Doodle Lovers Cruise******UPDATE

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

4 OR 5 NIGHT CRUISE - OCTOBER OF 2012  that gives you 14 months to save up.  Who has interest?  Please let us know by the end of the day on 8/16?!  We are serious about getting this thing booked.

In Laurie's blog about sleeping habits of dogs and children, I was making mention of being on a cruise - Mimi Linna made the comment that she'd love to cruise with me - and this got me thinking.  Wouldn't in be a blast to organize a cruise and have everyone who could make it from DK go?  If a spouse could come great but if not there would be some (like me) who would go solo and be willing to share a cabin.  The saddest thing would be of course no doodles on board - but I can just see us with matching DK shirts on doing the conga line through the bar.  Perhaps Flat doodle could come and the Intercourse Tee-shirt.  I know that this is something that not everyone would/could make time for or afford but would anyone have any interest if I started to gather some information?  I'm sure that once we'd get to a certain group size that there might be a group discount.  Anyone have interest?

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Listen up people - we want this to be affordable for as many people as possible but we need to take into consideration - the ship (some are better than others) & the itinerary.  I have found a

5 night (leaves Thur. 10/1/12 - returns 10/6/12

Ship - Carnival Destiny  (ranked 4 stars out of 5 by Carnival)

Sails out of Miami 10/1

10/2 - day at sea (I personally love these days)

10/3 - Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos

10/4 - Half Moon Bay, Bahamas

10/5 - Nassau, Bahamas

10/6 - get off ship in early a.m in Miami

Inside cabins start at $269

Please google this cruise and let me know your thoughts.  Please keep in mind that the price includes ALL your food and most beverages.  Alcohol is EXTRA.  There is tipping - I have a schedule of recommended tipping scale that I will share.  

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I will be contacting a cruise specialist tomorrow for some additional help.  We might be able to get an even better price if we have a large enough group.  I know that pricing for me will be a little bit lower because people that live in FL get a discount (go figure) and because I have cruised in the past.  So if anyone of you has cruised before you might also get a tiny bit off the already low price.

[Barbie]

Good idea, Jane. The required deposit to book now might also be lower.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

You also have to factor in airline or travel to the departure city.  You might get cheaper air by buying it through the cruise line.  Trip insurance would be a must as it would get your money back in most cases if you couldn't go for some reason (health).

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We've cruised on the Destiny....really nice ship.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I've been on 2 Carnival Cruises - 1 with my daughter and another with my sisters and a friend.  I've been on 2 Celebrity Cruises - 1 with friends and 1 with my dh.  The Celebrity line has the nicer more fancy ships but I've always had just as much fun on Carnival.  Good food, great service!!!!!!

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

I want to go...keep me posted.  over 55,you get a discount, florida resident, you get a discount. We have a house in vero beach that can sleep 6 people (with us it sleeps 8) so if anyone wants to come out the ngiht before.  I am in with the DK shirts and the conga line. I am sure that Scott will want to go but if he is on a project, I can be your roomie..

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Mimi - that offer is so nice but I think Dori has snagged me - lol!!!!  The offer of your home to those flying in would be so nice!!!!  It is always best to get to the departure city the night before - if you fly in the morning the ship leaves you run the risk of missing the boat - lol - pun intended.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I would highly recommend that anyone flying in do so the day before (I speak from experience).  When I lived in CT I was taking my Mother (who lived in OH) on a cruise out of Miami.  We were going to meet in Miami the day of the cruise.  A few days before I got a little nervous about meeting there so changed my flight to fly to Cinti the day before and then we would fly to Miami together.  As it turned out the day of the cruise there was a tornado that went through Miami (photo on the news showed it passing our cruise ship -- Picture DH sitting in CT about to die when he saw that).  Our flight was diverted out over the ocean and the Bahamas to wait until the Tornado/weather passed.  Finally after flying around for a few hours they brought us back and landed at Ft. Lauderdale.  As we touched down in Ft. Lauderdale we had like 20 mins to catch the ship.  They sat on the runway deciding if they were going to off load and bus everyone to Miami or wait and then fly on over to Miami.  They decided to fly.  When we arrived in Miami it was after the ship was to leave port but we were met by Cruise personnel who told us the ship was being held because no one could get into Miami that day because of the weather.  When we arrived at the ship 2 hours late there were still over 200 people they were waiting on.  At least they waited, but it was a stress filled day that I really could have done without.  Even though we were originally scheduled to arrive in Miami at 11:30 and had plenty of time to board for the 4:00 departure, we didn't make it!  Lesson learned.

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

bet they sold a ton of drinks on that cruise

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

is october still hurricane season?? should be back it up to the first part on november??

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

October still is hurricane season BUT there is never a guarantee that November will be o.k. AND I didn't want it too close to Thanksgiving or people won't think that they have the vacation time.