Calling All 8/19/06 Special Western Cruisers! AKA "The Cruisin' Castaways" Part 2

[Verandah Man]

Great photo!!!!!!(and wearing a Fort Wilderness shirt).

I'm impressed you figured out how to send photos from your phone on your own as I had to have the sales guy walk me through step by step when I bought my phone.

Yes, we leave tomorrow. Have a noon flight and the car is picking us up at 9:30am which is a whole lot better than last year when we left the house at 4:00am!!!!

Thanks for the well wishes. While I miss not doing a 7-day, its sure nice not having to pack so many clothes and no formal wear. But that pirate gear takes up a lot of space.

DH upgraded his seat on the flight down to first class while me and the kids are still in coach. Gotta love the marital loyalty.

It is just so, so sad to see hurricane Dean making a beeline right for Cozumel. This might have been us a year ago. We probably would have done an eastern itinerary.

Man, oh man, if I had upgraded my seat to 1st Class and left Hazel and Angelina in Coach, there would have been NO living with those two, and I mean that too......................

 

[DMMarla07860]

I don't know if you have to have a myspace to watch this but if you don't then watch this it is awesome

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=12417442

 

[Verandah Man]

I heard on the radio this morning, while I was taking Angelina to the community center, that category 5 Hurricane Dean made landfall near Costa Maya, Mexico around 3am local time. It was this time last year that our cruise was at Costa Maya, what a difference a year makes.

Memories of Costa Maya from last year:

 

[zack&alexmom]

I know I have been thinking about that all day. I keep thinking about the buildings in the village and trying to imagine how they could withstand 150 mph winds. That beach was so beautiful. How sad if it is destroyed.

Andy - How are you feeling?

Linda

 

[jbm02]

Hi everyone!
Wow, Andy - it was great to see those pictures from last year. I can't believe that this time a year ago we were on the best vacation EVER. Right now we're thinking that we'll try for 2009 - there are no 7 night summer cruises in 2008!! Yikes. We didn't want to wait that long....
I'm waiting for the evening news to see if there are any photos of the damage to the Mexican coast. Those poor people.
How is Angelina?? Is this her last year of high school?? Sean's recovered from his scary heart attack and is back to himself. He wants to go on another cruise more than I do!
Hope you are feeling better soon
Take care everyone
Jude

 

[Verandah Man]

Hi Linda and Jude,

All three of us are doing rather well (thank goodness). Yes, Angelina starts her senior year of high in just two weeks.

I am so happy to hear that Sean is doing better!!! BTW, Angelina's boyfriend's name is Shaun, LOL!!!

I just booked us a 4 day cruise on RCCL Sovereign of the Seas for this coming November during Jersey Week. Angelina doesn't want to go on her senior trip to WDW next Spring, so we are using the cruise as her senior trip.

Andy

 

[Verandah Man]

Click on the link below for some before and after pics of the Costa Maya area, how sad for those people. I read last night it could be 6-8 months before ships will be able to dock at Costa Maya again. By the looks of things, it might even be longer.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=20438802&postcount=22

 

[msdisney53]

Here are a few links I found about Mexico.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/eve...32e25b172ae;_ylt=AoGkQhGdhSnHNc62XuL1EoXlWMcF

http://www.islandpacket.com/24hour/world/story/3682798p-13080348c.html

http://www.xcalak.tv/phpBB2_Xcalak_TV_10-11-05/viewtopic.php?t=453

 

[caitlinsdad]

My first pic taken with my new cell phone is in the link below, I finally figured out how to get the pic out of my phone and into my photobucket account..............only took me over an hour to do that..................

If Angelina had been home, it probably would have went a lot faster..........

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=20362636&postcount=71572


Kay if you haven't left yet, have a MAGICal and WONDERful time at WDW and on your cruise!!!

Love the pic Andy
Thanks

Ed

 

[Verandah Man]

Hi There Ed


My mom and Walt decided to join us for our 4 day cruise in November on Sovereign of the Seas. I'm "hoping" this might turn into being a Honeymoon Cruise for my mom and Walt, we'll just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple of months............

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Hey all.......just back from 4 nights at WDW and 3 nights on the Wonder.....I am just heartbroken that Dean made landfall in Majahual.....of our now 6 DCL cruises we had the best day ever at Costa Maya.....those photos are just so, so sad. Can you imagine the force of the winds to destroy a concrete dock.

