Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

awe I am sorry Cindy. Hang in there, It is hard I know. We are here for you to cry on our virtual shoulders.

You are a good egg Cindy

Tracy - We're going to be in Norfolk visiting our sailor as well (although my party isn't nearly as big!) Right now, the only thing I can find open on Thanksgiving that would be serving turkey is Cracker Barrel. There are three in the area. I called the one in Virginia Beach. Yvonne might have a better idea for us when she reads this!!!!!!!!!!

so my son is leaving on Saturday for Norfolk.   this time is worse than when he went to Chicago for basic and A school for me.   

Jeannie, he will like Norfolk - lots of great things to do, the winter weather is way better than Great Lakes, and hopefully you can plan a visit!  Norfolk and Navy Lodge info

i hope so..  so little information on this move.  gives me anxiety.

Co-Twin - The egg is so cute!

Tracy - My son left for one of his deployments the day after Thanksgiving and were staying at the Navy Lodge where they have the kitchens. So I ordered the cooked turkey dinner from Kroger's with all the fixings and then heated it up in the room and it was like having Thanksgiving at home. Well almost.

juliw- We won't be there on Thanksgiving day, but since he missed Thanksgiving and Christmas both last year, we wanted to have a "pass around" meal instead of ordering off menus once while we are there. I'm sure he gets tired of eating out and I know he misses family dinners. I may do as Cindy D did, and just order a big meal and take it back to the hotel. We're not staying at Navy Lodge, but I'm sure we can use the lobby to all sit and eat together one evening. We tried to upgrade our room to a kitchen, but too late for that as the hotel is full. 28 years ago we were there over thanksgiving when my sister was in A school, and my mom fixed an entire turkey dinner in the hotel kitchenette!

Tracy - I'm sorry that you can't get access to a kitchen of any kind. In my world, that's a horrible thing! We're staying at the Navy Lodge like Cindy D suggested and I can't get my family to agree to making a home-cooked meal for our sailor. *shaking head sadly* Everyone knows sailors want home-cooked meals........:)

So - just my 2 cents - The Navy Lodge is pretty nice (I've stayed there twice and both times never had any issues) and if your sailor wants some good chinese food I'd suggest, "Royal Garden".  Best curry chicken and fried rice!  If anyone is interested, I can pass out the address. 

Morning all!  I have a quick question, that you may or may not be able to answer.  My son actually lives in an apartment off base - and his ship is being retrofitted I believe at the moment.  However, last night he said he had to "sleep on the barge".... What is a barge? I keep thinking of those things you see being pushed down the Mississippi River by a tow boat :-)

Thanks auboun18!  He emailed me and said he was worried he'd fall out of his rack all night :-)  It's nice to try and put a visual picture in my head

My son is in Dam Neck, VA for C school and has 4 day weekend for Veteran's Day and also 4 days at Thanksgiving.  We live in the DCA area which is about 3.5 hours away. Does anyone know of a way that he can find out if any other Sailor either in Dam Neck or Norfolk might be coming this way?  He'd be happy to pay for the gas....

some hotels have  conference rooms. Maybe you could use one, they sometimes have a kitchen in them.

Hi Teri, one thought - if your son is under 25 and banks with USAA, he can rent a car from Avis, Budget, Enterprise or Hertz and have the "Young Driver 21-24 years old" surcharge waived.  That's a savings from $20 to $30 per DAY.  Log into USAA, go to Our Products -> Travel Discounts -> Car Rental -> choose company.

That's a good idea, but he banks with Navy Federal and I didn't see any offering like that on their website. An economy car from Budget would cost him (or me) over $200.

Hi Teri - My son is in Norfolk and he and his gf may end up driving to Maryland for Thanksgiving.  I'll find out if they are and if so maybe we can connect them for a ride.  I'll keep you posted!

Great idea, Ken-55 (OS Dad).  Also in the FWIW dept regarding car rental - even when Enterprise's $9.99 daily weekend rate doesn't show up on their website, it is often offered when you log in as an Enterprise Plus member (free to join) or in their emails.  They're at the Norfolk airport, on Military Highway near the airport, and other nearby locations.

Teri, another option is Amtrak from Norfolk (NFK) to Washington DC's Union Station (WAS), one-way starts at $56. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=am/am2Station/...

I did a quick search. Open Table lists five restaurants int he area that have Thanksgiving dinner. Swan Terrace is wonderful, but booked solid. Mahi Mah's is a seafood place but it evidently does a traditional turkey dinner. Reservations are available. I didn't check all of the options, but there are some good choices, if a bit on the pricey side. Enjoy! http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?m=92&pid=1#state{PromoID:1|...}

Is there a group for Navy wives that don't have kids? 

Juliew.

