Are the new ships done yet? Here is the rest of Friday. Only one more day to go and I can plan my next vacation!!
Friday November 10th, cont…”oh no, not more scrapbookers”, it’s 10:30 pm, do you know where your family is?
Christine and I make our way into Shutters and the place is packed. You can’t even move. Immediately I’m thinking, “oh no, we’re never going to get everything done” but we soon realize that most of the people here are on line for late seating at Animator’s Palate. As soon as they open the doors for dinner, the place clears out and it’s basically empty. The whole ship is either at dinner or the show and there are only a few stragglers in Shutters.
We find our semi-formal pictures from the night before. The white background one is just OK. Tommy’s head is leaning the wrong way and the white shirts the boys have on blends into the background. The shots of my kids with the moonlight background are not good at all. We also find our pictures from a few hours ago on the beach. I find “the worst beach picture ever taken” along with the shots of the boys together and the girls together. These are all 6x8 size. Well, at least I finally have them all and can make some definitive decisions.
I don't believe I've posted this one yet so here it is:
Christine’s pictures from last night came out great. The shot of her kids where I went behind the photographer and made a fool of myself came out awesome. Both kids have real natural smiles and look really good. The shots of all 5 of them together also came out really good. Time to get to work.
We make our way to our spot on the floor and say hi to Bahar. She comments on our photo session from this morning and we show her the results. She’s pleased with how they came out but wished she could have done more with us.
We get comfortable on the floor. The first order of business is to pick the Christmas card shot. Since the semi-formal shots aren’t that good, I’m definitely going with a pirate picture and the “yo ho ho ho”. But…which shot? The one of all 5 of us or the one with just the kids? I haven’t sent out a family card since Tommy was a baby. The one of the kids is really cute but the family one is so unique. Plus, Kevin has the swords to his neck, which you just don’t find on too many Christmas cards.
I don’t know what to do. Christine is not much help. She never sends family shots b/c she hates every picture that she’s in. Bahar comes over to see what we’re up to. I hold up my two pirate shots and ask, “which one for my Christmas card?” Without hesitation, she points to the family shot and says with complete bewilderment, “it’s a card from the whole family, why wouldn’t you have the whole family in it?” Well, good question, that’s just what we do most of the time. Bahar cannot comprehend sending a Christmas card picture of kids only.
Since I have no reasonable answer for her, I pick the family shot. I mentally go through my mailing list and imagine people’s reaction to Chuck dressed up as a pirate. This is going to be fun!
Now it’s time for Christine’s Christmas card decision. I tell her in no uncertain terms that it has to be the white background shot with the kids laughing. She’s not sure. I tell her she’s crazy, it’s by far the best shot. She takes a good hard look at it. Then she notices it…I was really hoping she wasn’t going to notice it.
She sighs and says, “you can tell Kyle is wearing a clip-on tie.” You see, Kyle’s black clip-on tie was ever so slightly overlapping the collar of his shirt. So, what do I say to my neurotic friend? I say the stupidest thing possible:
“I knew you were going to make a big deal out of that!!” I yell at her.
“So you noticed it too!! That’s it, I can’t use this picture,” she says as she tosses it back on the pile.
Oh crap, why did I say that! Of course I noticed it but I notice these things because I’m sick. Nobody else in their right mind would even see it!
I try to tell her she’s being ridiculous but she’s convinced her whole mailing list will notice a slightly-skewed clip-on tie. The picture is now ruined for her because that’s all she’ll be able to see when she looks at it.
I look at Bahar, who has been surprisingly quiet through this conversation. I think she’s in shock.
She calmy asks Christine what other picture she is considering. Christine flips through her stack and comes up with the 2nd best picture, one that doesn’t even compare. Bahar reaches for the 2 photos and tells Christine the tie shot is much better.
Christine continues to shake her head. Bahar will not give up. It feels so good to have an ally in this! Bahar gets up and heads over to her co-workers behind the desk. She asks each one “which one for a Christmas card?” and every CM points to the tie shot. She then goes to the next cruiser in line and asks “which one for a Christmas card?” Cruiser points to the tie shot.
