WE ARE BACK!!

Just wanted to add a quick post to let everybody know that we are back from our trip.
We had a great time except for some weather issues.
We are currently going through our over 1500 pictures and 8 hours of video. We also have to get caught up with all the TV we missed while we were away.
Oh yeah we also have to go back to work. We will work on the daily recaps/novels and post them as soon as we can. Here are a couple of quick pictures to hold you over.

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.

Sunday Feb 3rd

Time to go home.

We woke up around 7am to shower and finish getting everything packed. We went for breakfast at the hotel again and had the same as yesterday. After we ate we got everything ready to check out of the hotel. We had to get the car back to Hertz by 9am and we had about a 20 minute drive. We got there at 9:03. No Problem. With our luggage in hand we caught a Hertz shuttle to Orlando Int’l airport. We got to the airport at 9:10 and we figured we had enough time to make our 11:03 flight. Well after checking in and going through security it was 10:05! It took almost an hour. Well, we still had time to get something to eat and use the restroom. We got to the terminal at 10:25 and they started boarding around 10:40. The plane was scheduled to leave at 11:03 and it left at 11:10. The flight was pretty good. I think we are starting to get the hang of flying, as we are seasoned travelers now ;) The plane landed around 1:15. And we were waiting for our luggage at 1:30. This didn’t take too long for our 3 bags to come off the conveyor. Once out of the terminal we had to get a shuttle to the economy parking lot to get “V”. The shuttle took quite awhile to come and it was packed. We got off the shuttle and found the car easy as we took a picture of the lot where we parked. It cost $82 to park for the week. We left the airport at 2:10 to head home. We stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel before getting on the NE Extension for our final drive home. We pulled into our driveway at 5:40 with just enough time to wind down before the Super Bowl.



This was a great trip! After waiting for a year since the last cruise it’s hard to believe it’s over. Now we have to wait until next year for Ships & Dip V! Let the countdown begin!!

Did we have a great time?
Ya’mon!



"You never know what’s gonna happen…on the cruise-a!" - Tyler Stewart 2nd BNL show

Saturday Feb 2nd

This is going to be a long post as this was our most full day of the whole trip. The days on the cruise the shows didn't start until the afternoon and for the most part we only saw 1 show at a time. At Universal we would ride and do as many attractions as we could.

We woke up around 8 and went to the hotel lobby for their complimentary hot continental breakfast. By 10, we drove over to Universal as the entrance was just down the highway from the hotel. After parking in the Spider-man parking deck we made our way to the Islands of Adventure. We waited almost a half hour for tickets. They have a bunch of ticket options and the best one for us was the 2-parks 1-day option for $82.95 per person.

Our first stop was:

Marvel Super Hero Island – “Enter a gleaming comic book city where the world’s greatest Super Heroes pit themselves against the world’s most diabolical Super Villains in the ultimate battle of good versus evil.”

Of course this is what I wanted to see the most so if we did it first we definitely wouldn’t miss it. We figured that since the Hulk ride had the longest line we would go on that ride first. I don’t usually like roller coasters but after doing the canopy tour zipline in Jamaica we were ready for anything. We waited in line for about 45 minutes and the ride was amazing. It was the first roller coaster ride Stan can remember that he had his eyes open the whole ride. After that great adrenaline rush we went over to the Spider-man 3D ride. This had about a 40 min wait. We did 2 rides and it took almost 2 hours. We figured that if we wanted to get the most out of the 2 parks we needed to get an Express Pass that allows you to go to the front of the lines for the more popular rides. It costs an extra $30 per person and you only get to use the express pass once on each ride. Without that pass we would not have done as much as we did. After the Spider-man ride there were comic characters hanging around taking pictures with kids (and Stan). Stan got his picture with Storm & Rogue, Capt America, and Wolverine. We went into a comic book shop that was really cool and all of a sudden you hear a lot of sirens and a large commotion outside. Not knowing what it was we went towards the sirens. When we got there we see all the comic characters running to get on custom ATVs and drive off. Apparently there was a villain causing problems and the characters put on a little show. This happens after they take pictures for about a hour. Very cool and unexpected. After leaving Marvel Island, the next stop was

‘Toon lagoon – “Splash through the panels of your favorite cartoons and comic strips on the wild and wacky water rides of Toon Lagoon. The Sunday Funnies were never this much fun!”

