67 Days, 67 days!

Holy Wa! We are getting closer to our family cruise onboard RCCL's Liberty of the Seas!

I bought this fab reversible dress, just perfect for those resort casual nights. I also bought some tees and a pair of shorts...and have one more formal dress to shorten and then I'm ready!

Oh cruise fairy, please get us to Miami soon!

Happy Sailing, Mary

We are paid and ready to go!

It was crunch time, so we paid our cruise off and that means it's official!!

I like to wait until it's close to the deadline in case the price of the cruise goes down, it did awhile ago but now it was time to pay.

We are so excited, I am just psyched! Now it's getting clothes ready time. I have to shop! I need shorts, tshirts, etc.

Happy Sailing all,

mary

Horrid Allergies...what to do?

You know that horrible feeling when you lay down to bed and your nose is all stuffy? I do. It's so hard to fall asleep when you can't breathe and because of our cold weather here in Michigan it's getting to be full allergy season. ARGH!

I'm thinking a mattress and pillow protector might help. Of course the greatest will be when we cruise because the most ocean breezed are wonderful for your sinuses.

OH I can't wait. Really hoping for an upsell to a Jr. Suite...keeping my fingers crossed!!!

Happy Sailing,

Mary

Cruising and You Tube

I absolutely love You Tube. Not only because you can find a video of almost anything but because you can find thousands of cruising video's. Not sure what your ship looks like? Just put your ships name in the search box and go for it. I've seen some really informational video's and some that are just silly. Thing is, they're all FUN.

You can hear the ocean, experience the honking of the ships horn at the sail away, see a full dining room on formal night, watch as people dance under the stars or watch a movie under the starts. It's all cruising and it's all wonderful!! What a great way to research an upcoming cruise. Thanks You Tube!

Happy Sailing,
Mary

Jimmys cruising right now!

My friend Jimmy is cruising as I type with his two kids. One thing that is common amongst cruising addicts is we get so excited for friends of ours that cruise as well. I have to wait 89 days until I'm in Miami but I've sure lived vicariously through him while he was getting ready.

Have fun Jimmy. I expect a full report when you return!

90 days to go

Wow..tomorrow I can choose our seats for the flights. Making it all the more real!

We applied for our son's passport and passport card so another job done with.

Then mom's seamstress was over so I stood on a chair and got my beautiful red formal sized for shortening.

With all these activities going on, you know we're going on a cruise!!

Dreaming of Alaska

Yes I have a cruise in 98 days but I'm already dreaming of an Alaskan cruise. I'm a caribbean girl through and through but the pictures I've seen from friends who have gone to Alaska are BREATHTAKING.

Mike really wants to go to Alaska but it would take a miracle to book another cruise in this economy. *sigh* I need to make more money!

Have a happy Memorial Day and thank you to all the troops throughout the years,

Mary

Double Digits...

We're finally at double digits. 99 days until we board Liberty of the Seas, our beautiful home for one week. (wish it was more!)

My good friend Jimmy from 'Nawlins is cruising at the end of next week and so he's pressing his clothes, dry cleaning his suite, getting everything together. He's cruising with his 2 kids and I know that's going to be a very special time for all three of them.

See, cruises bring families together! I helped some friends book a cruise and they said it really brought them closer together!

So - the family that cruises together, stays together. Of course any excuse for a cruise is a GREAT excuse.

Happy Sailing,

Mary

Welcome Shiloh !

Our newest addition to the ranch, Shiloh was born this morning at 12:45am. She's a beautiful quarter horse filly and so now we have a another baby - what fun!

Here she is!

Cruise Pub Crawl

There was a post on www.cruisecritic.com about funny things to put on t-shirts for a group. I wasn't in a group but made a cute sign that my best friend and I wore around our necks on Explorer of the Seas which we cruised on two years in a row.

















Nowadays we don't drink as much in fact I hardly drink at all. I do love the frozen drinks and so I get them virgin, but may have a few Kahlua's. (I can't change my ways overnight!)

Our meet & mingle group is getting quite large and I'm really excited about that. I'm always checking you tube for pics of the ship and just thinking cruise in general.
This time we have our son on the cruise so I don't think we'll be getting too crazy.

The last time Michael and I cruised it was our pre-wedding honeymoon and that was a wonderful time in a Penthouse suite on the NCL Jewel. It was absolutely lovely, and we were spoiled for sure.

I sure have fond memories of our old days on RCCL with pub crawls, devil horn & angel headbands, karaoke and dancing til dawn. Not to mention the giant carrot we took back from the dining room (laughing the whole way) to surprise our room steward.

Here bunny bunny,

Mary

The Meet & Mingle

We now have almost 50 people signed up for our Meet & Mingle. What's that you're wondering?

It's something that Royal Caribbean offers and it's just wonderful. What happens is this: Someone starts a thread on a cruise site, like www.cruisecritic.com and www.cruisemates.com.

As I'm the cruise addict I usually end up starting this thread with a title like the one I have going right now: Liberty of the Seas Aug. 29-Sept. 5, End of the Summer BASH! Then others that are sailing on your ship on the same week you're sailing joins the group. You get to chat ahead of time and once you're on the ship, usually the second day, you all meet up. Some of the ship dignitaries willI join us like the cruise director, hotel director and such. It's a fun party. I've made some wonderful friends this way. Friends I've had for 5 or more years and still communicate with regularly.

I highly recommend dong this if you have an upcoming cruise. You won't regret it!!

Happy sailing,

Mary

Oh the weather outside!

It was 20 degrees this morning. The frost was on the grass and it was f-r-r-reeeeezing in the house. I looked past the window to the horse pasture and my little filly was just running around like nothing was wrong.

I'm looking so forward to stepping out our stateroom balcony and feeling the balmy, romantic caribbean breezes. There is nothing like it to soothe the soul and dissolve all those "damn cold Michigan morning" ramblings.

I do love where we live. I love that we share the most amazing farm with my in-laws. I love the views out my window day and night. But on these really cold May mornings it makes me yearn for that cruise ship. How many days now? 109!!! Not that I'm keeping track or anything. :)

Happy sailing,

Mary