Update #8 - Jacksonville Airport

Well right now I am sitting in the Jacksonville airport waiting for our flight which is supposedly on time and the weather looks nice. I am just waiting for them to tell us that the engine fell out and they accidently filled our plane with deisel instead of karoseen. Honestly, we don't have good luck with airports. Anyways, no trouble getting off the boat. I'm not sure why they had us up at 6:45, we were a lot longer getting off or even seeing any body to be up at that time but no big deal. Now that we are on land again, I am ready to be home! See you soon!

Update #7 - Saw it all in Nassau

Well it’s been a great day in Nassau, Bahamas. It was sunny and hot. When we got off the boat we met a guy named Marvin, who offered to give us a tour of Nassau so we went with him all over the city. We got to see the entire city and learned a lot of the history and culture. Our final stop was at the lost city of Atlantis and it was incredible. Nassau, Bahamas is definitely one of our favorite stops we have ever made and we would really like to come back someday.

Supper was good again, I had lobster bisque while Janelle had Sicilian penne for an appetizer and we both had salmon for a main course. Dessert consisted of cappuccino pie for myself and Janelle tried something new with the chocolate melting cake again!

Today was another fun day at sea but we took advantage of it being a little windy outside and really relaxed and laid low today. We did take in the show this evening and supper was great again. I had veal parmesan and Janelle had steak.

Right now we are packing to go home. All non US citizens need to meet with customs at 6:45am!!! So we will be heading to bed soon!!!

Update #6- Bahama Bound

Well last night supper was once again a hit! I started with fried mozzarella while Janelle had chicken tenders and we both had grilled chicken served over fettuccini with cream and mushroom sauce, followed up with tiramisu and chocolate melting cake for Janelle. The show last night was good. Two comedic acts; the first was a gal that got better as she went and the second was a guy who has opened for Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock and he was really funny! Back to dinner, I should mention that we really enjoy the couples we eat with and found out last night that one of the people we eat with is a youth pastor in Atlanta, Georgia. Cool eh?

This morning we woke up at sea and went to the dining room for breakfast where I had eggs Benedict and Janelle had waffles. We sat down at a table full of people and as our conversation went we found out that the man sitting across from us was a professor of pharmacy in Atlanta. He was very interested in how pharmacy was done and taught in Canada. In fact, even after breakfast he tracked us down in the atrium to ask more about it so that was kind of cool! He’s going back to tell his students all about it, especially how even though the USA requires a Pharm D, pharmacists in NB can prescribe with a B Sci Pharm.

I know this is an early post but there is a deal on the internet right now. We are arriving in the Bahamas in about an hour where the temperature is 80F!!!

Update #5 - Keyed up in Key West

Well last night we went to the Captain’s cocktail party where they had free drinks and hors d’oeuvres and we actually had no trouble getting non alcoholic fruit punch, they didn’t even look at us like we were crazy! Because it was formal night there were places to get your picture taken everywhere so we did that for a while before supper. Supper was incredible last night. We both started with west Indian roasted pumpkin soup (WOW) and I had stuffed mushroom caps. We also both had bowtie pasta with turkey, bell peppers and cream sauce and I had a lobster tail and shrimp to go with it that I didn’t even order, they just brought it!!! For dessert we had a pudding cake we’ve had before called bitter and blanc which was also awesome. The night finished with an 80s musical called far from over which was probably the best musical I have seen on any of the ships, really something to see!

This morning we woke up in sunny Key West, really beautiful to look out the window and see! We got up and had breakfast on the deck before going exploring for the morning. We toured a whole bunch of the little shops they have down town and took in some of the sights including Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. So that was pretty cool. Around noon we got back on the ship to eat and lay in the sun which is pretty much what we did all afternoon as the ship left Key West and now heads south to the Bahamas!

Tonight we have a special reception for past guests that we are going to which is also usually a good time. We are having a blast so far!!

