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Cruisers from the LEFT COAST of the USA- let's talk about our CRUISES..

cctn

By cctn,
in Cruise Rituals

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CruisinMinnie

CruisinMinnie

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Welcome back Nancy, this is Gay with my new Screen Name, been wanting to change and get something referring to cruising, and the change went thru by CC yesterday. Sounds like you had an enjoyable Cruise.

 

Gay

 

I'm glad you told me who you are....:):):)

Like you, I'm still thinking of a TA in the near future. I don't want to wait too long. We're not getting any younger...:rolleyes:

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Desert Cruizers

Desert Cruizers

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Nancy I wouldn't have left you in the dark for a year. :D. I am hoping we will be able to do another Cruise in 2011 after the Mariner, and only hope I can find the extra $$ for a Deposit by Springtime when the dates open for 2011. After that , we can make minimal payments. That is also my thinking, of getting these cruises in we really wish to do, while we are able to walk around and enjoy the sites.

 

Gay

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cctn

cctn

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Nancy I wouldn't have left you in the dark for a year. :D. I am hoping we will be able to do another Cruise in 2011 after the Mariner, and only hope I can find the extra $$ for a Deposit by Springtime when the dates open for 2011. After that , we can make minimal payments. That is also my thinking, of getting these cruises in we really wish to do, while we are able to walk around and enjoy the sites.

 

Gay

 

 

I like to make goals - like 20 yrs ago I vowed we would take a cruise every yr and that was it - two or threee sometimes but at least one and a couple of land trips and so far so good.

you are right, need to do it while we can still walk, talk, and EAT. carol

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cctn

cctn

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Carol I have been Cruising around PS. :D. This past weeekend, we had a Bikers Weekend, about 2500 came down. Many parked in front of our Legion Post for events. Best part, no reports of any problems.

 

Gay

 

 

That explains it - they are too busy having fun to post. carol

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cctn

cctn

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I'm too busy working to pay for those glorious cruises. I hope everyone is good and surviving this economy! ;)

 

 

Thanx for checking in - I miss Brenda - does she have her own CC thread?

You take care too, and don't work too hard!!! come in more often, we miss you too! Carol

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wizard-of-roz

wizard-of-roz

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Thanx for checking in - I miss Brenda - does she have her own CC thread?

You take care too, and don't work too hard!!! come in more often, we miss you too! Carol

 

After I book a cruise [it's usually at work], I take Brenda home, and PaPa, her and I lay on our bed, together, and talk about it. [she doesn't have her very own CC thread but if she did, she'd have a lot to bark about!] ;)

Sometimes, [if we've just come off a cruise, within a few months], I grab Brenda's muzzle; I look her square in the eyes and I promise her that I won't walk too fast and she can have a piece of my pizza crust, everytime I have a piece.

She's a great sport, afterall cruises aren't the venue that Service Dogs are trained for. It's a whole new ball of wax.....there's the smells of the sea; the different countries and animals within them; the buffet lines; the tender boats; the MDR and all those feet; the theatres and lounges, and again all those feet; the walking from stem to stern, everyday. I'm a brisk walker and she's a 10 year old dog. I have to slow myself down a bit to allow for her "senior moments"!

Of course, I have to do the same for PaPa.......

She'll be on her 13th cruise in January and I hope that she'll have many more cruises in her future!

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wizard-of-roz

wizard-of-roz

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Enjoyed hearing about Brenda. They really perform a great service to their owners. How is she trained for going down stairs or steps. Does she sit first.

 

Gay

 

AWWWW! Brenda and stairs, there's a fun topic. On Princess, the atrium stairs are open [meaning; there's no back to the stairs, they look like they're floating] well, to a dog, they are! She did the most amazing "about face" and "refusal" in all of the 7 years that I've worked with her, while trying to walk down them, one day.

I started down the stairs, expecting her to follow [she walks up and down stairs with me all the time].....she had her hind legs on the top step and her front paws on the next step....literally digging into the marble.....she looked at me with her big brown eyes, looked at the floor, which was clearly visible between the steps and so shiny and slippery, and said, "NO WAY!" She then did a turn-around pulling me up the steps with her.

I immediately saw what the problem was and knew that I couldn't let her "mark" this fear and that she would have to attempt these steps right away or she'd never do them, ever!

That moment and for the next two days, we practiced on those darn stairs for about an hour as we gathered a crowd watching us. That's the problem with walking with a Service Dog, people expect the dog to be "perfect" in every way, not allowing for any errors. And, certainly not thinking that dogs are just like people [except they're ALWAYS thinking like a 2 year old, in their brains].

So, as a trainer, if you think how would a 2 year old approach these steps.....you've got about 90% of the problem solved!

She doesn't sit at the steps, although I do ask her to "stop" about every third step or she'll start down them and I look like a "whirling durbish" trying to keep-up with her. And, it can be very dangerous for both of us.

If I use my good sense and give her time to think through her fears, we look like an amazing team! Sometimes, we do make mistakes and I look at her, she looks at me and we start all over again!!!!!! ;)

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Desert Cruizers

Desert Cruizers

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Well speaking of a differant animal, the horse, I had an Arabian, and he was very challanging. When I first bought him, his comfort zone was an arena, not the wide open Desert with Rabbits, Birds and funny noises. I am one who talks alot to animals, and one morning going up the wash, he spotted a huge log. He came to an abrupt halt. it took me a moment to see why he had stopped, so proceeded to explain to him, that is was only a log and not going anywhere. For the next several minutes, we approached slowly, stopping as he drew nearer, then with my assuring words, moved on. I allowed him to check out the log for a moment, so he realized it wasn't going to hurt him. We were fine until coming back he spotted this same old log but from the opposite direction. I explained to him, it was the same blasted log but from a differant direction. We did much better this time. Calming words do wonders with animals, whether they are Dogs, or horses.

