*OFFICIAL* CC Group Cruise 02/15/2014 Cupid's IV Southern Caribbean - Carnival Breeze

[AKB10]

I finally booked a hotel in Miami. After looking all around finally decided on Spring Hill Suites Miami Airport South. Not my first choice, but it was only $152/night with AAA discount and we are able to cancel. The SpringHill Suites Miami Airport East/Medical Center is already sold out and not available for that night - I procrastinated to long. :o Several of the hotels the Cupids have pre-booked have also gone up in price. The Fairfield Inn was $249 now. Many of the nicer airport hotels are around $300 now. It wasn't that expensive a few weeks ago.

 

So those of you still on the fence about what Hotel to book - you need to decide soon. Several hotels are showing sold out for that night already. When it gets closer I will have to try Priceline, but Feb is a hard month to find good deals. Also with it being Valentines and the boat show going on there will probably be no deals.

 

I also thought about staying in Fort Lauderdale since that is where we will probably fly into. (Southwest Airlines) But I can always look into that after we get our flights booked.

 

Nothing special going on here. Just work and home and repeat. :D

[joymaker]

Hi Heidi and Dave We are already booked on the Breeze cruise. We did it on the Freedom? along with the retired Firefighter. Still hope w e we can get on the CUPIDS activities. We sail every year in Feb also.

[HeidiHo]

Still hope w e we can get on the CUPIDS activities. We sail every year in Feb also.

 

Of course you can. NONE of our activities are restricted to official group member only. They are open to anyone who wants to join us.

[momofzeke]

Sue, National Ag Day. I know a few Aggies will be celebrating. Is your bunk house part of the original buildings. You have mentioned that it is probably haunted. You should enter it in one of those shows on TV.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Dave

 

Dave, yes the bunk house is the original main house of our ranch. It must have been built in about the 1880's or so. This ranch was part of a huge ranching empire and was the headquarters, so I'm sure that house was fancy for the times. It is a 2-story and pretty big for those times. Dave's grandfather had 3 ranches and 3 sons...Dave's dad got this ranch. After he married, they built the house we live in now (in 1948) and the original house became a bunk house for the hired men. Now we use it for storage. And yes, there truly are stories that it is haunted although I've never seen any ghosts over there and it's right next to our house. :rolleyes:

 

John & Janet ~ as Heidi said, we welcome everyone to our meet & greets and any other activities. You don't have to book with the group, we want you to join in and have fun with us!

 

Kathy ~ wow, glad I got a hotel booked when I did. Last time we cruised out of Miami, we did fly into Ft. Lauderdale on Southwest and then I hired a car to take us to Miami. I would really rather fly into MIA this time and save that hassle. I have a ton of airline points right now, so I don't have to worry so much about the higher cost of flying into MIA.

[Cruisin Dave]

Good afternoon from sunny Texas,

We are in the 60s today and will be there until this weekend when we cool down just a little bit.

 

Sue, I'm waiting on two books from you. One about the ghost that haunt the bunk house and one about the calves. Maybe you need a ghost writer. LOL

 

To all the newbies. I have been on all of the Cupids cruises. We always welcome non-group participants in our activities. Since there isn't a cocktail party anymore that was the only thing that was by invitation only. I wish Carnival had M&Ms like RCCL did. They are lots of fun.

 

Hope everyone had a great hump day.

 

Dave

[Flick]

I booked three rooms at LaQuinta North on March 5th. from Hotels.com. Unfortunately the third room didn't "take". Fortunately I decided to double check my reservation to see that they had confirmed the price, which they did. Yesterday when I discovered the third room wasn't confirmed I reserved it. From March 5th. to March 20th. the room with taxes had gone from $179.00 to $198.00!! Actually, what I found out is now all three rooms are PAID IN FULL already!!! I can cancel if I wish, however. Trying to convince my BIL and SIL who are flying in from California to not take the red eye over night the day of the cruise. All they need is for one connection to be delayed by snow and they can wave their money goodbye from the dock.

[HeidiHo]

Good Morning! :)

 

Still no sign of spring here either. It's only 14 degrees right now but at least it's sunny and not as windy. We had a bit of snow again last night but just a trace, it didn't accumulate. It's supposed to get up to 30 today then in the mid to upper 30's for the next several days. That's still not warm enough for me. :mad:

 

I am going to the dentist this morning for my permanent crown. I wasn't supposed to go until tomorrow but last night my temporary came out so I called and they told me to come in today. She double checked to make sure my permanent one had come in and thankfully it had or else I would be going today to have the temporary put back in and then back again tomorrow for the permanent one. So it worked out well. It just feels funny now in my mouth where the tooth is drilled down to just a stub and it's very temperature sensitive so I have to be careful. Otherwise it's not painful or anything.

