Elephant Man

We have a need to have communications on-board for health reasons. These communications would only be between ourselves without causing unwanted discussion for others. Does anyone have experience using walkie-talkies for this purpose? We are wondering how well they would work within the ship's superstructure. The ones we have are an inexpensive set bought for $100 with a reputed range of 50 miles "line of vision". In other words, they are simple VHF radios for amateurs.

Thanks in advance for any information offered.

E. M.

Amy - Please also confirm Helen and Tom for the Steakhouse for 8 Feb 14.

Tom

13-1/2 WEEKS UNTIL TEAM N.F.L. BOARDS THE FREEDOM FOR TWO FUN FILLED WEEKS !!!

 

 

 

As we start to get closer several folks have asked about excursions a couple that we have discussed are as follows: If you are interested please sign your name, if you want to start a different excursion at the same port please add that as well. Please try to follow the same format and CLICK QUOTE ON THE LAST POST OF EXCURSIONS. Thank you.

 

EXCURSIONS:

 

Sunday 2/2 - SAIL AWAY

 

Meet and Greet

 

SUPERBOWL

 

Monday 2/3 - KEY WEST 8-4

 

Bike Rentals - Self Tour the island for the day with http://www.eatonbikes.com/

 

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

Suziq333 - Susan and Bruce

 

Steakhouse

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin - confirmed

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan

Suziq333 - Susan and Bruce

Vitality08-Shereese

 

 

 

Tuesday 2/4 - SEA DAY

 

4:00 pm LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO

 

 

Wednesday 2/5 - Grand Cayman 7-4 (Tender)

 

 

 

MDR Breakfast on a PORT DAY - Austin :rolleyes:

Beach Horseback riding - CARNIVAL EXCURSION 10:30-12:30 89.99 pp 6 spots left as of 6/30

 

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

 

**meet up with folks for beach time after.

 

 

 

Thursday 2/6 - Jamaica 7:30-2:30

Canopy Adventure - Carnival Excursion 4hrs 8:00 - 12:00 99.pp

 

 

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

 

 

 

4:00 pm LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO BAR

 

Friday 2/7 - Sea Day

 

 

 

 

4:00 pm LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO BAR

 

Saturday 2/8/14 - FLL

(B2B'ers meet to re-board)

 

MEET AND GREET AFT LIDO BAR

 

Steakhouse

 

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin - confirmed

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan

ernvette - Lenore and Ernie

elephantman - Helen and Tom - Confirmed

IslandtoIsland - Tracey and Marcus - confirmed

SweetReet - Rita and Jay

Ramrax4 - Robin and Robert

Muzicgal - Laurie and Bryan

 

 

 

 

Sunday 2/9 Sea Day

 

4:00 - LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO BAR

 

 

 

 

Monday 2/10 Sea Day

 

1:30 - CABIN POKER CRAWL $5.00 per person

 

HOST CABINS 7 cabins needed

SuziQ333 - Susan and Bruce 6450

Cruisingcouple 2008 - Amy and Austin 9201

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan 4E

 

PLAYERS

SuziQ333 - Susan and Bruce

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

Uffdafla - Kelly and Dan

Ernvette - Lenore and Ernie

 

 

4:00 - LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO BAR

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 2/11 - St. Thomas 8-6

 

May be doing a PRIVATE excursion over to Trunk Bay on St. John

 

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

IslandtoIsland - Tracey and Marcus

Wednesday 2/12 - Antigua 8-6

 

http://www.rexresorts.com/antigua/hotel-antigua-hawksbill-by-rex-resorts.html

All Inclusive Day Passes are available which include:

Meals, Drinks and Usage of Facilities

9am-6pm US$60 per person

11am-4pm US$40 per person

Children under 12 are half price.

We are choosing the half day price 11a-4p HOWEVER we will be getting to the beach earlier than that. We will be arriving and departing by TAXI.