Update #4 – Fun Day at Sea

Well last night’s dinner was amazing where Janelle had lasagna as a starter and chicken a la grecque as her main course while I had smoked duck as my appetizer followed up with flat iron grilled steak and we both had chocolate melting cake for dessert! We then went to the Welcome Aboard show featuring the Fascination singers and dancers and a really funny comedian. As it turns out we have the same cruise director that we had on our first cruise! After the show we went to bed and fell asleep in approximately five seconds, so relaxing!

This morning we awoke to the heat of the sun on our faces peering through the window. We had breakfast in the dining room which was delicious. We then spent most of the morning laying out in the sun. We had lunch on the lido deck which consisted of chicken parmesan, salad and rotini with meatballs and chocolate mousse for desert! Then it was off to the jacuzzi for a little while and back out to lay in the sun. Ice cream happened somewhere in there as well! We just got back from a walk on the Olympic track on the sun deck and are getting ready for the Captain’s cocktail party. Tonight is formal night so we will be all duded up!

It is so nice to be on the boat and not have to worry about weather or catching flights or any of that nonsense. Relaxation has set in!!!!

All Aboard!! - Jackin’ it up in Jacksonville, Florida

Well we made it to the cruise! We were quite concerned yesterday, and even through the night we had some trouble sleeping as the forecast in Charlotte and Jacksonville called for thunderstorms – 90% chance – and we know you can’t fly in thunderstorms, especially topped with our flying luck. However, it was more like cloudy with sunny breaks and it is 81 degrees here in Jacksonville currently…just what we were waiting for.

We were able to board the plane this morning on schedule. Getting off the ground was another story after waiting our turn in line on the runway. We were about 35 minutes or so behind, but we made time in the air and only landed 10 minutes behind schedule. We immediately went to track down our luggage, which was ready and waiting from the flight it made last night. We then saw a Carnival rep at the airport, greeting guests so we found a way to travel a Carnival shuttle and were immediately at ease. The Carnival boarding process is much more pleasant than that of the airport. Carnival employees are very inviting.

This post is mostly to announce that we’re on board the Fascination, something that as of last night, we weren’t entirely sure would happen today so we’re really excited. Thanks for the prayers. To reward ourselves from our travel troubles, we have visited the pizzeria, the salad bar, the deli (for a reuben sandwich), the grill (for nachos with cheese, and some fries) and of course, the dessert bar for some chocolate cake, vanilla soft serve on the side. Yup, we’re finally in vacation mode. We’re going to explore the ship, which looks really nice and is all decked out for Christmas!!

Update #2: Grettings From Charlotte?/ Air Planes Stink

So here I am writing in the Quality Inn in Charlotte North Carolina. We got up in Portland this morning to catch our flight which was of course late. The plane wasn't there on time so we left about 45 minutes late. This causeed us to miss our connecting flight in Newark Airport, New Jersey. Luckily they booked us a plan B flight to Charlotte, North Carolina with a conntction to Jacksonville Florida(our final destination). On the way to the gate we were selected for a random search by security! GREAT, not like we're in a hurry or anything! So they took us aside and frisked us down nice and close! Then they looked through EVERY single item we had on us. The emptyed every bag went and through every compartment. So we arrived at our gate just at the boarding time BUT there was no plane there, late again. So an hour later we leave and miss the flight to Jacksonville. So here we are in Charlotte in a hotel at our own cost and our luggage is presumably in Jacksonville as it got on a flight that we couldn't. Yee Haw!

The good thing is that our Hotel is right beside the Cracker Barrel so supper was good! Anyways, our flight leaves, OR IS SUPPOSED to leave at 9:45, so here is hoping! Our Ship boards at noon!

Update #1 - Singing In The Rain in Portland

Well well well, the blog is back since I am away. I don't really blog much anymore but if you would like to keep up to date with our trip this is the place!

We drove to Portland to spend the night tonight as we have a morning flight tomorrow that we want to be ready for. Fairly uneventful trip, we sang some Christmas carols as we drove through the rain. We did eat at the Olive Garden though!!! I had this steak fettichini alfredo gargonzola, wow was it GOOD! Janelle had the chicken fettichini alfredo which is always a clasic. Anyways, we head to florida tomorow, I am not sure what the forecast is but I'll bet it's warmer than Portland!

