Rachel's Graduation Celebration

Saturday, June 2

Rachel Graduates Valedictorian!

Drive to Walt Disney World

Sunday, June 3

8:10 AM Breakfast at Chef Mickey's

Spend the day in Magic Kingdom

9:00 PM Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party

Drive to Port Canaveral, check-in at Marriott Residence Inn

Monday, June 4

11:00 AM Priority embarkation at Port Canaveral - board Monarch of the Seas

4:30 PM Sail away!

Tuesday, June 5

8:00 AM Arrive at CocoCay

5:00 PM Depart

Wednesday, June 6

7:00 AM Arrive in Nassau, Bahamas

1:00 PM Booze Cruise!

11:59 PM Depart

Thursday, June 7

Sea Day

Friday, June 8

Back in Port Canaveral, Disembarkation

Drive to Walt Disney World

Check-In at Disney's Beach Club Resort

Tentative reservation... 6:10 PM at Crystal Palace - thinking about changing to Boardwalk-area restaurant

Saturday, June 9

Walt Disney World

Tentative reservation... 6:55 PM at Coral Reef Restaurant

Sunday, June 10

10:40 AM Breakfast at Cape May Cafe

Group Trips: Dealing with Control Freaks

I must admit, I freaked out a little when I checked my page stats and realized that my Aggravation of Planning Group Trips post was the most-read and that the majority of viewers found it through Facebook.  Oh, goodness - are people reading about themselves?  Will they get upset?

Now I don't care.

The first thing about this entire cruise that pissed us off was that it was always Rachel's idea.  Rachel took her first cruise at five years old.  Well - one of the moms swears that it was her idea - that she'd been planning this since her daughter's 5th grade graduation.  You've been planning your daughter's high school graduation trip since she graduated elementary school? (Yeah, right) Get a life, sister!  She didn't want this to be a mother/daughter cruise - she wanted it to be a family cruise because her husband and son couldn't deal with being left behind.  Of course, with the cruise we had picked out originally (7-night Freedom of the Seas), she complained that it left the day after graduation and her husband didn't want to drive through the night.  There are two solutions to that problem - drive halfway down the night before, spend the night in a hotel, then drive the remaining distance... or just drive down in the morning.  You don't have to be onboard until 3:00 PM, and we live 8 hours from Port Canaveral.  Totally doable!

We think that the real opposition to the 7-night is that it was expensive.  It would've cost over $1000 a person, and it's understandable that it could be out of budget, especially for the girls not going with a parent.  We knew that it was expensive, but everyone knew the price and acted okay with it when we booked.  One thing that I've learned over the years and have gotten better at, but I suppose some people will never learn - IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, SPEAK UP!  In most cases, people want to make you happy and are willing to work with you IF YOU JUST TELL THEM!  Don't act fine with it, then go home and bitch to your friends and family.  But the thing is - nobody is going to know that you're not happy unless you tell them!

Now we get to the control freak part.

Out of everyone going on this trip, we have taken by far the most cruises.  This will be our tenth cruise and makes us Emerald Crown and Anchor Members (Royal Caribbean's loyalty program).  Having cruised regularly for the past twelve years, you'd think that people would go to us for advice... trust our advice... or maybe just decide to include us in their plans.

But no.

The person running the show is going on her third cruise, first through Royal Caribbean, and using a travel agent.  She's used a travel agent for all of her cruises and doesn't know how to do anything herself.

Not dissing travel agents, here - TAs are good to use, sometimes even if you do know how to book your own cruise because they can get you onboard credit and [should] be very knowledgeable about your vacation.  I just have a problem because this person hasn't told anyone that she used a travel agent.  She's pretending like she's doing this herself, but when people ask her questions, she can't answer.  The reason I know she used a TA?  Because I got her reservation number and found out through Royal Caribbean Online - My Cruises.  I bet she doesn't know how to do that.

Now, this lady is a crazy control freak.  And perhaps because she knows that we are more knowledgeable about cruises than her... she excludes us from everything!

I was trying to line up an excursion for the seven graduates because I figured it would be a safe way to give them freedom.  I researched excursions, read all about them, took the input from girls - decided on a highly-rated Segway excursion which was a good price because I'd be booking it directly through the tour company, rather than through the cruiseline.  We had four girls onboard, two declined, and control freak's daughter?  MIA.  Well, today we learned that two of the girls who were originally interested bailed.  Why?  Because control freak had set up a family excursion to Blue Lagoon (I'd read about it and rolled my eyes - would've been great when we were kids, probably, but not something I'd spend my money on as an adult)... which she invited everyone to go on with her... but us.