:)

How many are coming to have dinner with L? I do know of the best place in town! lol. Can you guess where that may be? 

jeannie.carlsen, We would be happy to invite your son over to our home for Thanksgiving as well as joining us on the weekends. We get together with sailors on Saturday evening at 5:00, and feed them and play board games. On Sunday at 1:00 we sit down to a home cooked meal with homemade bread and dessert. You can go to our page on this site to read more about us.Let me know if he would be interested. I can pm our cell number for you to give him or we could contact him if he would be okay with that..

If any of you moms know your sons or daughters don't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving and you won't be coming here, please let us know. We would love to invite them to our house.

Yvonne and John Wagner.

Has anyone stayed at the Quality Inn Norfolk Naval Base on Hampton Blvd?  I have a Springhill Suites booked in Greenbrier and now I am not sure if that is too far out.

Mloopey, if you're going to and from the base, I think you'd be happier to stay on Hampton Blvd vs. 20 minutes away in Greenbrier (and that's not counting traffic).  If your sailor can check you in, the best deal is at the Navy Lodge on Hampton Blvd.  To figure distances to the base, use the address for the Naval Tour and Information Center:  9079 Hampton Blvd. Norfolk, Virginia 23505.  It's next to Gate 5, which is the base gate closest to both the Quality Inn and the Navy Lodge.

Nancy, here are two groups for Navy wives you're not in yet, and yes there are members without kids!  Navy Wives of Norfolk/Portsmouth VA  and  Ladies of VA.

Thanks abuon18! My husband is also stationed at NOB. I will definitely look around on Facebook. 

HELP! We're going to be in town this weekend and my family is wanting to have a sit down family style meal for our sailor since he hasn't had one of those in awhile. Does anyone know of a restaurant in the area that serves family style meals? We were going to order a turkey dinner from Kroger to take back to the hotel, but from what I understand, it's cold and you have to heat it up. Any suggestions? 

 Virginia Hotel Reservations $10/night Dec. 23rd-26th for military families.

OPERATION JINGLE PROGRAM

All Hampton Roads area active duty service members are invited to participate in the annual Operation Jingle, sponsored by the Hotel Association and Convention and Visitors Bureaus from Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

The annual holiday program provides complimentary hotel accommodations to the visiting families of locally stationed service members who are unable to go home for the holidays. Operation Jingle provides a three-night stay in local hotels from 23 – 26 December. To qualify, service members must live aboard ships or reside in one of the local barracks or single sailor PPV housing. Commands must verify that the rooms will be used for families traveling to and from the Hampton Roads area to spend the holidays with their service member. Room availability is limited. Rooms will be reserved on a first come-first-served basis.

To participate, commands must designate a representative as the command’s single point of contact to coordinate the delivery of applications and confirmation information with the Norfolk Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. The only charge for the room is a non-refundable reservation fee of $10.00 per room, per night. The entire reservation fee will be donated to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS). Reservation fees ensure that all rooms are used.  Hotels require 24 hour cancellation in the event rooms cannot be used.

Deadline for submission is 18 December.  Commands may request registration forms from Loretta Russell, Norfolk Navy Marine Corps Relief Society by calling 757.322.1175 or e-mail at Loretta.russell@nmcrs.org.  

All incidental expenses incurred during the hotel stay, to include phone calls, laundry services, movies, room service and other meals are the responsibility of the service member reserving the room. Command representatives of underway commands/units unable to meet the December 18 deadline should contact Ms. Russell for more details.

Tracy, I tried looking online for you for restaurants serving Thanksgiving meals, but they were hard to find, or very expensive! One that I found was McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant serving Roasted Turkey, Cornbread stuffing, apple squash casserole , mashed potatoes and more. Price: Adults- $24.99; Ch-9.99

I'll try looking some more for you and let you know what I find. :

How many are in your family including your sailor?

Yvonne Wagner)

We don't necessarily need a thanksgiving meal, just wanted some kind of pass-around meal instead of ordering from menus. Thanks for checking for me though. He may just have to wait until he's home for Christmas.

Oh I forgot, there are 9 of us that will be there this weekend. In fact, pulling out as soon as I shut down the computer.

Tracy,

If you are going to be here this weekend, does that mean your sailor won't have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving Day itself? Or does he by any chance have duty?  If he has no place to go on the day itself, we would be happy to invite him to our house. We open our home on the weekends and invite the sailors to come over to eat and play board games and just have a place to hang out. We also invite anyone who has nowhere to go for the holidays to come join us here too. If you think he would be interested in coming let us know and we can pm you our cell number

Yvonne 

P.S. You can go to our page on this site and find out more about us,

Have a safe trip and enjoy your weekend with your son. :)

Yvonne. School is intense so far 6 hour lectures all week on food safely. BIG exam tomorrow. If I pass I have Serve Safe Manager certified.  I have learned to not be a night owl and to go to bed by 10 at the latest as I get up at 5am.  New house getting more homy everyday. Slowly finding stuff I need among the see on boxes. Weather VERY cold this week and snowy. -7* this am. Way to early for that kind of cold. 