That's all for now!

How to get Habs tickets... Happy Blogday

Well this is how you get habs tickets... First you need a phone with a headset, a PC and a laptop. Fire up all three and start trying to get tickets five to ten minutes before they go on sale. Get through twice only to have your firewall get freaked and kick you off and an hour later you are in. Better seats than last year anyways!

Also I noticed that my blog's birthday was on the 12th... great post eh?

Keep em coming Foreman.

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This if for you Dave,

Not Above Jobs

Well earlier this summer I was asked to speak at the counselor orientation at Canoe Cove Christian Camp. I spoke out of Philippians 2 on the attitude of Christ and how our attitude should be the same. One of the things I emphasized was that no one is above certain jobs. Not all jobs are glamorous or fun. In fact many are far from it but none the less if we are to have the attitude of service, like Jesus, then this is something we must recognize.


Just recently I preached a sermon of the same sort a few Sundays ago and made a similar emphasis. Isn't funny how after you make a point like that God provides you an opportunity to set an example yourself? Well the following week I got a call from W&B Coburns. This is where I used to do chicken work when I was a teenager. They were short staffed shipping out and were wondering if I knew anyone who could help and if I might be able to help myself. I quickly agreed to make a few phone calls (What a servant I am!) but was reluctant to commit to ship out chickens as the memories came back to mind. I then thought of my exhortation that we are not above jobs and that night entered the chicken barns again.

You know, we all get a little proud sometimes and think that we are either too old or young or experienced or good or whatever to stoop down and wash some feet like Jesus did. But if Jesus wasn't above jobs and we are not above Him, then maybe we need to evaluate our attitudes a little bit.

I know, me too.

Youth Ministry

I really like this video. Very true to life.

I'm Not Who I Was

Positive Hits 96.5 is holding an "I'm not who I was" campaign which I think is a very cool idea! I love having a Christian radio station in our city!

Massage

Well I have been back from my lovely vacation for a while now and most of my relaxation is gone. I really feel I like I came home and hit the ground running and have only slowed down to eat and sleep. I have a few dilemmas facing me in pretty well every pot I have my hand in right now and I find myself getting frustrated.

So my lovely wife booked me a massage. She didn't tell me she was doing it, she just told me to dig out my palm and take down this appointment. Anyways, tonight I had my appointment and man it was awesome. We have a college here where massages are only twenty dollars and worth every penny. If you are ever in the Fredericton area I highly recommend it. It is important to give some time to yourself and that is a lesson I need to be reminded of sometimes. So if today you are stressed by everything just relax take a minute for yourself, thank God for his love and remember that he is in control.

The Pictures are up!

If you want to see the pictures from the trip then scroll down!

Update #8: Last Day at Sea and The City that Does Sleep

We got up early so that we could eat breakfast in the Pairs dining room. Our regular location was the London but this one has a view! Janelle had waffles and I had eggs Benedict. After breakfast we layed out on the deck until the debarkation talk. We then took a ride on the water slide and then to the pool before lunch. After lunch we did some line dancing in the Rome lounge and then headed back out to lay on the deck.

This led us to a nap and then supper. We took one last look at the photo gallery and shops and ended the evening with a show featuring guests of the ship which was cool.

This morning we got up and once again had breakfast in the Paris dining room... that was the best thing that happened all day. We took quite a while to debark the vassal but finally made our way outside. There a taxi guy offered to take us to the airport for ten bucks, fair enough. He pointed us to another man who took us to a big van, loaded our bags and we got in to wait for him to fill it with other passengers. While we were waiting another man came and opened the door and asked one of the other passengers to open the driver's door. Once the door was opened, the guy got in to move the vehicle so a taxi with a trailer could get out. We backed up into the van, pulled ahead and then backed into it again!!!! Anyways, the vehicle we hit twice finally made it out and we waited again. Then another guy from another company comes and opens the back doors of the van and yells come with me as HE GRABS OUR BAGS AND TAKES OFF WITH THEM!!!! We chased after the guy who loaded them in his trailer, not wanting to make a huge incident we got in his vehicle along with the other passengers in a vehicle. He totally stole the other taxis costomers but we had to get to the airport and needed our luggage which HE had!

