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

[Snowball]

Michelle - I could be wrong, but I think that only the 20 people that booked this excursion through Kathy (and she paid deposits for) are getting the group discount. If you made your own reservation through Marvin's website, you may have to pay the full $60 per person, unless Marvin is giving the group discount to everyone from the Valor that booked that day's excursion. :confused: Perhaps you should contact Marvin and confirm what price you are being charged for the excursion.

Kathy - if you would prefer I can send you a check for the deposits for my 6 people too. Please let me know. Also, do you remember if we requested Charlie for our excursion? There have been several complimentary threads about him, and I didn't remember if he was the person we requested or not.

[Marcys]

Here's gatorclaw's videos of his full Valor cruise. They're awesome and some are downright funny! This will definately get you in the cruise mood...it might also give us some ideas for cruise music! Enjoy!

[url="http://www.gatorclaw.com/voyageofvalor"]http://www.gatorclaw.com/voyageofvalor[/url]

[Snowball]

Did anyone else watch gatorclaw's videos? They are amazing!!! It makes me wish that we were on our cruise now!!! I still have 2-3 of his clips left to watch, so hopefully I'll have time to watch them today.

[lhall85917]

Its incredible! If the cruise lines don't hire him, some of the tour companies should! It made me want to go do the dolphin swim!!

[Marcys]

They looked like they had a lot of fun! Aren't they a cute couple?? Did I read from some of his posts that he does this professionally? I'd love to send him my pcitures to make me a CD of our trip! I loved the Indiana Jones music with the map! He does give some tips for making a CD on his original post.

Snow's all gone! Starting to warm up again!

[VOLEYMOM]

I tried to pull it up but with a dial-up connection it looked like over an hour to load. I will have to go to someones house with fast connection!! The first page looked so cute. How clever some people are.
Sharon my daughter and myself will be in Colombus Ohio, actually Dublin, for a wedding. We have an extra day there so what should I go do and see. I will be there the weekend before our cruise so would love to see some of your state. We fly into Colombus on a Thursday evening and have Friday to sightsee.
Finally some nice weather but it looks like more rain on Thursday. The bad news is if it rains here it seems to snow your way later in the week. What weird weather this year. I really can't wait for warm weather and pina coladas!! Have a great day.
Rebecca

[Marcys]

Can't say I've ever done anything in Columbus, except drive through on the way to somewhere else!! :eek: Let me ask around. What do you like to do?? You'll be 1 1/2 to 2 hours south of me and a few hours north of Sharon (is that how far you are, Sharon, from Columbus?) Wouldn't it be fun to meet before the cruise??

[emarismom]

Hello all,


Kathi, is there any way I can join your group for the cave tubing and save the $9 per person. Please let me know, I don't want to email Marvin until I know if it will be ok.

I watcthed some of gatorclaws videos, they look very cool!! Just six more weeks and that will be us!!

[lhall85917]

I'm about an hour and a half from Columbus - have mostly driven through too, but have a couple of ideas. There's a cool outdoor mall called Easton - its kind of built to look like an old downtown. We made the mistake of going up there in the winter not knowing it was an outdoor mall and we didn't take coats. :eek: Near downtown is COSI - [url]http://www.cosi.org/index.asp[/url] - its a Science museum. They come to our schools occasionally and do assemblies for the kids - way cool!
I think it would be so fun to meet - I have a feeling that you and I could be great friends Marcy! Everyone else seems really great too - don't disappoint me!!

[lhall85917]

Just when we thought there was nothing to worry about - [url]http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26585911.htm[/url] what do you all think about this? Of course, I feel much better going through a known and dependable tour operator like we are; however, it makes me a little uneasy wondering what might happen before we get there.

[Snowball]

Yes, that definitely makes me uneasy. I'm hoping that this will all be resolved well before our cruise so we won't have to worry about it. I would hope that the cruise lines would stop visiting this port if this continues for an extended period of time or escalates to the point of tourists being in danger. It is a shame that with the corrupt government that they have in Belize, that this is the only option available for the residents there to try and get some serious changes made. :(

[Corl4]

Hi everyone!