Walking through 'Toon Lagoon is like walking through the Sunday Funnies that have come to life. Everywhere you look there is a different comic strip character adn there are a lot of fun photo-ops throughout the park like the one to the right.

That crazy Marmaduke!!

The first and only ride we went on in this area was the Dudley Do-Right ripsaw falls. This was a very funny and very wet flume ride. This was quite possibly the funniest ride I have ever been on. We got SOAKED!!! I don’t know if it was the ride that was funnier or if it was how wet we got. We literally 'wrung out' our shirts when we got off!! After this we needed to stand in the sun to dry off a little. When we were a little dry we started walking over to

Jurassic Park – “Experience the real Jurassic Park, where dinosaurs have been brought back to co-exist with man for the first time anywhere. It’s an adventure 65 million years in the making!”
The main ride in Jurassic park is the River adventure which you get wet on and since we were already wet we figured why not. We were on a Jurassic park river ride at universal in LA so we knew what to expect and this was just as good however we didn’t get too wet, which Amy was happy about. After Jurassic Park were went to

The Lost Continent – “Explore an ageless land of ancient myths and epic legends. From a castle guarded by warring dragons to a battle of titans beneath the sea, heart-pounding adventure awaits around every corner.”

Here we rode the Flying Unicorn, a fast little roller coaster with a lot of steep turns. It was really fun. Next we did Poseiden’s Fury. This really wasn't a ride as much as it was an attraction. This was a 20-min walk-through attraction in an “ancient temple”. It was a let down after all the other exciting rides. Next to this was the Duelling Dragons roller coaster. This was the only thrill ride that we didn’t ride. The only reason I can think of is that it was getting late and we still had the whole other park to do. After this we headed to

Seuss Landing – “The only place where all of Dr. Seuss' whimsical children's tales come to life before your eyes! It’s a treat for all of your senses…especially your sense of humor!”

I am not a real big fan of Seuss but it was cool to see the crazy buildings. We only went on the Cat in the Hat ride. It was pretty fun.

This would have been enough for 1 day but we were not done yet.

Time to go to Universal Studios Park.

Universal Studios Park is more of an attraction park and no real thrill rides.

Walking clock-wise through the park, the first ride we went on was Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast. It was fun ride but we were sitting near the front all the way on the side and it was a little disorientating. Like most of the rides in Universal you are sitting a in big room and the seats move up, down, back and forth with what is happening on the screen. Next up was Shrek 4-D. This was fun and it was in 3D, they gave you glasses to wear. Since I wear glasses the effect was not as good on me as others. Next we went on the Revenge of the Mummy ride which is an indoor roller coaster. It was really good and kinda scary. At one point the ride is in complete darkness and you are speeding through not knowing which way you’re going. Next we did Disaster. This was an attraction that we was similar to one we did in Universal LA. It was like being on a movie set filming a disaster movie. You are sitting in a “subway terminal” where there is an earthquake and all heck break loose. It was pretty cool. After this, one of the rides we wanted to do was the Men-in-Black Alien Attack ride. This was pretty cool as it was an interactive ride where you had to shoot aliens while on the ride. It even took score. It was fun. Now it was getting dark and we had about an hour to do a couple more rides. One of the rides we want to do was The ET Adventure ride. When we got to the ride, it was not working at that time. So instead of going on that we went on The Woody Woodpecker Nuthouse Roller Coaster. This was a fun little coaster like the Flying Unicorn from earlier. While waiting in line for this in front of us were a brother and sister that were about 8-10 years old. They said this was the 16th time they were on this ride over the past 2 days. I guess they liked it. Well we did too. When we got off this ride we saw that ET was open again so we went over there. We did this at universal LA and we really liked it so we did it again and it was just about the same but no less fun. When we were done it was about 7:15 and the last showing of the Terminator 2: 3D attraction was at 7:30 and all the rides closed at 8 so we almost ran to the Terminator ride. This was almost a 30 min 3D show. It was here that I finally figured out that I was wearing the 3D glasses too close to my face and I was able to fully get the 3D experience. This was over at just about 8.

