RE: I m rubbing it in

[MommaMia]

 " I m leaving on a jet plane....don t know when I ll be back again!"
 
 Just want to let you know, it s only 4 more days until we leave this God forsaken snow behind and head off on our Western Carribean Cruise!!!!
 
 I ll be thinking of all of you while I am sitting by the pool, sipping a margarita served to me by a handsome, tan lad in uniform!!!
 
 Ahhhh....[]
 
 
 
 

[birol]

 MommaMia
CINDY BAD  GIRL !!!!!!!!!
 
 You do not have to rub it in ! It hurt sooo bad !!!!! I have been eyeing cruises forever but couldn t get around to it when I was working and now can t afford it.
 
 Tell us all about it, which cruise line, which ship, the itinerary ? your room number (so we can look it up on the ship diagram). And when you come back a full report !
 
 Do you read R.T.C. at all ?
 
 Birol the jealous person !

[AustinBoston]

 MommaMia
You can t leave from here for several more days...at least not on a jet plane.  The only ones that will leave here tomorrow will be on snowmobile.[:@]
 
 PJay is supposed to fly into Providence from Minneapolis tomorrow.  I told her I d see her Wednesday. []
 
 Austin

[whippetwrun]

 MommaMia
Got any room in your suitcase?  I am willing to be considered as extra baggage![]
 
 Have a wonderfully warm time, Cindy!

[MommaMia]

 MommaMia
Here it is...
 
 Sat am we fly to Ft Lauderdale spend night at Harbor Beach Marriot.
 
 Sun we embark ship.  Princess Cruise Line
 
 Ship: Grand Princess
 
 Room: On Aloha Deck
 
 Itinerary:  Mon: Princess Cays.... Princess s own private islands
                 Tues: At sea
                 Wed: Grand Cayman Island
                 Thur: Majahual, Mexico(Costa Maya)
                 Fri: Cozumel, Mexico
                 Sat: At sea
                 Sun: Ft. Lauderdale, disembark
 
 
 Best part is.... It s FREE!!!  My parents cruise every year and felt so bad driving away last year to go on their cruise, with me waving goodbye in the driveway, that they booked this year s trip for me, hubby and 3 kids to join them!!!  We d never be able to afford a vacation like this on our own!  Why do you think we have a 67 Skamper and camp?
 
 Wahoo!

[Gamecock Camper]

 MommaMia
Have a great time.  I ve never been on a cruise, but the DW has and will never go again.  She was seasick the entire time (even with using Dramamine) and had to avoid the ship s crew because they wouldn t leave her alone.  They kept making passes at her.

[tlhdoc]

 MommaMia
[][: (][:@][&:]
 
 OK have a great trip.  Bring some heat back with you.[]

[birol]

 MommaMia
SO, we are waiting for the details []

[MommaMia]

 MommaMia
Birol~
 
 Gave itinerary above.  No details from trip yet, haven t gone.... We leave this Sat.
 
 I ll be sure to let you know every heavenly, warm, sun-soaked, ocean breeze-swept detail when we get back!  Oops!  There I go.... rubbing it in again!

[birol]

 MommaMia
I AM GOING BLIND I AM GOING BLIND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 
 How did I not see that ?? [: (] I read every message at least two times !

[MommaMia]

 MommaMia
Ok.... I m back!  And soooo exhausted from all that swimming, lounging in the sun, sipping drinks by the pool and all the EATING!!!![][]
 
 Here s How it all went...
 
 Sat we got into Fl.  Harbor Beach Marriot Resort and Spa is spectacular!!!  The pool was huge and beautiful.  Sunny weather all day long.  Breakfast buffet the next am was huge and delicious.  Sun am we headed off to the cruise ship.
 
 Sunday was a little wet with light showers off and on.  No matter.  We spent some time getting settled in the cabin and the headed off to the pool to wet our toes and quench our thirsts at the poolside bar.  There were 4 pools on board, one of which has a retracting glass roof in case of rainy weather.  
 
