How the Mixed Nutz got started. Part One..... Cruise Critic.







We were home for just a few days from our Explorer cruise when we decided that we needed to book another cruise. We did some looking around, made a few calls and finally booked NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS for April 19, 2003.


The cruise was to the western Caribbean.


Departs Miami

At Sea

Labadee, Haiti

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Cozumel, Mexico

At Sea

Miami, Fl

So with that, I started a message board thread on Cruise Critic. At first, ( and as usual) I was writing to myself since there was no other posters. Eventually another person posted. That was Sandy from Massachusetts. Sandy and her husband Bob decided to book it. They also were taking their daughter.


In the meantime we were assembling our initial group of family and friends. We decided to take our three sons this time. Coming along also was Carols sister Chris & husband Joe ( FL) .... Her Mom & Dad (FL) and friends George and Marie. (PA)


The thread began to grow. Soon we had SuzieQ ( Wisconsis) and her family, Mercy (NJ) and her husband and two sons. Now I was no longer posting alone. The thread was starting to move page after page now that there were plenty of people posting. Some time later we had Chuck & Teri ( Ohio) and Sheryl from California among others join our thread.
As the cooler months of the year arrived so did activity on the thread. Now it was a daily thing that everyone seemed to look forward to doing. Pages flew by during this period. Then one day.....somebody had an idea. Lets try to organize a live buddy chat on AIM once a week. It took a little doing to get going. Looking back now I can realize that people were not quite so up on technology in 2003. With some effort however, we launched it. A few of us were already IM'ing each other. Sandy and I were doing the most chatting early on, and some e mailing also. So it was decided to chat on Sunday nights at 9 pm eastern time. It proved to be a lot of fun and everybody got to know each other much better and faster.
One particular night George from PA joined the chat in progress. Everyone said hello and he responded likewise only what we saw was not what he wrote. Instead of hello we saw "GET YOUR PORN HERE". Okay..... thats funny.....once. But every time he wrote if was some kind of porn message. Ok George....the jokes over...not so funny again and again. But George had no idea what we were seeing. Some said "Knock it off George".....and he not understanding answered but what he wrote was not what he said. He was trying to tell us "I'm not doing anything" when I phoned him and told him. He was aghast. Apparently his son while using his computer, wandered into something causing a virus that hacked his computer. So thenceforth.....he was known as PORN GEORGE.

The cruise date was nearing. During one of the chats, a questio arose about a name for our group. There were all kinds of suggestions, like Cruise Critters, Rum Runners, Booze Cruisers etc. Somebody suggested Mixed Nuts. I immediately liked it. So did the others. BINGO...... we were now the MIXED NUTZ Sailing Group. Again, somebody made a suggestion about wearing a distinguishing color so we would recognize each other easily. The color was PURPLE. So now we had a name and a color and now what do we do. We organized a meeting time and place for our own sail away party. It was to be on the pool deck next to the Pool Bar.......probably 3 pm ( as I recall)
So everything was set for the cruise.
I volunteered to make a Group Sign and name badges for everyone and I threw in Door Signs for all as well. It really wasn't a problem to take it all with us because we drove from Long Island to Miami with five people and luggage for all in our Grand Caravan. We were like the Beverly Hillbillies. ( see photo ) It was so packed that you could not see the rear window while driving. In spite of that, we made it. We parked and made our way into the Port Building. Once inside we saw something that made us smile. It looked like the first one hundred people on line were wearing purple. Some with shirts saying "MIXED NUTZ."

Yes...... the MIXED NUTZ were for real.