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APRIL VACATION TRIP 2002

BUSCH GARDENS AND MAJESTY OF THE SEAS

04/13/2002 Got up early this morning to have some coffee and relax before heading to Hartford airport at 9:00 a.m. Arrived at the airport by 10:30 a.m. which left us plenty of time for lines since our flight was set to depart at 2:00 p.m. Of course, we get here to find out that there really are no lines and our flight has been switched to one leaving at 3:38 p.m.!!! Since we now had 5 hours to wait, we started killing time by getting some lunch (sandwiches and junk at a little deli type place). Next we passed through security with no real problems I had to drink from my water bottle and Tony and Connor had to remove their hats. They only took Tony’s laptop from his backpack for screening. After that we settled in at gate 5 and proceeded to watch a movie (MIB) on the laptop. Thank god we brought that to help pass the time. It’s about 1:40 p.m. now so we only have about 1.5 hours left until boarding. Connor is behaving well, a little higher energy than normal, but no apparent adverse side effects from the new meds. By the way, the atavan is working great for me. I’m not experiencing any of my usual travel anxiety or short temperedness. I’ll check back in once we get to Chicago.

Waiting in Chicago for our connecting flight to Tampa. All of our travel has gone well. We ate dinner at the food court (pizza and burritos). Next stop Tampa and our beds!!!!
Got to Tampa o.k. last night. Poor Connor was dead on his feet. Had to go off the airport to get to Alamo and our rental car. Shuttle picked us up pretty quickly and things went smoothly. We’re staying at the Wellesley Suites on Westshore Drive. It’s a very nice hotel room.

04/14/2002 BUSCH GARDENS Got up at about 7:00 a.m. today. Used the in-room coffee maker to brew up two of the worst cups of coffee ever!! What the heck is “coffee white”???!!!! After that we all got showered and ready for Busch Gardens. Stopped and had the FREE continental breakfast in the lobby then headed out. Busch Gardens was great. We rode almost all of the rides and Connor rode on his very first roller coaster, actually three to be exact. He absolutely LOVED it. We ate lunch at the sit-down restaurant “Crown Colony House.” It was a beautiful rest in the middle of the day. Connor also fell goofing-off and got a huge goose-egg on the back of his head. For supper we headed to the Texas Cattle Company in St. Petersburg. What amazing steak and the salads and rolls were fantastic!! We ordered dessert to go and are now kicking back preparing to go to sleep. Tomorrow we get up and head to Miami. As an aside, we got lost EVERYTIME we drove anywhere we went in the car today. We absolutely SUCK at driving in Florida!! Tomorrow we go on our cruise.

04/15/2002 EMBARKATION What a busy day!! We got up at 5:00 a.m. to head out for Miami. After another short detour (ugh!), we were finally on our way. The ride from Tampa to Miami was about 4.5 hours and actually quite beautiful. We’ve pretty much decided we like the Atlantic Coast better than the Gulf Coast. We arrived in Miami about 11:00 a.m. and returned the rental car to Alamo. They run a shuttle back and forth to the port, but of course we had just missed one. Just then another shuttle pulled up and the driver told Tony that it would probably be another hour because traffic was so bad, but that he could take us to the airport and we could catch a cab. We said sure and hopped on board. After we pulled out he told us he’d take us directly to the port. That he had just been getting ready to take his lunch break, but that he would take it later. We couldn’t get over how nice that was. Tony game him $30 for his trouble.
Embarkation took a little while because a whole ton of people showed up at once. After we got on board we dropped our stuff off in the room (small, but nice), and headed up to the Windjammer for lunch. The buffet was nice as always, although, Connor ate nothing but a roll and a cookie. After the buffet we came back to the room where Connor and I changed and headed out to the pool while Tony took care of getting our lights and phone fixed in the room. After the pool (where Connor made two new friends) we checked out the Kids’ Club and headed back to the room for muster drill. What to say about muster? It’s hot, sticky and COME ON PEOPLE, it’s MANDATORY, just show up so we can head out for the fun!! After that it was up to deck 12 for the Sail Away Party. Then we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Wandered around for a bit and caught the beginning of the variety show. Had to leave the show early to take Connor to orientation for the kids’ program. Next, it was off to dinner. We’re sitting with a nice couple from South Carolina and their son who is six. The boys raced through dinner and headed out to the Club. After dinner Tony and I headed up to see how Connor was doing. He was over-tired and not feeling well because of it, so we came back to the room and headed to bed. I forgot to mention that Connor got to color a pillowcase while at the Club.

04/16/2002 NASSAU First full day on the cruise. The beds were nice and comfy, but I was chilly during the night. The light outside of our window is deceiving because it makes it look like it’s always daylight. We slept great last night, in fact, Connor is still sleeping. Our plans are to have a leisurely breakfast then take Connor to the Club while Tony and I do some shopping in Nassau. We plan to be back to the ship by 11:30 for lunch then off to our excursion, Historic Harbor Cruise and Discover Atlantis. Well, the coffee is here, time to go. By the way, tonight is formal night.

