December 4,2004 !!!

[lbgraves]

OK, here is the DIS meet info so far. It has been rather spread out.

Saturday 3 - 3:30 ~ Some DISers will be meeting around the Mickey pool.

Saturday 4:30 ~ Meet at sail away at Goofy pool. Wear green Mickey heads to ID you as a DISer.

Monday 1:30 - 2:30 ~ Wine & Cheese meet for adult DISers in stateroom 8522 hosted by flexsmom. BYOB of wine or your drink of choice. Please RSVP in this thread so that we will know how many people to expect and can order the appropriate amount of cheese and treats.

Perhaps we could get a group picture done after the wine & cheese. Down by the tree maybe?

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

We will definitely be at the Mickey pool at 3:00 and the Goofy pool at 4:30. However, I am not sure about the wine & cheese on Monday. I have to speak to my husband about that. At this point, I do not think my children will be spending too much time in the clubs.

Thanks also for the lime green head!!!

 

[LindaBabe]

"George Leppla
October, 2004

We were one of the first ships back into Grand Cayman after Hurricane Ivan. I wanted to get away from the city area to see what damage has been done so Becca and I took the public bus system. To get a bus you walk left from the tender pier, turn right at Colombian Emeralds and go the Post Office where you turn left and walk 2 blocks. The bus area is there and there is a person who will explain the system to you. Basically, there are two "loops"... east and west. The west loop takes about one hour to complete and the east about twice that. The fare is $2.50 US for the west and $5 US for the east. You pay this fare no matter how long you stay on the bus... so you can ride the entire loop for one fare. If you get off, you pay another fare when you get back on. There are lots of bus stations along the main roads but the buss will stop anywhere if you wave to the driver. These vans are small and cramped but the people and drivers were friendly. The countryside in Grand Cayman is devastated. The hardest to replace damage is the large, old trees that have literally been uprooted and flattened. Thousands of palms are gone as well as other varieties. Things grow fast in the Caribbean climate so the underbrush and smaller plans will come back quickly but the big trees will take years to re-establish. Whole buildings are gone. Many of the stores in the surrounding areas are closed as are many of the hotels. I think that by the end of the year that the island will be mostly back in business but it will be a long time before they recover from this storm."

I was hoping for GC too, because I want to help support their recovery with my dollars, but it looks like opportunities for spending may be few and far between.

If I can be spared from my group, I'd love to come to the wine and cheese!

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

We will be sure to give extra tips to the people we encounter there. How sad.

 

[lbgraves]

Just another reason that we shouldn't be rushing back to GC. I think that we will just make this day our additional day at sea without any rocking.

 

[AnnMorin]

But we will do captain marvins shipwreck snorkel. Did the stingrays before (they are great BTW Gloria)

I am back in my funk again, thank goodness the last of our preschool feasts is over, I am SO looking forward to sleeping tomorrow morning. Haven't done a thing about packing I guess I will have to get on the stick this weekend.

I can't commit to any of our get togethers right now, I am sure my attitude will change when I get to the ship but at the moment I just can't even think of socializing. I know what phyliss looks like so I can find you all

Gloria I sent you a pm.

 

[smwf71]

Sue - I am so glad your son is OK!

All of the people in a "funk" - only ten days left and you can relax at sea! I am worn out a bit myself, but I'm sure the holiday baking I'm about to do will gear me back up!

Lisa- I'm glad your six year old eats the same as mine - Cassidy was exactly like him with baby food! Carrigan got 5 shots today, so she is ready for this trip - they even had flu shot left.
I hope my DN, Barrett, 6 and Cassidy can play with your DS. I think we may stay in for GC, too. I am quite concerned about Carrigan and the beach anyway.

OK - I need to unpack from my trip to Meijer - I found Mickey Mouse candy canes to give to our kids from Mickey - I think we'll tie a clus or note from Mickey to find another small souvenier in the stateroom each day.

See you real soon!

Shawn

 

[flexsmom]

Sue - so glad to hear your son is OK - I can't even imagine how scary that would be as a parent!

I'm so ready to go on this trip - ridiculously stupid things are now happening to me, indicating it is TIME for a vacation! I was rear-ended on the way to work by a scary guy who I really don't want to have my address info! At least it happened in front of the fire station and the paramedics witnessed the whole thing while washing the ambulance! I can't do anything else but laugh hysterically and accept that God truly wants me to APPRECIATE this time with my family!

DCL called to canx our Atlantis sub excursion on GC - think I mentioned that before. I substituted the Nautilus half-submerged sub because I wanted to show DD some sea-life, but now I'm hearing that the H2O is so roiled up that it's still hard to really see anything. I'm thinking that yet another relaxing day on the ship might be in order! I'm happy to be going to some of the places we're visiting, but for me it's more about the time away and the opportunity to run, spa, and lay by the pool with a fu-fu drink! Oh well.

Hey - no pressure on the DIS meet. We'll order a few trays of cheese/crackers and if lots of people show, we'll order a few more! My toddler will be napping during that time and he can sleep through a lot of noise, so we'll be in good shape.

Can't wait to meet everyone!

