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

[Snowball]

Well while Chad is golfing, I'm sitting here watching the snow fall. We are expected to get between 3-8 inches here. :( And they are saying we could have a nor'easter coming on Monday that could bring us a "significant" amount of snow. I've had enough already - I'm ready for spring!!!

[lhall85917]

We have about an inch this morning, hopefully its the last of the winter. I don't think there's much golfing going on around here today. :( However, every day of winter brings us that much closer to summer. I'll second that WOO HOO!! :cool:

[Corl4]

Hi everyone!

I'm sitting here watching the snow too Debbie! We didn't have school today because of the snow forcast. It just started snowing here about an hour ago but my school district is in southern Lancaster county where there are lots of hills and back roads which don't get cleared very quickly so we tend to jump the gun with snow!! Now they are saying only 3-6 inches!

This weather really makes me anxious for June!!

Beth

[ChadGates]

[b]I hope it makes you all feel better to know we got RAINED OUT!!! LOL!!
It was too windy at first and then the thundershowers came so we just stayed in the Clubhouse and had breakfast.

Off to Houston now to run some errands. Take care all!:D

[/b]

[Marcys]

Aw shucks, Chad! What a shame!:p (She said while watching the snow fall here in northern Ohio!)

[emarismom]

It's about 80 degrees outside here, I've got the ac on in the house!!

Sometimes I wish it would snow here!!I could use a day off from my students;)

[Marcys]

Aw shucks, Michelle! What a shame! (she said while watching still MORE snow fall and the temperature fall to the teens)

[parisolivia]

Hi everyone, we did not get a day off at our school, but thats okay it just means we are 1 more day closer to getting out. Now I understand why you people are so close on here, we do share alot of problems. I am hoping this cruise makes us all feel a little better. I think it would be great to meet somewhere to get to know each other:) . I am always excited to get on this site and see how you are all doing. You think you are the only one with problems till you reach out to other people. Thanks everyone;) . I have told people about how much I enjoy getting on this site. It is still snowing:eek: . Are most of you going on the same tours? I just keeping thinking how great the sun will feel on my face and how nice and cool the ocean will feel.

[VOLEYMOM]

Sorry most of you are getting snow. Even though we don't get that down here I can imagine how you would get tired of it. We have had so many problems with all the days of rain here. California is just not equipped to handle 30 inches of rain in a few months. Not only that it really brings out all the stupid drivers that cause accidents. It rained so hard here that I was afraid to drive. Everything flooded, what a mess!!! I guess we all will be so grateful when we get on that ship!! Nothing is better than floating along in a beautiful, warm, blue ocean. I just love the Caribbean.
I am off to waterpolo for the weekend. Will be glad to see my daughter and my husband. He has been living up in Los Angeles during the week for work, so only get to see him on the weekends. Must admit I am getting use to having the king size bed all to myself!!
Take care everyone, hope the snow is gone soon!
Rebecca

[ChadGates]

[b][size=3]Hey voleymom-Rebecca,

About having that king-size bed all to yourself....are you bragging or complaining???;) [/size][/b]

[Marcys]

Oooooohhhhh, Chad! I can see you're going to be the troublemaker in this group!!:p

[emarismom]

I'd be happy to just share my bed with my husband, not my kids also:eek:

[Snowball]

Rebecca - isn't it amazing how easily we get used to not having them around all the time? :p My hubby goes to school two nights a week, and I must admit that I often look forward to those nights because they are all "mine". :D

[lhall85917]

Just bought our airline tickets for $157/per person. They weren't my first choice on times and places, but certainly will work. We will fly from Indianapolis to FLL - getting in at midnight, so I'll look for an inexpensive place to stay at the airport. Also need to look into options for getting to the dock and back. Our flight back is great - nonstop, leaves at 2:50. :D

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, I feel so much better now - one big worry off my chest, now on to ground transport and hotel!!!

[Marcys]

Sharon, I thought we were getting in late at 9:20 p.m. to Miami. Still haven't decided whether to stay at the airport and get to sleep early or go into Miami. My family wants to go to Miami and stay at the Holiday Inn across from Bayside. Even though it will be late, they just want to walk around and possibly eat, after being on a plane for so many hours. We have to change planes in Atlanta.

What time is everyone planning on getting to the pier? We've always got there by about 10:30-10:45. I don't care if we have to wait, we just want to get there and see the ship and get on as early as possible!

[lhall85917]

We like to get to the pier early too. We'll probably be there before 11:00. Its so much fun just to get on board, find your room and go to the buffet! :D

[Snowball]

Sharon - congratulations on booking your airfare!! I bet you feel much better now that it's out of the way. :cool:


I plan on getting to the pier around 11:00 too. Right now the plan is to rent a car in FLL on Saturday, and return it to the airport in Miami on Sunday, then take the rental place's free shuttle to the port. We'll probably leave our hotel in Miami Beach around 10 - I would think that would give us enough time to drive to the airport, turn the car in, and get to the port by 11-11:30.