So we made it to the airport and so did our bags. We got in and bought a coffee. That part was good too! Ok now back to the daily trend. I drank my coffee and Janelle ate a brownie of some kind. We were sure there would be dining in our terminal and asked an employee to confirm, cleared security and made our way to our gate area. Dining had much less options here, but we dealt with it, ate and waited for our flight to board. Things looked good until about twenty minutes before our flight when we felt we should be boarding. They soon came on and said twenty minutes or so... then twenty minutes or so... half and hour... so on so on. Then they said they were fixing our plane. Then they said we were getting a new plane. Then they sent us to a new gate. Then our flight was delayed!!! Finally we boarded our flight hoping to have half an hour to catch our next one which was supposed to be a four hour layover. We sat on the plane for a while... long enough to watch the ENTIRE in flight movie for a weather delay! Finally our plane took off. They announced as we neared New York that we would still make our flight to Bangor!!!! But they were wrong as that flight had long left. The airport, much to my surprise was totally DEAD. Hardly anyone passengers or employees. I guess the city does sleep sometimes.

So here we are in New York in a low scale hotel room with a couple of cheap meal vouchers with one coffee shop open in the airport. Did I mention that they wouldn't give us our bags... yeah no clean clothes or anything like that.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home!

Update #7: Greetings From Jamaica Mon

Well this morning we woke at 7:15 as the ship pulled in to port in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We were actually late arriving because of lost time yesterday on the rescue mission but Jamaicans are not really all that concerned about time, I don’t even think they knew we were late! We met a catamaran along the pier which took us out to some coral reef to snorkel. The reef was beautiful and we saw all kinds of tropical fish – including Dori. I even held a sea cucumber! After that we got back on the catamaran and we headed for Dunn’s River Falls. I am sure most of you know but Dunn’s River Falls is a fresh water waterfall that spills into the Caribbean Sea. We gathered with our group and climbed up the falls and it was unbelievable, so beautiful. We actually climbed the falls with a couple of guys we met at the open dinner the other day, Allan and Zack. They are two young guys in college and we have seen them around the boat some. It is so neat how you make friends around the boat and get to see them and chat with them from time to time. Anyways they were a lot of fun to hang out with as we climbed the falls.

We got back on the boat mid-afternoon and had some lunch on the Lido deck which was of course awesome and then got cleaned up to attend a special party for return cruisers only. Free drinks and we actually tracked down some fruit punch this time as well as hors d’oeuvres. They had some fun and dancing, Janelle and I danced on the stage with other guests while a live orchestra played in behind us. Then they played a little presentation on the history of Carnival Cruise Lines. Very cool. We then got ready for dinner and tonight was the second formal night so we got all dressed up again.

Supper was really good but we wanted to save room because the midnight galla buffet was also tonight, hence why this blog is late! This is where they set up entrees and especially deserts that can take as long as 14 hours to prepare, the whole thing takes 120 man hours to prepare! Lots of chocolate for Janelle! On another note, Janelle has sworn that she saw one of our waiters from last year on the ship on a number of occasions. After a while I had to agree with her. We thought it was Ladislav form Slovakia who was, we felt, one of the best waiters on the ship last year. So last night we saw him again and I asked him if he worked the Carnival Legend last year and sure enough it was him. We told him that we raved about his service and that he truly was one of the best. He seemed really touched and said that he had never had a guest come up to him who had remembered him before. He even told his boss who came over to meet us too. It was really cool and I really hope it helps him in his career.

Update #6: Grand Time in Grand Cayman

Pardon the lame pun but today, like the rest was another great one. We set an alarm for 7:00 this morning and got up for breakfast. Our shore excursion wasn’t set until 9:30 but you have to be ready to go early in Grand Cayman because there is no pier. The ship drops anchor a little more than a quarter mile from land and taxi boats take loads of people ashore. We were plenty early for our excursion of parasailing only to find that it had been cancelled due to bad weather. It was raining some and they say that if water gets on the parachute then it will go down and there is no way to determine how fast. This was kind of disappointing. We debated taking one of the other tours but none really interested us for the money involved so we decided to do some shopping instead while we waited to see what the weather would do.

