Dec 5, 2009 -- now traveling to Tortola

[scothen]

Hi everyone,

My home internet is back up, as I finally am back home in Chicago!! It was a great pleasure to meet all of you on the cruise!

I was on my way back to work yesterday, and as I was crossing the street(in the crosswalk, with the light), a Cab driver hit me, and I was in the emergency room at Northwestern Hospital for 3 hours being checked out(don't worry, I am just a little bruised and battered). It definitely could have been a lot worse, as my right arm and elbow are very sore, and I have a few cuts and bruises.

I hope everyone keeps in touch, as meeting all of you made the cruise that much more fun!

Take care and Happy Holidays!!

Scot Henderlong
Chicago, IL

[mommyoftwinfants]

Scot did you get picked to be a contestant on who wants to be a Mouse..??..
If that was you we were sitting right next to you. I was going to say something but if it wasn't you I didn't want the guy to think I was crazy

[scothen]

Originally Posted by mommyoftwinfants

Scot did you get picked to be a contestant on who wants to be a Mouse..??..
If that was you we were sitting right next to you. I was going to say something but if it wasn't you I didn't want the guy to think I was crazy

It sure was! What was with the Dalmation question anyway?

Scot

[mommyoftwinfants]

Originally Posted by scothen

It sure was! What was with the Dalmation question anyway?

Scot

we were part of giving you the wrong answer too ...the snow through us off...

[amyngary]

Thanks for reminding me MommyofTwinfants...Our group had lots of "Stars" on the trip. We saw Scothen do his Mouseketeer gig, and my DD9 was also a Mouseketeer. Then later, both Hadley's husband David (Hadley is NHDisneyLover) and my husband Gary were on stage with the Fusion What's-his-name magician guy. Were there any others?

We too loved the FE gifts. I just ate some candy from Germany that I really enjoyed. I haven't unpacked all of the others yet, but I'm working my way through them all. The kids played with a lot of their gifts on the flight home too.

Is anyone going back to DisneyWorld anytime soon? We are planning a trip in mid-March. Anyone else?

--Amy

[Tower]

Originally Posted by amyngary

Then later, both Hadley's husband David (Hadley is NHDisneyLover) and my husband Gary were on stage with the Fusion What's-his-name magician guy.

Wow! Dave & Hadley really got around on the ship! At their recommendation, we took in the Tuesday night show of the comedian, followed by the Disco night. Both Dave and I were selected to participate as stage acts. Dave as a Kung Fu fighter, and myself as Barry White (coincidentally, my first name is Barry)
It was a hoot, but there was so much smoke in the room from the CO2 fog that our pictures did not turn out so well. Darn, they would have made good blackmail pics

Sorry Amy, we're not going back so early. we may go to AK or Epcot next December when we go on our Carnival cruise, but we have not decided yet as a definite. We'll see how it goes.

[mommyoftwinfants]

Originally Posted by amyngary

Thanks for reminding me MommyofTwinfants...Our group had lots of "Stars" on the trip. We saw Scothen do his Mouseketeer gig, and my DD9 was also a Mouseketeer. Then later, both Hadley's husband David (Hadley is NHDisneyLover) and my husband Gary were on stage with the Fusion What's-his-name magician guy. Were there any others?

We too loved the FE gifts. I just ate some candy from Germany that I really enjoyed. I haven't unpacked all of the others yet, but I'm working my way through them all. The kids played with a lot of their gifts on the flight home too.

Is anyone going back to DisneyWorld anytime soon? We are planning a trip in mid-March. Anyone else?

--Amy

my guys did the intro thing to the golden mickeys they felt famous, people kept telling them they loved their act...., trust me they were just being themself........ they were the ones in the suit and my oldest thought he would wear his tie out instead of tucked into his suit.

Hadley I saw your son on the Big Screen too as we were sitting down, I guess y'all showed up right after us .

Amy your daughter did an awesome job up there too.

Allright who did we almost catch putting our goodie bag in the FE, I remember hearing someone say they are coming then I heard giggling and feet running down the hall.... The boys were excited that they almost saw who it was, I guess it was kind of like catching santa in the act

Going back in June and staying at the fort in a Tent I promised my boys we would go camping but they will do a "hotel room" if we can get into the treehouses so I am Keeping my fingers crossed the waitlist comes through.

[Inkmahm]

Originally Posted by amyngary

...
Is anyone going back to DisneyWorld anytime soon? We are planning a trip in mid-March. Anyone else?

