for posting the wedding on the page...you are probably crapping yourself realizing I actually am finally using the site...somehow we managed to miss it as I was outside with the kids in the backyard and she was cooking dinner...really appreciate that man...we were bumbed out thinking we had missed it...btw...thanks again for our talk at the cottage...it really meant alot to me and you were there for me bud...hope to hang out sometime soon....maybe even just get together and hang out. cheers!

Welcome to the site, Gimpster.  Shabadu had asked if I could find a way to capture the webcam of the wedding.  I'm disappointed that the images were updated so infrequently, such that we missed the whole entrance of the blushing bride, but at least we got what was presented for review.  Glad there was a legit photographer, since these images were so tiny and grainy (I actually resized and resampled them for the web).

As for the cottage, no problem man.  I knew you needed support.. it's got to be hard to deal with seeing Shabadu's junk so many times in such a short time span.  

Don't forget his smell!

As I recall, you were the biggest contributor to the stench... propping yourself up in front of the fan for maximum dispersal.

Yes, but we're not talking about me.

Ya, it sucks that the webcam missed the bride's entrance too, because so did everybody else!  There was a bit of a malfunction with the camcorder at the time, and everybody else with a camera was either walking her down the aisle, or standing beside the groom.  Unfortunately, Shabs said the photographer kind of sucked too (bad frame composure, cutting the frame off at the forehead, etc.  I'm willing to concede that framing a picture with the motion of the ship may have been a bit more difficult, but why wouldn't he overshoot, then crop and resize it in photoshop later?

Dont' know if I said it yet Chaddy, but thanks very much for posting the pics online.
I'm gonna have to download them so we have them on record.. small and grainy or not, it was part of the day and experience!

Also, the photographer was not overly skilled at what he did.
He managed to pose us alright but his framing and such was just awful.. I am not a photographer and most of the proofs he showed us lead us to not purchase anything beyond the five 5x7's, two 8x10's and one canvas 16x20.  Honestly there was perhaps 5-10 additional pictures we wanted that didn't look crappy.. and the smallest package was $400 American.. andranged up to $2000 American... so we came back to Canada and had Renee's friend take some pictures in Rockton at a nearby church.  We'll have these and other "honeymoon" pictures available to look at on the November first reception we're holding at our house.

Oh and by the way.. when did Gimpy join the fray?!!?  I didn't know he even knew HOW to log on to the internet!?!  

No problem punk.  Sorry the "professional" photographer was so inadequate.  How was the rest of the cruise?  Food good?  Interesting things to see?

The cruise was incredible and definately recommended.

The was no shortage of things to do, but that was reliant on the numerous shore leaves.  Each port had numerous adventures you could partake in, which naturally each cost more money ranging from $50 upwards of a couple grand for the bigger, longer, more involved experiences such as helicopter rides or fishing excursions.  You could even board one of the crab boats from the TV show "World's Most Dangerous Jobs" and watch as they caught crabs on the high seas!!  We didn't do those, but the point is there was plenty of choices if you had the money.  

There was also entertainment onboard the ship, ranging from the casino (which was open as long as we were not in port) to staff-organized entertainment (music/dance numbers, live trivia, princess cruise idol etc) to live bands.

The one place Renee, Dan and I were all less than impressed was the food.  I would like to begin by saying the food was alright - it was never BAD, but I was told the food was amazing by numerous people beforehand and possibly I tainted Dan and Renee with my tales of how great it would be.  There was a 24-hour service buffet with typical day-time sepcific meals (i.e. breakfast buffet always had eggs benedict, bacon, cereal, fruits, etc) but each day usually had something that added a unique flavour of the day (i.e. a seafood omlet or something).  There was certainly no shortage of food or selection of food (as is usual for a buffet) but you could tell this food was "mass-produced" and kept warm under heat lamps.  

And to make matters worse there was an outbreak of norwalk on the boat that lead to super long lineups at meal times where a staff member FORCED EVERYONE to use hand sanitizer before entering the food area (and they always pumped waaay too much on to your hands).  And to make matters worse, the staff hand to shovel the food on to your plate - and there was simply not enough staff on hand to make this process easy or quick... nor were the buffets set up to expediate this in the least.

There were also sit down restaurants.  Some were included in the price of your cruise and others that cost $15-$20 per person because they offered a "higher quality" of food (i.e. the steak restaurant).  The inclusive restaurants were also an experience that wasn't bad but did little to impress.. but the steak restaurant, the one Renee and I paid for our guests to eat at on the day of our wedding was in actuality a let-down.  You would think a steak restaurant would know the difference between medium-rare (how Dan ordered his steak) and well done (how it was "cooked".  He actually sent it back, which meant he had to eat alone because it took them 20 minutes to return with a steak that this time he asked be "rare" (but was actually "medium-rare").

Ok.. now I'm just sounding all negative.. and that wasn't the case.. it just so happens that in rettrospect the things that didn't live up to expectation are the ones that most easily come to mind.  As I said before, the trip itself was really good, every one of us that went claimed we would certainly love to go again.  We will try to have some pictures ready for the party so anyone interested can share some of the experience if they'd like!

Share the experience?  You're going to show the pictures in a boat on rocky water?  Cool!    Just keep the overcooked steak and norwalk infected food away from the guests.  

To be fair, when they brought my second steak out, it was cooked rare on one side.  It was cooked medium on the other, so it averages out to medium rare, I guess.  In other words, they overcooked it on one side, then flipped it over and cooked it for maybe 20 seconds on the other side.  As far as the service goes, I loved how the waitress made me feel welcome to dine at the other restaurants after I sent the steak back.  Not that she was rude or anything, just not nearly as nice as she was before I sent it back.

In general, the menus were ambitious in their content, but the quality of the dishes reminded me of the food I might get served in a good hospital.  I enjoyed it, but several people had also raved to me about that aspect of a cruise.  In fact, a friend from work had told me that every meal on his cruise was like eating in the best restaurant he'd ever been to.  I took that with a grain of salt, but still...

All in all, the cruise was totally enjoyable though, and the shore excursion that Shabs and I went on was 100% worth it.