We did make a point to settle and raise him in an area that had a history of supporting the music arts… In fact, one of the better national corps is actually headquartered in my dinky little home town and does much of its auditioning and learning on the fields of the local high school.

For the young’en’s part, he acquired the music disease himself when they did a recruiting demonstration at his elementary school for those rising up into junior high. After that he was hooked. He also went to a high school with one of the best programs in the state (and one that both mom and dad volunteered very heavily in supporting) so it just kind’a happened naturally.


Sorry…
That was a ton of likely unwanted information, but…
You did give me the opening to talk about it.

I’m odd that way.
Most folks I know, themselves, know very little about me.
Unless they mistakenly ask me a question.

Then they often get more than they bargained for.

I did work for a few decades in the industry, but ended up in sheet music before giving it all up for the "family business" which turns out to be much more lucrative, and less labor intensive.

And may it remain lucrative.
Cause then you can still play a bit on the side and that’s nearly as good as patronage.

Thank you for the history on the Oceanic,

You’re quite welcome.
You’ll find that ships are another thing that I geek out over
(feel free to ignore me when I go off on one of those tangents)

I was one who sailed on that ship. My honeymoon was on that ship and we had the highest level cabin on the ship, but the fact that a couple twenty-somethings could afford that cabin certainly said something about the line.

Very cool!
We honeymooned on a ship as well.
The (then brand new) RCCL “Nordic Empress” but we were way down on deck two in an interior cabin.
Still had a blast though.

Interestingly… that ship is still sailing and will start doing RCCL’s Havana cruses. But given her age, she is quite small and doesn’t have the modern stabilizers that will make western Caribbean itineraries a smooth sailing.

It was nothing like DCL.

Not much is…
But you do have to pay the premium for being on a ship that isn’t partially funded by casinos and heavy pushed liquor sales

It was my first cruise and quite substandard to DCL. I remember the carpeting in the grand suite, was similar to what you found in the HS band room. I'm glad Disney took over their own line because it is quite an improvement!

You and me both.
They learnd much from the experience about ship operations.
Hotel and entertainment was already their wheelhouse so it made good sense to partner up at first and then apply that learning to their own venture.

Your Drum Corp post was interesting.

Really?
I figured I’d lose most everyone on that one.
But I couldn’t resist.

I haven't been to a Drum Corps show in years. The husband (with whom the honeymoon mentioned above was shared with) got kicked to the curb 20+ years ago.

And I’m sure your’ much better off.
On the curb kicking that is… you need to get back to a corps show sometime though.

He was Blue Devil Alumni and I think the last time I saw a Drum Corps show was with him.

Ahhh, the Devils…
They are very good to be sure.
Very good… NY Yankee good... that is to say: too good.
I very much respect that organization, but I do like when one of the other corps gets around their dominance.

So Cal's only Drum Corp folded many years ago so we rarely get visiting corps, although there are lots of folks here who love it. Since they never admitted my kind, I never got very attached.

As I related…
I know the feeling. But I was still hooked (at least into following)

Which corps was operating in your area back in the day?
Our local group is the Carolina Crown; one of the most passionate and ferocious performance ensembles out there these days.

The Fantasy is the last ship we have to explore (until the next one is released), and I'm looking forward to hearing more if you can share any more updates!

My slowness may be a problem here, but I’ll answer questions.
Fantasy and Dream are extremely similar. Having sailed on Dream, you’ll have no problems navigating aboard the younger sister.

I've enjoyed reading and hope you can put out some more. So far yours has been the most interesting of all the reports I'm subscribed to

Well gawrsh…

as you are not interested in the parties, you brought your own liquor (although this is no longer allowed), and you don't care to be paired with others. I'm especially interested in your take on the various adult spaces and how the kids impact things.

I hate that they changed the booze policy. That is indeed unfortunate.
While out there we did one of the alcohol tastings that are offered (and I’ll get to that in a while) and enjoyed it very much.

In general our experience with all of the adult spaces was very positive. They are considerably quieter and more relaxed. During the daylight hours kids are allowed in the club spaces (preferable with some supervision) but there really isn’t that much in those areas to interest them so they generally steer clear. As for the adult deck spaces, again these parts of the ship tend not to have as much that interests the typical young’en so usually the kids are just passing through on their way to or from cabins or elevators.

Let me say this about Serenity Bay…
Bring surf shoes. You’ll need ‘em.
Other than that, it too is a wonderfully relaxing and laid back experience.

Any other questions or points of curiosity on specific venues?

We sailed on the Dream a year ago and it was awful kidwise. Most of our cruises have been on the Wonder and we have been easily able to avoid noisy and obnoxious children, even though we like character meets. On the Dream kids were everywhere, even the adult areas, parents thought it was OK to walk through the pool area with their kids and dawdle, and the CMs let them. I never saw that on the Wonder and I hope that it's better on the Fantasy!

I hope so as well.
Like I said, that wasn’t our experience, at least not aboard Fantasy.
That may be related to it being the ship that works the longer cruses. The sheer expense of it may well impact the number of groups with kids that can actually pull it off. I can see where the CM’s wouldn’t want to get into a fracas with someone’s precious, but you do wish folks would just play by the rules. The areas are clearly marked but even that won’t stop every one.

 

[Susan R]

Please, please keep posting updates. I'm loving this trip report. The detail is wonderful! I may never go on a cruise but I can daydream!

Susan

 

[Steppesister]

Entertaining?

Has that become a synonym for unsettling?


Thank you all the same.
(misguided though the kind words may be)

Well, I suppose in some circumstances, yes. Misguided though. Au contraire!