We had an amazing time on the Wonder. We did not see any of the annoying cost cutting we saw on the Magic a year ago. The Wonder has a different sailaway party....I think I prefer the one we saw a year ago.

Pikey is onboard as is his fiance.....got to spend plenty of time with him whereas I didn't last year. Natalie, Evan and others from the Magic are on the Wonder.

You won't believe this.....luxury cruise line Silversea poached a bunch of DCL employees.....Andy and Kaz now work there, what a bummer. Apparently Silversea made Andy an amazing offer and he is cruising the south Pacific closer to home.

Bingo is totally different.....its gone high-tech!!!! I prefer the old way.

I have never seen so many American CMs onboard and barely any Australians. That's a first for us. Christiaan is a fantastic cruise director....Andy will always be our favorite CM but Christiaan is now our favorite "current" CM. Pikey's plan is to switch back and forth between the Wonder and the Magic as that helps his advancement opportunities within DCL. And yes, he is back with DCL for the foreseeable future.

Oh, and yes......DH did NOT get a seat in 1st class. A lot of people tried to upgrade at the same time so he got waitlisted. You can now get your boarding pass on the ship!!!! That way when you put out your luggage at 11pm the CMs take the luggage right to the trucks that take the luggage directly to the airport. No more retrieving your luggage at the port.

Keeping fingers crossed we'll get a 7-day summer Caribbean cruise in 2009....the rumors of another Med cruise in 2009 is just the CMs talking. I talked to several CMs and Captain Henry about the Magic being away so often and DCL is aware that people want to see 7-day summer cruises in the Caribbean. Nothing has been decided, yet, and the CMs are saying they have never seen the higher-ups at DCL be so quiet about future itineraries.

 

[caitlinsdad]

Well summer 2009 sounds nice,but with the way money is, I supect with us cruising in 2008 I dont know if 2009 will be possible.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Well summer 2009 sounds nice,but with the way money is, I supect with us cruising in 2008 I dont know if 2009 will be possible.

Funny you mention that because I've been thinking the same thing....between the Med cruises in 2007 and the repo/CA cruises in 2008, who will be able to afford a cruise in 2009?

2009 is our 20th wedding anniversary and we avoided spending a lot on a cruise in 2008 because we'd rather spend it in 2009 either on DCL or another cruise line if we don't like DCL's itinerary in 2009.

 

[Mjasp]

Hi Everyone

We just got back from our 9 night Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas cruise out of NJ and all I can say is WOW

I will be doing a trip report on the trip report board but first I have to catch up on business. Over 340 e mails to sift through.

I'll let you all know when it's done.
Joanna

 

[caitlinsdad]

2009 is our 20th wedding anniversary .

Same here, I guess 1989 was a good year to get married.

 

[allshookup]

Same here, I guess 1989 was a good year to get married.

Same here!!!

We're actually looking at doing a cruise to Bermuda in 2009 with extended family members. We are thinking maybe the NCL cruise right out of Boston or the RCCL cruise that Joanna went on. We'll just have to wait & see when the itineraries open next spring.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

I know we all want to cruise together again and we're open to pretty much everything in 2009. If DCL doesn't do any longer cruises in the Caribbean in the summer of 2009 then we will jump ship. We will have had our share of Nassau by then.

We, too, are looking at cruises that leave out of the northeast. We saw a 9 day Princess cruise that left out of NYC and did the eastern Caribbean.

The southern Caribbean also appeals to us.

But high up on the list is Belize followed by Costa Maya. Though I'm reading the Mexican government may want to rebuild Majahual into another Cancun. That would ruin its charm.

You know what's funny about looking at non-DCL cruises....you know they are going to be cheaper.

 

[Mjasp]

My Royal Caribbean vs. Disney comparison is up on the main cruise line board.

 

[Verandah Man]

My Royal Caribbean vs. Disney comparison is up on the main cruise line board.

Here is the link to make it easier to find: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1565616

 

[Mjasp]

Thanks Andy for providing the link, it took me 2 hours to figure out how to put the pictures link in since webshots wasn't working, I had to do it through Kodak, please let me know if you can see the pictures.
I'm exhausted now. LOL