Cruisin' The Caribbean With Tim: Departing and Cocoa Beach

Sunday, October 2nd

Disembarkation

and

Cocoa Beach

We got into Port Canavarel before sunrise, and I went out onto our balcony and got this shot of the Disney ship that had just come in.

All week I'd meant to take a picture of the carpet in the elevator.  On my first RC cruise in '09, the idea struck me as silly, but then I realized there is something to be said for reminding people on vacation exactly which day of the week it is.  The carpet insert changed daily, and was the first thing you saw when you entered the elevator.

The night before we had put our suitcases out in the hallway, and all we had to do on this last morning was pack away any last minute items in our carryons, eat breakfast, and go to our assigned waiting areas.  Our group was called to disembark at about 9:30, and by 10:00 we had retrieved our luggage and were outside waiting for a cab to take us to the Doubletree hotel in Cocoa Beach.

Pretty nice hotel, maybe a little close to needing some renovation, but clean, and best of all, right on the beach.  Our driver informed us that it was one of only two hotels there with direct beach access.

Nice room.

Some pretty comprehensive free products in the bathroom.

A small balcony with an ocean view.

An astronaut-related display in the lobby.  Pat had hoped to meet one, but alas, they are all long gone.

A small but quiet and relaxing pool area.

And a beautiful, uncrowded beach to walk on.

That night we were treated to this beautiful sight from our balcony.

And the next morning, this wonderful sunrise.

I'm so glad we decided to stay one extra day after the cruise.  Aside from being very relaxing, and loving the Cocoa Beach atmosphere, it kept us from the huge crowds that usually are at the airport any day that ships come into port.  We got through security in minutes, our flight was on time and uneventful, and I was home before I knew it, already missing my artsy friends and Tim and Mario and having someone else prepare and serve my meals, not to mention a balcony with an ocean view.  Sigh......

Cruisin' The Caribbean With Tim

Saturday, October 1st

Farewell!

After class this morning (see yesterday's post for the project), there was lunch, and then the challenge of packing.  Luckily I left NY with two large half filled suitcases, because I needed every bit of that space for all the goodies and projects acquired this week.  At 5:00 we would have our farewell cocktail party with loads of giveaways, then on to dinner.

For those of you who have cruised before, you know that most every night, after making up the cabin for sleeping, the cabin attendants leave an animal, fashioned from cleverly folded towels.  Here is our zoo:

Everybody sing along, "I wear my sunglasses at night...."   Who is old enough to remember that one hit wonder Corey Hart?

On the very last day we grabbed a moment when everyone was working and Tim wasn't busy, and asked him to take a picture with us.  We went into the studio and got Mario in there too. 

Val, Pat, Mario, me, Tim and Elena

Before the cruise, Kyoko wrote that she'd heard that our collaborative journal group was starting an Asian themed book, and she kindly said she'd bring some things for us to share.  Did she ever!  And it seemed as though Naomi was giving things out every day.

 A Japanese catalog, newspaper, a handmade button, and in the wrapper, some

washi tape.  By the way, on the tag, my name in Japanese.  Naomi also

gave out Japanese bubble gum, but no photos of that.  Long since chewed.

Antique silk.  Wow!  Thanks, Kyoko!

Here's that washi tape, perfect for holiday projects.  Thanks,  Naomi!

To truly enjoy dinner on a cruise you need three things.  Good food, good company, and a really good waiter. We had it all.  AK was attentive, thoughtful, and always had a smile.

Some more great gifts from great friends:

 Gorgeous necklace, made by my cabinmate Pat!

 Val found some cigar boxes in one of the ports and

got one for each of us.

 I don't even remember who gave out the Caribbean cards, but

I received three from three different generous cruisers.

I got several great gifts from Pam, including the puka shells. The old

type piece with my initial was from Gloria.

I was wandering around the Promenade deck and saw this incredible display of fruit and vegetable carving.  And here I thought that stuff was just for eating,

And some random shots of friends.

Our cabin doors are metal, so the cruise line allows door decorations as long as magnets, not tape, hold them up.  Look at the fantastic sign Pat made for our door:

Every time you made a purchase in Mario's shop you received raffle tickets.  At the farewell party tickets were drawn and many wonderful gifts were given out.  Mario really loves this part....look at him here with all the tickets:

I didn't win anything this year (not that I could have fit one more thing in my bags), but Elena (who already owns every craft supply ever invented) won three times.....a full set of archival inks, a huge stack of Thickers, and....are you ready for this.....a Vagabond!  Which, of course, she's going to give away since she already has one.  She is a generous soul with a huge, huge heart.  And another wonderful lady, Linda Ledbetter, won a spot in next year's Scrapmap Mixed Media cruise.  That really warmed my heart.  By organizing both the Compendium of Curiosities and Grungy Monday challenges, she really kept me happily busy and creative all year.   Oh, and check out this awesome slide show she made from her cruise photos.  While you're blog hopping, you won't want to miss

Val's cruise posts.  They are detailed and full of great photos, almost none of which duplicate mine.  Were we really on the same boat?