Rebecca - We have dial-up too and I'm dying to see the video...it just takes too long to load! I did download the teaser and got to watch that!

Interesting info. about Belize. On our Jan. cruise we did an excursion through the ship but I did feel a little uneasy at certain points, especially when we were at the dock waiting to come back...some shady looking characters. IF we wouldn't get to stop there I really wouldn't be disappointed.

Ok, so we'll all make our daughters part of the fashion police...one less hat for you to wear Sharon!

Debbie - We'll in be Philly on Sunday...DD is done at Temple next Friday so we want to get a head start on bringing some stuff home. She wants to eat brunch at a place called the Continental on Chestnut Street....then to the Italian market and South Street. I know the Broad Street run is Sunday so we'll just have to do the best we can to avoid traffic! IF you'll be around maybe we could meet up somewhere!

We have a day off of school on Friday so I'm hitting the mall to do some cruise shopping! Not sure what I'm looking for...I'll know it when I see it!

Kathi - We're planning to go to the orphange too. That'a a great idea about the old suitcase to leave there...never thought of that!

Any other cruise music favorites? Hot, Hot, Hot....Red, Red Wine... Who Let the Dogs Out (just kidding...that was a big hit when we went on our first cruise...that's all the band seemed to play!) , anything by Jimmy Buffet, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem...It's 5:00 Somewhere...Somewhere Beyond the Sea...

Have a good one!

Beth

[Marcys]

Sharon, I had been following the unrest on Belize on the Belize board. And I thought missing the ship would be the biggest worry!! I guess we'll just have to sit tight and see what happens there over the next few weeks or what decision Carnival makes, if any, about stopping there.

[Snowball]

Good morning everyone!! We are down to 45 days left, so if any of you have a "45 day" letter from Carnival then you can call anytime now. :)

Beth - I wish I could meet up with you this Sunday, but my siblings and I are having a birthday dinner for my mom, so I doubt that I'll have time to meet. :( I think you'll like the Continental - me and some of the girls at work took a friend there for her birthday last month and everyone really liked the food there. It is only a block and a half from my work too.

[cruiserkathi]

Hello all: Emarismom -- I think the van we have for the cavetubing excursion in Belize only accomodates 20, but Marvin has been great. Contact him and tell him you're with the Valor Voyagers and I'm sure he'll give you the discounted rate. He always replies promptly. I asked him about the Altun Ha excursion (Mayan Ruins). My husband is interested in that tour. We booked it, but he said no one else had signed up. He said he'd make sure my husband would be able to go. It's a 4 1/2 hour excursion which departs at 10:00 a.m. Price -- $45.00 (that's without a discount and includes park fees and bottled water). If we get a larger group, I'm sure Marvin will give us the discount. I'm not sure which guide we requested. I'll check my notes. Marvin will give us whomever we request, I'm sure. Glad to know others are going to the orphanage. I'll post an updated listing of "needs." We'll be glad to deliver items. They have drivers available to meet us at the pier. $10.00/person per day. They'll take us on a tour of the island, take us to the orphanage, take us "where ever" and back to the ship. You can make these arrangements on your own by contacting Brad Warren at [email]brad@csiroatan.org[/email]. I'm getting so excited (so glad our computer is up and running again). I'm anxious to know our cabin assignments. Any ideas about getting information about "guarantees" early? Take care, everyone. See you soon.

[lhall85917]

Kathi, we have a guarantee but I've been able to see a cabin number for quite a while through the Fun Pass method. If you go to carnival.com, click on Fun Pass near the bottom, then put in your booking info, you can then pretend to order gifts, when you click on something to order look at the bottom and if you're lucky :D your room number will appear. We booked a balcony guarantee and it looks like we are on the Lido deck. Of course it could still change so I still check every day! :eek:

Kathi, do you want us to mail you a check for the deposit for cave tubing? Just say the word if you would rather have it now then when we get there. I just emailed Brad to find out about a driver for the orphanage, we are interested in going and will be bringing items. Thanks for sharing your info.

