Westerdam Panama Canal April 15, 2011

[mjtigger]

It was great to herar from you and once again many than's for the info. We just got our flights. Regina to Fort Laurd. April 14th. It gives us a day to look around the city a bit and perhaps meet some of the people sailing dwith us on the 15th, until next time. mjtigger

[NoWhiners]

Maybe I'm an over-achiever or just have too much time on my hands but last night we found a good hotwire deal for an Orlando hotel pre-cruise--woo hoo!

 

We got the Hyatt Place Conventon Center for $52/night, plus tax. Total for 4 nights is $247. This is a 3* hotel, free breakfast and internet, close to I-Drive (I-Drive south area). Has great reviews at trip advisor and other sites. It is also close to one of our favorite Florida bars--Orlando Ale House. I was just goofing around looking for deals, even started bidding on priceline. Last night we saw this deal, talked it over for 2 hours, and decided to go for it. Does force us (!) to arrive on April 10 at MCO. We will just have to endure an extra 4 days of vacation :-)

 

I know most of you don't care but we were moving down the board again, so I decided to post this. Now all we need is to find a good rental car deal and book air.

 

Best to all

ML

[rajkr74]

Oops...I forgot that for us to set a get together in Orlando prior the the cruise, will not work for us. We will be getting on the Westerdam when we get to do the front portion of our B2B thru the Caribbean on 4-8-10.

So.....we won't be doing a pre-cruise get together.

Unless there are others doing the same B2B cruise as we are and staying in Orlando. Looks like we will met everyone on the ship on 4-15-10.

[NoWhiners]

Rick

 

Sorry to hear we can't get together pre-cruise but its a good problem to have!! Not really a problem--we will have plenty of time onboard.

 

Keep checking the board and posting so we don't fall too far down!!

 

ML

[NoWhiners]

just checking in and keeping us near the top!

 

 

Finally cooling off here--its nice.

 

ML

[bcirish]

Hey from Branson. We are enjoying our trip. Our friends left early this morning- a couple of days early - a day back to Va to beat the hurricane and get their house storm ready!

We were busy while they were with us doing as much as possible so today we have done more routine things like walking shopping and watching the torrential rains from our veranda.

Here we are in a place with drought issues and we manage to be here when they get 4+inches in one day- go figure!

 

Rick- we will definitely do the sail away so that we can all hook up with you. BTW- where is it going the week before?

[rajkr74]

Hey from Branson. We are enjoying our trip. Our friends left early this morning- a couple of days early - a day back to Va to beat the hurricane and get their house storm ready!

We were busy while they were with us doing as much as possible so today we have done more routine things like walking shopping and watching the torrential rains from our veranda.

Here we are in a place with drought issues and we manage to be here when they get 4+inches in one day- go figure!

 

Rick- we will definitely do the sail away so that we can all hook up with you. BTW- where is it going the week before?

 

BC,

We are going to Grand Turk, San Juan Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Half Moon Cay and back to FL. We wanted to do Half Moon Cay again along with some other caribbean islands.

Rick

[NoWhiners]

Happy last weekend of summer

 

ML

[Se4deb]

BCIRISH: Yes we did book. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Cruising in Alaska and enjoying that. We will be leaving the ship in San Diego. DH is from Solvang, a little Danish community just east of Santa Barbara so we will be be doing the family thing for a day and then heading home. Have to start our count down clock. Thanks for convincing me that this is a great cruise. Debbie

[bcirish]

Rick - I like the ports on that week - nice combo - now here is a question - when you are doing that - do they keep your liquor until you get off on the west coast? I assume you are in the same cabin. That is one nice thing about Europe - when you are there they do not seem to care what you bring on board with you - especially HAL - very civilized. We love picking up a local wine in a port and then enjoying it onboard but in Europe we could bring back just about anything.

 

Roll Call update

I do believe we have enough to qualify for a meet and greet. As we get closer I will create a more definitive contact list offline with rooms etc - not too fond of too much personal info online.

 

ML - was just thinking - have we made any plans for before we board and the sail away - it would be great if you could handle those activites - heaven knows there are enough events to go around!!!:D

 

Back home and catching up on laundry and email etc.