 

Gay

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wizard-of-roz

wizard-of-roz

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Well speaking of a differant animal, the horse, I had an Arabian, and he was very challanging. When I first bought him, his comfort zone was an arena, not the wide open Desert with Rabbits, Birds and funny noises. I am one who talks alot to animals, and one morning going up the wash, he spotted a huge log. He came to an abrupt halt. it took me a moment to see why he had stopped, so proceeded to explain to him, that is was only a log and not going anywhere. For the next several minutes, we approached slowly, stopping as he drew nearer, then with my assuring words, moved on. I allowed him to check out the log for a moment, so he realized it wasn't going to hurt him. We were fine until coming back he spotted this same old log but from the opposite direction. I explained to him, it was the same blasted log but from a differant direction. We did much better this time. Calming words do wonders with animals, whether they are Dogs, or horses.

 

Gay

 

Cute story...I love horses! Next to dogs, they're my favorite!

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sammamishcruiser

sammamishcruiser

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Hi to all the left coast cruisers!

 

Sorry I have not posted for a while:(.

Brenda, you sound like a great dog and companion!:) On our Panama Canal cruise we had three service dogs on board, a first for me. never cruised with them before and they were great. One of the dogs was for a blind woman, who was a delight to be around (so was the dog, sorry can't remember her name, senior moment) Both she and the dog were on our tenter back from Cabo San Lucas and it was very, very rough, in fact they stopped all tenders and were just getting folks back to the ship. Anyway, the woman was having a great ride, said it was like a ride at Disneyland!! She was laughing all the way! Me, I was green and ready to loose my cookies!!:eek: Once we finally got back to the ship, took about 40 min., they took the dog off first and had quite a time getting her off as it was very choppy, it took about 10 minutes and the dog was very upset about her not being able to get off right away. When she finally did, I thought the dog was going to knock her back into the water, he was jumping all over her, so happy that she was safe and everyone was clapping and cheering, I just wanted to get OFF that tender, NOW. And the Woman? She was laughing the whole time, saying nothing but positive things to her dog and praising the crew! What a delight!:cool:

I was in the front and got soaking wet when a giant wave came over the boat! It was not the ships tender.

 

Melody:D

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cctn

cctn

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I'm with you re: the 'let me lose my margarita/chips/salsa NOW on the tender' -- heehee!

sounds like quite a ride - enjoyed the dog story - name wasn't Agnes was it? cuz the lady the dog belonged to was a very nice one who enjoyed every second during our Caribbean cruise...and everyone just loved Agnes.

carol

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Desert Cruizers

Desert Cruizers

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We didn't have quite that rough a ride coming back off lahaina at 10 PM, but we were certainly rocking back and forth waiting our turn to get up to the ship and get off. One lady was a bit clostrophobic, so we were worried she was going to have a problem, especially when they turned the lights out.

 

Gay

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wizard-of-roz

wizard-of-roz

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Hi to all the left coast cruisers!

 

Sorry I have not posted for a while:(.

Brenda, you sound like a great dog and companion!:) On our Panama Canal cruise we had three service dogs on board, a first for me. never cruised with them before and they were great. One of the dogs was for a blind woman, who was a delight to be around (so was the dog, sorry can't remember her name, senior moment) Both she and the dog were on our tenter back from Cabo San Lucas and it was very, very rough, in fact they stopped all tenders and were just getting folks back to the ship. Anyway, the woman was having a great ride, said it was like a ride at Disneyland!! She was laughing all the way! Me, I was green and ready to loose my cookies!!:eek: Once we finally got back to the ship, took about 40 min., they took the dog off first and had quite a time getting her off as it was very choppy, it took about 10 minutes and the dog was very upset about her not being able to get off right away. When she finally did, I thought the dog was going to knock her back into the water, he was jumping all over her, so happy that she was safe and everyone was clapping and cheering, I just wanted to get OFF that tender, NOW. And the Woman? She was laughing the whole time, saying nothing but positive things to her dog and praising the crew! What a delight!:cool:

I was in the front and got soaking wet when a giant wave came over the boat! It was not the ships tender.

 

Melody:D

 

In all of Brenda's 12 cruises, only once did we encounter another dog. Actually, it was two. Two blind folks, each with a golden retriever. We only saw them once in the entire week. We never ran into them at any other time onboard a 1 week cruise. Strange.

The CD said they hung around the Spa most of the time, they even ate their meals there.

My guess is that it was easier for them to avoid the crowds of people by just staying on that upper deck.

When we saw them, it was in the Princess Theatre and, it was only one time.

We went looking for them one day to meet them. They were no where to be found [this was a sea day.] Boy! They really knew how to hide!

I'm sure they had their reason for being so aluff and if they preferred to be by themselves, of course it's their choice.

I, on the other hand, love to mingle in the crowds of people and so does Brenda!

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cctn

cctn

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I think the lady who had the service dog we encountered said she doesn't mind if people acknowlege and praise her dog, but once they are walking she doesn't want her dog stopped cuz then she won't be able to concentrate on her commands .... ???? don't know if that is correct or not - however, while in the lounges, she was happy when folks came around and talked with and petted her dog. carol

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