Hey, That's Me In Budget Travel!!

[Phamer55]

For those who read Budget Travel, I'm happy to share that my cruise story won the True Story contest! I wrote about how my friends and I dressed up as the cast of Gilligan's Island for 50's/60's night on our Grandeur cruise. The funny thing was that the day we dressed up was the day the ship hit the pier in Costa Maya and tour a 42-foot long hole in the hull of the ship. This "stranded" us 3 additional days in Costa Maya while they patched up the ship. Although the story looks better in the actual magazine, here's a link to it online:

 

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022101273.html

 

Let me give some props out there for my cast who, without them, this prize would not have been possible:

Skipper: Russ

Ginger: Elaine

Mary Anne: Christina

The Professor: Shaun

Mr Howell: Ron

Mrs. Howell: Dawn

"Island Girl": Shannon

Gilligan: Myself

[texasnana]

that is so cool.. congrads to you and your theme you dressed up too... have fun

[KillaFee]

The True Stories section of Budget Travel is my favorite part of the magazine! That's awesome that you guys won!!!

Laura

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

A celebrity of sorts among us!!! Cool. :cool: Congrats!

 

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[AudioFilly]

Congratulations, Steve!

 

I'm jealous of your prize. We stayed at their sister property the RIU Jalisco down the road and loved it. Have been wanting to go to RIU Vallarta since they recently opened.

 

If you get tired of the all-inclusive food while you're there and need a break, grab a taxi and tell them to take you to Las Almendritos. Hands down the best seafood I've ever eaten.

 

Enjoy your prize!

[Phamer55]

Thanks for the restaurant recommendation! I also think we are allowed to hang out and eat at RIU Jalisco as well.

 

Here's a link to a scanned image of the story:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~phamers/images/BudgetTravel.bmp

[Phaedra_11]

Congrats!

[PhoenixCruiser]

Congratulations!!!! :D My magazine arrived yesterday, now I cannot wait to read it.

 

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[OHCruisin]

Fantastic! I read the mag, and true stories is my favorite part. I'm so envious! Enjoy your prize.

[PhoenixCruiser]

I had to check it out LOL!!! Great story, great picture. And wow, what a great prize, enjoy :D :D

 

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[Alexis]

Congratulations on a real neat idea. You have to admit is was kind of weird to get "stranded". :D

 

[jnc411]

I love that magazine and saw your photo and article. How cool is that.

Cori

[Rudi610]

I didn't quite get that far in my issue yet. I just retrieved it and read the others too. Congrats on winning! BTW, there was a good article on river cruising in Europe in the same issue. My wife and I have talked about doing that in the past. Maybe for out 15th in a couple of years.

[debbie83]

Congratulations on your win! I love the "true stories" and was excited to see Royal Caribbean in there. Grandeur is the only ship I've sailed on, and now I know where that big dent on it came from. Hope you had fun getting stranded in Costa Maya those extra days. I know I would have!

[Mikew0805]

For those who read Budget Travel, I'm happy to share that my cruise story won the True Story contest! I wrote about how my friends and I dressed up as the cast of Gilligan's Island for 50's/60's night on our Grandeur cruise. The funny thing was that the day we dressed up was the day the ship hit the pier in Costa Maya and tour a 42-foot long hole in the hull of the ship. This "stranded" us 3 additional days in Costa Maya while they patched up the ship. Although the story looks better in the actual magazine, here's a link to it online:

 

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022101273.html

 

Let me give some props out there for my cast who, without them, this prize would not have been possible:

Skipper: Russ

Ginger: Elaine

Mary Anne: Christina

The Professor: Shaun

Mr Howell: Ron

Mrs. Howell: Dawn

"Island Girl": Shannon

Gilligan: Myself

 

 

Hey Congrats!!! :)

[Merion_Mom]

For those who read Budget Travel, I'm happy to share that my cruise story won the True Story contest! I wrote about how my friends and I dressed up as the cast of Gilligan's Island for 50's/60's night on our Grandeur cruise. The funny thing was that the day we dressed up was the day the ship hit the pier in Costa Maya and tour a 42-foot long hole in the hull of the ship. This "stranded" us 3 additional days in Costa Maya while they patched up the ship. Although the story looks better in the actual magazine, here's a link to it online:

 

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022101273.html

 

Let me give some props out there for my cast who, without them, this prize would not have been possible:

Skipper: Russ

Ginger: Elaine

Mary Anne: Christina

The Professor: Shaun

Mr Howell: Ron

Mrs. Howell: Dawn

"Island Girl": Shannon

Gilligan: Myself

 

Steve, that's great.....thanks for sharing. :) (and your story is WAY better than all the others ;))

[SeaSprayTB]

CONGRATS! :cool: That was a cute idea to dress up as the cast of Gilligan's Island! :p

[gailc]

How exciting to be featured in Budget Travel. We also get the magazine which is a really good one. I haven't looked at it yet, but I will look for you!