How immature and childish is that?  I mean, no, we wouldn't have wanted to go on this excursion - but to invite everyone but us?  How rude!

It's becoming hard to look forward to this cruise because we don't even like the people we're going with.  Which is the only reason we agreed to go on this cruise, anyway - so Rachel could hang out with her friends who are now ditching her.  We feel like we are wasting money on a ship and an itinerary that we have absolutely no interest in and would've never picked out on our own.

But, there are a few things to look forward to:

1. My father, mother, and I are staying in a grand suite.
2. My sister gets to share an adjoining outside stateroom with her friends.
3. We are going to get crazy drunk and party like there's no tomorrow.

The Aggravation of Planning Group Trips

Rachel's Graduation Celebration is the trip currently in the works.

And this trip has been in the works since... well, since I graduated from high school.

Rachel loves to vacation, especially cruise.  And she has a group of steady girlfriends.  So, her image of the ideal graduation celebration was to go on a cruise with her five best friends.

The original idea was a mother/daughter cruise.  They had been talking about this for over a year, I'd say.  They even had a meeting near the beginning of the school year with a few of the moms, picked out the cruise with her best friend, then everyone agreed on the cruise.  It was a 7-night eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.  We knew we needed to book it soon.  So, while we were on the Adventure over winter break, my parents decided to go ahead and book onboard to get the extra cruise credits.

We came back and told them we booked it... and I guess that's when sticker shock set in (they had already seen the prices and hadn't blinked).  Or maybe just conflicting ideas on what this graduation cruise should be.  Whatever the objection, it would've been great to hear this before we went ahead and booked the cruise.

One girl found a compromise - a 4-night Bahamian cruise on the Monarch of the Seas.  This way, everyone's entire family could go (apparently mother/daughter didn't fly with some dads) because it was less expensive.  Then the objecting family suggested that we spend the day we get off the ship at one of the Disney parks.

Now, if you haven't picked up on it already, my family knows Disney.  We are one of those families that vacations there at least once a year.  That never grows tired of the magic.  And I, in particular, am very knowledgeable about Walt Disney World.

So we rolled our eyes at this, and Rachel wants so bad to point out that the price of everyone going on this cruise and to Walt Disney World is going to be about the same as the original 7-night cruise on the Freedom.  Just on a smaller ship, going to less exciting ports, for a shorter period of time.  PARTY!!!!

No, really, party - a short 3/4-night cruise to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, or Norwegian is essentially a party cruise.

After the initial chaos and frustration, we've actually grown more excited for the cruise.  It will be an experience, for sure.  And it looks like everyone is just going to be doing their own thing (which kind of makes you wonder why we even bothered to plan a big group trip - if it weren't for the children).  Which is good because clearly everyone has a different picture of the ideal vacation.  But the thing that really annoys me is that it seems like we've all forgotten the reason we're cruising - to celebrate our daughters' (err... my sister's) graduation.

Oh, the Places to Go....

It's about time I finally finished uploading my Walt Disney World Trip Report. It took especially long because I had to copy/paste the embedded codes for the pictures individually. It's not an easy task. Next time I do a dual TR/blog, I'll be sure and do them at the same time, so I can get the IMG and embedded codes at the same time. That should be a lot easier and faster.

Since it's been awhile since I've actually written anything new, I figured it was time for an update.

Marching band season just ended... The Pride of Pendleton is the AA State Champion!!!

My next trip is happening in just a week. Every year, we drive to Mississippi (nine hours) to spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents. It's not really a vacation, so I probably won't blog about it. I might write a Black Friday review, though... that is pretty much the highlight of my Thanksgiving break. Oh, and my birthday is on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I will be spending all day in the car on the way back home from Mississippi. Fun....

Speaking of my birthday, I do not know what I want to do to celebrate it, yet. I feel like I need some sort of celebration with friends... I am turning 18. When I turned sixteen, we went to American Girl Boutique and Bistro in Atlanta. That was fun. I'd like to do it again, but I also want my boyfriend to come, and I don't think he'd be very comfortable there. Yeah, that would be kind of weird. Bummer. Any ideas on how I can celebrate my birthday? I'm very near Atlanta, Columbia, Asheville, and Charlotte (though completely boring, my hometown is actually in a great central location)... maybe we can go to Biltmore. Rachel has been saying she wanted to go to Biltmore everytime the commercials come on, so that might just work.