Bought two watches while in Nassau and a pearl necklace for Tony’s mom and a tanzanite pendant and earring set for mom. Also picked up some shirts and such. Came back and picked Connor up from the Club, he was the only on there, the poor thing!!! Had lunch in the Windjammer then headed out for our excursion. We’ve decided we really hate booked excursions. From now on, we’ll figure it out on our own. Atlantis was nice, the hotel was stunning and the aquariums were cool. All in all though, there were more tings I’d have rather done. We hitched a cab back to the ship ($3/person) rather than use our return ferry ticket because they only run every 1/2 hour. Tony bought two Cuban cigars while at Atlantis. We came back and Connor swam for about an hour than we got a snack and all headed to the cabin to take a nap. At 6:00 p.m. we all started getting dressed for formal night, boy were we stylin’!! When we got to dinner Schaeffer had gone to the Club, so I ran Connor up too. We picked him up at 11:00 p.m., grabbed some more pizza, and hit the sack.

04/17/2002 COCO CAY Got up at 7:00 a.m. and had a leisurely breakfast in the Maytime, then headed out for the first tender. We staked out our favorite spot on the beach and kicked back and had a coco loco. Connor spent a lot of time swimming, but the water was TOO cold for me, we never even used our snorkel stuff. Connor met a nice little girl and they played all day. The BBQ lunch was very nice. We headed back to the ship around 2:00 p.m. and Connor had a BIG snack at the Mast Bar. His appetite has been great this week. Oh well, it’s naptime, I’ll write more later!!

Tonight Connor went with the Club for dinner, the theme was Pirate Night and the kids “took over the ship.” He came back with a bandana and his face painted like a pirate. We went to the before dinner show, “The Beat Goes On,” a rock and roll anthology from the 70s forward. We also went to the casino, I lost, but Tony won so we were up $5 in the end. Picked Connor up at 11:00 p.m. and hit the sack.

04/18/2002 KEY WEST Got up at our usual time and had breakfast in the dining room. I just LOVE the French toast there. Connor had his usual breakfast, six croissants, cocoa krispies, and bacon. We had some time until our excursion (10:30 a.m.), so I took Connor to the arcade and to the Club to play for awhile. Then we headed out to the Conch Train Tour. We met up with Sheena, Tom, and Schaeffer and spent the day with them. The conch Train was fun and went all through Old Town. There were some really beautiful houses. The train dropped us off at Mallory Square so we did the Shipwreck Historium. That was interesting as well and went through how the wreckers make their fortunes. After the historium, we headed out for Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. Lunch was great! I had a margarita and a cheeseburger in paradise. We wandered back down Duval Street to so some shopping and Sheena and I had our Tarot Cards read. It was cool and incredibly accurate. Once we got back to Mallory Square, we went to the aquarium. Unfortunately, Ripley’s Odditorium was closed, so we didn’t get to do that. I made a brief detour to pick up Totuga Rum. After the aquarium, we headed back to the ship for some swimming and Pina Coladas by the pool. The boys went to the Club instead of to dinner. It’s hard to believe it’s time to pack already.

04/19/2002 DISEMBARKATION Got up at 6:30 a.m. (ugh), got dressed and finished getting everything together. It’s so hard to get organized in this tiny cabin. After finishing up we headed out to breakfast at the dining room. While waiting for our color to be called, we ran into Cody and his mom and gave them our e-mail address. We got off the ship and got our baggage very quickly. I’m not sure what time it was when we left the ship, but we got off, got a taxi, picked up our car from Alamo, and were on our way by 9:15 a.m.!! What a great start. The drive back to Tampa was very nice. Took a rest stop in Alligator Alley. At lunch we got off the highway in Punta Gorda and drove to Fisherman’s Wharf. It as a nice little open air shopping mall with a restaurant right on the water. We had a tasty lunch and headed back out. Rather than take Rt. 75 the whole way back we cut off on Rt. 275 and came up through St. Petersburg. This was a beautiful ride and we got to cross the Skyway Bridge, where we took another scenic rest stop. Once we got checked into the hotel (Wellesley Suites again), Tony called American Airlines to confirm our flight, and SURPRISE, our flights had been changed again!! So now we had to leave 1/2 hour EARLIER, but we were getting into Harford 1.5 hours LATER. Not only that, but they didn’t even have seats with us together. We will NEVER use American again. After a brief nap, we headed out to Texas Cattle Company again, the food was spectacular again! Then it was early to bed to catch our early flight.

04/20/2002 HOME AGAIN Made it to the airport without incident and we’re on our way to Chicago. This should just about wrap up another great vacation!!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Service, food and activities far better on 7-night trips vs. 3 & 4-nighters
Rooms in older ships almost too small for three people
The water in the Caribbean still shockingly blue
Atavan is MY friend
Never, ever fly with American again.