 Monday we spent at Princess Cay... Princess s own private island.  The girls got their hair braided into cornrows and we snorkeled.  The girls got so excited when I came up from diving down to the bottom about 30 yards off shore with " TREASURE" !!! (some old rotted quarters and nickels that must have fallen out of another snorkelers pockets a long time ago). We swam until our tummies grumbled and headed back to the ship for some more fabulous food.
 
  Did I tell you about the food?    WOW!!!! They should call it gorging, not cruising!!!  And the Musicals are fantastic!!!
 
 Tuesday was sunny and around 85deg as we enjoyed a full day at sea, making our way to Grand Cayman.
 
 Wednesday... a fun, sunny, 95 deg. day at Grand Cayman, snorkeling the Stingray City sandbar about 2 miles off shore!!! Amazing.  Huge stingrays and hundreds of them swimming around and between your legs as you hand feed them!  An experience of a lifetime!  Zoe loved it!  Lea screamed like a banshee non-stop.  We also took a little detour to a lovely coral reef area with so many beautiful fish.  Lea was much more comfortable with this.  Though she didn t seem to understand that the fish could hurt her more than a stingray could!!!
 
 Thursday... Our best day!  We were in Costa Maya, Mexico.  We booked an excursion to Uvero Beach. There is absolutely nothing in Costa Maya.... it s a tiny little place that seems like a ship stopped there once and the locals said "  Hey, let s set up some shops and sell some stuff  to these silly Americans!!!"   You can either take a tour to the Mayan ruins.... a couple hours bus ride and a long hot hike ( not something we thought appealing with 3 small kids)  or head to Uvero Beach...
 
 The beach tour was GREAT!!! Open bar all day and fantastic snorkeling over kelp beds!!! We (Zoe and I) snorkeled for 5 hours straight!  We found tons of Conch shells, starfish so big I needed two hands to pick them up, a leopard skate that I dove down to and petted and I even caught a cool little yellow octopus that promptly turned green and disappeared as soon as I dropped it back in the water.
 
 Friday was spent at Cozumel.... a loud, bustling, touristy area great for souvenier shopping.  Hot and humid, we strolled off the main road and hunted for trinkets in the squares behind the main strip of shops.  Lots of local artists!!!  We spent the late afternoon hours back on ship watching from the balcony as all the drunk people made their way back to the ship!  What a hoot!
 
 Saturday was another great sunny day at sea!!
 
 Sun brought us back to Ft. Lauderdale and on to our flight home.
 
 Everything was going well with the flight until about 20 mins into the flight, the captain announces we lost a generator and would be making an emergency landing in Orlando.... No safety problem he says... just precautionary.  Well, just as we are about to land, we are whizzing along the runway about to touch down when suddenly the plane lurches skyward and banks hard to the left.  We are all quiet as church mice, looking out the left windows, staring down at the ground as the plane banks hard and strains to get back up!!!!  " $#%@%@$"   I m thinking!!
 
 As it turns out, the pilot explains that a small plane was still on the runway and refused to get out of the way!   We were just yards away from squashing it!!!
 
 We finally landed, got a new plane and were home 9 hours after what was supposed to be a 3 hour non-stop flight!
 
 So that s a not so brief rundown.... visit our website for a couple of snapshots from the trip!!!
 
 
 http://home.earthlink.net/~hokansson/index.html
 
 
 As much fun as we had, it feels good to be back home.  BTW  cruise ship cabins are small and with the 5 of us squished inside, I kept being reminded of what it s like when we go camping!!! Just a lot more pampered!
 
 
 

[birol]

 MommaMia
Cindy,
 
 That is a great vacation you had !!!! Welcome back and thanks for the report []

[whippetwrun]

 MommaMia
Sounds beautiful!  Glad to hear you and your family had a wonderful time!  Welcome back!
 
 Rina

[ShirleyT]

 MommaMia
and you came home BEECCUUUZZZZZZZZZ? []
 
 Glad you had a great trip!
 
 *waits patiently for the souvenior bag to come out and to be handed my gift*

[campingcop]

 MommaMia
Cindy sounds like you had a great time,welcome back.
 
 Oh did you know that salt water shrinks your cloths[]