Radiance 9-14-07 Polar Bear Express "Special"!

Quick good morning..............Dennis is home and we're headed to the store,before he hits the road.....

FYI..........check out todays RCCL's sales event.........Monarch for 199PP(inside) not much more for OV.for April and May...........sooooooooooooo cheap........

Ill update the list later,Ginny.......

Morning SPB's!

Kathy, Thanks for the heads up, on Monarch, the 4 day is even cheaper at $179! Unfortunately I can't do anything until July, so I am hoping the deals keep coming!

Chilly and overcast today in the SF Bay area and Napa Valley, but it supposed to warm up by the weekend! Gas prices are now averaging $3.60 gal for reg. Yuk!

Have a good day everyone!

Gmorning from here.......

Grey, gloomy and rainy stormy day....icckkkkkkkkkk

Jen.......gas here is 3.25 and 3.05 in the town 40miles north of here.........the gas stations here all price fix and gouge becuz of the tourists..........IRRITATING......I wrote the gov once but it didn't do anything (like I really expected a politician to be honest!!!)

Kathy........Maaaaaan, if I lived in Cali I'd be ON that ship.....at least twice in the next month.....unfortunately air will cost me more than the cruise!!!

Have a great day y'all

jul

I would be jumping for joy if gas were $3.25 Well maybe not jumping, but jeez this is rediculous!

If, I lived in Southern Cal, I would probably be on the Monarch every weekend! I think it might be cheaper than staying home!

Looks like that Diamond thread has been poofed! Too bad too because it was just starting to get interesting. Wonder who got their panties in a wad?

d

Been running all over today............found curtains I liked in Lowes but they only had 3 panels...........I needed 4.they called around and found more in the Villages so I went there...........home now,but Dennis called..............having truck trouble so he's limping back to Ocala and I have to meet him at the Freightliner dealer......hope it doesnt cost too much......

Just wanted to update this before I head out again........

2008:

April

12th--Jill--Grandeur B2B(Tampa to SJU) (SJU to Baltimore)
12th--Susan--Grandeur (Tampa to SJU)
18th--Jean--Monarch--BajaMexico(B2B)
21st--Ginny--Monarch--BajaMexico


May

11th--Kathy--Mariner--ECarib
12th--Marilyn-Monarch-BajaMexico
19th--Jill--Sovereign--Bahamas

Jun

16th--Jen--Monarch--BajaMexico

Aug

27th--Sheila--Jewel--Baltic



Sept

8th--Chris/Sheila--Jewel--Transatlantic
12th--Kathy--Sovereign--Bahamas
12th--Marilyn--Radiance--Ultimate Alaska
26th--Patti--Radiance--Hawaii

Oct

27th--Kathy--Sovereign-Bahamas


Nov

8th--Diane/Jill--Liberty--WCarib
Thanksgiving --Ginny--Princess Sapphire

Dec

14th--Jen--Vision--Mexican Riveria
29th--Kathy--Monarch--Bahamas


2009

January

4th--Sheila--Mariner--repo(FL to CA)
11th-Diane/Marilyn--Voyager-WCarib
18th--Marilyn-Voyager-WCarib
30th--Jul--Jewel-Panama Canal

Feb

8th--Susan--Adventure-SoCarib

April

26th--Patti/Ginny--Radiance--SoAmerica to San Diego

Jun

21st--Jen/Ginny--Mariner--Mexican Rivieria

Hi everyone!

Haven't posted in a month or more, and I'll try to do better in the future.

Haven't read the thread for the last month, so I hope everyone is doing well, no serious problems for anyone. And Barb, hope the rest of the year is better than the last 6 months has been for you and Dan.

Just got home from Splendour Round the Horn. Quite an itinerary and one I would recommend to all of you. No doubt Patti and Sheila will have their own views . Those of us who wanted to, saw penguins 100s & 1,000s of them, and, yes, they are really cute. The scenery for days 3 - 9 was quite like Alaska - just more of it. At one point in the Beagle channel we could see 5 glaciers from our balcony. That was our room service morning - PJs & robes until 11 am.

The smaller ports were nice, not touristy (no Diamonds International or Del Sol ), with friendly people. The tours were mostly scenery or penguin oriented and were voted a hit by all who participated.