 

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

IslandtoIsland - Tracey and Marcus

Uffdafla - Kelley and Dan

Truegrit - Barry and Barb

 

 

 

Thursday 2/13 - Tortola 7-2:30

 

We are going to take a private excursion over to Jost Vandyke

 

http://bvi360.com/tours/1765-2/

 

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

IslandtoIsland - Tracey and Marcus

Uffdafla - Kelley and Dan

 

 

4:00 - LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO BAR

 

Friday 2/14 - SEA DAY

 

3:30 - LRC DICE GAME AFT LIDO BAR - Final meet and mingle.

 

 

 

 

Saturday 2/15 - Nassau 1-7

Taking the public bus #10 Jitney to the Sheraton http://www.sheratonnassau.com/

The Day pass is 30. pp for use of towels, non motorized water sports to include snorkeling, kayaks, pools bikes and rafts

**Bring Credit Card for swim up bar purchases are cashless.

 

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin

IslandtoIsland - Tracey and Marcus

Uffdafla - Kelley and Dan

 

 

Sunday 2/16/14 FLL Disembark

 

 

 

If people are interested in signing up for excursions or joining in activities now is the time to start getting our plans made and reserved.

 

 

Planning to do the steakhouse with us ??? Please write confirmed next to your name or add it and confirm. I will be sending in Steakhouse reservations by DEC. 01.

Steakhouse Confirmed for 8 Feb. Helen and Tom

CruisingCouple2008 (Amy) wrote:

Quote:

Well the upcoming cruises to look forward too could be Alaska Summer 2014, Conquest Super Bowl and Valentines 2015, and then .........possibly a Panama Canal cruise for summer 2015.... you know I can email you more details as they all become available.

Unquote

We have done the Panama Canal twice, LA to Ft Lauderdale on Princess and Ft Lauderdale to LA on Celebrity. Without question they were the most interesting of all our 20 cruises to date in terms of historical interest. The second time was just as interesting as the first and we will do it again if the chance presents itself. I'm no travel agent but I would encourage anyone who hasn't done the entire Trans-Panama Canal cruise to do so if at all possible.

Most of the major cruise lines have pretty well abandoned West Coast cruises except for the Alaska stuff in the summer. Incidentally, we detest Alaska cruises. We get on a ship to become warmer and warmer as time goes by and not colder and colder in the miserable rain. It's happened to us twice - - never again! Not only that, the Alaska cruising geography is little different than that of our British Columbia inside passage coast.

The 11 and 12 day west Celebrity cruises are gone now and the same goes for any presence of Royal Caribbean. The others maintain a token presence but, for us at least, the Mexican Riviera is becoming a bit of a bore.

Complain, bellyache, bitch etc etc. I'll shut up now but not before asking how you and Austin enjoyed your most recent cruise, Amy?

Tom

Oh, great, Bill! Now what are Helen and I supposed to do for Trivia if you and Leila aren't going to be there to partner with us for either of the two legs of the B2B? You two were the "resident geniuses" with us two just sitting there faking it by nodding our heads wisely for every answer you gave to all the questions. I guess we'll just keep on faking it but we'll drop the nodding wisely business.

Seriously, we're really sorry to hear you have to c/x but I guess those household expenses have a high priority and must be considered. We'll be thinking of you and you can be sure that our paths will cross again on a cruise at some time in the future.

Please keep in touch. Helen and Tom

Bill: I have a couple of questions.

Would you please drop me an email at tomeirving at shaw dotca when you get the opportunity?

Thanks - Tom

Also Helen and Tom for the Steakhouse Week 2.

Just cruising through this thread and momentarily interloping!

 

Tom, I'm rooting for you to win a game on your upcoming cruise. Soooo close last time!

 

Debra :)

If I recall correctly, Deb, you won LRC twice .......... or was your comment meant to be about the Seahawks winning? Anyhow, I hope you are going to join us.

How is the big guy doing?