--Amy

We're actually going back at the end of January for a week to get out of the winter cold. Then we'll be back mid-March, too, for our usual trip for my birthday. That trip we will be taking my mom, sister, and two nieces with us.
We booked a 4 night cruise on the Wonder for the end of April. Yes, that's a lot of trips to WDW. But I'm taking advantage of being unemployed right now and having the time to go.

[NHdisneylover]

Hey everybody. It is nice to see you all posting again and it was so nice meeting many of you onboard. We made it home Sunday night (overnight flibght and long layover in Amsterdam comming home) but my dad and his girlfriend arrived less than 24 hours later for a short visit--so I was not on the computer much while they were here. Now I finally have time to pop on and catch up with everyone.
I do want to be sure to thank everyone involved in the Fish Extenders for all of the goodies. I cannot believe how much stuff showed up You would have thought we had 100 cabins invovled! Everythign was great, really EVERYTHING. I think I was most totally excited by the lovely sand dollar ornament and the ribbon bookmarks (I may steal that idea for the trans atlantic cruise as they are nice and small) but thouroughly enjoyed all the surprised (it got a little overwhelming at times).

Originally Posted by wuv tigger

And the girls realized there is a Dis meet in the Promenade Lounge as I type.

We had a great time ---- minus our trip to Tortola

I am hoping to get my Trip Report started later tonight!

wuv tigger

Sorry your trip to Tortola was not good We liked it better than any caribbean port we have been to yet. We did the early morning Peter's Island kayak and snorkle tour and loved it other than wanting more time (another hour would be perfect) and then just walked in to the little town at the port and wandered a bit.

Originally Posted by Dyerneeds

welcome back guys and gals.

mind if Underdog lurks a while and checks out your pictures?

Lurk away DH had to head for the Czech Republic for work on Monday morning (poor guy--all that flying to get home and he was in the house about 14 hours and had to leave for the airport again) and he is the camera expert, so my photos likely will go up next week. What are you hoping to see?

Originally Posted by amyngary

I am hoping to do a trip report also, but likely won't start for a week or so. We too booked another one onboard (dummy date for now), but won't tell the girls until it's close. In case some of you are thinking of trying out other cruiselines, here is our ranking of those we've been on, trying not to account for itineraries:
PARENTS:
1. Celebrity
2. Disney
3. Royal Caribbean
4. Princess
5. NCL

OLDEST DD who has been on other cruises with us:
1. Disney
2. All the others (she doesn't really remember the differences)

You know what made coming home a little easier? I hired someone I trust to organize our basement storage, clean out closets, our game and arts/crafts area, etc. I can't believe how much she got done. She even did all of our laundry, and matched up socks (which we all hate doing). These were projects I had been hoping to accomplish while unemployed, but I got a job too soon to do any of them. Anyway, I highly recommend it and plan to do it again in the future as needed.

For those who are still traveling, I hope your travels home are safe and quick.

I love your idea of hiring someone to come in while you are gone I bet that did make comming home easier.

Funny, we like Princess as much as Disney (in different ways) as adults and Marika prefers Princess but Rio prefers Disney. Rio was a little bored with the lab offerings this trip (he has been in the lab for three crusies now including a 14 night so he has done pretty much everything at least once and there was nothign new at all to mix it up--except the new theme to the show, which we all liked) and Marika was really not impressed with the "all video games, sports and gossip all the time" programming in the Wuest (just not her thing) so BOTH kids asked to book Princess again for next time while we were still on board We are on the DCL transatlantic next September and we do all want to do that one again--but we have cancelled Disney for 2011 and are watching to see what Princess or maybe HAL offers in the med during that time instead.

Originally Posted by Kathryn Rada

Hi all and we could not agree more! I am sitting in Old Key West with 2 sleeping boys - lesson learned..go to Disney before the cruise... although they enjoyed MVMC they are just worn out! We were back in the room by 9:30! We also booked our next cruise, we will be bringing the 2012 New Year in on the Disney Dream! The kids are dying to see the ship, so even though the itinerary is not great, we will enjoy exploring the new ship! We enjoyed meeting you all and like Tower and Amy, we did not get to meet everyone but truly enjoyed meeting those we did! Hope everyone has a very Happy Holiday!!!
..

Kathryn--we ended up buying the first 3 Percy Jackson books for Marika at the airport She loves them. Thank the boys again for loaning her the first book on board

Originally Posted by fluvannaj

We too had a great time and alot of that was due to our great tablemates. We got back Saturday night after a not great day of driving (2 accidents, rain Florida-SC, and the bridge at Santee down to one lane for repairs). All the buildings I am in have stopped rocking so I guess I have my "land legs" back. It was funny to be in church yesterday and feel it swaying like the Walt Disney Theater.

I'll be posting some pictures, soon as I get around to downloading pictures.