The cities were big, crowded and all with safety issues in the wrong parts of town. Santiago and Buenos Aires were best - no obvious poverty and broad streets and lovely old European-style buildings with lots of trees and parks. Rio, on the other hand, had a spectacular setting and the trips up Sugar Loaf and to Christ the Redeemer were incredible. Unfortunately the rest of the city was less than pleasant - very crowded, few trees or parks and slums very obvious.

Very international mix of cruisers - approx. 400 Brazil/Portugal; 800 US/UK/Canada/Australia; & 400 others. Most seemed to get on well. Jill Tasker was CD, very unimpressed with her, although her staff tried hard. Entertainers were usual mix of reasonable to poor. Dinner menu was created just for S America and had some good choices.

I'll be interested to hear how the Atlantic cruise goes. I think there will be lots of stories!

Hi Jean #2 good to hear from you.

Hello Ladies I am back on line and will have to manually check in each day as I am not getting notices and don't think it is the site but rather something to do with my computer settings which I have not been able to figure out. I must have updated something that is blocking the messages from alerting me of a new posting.

Well you all have a good day be back later.

Hi Jean2!!- Great to hear from you! Glad you enjoyed your cruise, sounds like it was really great!

Jean#2 welcome back happy to hear you had such a good time. We did miss you. Must have been nice to go to a port and NOT have a DI or a Del Sol, but give them time. I'm sure it'll happen. Especially if the cruise lines have anything to say about it. Thanks for the mini-review look forward to more info as you get aclimated to being home.

d

Welcome home Jean.........sounds like such a nice itinerary....sometimes all the Caribbean islands look alike,esp right in the port area.........

Jean 2.........WELCOME home..........I would not ever thought you'd see glaciers and penguins........would LOV to see that.....

I would imagine that PaulWn complained........he didn't seem like he liked the 'talk' at all............Glad D got it for Patti but she would have loved to be able to post on it.....

j

Thanks for the welcome! It's nice to be home among friends

I know Patti and Sheila will have lots of stories, especially from the trans Atlantic, so I won't expand on my review. There was a small (20 - 30) outbreak of norovirus. The rumour was that some people who flew American from Dallas picked it up on the plane and brought it on board. Consequently, we could not serve ourselves in the Windjammer from day 2 until day 14. They had Spa staff, performers, pursers desk, CD and her staff all serving. I also saw pursers staff cleaning the handrails.

The cabin next door to us had it, as did the one 3 doors down which was next to the Concierge lounge. Although our cabin steward still cleaned both those cabins, the precautions worked and we didn't get it. After our cruise they made all the b2bs (about 50) get off and go on a trip to a shopping mall. They fumigated the whole ship (guys in white coveralls with masks). Extra staff were flown in from other ships, doctors, including the RCCL head Dr, nurses, and 50+ cleaners.

It was strange to go back to serving ourselves, we looked at each other and questioned whether it was safe! But the outbreak was contained. They must have gone through hundreds of canisters of Purell wipes before they had the dispensers flown in from Miami and brought on board at Buenos Aires.
On a more cheerful note, the Concierge lounge was very nice and we tottered down to most nights. Dinner was at 7pm so we could start drinking at 5pm.

Jean - I wish that they had fumigated the Vision of the Seas before we had gotten on it because CC reported there had been some cases of Norovirus onboard in the weeks preceeding our trip on her...then Bob wouldn't have gotten it and then given it to me!!!! I am still occasionally coughing up stuff and sound a little hoarse in the AM.

Thanks Ladies....because of you all talking about the "sale" on the Monarch...I saved $50 today!!! Turns out that the $199 was for new bookings per "Happy Hour" Tuesday savings. but they also had Sr. Disc. savings and we got that! Hey! Pays for the port parking...and every little bit counts!

thanks again,
Mar~

Welcome home Jean2. Just popping in to say good bye for a week or so! We leave for our trip right after work tomorrow so I probably won't get a chance to stop back! I'll be at my Dad's until Saturday when we'll drive up to Tampa, meet some friends for lunch and then board the Grandeur and start looking for Jill!

