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

[HeidiHo]

This posting is new to me. I am not sure of what I am doing, but It will give it my best shot!! This is our 5th cruise, 1st with Carnival. We are really looking forward to this cruise. It will be our Anniversity Cruise, 34-years on Februbary 16, 2014. I am looking forward to meeting you all here, and then on the ship.:):)

 

Welcome LesJazz! Congratulations on your 1st post. Hopefully by the time we sail you'll be a pro at this.

[ooulio]

Just wanted to say a quick hello. We are also celebrating our anniversary on Feb 17..11 years. We loved the Breeze. Since we just did it this past Feb, we should be pros on this one. This will be our 13th or 14th with Carnival. We have also done 1 with Disney. I did one with RC. Has anyone else booked their hotels in Miami before the cruise.? Just wondering. What floors are most of you on?

[keene state mom]

This posting is new to me. I am not sure of what I am doing, but It will give it my best shot!! This is our 5th cruise, 1st with Carnival. We are really looking forward to this cruise. It will be our Anniversity Cruise, 34-years on Februbary 16, 2014. I am looking forward to meeting you all here, and then on the ship.:):)

 

Welcome ... congratulations on your first post, I have learned so much posting reading and even asking lots of questions I have also met some wonderful friends for life,

 

Gail

[keene state mom]

Just wanted to say a quick hello. We are also celebrating our anniversary on Feb 17..11 years. We loved the Breeze. Since we just did it this past Feb, we should be pros on this one. This will be our 13th or 14th with Carnival. We have also done 1 with Disney. I did one with RC. Has anyone else booked their hotels in Miami before the cruise.? Just wondering. What floors are most of you on?

 

I have no idea where to stay in Miami, most of my cruise have been out of Ft. Lauderdale or orlando, so i am also interested to see what people are doing the night before

 

Gail

[LesJazz]

Hi Everyone,

I need to tell you all that I am not exactly new. My first name was

"Ilaga". I have been away for so long that I forgot my user name and

password. Also, I have a new email address. So I just re-registered.

I feel like a new person, as I am reviewing how to use this web-site,

and learn all over about how to post.

Thanks, and I can use any help and suggestions you have,

LesJazz.

[ktravel]

I had some Marriot points to use. I was able to get booked at Courtyard downtown 2nd avenue. We are flying into FLL and then I hope to get QLS shuttle to Miami. We hope to make their afternoon shuttle. Just chill that evening. I hope we are close enough to walk and get a couple bottles of wine. Anyone know? I can rest better if I am in the departure port the night before

[Barbados1999]

Hi, Heidi. .... thanks for inviting me over to this thread you had already started a thread for this sailing. :) I started the other thread, not knowing this thread existed, so thanks again for inviting me over, especially since i'm not officially part of your cupid group. :) hopefully I haven't missed much ... i'll read back through the posts and try to get up to speed with everybody. lol.

 

i'll unsubscribe from the other thread I started ... I find it confusing trying to follow too many threads. LOL. at my old age, i'm easily confused. :)

 

looking forward to hanging out with you all here as we countdown to the Breeze :D

[HeidiHo]

Hi Everyone,

I need to tell you all that I am not exactly new. My first name was

"Ilaga". I have been away for so long that I forgot my user name and

password. Also, I have a new email address. So I just re-registered.

I feel like a new person, as I am reviewing how to use this web-site,

and learn all over about how to post.

Thanks, and I can use any help and suggestions you have,

LesJazz.

 

I remember you!!!!!! You are Barbara and Jerry, right? I already have you listed under Ilaga for for this cruise. I have tried to keep a list of everyone booked on this cruise

 

Hi, Heidi. .... thanks for inviting me over to this thread you had already started a thread for this sailing. :) I started the other thread, not knowing this thread existed, so thanks again for inviting me over, especially since i'm not officially part of your cupid group. :) hopefully I haven't missed much ... i'll read back through the posts and try to get up to speed with everybody. lol.

 

i'll unsubscribe from the other thread I started ... I find it confusing trying to follow too many threads. LOL. at my old age, i'm easily confused. :)

 

looking forward to hanging out with you all here as we countdown to the Breeze :D

 

Welcome Barbados1999! Glad you found your way over here.

[Flick]

Gail, many of us have already scrambled to get hotel rooms in Miami. There is an International Boat Show that weekend and the room rates are going thru the roof. We are staying at LaQuinta North Airport because we are driving and needed a place to leave the car (for free) during the cruise. We also will probably be picking up Jann and Ken who are going on the cruise with us when they fly in from Southern California. Hotels.com lost the third room reservation but I caught that in 20 days.....they were going up at the rate of $1.00 per day! We also are traveling from home with LesJazz.

[momofzeke]

Welcome, LesJazz and Barbados1999! Glad you found us here!

HOTEL: the hotel in Miami we are booked at is the Fairfield Inn & Suites Miami Airport South. I suggest getting a hotel room booked ASAP, because as Rick explained, there is a boat show that weekend, which is causing hotel rates to skyrocket.