As we left the party and headed for dinner, we learned that the gifting wasn't finished.  Everyone received this exclusive Tim messenger bag:

It's a great size....holds a ton of 12x12 paper and lots more. 

As I've mentioned before, I was very tied up this summer with some family stuff, so not only did Pat do our door sign, but she also made sure we could show up for the final dinner in style.  It wouldn't be a party without a tiara.

And see, I'm wearing my watch necklace too!  Never enough bling.

One more thing.  I mentioned in an early pre-cruise post that I was bringing the smash book I'd altered to use as my day to day journal.  I have to say, this was a very liberating experience for me.  Although I haven't scrapbooked much in recent years, I was at one time a very active scrapper, and would spend hours on my layouts.  This time, just getting those memories on paper, smashing them in, so to speak, without worrying at all about matting, embellishments, color combinations, etc. was like a breath of fresh air for me.  I'm sure there's room in my world for both methods of documenting memories, but I'm telling you, I'm in love with the smash style. 

Two pages about getting to Florida, and Disney.  I'm almost finished with this journal; I just have some more photos to print and smash in.  Lots of room inside for all the little odds and ends one collects on vacation.  Love it!

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make this cruise the wonderful experience it was.  Tim, Mario, Monica, Joy, Richele, Jim, Beth, and all my old and new friends.....THANK YOU!!!!!

And that's it!  But tune in tomorrow to see our post-cruise adventures.  Cocoa Beach, here we come!

Cruisin' The Caribbean With Tim

Friday, September 30th

Saturday, October 1st

Days At Sea

and

Workshop #4, Parts 1 and 2

***EDIT:  Check out this awesome slide show Linda Ledbetter did with her cruise photos.  Great music too!***

My group wasn't scheduled to have class until 2:00 on Friday, so the early part of the day was spent relaxing, reading, wandering about the ship, and of course, eating.  Sometimes it seems like that's the number one activity on a cruise.

Everyone was super curious about what sort of project would take two days and a total of 6 hours to complete.  So, when we finally entered the classroom we were surprised to see that there weren't any class kits out on the tables.  Hmmmm.....Tim explained that he wanted this project to be exciting and a total surprise for us.  He hadn't even allowed the other group (they had the class in the morning) to take their projects with them.  They were collected and stored so that we would have the same "ooooh" moment that they experienced.

And so, when Tim's helpers started distributing rather large items, it really was a total surprise.  We would be working on a configurations tray!  Very much like the configurations boxes, but the compartments are shallow.

This is the sample that Tim had done.  His wasn't even complete when he got on the ship.  Just as he suggested we do, he'd gotten some souvineers at each port to personalize his tray.

We were all taken with that ship in the upper left.  How come I didn't find any small ships when I went ashore?  Lots of us were asking that question.  In addition to the naked tray, we also received this intriguing bag:

Inside, a huge amount of "stuff" to help us fill our trays.  By the way, this photo was taken after I'd used many things in my tray.  There was even more in it to begin with.

Oh, and we also received paper, all cut to size to fit the compartments.  We spent most of the first day of this project inking and spraying the papers, inserting them into their rightful spots in the tray, and then pulling it all together with tissue tape.  We made the separate compartments appear seamless with the tape, and also used it around the outside edges.  And even the back of the tray was finished with paper (a gorgeous pad from Prima).  Here's how my tray looked at this point.

Look at the upper left hand corner.  We attached one of Tim's binders to the compartment before adhering it to the tray, and will be able to add photos and/or journaling to the pages we prepared.  I used that custom cruise stamp to decorate the first page.  The pages flip easily and that's a great way to use a lot of photos in a limited space.

I hadn't acquired a lot of stuff in port, but luckily many of the swaps and gifts  I received could be used.  For example, I got this cool metal Mickey Mouse from Carol and Mike of Stampers Corner.

And in the right hand corner of this compartment is a tiny shadow box I received from Wendy.  It works perfectly with the other beach themed items.

Several of the charms I received found their way onto my tray.

                                                                                 

This is as far as I got on the boat, but I've added some things since I've gotten home.

I still have a ways to go, but I have a few more sections filled.

I've added more charms, mardi gras beads from my stay at Port Orleans in Disney, a cork from a bottle of wine we had one night at dinner, a playing card with a Caribbean map that someone gave me, a thimble from St. Thomas,  and some pins.  I think now I'll go on a hunt for a sailing ship.

Tomorrow, some miscellaneous photos taken throughout the cruise, and our farewell (boo hoo!) cocktail party.