Friday, December 31, 2010

Glass collection

I have amassed a glass collection from my travels. Half Liter Weissbier glasses, Guinness stein from Dublin, Gluhwein boot from Bremerhaven and a odd coffee mug.




Please excuse brevity and typos as this message was composed on my mobile device.

Once again in smooth waters

After 5days of heavy Seas it is nice to see that Caribbean waters are smoothing out. We dock at Castaway tonight which adds a number of items on our "to-do" list. That list has 100 items on it. We have 4 days left so anxiety is high. Sally and Chance have been captured by Pirates and put to work onboard. Chance has been unpacking wave phones and Sally is creating government manifests.Stephanie has been having a great time in the teen club and we never see her.

Another holiday onboard tonight New Years. Family countdown at 10pm and real EST countdown at midnight.


Please excuse brevity and typos as this message was composed on my mobile device.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

4300 Nautical miles down

Day 11 of 16. We are getting close to land.

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

25th Wedding Anniversary

Well it has been 25 years since I married my best friend from High School.  So what better time to renew our vows.  The ship used this as a training event. Capt. Tom was gracious and his crew did a great job.  Stephanie stayed with her Mom until the ship escort came to get her and then Chance walked Mom down the aisle.  As Sally said" it was a dreamy day"

Fw: Sunrise on my 25th wedding anniversary

------Original Message------
To: Wagsplace
Subject: Sunrise on my 25th wedding anniversary
Sent: Dec 28, 2010 5:08 AM






Please excuse brevity and typos as this message was composed on my mobile device.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Happy Boxing Day

…an important holiday in the United Kingdom that has its roots many years back. In fact, well-to-do families would celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, and then on the 26th would “box up” various items for the less fortunate. Given that so many of our crew hails from the U.K., it was pleasing to hear about this traditional spirit of giving that it is still celebrated today.

 

I missed doing a blog update on Christmas.  While there were great activities for the little kids my family stayed in our cabin for the morning. We went through the hundreds of pictures they took of their Ireland and Amsterdam travels.  It was great sitting in the bed with them as they explained the fun they had. 

 

The Entertainment team did a full dress rehearsal of the new show “Believe” it is a great story and truly made by the top creative minds within the company.  Many of us left wondering how they pulled off many of the special effects.  I do not want to give too much away but seeing Tinkerbelle talk to Rachael will make anyone a believer of the power of the Creative and Technology minds in the Entertainment department.

 

 

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Eve on the ship

It’s about 10 p.m. here in Tenerife on Christmas Eve, and it’s a special time for all onboard. Especially for the crew, given that we decided to stay later and provide open Internet access. While many people working on the crossing have their families with them, the crew relies on email or phone to connect with family during this special time of year. It’s not easy for those on their first ship contract and your family is thousands of miles away.

 

I have always wondered about the onboard experience during Christmas.  The ship entertainment crew did a good job. There was mass, Pictures with Santa, Holiday cookies, holiday parades on the funnel vision and more.

 

We are departing Tenerife late today because we’re waiting on the airlines. You can well imagine the numbers of lost bags from this past week’s European weather challenges, and a number of our guests joining the ship in Tenerife were not spared. Hopefully there will be some luggage reuniting late tonight!!

 

We wandered and explored Tenerife, the primary city in the Canary Islands, which is part of Spain.  It was a great opportunity to explore, and my family could not have been happier to experience a wee bit of terra firma and another country. Stephanie was able to get a Spanish version of Harry Potter to go with her Irish and Dutch copies from this trip. 

 

 

Wagners

 

 

Friday, December 24, 2010

Teinerief

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View of 2nd largest volcano

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Santa Cruz

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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Atlantic is now smooooooth

Peaceful, 67 degree night.
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North Sea was calm the Atlantic is not

Well we came out of the Bay of Biscay and ran into two weather fronts colliding.  This was in the afternoon and for most of the night. We experienced some typical Atlantic weather. The ship handled the wind and waves beautifully she swayed, rolled and moaned but was never jarring like her little sisters.  The reassuring voice of Captain Tom had a distinct calming effect on some while others were concerned of his command to lash and stowaway all loose items!

We turned back the clocks last night so it's still early on the Disney Dream for many, not me as I forgot so I am an hour early for breakfast. We are now -5 hours (GMT) from EST so we are making progress. Tomorrow we stop in the Canary Islands at Tenerife for fuel and to let those that want to explore off before our full crossing.  Only tomorrow knows what is in store for the Wagner family.

 

 

Crossing Update December 22

We are just crossing the northwestern tip of France and heading across the Bay of Biscay toward the northern tip of Portugal. We’ll then follow the Portuguese coast en route to the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.

 

The weather and seas have been fantastic today. A very gentle breeze and temperatures in the lower 40s. The Captain announced that we will see heavy seas tomorrow so we should enjoy the outside decks now. 

 

 

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Somewhere

Sally and the kids joined us yesterday.  We successfully on-boarded all of our guests in the Bremerhaven port terminal.   Spirits are up now that our families are here but all of these guests are bringing to light small details were forgot so the workload has increased. 

Went through the english channel last night and we are heading south toward Portugal.
We have a lot running but still working 15hr days. Temperature has moderated and seas have been calm.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Crazy Times on a Caribbean flagged ship

Snowman on the pool deck!

I think this ring will do little good if you go overboard in this weather


Snow on my balcony railing.



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IMG-20101218-00184.jpg

New stateroom with a new view.. 21F, light snow and fog. Love the northern germany weather. We onboard 1000 family members sunday 19th Capt. Tom announced to expect high Seas upon our debark out of Bremerhaven early Monday morning. "Lash all items remove everything to floor4" sounds like fun!

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Monday, December 6, 2010

Life is good

Brats, Eierpunsch, gluhwein and pommes

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USCG dead ship test

All nonessential personnel are being bused into town for 8 hours while the Coast Guard conducts some tests. There is somewhere near 2000 people and about 100 will be onboard.

Very interesting that even our capt and staff capt walked off. The shipyard owns the vessel still so they are responsible.

So off to the atlantic sail hotel to see if we can get a conference room.

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Another beautiful morning in Bremerhaven

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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Ice Cold

The weather has not been cooperating. It is cold with moderate winds. We saw it sleeting an hour ago but that was short lived. I am so lucky I am not working down on the dock.

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