BCIRISH - Ed and Barbara from Chicago first posters

NOWHINERS - Mary Lynn and Doug - first posters

BOARD NAME? - with nowhiners Carol and John from Michigan

BOARD NAME - with nowhiners Kitty and Jim (also in Albuquerque)

BOARD NAME - with nowhiners - Jim and Cindy from Saginaw Mi

HIGH SEAS TEXANS - George and Rand - Fort Worth Texas

RAJKR74 Rick and Joyce - Springfield Oregon

SKI WW - Allan and Marlane from Victo Harbor, Ontario

BOARD NAME - with nowhiners Bill and Kay from Albuquerque

cardev - Mike & Karen from Alberta, Canada

NO BOARD NAME - with cardev - Don & Brenda from Edmonton Alberta

dontspin - Ann & Don

buffdored - Dorothy & Ed

mjtigger -Pat and Bob Longmuir from Moosejaw

SE4Deb - Deb and DH from Washington State

[High Seas Texan]

Howdy everyone. Just checking in, it has been while. Rand has been cruising all summer on the Carnival ships out of Galveston, and I went on one with him. I am SO looking forward to Holland America again. I did meet some great people through CC for the Carnival experince. We had a group meet for drinks the night prior to sailing, and the on board meet and greet was fun. It was nice to know some people as we moved through the ports and around the ship, so looking forward to meeting all of you face to face.

[rajkr74]

BC,

We are doing the 7 day caribbean on 4-8-11 and we are keeping the same room. We don't think we will do anything in FLL on 4-15-11.

 

We are not big drinkers. I like a good beer every once and a while. The only liquior we had in our room last year was in Vancouver where our son demanded we bring him home a good bottle of Canadian whiskey. We got off ship and went for a booze run. Got a large bottle of good Canadian whiskey. Security on ship never said a thing when we got back on board. The next day it was Seattle and the last day of the cruise so maybe it was not worth the effort for the crew to take and hold the bottle.

[NoWhiners]

Rick - I like the ports on that week - nice combo - now here is a question - when you are doing that - do they keep your liquor until you get off on the west coast? I assume you are in the same cabin. That is one nice thing about Europe - when you are there they do not seem to care what you bring on board with you - especially HAL - very civilized. We love picking up a local wine in a port and then enjoying it onboard but in Europe we could bring back just about anything.

 

Roll Call update

I do believe we have enough to qualify for a meet and greet. As we get closer I will create a more definitive contact list offline with rooms etc - not too fond of too much personal info online.

 

ML - was just thinking - have we made any plans for before we board and the sail away - it would be great if you could handle those activites - heaven knows there are enough events to go around!!!:D

 

Back home and catching up on laundry and email etc.

BCIRISH - Ed and Barbara from Chicago first posters

NOWHINERS - Mary Lynn and Doug - first posters

BOARD NAME? - with nowhiners Carol and John from Michigan

BOARD NAME - with nowhiners Kitty and Jim (also in Albuquerque)

BOARD NAME - with nowhiners - Jim and Cindy from Saginaw Mi

HIGH SEAS TEXANS - George and Rand - Fort Worth Texas

RAJKR74 Rick and Joyce - Springfield Oregon

SKI WW - Allan and Marlane from Victo Harbor, Ontario

BOARD NAME - with nowhiners Bill and Kay from Albuquerque

cardev - Mike & Karen from Alberta, Canada

NO BOARD NAME - with cardev - Don & Brenda from Edmonton Alberta

dontspin - Ann & Don

buffdored - Dorothy & Ed

mjtigger -Pat and Bob Longmuir from Moosejaw

SE4Deb - Deb and DH from Washington State

 

bc

 

Rick and I made an attempt at a pre-cruise meet in orlando but it didn't look like it would work. I assume everyone will be in FLL the night before, so we should be able to pull something together. I know a few of us have already booked hotels for the night before we leave, not sure everyone has or who has access to cars. Anyone out there interested in meeting the night before we leave? We could meet someplace near airport/port, even if its just for drinks/dessert? Anyone interested, post and let me know. We can make a real plan when its closer. Same for the sailaway--any thoughts/suggestions for where? is everyone/anyone interested in doing this? We still need to schedule the wine crawl too!!

