You may call me Neville, or anything, but don't call me stupid.( A fish called Wanda) Great film. Saw it 3 times !
April 13th. is our departure from L.A. on Voyager.
Vegas will have to wait. How about Biloxi ?

I have to point out, Neville, that movie was made in Pittsburgh! Just a bit of trivia!! :D
Oh, and, my best friend from my days living in Europe was born in Manchester! :)

You're right, Ngaire, Neville does always have these small world experiences...and meets everyone,everywhere! We were on the Voyager Oct 24 cruise with Nev and Hannah and trust me, by the time we set sail, Neville knew practically the entire staff! What a fun couple!

Hi. My name is Todd and I am a Luxury Cruise Talk addict.

Hi Todd

I am expecting you & Karen & Lawrence to have the LC addicts 12 step program well established in 6 months. That is when Marcie & I will have reached the 12th step of our EBay program & can begin the LC program. Ngaire & John can be given a pass because they work so hard on the site. Karen works hard also, but I think this program might help her.
Then again, all of you have such great posts, I would hate to see them go away.
Love you LV avatars. When will you be using your elephant ride as one?

Betty

Ok - I guess I should "sign in". I'm Peter and have been with my partner Mark for 7 years. We've been living in the Cincinnati area for the past 5 years. I was born in Thailand but have been in the US since I was 2 years old. Grew up in Western NY but have lived all over the place - mostly East Coast.

Our first cruise was on RSSC in the Baltics on the Diamond in 1999 and have been on one cruise annually since - Diamond from Nice to Rome in 2000, Diamond from Rome to Istanbul in 2001, Song of Flower from Lisbon to Nice in 2002, and VOF last year where we met many of you. Not sure what our plans are this year, was looking at a chartered river cruise from Prague to Budapest this year but we're on the waitlist.

Other than that we travel quite a bit. Just got back from Thailand and usually go to London for a long weekend in November along with shorter trips elsewhere - lots of California.

Betty - I guess I will bring out the elphant at some point.....maybe between the land and MINT cruise!

Peteropny- We too just got back fro Thailand a few weeks ago. We went to Bangkok and and Koh Samui....where did you go?

Hi Todd! :D

Peter - welcome to the forum!

Masaki

Masaki - Thanks!!! - I was over on CC but when I got back, that place seemed desserted - we've all moved over here :)

Todd - We were in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai.

Peter - I used to lurk on the RSSC board at CC - I'm much more vocal over here. :)

Masaki

Hi Peter!!

I've been wondering where you've been! Regards to Mark!

Hi Peter! It's nice to see you have made your way here.

Masaki, I am so glad you delurked for us, your posts are such a pleasure to read :)

Betty, you're so funny!! Maybe we're even beyond the 12 step program!!
Welcome Peter!! So can you and Mark join us on MINT?? Masake is going too right?...hope, hope, hope!

Marcie

I noticed Karen mentioned she bought a travel iron off the Bay yesterday. Maybe we need to found out how any feedbacks she has to get her enrolled in our program & then all 3 of us could do the LC/CC 12 step at the same time. But that would leave Lawrence out there all by his lonesome. He is probably on the Bay & just hasn't 'fused up.
We shouldn't have to go through any 12 steper by ourselves. ;) ;)

Betty

Thanks for the welcome Suzanne, Karen, and Marcie :) Unfortunately, I doubt we'll be on MINT since we're supposed to be in London that weekend.

Peter:

Welcome...I've often wondered about your screen name - your intro gave me a clue - what part of Western NY? I lived upstate - Saratoga to be exact. Most people don't know the other parts of NY.

Thanks Margo - my handle isn't that interesting - it was Peter from Orchard Park NY (suburban Buffalo).

Hey Peter!

You can do a mileage run any old time...yeah OK, I know this is a TRADITIONAL run, like Turkeyday...you can still do a mini-run to LAX to join us on MINT!!

We're getting closer to being on MINT ... :) And delurking has been a relief, I tell you. It's been a lot of fun conversing with you guys.

Masaki

Hello fellow cruisers! I’ve been reading this board since Ngaire told me about it, and now finally taking the time to post. I’ll echo everyone else who have thanked Ngaire, Karen and John for providing and managing this board.

Like Karen S, I was a Pennsylvania girl and not yet of legal age when Bill and I married 39 years ago. Our engagement was just as quick (following a blind date) as Silverwhiteknight’s and just four months later we were wed and living in Detroit. Bill was in his final year of General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) a co-operative engineering college. We have two grown children: Karen, an OB/GYN in practice in IL; and Rick, an electrical engineer working for Ford, married to Renee. They have given us two beautiful granddaughters, Megan and Jenna, and they live just 25 minutes away from us. We have lived in Ann Arbor, home of the University of MI since 1969 – Go Blue!