Try to behave while I'm gone... oh, what am I saying... have fun!!!!

Bon Voyage Susan........give my big sis a hug for me please!!!

jul

Hello, Jean2, welcome home!

I don't think PaulWN was upset about the direction the thread took - he probably was scolded by the mods for his contribution, LOL (I guess CCC went braless in a white shirt one day:affraid:).

I'm hoping there will be some discounts on Monarch in June - we've been getting a nice military rate recently, $279 pp for an SO. I'd rather have the balcony, of course, but for that price I'll happily do without! Think I'll go look!

west coasters........won't spoil it but I hate to see the 'star' they sent home go.....did not want that one off but yet the partner should be off so I guess it was the right decision.......such is life!!

And maaan, those 8 and 9 yr olds can dance!...CRZY

j

Susan - BON VOYAGE--HAPPY, SAFE SAILING!

Jean2 - Welcome back. PENGUINS????????? Really must look into that cruise one of these years. I sure hope Patti got the picture I requested. Glad you had a great time.

Now if Jean is checking out another Monarch cruise, she'll never be here.

That was a fun thread and surprised it lasted as long as it did. I'm thinking that the mods let it go for a while, and hopefully the self proclaimed awesome1 saw it. I'll bet she hit her favorite button.

Very windy here this afternoon, and weather folks are telling us we could hit the 90's this weekend. Our two weeks of spring seem to be over.

Kathy - Martha and Nancy must've abandoned the ship. They were there yesterday LOL. Need to pick your brain. Martha has never been to the caribbean. Hoping to do both eastern & western or southern, hopefully on a b2b in 2009. When would be the best time (I've always gone in November), and would it have to be one of the bigger ships? Thanks for any advice.

Welcome home Jean2...sound like an interesting cruise, some wonderful sights.

Bon Voyage Susan

Kathy, an impressive list of cruising

GrmyCRS wrote:

Susan - BON VOYAGE--HAPPY, SAFE SAILING!

Jean2 - Welcome back. PENGUINS????????? Really must look into that cruise one of these years. I sure hope Patti got the picture I requested. Glad you had a great time.

Now if Jean is checking out another Monarch cruise, she'll never be here.

That was a fun thread and surprised it lasted as long as it did. I'm thinking that the mods let it go for a while, and hopefully the self proclaimed awesome1 saw it. I'll bet she hit her favorite button.

Very windy here this afternoon, and weather folks are telling us we could hit the 90's this weekend. Our two weeks of spring seem to be over.

Kathy - Martha and Nancy must've abandoned the ship. They were there yesterday LOL. Need to pick your brain. Martha has never been to the caribbean. Hoping to do both eastern & western or southern, hopefully on a b2b in 2009. When would be the best time (I've always gone in November), and would it have to be one of the bigger ships? Thanks for any advice.

Chris: We love the Caribbean (Eastern over Western)love, love, love St. Maarten...Normally we cruise in November (right after T-giving is usually a good rate)...With the Freedom coming to Port Canavaral that could be an option or Liberty out of Miami would be another option...
Southern would have to be out of San Juan and at the moment can't remember the ship that goes out of there...If you need any other help or have any questions just ask away...Later, Jill
I am off to sleep....Packing tomorrow!!!!

Well, there was a fab military rate for the 6/2 Monarch sailing so I put a hold on it. JS for $499pp. The SO is $299, but I think the JS is worth the price difference on this one since it's into the summer break season. The rest of June is still at full price, but I bet that will drop at some point, too.

Don said to go ahead & book it tomorrow. We have a NextCruise to burn, so I'm hoping to be able to use that and still get my preferred cabin (I like to be all the way aft).

Who watched AI? I can't believe the judges liked Jason Castro - he reminded me of Tiny Tim! I must be a repressed rocker chick - I love David Cook and the Irish girl (Carly?). David A. has the purest voice of the group. I'm glad they focussed on talent this year.

Chris we've usually done most of our Caribbean cruises in December (anniversary). But, we've also sailed in November, January & February. weather seems to be about the same in all of those months. Now since we've done the Western C to death and there are only so many ports in the Eastern I'd go for the Southern. San Juan, St Thomas, St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados I really enjoy the Southern route.

d