I can't believe no one has written a post-cruise post yet, so I guess I will.
Here's my Caribbean 2009 Top Ten:
10- Dr. Linda Perry telling me I had "craggy tonsils"
9- Towel animals
8- Burying the kids in the sand
7- Butch and the live shows
6- Seeing Tim sing Viva La Vida
5- Seeing John dance the YMCA
4- Joe from Chicago
3- Climbing the falls
2- World of Coca-Cola
1- Chocolate melting cake
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
T-Minus...
Well, we are down to just hours away from the big trip!
The crap of dawn...yes this is a good way to put it. I can't think of one person who is excited about getting up this early...except maybe my kids. They have said they will be too excited to even go to sleep. Great. MY kids will probably be the most ornery on the plane! Come to think of it, I probably won't be my normal cheerful self either. For those of you who don't know me, I am not a morning person. That might be putting it mildly. I have insomnia and am addicted to ambien. Which means in order to get the right amount of sleep and have the ambien worn off enough so I can function a little, I will need to go to bed (and sleep) around 7pm. Since I am not a morning person, that means that I AM a night owl. I don't normally go to bed till around 1 or 2AM. Even if we assumed everything that needs to be wrapped up was actually wrapped up by 7pm, going to bed at 7 is so not gonna happen. Which means I will TRY to be in bed and trying to sleep by 11. Which gives me only 4 hours of sleep (assuming I conk out right at 11, which I won't). That means that at 5am, when you all see me, I will still be sluggish from the left over ambien which won't have left my system yet and I won't have had any coffee yet to try to counteract this sluggishness.
Why am I telling you all this? Because, while all of you have had your concerns over little items gearing up for this trip, MY greatest fear is hurting someone's feelings. So, if you say something to me first thing in the morning and I look at you blankly, or I answer and it seems a bit abrupt, I apologize in advance. My brain doesn't seem to fire on all it's cylinders (is that the right terminology, Tony?) and we can't blame it on a slight overdose of sleeping meds and lack of coffee.
I'm glad there are those of you that are so detail orientated. I have racked my brain to remember how the luggage thing works. I have been on 4 or 5 cruises and for the life of me I can't remember how that worked, other than when we signed in, our bags disappeared and then magically showed up in our staterooms later. I'm not too worried.
I feel a little like I should apologize for not being as concerned about some of the details as some of you have been. To be honest, I have called the cruise lines so many times and asked questions. I have asked the SAME questions at DIFFERENT times and gotten DIFFERENT answers each time. It has been frustrating for me to say the least. We are 4 days away from boarding the ship and at this point it just seems easier to relax and try to fix whatever issues come up when we get ON the ship and the people who actually RUN the ship can help us with our concerns, rather than the idiots who just answer the phones. I know there are going to be things that have to be fixed, this trip isn't going to be completely smooth no matter how hard we tried to make it that way. I think that's just the nature of traveling in a group of 28. It will be an adventure for sure though and I am SO excited to be doing this adventure with THIS family...rather than the secret one I have.
The plan is for us to meet on the Lido deck before we run off to rooms, I will go to every one's rooms and make sure they are made up right, for the right number of people, that there is a crib for Cate, etc.
As a reminder for excursions... make sure to bring cash for any excursions that you have not paid for through the ship. They usually only accept cash or travelers checks. There is a safe in the room that YOU set the pass code up for that you can store your money, passports and any other valuables you might bring.
Well, that's all for now. See you the day after tomorrow!
Kym
Monday, November 16, 2009
Motion Sickness : An Essay
I'm forty-one years old and I love roller coasters. I especially love big, hairy, scary roller coasters like Ghost Rider and Wicked and Wild Mouse. Ever since I've been old enough to ride them I've loved roller coasters, and tilt-a-whirls, and teacups, and rides that go upside-down or really high. And I like boats and planes and sitting on a train in those seats that face backwards, and lying down to read in the back of a Suburban that's going down the highway on it's way to California.