Tom

Cruisingcouple2008 - Amy and Austin WEEK ONE - KING

IslandToIsland - Tracey and Marcus WEEK TWO - KING

Suziq333 - Sue and Bruce WEEK ONE - not sure yet

Elephantman - Helen and Tom, Week ONE, KING

Hi Amy;

We just returned from seven days on the Mexican west coast with HAL Zaandam. It was a super good cruise and really sold us on the smaller ships.

Your list of the NFL crew is growing bigger by the week and it looks like our retirement plans funded by LRC is unfolding just as Helen and I had planned.

We are really looking forward to next Feb and watching the Seahawks knock off whoever and I'm also sure we'll have as many laughs as we did when we were Malahinis headed to and from Hawaii.

Pass a "hello" from us to Austin.

Cheers - Tom

Tom and Helen - Elephantman 7352 b2b

Thanks for the info on the Rodeway Inn. Although technically we are FLL newbies, some time ago we had a quick stop in FLL and stayed at an Extended Stay America on 17 Street. It was awful but it was a long time ago.

I guess there's lots of time to score a good hotel but it's nice to have a head start with your suggestion.

Tom

We are newbies for sailing out of FLL.

Anyone with some knowledge of the area care to suggest a decent hotel with nearby shopping close to the cruise ship terminal?

Cheers - Tom

Question: Where would a person most enjoy their time in January ........ Fort Mc Murray, Alberta (-35F degrees) or Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (+78F degrees)?

Answer: Duh.

We had a wonderful time, Amy, and really enjoyed our time down Mexico way. As they normally are, the Mexicans were gracious and welcoming and we had not a moment's anxiety for our entire time there. This was our thirty-first (31) consecutive year of visiting Mexico and we have nothing but wonderful times to remember. The beauty of holidaying in Mexico is the ease of getting there. We fly out of Victoria or Comox (both of which are here on Vancouver Island) to Cabo San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta and we are there in about four and a half flying hours. Pretty easy.

The worst of our current winter with the cold rain and cool temps is just about ended and we intend to finish hiding from what's left of it with a seven day cruise out of San Diego with Holland America down the Mexican Riviera leaving on 2 March. We are looking forward to it but in this case we are driving down to Bellingham WA to fly from there to San Diego. By doing so we save quite a bit of money by escaping the horrendous Canadian air transportation taxes. In this case we will save about 40%.

How about you and Austin? What have you folks got planned between now and the Feb '14 cruise from FLL or are you going to lay low until then?

BTW - The Seahawks broke my heart ........... again ........ but wait until next year. In the meantime,.................. Go 49ers on Sunday!!!

Cheers - Tom and Helen

Bill and Leila, you disappoint! We are just getting caught up on our email after returning from Mexico and we note you are jamming out on the first leg of the 14 day cruise. Can you suggest what we are going to do for competent Trivia partners for the first six days? Helen wants another one of those ship-on-a-stick thingamajigs especially designed at great expense by Carnival for the Malahini winning team in the Trivia championships.

I guess we can use the first six days to warm up and get ready to join forces with you two sharpies for the final 8 days.

Actually, your family plans sound really interesting and adjusting your cruise priorities accordingly is perfectly understandable. We forgive you but nevertheless we remain disappointed .

Hey!! It's only a year away!!!

Tom

ramrax4, you have my sympathy.

I'll never forgive those Philly players for what they did to poor old Coach Andy. He deserved better than that. They just flat out quit on him ....... no sense of loyalty in spite of having a coach who put loyalty to his players first and formost. And I won't say anything about Vik leading the parade. I'd love to see Gruden hired to whip those wusses into line.

Andy Reid is a great coach and he won't be looking for a Head Coach job for too long and some lucky team (Cowboys? Bolts?) will grab him.

Hi Bill;

Don't preach to me about being a loyal fan "through thick and thin". I have been with the Seahawks through thin and thin and then, just in case, thin again.