 

After the dentist I work lunch at the OG and then I'm off till next week since we are going down to see Staci and hopefully, Eric. I do have to work at the agency tomorrow afternoon though.

 

Have a great day. :D

[momofzeke]

Morning!

 

The first day of spring yesterday was not at all like spring! It was so windy, it was unbelievable. I went out for a quick walk with the dog and to help Dave feed the calves and it felt like the wind was going to rip limbs from my body. Today is calm so far and may be a pretty decent day.

 

Heidi ~ Dave has a temporary crown in right now. Glad you were able to get an appointment today for your permanent one. We don't have dental insurance, so there goes probably close to $2,000 out of my pocket. :mad:

 

Rick ~ glad you figured out you were 1 hotel room short! You're lucky those rooms are refundable; sometimes when they have you pay in full up front, it's a non refundable rate.

 

I'm getting my hair cut today, so Dave and I will go in and have lunch. There is a GMC Traverse on the local car lot, so we want to test drive it.

[HeidiHo]

 

Heidi ~ Dave has a temporary crown in right now. Glad you were able to get an appointment today for your permanent one. We don't have dental insurance, so there goes probably close to $2,000 out of my pocket. :mad:

 

 

YIKES! I know they are expensive but I didn't they could be THAT much. We have dental and mine only cost $234.00. They also did molds today for a new night guard. I wear a guard at night to keep from grinding my teeth. The old one was wearing out. Every time I had dental work done they had to do drilling on it to make adjustments because it wouldn't fit with the new filling or crown. It was getting too thin in spots and they had at one point cut off about a 1/4" off one end so that it didn't even go over my last molar anymore. That is going to cost about $300.00 but I guess that's better than grinding my teeth to the point that there is no enamel left.

[Flick]

Yikes Sue you scared me but I checked and yes the rooms are refundable. So far today we have spent it running from grocery store to food bank to packing station for the backpacks. It was only supposed to get to 68 today but the sun came out and it is now 79 and the pool is jammed. Course everything is green down here anyway so you wouldn;'t know it is only the first day of Spring. (Whew, made it another season with no snow or ice!!!!! Really don't mind shoveling sunshine.)

[momofzeke]

Yes, those dang dental crowns are super expensive, and we do not have dental insurance. I have 2 crowns and now Dave will have 3 crowns. The first one I got years ago was about $1,000, but Dave's last one a few years ago was up to about $1,500 I think. So I expect that now it will be at least $1,800 if not more. grrrrrr. They are gold crowns, which are more expensive but last forever so you don't ever have to worry about replacing them.

 

Rick, didn't mean to scare you about the hotel, but glad it is a refundable room!

 

OH DANG! I just looked out the window and it's snowing a tiny bit. You have to look real close, but it IS snow. :mad:

 

We sat in the GMC Traverse SUV yesterday, and I did not like it at all. The headrest is at a weird forward angle and I thought it was really uncomfortable. So far, the Mercedes and the Cadillac are winning the car wars, although we have to actually sit in and drive a Caddy first. But from talking to a friend who had the model we're interested in, it sounds like it's a very comfortable car.

 

My sister and her hubby and 3 kids are coming to visit during their spring break, which starts after today. They are coming Sunday and will go home Thursday. I don't get to see my sis very often, even though she doesn't live that far away....about a 3 hour drive from here. But they are busy and we are busy and it seems like we don't get together enough. I'm looking forward to spending some time with them.

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

[Cruisin Dave]

Good afternoon Cupids,

Winter has returned to North Texas. When I awake this morning it was 64 outside but by 10am it was 48. That's just not right. Now we may have a freeze next week and many of the fruit trees are beginning to bloom. I thought we were going to have an early spring. :eek::D

Hope everyone has a good day.

Dave

[Flick]

Sue:

Enjoy the visit with your sister and her family. Busy day today...we have to go to Sam's for food for the backpacks plus play host/hostess for couples coming to get their pictures taken for the directory at church we are chairing plus have our own pictures taken. We will have Spencer with us for the picture then I drive him home (26 miles one way) turn around and go back and go to Mass later this afternoon. Tonight I will grill steaks and drink some red stuff. We are going to Mass this afternoon because tomorrow we host a luncheon for all the volunteers at the Lodge. That will be relatively simple since we are doing KFC but Kay and I will be the servers.