 

Today is my birthday, so I took off from work. Nice meal tonight (I am cooking--grilled lamb, oven "fries" as a special treat, a nice wine provided by Doug). We are going out to dinner tomorrow because tonight, FINALLY, football is back!!

 

have a nice weekend, and for you football fans, enjoy opening week.

ML

[bcirish]

Another football fan! We have a family fantasy football league which is an absolute stitch. This year our 8 and 11 year old gkids have their own team and are bent on beating their aunts and uncles as well as their gparents. I prefer college ball but I enjoy watching all of the games - makes DH very happy. The funny thing about our league is that most of the participants know nothing about football so did autopicks for their teams and ended up with some of the best players. One of the great uncles is not pleased that he lost to me last yer and wnats to win in the worst way- should be fun watching the whole thing play out!

 

We will be flying for this cruise and will be in the area the night before - last time we stayed near the Embassey suites not far from the port - actually in the one of the Holiday inn products - will probably do something like that again since we can get from the airport and to the port without much issue.

For sailaway- if the weather is nice - it is nice to be outside and watch all of the folks waving farewell. Hard to believe that they do it for all of the ships. Seem to remember that there is a live cam - will have to check with our other cruise friends who told me about it last time- it is fun to watch the various ships leave port live. BTW - as we get closer and I collect more info offline - I will share with you so that we can get things set up.

 

So ML - do you have a favorite team?

[NoWhiners]

Hi bc

 

Too funny that the 8 and 11 year olds want to beat everyone! Of course, any league that uses autopick is a tad suspicious!! No insult intended :). I have been playing fantasy football for 15 years and am now the commissioner of our league at work. The work league is comprised of several folks who don't get how to play, and bever used autopick. the other league plays for A LOT of money and they are very serious. our draft was last night--took til 10 pm. good thing i was off today!

 

Favorite team is NY Giants--born in the Bronx, so old habits die hard!!

ttp://www13.myfantasyleague.com/fflnetdynamic2010/30635_franchise_icon0006.jpg

 

It never even occurred to me that sailaway would be anything but outside!! I am thinking that Florida weather in mid-April will be great, except for possible rain. As you note, we can work details as we get closer. lets see what the other roll caller's think. My personal email is:

 

no-whinersatmsndotcom

 

just spellling it out so the web-trollers don't find it and spam me!!

 

I have other addresses we can use if needed.

 

ML

[rajkr74]

Another football fan! We have a family fantasy football league which is an absolute stitch. This year our 8 and 11 year old gkids have their own team and are bent on beating their aunts and uncles as well as their gparents. I prefer college ball but I enjoy watching all of the games - makes DH very happy. The funny thing about our league is that most of the participants know nothing about football so did autopicks for their teams and ended up with some of the best players. One of the great uncles is not pleased that he lost to me last yer and wnats to win in the worst way- should be fun watching the whole thing play out!

 

We will be flying for this cruise and will be in the area the night before - last time we stayed near the Embassey suites not far from the port - actually in the one of the Holiday inn products - will probably do something like that again since we can get from the airport and to the port without much issue.

For sailaway- if the weather is nice - it is nice to be outside and watch all of the folks waving farewell. Hard to believe that they do it for all of the ships. Seem to remember that there is a live cam - will have to check with our other cruise friends who told me about it last time- it is fun to watch the various ships leave port live. BTW - as we get closer and I collect more info offline - I will share with you so that we can get things set up.

 

So ML - do you have a favorite team?

 

Just a note about all the poeple waving on the sail away out of FLL and the web cams. We had our daughter pull up the two webcams in FLL and save pictures off the cams as we went out of port last year. When we got back and looked at the pictures that she saved we noticed I was in one of them. I am 6'9'' and stand out on the railing on the upper deck. Here is the picture she saved:

 

http://cid-46f58dd5b1df192a.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Misc/cam%5E_4-19-09%5E_10-Rick.jpg

 

We even got a picture of one of our friends on the cruise standing on the railing ont he upper deck futhre astern.

