Come Join The Valor Voyagers 6/12/05 Western Caribbean

[Marcys]

Kathi...thanks so much for doing this for us. I e-mailed you to count my family of 4 in. Do you know whether Marvin was talking about Belize time or ship time? I remember there being a time difference last summer.

[Snowball]

Kathy - I have 3 definites and 1-2 more maybes, so just let me know how many open spots you have at the end and I'll check with my maybe's and see if we fill them all. But definitely count me in for 3. Thank you so much for contacting Marvin's for us - I can't wait!!! :D

[lhall85917]

We'd love to go with the group, but my hubby is a little leary of signing up with people he doesn't know :o . He's kind of the cautious type. He doesn't mind booking directly through the company, but doesn't want to end up without a trip by doing this way. Help me know what to tell him to convince him that it will be ok!

[Snowball]

Would you feel more comfortable booking with the group if Kathy forwarded to you the e-mails from Marvin confirming the details of the group excursion? Then you would have your own copy in writing. I just hate the thought of you missing out on going on this excursion with us, plus by booking with the rest of our group you'll be saving $9 each. And remember that we won't need to pay for the excursion until we get there, so there's no way you'd pay and not get the excursion.

I hope you can convince your hubby so you both can join us!!! :)

[Marcys]

You could also contact the tour company on your own to confirm the details. If your husband is leary of signing up with people he doesn't know...tell him if you book on your own, he'll still be with people he doesn't know!

[Marcys]

...and you won't have to wait for people from other ships!

[Snowball]

....and you won't have to worry about missing the last tender, since it is scheduled specifically according to our group's port time.


Did we convince you yet? :D

[Marcys]

...and we're such nice people!:D

[Snowball]

..... and we're going to have so much fun going on this excursion together!!! :D

I could use my "mom" method of reasoning and say "and because I said so!!!" :p

[Marcys]

...and he would make his wife soooooo happy!!!

[lhall85917]

ok, ok!! Count us in! I talked to hubby, he says if I'm ok with it, so is he - so I'm in big trouble if it doesn't work out!!! :o
There will be 4 of us, I'll email separately. whoo hoo!!

[Snowball]

YAY!!! I knew we'd be able to browbeat, ummm, I mean talk you into it!!! :p :D

[cruiserkathi]

Hello Everyone: Just wanted you to know that we've filled the cave-tubing excursion with Wet-N-Wild in Belize. I have asked Marvin if they have another van, so will let you know if they can accommodate anymore. (I forgot to ask if it's air-conditioned. I'll let you know.)

[Snowball]

Wow - that was quick!!! Thanks Kathy!!! :D

[Marcys]

Sharon...so glad you can make it!! I also feel the pressure sometimes of feeling responsible for everyone enjoying an excursion. But, I can't get anyone else to do any planning! My last argument was going to be...

...when mom's happy, everyone's happy!

[Snowball]

[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=indigo]Now that we have the cave tubing excursion squared away, are Marcy and I the only ones interested in the stingray excursion through Soto's??? I haven't seen anyone else post that they were interested. :( [/color][/size][/font]

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[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=indigo]Dave - this offer is open to your family too, of course. :) [/color][/size][/font]

[lhall85917]

I think we'll pass on the stingrays this time. Our other excursion, hopefully, will be in Roatan. Someone mentioned doing the orphanage, zipline, then the beach - sounds like what we had in mind!

[cruiserkathi]

We're interested in joining the sting ray excursion -- short tour is good for us since we're basically interested in the sand bar and want to snorkle at Eden's Beach. I'm the one who suggested the orphanage, zip lines, and beach. I've been in touch with Brad from the orphanage -- will post a list of needed items soon. Maybe he has a suggestion for a driver who could accommodate a group of 8 - 12 for the day. I'll check. What is everyone thinking about for Cozumel? Hotel suggestions for Miami? Still need to book airfares.

[Snowball]

That's great Kathy! :D I'll add your family to the list for the stingray excursion. So that's 4 for Marcy, 4 for Kathy, and 3-5 for me (still waiting to hear from a few people). I'll wait until Monday to see if anyone else is interested, then e-mail Soto's back after that.