Carol

 

[lbgraves]

OK, there are 2 very full suitcases in the dining room with a short list of items that need to be added before they are zipped closed. There is also a pile of small bags with odds & ends that we will pack somewhere else. Tomorrow starts the dinner rush so nothing else will get done. DH wants to wait until we get back to decorate but I just can't take that! Only 4 more days for whatever I am going to do before we pack up the car & head for FL.

 

[Jhalkias]

Carol,

Just FYI, we went on one of those half-submerged subs on Grand Bahama Island on one of our cruises - and it was not pretty in slightly rough seas. The captain warned people with weak stomaches to sit near the rear, so they could go topside quickly - he wasn't kidding!

My DW and I both have strong stomaches, and have never gotten seasick. People were turning green throughout the trip, and by the time it was over, there were only about four of us left in the "sub" - everyone else was topside, retching over the rail.

I can't explain it, but something about not really being under water totally, bobbing up and down, with that horizon above and the sea floor below is unsettling even to the strongest of stomaches. We even felt a bit dizzy by the end.

My son and I also had a similar experience on the way back of the Golden Eagle Catamaran on the Eastern.

 

[natsmom125]

OK...it's time for THIS GROUP to go on THIS CRUISE...

enough "weird" stuff has happened....

Although I have one more crisis to face...one of our firefighters is terminally ill and not expected to make it much longer. I will be
broken hearted when it happens...but don't want it to happen while I'm gone. I need to be here for my fire department family and his family...so we are all just waiting....anyway....

I'm still sick with this cold..and DH is bringing more meds from work...it's raining...I'm now going to take my antibiotics, smear my ample chest with VICKS, take a pain pill(I'm sore from coughing so much) and go to bed....and it's only 8:30.

Carol...glad you are ok....that's a great place to have a fender bender....my guys would be all over that!!!!!!

Everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving and I'm sure I'll be on late tomorrow night.....

XXXXX's to everyone....
Phyllis

 

[lbgraves]

ITA with you, Phyllis!!! We got some not so good news about MIL today but the testing wont be finished until we are on the ship and there is nothing that we can do about it so we are going on this cruise & we are going to have a great time. This will help us all recharge and goodness knows I need that right now!

 

[flexsmom]

OK, that does it! Why even think about spending $70 for the two of us under circumstances like that! (Not that it was going to take much to convince me!) I even asked about a beach day and the DCL rep said that other than Rum Point there wasn't really a good "beach day" kind of thing at GC. Evidently everything is really torn up there, as the earlier posts have indicated. Oh well, more time for pools and spas! DD would rather stay in the clubs anyway.......it was hard to convince her to come do something else!

Anyone else interested in doing the Wine Tasting? I really want to sign up for that and the Bridge Tour. Ought to be interesting!
Didn't I read somewhere that there's a Gingerbread House-making activity for the kids during the Christmas cruises?

 

[lbgraves]

Carol, I do remember reading about that last year & saw some beautiful pictures! I am interested in doing the bridge tour too & would like to take DS on it so that he can learn about the ship and share some of the information with his class.

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

I posted a thread this afternoon regarding information on the Bridge Tour. I, too, think my DS5 will love it.

 

[AnnMorin]

We will do the wine tasting, I really enjoyed it.
I emailed Captain Marvins to ask if the shipwreck is still intact since we opted for the shipwreck snorkel. I will let you know when I hear back from them what they have to say.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, another grey drissly day here in MA.

 

[natsmom125]

Hi Everyone...

Well, turkey is in the oven....DD is cleaning her room(yeah right)
dogs are fed and walked...so now I can relax for a minute or two.

Natalie and I did the bridge tour and enjoyed it a lot. I mentioned that there was no AED on the bridge and the CM got all flustered because I was questioning him as to why....I didn't mean to get him all flustered..but they have them all over the ship...but not on the bridge. So I guess I better go see if they put one there. I think all kids would enjoy the tour and they can ask some great questions too.....and it's only about 20 minutes.

We both want to do the wine tasting and Jim wants to do the beer tasting...

OK...time to get the china out for Natalie to set the table....

Later all...

Phyllis

 

[AnnMorin]

At least the snorkeling should still be good, here is her reply:

Ann,
Thanks for your note. Yes, we had a bad hit from Hurricane Ivan, but we have cleaned things up a lot and actually the snorkeling has gotten better! This is because the storm washed a lot of sand off the coral, so the fish are even more abundant than they were before. The shipwrecks are still fine and the snorkeling is excellent, so I think you will enjoy your trip. It's the things ABOVE the water that look a little rough! See you soon...
Ruth

 

[lbgraves]

Well, that's good news for those going snorkling.

It is a balmy 69 degrees here in Eastern NC. Guess that means that it is going to hit next week. Just when we are leaving for warmer temperatures. Darn! Guess we will miss it.

The bird is in the oven, the potatoes are sliced and sitting in water waiting to be boiled, and wheat bread is rising in the bread maker now getting ready to be baked so we can have yummy sandwiches later tonight with the leftovers. The floors downstairs "were" cleaned before the kids got back to them. I will be zipping up 2 suitcases tonight! DH cleaned out the van & pulled out the back seat so we have enough room to pack everything. We are plotting online deals for tomorrow & DH might actually brave the crowds for one store.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families!

 

[wdw1972]

Carol - How nice of you to host the wine & cheese thing. I'm sure Sheila will be up for that, so plan on 2 of us. Should be fun!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone - see you in just over a week.