 

Gail

[Phamer55]

Thanks everyone! Costa Maya was an unusual port to be stranded in. We were the only ship in port for 3 straight days. On the 2nd day, the locals stuck around and had the shops open. But by the 3rd and 4th day, everything except the little area by the pier was closed. They did keep the bar open every night until midnight, which was a lot of fun. A lot of the crew would come out and party with us. We had our own little island paradise as there's nothing else around in that area. It was also nice that half the ship's passengers decided to bail and took long bus rides to the airport, leaving the remaining half to have the run of the ship. Very easy to get a chair by the pool! :)

[smoosh21]

For those who read Budget Travel, I'm happy to share that my cruise story won the True Story contest! I wrote about how my friends and I dressed up as the cast of Gilligan's Island for 50's/60's night on our Grandeur cruise. The funny thing was that the day we dressed up was the day the ship hit the pier in Costa Maya and tour a 42-foot long hole in the hull of the ship. This "stranded" us 3 additional days in Costa Maya while they patched up the ship. Although the story looks better in the actual magazine, here's a link to it online:

 

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022101273.html

 

Let me give some props out there for my cast who, without them, this prize would not have been possible:

Skipper: Russ

Ginger: Elaine

Mary Anne: Christina

The Professor: Shaun

Mr Howell: Ron

Mrs. Howell: Dawn

"Island Girl": Shannon

Gilligan: Myself

 

When I saw your post, I had to run downstairs to grab my copy. Good for you. I love reading the true stories, probably my favorite part of every issue.

[gailc]

I did read True Stories yesterday. Was a fun story to read & nice to win a free trip. That was one of the best magazines we've gotten so far. So many articles to read. I'm still not done. I also read the one on river cruising. Made me want to try one. There was also other information on cruising throughout the magazine. Even saw the Flowrider on the Freedom which we want on in Nov. Another article of interest is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan since we are from Michigan & went there many years ago.

 

Gail

[diamond girl 000]

Steve - that is SO cool, CONGRATS!! My submission was one of the stories they used the month before, but I didn't win! I have a question for you...did they completely re-write your entry, as they did mine? The quote that they printed for me was not my words - at all!! I can't imagine though, how excited you must have been to get that package in the mail! I know that I was and I didn't even win anything!!!

[Laoghaire]

Hi Steve,

 

Nice going!! That brings back something that happened to us on the Nordic Prince many years ago(1991). We were at a table with 8 wonderful, crazy, happy cruisers, when Harley from NJ suggested we do "Gilligan's Island" at the Talent Show. We had the whole cast ready to go! Really look-a-likes, too. The afternoon we were supposed to try out, the "Captain" came to me and said we had a problem. The Professor and Mary Jane didn't want to go ahead with their part. Well, that evening at dinner, I proposed we back out due to unforseen circumstances. The Professor then related to us all that they were recovering alcoholics and he had done enough "dancing on the tables with a crazy hat on" to last him the rest of his life. Wow, we were all amazed, I really don't know why. Such a cute young couple (they were in show business) and so much fun. Looking back, we remembered they only drank diet coke, while we were all having much wine. Needless to say, we canceled the Talent Show".

 

Thanks for the memory!

 

Helen

[Phamer55]

Diamond Girl, what was your True Story in the last issue?

 

Yes, they did edit my submission quite a bit. I wrote a paragraph that was probably twice as long. They did get most of what I was trying to say. A couple of other funny things about that night: One girl saw us all walk by and commented, "Why is everyone wearing funny hats?". She had no clue who we were supposed to be. Also, most of the crew had no idea who we were. I can understand this since they come from other countries, but Gilligan's Island was constantly being shown on one of the Royal Caribbean TV channels. You'd think they'd seen those episodes over and over again!!

[diamond girl 000]

I'm (almost) embarassed to admit, the picture of the idiot hanging off the jet-blast warning sign in St. Maarten is my husband. The last blurb in the column entitiled, "So people in England can read them, DUH!" is my submission. It is SO not my wording and like yours, the funniest parts were left out. Like the fact that our driver was one of the most foul-mouthed people, but unfailingly polite - and had specifically warned us not to do EXACTLY what my husband did! I was excited (ok, I'll admit it!) that they used the picture. DH still can't believe that he's in the magazine. I can't get over that you WON this month!!! At least I got a copy of the magazine for free.:p