Has anyone else sent their bio's and pics to Sharon? I think it would be really great if everyone participated in our group homepage. Even if you don't want to send your pics, just sent a bio to be added. This will be just one more fun way for us to get to know each other before the cruise. :)

[lhall85917]

Kathi, we're still looking for airfares, hoping once we hit the 6 month mark we'll start seeing some bargains - that won't be long! :D
We don't have any plans for Cozumel, the kids wanted to see some ruins, so this might be the place to try that if we can find something VERY inexpensive. We usually plan 1 big excursion per trip, so if we do cave tubing and the zipline I think we've met our quota so we'll need to stay in the very cheap range!
I'd like to second Debbi's plea for everyone to send me a little info about themselves for our webpage. I'd like to have enought that we need a separate page just for this!

[Marcys]

I'm still trying to find out whether the zipline is available in Roatan without a ship's tour. I posted on the Roatan board and sent an e-mail to an adress that someone posted as the zipline company, but haven't heard anything at all. It's also not listed (yet) as an excursion through Carnival.

Kathi, what type of items do they need at the orphanage so we can start looking while we're out and putting things away. Do you think Brad may be able to tell us about the zipline tour or at least get us a contact so we can answer the question of whether we can do it on our own?

In Cozmel, we've already been swimming with the dolphins and went to Paradise Beach. This time we were thinking about an all day dune buggy excursion, that inlcudes some sightseeing, snorkeling at a remote beach, off-roading, a few smaller ruins, etc.. Would love to go out with others that night to a Cozumel night spot for a few hours. It's not often you're in port so late.

I've got my air all set. We'll probably stay at the Holiday Inn across from Bayside Market. Also, since we get in late the night before, I've also been thinking of saving time and getting to bed earlier by staying at an airport hotel and taking a taxi to the pier in the morning.

[Snowball]

[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy]Here are my plans so far:[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy][b]Belize[/b] - cave tubing!!! :D [/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy][b]Roatan[/b] - go to a beach or all-inclusive somewhere, but not sure which one yet.[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy][b]Grand Cayman[/b] - Soto's swim with the stingrays excursion, then to 7 mile beach for the rest of the day. [/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy][b]Cozumel [/b]- shopping, Paradise Beach, then Carlos N' Charlies at night ;). I know that others in our group are planning to go to C N' C's that night too - maybe we can all try to sit together there. :) [/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy]Airfare is starting to drop from Philly to Miami - went from $335 to $223 this week, but I'm hoping to pay around $150, so I'm still going to wait a bit.[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy]I still plan on booking my hotel through Priceline, either in the downtown area or Miami Beach/South Beach, depending on how early my flight arrives in Miami. If I get an early flight, then I'll stay at Miami or South Beach and spend the day at the beach, but if I don't get in until late then I'll just stay downtown where it's close to the pier.[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=#000080]What is everyone doing this weekend? I'm having guests for Thanksgiving so I need to do some extra cleaning, and will try to fit in some Christmas shopping too. [/color][/font]
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[Marcys]

For Thanksgiving, we're driving from Cleveland to NYC. It's about 7 to 8 hours. Dave's mom lives in Manhattan and isn't feeling well, she's been going through chemotherapy. So, we will be having our Thanksgiving meal in a nearby restaurant. On Friday, we're going to visit my roommate from college and her family (we've been friends for 28 years) in New Jersey. Saturday we'll visit with our friends who live in Manhattan, and then we'll drive home Sunday. In-between, my daughter and I will shop, shop, shop (love that 7-story Macy's)...she'll probably try to ice skate in Rockerfeller Center and my husband and son will go visit the Intrepid (aircraft carrier). There's so many things to do, and we always do the same exact thing!

Since there's no internet acess in her apartment, I won't be checking in, although our hotel room (granny can't fit all of us in her apartment and has her aides staying with her) does have wireless access. I'm wireless at home, but I don't know if it works with their system. Anyone know how that works in hotels?

[Snowball]

I love going shopping in NYC. We always go up there for a day trip sometime in between Christmas and New Year's to shop and spend our leftover Christmas money.;) And I love seeing the city with all the decorations.

[Marcys]

Actually, the day after Thanksgiving is the official start to the holiday shopping season and the WORST day to go shopping in NYC!! But, we're brave...we'll tough it out!

My husband and I found ourselves without kids last night and decided to go out for a coffee. We walked in and out of some shops in town and I saw some really nice formal wear for reasonable prices. I've been wearing the same 2 formal dresses on every cruise. (I think they're shrinking, each year they feel tighter:eek: ). I don't want to buy pictures because my dresses are always the same in them. Hmmm...a new ship requires a new dress...what do you ladies think??:p