She goes to the next person in line and he looks at us on the floor and says “weren’t you two in here the other night?” Well yes, yes we were. “Have you spent your entire cruise in here?” he wants to know. OK buddy, just answer the question and move on!!
He points to the tie shot. Bahar finishes polling the entire room and comes back to Christine and tells her it’s the tie shot. But my friend still won’t budge, she’s still shaking her head. Oh for crying out loud!!
I try one last attempt and ask Bahar, “is it possible to photoshop the collar over the tie?” Bahar, who seems as desperate as me to convince Christine, walks it over to her co-worker and asks if he can photoshop it. He says he can, just leave the shot with him and he’ll do it tonight.
We confirm that he can photoshop the 8x10 and print the cards with the new image before we debark tomorrow. Hallelujah, she agrees to the tie shot!!
But now the all-elusive photoshop question has finally been answered! Christine doesn’t miss a beat and picks up her family portrait and asks if they can photoshop her double chin. Bahar fills out additional paperwork for the photoshopping of the double chin. Bahar informs us that all this will be ready by 7 am tomorrow morning. It becomes very clear that the Shutter’s staff doesn’t sleep the last night of the cruise. And they do this every week!
It is getting more crowded in Shutters and it’s getting late. We still need to decide on packages and what we’re taking home. I have a good amount of 8x10’s but not too many 6x8’s. We just didn’t take that many character photos. Plus I still have to fill out the paperwork for my cards.
I go up to the desk and wait behind a few cruisers. When it’s my turn, Bahar is helping someone else and I get a different Shutters CM. I tell him I want to order the pirate card but I’d love to see one in real life first. Is there a sample laying around that I can see? He tells me there isn’t, just what’s on the sheet. But the picture on the sheet is so small, you can’t really see the details. I’m concerned about the font. He insists there are no printed cards that I can see.
He hands me the form to fill out for ordering cards just as Bahar finishes with her customer. She comes over and shoos the other CM away from me. I lean in so he can’t hear me. “Bahar, it’s 9:00 on the last night of the cruise, are you telling me there are no other printed pirate cards waiting to be picked up?”
She opens up the cabinets and produces a stack of pirate cards waiting to be picked up. Thank you!! The card is very cute (my picture is way better of course!) but the font is all wrong for the theme. This card was printed with an arial font and it just doesn't look right. I ask Bahar if I can have the pirate font that’s on the sheet and she says to mark it on the order form.
There’s one last thing to discuss now that I’m filling out the order form. The shot is off-center to the left and the card has a red ribbon running through the picture on the right side. I want the family centered and the ribbon to be next to my head. Bahar is confused as to what I’m asking so I say “if I were scrapbooking this shot, I’d crop it right here” as I karate chop the picture with my hand to demonstrate.
The man who is standing next in line exclaims rather loudly, “oh no, not more scrapbookers!!”
Bahar looks at him and moves me over to the side where the counter raises on hinges for the CM’s to walk through. My photos are spread out on the counter and the CM’s begin ducking underneath the counter to get by. I feel bad and offer to move but they all say to stay, it’s no big deal. Christine has joined me at the counter with her photos as it’s apparent that Bahar is not helping anyone else until we leave. It’s getting crowded, but more importantly, it’s getting late. We still have to pack!
Just then, we see the guys and the kids enter Shutters…oh crap, the show is over and we’re still here (and we’re not done!). Christine is trying to hide behind me so Keith doesn’t see her. There’s nowhere for me to go so I just try to manage a smile. I’m a bit stressed so I’m sure it doesn’t look good. Chuck reads my expression and hurries the kids through before they notice us. Keith looks a little perturbed and I start feeling really guilty. No wonder Christine is hiding behind me…sheesh, how does Keith do that?
Bahar is still trying to understand what I’m saying about cropping so I turn my attention back to her. “So you want the picture cropped right here” as she takes a red sharpie and draws a line top to bottom on my photo. “Nooooo, you just drew on my picture!!!” I say in a stunned laugh. “Oh, we’ll just print you another one tonight,” she answers. She’s getting punchy just as we’re getting stressed.