 

SHIP DECK: We are on deck 7, and I know several others are booked on that deck also. We are next door to Heidi & Dave (HeidiHo), and will open the balcony divider to create one large shared balcony. We did that on the last cruise and it was great.

 

LesJazz: 34 years! Excellent! My hubby and I will celebrate our 34th anniversary in June.

 

Barbados1999: We welcome all friends! We don't care that you're not an "official" part of the group. We don't have any "official" activities planned anyway. Everyone is welcome to hang out with us on the ship for anything we end up doing, and also here on the thread. Glad you found us!

 

It is snowing here right now. Ick.

 

We had a nice weekend with the kids. I got to feel the baby kick several times. We car shopped til we dropped! I hate it. We drove 2 Jeep Grand Cherokees, a Cadillac SRX and a Mercedes ML350 and sat in several other Jeeps, Caddys, Mercedes and a GMC Acadia. The GM products (Cadillac, Acadia and Traverse that we sat in earlier) have the weirdest headrest that juts forward and I hate it. Very uncomfortable to me. The car we like the best is the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The one we drove was great, but more than we want to pay...it is a brand new 2014. Now that we know what we want, Dave can search and find a better deal on one, unless they want to negotiate and come down on the price a ways.

[HeidiHo]

Good Afternoon!

 

It's so horrible about the bombings in Boston yesterday. I know someone who was running but he is fine. I think he had finished quite a whole before the bombs went off. My heart goes out to all the people directly affected by this tragedy.

 

I am currently closely watching a thread here on Cruise Critic about a group cruise to Alaska. Not because I want to go on it, I just want to see how Cruise Critic reacts to it because whatever happens it could impact any future Cupid's group cruises.

 

About a week or so ago I noticed someone had started an interest thread for an Alaska cruise. This was not the one that was told that CC wasn't currently looking do approve any groups, it was a new one. Anyway, I stayed out of it but someone else let the OP know that Cruise Critic wasn't approving any new groups so the OP suggested they do a group on their own then. She has contacted a travel agent and posted prices that the TA gave her. She hasn't actually posted the travel agents name or number but has posted info on how to find the TA on Facebook and has posted her own email address for people to contact her for info on the group and to get TA info.

 

All of this is totally against Cruise Critic rules. Currently, Cruise Critic rules say that no one can advertise a group that is not an official Cruise Critic group cruise. It is also against CC rules to post any travel agent contact info and even against their rules to post your email address and tell people to contact you for travel agent info.

 

Now, none of the above matters to me. I don't care if they are breaking Cruise Critic rules. I'm not planning to report them. LOL. I am just wondering if CC will change or relax the rules now that they are no longer approving "official" Cruise Critic group cruises. I am wondering if the thread is eventually going to be noticed by the moderators or by Laura S herself and will go "poof" and be gone or will they turn a blind eye and let it go or maybe even change the current rules.

 

I just want to see what happens. If they allow it then if we decide to do Cupid's V then I can certainly handle the group myself. If they don't allow it or don't change the rules, then I could still handle the group but we'd have to keep it off Cruise Critic. It's a long way off though so we'll just wait and see. We will most likely talk about it while we are on the Breeze in February just like we did on the last Cupid's cruise.

[LesJazz]

Boy, Heido-Ho....what a memory!!! We are Jerry & Barbara. But now we are LesJazz, due to my "Senior" moments. We are very well and getting more excited each day about this cruise. :):)

[LesJazz]

Hiedo-Ho,

Yes, Jerry and I are formally "Ilaga". But thanks to my "senior" moments, we are now LesJazz. Can you tell me how to get the "count-down" calendar?

 

Thanks,

LesJazz

[Cruisin Dave]

I saw the Alaska Group thread and hope it continues. CC will need to change some policies if they stop sponsoring cruises. As long as TA's are left incognito then they may have a chance. I'll keep and Eye on the thread.

Welcome aboard to all the Newpids.

Dave

[keene state mom]

Thanks for the room info, I panicked for a moment then realized I will be a week ahead of you guys as I am on a back to back starting on the 9th so I will be looking for the 8th of February only.

 

Gail

[HeidiHo]

Hiedo-Ho,

Yes, Jerry and I are formally "Ilaga". But thanks to my "senior" moments, we are now LesJazz. Can you tell me how to get the "count-down" calendar?

 

Thanks,

LesJazz

 

Barbara - Just go to the top of the page and click on "count down clocks" and follow the instructions.

 

I saw the Alaska Group thread and hope it continues. CC will need to change some policies if they stop sponsoring cruises. As long as TA's are left incognito then they may have a chance. I'll keep and Eye on the thread.

 

Welcome aboard to all the Newpids.

 

Dave

 

Dave - I was wondering even before the Alaska group thread was started what Cruise Critic might do about unofficial groups. I was thinking maybe they would allow advertising of groups but only if they were set up directly with the cruise lines so there would be no TA's involved since they have rules about not sharing TA info. Currently though, it's even against the rules to share the name of your PVP or other cruise line rep. It will be really interesting to see what happens with the Alaska group. I wouldn't be surprised to see them eventually moved to the roll call forum though, if they are even allowed to continue.