Bill took an early retirement from Ford five years ago. We had never taken a cruise vacation during Bill’s working years. Vacations always had to be planned well in advance in order to get the time off. We have a definite preference for going to remote islands away from the crowds. Snorkeling is our favorite daytime activity in the waters surrounding these islands. We’ve traveled to many of the smaller islands in the Caribbean and twice to Hawaii always making our own arrangements after much research. Once Bill retired, he came across a cruise package that was too great a deal to pass up. We went with no high expectations and were pleasantly surprised to learn how much we liked it. We started planning the trip we had always hoped to one day take: a cruise and land tour of Alaska. A local travel agent had just gotten Radisson’s 2001 Alaska brochures and encouraged me to look at one. We took the plunge and never regretted it! (Except for the fact that Radisson spoiled us and we can only afford to cruise them every few years rather than the few times a year that so many enjoy.)

I discovered Cruisecritic just a week prior to our Mariner sailing to Alaska. I stumbled across it while I was exploring shore excursion options. Following our fantastic trip I stayed on that board a few months then took a leave until last summer when I started reading about French Polynesia and the Paul Gauguin. I remembered Ngaire’s name from 2001 and after asking a few questions contacted her to plan our highly anticipated trip this August. Thanks to so many of you for all the information on the PG and French Polynesia that I have been gathering since last July.

Welcome to the board Kathy. I trained in wonderful Ann Arbor a few yeard back. Boy, I do not miss the February weather there.

Best wishes,

Anthony

Hi Kathy!

Glad you found Ngaire and all of us. I always thought the RSSC CC board was terrific (well most of the time) but this one is even better!

Can't wait to hear more about your PG cruise - it's fun to plan isn't it.

Welcome Kathy!

Masaki

Glad you found us Kathy! Welcome!

Thanks for all the welcomes, everyone!

Our condo is being repainted and our internet connection was down for a while. My husband just got us reconnected.

Anthony - Our January weather was awful, February not too bad and today we reached a record high of 68 degrees! It was nice to be able to get fresh air through the house to get rid of paint fumes.

Welcome Kathy!
You will find these people smart and very kind.
Enjoy Ngaire's "Little World of Don Camillo." Great people living without being pestered.
Marty

Kathy: I love Michigan just not crazy about your winters. We have vacationed on Walloon Lake and going back this summer - can't wait - paradise. I lived in East Lansing many years ago - always liked visting Ann Arbor - Joanna

Long time CC poster and first time Luxury Cruise Talk poster. My name is Don and my wife is Diana and we live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of TX.

We will be doing two luxlines this year. Silver Whisper in April and the Diamond in August.

Sounds like a really good group over here.

Welcome Don!

Masaki

I finally have gotten over the jet lag enough to introduce myself. We were just on the LA to Sydney segment of the Voyager and went on from there to explore Australia and NZ and just returned home last week! This was our first cruise in a long time (had gone around the Greek Islands many years ago) and we weren't sure if we would like a 3 week cruise...but we took a chance based on all the opinions and info I got from you all on CC(I used to log on as jess6612). Well, we are now HOOKED on Radisson and can't wait to book for next year. This long trip was not typical for us--husband Stan was on a 2 month sabbatical from his law firm and really just was so relaxed he was a different person. I am a former social worker, now a docent at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. We have 2 grown sons living in NYC. Spend a lot of time in Lewes, DE not far from the Atlantic Ocean.

Glad to have found this board and hope someday to meet some of you!

Susan

Susan,

Welcome home and welcome to LCT!!