Did anyone make final payment yet? [b][u][color=red]Please remember that final payments for those that are booked with the group are due by this Friday, March 4th.[/color][/u][/b] I'll probably make mine on Monday or Tuesday.

[lhall85917]

I'll probably call Kevin with the final payment early this week.

I think we're leaning toward the same plan for rental car as you, Debbie. Do you know if we can book through Priceline and be sure to get a company with a port shuttle (and be able to return to Miami instead of FLL) or will you book directly through a particular company?

[Snowball]

I'm going to book direct with the rental car company. First I need to see which ones have a free shuttle to the port (and if they have a shuttle back from the port too, since we are renting a car the day after the cruise too). Then I'll compare prices and see if I can find any discount promo codes that I can use to save a little money. I'm not sure how Priceline works with rental cars, so I'd rather just book that on my own.

[Marcys]

Is this a Carnival thing, having to pay in full so far out? With RCCL we didn't have to pay in full until about 70 days out.

Not to sound too impatient, but we should probably start thinking about where we want to meet after muster to watch sailaway and meet each other and what identifying items we will be wearing. I'll be wearing a pina colada!:D On every other cruise we've always met at the bar by the pool to wave to everyone in Miami as we sail away. I love to wave to the people in all the cars that stop to watch the ships sail! I don't even want to think of a back up plan for rain!:eek:

[Snowball]

[quote name='Marcys']Is this a Carnival thing, having to pay in full so far out? With RCCL we didn't have to pay in full until about 70 days out.[/QUOTE]
No, its not a Carnival thing - it's a group booking thing. For some reason with groups they request final payment a few weeks earlier than normal - that way they have time to get in touch with any group members that did not submit their payments in time. I hope this isn't a problem for anyone. I already talked to Kevin about it and he said he can't change the final payment due date. :o

I think that all of us are flying in a day early, so I was thinking that maybe we could meet sometime in the afternoon - before the muster drill. That may work out better because I think that by the time the muster drill is over most people will need to get ready for dinner since most of us have early seating. What do you guys think of trying to meet up around 2-3pm???

[Marcys]

Hey, I can start partying earlier...not a problem here! What are we going to wear...besides pina coladas??:D

The only must do when we board, besides eating, is checking with the maitre d' on our table and seating (if we didn't get early seating). I always request a large table and last year they put us at a table for 4. While I love my family, when we cruise I like to meet new people. Because we made our request early, we were able to be changed to a table for 9 with another family. Debbie, are our reservations linked? If they are, then we should be seated together or at least in the same area, right?

[Snowball]

The only other time I've booked with a group was for my cruise on the Miracle this past May, and they did have everyone booked with the group seated in the same section of the dining room. I think they always try to have group members seated together as much as possible.

Since we are discussing group dinner seating, I have to share this story:

My daughter's birthday was during our cruise last May, and when we began singing happy birthday to her, all of the wonderful people from cruise critic that were in our group decided to join in. There were so many people singing happy birthday to her that even those seated in the lower floor of the dining room could hear us (a few of Jasmine's friends later told her that they heard us). It was so much fun and helped make her 13th birthday one she'll never forget. :)

[Marcys]

Did anyone ask that guy who posted that he made mini-deck plan cards for Valor to e-mail them the plans? If not, maybe one of us could do that and circulate it. He tells what size font to use, how to set up columns, then how to fold and laminate it so it fits with the sign and sail card. Here's the link:
[url="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=140555"]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=140555[/url]

Debbie, I bet that was a really special 13th birthday for your daughter!! I decided to keep the special plans Kevin made for our 25th anniversary, even if we end up with the charge for the cake. I guess in this day and age, hitting 25 years together is something special, especially with DH being a cancer survivor! But I really think we should have a BIG CC celebration since so many of us have something to celebrate!! (As if we need an exucse to party!):D

[Corl4]

Good morning everyone!

Just name the time and place for a cruise meet and we'll be there!! I plan on getting to the port by 11 at the latest. We are using a limo. company to get us to and from FLL...I like to have control of when I go and not have to rely on the Carnival bus!

On one of our Disney cruises, we all pinned a little green ribbons on our shirts...that way we identified each other while we were waiting to board! It was lots of fun looking for our cruise buddies in line and then trying to figure out who they were! We made such good friends on that cruise that we still get together whenever we can get to Syracuse or they can come down to PA to visit us!

What dinner seating does everyone have? I think ours is 8:00. We like the later seatings so that we don't have to rush back from excursions and get ready for dinner. Plus I'm anxious to have some sushi before our dinners! The midnight buffet usually doesn't interest me since I don't like to eat before I go to bed!

Well, it looks like another snow storm is headed our way! Just hope we don't have another day off from school! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Beth