A dream come true! Tales (tails?) from the Doodle Cruise.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

We started planning in July of 2011 and the Doodle Cruise was but a dream.  All the days of planning and waiting and finally it was here.  The chance to meet in person some of my DK IDOLS!  From the 1st moment it was truely like we were all old friends - because we really were old friends.  This past week was one I will never forget.  There were tons of laughs, some tears, dancing, way too much eating and drinking.  Doodle talk of course!!!  I am way to tired (and want to spend time with Rooney, Stuart and DH) to go into details - those will all come as people get home but I'll share a few photos with you all.  Oh and of course WE CAN'T TELL EVERYTHING - some things will have to stay on the ship.

Here is Dori and I at Sail Away - the weather is Miami was getting cloudy - great time to leave. 

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

Welcome back! So fun looking at all the pictures! And to think it started with the love of doodles!

[Leslie and Halas]

It sounds like a blast. It's so great that so many DKers got to meet in person!

[Brenda Stone]

Jane, it was a pleasure to meet you and everyone...thank you so much for all of the planning that you did to make this trip go well.  I'll be lurking!  Brenda

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Brenda - you are the cutest LURKER I ever saw!!!  Give Foxy Stone a hug from me!  So glad to see you here.

[Brenda Stone]

Twelve Plus Hours Into... (after leaving the cruise ship)

1- I have succumbed to reverse sea leg syndrome.  Apparently, while I was gone, an evil fun house engineer dug up my condo and set it afloat on an invisible body of water. My desk and chair rock; my floors are not level. I am unable to walk in a straight line. Will definitely need to have a contractor begin putting in rails on walls and walkways tomorrow so that I can move from one room to another without being tossed about by the invisible waves.

2- Room Steward?  I note that there appears to be no room steward on call for my condo!  Have opened front door several times and beckoned ("Hello???") for a smiling guy with a four letter name that is pronounced something like "Nee-ha-loo-bee-luk-shuk" to please bring towels and fold them up to look like cute monkeys. (Neighbors' responses have been troublesome, if not downright impolite.) 

3- Room Service?  Jason's Deli to the rescue.  They agreed to play along --to an extent-- on the room service game. Yes, they will deliver food; no, they will not "run up to the bar and bring down a Bloody Mary."

4- Sail/Sign Card?  Jason's Deli also refused to take my Sail and Sign card as payment. Insisted on cash or credit card.  Finally, I dumped my purse out on the front porch and asked the delivery kid to show me this  "payment method" thing that he was mumbling about.

5- How much for that bottle of water?  There are no price lists posted in my refrigerator.  I'm dying of thirst, but I'm scared to drink a bottle of water without knowing the cost. On the ship, plain cold bottled water costs like $14.98 an ounce.

6- When does the ship sail?  Cannot leave the house; there is no one to slide my card into a slot and tell me when I have to re-board.

7- Where is my napkin?  Sat down at dining room table; dinner was delayed for over an hour because no one put a napkin in my lap or handed me a wine list.

8- When is dinner over?  After several attempts, I finally managed to get a napkin into my lap and positioned my food in front of me.  Now, I cannot leave the table because there are no small smiling men serving desert or dancing so that I know that dinner is over.

9- Shortage of bartenders has occurred.  On the ship, bartenders were in every nook and cranny. At last count (here at home), there are a few bartenders covering most of my crannies, but not a single one in any of my nooks. Perhaps I can't see the ones in the nooks because I am suffering from delusions.  This could possibly be due to the smarty pants delivery kid's refusal to tap on the door and hand me a Bloody Mary. 

10- Breakfast?  The word "breakfast" is making me feel all hivey and anxious.  By breakfast time, I will be "24 Hours Into" being off the ship without an adequate supply of animal shaped towels, bartenders, little dancing men, room stewards, and room service. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Brendalicious, I miss you! LOL

[Brenda Stone]

I miss all of you :(

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Me too!  It does feel a bit like withdrawal. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL!

[Brenda Stone]

Thank you.  :) Very warm welcome from you all. I appreciate it.  

From an outsider's view, one who just met these folks the other day:

All the gals on the cruise were warm and genuine.  They are the kind of women who are made from solid gold girlfriend material.  And, all the guys that went?  Each of them are the best kind of men in my book.  They treat their wives like the wonderful women that they are, and they genuinely like and enjoy the company of women.  Very special people.

If another cruise comes along at a time that I can plan to go, I will. I enjoyed being with the Doodle peeps...they are an easy, easy group to be with.  

[The only downside for me was that everyone behaved so well that there was no hush money to be made on this trip.  No indecent behavior, no hoochie coochie dancing, no lampshade wearing, no mud wrestling, no karaoke videos, no weird stuff falling out of luggage or clothing, no wardrobe malfunctions, no arrests, or wild parties...but that does NOT MEAN it won't happen next time!]

[F, Calla & Luca]

Glad to hear the DKers are good folks in real life. But wow, no bad stuff, very disappointing.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Brenda, The early dinner was where all the bad stuff happened :) LOL