Fluvanna

Sorry you had such a rough trip home--I am glad you were not involved in any of the accidents

Originally Posted by wuv tigger

The leak has been fixed at our house!

The new hot water heater is up & running!

The kitchen is closer to being put back together!

Grammy might be home from the nursing/rehab facility in time for Christmas!

ALL is much better NOW!!!

wuv tigger

Originally Posted by scothen

Hi everyone,

My home internet is back up, as I finally am back home in Chicago!! It was a great pleasure to meet all of you on the cruise!

I was on my way back to work yesterday, and as I was crossing the street(in the crosswalk, with the light), a Cab driver hit me, and I was in the emergency room at Northwestern Hospital for 3 hours being checked out(don't worry, I am just a little bruised and battered). It definitely could have been a lot worse, as my right arm and elbow are very sore, and I have a few cuts and bruises.

I hope everyone keeps in touch, as meeting all of you made the cruise that much more fun!

Take care and Happy Holidays!!

Scot Henderlong
Chicago, IL

EEK! I hope you really are okay and the soreness and bruises go away quickly What an awful "welcome" home taht must have been. Scot, we sure enjoyed dining with you and getting to know you on board. Thank you for joining us.

Originally Posted by Tower

Wow! Dave & Hadley really got around on the ship! At their recommendation, we took in the Tuesday night show of the comedian, followed by the Disco night. Both Dave and I were selected to participate as stage acts. Dave as a Kung Fu fighter, and myself as Barry White (coincidentally, my first name is Barry)
It was a hoot, but there was so much smoke in the room from the CO2 fog that our pictures did not turn out so well. Darn, they would have made good blackmail pics

Sorry Amy, we're not going back so early. we may go to AK or Epcot next December when we go on our Carnival cruise, but we have not decided yet as a definite. We'll see how it goes.

We don't know what was up with Dave. The kids were pointing frantaically at him during Freddy Fusion's act becuase they love that actand wanted him on stage (where he was with Gary) but otherwise he was not trying to get picked at all--he wanted to give otehr people a chance. HE was the "colored guy" in the Alfred and Seymour act (they are new and we really enjoyed them. Anyone else enjoy it?), and got pulled up to dance during pub night as well It was like pick on the tall guy week or something He had a lot of fun though.

[Inkmahm]

Originally Posted by NHdisneylover

Funny, we like Princess as much as Disney (in different ways) as adults and Marika prefers Princess but Rio prefers Disney. Rio was a little bored with the lab offerings this trip (he has been in the lab for three crusies now including a 14 night so he has done pretty much everything at least once and there was nothign new at all to mix it up--except the new theme to the show, which we all liked) and Marika was really not impressed with the "all video games, sports and gossip all the time" programming in the Wuest (just not her thing) so BOTH kids asked to book Princess again for next time while we were still on board We are on the DCL transatlantic next September and we do all want to do that one again--but we have cancelled Disney for 2011 and are watching to see what Princess or maybe HAL offers in the med during that time instead.

I know you booked right before is onboard and were so happy with the repo to Alaska and then the first Alaska cruise of the season in 2011. I'm actually glad to hear that you changed your mind. For the first time cruise to Alaska, you will be MUCh better off taking a Princess cruise but go a bit later in the season than early May. I was serious when I told you there is really nothing open that early in the season in Alaska and you'd miss SO much by not doing a land portion with that trip. Denali Park is a must see in my book, for example.

For right now, we're keeping our mid-August trip to Alaska with Disney but that may still change. I'd like to see how Disney does Alaska but I KNOW Princess does Alaska well from experience. We plan to go to Alaska every 5 years with Princess for as long as we are able to go (next trip is 2013).

[Hanover]

Scott--sorry about the cab, glad you are okay.

We aren't going back to WDW until June for Star Wars weekends which seems like forever from now! We've got the Baltic cruise in July on the Magic and then will be back to Orlando in December for a few days before/after our 4 night Wonder cruise. We may try and squeeze a fall trip in depending on the SouthWest flight deals.

Brennan and 2 of his cousins helped introduce the Golden Mickeys (8:30 show). My husband's step brother Brian did the Newleywed show and was picked to help out in a couple of the adult comedy shows. We did see Dave in a few things and I think I have a picture of him during the pub night I'll have to see if I can post soon. We really thought Alfred and Seymour were funny too. We missed the main Freddy Fusion show since we were in Palo but saw his bit he did at the adult show. I hope he's on the Baltic. It was nice to see Michael Harrison again. Brennan made a tennis ball puppet the day we got home.

