Stampin’ Up! Incentive Trip: My Diary

As you already know (mostly because I’ve been talking about it non-stop for the past couple of weeks), I was honored and delighted to spend a week on a Caribbean cruise with top Stampin’ Up! demonstrators from all over the world.  What an incredible vacation!  Today I’m sharing pictures from this epic adventure.

That ship!  You’ll never comprehend the magnitude and magnificence of this ship is unless you see it with your own eyes.  This things is a giant.  I watched the video tour on the Royal Caribbean site, but I still wasn’t prepared for the real thing.  Here are some pictures of this incredible ship I called home for a week:

9484 My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingMy Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingMy Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingMy Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King   The People.  As you can see, the ship is amazing!  The gardens and neighborhoods were vast and beautiful.  The facilities were fantastic.  The food was absolutely incredible.  In the end, though, it was the people who made the experience so perfect.  Here are some quick photos of some of the amazing people I hung out with on this trip:

Mary Fish (USA):My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingLouise Sharp (Australia):My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingKrista Frattin (Canada) and her beautiful, beautiful family:My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King

Leonie Schroder (Australia) and Mary Fish (USA):My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King Janet Wakeland (USA):My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King  Patty Bennett (USA):My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King Dawn Griffith (USA):My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King

Yvonne Neefjes (Holland) and her husband:My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King

Our Excursion in Cozumel.  At our stops in Haiti and Jamaica, our group just explored the islands.  We hung out on the beach and explored the shops.  In Cozumel, though, a group of us went on a culinary excursion and made authentic Mexican fare with a Cozumel chef.  We had SO MUCH fun with Josephina:  My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingAgain, what a wonderful trip we all had!  I enjoyed every minute of it – the ship, the food, the people.  On Friday night, I won the “Finish the Lyrics” competition on board the ship.  I don’t want to mis-state the value of this award, but it was probably the greatest thing to happen to anyone in all of the world since the beginning of time.  I know songs and can sing any of them.  Here’s a quick photo immediately after my win, along with a photo that was included in Shelli Gardner’s personal blog on Monday (www.soshelli.com) that shows how important this honor is:

My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian King My Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, Brian KingThanks for listening to me go on and on about my trip experience.  This was my first incentive trip with Stampin’ Up! – I earned it during my first year as a demonstrator.  Next year, I’ll be headed to Hawaii, and I can hardly wait for the experience.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

Shop Now

Stampin' Up! Catalog, Brian KingDon’t You Want a New Catalog?  I offer free catalogs to all of my customers.  If you are my customer or want to be my customer, please email me your name and mailing address.  I’ll be more than happy to send you the gorgeous book.  You can email me at [email protected].

Awesome New Photopolymer Stamp Set.  Stampin’ Up! announced a brand new photopolymer stamp set yesterday, and this is one you’ll want to check out.  Endless Birthday Wishes is filled with lots of great sentiments, and I’m sure it will be as popular as Endless Wishes that was released (and quickly sold out) last Fall.  Please click on the picture below to see more:  

45 Comments

  1. I cannot stop talking about the trip either. Great Diary! I feel honored to be in it.

    • Wow! So basically its a floating city!
      Thanks for sharing Brian. You really crack me up! 🙂
      Alicia (Australia)

  2. Wow! So glad all of you special demonstrators had a great time, you deserve it!

  3. Maria Rodriguez

    Brian, this pictures speak louder than any words, how fabulous to be in the company of all of this fabulous people, specially Mary, inside this magnificent ship. Thank you for sharing this really fun pictures.

  4. That is one big Ship! Wow, what an experience you’ve had in one week! I don’t know if Hawwaii can top that! It looks like you were in great company. Thanks for the photo tour and Welcome Home!

  5. Thank you for sharing your awesome trip with us. Congratulations on winning it! I love seeing the pictures – everyone looks like they’re having a great time!

  6. Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I love the picture of you standing in the doorway of the Cozumel home.

  7. What wonderful pictures and thank you for sharing ….I am so glad you had such a fantastic time ! Yay !

  8. Amazing! One of my sons received a wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation 6 yrs. ago and he wished for a cruise. We did the same route that you took and it was all so beautiful. So happy for you! Looks like a fantastic time, thank you for sharing your pictures.

  9. Wow……just wow! Fabulous in every way! And I adore the picture with Josephina!

  10. SO EXCITED for you!! What a fabulous trip!! Thanks for sharing. I love crusing and I can only imagine how fun it was with other SU demonstrators!! Congrats to you.

  11. What a fabulous trip! And how fun to see the pictures! Thanks for sharing and you deserved this! And congratulations on winning the lyrics contest!

  12. Brian, you seem to be able to have fun anywhere, the Caribbean, winning the “Lyric” award, Mary Fish’s Stamping Studio!! (Loved that one…so hilarious.)

    With the videos, creative ideas, demonstrators have to hustle to earn this caliber of award…congratulations! And doesn’t it help you appreciate even more our great USA!

  13. Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip with all of us. You’re such an inspiration!

  14. Creative Crafts

    You and Josephina were quite a pair. Looks like she lives in a doll house and you were visiting her.

  15. Cindie McDuffee

    Great pictures, Brian. Your hard work, organizational and leadership skills and creativity show all of us what can be achieved. Congratulations on earning this trip, Brian. You sure deserve it!