I spend alot of time reading this board and rarely post but decided that I would introduce myself. My husband and I along with our 2 girls ages 12 and 15 and 2 dogs, a sheltie and shitzu live in Salt Lake City, Utah. We were "exciled" here over 20 years ago, just after we were married but have come to really love the area. I am 41, an engineer and my husband Al is 47 and is in sales. We began traveling before we had kids at my husbands insistance. I am now the travelholic and like to have at least one trip planned at all times to look forward too. We took our first cruise in '93 on the QE2 - a transatlantic crossing. While I didn't like the 5 days at sea thing (got sea sick one day) and the cabin was nothing to rave about the food was excellent - I fell in love with the cheese course. Not overly jazzed about the whole crusing thing we didn't take another cruise until '98 when we did a Med cruise with another couple on RCCL. This time the food was nothing to write home about but we fell in love with the Med itself. After several land based trips in the Med we decided to try the cruise thing again because our kids were hounding us to go on one. We decided to try Princess this time. We did a Western Caribbean - we had a mini-suite and the kids had a room across the hall. This trip was better - the food was good and the kids had a fabulous time but we hated the fact that everything was extra. We had been looking at RSSC but didn't think that it was really a kids cruise line. For our 20th anniversary last fall we decided to try Radisson. I had booked a 5 night Caribbean cruise through Linda at Brown & Keene. A couple months later I got an e-mail from them with some Tahiti specials for September. Well over the 4th of July weekend my husband and I decided that Tahiti was for us and switched cruises. Before we even left for Tahiti we booked the Diamond for Oct'04 with the same friends that we had traveled to the Med with previously. Tahiti and the PG were incredible. We worried that we had set our expectations too high but we where so impressed. We met a great group of couples on the cruise - one of which came out to Utah skiing last month and we met for dinner. We are looking forward to our Oct. Venice to Rome trip on the Diamond. I love reading these boards. The things that we learned and will learn really enhance our trips.

Welcome Steph! I lived in Salt Lake City many ions ago and just loved it! I also have 2 daughters and a shitzu!! (and a Lab/Chow mix and 3 cats). I just love reading about all the members here!

I know you will LOVE the Diamond. Many of us cruised on the Diamond in January! Just loved it!

Our first "child" was a Chow - we had her BK (before kids) - she was a wonderful watch dog (my husband was traveling alot) and a great companion.

Welcome Steph,
Our two two legged kids are now out of hte house and we're left with a toy poodle and a Bischon.
Greg

Welcome!
We had been on a lot of cruises before our first RSSC cruise. Our first with this wonderful line was on the PG 6 years ago. We took a 19 day Transatlantic cruise on the Diamond in 2000 and next month we are going on the VTC cruise.I loved the PG cruise. The South Pacific is glorious.It would be hard to beat that cruise.I love sea days so I enjoyed the Diamond cruise too.

Welcome Susan and Steph!

Masaki

OK, I'll try this a second time!

We are Betty (mid-50s) and Al (mid-60s). We've been married something over 14 years and between us have 4 kids and 9 grandkids. We live in a Seattle suburb ... or at least we did until a couple of years ago when the Impulse Buy of the Century took us to a Florida condo on the beach just north of Naples. It's a l.o..n...g story! So now we're in Florida for most of the winter, in Seattle for the summer, and travelling whenever we can.

We both work in the mainframe database area -- I do training as an independent contractor. Contrary to most observation, Al still technically has a full time job.

After 15 cruises, we've pretty well figured out what we like. We love small, long, well-done cruises to interesting destinations. There are probably three favorites for three different reasons -- a week on The World of Residensea in an apartment -- What's not to like??!! 17 days down the Amazon from Iquitos, Peru to Belem, Brazil -- only an 84 sqft cabin but a fascinating trip and very nicely done. 62 days circumnavigating South America on the (now defunct) Renaissance 8 (700 pax). We really loved the old Ren ships of 114 passengers. Worst cruise was Princess through the Panama canal -- our first and last Princess experience.

We love to travel. We've taken three 1-month land trips to Australia and New Zealand and would return at any opportunity. Also several land trips to Europe, China, and a safari in Kenya. We started cruising because I travelled so much for work that I wanted to avoid hotel-to-hotel-to-hotel when we were vacationing.

We want to see EVERYwhere! There's no such thing as seeing too many new places. The only down side of so much travel is missing the grandkids! Of course there's that $$ issue, but we choose to ignore that ...

We've talked about a World Cruise for years, and now it's actually on the table -- SUCH a big decision!

I appreciate all the insight I can get here -- RSSC is new for us though we've been eyeing it for quite some time.

Betty

Welcome Betty and Al. We just found this board as well. May I ask what happened on your Princess cruise? We have some friends that would like us to go with them this November on the Golden out of San Juan.

Hi Don --

Nothing specific 'happened' on the Princess trip. A friend of ours says it all (I think) when he describes it as 'Masses of Asses'. We really like smaller ships, no lines, no waiters parading with Baked Alaska, no fixed dinner time and table. It's completely that 'atmosphere' thing. Lots of people are very happy with Princess.

I see you have a clock countdown for boarding the Silver Whisper. Where do you board? We're boarding 3/29 in Puntarenas, Costa Rica to come through the canal and end in Barbados. Are you doing the trans-Atlantic?

Betty