Sharon

[Snowball]

Good morning everyone!!! We're getting closer and closer - down to 6 weeks now!!! :D

For those of you that are visiting the orphanage in Roatan - would any of you be willing to take my bag of supplies there with you? I definitely want to donate some items, but am not really planning on visiting the excursion. I am taking the Tabyana Beach excursion through the ship, and am worried that I might miss the bus for the excursion while I am waiting at the docks for the representative from the orphanage. So would it be possible for me to give my bag of supplies to someone else ahead of time? Please let me know. Thanks!!!

[lhall85917]

Debbie, of course we'll take it!!!

[Snowball]

Are you sure Sharon?? I would hate to be the cause of you having yet another hat to wear. :o At least with all those hats on you will be easy for us to recognize. :p

[lhall85917]

No problem. I sent out a message at my school today that I would take anything they might want to donate. We are really excited about going. I've already had an offer of an old suitcase to take items in and leave with our donations. :D

[Marcys]

Yesterday I had my last clinical with students at the hospital. YEAH!!! My most stressful part of work is now over and it's clear sailing from here on. We went out for lunch afterward and a group of about 16 "mature" women with red and purple hats were seated next to us! I thought of you, Sharon! I'm speaking of the hats, of course, not the "mature" woman part!!:eek: (Are you sure you really want to be my friend??:cool: )

[lhall85917]

LOL - I know all about those ladies, in fact I love the poem that it is based on. Lucky for me, if I joined I could wear pink clothes and a lavender hat - you don't get to wear red and purple until you are 50. That's creeping up soon enough... :eek: I'll decide about the friend thing later - depends on how hard it is to get you out of Carlos and Charlies. :p

[Marcys]

Since Carlos and Charlies is the last port, I hope you've made your decision before that...otherwise you might CHOOSE to leave me there!!:eek: Now don't get any ideas. I'll be leaving a note with the cabin steward that if I don't make it back, you are the culprit!!:D


Anyway...there's a thread on the Carnival board about good books to read cruising. I like to save a really good book for my cruise. I hate to be disappointed by a book I don't like. Usually Janet Evanovich's new book is out just before cruising. I think she should be up to #11. Does anyone read them? They're hysterical...and some racy sex scenes, too. :o What really good books do you guys recommend? I like to read all types.

[Snowball]

Ok - I'm going to share a secret with you, but you can't tell. My guilty pleasure is reading romance novels - particularly the steamy, historical romances. :o Sometimes I go through a book a week. I ended up accumulating so many books that last year I sold a bunch of them on half.com (which is owned by ebay, but operates differently in that you set the selling price) because I was running out of room to keep them all.

That being said, I usually pack a book to read during the cruise, but end up bringing it back home unopened. There is just too much to do, and when I'm laying in the sun relaxing I like to just watch the water as we sail along.

[Corl4]

Wow Sharon.. you'll need an extra suticase just for all your hats! That's a great idea about asking for donations at school...I bet I could get lots of stuff!

Marcy - I love all of Jane Green's books.. Mr. Maybe, can't remember the other titles! I also read everything by Clive Cussler, Nora Roberts, Robert Ludlum, Sandra Brown, Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons). Cant' think of any more right now!

Checked the Carnival site today to see if we had a cabin yet but it still says Guar.... On Wed. my parents booked the same cruise! They were supposed to be on the Glory this week, flew to Orlando last Friday and flew back home on Sat. My mom has been having trouble with her blood pressure and didn't feel well enough to go. Luckily they had cruise insurance and will get their money back. So now they're going with us! Hopefully by the time we go, her meds will be working the way they should!

Debbie - Have a great time at your moms party! Maybe we'll be able to get together some other time! Sunday is actually my grandmother's 91st b-day but we're celebrating on Monday evening.

Anyone have big plans for the weekend? We're having a yard sale tomorrow to get rid of all our accumulating "junk"...hope the weather cooperates. And Sun. we'll be moving some of DD's stuff home from Temple!

Enjoy the weekend!

Beth