One Week Until We Sail!

This year's Cricut Cruiser's only have one week until we board the Mariner of the Seas and set sail to the Western Caribbean! The majority of the cruisers have joined the Facebook group I made and have been able to get to know each other before we board. I think we have about 50 Cricut cruiser's, this does not include the total with guests. I am not sure how many total will be in the group. We have cruiser's from all over the United States and a few from Canada this year. I think it is going to be a fun group of people for sure!

Everyone will start arriving in Houston next Saturday and many are staying in a hotel the night before and have a get together planned with some local Cricut people as well. My traveling party will not be attending this unofficial get together as I am looking forward to spending the evening and night with my friend Carmen and her family who live in Houston.

We received our class schedules last week. At first there were going to be a beginner's group and an experienced group but since there were so many experienced user's going Dan had to do some last minute work on the classes *okie knows Dan works hard to put on a fabulous cruise*.

Our ship sets sail at 4:30pm next Sunday, which also happens to be April Fool's day and that might be interesting. We have a Cricut Bon Voyage Cocktail Party that night in one of the lounges and we get FREE DRINKS *okie does the free drinks dance*. Last year's party was great. All the cruiser's attended and we got to know each other. I already knew some of the cruiser's last year so it was nice to get to visit with them and also get to meet some of the people I didn't know.

Our first day of classes are on Monday and they classes are based on learning how to work the machines. Our classes include:
Gypsy - learn how to use your Gypsy *okie is debating about this one since she doesn't much care for the Gypsy*
Cricut Imagine - teaching us the in's and out's of this machine *okie is thinking pool time during this class since she doesn't have an Imagine*
Cricut Craftroom & Cricut Mini - how to work the free software and the new smaller machine. This one will be a must since I don't know how to work CCR.
Cricut Expression 2 - beyond the basis of turning on the machine, again a must since I know how to turn on the machine and that's about it *okie thinks most of the buttons on her machines are just there for pretty decorative lights since she only uses Design Studio*.
And then that night we will have an open crop. I do have page kits ready to take for BFF Karen and I to work on during the crop times. We actually have open crop time each night of the cruise.

On Tuesday we will be arriving into Cozumel and spend the day doing various activities. Some of the cruiser's have excursions planned. I plan on going to the flea market and finding a beach. That night we have a Project 1. So far that is all we know about the classes, just project, no other information has been provided...so mysterious isn't it?!

Wednesday is the Cayman Islands and then we all meet up that night for the Surprise Event. I am wondering if the surprise is that Cricut is going to marry me. Last year I was able to sneak in a kiss with Cricut! What ever the surprise is I am sure it will be fantastic. ProvoCraft sure knows how to treat it's cruiser's well and like royalty!


Thursday is Jamaica and I am a little nervous about this one. I have heard many things about Jamaica and I am not sure how far I will stray from the port. That night is also a Surprise Event, maybe it will be my divorce from Cricut *okie falls out of chair laughing*.

 
Our last two days of the cruise are at sea so we have 2 projects on each of those days. The final night we have a social closing instead of an open crop. I remember last year's closing well as there were many tears shed from not only the cruiser's but some of the ProvoCraft staff as well. We had spent a wonderful week together and it was hard saying goodbye to everyone.

Since I will be taking my laptop with me I will try to write up posts from each day of the cruise to share the experience with everyone. It's hard to remember everything once you get back from a trip. I won't be able to post the information until I return home but at least it will be a more accurate account than what my peas size brain could remember from last year's cruise and hopefully have more pictures to share.