Whew! We did it-got everything in that we wanted to and then some!

Tonight was the first night of Universal’s Mardi Gras celebration. As part of the celebration they had a huge parade through Universal Studios. The parade started at 8 and we found a spot on the curb to watch the parade. It was crazy. It was the closest to being in New Orleans as you could get. It was really fun and the floats were throwing beads. We ended up with quite a few beads. After the parade there was a Brett Michaels’ concert. Brett Michaels is the lead singer from Poison. We listened to a couple songs but it was getting close to 9 and we didn’t eat dinner yet. We were going to eat Mel’s Drive-In inside the park. It looked just like an old drive-in complete with the cars from American Graffiti, including Milner’s 32 Ford. It was kinda crowded there so we left the park and decided to eat at the NASCAR Sports Grill, a NASCAR themed restaurant. It was pretty cool and all the booths had TVs that you could change the channel on, we chose to watch a hockey game. It was after 10 and we figured it was time to go back to the hotel. Since the hotel was only up the highway it shouldn't be hard to get back. Wrong! We must have taken a wrong turn leaving the park and we got lost. We ended up going the opposite direction from the hotel. When we finally got back to the hotel it was around 11. After a very full day we were exhausted and we had to do our final packing. I don’t know how we did it but we ended up packing better and lighter than we originally packed at home. With everything packed we got to bed at around 1am.

Another long but great day!!

Friday Feb 1st

We "woke up" at 6:30 to get the last of our stuff packed. We had a choice of leaving the ship by self debarkation or Carnival can take our luggage off and we can pick it up in the terminal. To have Carnival do it, the luggage had to be left outside our cabin before 1am last night and they start letting these people off the boat starting at 9am and it could take a few hours. Since we were out late last night at the All-star jam and we wanted to get off the boat ASAP to get to Orlando/Ocala, we chose to self debark. Self debarking starts at 7am. We got everything together and they called our floor to leave. It was pretty quick and after going through customs we were off the boat by 8am. We had a reservation at Hertz downtown to pickup a car at 10am. We waited a little bit for a complimentary Hertz shuttle to the pickup location. We got there around 8:30 and Hertz was packed! We had to wait for a ½ hour to get through the line. They said they had over 150 reservations for the day. It was their 2nd busiest day ever. I guess they were real busy partly because Hertz was a sponsor of the cruise. We finally got our car at 9. It was a 2008 Toyota Camry. Stan really liked it a lot. Before the trip we printed directions to Orlando so we knew we had to start by getting on I-95 north. After getting directions to I-95 from Hertz we were off. We were only on I-95 for little while then we had to get on Florida’s Turnpike. We ended up paying about $20 in tolls for the trip. We made 2 stops, for restroom and food, and we got to Ocala by 2:30 and went straight to Big Daddy Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing. There were a few people there, actually more than I thought.

The International Drag Racing Hall Of Fame plaques are out front and there is an A-7 jet out front as well. The museum is set back in 2 buildings. One for the antique car museum and one for the drag racing museum. Since the antique museum closes a little bit earlier the clerk said to head over there first then come back to the drag museum. So we did the antique museum first and there were some pretty cool stuff there including some of Garlits’ personal drivers and well as the featured car, a 1956 Chrysler Imperial that was built for a President Dwight D Eisenhower, that came with a 354 hemi.

After about a half hour we went over to the drag racing museum and it was a million times better that I or anyone could imagine! I can not put it into words how cool and exhilarating this was. Even the smell was amazing! I was taking still pictures of almost everything and Amy was videotaping. I know I had a great time. And I think Amy did too if it was only to see me that excited. To be around all that history…I am at a loss for words. I did notice that on the other side of one of the walls is Big Daddy’s actual race car shop. There were guys in there working on a primered front engine dragster of some kind. I tried to get a better look but they were real fast to close the door. Anyway they closed at 5 and we made a stop at the souvenir shop before they closed. We had an hour drive back to Orlando and we found the hotel easily(Hampton Inn) and then we were looking for a place to eat. We found a nearby TGIFriday’s. After eating we checked in at the hotel around 7. After the long drive and visit to the museum we were beat. We watched some TV and were both sleeping by 8:00 to try to catch up on some of the sleep we missed during the past week.