Now while we're on the subject of Christmas commercials, we're also going to see the Radio City Rockettes when they come on tour to the BiLo Center in Greenville for my mother's birthday.

Which reminds me that I never posted a review on the 2009 Jonas Brothers World Tour Concert. We had really great floor seats (right by the runway) and took really great pictures. I might just have to post some pictures.

I'm really excited about our upcoming Christmas vacation. For the first time, we are not going to be home for Christmas. We've booked a 9-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Royal Caribbean International's Grandeur of the Seas, so we'll be spending Christmas in the Caribbean! It departs on December 21 from Tampa, Florida; and ports of call include San Juan, Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We've already been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten (actually, we didn't really enjoy either of these ports... at least we know now not to do snuba in St. Thomas), but it's been several years. I've glanced at excursions, and I'm personally liking the zip-line in San Juan. There was also an ATV adventure that would be fun. The problem is that I'm now 18 and can drive most of these vehicles, but Rachel is only 16, so I don't know if they'd let her ride along with me, or if she'd have to ride with mom or dad. That wouldn't be as fun. And now that I'm going to be eighteen, I won't be allowed into the kids clubs... which is a bummer (not like we've really hung out in there in the past). I might sneak in, though. Carnival is really strict on carding, but Royal Caribbean only cards Fuse at night... you can walk right in the Living Room, which is where we prefer, anyway.

Unfortunately, we will not be on the cruise for New Year's. However, Tampa happens to be very near.... Walt Disney World! Two years ago, when we got back from our cruise to Cozumel, we went to Hollywood Studios for New Year's (Dad thought he was going to get away with Busch Gardens... pfff!). This year, we arrive back in Tampa on January 30, so we'll drive to WDW and spend two or three nights. I'm not sure where we're staying, yet (Rachel requested the Polynesian, and I suggested the Wilderness Lodge), but I've already booked our ADRs.

December 30, 2009 at 7:05PM Boma - Flavors of Africa
December 31, 2009 at 8:30AM Ohana's Best Friend Breakfast
December 31, 2009 at 7:00PM Todd English's Bluezoo
January 1, 2010 at 6:10PM Whispering Canyon Cafe

I'm not sure if we'll be there late enough for the January 1st ADR, so I might change that to lunch.

Now, more exciting news... I made the US Army All-American Marching Band and will be playing at the US Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. For those of you who aren't familiar with the All-American Bowl, the best high school senior football players are chosen from across the nation and compete against eachother, east vs. west. The bowl game has been around for awhile, but the marching band is relatively new, being added just three years ago. But, I'll be leaving January 5, 2010 for San Antonio (I have an early flight from Greenville-Spartanburg to Atlanta, and then I'll switch planes in Atlanta and fly to San Antonio). We spend the week in San Antonio learning drill to perform during half-time at the bowl game on January 9, 2010. The bowl game will be broadcasted live on television, but they likely will not show the entire halftime show. However, it can be viewed online. I'll have to get the website if you're interested.

Hopefully, we'll be able to fit in a short ski trip somewhere. It won't be anything big... unless maybe we go skiing for spring break. That would be fun. But, we would like to take some friends up to North Carolina and do some skiing one weekend. It won't be anything big or nice... NC skiing pretty much sucks. It's a good place to learn, but once you've been out west, it is a disappointment.

I will be going to Walt Disney World yet again with the marching band. It was really fun, last time (2008), and I'm super excited. Of course, I've already booked our ADRs...

February 11 at 5:50pm The Garden Grill
February 12 at 6:55pm Liberty Tree Tavern
February 13 at 1:00pm Sci-Fi Dine-In

Last year, some of my ADRs conflicted with other events, so this year, I was sure to book dinner at Epcot well before IllumiNations. I wanted Crystal Palace for Magic Kingdom, but it will be closed for rehab. However, I was excited to learn that Liberty Tree Tavern will be reopened with characters while Crystal Palace is closed.

And, more Disney... we also want to attend GradNite in April. We don't know who all is going, but I did make my first ADR for 10:00am breakfast at Ohana's, today.

Ahhh.... that's alot of vacations, and you know I'll try to squeeze some more in there! Keep reading for more updates!