March 20, 2010 – Today we are off on another adventure, Penney is hosting a fam for Discover the World. We will be sailing on the Costa Atlantica to the Western Caribbean on a 7 night cruise.
An adventure already… on the way to the airport we were stopped by one of Hendersonville’s finest, apparently Kevin was going a little fast, but only received a warning this time. Arriving at the airport we checked in, went through security and arrived at our gate about 6:00am… (I really need to start making out flights for these trips, Penney always goes for these early mornings :) As we walked up to the gate I noticed about 8 TSA agents standing in a huddle talking, they then each took position and appeared to be surrounding and surveying our gate area. We never did find out why or what was up, but we loaded the plane, as we backed out the flight attendant advised we needed to pull back in as the door was not closed properly, well there was something wrong and they had to call the engineers to come repair it… finally we take off for FLL.
Kevin, Penney and I arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport with a gazillion other passengers, all waiting for their luggage as well. Once we had everything, we met up with Carol and Glenn Hall and all left for the port.
The check-in process was the easiest ever, I think i took all of 15-20, including the welcome aboard photo!
Costa had a nice buffet waiting, and then Penney was off to meet with the onboard Group Coordinator and begin work. Although I enjoy these adventures with her, when Penney is ‘working these cruises’ I try to stay out of her way (so she doesn’t put me to work).
I did meet up with Penney at the Welcome Aboard Reception that she hosted, everyone seemed to have a nice time.
After dinner we took sometime to explore the ship more and called it an early night.
March 21, 2010 – Today we are docked in Nassau Bahamas.
We are going to spend the day at Sandals Royal Bahamian…
After our visit, we walked through the straw market and a few shops before heading back to the ship.
Tonight is ‘formal’ night on the ship, so everyone got all dressed up it was a lot of fun.
March 22, 2010 – I decided to sleep in today, however, Penney is facilitating the first of three Workshops on Water this morning. Not only is does she have 26 agents onboard, but she is also training another agent to be an instructor. Carol Hall is joining Travel Agent Success, Inc as an independent trainer.
The presentation this morning was on the Costa Brand, Fleet and Innovations. They concluded with a fun game of Costa Jeopardy, Team 3 were the winners :)
The afternoon was relaxing, wandering some, enjoying the company of other guests and even a short nap… :)
March 23, 2010 – Today we are in Grand Cayman. Kevin and Penney were going to go to Sting Ray City to swim with the rays, but due to bad weather, all excursions were cancelled.
We spent the day hanging around the ship, we were able to inspect a lot of the decks we had not already seen, enjoy conversations with passengers in the lounge and even visit the spa.
March 24, 2010 – I am really excited about today!!! We are docking in Roatan, Honduras around lunch time, but first Penney is facilitating a couple of CLIA(Cruise Lines International Association) videos. Several of the agents on this cruise are enrolled in the ACC/MCC certification program, and have the opportunity to earn up to 30 points by watching the videos and taking the test.
After class I met up with Penney & Kevin, Carol and Glenn joined for lunch. I was so excited about our visit to Roatan that I could hardly eat…
Before we left Tennessee, Penney had contacted the Sandy Bay Children’s Home in Roatan, she communicated with the director John about visiting with home and children while in Honduras. John sent an email regarding their needs, information about the children and invited us to come for the afternoon. Prior to coming down, Penney & Kevin purchased some clothing, socks & shoes, school supplies as well as a few toys for the kids. When others heard what we were doing they donated money and brought some toys over for us to bring down. They had a large suit case full, 46 pounds!
Ok, so we arrive at the port, the beach is right here, it is beautiful
but all we can think about is finding a taxi and getting to Sandy Bay. Kevin, Penney, Glenn and I negotiated with a taxi driver, Jose, to take us to the children's home.
When we arrived we were greeted by John, and one of the children Jefferies, who is 4 1/2 years old. Penney and I went in to visit, while Jose took Kevin and Glenn to a nearby supermarket to purchase some food for the kids. Upon return they had a whole trunk full of rice, beans, flour, eggs, milk and much more (two grocery carts full), estimated to feed the children for about a month.
Shortly after the children returned from school. After lunch we all played, talked and got to know the kids a bit more. When we opened the suitcase full of goodies you would have thought Santa arrived. The kids were so excited to see all the things we had brought. The girls loved the Barbie dolls, the boys the match box cars getting down on the floor and racing them immediately.
Penney will be putting together a slideshow of our visit, with more information, she will publish it separately. If you would like to visit their website, go to http://www.csiroatan.org/
Our time was too short, but we did have to say goodbye and get back to the ship, so after several hugs and even some tears we headed off.
Although we didn’t get to spend much time at the pier, here are some pictures that Penney took… one day we would like to visit again.
Great dinner conversation and fun with the waiters…
March 25, 2010 - This morning we docked in Cozumel Mexico. AS we looked out, we see several officials standing on the doc with a suitcase… could it be?? Yes, I think it is Juanita’s! Bless her heart her bag was lost and the airline/cruise lines have been tracking it since we left Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, 5 days later, it arrives.
Since Penney and I have been here many times, we chose to stay onboard the Atlantica and catch up on some reading. Sitting on the balcony, enjoying the sunshine and the warm breeze. Kevin did walk into town, however, was only gone for about an hour. We all had a nice lunch and then they took a nap (guess it is the age thing) while I sat out on pool deck soaking in some rays.
This evening was our second formal dinner, Penney arranged for a group photo… everyone looks so nice.
March 26, 2010 - Our last day before the end of our cruise… Penney and Carol conducted the last of the Workshops on Water. This mornings sessions were Groups, Marketing, and the final CLIA video, Tech Tips. I decided to sit in on the workshops and must say, all the agents were sharing and participating. It was really a great learning experience.
This afternoon, Penney was able to schedule a private galley tour for our group… it was really cool to see where all the magic happens.
Each dinner Kevin, Penney & I would sit with different consultants within our group, it was great to get to know everyone a bit better outside of the classroom. This evening we shared our table with a couple of agents that are relatively new to the industry… we spent hours talking and sharing.
March 27, 2010 – This morning we had to depart the Atlantica, although we had a very nice cruise, met wonderful agents, and had an awesome day with the children in Honduras… I am ready to go home. Even though i could fly on my own, I decided to climb into Penney’s carry on and board the Southwest flight with them. After all, I need to rest up for our next big adventure!
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