  16. Brian, thanks for sharing your trip with us! Looks like you had a great time (well deserved)! BTW – LOVE the 3 piece suit ;=)

  17. It never ceases to amaze me that ships can FLOAT!!! Thanks for the photos, Brian……. looks like a good time was had by all. Know that I always appreciate you and your blog.

  18. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful adventure!! I, too, love cruising. IMO, it’s the only way to vacation. 🙂

  19. you proved that you can rock a rented tux, man, and that you are the king of sing! glad it was MORE than you expected. do you know what the sign above you head in Josephina’s house says?

  20. Wow! Great trip Brian, thanks for sharing it with us, our stamping spirits were along with you. Wonderful photos, and now you know how to make tortillas, I’m jealous;)

  21. Great pictures Brian, along with a wonderful commentary. The only thing missing is a photo of you crying alone in your stateroom because you missed us so much, lol. I’m so happy you had such a wonderful time, you work hard and it was well deserved. BTW, what did you make besides the tortilla?

    • We made guacamole, several dips, refried black beans, tacos with pork and achiote seasoning, salsa and hibiscus tea. It was wonderful!

  22. Wow!! What impressed me the most is that you earned the incentive trip after being a demonstrator for one year Brian!! What an accomplishment!!! I also loved your picture with Patty!!!! I need to talk with her…dream it, believe it!!!!
    Thanks for sharing!!!!
    Gay Ferland

  23. Okay, I must admit I am in total awe of the singing competition win! I can accept how wonderfully talented you are, what a great blogger you are, what an awesome leader, etc., etc.,….but to win singing, too??? IS THERE NO END TO YOUR AWESOMENESS?? (Sounds like a great sentiment for a stamp this year, huh???)
    Seriously–so proud and happy for you. Looks like a great trip for someone who has earned it a thousand times over!

  24. Brian, these photos are really great! Looks like you all had a wonderful time and getting to meet so many new friends has to be the highlight. That ship IS enormous! Holy Cow! I’ve been on 3 cruises, but not that cruise line…. sounds like they are awesome and treated you all very well. How many people from Stampin Up! were on this cruise? Congrats again…so well deserved! You rock!

  25. Brian…Love these pictures…I will look for your pic on Shelli’s blog. You are a winner all around. Thanks for sharing.

  26. Eeek! I’m on Brian King’s blog!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
    It was great seeing you so many times on the ship!

  27. What fun!! Thanks for sharing your excitement and fun with the rest of us Brian!! You totally deserved this awesome vacation as you earned it from being one of the best at what you do! Love all the fabulous photos!! 🙂

  28. Wow, what a fantastic trip! Thanks for sharing, so happy your hard work was rewarded!

  29. SO awesome!! I love that you shared your experience … so happy for you & what a trip for Jeremiah, too! 🙂

  30. So, will you make us Mexican food when you come for convention? : ) I loved seeing your pictures! Congratulations! It looks like you all had a great time….I’m just a little jealous!

  31. Wow! Good for you Brian! I smiled through that whole post. =)

  32. Oh my Brian -I am speechless (and that my dear is next to impossible)! What amazing photos, what an amazing trip! I’m so glad you got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime excursion and just thrilled that you shared it with us. Thank you.

  33. You are a Rock Star! Loved seeing all the photos of your fabulous trip. Thank you for sharing it. I’m so proud of your accomplishments! Congratulations and look out Hawaii…here he comes =)

  34. It looks like you had a great vacation, yay! This ship looks awesome. We love to cruise so might have to check this ship out. Thanks so much for sharing the excitement with us. The photos are great.

  35. Laurie Burns Gachewicz

    Yiiiiiiiippeeeeeee!!! I now can see what an AMAZINGLY AWESOME time you had!! Thank you Brian for sharing your experience in the way only YOU can, so we not only feel like we were there too, but we also feel like we chatted with you about it over brunch, or at least homemade tortillas!! 🙂 I am SO very happy for you and all the fun y’all had!!!

  36. Congratulations and thanks for sharing your pics. I earned the Grand Vacation for the first time but passed because our daughter graduated from The Ohio State University the same day the ship left. BUT, I did earn the Hawaii trip. Hope to see you there (if I can make it as we have a college graduation AND a high school graduation in 2015. WOW. Feel great about my accomplishments in SU! but even more proud of my girls and their accomplishments. See you in Salt Lake in July!

  37. Wow! I am all smiles here for I am so HAPPY for you that you were able to go on this well deserved trip! Looks like you had loads of FUN! Thank you for sharing all the wonderful photos!:-)

  38. I love the picture of “Josefina and the Giant”. She looked intimidated. Was that “Fritz from Philly” giving you that award? Congrats! Thanks for sharing your pix! How awesome!

  39. I am of course a day late, but what a wonderful experience and incredible trip. You have worked so hard this past year. So proud of you and I am so happy this vacation was a dream.

  40. The picture of you standing in the doorway with that adorably petite lady just cracks me up! You look like an absolute giant compared to her, and the doorway!!! How much did you have to duck in all the places in Cozumel?

    I’m so unbelievably proud and excited for you Brian. You are beyond amazing. So many many hugs

Leave a Reply to pat stewart Cancel reply