I don't get motion sickness.
At least I didn't until this morning.
You see, most of the definitions for motion sickness have something to do with the inner ear. Your eye sees one thing and your inner ear tells your brain something else and it makes you sick. Believe it if you want, but ears have nothing to do with it. Here's the real definition: Things are moving in a way you don't like, your brain doesn't have control of the situation, so your stomach decides to mutiny and perform the only evasive action it can. Voila, the ride operator turns off the teacups and gets out the hose.
Now you see, the reason I didn't think I got motion sickness is because I thought it only applied to PHYSICAL motion. I didn't realize the same principle applies to FINANCIAL motion.
Let me explain. Back at the first of the year we were in pretty calm financial water, so planning for a cruise was no big deal. Since then we've had a few little waves. The dog has to go to the vet, the car breaks down, you lose some customers. You feel a little queasy, but you're still enjoying the ride. Then you hit some big waves, like the kind that make you hang over the side of the boat and hope you don't barf. So you do things like canceling all of your excursions and deleting all of your posts off of the cruise blog.
Blaaaahhhh! . . . . there goes the dolphin swim.
Bluuuurppp! . . . . there goes the stingrays.
Huuurrrrllll! . . . . there goes the shopping, the fancy portraits and the sodas.
You start to feel a little better, someone gives you a mint. And then the really big wave hits you. In my case that would be a letter from my lawyer about a month ago stating that since there hadn't been any activity on my case for a while it was time for me to pay the balance. He was nice enough to give me ten days. The balance due was basically everything I had set aside for this trip plus a thousand dollars.
Hhhhaaaaaaappppphhhh!!
Not everyone gets motion sickness. I didn't used to. Now I think I do. Sometimes things are moving in a way you don't like and your brain doesn't have control of the situation. Sometimes you just want to get your feet back on solid ground before your stomach decides to mutiny. Sometimes you think maybe it would have been better if you hadn't gotten on the ride.
Fortunately, motion sickness doesn't usually kill you. It can ruin your trip and sometimes people poke a little fun at you, but you usually survive. So let's all try to remember, when you see someone turning green and acting like they aren't having much fun, don't wave back and forth in front of them and make gag noises. Just let them get over it in their own way.
(Also, I was trying to figure out how to insert a joke in here about how "if you or your significant other has to take Dramamine or Pepto in order to get busy with the lights out, you might have bigger problems than motion sickness", but I just couldn't make it work. If you have any suggestions I'd like to hear them.)
(Suggestions about the joke, I mean. Not about the getting busy.)
I don't get motion sickness.
At least I didn't until this morning.
You see, most of the definitions for motion sickness have something to do with the inner ear. Your eye sees one thing and your inner ear tells your brain something else and it makes you sick. Believe it if you want, but ears have nothing to do with it. Here's the real definition: Things are moving in a way you don't like, your brain doesn't have control of the situation, so your stomach decides to mutiny and perform the only evasive action it can. Voila, the ride operator turns off the teacups and gets out the hose.
Now you see, the reason I didn't think I got motion sickness is because I thought it only applied to PHYSICAL motion. I didn't realize the same principle applies to FINANCIAL motion.
Let me explain. Back at the first of the year we were in pretty calm financial water, so planning for a cruise was no big deal. Since then we've had a few little waves. The dog has to go to the vet, the car breaks down, you lose some customers. You feel a little queasy, but you're still enjoying the ride. Then you hit some big waves, like the kind that make you hang over the side of the boat and hope you don't barf. So you do things like canceling all of your excursions and deleting all of your posts off of the cruise blog.
Blaaaahhhh! . . . . there goes the dolphin swim.
Bluuuurppp! . . . . there goes the stingrays.
Huuurrrrllll! . . . . there goes the shopping, the fancy portraits and the sodas.
