Traveling the WB Repo 2008 with an ex - FINISHED with PICS

littleaussie

I tell people my daughters are 75% American and 25
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
Messages
346
Greetings and welcome! You are entering the very private mind of a fellow OCD Disney cruise mate. Unfortunately for you, it’s an interesting journey to say the least. This is my, er, my daughter's that is, school report on our trip through the Panama Canal - Westbound - departing May 10, 2008. So grab some popcorn, and stay a while. . . popcorn::

Let’s start with intros, shall we? Main menu – Jolene – 32 y.o. divorced mother of 2, recently returned stateside after 9 years overseas. I am unoficially a computer/support worker for a college. My official title, though, (which I don't get paid for) is Disney Commando Trip Planner. Our first cruise was a 4 night Wonder trip in January of 2006.

DD6 (I refer to her as :dogdance: )and DD3 (She is :ccat: ) ***I just spent 10 minutes looking for a kitty icon, the Cheshire cat was the closest I could find!*** – transplanted Australian bush babies to the land of wind chills, snow and ice, you know. . . Northwest Minnesota. DD3 has an Australian accent, which I can’t figure out when technically, she has only lived from ages 0-6 months and 18 months-2yrs in Australia. The rest of her time has been spent in Minnesota learning “Yah, sure, by golly, you betcha, uffda”. DD6, her only trouble is learning to speak the words correctly, saying “Zee” instead of “Zed”, cookie instead of bikkie, breakfast instead of brekky, snack time instead of smoko :goodvibes .

X – is that how I refer to him as?, 36 y.o., Australian cattle rancher. Despite our differences, we still remain friends, even though we have split.

DM and DF – early 60s, my parents. The first cruise we took was with all 6 of us together.

After our very short 4 day cruise, we returned to a blizzard in Minnesota and swore on a snowman that if Disney every decided to go through the Panama canal again, we would be on that ship.

Fast forward to January of 2007: I was going through a rough time, with my decision to leave Australia and return to MN. I was a lurker on the Disboards after our first trip and to my surprise, in early January, I found the whisperings of a specialty cruise for summer of 2008. Due to the fantastic detective work of those disers, I learned that Disney was indeed, going through the canal again. This info gave me a place to retreat from the realities of moving. Bad news though Jolene, my final moving/return trip to the USA was on January 30th, 2007 – 1 day before the repo cruise goes on sale! No problem, I would be able to handle it right?

I decided this was much too important to leave in the hands of a travel agent. We arrived back in MN to -30 degree temps (leaving 110 degrees in Australia) at 9 p.m. The car ride to my parents’ house was 5 hours. Finally fell into bed at 4 a.m. on the 31st. Not to worry, I was sure I would be up in a few hours to get on the phone. I woke up at 11:30, yikes :headache: !!!! Immediately I got on the phone to wait and also jumped online. Only waited on the phone about ½ hour for a quote but it was odd that I got a better deal online. Trip details: May 10, 2008 Westbound Repositioning Cruise, Gty category 6 for my parents and Gty category 11 for the rest of us.

Before I left, my ex had expressed an interest in going on the cruise with us. We both signed an agreement, written in red crayon on a coloring page, that we would behave as adults on the cruise and get along. At this point, I am not too worried, I mean I still have the document of proof in my safe.

Wanna see a pic of us??


P1020329.jpg



I've updated each of my colored posts with pictures.
 
Ooohhh, this should be fun, :rotfl: :lmao: Your a brave soul. But really if you both are still friends it shouldn't be too bad.:confused3 The girls will have a great time with the whole family being there. By they way they are really cute. So see you ex did something right.:rotfl2:
 
Maybe a wedding renewal is on the cards :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

I'm sure that you will get on fine
:wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard:

Hope you are doing a trip report

the girls are lovely
have a great time :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
 
I will be on that same trip with my wife and some friends. If things go bad for you, you can always join my friends and I in Rockin Bar D at night. we will be closing it every night.
 

Maybe a wedding renewal is on the cards :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

I'm sure that you will get on fine
:wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard:

Hope you are doing a trip report

the girls are lovely
have a great time :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

Wedding renewal? I think that is what my parents are hoping for! :lmao:
I hope to do a daily update from the ship


Ooohhh, this should be fun, :rotfl: :lmao: Your a brave soul. But really if you both are still friends it shouldn't be too bad.:confused3 The girls will have a great time with the whole family being there. By they way they are really cute. So see you ex did something right.:rotfl2:

Thanks for the compliment, I think I'll keep them. . .
I will be on that same trip with my wife and some friends. If things go bad for you, you can always join my friends and I in Rockin Bar D at night. we will be closing it every night.