We were right back to work/school and 2 sessions of wrestling practice at night so we are still under a mound of never ending laundry. I'm hoping to get most of it done tonight with no wrestling!!

We have 5 DCL cruises booked for now, most with friends/family. Once we do those and the Dream I think we are going to venture out to some of the other cruise lines. We love DCL, but with the kids getting older and as many of you said having the same stuff in the club/lab after 15 cruises it's time to try something new.

If anyone needs pictures for scrapbooking, I have tons and tons all over the ship and ports. I have a funny one I took at the terminal with Mickey playing hide and seek with a child in line in front of us. Only he was hiding behind the photograher and it looks like he's sniffing his back side. I'm going to send it to the Ellen Degeneres show for the "whats wrong with these photos photos " segment.

[NHdisneylover]

We just bought a Christmas tree and ornaments (so weird not having our things here--we did bring our stockings and the felt Santa tree topper my great grandmotehr made when her first child was born but that is all). We will decorate tonight and tomorrow night. It won't look as nice as the ship though!

Originally Posted by Inkmahm

I know you booked right before is onboard and were so happy with the repo to Alaska and then the first Alaska cruise of the season in 2011. I'm actually glad to hear that you changed your mind. For the first time cruise to Alaska, you will be MUCh better off taking a Princess cruise but go a bit later in the season than early May. I was serious when I told you there is really nothing open that early in the season in Alaska and you'd miss SO much by not doing a land portion with that trip. Denali Park is a must see in my book, for example.

For right now, we're keeping our mid-August trip to Alaska with Disney but that may still change. I'd like to see how Disney does Alaska but I KNOW Princess does Alaska well from experience. We plan to go to Alaska every 5 years with Princess for as long as we are able to go (next trip is 2013).

Thanks for all the advice. Honestly, we booked the Alaska cruises primarily as dummy dates and are holding on to them for now just in case but we have droped our previously "firm" back to back med. cruises in 2011. We will sail the med with Princess then (gotta do med cruises while we are here and airfare makes sense to do them instead of the other way around). We'll get to Alaska someday when we do not have to fly transatlantic to do it. It is nice to hear others are still enjoying Princess (we have not been on them in about 4 years).

Originally Posted by Hanover

. My husband's step brother Brian did the Newleywed show and was picked to help out in a couple of the adult comedy shows. .

Was he the "Gone in 60 Seconds" Brian They were so cute and I did see him picked for a few other things later in the week.

[sdlong329]

Hello everyone -

I am looking for a man named GARY ... who has a partial e-mail address of MATTYMOUSE (or similar). I was on the same Castaway Cay parasailing boat as Gary, and took pictures of Gary and his family (at their request) on my camera. I was to have e-mailed them to him, but I am getting messages bounced back from his IP (if I have the proper e-mail address).

So, if you know someone named Gary (he has, or was traveling with at least two boys) ... please have him contact me, so I can get his pics to him.



... BTW ... we booked the inaugural Disney cruise to Alaska ... because we COULD. We wanted to be the first to visit Alaska aboard Disney. Feel free to search You Tube for the first time the Disney Magic visited Barcelona in 2007. I am sure there will be plenty of hoopla! Accordingly, I am sure I will re-visit Alaska via cruise, or cruise & land ... whether on Disney, Princess ... or even Holland America - which is suposedly better than Princess (in Alaska). Personally, I like HAL a bit more than Princess ... but HAL does tend to cater to those who are aged 40+ (though kids are indeed onboard).

[Hanover]

Originally Posted by NHdisneylover

We just bought a Christmas tree and ornaments (so weird not having our things here--we did bring our stockings and the felt Santa tree topper my great grandmotehr made when her first child was born but that is all). We will decorate tonight and tomorrow night. It won't look as nice as the ship though!


Thanks for all the advice. Honestly, we booked the Alaska cruises primarily as dummy dates and are holding on to them for now just in case but we have droped our previously "firm" back to back med. cruises in 2011. We will sail the med with Princess then (gotta do med cruises while we are here and airfare makes sense to do them instead of the other way around). We'll get to Alaska someday when we do not have to fly transatlantic to do it. It is nice to hear others are still enjoying Princess (we have not been on them in about 4 years).

Was he the "Gone in 60 Seconds" Brian They were so cute and I did see him picked for a few other things later in the week.

Actually they were the ones in the middle that had been married 10 years and talked about the bathroom counter. I'm so glad my MIL wasn't in there!!

[NHdisneylover]

Originally Posted by Hanover

Actually they were the ones in the middle that had been married 10 years and talked about the bathroom counter. I'm so glad my MIL wasn't in there!!

ahhhh--the Incredibles I thought all 3 couples were great fun.