I am a new Navy Mom.  Son graduated in Sept and is stationed in Norfolk.  He will not be able to get leave until Feb and will be alone for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  He said that the ship will have a Thanksgiving dinner.  He may be just saying this to calm me down. Last Thanksgiving his Dad was in the hospital and we got home late from visiting him and our dinner consisted of a Swansons Turkey dinner.  I just don't want him to go thru that again. Do the ships have a dinner for the sailors?

nvduhmom,

My husband and I are inviting sailors over to our home for Thanksgiving. We would love to invite your son to join us. 

We open our home on the weekends and invite sailors over to eat and play board games...Saturday evening and Sunday afternoons.

If you would like I can pm you my cell number and your son can give us a call or we could call him if he wouldn't mind.

You can know more about us if you go to our page on this site.

Yvonne and John Wagner

We also invite the sailors over for Christmas dinner as well.

Yvonne

nvduhmom, welcome!  Yes, the ship will provide and it's actually a good time to be bonding and making friends!  Funny story - a few years ago I was in Norfolk (Portsmouth side) for Thanksgiving and cooked dinner for my son and apartment-mates.  While they cleaned up I checked NavyforMoms and read a comment from a mom with a sailor at Norfolk.  She was just frantic because her son had just told her he was stuck alone on watch on his submarine for Thanksgiving with zip, nada, nothing but a granola bar.  So…my son and I ran to the store, picked up several roasted chickens, mashed potatoes, pies, etc and headed to the base to find this sub and its hapless sailor.  When we got there, we ran into the sub's XO who happened to be chatting with the guard at the pier gate, and asked them if we could deliver dinner to those stuck on the sub.  Guess what!  they laughed and laughed and said, Well if he told that to his mom that's pretty funny, because her son and about a dozen of us just finished a full Thanksgiving four-course meal with all the trimmings catered from Cracker Barrel!  Anyway, they were awesome about it, happy to have our contribution (call it leftovers LOL) and after they finished teasing the son, we got a tour of a Navy sub!  A memorable Thanksgiving Day :)

Marcy~Corpsman Mom,  that is a great story!  It put a smile on my face. Thanks.

Yvonne,  I just sent you a message.  Thank you

Marcy ~ Corpsman Mom - What a fantastic story! It brought a smile to my face this morning on an otherwise yucky day!

Just saw this from Fleet and Family Support:  

The Navy is changing mailing addresses for ships, afloat units, and ashore FPOs to improve service, reduce costs and get mail to service members more efficiently. Here's what you need to know -

1. No more nine digit zip codes

The new Navy Standardized Addressing format only requires the use of a five-digit zip code, more like standard mail. The USPS process will automatically generate a barcode with any additional digits that are required for delivery. This change will eliminate undeliverable as addressed (UAA) mail currently being returned to sender.

2. New virtual boxes

A new four digit virtual box number will be added to the standard addressing format. This number will be unique to each service member and will aid in getting your mail to you and not someone else.

3. Faster delivery!

With the new format, the Postal Service is anticipating reducing transit time by 7 to 21 days for letter mail and publications. That makes it more likely that you'll receive the August issue of Sports Illustrated in the mail before Thanksgiving!

4. Less Expensive

The new Navy Standardized Addressing format is expected to save Navy postal operators $1.2 million annually in labor and transportation costs. 

5. Any Questions?

Visit your base/command post office or talk to a postal clerk or read the NAVADMIN on the Navy Personnel Command website.

This is something I saw on FB a few minutes ago about Thanksgiving dinner on the Norfolk Naval Satation.  For servicemen and families.  Click the link

Norfolk Naval Station Thanksgiving Meal

We read and follow. I would like to thank you all for your comments. This group has been my eyes and ear into the world where my son lived. I have cried for you and prayed for you all. I wish you  I al the best. Please continue to comment and ask questions as it helps Moms like me. Even though we may never comment. My son is beginning his reinlistment in San Diego.

Does anyone have any advice for safe dealerships to look for vehicles in Norfolk?  My son is realizing that the motorcycle might not work the best for him all winter.  He is being stubborn and wants to keep it.  We are telling him to trade it for a truck.  He can always get a motorcycle again when he is older.  His insurance is going to kill him if he keeps the motorcycle and buys a truck. 

He is interested in getting a Dodge, so wasn't sure good places he could look. I really wish we could be there to help him.  I have told him to take someone older who maybe has lived there for awhile that could help him out.  I just don't want him to get suckered because he is some young 19 year old.  We live too far away to make a quick trip out there to help him.  Marcy, I know you always have good information. :)  Thanks to anyone who can help me out!