You start to feel a little better, someone gives you a mint. And then the really big wave hits you. In my case that would be a letter from my lawyer about a month ago stating that since there hadn't been any activity on my case for a while it was time for me to pay the balance. He was nice enough to give me ten days. The balance due was basically everything I had set aside for this trip plus a thousand dollars.
Hhhhaaaaaaappppphhhh!!
Not everyone gets motion sickness. I didn't used to. Now I think I do. Sometimes things are moving in a way you don't like and your brain doesn't have control of the situation. Sometimes you just want to get your feet back on solid ground before your stomach decides to mutiny. Sometimes you think maybe it would have been better if you hadn't gotten on the ride.
Fortunately, motion sickness doesn't usually kill you. It can ruin your trip and sometimes people poke a little fun at you, but you usually survive. So let's all try to remember, when you see someone turning green and acting like they aren't having much fun, don't wave back and forth in front of them and make gag noises. Just let them get over it in their own way.
(Also, I was trying to figure out how to insert a joke in here about how "if you or your significant other has to take Dramamine or Pepto in order to get busy with the lights out, you might have bigger problems than motion sickness", but I just couldn't make it work. If you have any suggestions I'd like to hear them.)
(Suggestions about the joke, I mean. Not about the getting busy.)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Got to get my 5
So I went back and checked and it looks like I still need to post a couple more times. Here's an idea that Cindy and I talked about tonight when we got home.
Take into account that this is our observation from our cruise last year and on this cruise it may be entirely different, so play it by ear.
When we arrived the very first thing that we did was give our bags to the curb-side check-in. They simply asked us what room we were in so they could deliver our bags. They simply wrote down that number and off we went. Later that afternoon/evening we got our bags in our room.
The thought is that if you simply know the room you will be staying in and give them that number then you will not need to move your bags around later. We didn't have to give them any identification or anything to show them that we were in a specific room. As a matter of fact, they had a guy with a list of everyone's names and room numbers sitting at a table so you could verify what room you were in if you wanted to look it up.
Just a thought that might make it easier to get your bags in the right room sooner!
This was what our thermometer looked like this morning when I got up (13 degrees Fahrenheit). Can't wait to get away!
Take into account that this is our observation from our cruise last year and on this cruise it may be entirely different, so play it by ear.
When we arrived the very first thing that we did was give our bags to the curb-side check-in. They simply asked us what room we were in so they could deliver our bags. They simply wrote down that number and off we went. Later that afternoon/evening we got our bags in our room.
The thought is that if you simply know the room you will be staying in and give them that number then you will not need to move your bags around later. We didn't have to give them any identification or anything to show them that we were in a specific room. As a matter of fact, they had a guy with a list of everyone's names and room numbers sitting at a table so you could verify what room you were in if you wanted to look it up.
Just a thought that might make it easier to get your bags in the right room sooner!
This was what our thermometer looked like this morning when I got up (13 degrees Fahrenheit). Can't wait to get away!
Scuba Diving in Cozumel
I spent a couple of hours looking at all of the different coral reefs where you can go scuba diving in Cozumel. Lots of places to choose from! Some with high currents, some dropping off into the abyss! Some with big fish, some with coral pinnacles. Wow! How to choose. Later today, I talked to Kymberly and we picked one and she sent an email to make a reservation.
We are looking forward to it, but we are also looking forward to stingray city and an opportunity to snorkel with the kids! That will be a lot of fun.
Of course, everything on the ship looks fun too. I finally got a chance to look at the Carnival Liberty dining rooms, entertainment areas, and it looks like there is even a room for the kids to have activities!
Grandma Gale
We are looking forward to it, but we are also looking forward to stingray city and an opportunity to snorkel with the kids! That will be a lot of fun.
Of course, everything on the ship looks fun too. I finally got a chance to look at the Carnival Liberty dining rooms, entertainment areas, and it looks like there is even a room for the kids to have activities!
Grandma Gale
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