Shopping, I have to admit wasn’t that bad. There were a lot of cool things to see and the atmosphere was a lot calmer than in Mexico. The weather really improved too so we boarded the ship to eat and then went to Seven Mile Beach. Wow, the beach was unreal. The sand was so soft and the water was warm and crystal blue. As soon a Janelle got in she was swarmed by a school of tropical fish, at least I think that is what I saw as I did my best to maintain balance when she jumped on my back!! We took in the afternoon laying on the beach and cooling off in the water. (Side note on schools of fish: yesterday I forgot to mention that while we were lying on the deck a school of dolphins came along side our ship! There had to of been hundreds of them coming to the surface of the water, major cool!)


We got back on the ship late in the afternoon and got something more to eat and took a nap. When we were getting up and getting ready for supper something really strange happened. I went to the Lido deck to get something to drink because I woke up thirstier than life but noticed some little black dot off in the distance when I looked out the window. I didn’t really think much of it, could be another boat or a rock or who knows. Anyway a short time after this our cruise director called attention over the intercom that our vessel was stopped because the captain had spotted a boat in distress and a rescue mission was in progress. Updates were given throughout and finally all members involved were rescued and taken aboard our ship! They are being given free food and shelter and will be dropped off for arrangements when we reach Ocho Rios tomorrow.

Supper was excellent again. We dined alone tonight, that is the other couple who sit with us, Robert and Tiffany, did not attend the dining room. The water is rough tonight so they may have been a bit under the weather. Either way it was a nice meal. We then attended a three part show with dancing, then a really funny comedian and a juggler who was really good and very funny.

Grand time in Grand Cayman!

Update #5: Another Lazy Day at Sea

Well last night I left off with getting ready for supper which was excellent – fillet minion. We tried the mahi mahi since we had each caught one earlier. It was ok but was done up in the health food menu so didn’t have as much taste! After supper we went to a great show and ended the evening with a Mexican buffet and sail away party.

Today was the definition of a lazy day at sea… we got up, ate breakfast, laid on the deck, ate lunch, laid on the deck, watched the sunset, ate supper, went to a show and are now going to bed… RELAXATION! I love it. Should be a little more intense tomorrow but believe me we rested up for it!!

Good night!


Sorry pictures still won't work :(

Update 4: Something is Fishy in Cozumel, Mexico

Well this morning we woke up almost to our port on the Island of Cozumel, Mexico and it was dark. That’s right, the sun wasn’t up yet at 6:15 when we got up this morning, got ready for the day and headed for breakfast on the Lido deck. We had to get up early so that we made sure we had no problems disembarking so we could meet the local fishermen who were taking us deep sea fishing! There were five guests to a boat and we made a 30 min boat ride out to good fishing water. Good I’ll say, we hardly had the bait out and the first guy on rotation had a fish and it was a beauty! It wasn’t a long time after that and I thought I had one. I pulled and reeled for a LONG time and my arms were ready to fall off by the time we realized it was a weighted net I had caught. I couldn’t believe it, all that for nothing. It was so hot it was unbelievable. Soon after that, the first guy’s son caught one. About 45 minutes past with nothing when two took at once! Another man reeled in one and I took the other. I reeled in a huge mahi mahi fish! Man what a fight they put up, it was so cool! Well the trip was almost over when Janelle, the natural, caught the last fish, another mahi mahi fish (they all were). It was so fun but my arms are killing me!


After a fun but exhausting fishing trip, we headed back to the ship for a nap. When we got up we took in some lunch and then headed back out into the city to do some shopping/ browsing… Janelle’s idea. After a walk around we headed back to the ship to cool off in the pool. We just got cleaned up and are preparing for supper. We are bloging early because there is a special rate on the internet right now. We will fill you in on the rest of the day later!