I also like the Chargers and in hockey I live and die (and "die" is the operative word) with the Vancouver Canucks who have never .... ever .... not even once ..... won the Stanley Cup.

All of which is why my dear wife calls me the gold-plated loser of pro sports.

Tom

PS - The Blue Jays in 2013! This is the year! Honest!

Of course it's going to be a ton of fun and although I'm getting a whole year and football season ahead of myslf, I have to be wondering who the Seahawks will be playing in Superbowl 2014.

But back to today's game ...... where will the Seahawks be playing next week? Dallas or DC?

With regrets to you folks and Bill and Leila and the other chronic losers, I'm sure RG III will give me a positive answer.

Tom

No! No!

Go Redskins!!!

The only thing I hate more than broccoli are the Dallas Cowboys led by Tony Romo with that idiot Jerry Jones hopping up and down on the sidelines.

Tom

Poor Bill? Poor Amy? I think not!!!

Go Seahawks!!!!!!

Hi Amy and Austin:

Right here on Vancouver Island is where we are.

We haven't been religiously following the board but decided to give it a glance today. We are enjoying one of our seasonal dumps of cold, wet, soggy snow. Most folks are griping about it but Helen and I are both Prairie kids from Alberta so we are used to snow except the stuff back there is cold, dry, fluffy and much more difficult to handle in building snowmen. It ain't sticky enough and that's very important to us Prairie kids. We normally only get a couple of snowfalls each winter and it rarely stays more than a couple of days each time. As islands go, ours is a big one ...... about 300 miles from top to bottom with lots of climate differences along the way. We live in the middle so we have no valid complaints about snow as they have at the top end of the Island. The climate at the bottom end is pretty much the same as Seattle's .......... lots of rain and milder temperatures.

We are waiting for our kid's to arrive for Christmas and they should be here in a couple of hours. On 2 Jan we leave for 18 days in Puerto Vallarta. We fly out of Victoria at the bottom end of Vancouver Island and it's only a 4.5 hour flight so it's nice and handy for us. On 01 March we are flying to San Diego to board a HAL cuise down the coast of Mexico. We will be back by mid-March and that should take care of the 2012-13 winter.

We hope this finds all the Malahinis doing well and enjoying the season. We wish all of you good folks (even you, Jordanaires, Bill and Leila) a very Merry Christmas and all the very best for a healthy and prosperous 2013.

Tom

Bill - We're glad to hear all went well with Leilas's surgery and she is well on the road to recovery. As you have already been told by others, the first few days are somewhat uncomforable and painful but things get better very quickly. Like all joint replacement procedures, the relief from the recurring pain makes it all very worth while.

Please pass her our continued best wishes for the recovery process and the many tap-dancing years which are doubtlessly in the future for you two.

Tom and Helen

Best wishes and good luck for successful surgery on Wednesday when D Day becomes Knee Day. We're sure you'll be happy to have it over and done with in a few short weeks of recovery and physio ...... if required.

I had my right hip replaced a year ago and the relief of "no more pain" made the initial discomfort following surgery well worth the time and effort.

BTW, in terms of getting medical things done count your blessing for your health care system. From the time I went to my doctor and told him my hip was "killing me" until I had my surgery was only seven (7) long, painful years. But, hey! Up here they keep telling us it's free! However, the tax man says otherwise.

Again, all the best for Wednesday ....... we'll be thinking of you.

Cheers - Helen and Tom

Bill: But we are coming on this cruise :D and after seeing the pic, I know exactly who you are. Our paths crossed a few times, but we never really talked much. We will fix that this time around :)

 

Yes ..it's a long weekend up here in Canada...unfortunately i have to work everyday :mad: I do get to go to my cousins BBq on Sunday night, so will do my partying then ;)

Safe travels Amy, and enjoy yourselves !!!

I also saw the picture you posted Bill and, as was the case with a previous poster on this thread a day or two ago, my eyes also filled with tears. Poor Leila. We feel so sorry for her.

Kidding, my friend.