Christine and I go through the rest of our pictures standing at the side of the counter. I don’t have enough 6x8’s for the package I’ve already purchased. Bahar takes out a calculator and informs me I’ll get a $12 credit if I just take the pictures I have in front of me. Well, that’s not much of a savings. For the package, I am entitled to 4 more 6x8’s. I tell Bahar that it’s not worth $12 and too bad I put all my shots in the slot of doom. She grins at me and hands me a ring of keys.
“I knew we would get to this point,” she tells me as she selects the magic key to open up our own personal slot of doom. I head over to the S of D, unlock it and see all of our discarded pictures from the last 2 days!
“I told them not to empty that one, that you’d be needing those pictures,” Bahar says.
I’m speechless. What a wonderful gesture. I love this woman!! So I retrieve “the worst beach picture ever taken” along with some more beach shots and I have a complete package. Believe me, it was worth $12 to have “TWBPET” to share in this trip report.
We’re pretty much done here. Bahar tells us to come back at 7 am to pick up our cards and our reprinted photos, including the photoshopped ones. I’m so glad to get out of Shutters, the place is a madhouse. Again, I think about how it’s not possible for the Shutters CM’s to sleep tonight.
Christine and I make our way down to the rooms. No sign of the guys and the kids. Time to start “packing” which in this case is defined as throwing as much stuff into 6 bags as fast as I can. I go through all the drawers, the bathrooms, the closets, the desktop…these rooms seemed really small when we first came in but now we have stuff in every nook and cranny possible!
I separate the stuff we’ll need for tomorrow but I can’t make it fit into the backpack, which I need to pack for the plane. So we’ll just have to carry the rolling duffle around with us in the morning. I check the clock, it’s 10:30 and still no sign of my family. These bags need to be out in the hallway by 11:00 and Kevin still has to do his nebulizer. After all, the kid ate ice cream tonight! That alone takes about 15 minutes…we are cutting it close, where are they??
I leave the room to go find them. For the hundredth time, the walkie talkies would have been helpful here. I go up to deck 9 and scan the Mickey pool…no family. I walk to the game room…no family. Now I’m convinced I missed them while I walked up here and they are back in the room waiting for me. So back down I go. Except they’re not there when I get there. Now I’m getting pissed. Why the h*ll does he have them out so late when Kevin has to nebulize?!
Just as I’m about to go knock on the Boots’ door, they come walking in. Because I’m a stressed-out lunatic mother, I immediately attack my husband with a verbal assault. He thought he was doing a good thing by keeping the kids away so I could get stuff done. Well yes, the theory was good but the timing was off. We get Kevin hooked up for breathing while Chuck goes into hyper mode checking drawers, bathrooms, closets and desktops. Yes, I've already done that but go ahead, check again.
I fill out the Minnie tags we were given and number them 1 through 6. You see, if I had actually paid attention and read the information, I would have known to tag them “1 of 6”, “2 of 6”, etc. But I missed that part and numbered them incorrectly. Oops.
Kevin finishes up his breathing, we throw the nebulizer in the suitcase, and throw our luggage in the hallway at exactly 11:05. By 11:06 they are picked up and out of sight. We tuck the kids in bed and I fall on our bed exhausted. Oh my God, tonight was waaaayyyyyy too stressful. Not fun, not happy, just stress.
Tomorrow we go home. But first I must run around in the morning…back to Shutters and up to breakfast. I’m exhausted. I need a vacation.
Up Next…that’s OUR ride baby, “where the h*ll did they park our minivan!!", and an unbelievable ending to an unbelievable trip
I can't take it!!! I said I was done making excuses so I can't even say anything. 
If it's any consolation, I've not allowed myself to plan Spring of 2008 until I finish this report. Needless to say, I've got no ressies and no plan!!
as soon as you finishes this tr it will be time for you next disney vacation another cruise 
me and a friend were reading yiur tr together and just cracking up
keep it up and plan your next vacation soon
.