[ski ww]

For the sail away we can can have a Bon Voyage Party on the Lido deck aft. We can all meet at the Sea View Bar, have a drink of the day and toast as we sail out of harbour. It will be one way for us to all meet, and say hello for the first time.:D:D

Got an invoice yesterday from our TA advising us that the tax for our trip has gone up $20.00 each.:(:(

Fuel supplement has been suspended for now unless the price of crude goes over $70.00 a barrel, which could be $9.00 per person per day. Might be a good idea to pay off the trip now in case it goes up. We where hoping our dollar was going to get closer to par, don't think that will happen.:(:(

Allan & Marlane

[NoWhiners]

For the sail away we can can have a Bon Voyage Party on the Lido deck aft. We can all meet at the Sea View Bar, have a drink of the day and toast as we sail out of harbour. It will be one way for us to all meet, and say hello for the first time.:D:D

Got an invoice yesterday from our TA advising us that the tax for our trip has gone up $20.00 each.:(:(

Fuel supplement has been suspended for now unless the price of crude goes over $70.00 a barrel, which could be $9.00 per person per day. Might be a good idea to pay off the trip now in case it goes up. We where hoping our dollar was going to get closer to par, don't think that will happen.:(:(

Allan & Marlane

 

This is a good spot--I love it out on this deck watching the port slip away! We might need to consider a backup location in case of rain?

 

BC--do you know if we can arrange a sailaway party thru HAL? i am thinking it would be nice to have a few tables reserved for us? I have only done M&G, not a sailaway party so am uncertain. Could be very competitive to get a spot here for all of us?

 

Would everyone be interested in a sailaway party? If not, we could just make it an informal activity and meet if desired?

 

ML

[bcirish]

Lido deck aft is perfect but do not think Hal does anything but always worth checking. In the past we have worn the infamous mardi gras beads to be identified. I do remember on our Last European sail-away that we ended up moving because the band was too loud.

The ones last January we bailed on because it was too cold. I suppose our alternative could be in the pool area on the Lido deck in case of rain since it would be covered but we could still see. The crows nest is often too crowded so in the past we have avoided that.

Right now I am trying to finalize our winter plans and for some reason it has been harder this year. i guess because Florida was so cold last year that I am tempted to try some other area for at least part of the time. We are usually in Hilton Head the last week of the year but that falls on Christmas and New Years Day so am. Thinking of going a week later this year.

 

Wow 15 years of fantasy - I am impressed. BTW Buckeyes were looking good today and put Florida away. There was lots of good college football today. Tomorrow fantasy rules!

HVe checked my mail and will now try to get some sleep

Later

B

[NoWhiners]

I will call and ask, tell them we are a CC group--can't hurt. It might depend on how many of us decide to attend, so i will wait until we have more info on that. Our last cruise, we used "Dave's not here" as our codephrase!! Seemed to work and everyone had fun with it. never thought of beads--some proposed funny hats but most didn't like that idea!

 

There were good games yesterday--including the incredibly lucky Michigan Wolverines (hubby is a Michigan grad and now follows football because I couldn't be with someone who didn't love football ;) ! I watched the game and thought they deserved to lose--if their QB gets hurt they are cooked.

 

off to watch the NY Giants!!

[High Seas Texan]

BC Irish, please email me please at gma11259@aol.com

I have some ideas for a meet and greet and sail a way.

Cordially,

George

[cruz chic]

Hi Everybody! Just booked this cruise today because the one I had booked wasn't going to get me back to work in time for the deadlines I'll have in my new job. I'm looking forward to going to the Panama Canal again.

[Mad Jayhawk]

Put us on the Roll Call list!!!!

 

Dennis & Karen Sun City West AZ.

 

We will check back in later.

[ski ww]

Just to say hi and welcome to our two new cc members. Looks like the roll call list is getting longer and I'm sure as we get closer to the sailing date we'll have more people signing on.

 

Allan & Marlane:D:D

[ski ww]

We are starting to look at where to stay when we get to Fort Lauderdale. We're trying to stay close to Port Everglades. Normally the hotels offered by the cruise company are pretty expensive. When we decide which hotel we'll stay at, those that are also staying in the area maybe we can get together for drinks and dinner the night before we sail.:D:D

 

Allan & Marlane:):)