Now that is a great suggestion! I think I will have plenty of free time on my hands, so I may look you all up some nights at the bar. I may need a few drinks throughout the cruise to keep my sanity.
 
So now I have booked the trip for all 6 of us. I sat my parents down and proceeded to have the following conversation –

Me: Well I booked us on that Repo cruise for next May
My dad: What???
Me: You know, we talked about it all this month and you said you wanted to go!
Dad: Well I didn’t think you would book it so soon, I thought we’d have time to think about it.
Me: Dad, the cabins are sold out, there was no time to think about it. Besides, I booked you in a Category 6 with a nice verandah. And you can think about it for the rest of the year, the balance isn’t due until next February.
Dad: How much is that gonna cost me?
Me: Well it was a little more than for the 4 of us in a Category 11.
Dad: How much more?
Me: Not much
Dad: Jolene. . . (with that warning tone)
Me: Umm, well only about 2.5 grand more than us
Dad: What?????
Me: OK, I will pay part of your cabin for the use of your verandah, and as a backup if I have to sleep somewhere else

At this point I felt a little bit guilty. I really really wanted the verandah, but I knew it was out of our price-league. So I did the next best thing and booked my parents on the verandah, I knew they would appreciate it. Since then, they told me they would have been happy with an inside room, but I talked them out of that reasoning. Hence, the explanation for why I was offering to help pay part of the verandah cabin.

My ex had mixed feelings about the trip but promised to come through with ½ of our cabin price. I was getting fed up with everyone, they had all said they wanted to come but then were wishy-washing about my assertiveness in snagging the very last 2 cabins available. Ok maybe not but I saw how crazy it was on the disboards before and later on the morning of booking. I was not gonna sit on my butt and think about it, I’m a woman of action.

The rest of the year was spent finding a job, finding a place to live, going back to school, all that boring stuff that gets in the way of my cruise dreams. I also decided to transfer our reservations to DU, after seeing the OBC offered for the repo. I have not had any trouble with doing so, all my inquiries were answered promptly and we were able to be switched to main dining like I had requested. DUs credit, combined with my booking on line credit, combined with the Disney Visa credit has given us a pretty good deal.

After that initial hesitation, no one in my family has cared one bit about the reservations I am making or decisions I go through with. They are resigned to the fact that I know more than they do when it comes to this stuff and I have the disboards to fall back on if I need more info.

I did ask my ex if he would help pay for my verbal agreement in paying part of the parents’ cabin. He was not receptive to that idea, I wonder why? :confused3 Geez, all he would have to do is sell about 20 extra head of cattle this year and it would be covered! I should have demanded the money from the sale of all those bottle calves I nursed back to health while I lived over there. . . missed opportunity!

Anyway, until next time, I’ll leave you with a photo of my baby joey. . .



roo001.jpg
 


Now that is a great suggestion! I think I will have plenty of free time on my hands, so I may look you all up some nights at the bar. I may need a few drinks throughout the cruise to keep my sanity.


Please join us. We are all really laid back people. Looking forward to seeing you on the ship in two weeks.
 
Hi Jolene. Looking forward to meeting you. Can't believe it is just 2 weeks tomorrow!!!
 
Still looking forward to meeting you Jolene and getting our girls together!

Getting close now!
 
Jolene - I know I've told you this before but it bears repeating.

So glad you are coming along for this journey. It will be a good thing for you. We'll get you to relax and have fun! :thumbsup2

BTW - thanks for posting the Joey again :love: :lovestruc
 
Jolene - Looking forward to meeting onboard.

Woody
 
Jolene, it sounds like you've got an interesting time ahead of you! We're looking forward to meeting you on the ship!
 
On board for your trip report!! I cannot wait to see how everything goes with your ex. Nice to hear that you two can remain friends. Good luck with your planning and your trip.


Melissa
 
This should be an exciting trip! Can't wait to hear about it!

I'll try to keep you updated!

Hi Jolene. Looking forward to meeting you. Can't believe it is just 2 weeks tomorrow!!!

Marilyn, I am anxious to meet you and John. Hope you are ready!