[momofzeke]

Heidi ~ that is interesting about the thread you are watching, regarding the group cruise. Keep us posted on whether it gets pulled or allowed to continue.

 

Very cold here yesterday, with snow off & on all day, but today so far we have sunshine. Still chilly though.

 

The Boston Marathon bombing sure was awful, as Heidi said. The first person I though of was our own "Marathon Dave"...but he posted on Facebook that he was not in that race, although he did know people running in it. They were all safe though. Such a horrible tragedy.

[Cruisin Dave]

Good afternoon Cupids,

I'm also curious about how group cruises will be handled in the future. Maybe, they will all be shifted over to the roll-call thread. We will have to wait and see.

Sue, stay warm. It's warm here today. I'm in shorts but it will be cooler tomorrow. High only in the upper 50's. Thank goodness there is no call for snow. That would ruin the fruit crop.

Later,

Dave

[Flick]

I'm pretty sure you already know this or might even have guessed it but we also have no call for snow here on the beach........

[HeidiHo]

Good morning!

 

Well, no snow here either but so far we have had over 5" of rain since yesterday and it's still coming down. Thank God it's not snow or else I think we'd be buried. LOL. There a lot of flooding though. We have a lake in our back yard now. My friend posted pics on FB of her street flooded up to her front steps and about a foot of water in her basement. We will be fine since we are on high ground and are over a crawl space. I can hear the sump pump going on and off down there though but there's nothing down there, it's just a gravel floor.

 

Today is my day off but I was asked to do a lunch delivery so I'm going to the OG about 10:30 for that. I have to deliver to a school at 11:00. Hopefully I won't run into flooded roads. i also want to do some other errands and stuff but don't really want to do them in the pouring rain. I hope it stops soon.

 

Have a good day. :)

[LesJazz]

OFFICIAL GROUP CRUISE! "CUPID'S IV"

SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN. 8 NIGHTS ON THE

CARNIVAL BREEZE, FEBRUARY 15th,2014

 

 

ITINERARY

 

Saturday - Leave Miami 4:00 PM

Sunday - Fun day at sea

Monday - Grand Turk 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Tuesday - La Romana 9:00 to 5:00 PM

Wednesday - Curacao 2:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Thursday - Aruba 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Friday - Fun day at sea

Saturday - Fun day at sea

Sunday - Return to Miami 8:00 AM

 

 

It doesn't matter if you're a Cupid or a Newpid (new Cupid). All cupid's and Newpid's are welcome. The more the merrier!

 

 

WHO'S WITH US? You know you want to be a Cupid.

Yes, we can't wait to get started. Please explain to me what we can expect. I have be cruising a lot before, but this is our first Carnival Cruise. All the bad talk has not affected us at all. We are in our "Gitty-Up-Go" mode!

[Cruisin Dave]

Good afternoon Cupids,

It's a sad day in Texas. The explosion in West, Texas has rocked the entire State. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and rescue people in this little town. West is a farming community of about 2700 people. Bettie and I have stopped there numerous times to partake of the Kolaches and pastries that make this town famous in Texas. Please be thinking about them today.

Dave

[HeidiHo]

Good afternoon Cupids,

 

It's a sad day in Texas. The explosion in West, Texas has rocked the entire State. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and rescue people in this little town. West is a farming community of about 2700 people. Bettie and I have stopped there numerous times to partake of the Kolaches and pastries that make this town famous in Texas. Please be thinking about them today.

 

Dave

 

Dave - I heard about that last night. Unfortunately the Boston Marathon bombing is all is mostly all we hear about even though from what I heard a lot more people died in Texas. Do they know what caused the explosion? I'm assuming it was some sort of accident and not a terrorist attack or else we WOULD be hearing more about it. Here in Chicago though the flooding is the biggest story on the news. Even the bombings have taken a back seat to that for now. It's really bad in some areas but the immediate area where wi live is OK. I have seen some crazy pictures and video though.

[HeidiHo]

FUN!!!! LOTS OF FUN!!!!! That's what you can expect. As the cruise gets closer we will plan some activities but some of the things we might do are a cabin crawl, white elephant gift exchange and a couple of meet and mingles. We might do some group excursions or even if it's not a group excursion we might all might meet at the same beach resort or something. Of course, no one it obligated to participate in anything they don't want to do. It's just a lot more fun in a group.

[Cruisin Dave]

Dave - I heard about that last night. Unfortunately the Boston Marathon bombing is all is mostly all we hear about even though from what I heard a lot more people died in Texas. Do they know what caused the explosion? I'm assuming it was some sort of accident and not a terrorist attack or else we WOULD be hearing more about it. Here in Chicago though the flooding is the biggest story on the news. Even the bombings have taken a back seat to that for now. It's really bad in some areas but the immediate area where wi live is OK. I have seen some crazy pictures and video though.

At this moment the explosion is considered an accident. The ATF is investigating but I don't believe they will find anything. The fire started first then the tanks exploded from the heat. My prayers are with the families and emergency crews.

I haven't heard about the flooding in the Chicago area. Our prayers are with all that is affected by this.

Dave