And away we go!!!!!

We are on our way to Miami. Whoo-Hoo!!!

LESS THAN 5 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!

Well this is it. We can count the number of days left on 1 hand and we can not be any more excited!

We doubled checked all of our reservations and confirmations and we are good to go.

The only major thing left is our final clothes packing. I did a quick "run through" of my packing and I will have to do it at least 1 more time as I think I under packed. Since I am working all week I have to do a little here and there whereas Amy is off work on Friday and she is planning on doing everything she needs to on that last day. Good Luck Amy!

Besides the clothes packing I have set aside this last week to get our electronics together for the trip. The plan is to take 3 cameras (film, digital, video) and a couple of ipods for the very few moments on the ship that there is not a concert going on. With these we have to make sure we have all the assorted cables, headphones, film and tape and most important, batteries. In addition we also need to take all the different battery charges. So this leaves us with quite a cache of equipment. Oh and lest we forget that I can not be away from the internet too long so we will also be bringing our laptop.

Well that's all for now. We'll see you on the flip side! (I never liked this phrase - oh well)

P.S. By the way the weather for Miami for Saturday/Sunday is sunny high around 70°

P.P.S. And before we go here are 2 quick pictures from last year.

The first is from our departure from Blakely and the second one is from the Sail Away show leaving Miami.

You never know what's gonna happen on the cruise-ah!

COUNTDOWN: 17 DAYS

Just over 2 weeks to go!

Flights are booked. Hotel rooms are booked. Rental car reserved.

Now it's time to start thinking about what to pack.

The first year we definitely over-packed. Last year I think we did pretty good. I hope we can do the same this year. Not only do we have to pack for the 5 days of the cruise but we also have a night in Miami pre-cruise and we are driving up to Orlando for 2 nights post-cruise. It's always a challenge to pack for a "summer" vacation in the middle of winter.

With the holiday's behind us we have been really getting into the cruise and to get us even more excited I have been listening to BNL pretty much non-stop and Amy even created a special Ships and Dip V playlist for her ipod for when she's at the gym.

2 years ago today, January 15, 2007, we set sail on the inaugural Ships and Dip cruise.

Some quick highlights from 2007:
-shipping out of Ft Lauderdale on the Carnival Legend
-surprise embarkation photo with the band
-2 sail away BNL shows on the lido deck
-dune buggy driving in Turks & Caico
-2 awesome BNL main shows
-The Vanity Projects, Thinbuckle and The Brothers Creeggan
-Guster, Gaelic Storm, Jason Plumb,
The New Odds, Oakhurst, Harland Williams
-late night all-star final night jam
-"Feliz Ships and Dip!"


There are many more but this is enough for right now to get the gist.
(one of these days we will have to transcribe our diary of events from that first cruise)

Wow! Hard to believe that is has already been 2 years since the first cruise and that we will be embarking on our 3rd "once-in-a-lifetime" cruise with BNL.

Who knows what memories Ships and Dip V will hold for us but you can be sure we will tell you all about it!!

COUNTDOWN: 24 DAYS!

HELLO! Is there anybody out there?

As it has been almost a year since we last posted, we wanted to be sure this blog is still active.

You know, clean the cobwebs and dust the mantle and get ready for

SHIPS and DIP V!

Ships and Dip V will be leaving from Miami on Feb 1 (Super Bowl Sunday) aboard the Norwegian Jewel. After 2 years of being with Carnival we are now cruising with Norwegian Cruise Line and their "Freestyle Cruising" (we'll have a full review post-cruise).

Leaving Miami on Sunday and after a full day at sea on Monday, we will arrive on Tuesday in Cozumel, Mexico at 8AM and depart at 6PM. Wednesday will be spent at sea as we head to Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian Cruise Line's private island!) from 8AM - 6PM on Thursday. And finally arriving back in Miami on Friday at 8AM.

In between all this travel from these exotic locales there will be plenty of music from the following artists:

Barenaked Ladies
Sarah McLachlan*
Great Big Sea
The Weakerthans*
Butterfly Boucher*
The Odds
Brothers Creeggan
Sean Cullen
Luke Doucet*
Mike Elvin*
Christine Fellows*
Gaelic Storm
Boothby Graffoe
Dave Foley & Kevin McDonald from Kids In The Hall*
Melissa McClelland*
Sloan*
The Mountain Goats*
Thin Buckle
Vanity Project
- whew!

* - denotes first time dippers

Stay tuned as we will have the 2009 edition of our rediculously long and detailed daily blog posted as soon as we come back Feb 8th.