Still looking forward to meeting you Jolene and getting our girls together!

Getting close now!

Ken and Shannon, your girls are adorable! I loved the dresses Shannon has been making for them!


Jolene - I know I've told you this before but it bears repeating.

So glad you are coming along for this journey. It will be a good thing for you. We'll get you to relax and have fun! :thumbsup2

BTW - thanks for posting the Joey again :love: :lovestruc

Monica, thanks for the compliments. And THANK YOU for heading up our bracelets team, it's been fun! Since you love the joey so much, I'm thinking a surprise is in the making!
 
Jolene - Looking forward to meeting onboard.

Woody

Woody, I hope I can meet you and Mrs. Woody onboard sometime.

Jolene, it sounds like you've got an interesting time ahead of you! We're looking forward to meeting you on the ship!

Tracy, can you believe how close it is now??

very cool!!

V, hope you're all packed!

On board for your trip report!! I cannot wait to see how everything goes with your ex. Nice to hear that you two can remain friends. Good luck with your planning and your trip.


Melissa

Thanks, Melissa. We'll see how it goes but I'm sure it will be fun anyway!
 
When I last left you, I was struggling with getting my family’s commitment to cruising with me. I am happy to report that my threats and tears worked and they all agreed to commit. From what I remember, final payment was due around the same time of the 90 day booking mark (for Castaway Club members). I collected everyone’s shares and put the entire final payment on my Disney Visa, so I could receive the onboard credit.

With the booking date coming up soon, I lurked on the disboards to see what everyone was going to do. Most of my fellow cruisers were going to stay up late and book on-line. I didn’t. I wish I could say I had a hot date going that night and was occupied but that wasn’t the case. I simply fell asleep at my usual time and didn’t think about it until that Monday morning. Now I am glad I didn’t, it sounded like a nightmare!

But that Monday morning, I was able to book everything I wanted except Palo’s brunch. All 6 of us are booked through Disney for the Acapulco Highlights Shopping & Cliff Divers tour on May 19th. I also scheduled an Ionithermie Cellulite Reduction for the first sea day we have. I have this vague hope that it will make me skinny enough so I don’t have to wear my super-shaping swimsuit I recently bought.

A few weeks later, I decided to book my 6 year old daughter and I on a Castaway Cay Stingray experience, and we have the latest appointment at 3:00. She has mixed feelings about this because she saw the news when we were living in Australia that The Crocodile Hunter had died. But on the other hand, she really wants to get up close and personal with them. Rest assured, I am not forcing her to do this, it was her request. I also checked the website and booked a Palo night, but I won’t let on who it is with!

Using my parents’ reservation, I tried to get Palo brunch several times for my Mom and me but there were simply no openings ever! I hope to be able to snag a reservation for brunch the day we board the ship.

For the rest of the ports, I am simply going to walk around town or maybe catch a cab to a beach.

While booking all these exciting ventures, I found that I had been assigned a stateroom!!! :banana: Category 11 on deck 7. My parents had not been allocated a room yet but that was ok. I did find it odd that we were given a stateroom and everyone else wasn’t assigned one until a few weeks ago.

My only complaint is that when my parents were assigned their room, they were on deck 5. I looked at the layout of the ship and see it was very possible to put us across the hall from a Category 6 but we weren’t, even though our reservations are linked. Now if I have to flee our room, I have to go down 2 decks and to the opposite end of the ship. Well maybe that long walk will cool me off. . . :headache:

I also booked our flights and motel. We are flying Northwest from Minneapolis to Orlando on May 9th, arriving at 3 p.m. We then booked Cocoa Beach Shuttle to take us to the Best Western Cocoa Beach, where we will stay the night before.

My dad has assured me he would take care of transportation and a motel once we reach San Pedro. I booked our flights back for Memorial Day, so we will have one night to stay in LA. To this date, he has not made any definite plans. This has driven me crazy but I can’t book anything myself because my credit card is maxed out!

Next installment: Dis-activities we signed up for. . . :cheer2:

Another roo for you to enjoy, this one was called Skippy:


roo2003.jpg
 
We will be on the EB Panama Canal Cruise and I can't wait to read your TR. Lots of details please. I know I would be going crazy this close to my trip. I am sure you will have a great time. Our 90 day booking date is May 19 while you are on your cruise and hopefully Disney will have all the bugs worked out of their online booking system. :rotfl2: :rotfl2:
 


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