[HeidiHo]

Good morning! Today we are off to Normal to do the college thing. Staci has our night planned out for us, I think. She said she put our names on "the list" at on of the popular college bars so we don't have to pay a cover charge. I feel so important. ;) We went to the same bar last Fall and heard the same band and actually enjoyed them so it should be fun. It's the one time it's OK for the kids to bring their parents because everybody's parents are there. LOL. Have a great weekend.

[ooulio]

I still haven't booked our hotels either. I went back to the Hampton Inn downtown Brickell . One site was $347.00. I really want to stay in that area. I love to walk downtown Miami. I looked on Priceline. There are some that are $218 that are still in that area. I probably will just book tomorrow. Has anyone used Priceline for the hotel in Miami. ?I don't want to stay near the airport. You can't walk around. I finally get to see my brother and his wife. We would love to be able to do what we did this year but he wasn't with us. It is still freezing here. Sick to death of snow. Winter from hell. Had my ski jacket on, mittens, and zipped to the top.

[HeidiHo]

I am currently sitting on a party bus coming back from one of the college bars Staci took us too and it's snowing. Will spring ever get here? Staci's sorority took first place in the dance competition. First time in her 4 years of college.

[Flick]

Driving back and forth to church yesterday was a real "picnic" because of traffic. At least 10 miles of bumper to bumper stop N go traffic because os a rowing competition taking place on a lake beside I-75! Gawkers had to look and so a normal 35 minute trip took 1 hour and 7 minutes!!

[momofzeke]

My sister & her family arrive today. Will be fun to spend some time with them.

 

The Ducks are going to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA basketball tourney! Been a long time since they've made it that far. GO DUCKS!

 

Heidi - sounds like you had fun, and great that Stacis sorority won. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

 

Esther - sorry, I'm not a Priceline person. I don't like not knowing for sure what hotel or size bed you will get. We are used to a king size bed & can't sleep very well in a queen or full. The one time I used Priceline & requested a king or 2 beds if king wasn't available, they gave us a queen with a sofa/bed & we hated it. Never been brave enough to try again. Good luck, I hope you can get a hotel you like.

[Cruisin Dave]

Good morning Cupids,

 

It's windy and cold here. Time to go on a ground hog hunt.

 

Heidi, enjoy your fun at college.

 

Sue, have fun with your sis and family.

 

Wishing everyone a grand Palm Sunday.

 

Dave

[ktravel]

Dave, really or are you pulling our leg??

We live in western KY. I know there are several things to hunt in our area. That is a new one for me.

[HeidiHo]

We are leaving Normal in a blizzard. Only 15 minutes into the drive and we have already seen 3 cars in the ditch. We aren't going to go to Champaign to see Eric. It would be foolish to drive any farther than we have to. There is supposed to be about 5-9 inches. We aren't supposed to get much at home though so hopefully it will get better as we drive further north.

[Flick]

We are leaving Normal in a blizzard. Only 15 minutes into the drive and we have already seen 3 cars in the ditch. We aren't going to go to Champaign to see Eric. It would be foolish to drive any farther than we have to. There is supposed to be about 5-9 inches. We aren't supposed to get much at home though so hopefully it will get better as we drive further north.

 

Heidi' you're out in that open flat prarie land of central Illinois so even a few flurries can cause huge headaches. Y'all drive careful...ya heah?

[walkswife]

So now i have to cruises to pay for..... this one and a new Chevy Cruze.... yup I broke down and bought a new car..... it was time even though I didn't want the payments.....

 

I think Lisa booked our hotel but I'm not sure... I will check with her tomorrow... being as she is the newbie I want her to plan what she wants to do.... I can go with the flow....

[HeidiHo]

We are home, safe and sound. We didn't have to drive very far north to get out of the storm. The whole drive only took us about 20 minutes longer than usual. It's normally a 2 hour drive. Kelly (from Cupid's II) lives in Normal and she posted on Facebook right after we got home that it's still bad there. I'm just disappointed we couldn't go see Eric. :(

[Cruisin Dave]

I spoke with my sister from Virginia today. They have about 6 inches of snow and school has been cancelled tomorrow. We expect a freeze tomorrow morning. Fruit trees are blooming and we may loose the peach crop.

 

Heidi, glad you made it home okay. Sounds like you had a good time.

 

Renee, a cruise and a Cruz, you are having a good year.

 

Didn't locate that lying groundhog. Guess we will just have to find another creature to predict the arrival of spring.

 

Dave