“Marcie-in-training” here. Hello from the Pacific. It’s taking me longer than usual to settle into a cruise. I lost the entire first day to “rest and relaxation” and recovering from my weekend virus. I also had a little sea-sick trouble the first day but I’m now back to normal and reporting for duty!

So far, we’ve had the block party and formal night. The block party is such a great idea. Who would have thought that I would ever shake Capt. Dag’s hand while wearing my bathrobe? Many of our neighbors are from England and Ireland and it’s fun getting to know them. Marc, one couple has circumnavigated Antarctica!

Formal night was great although we missed the Capt.’s welcome party. We stopped in at the Observation Lounge first. A couple recognized us from the Monte Carlo cruise and we had such a great time visiting that we never made it to the Atrium and Capt. Dag’s introduction. We’ve been having dinner each night in Compass Rose. While the food is good, I think it was a little better on the Nov. crossing. Although, I’m still not feeling 100% and that might be influencing my thinking. I’ll keep eating and will let you know! Love all the special touches of a WC. Yesterday, we had a caviar station at the pool lunch.

Ngaire, I’ve met Marge (or is it Martha?) from Soddy-Daisy. She was amazed that I knew where that was located.

There are many interesting “characters” on this cruise. The people watching is so much fun. Hoping to catch up with Debbie and Clay, soon. That’s all for now!

Donna, glad you are feeling better!

Enjoy your wonderful cruise!!!

Good to hear from you Donna - hope you are feeling 100% better asap - keep the mail coming - between you, Pam and Marcie it sure is fun reading - Joanna

Hi Donna,

I'm glad you are feeling better. Food doesn't taste the same when you are sick. Hopefully, as you continue to feel better the food will too!

Donna, so great to hear from you! Please tell Marge I said hello, we had many meals together with Ngaire last leg, and she is one special lady, so smart! She told us she was going to miss our shenanigans! Get her to tell you about her "knickers", that was an Anne and Gary caper, and it was so fun! Yes, people watching is fun on a world cruise. Some real "characters"!

Hope you are feeling better. Like Maria, I agree that taste buds are affected when you're not feeling well!

Donna, we were wondering about you! I am glad you are feeling better and I love reading your seamail!

Donna, glad you are feeling better and I'm sure you will be back to 100% real soon. thanks so much for the seamail.

Nancy

Hey there:

It is good that you are feeling better and enjoying the Pacific. Have you bumped into Lotte and Victor who were on the Nov. cruise. She is a very striking lady and he a very distinquished looking gentleman with grey hair and a pony tail. They are a very interesting couple who we enjoyed socialising with on the crossing. If you should meet them, please give them our best regards and tell them we think of them often.
david & Betty Welsh.

Donna glad you're feeling better. Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Hi Donna, glad you are getting back to your normal self. You certainly met Marge quickly, one of my adopted mothers. I have Jean, Sally and Marge. A girl needs three mothers. Do ask Marge about Anne and her knickers. She will get a kick out of that.

Keep us posted wonderful to hear from you.

Donna, I'm soooooooo happy to hear from you! I was wondering how everything was going! I hope you continue to have a great time. Please tell Lars, Patrick, Dana, Jamie, Capt. Dag, WHOEVER that Tom and Marcie Matassa send their regards.
Have you met "the boys" (kings of Bling) Marc and Harry?....can't miss them expecially on Formal night when they're all decked out! I miss them!!

I love the idea of the block parties in the halls...such a great idea! They should do this here on the Mariner too....maybe I'll suggest it to our cruise director John. It's great way to meet people!
Keep your seamails coming Donna!! I love hearing how things are going in your part of the world!

Hi Donna,

Hope you are feeling better very soon!

Enjoy your special cruise and keep the seamail coming! Take care and have a great time!

Donna,

Glad you are feeling better. Thanks for posting. You know how we LOVE the Sea Mail!!!!! Enjoy!!!

Betty

Donna - It's great to hear from you! Hope you are fully recovered and enjoying your trip. I will have to find time one of these years to be a virgin world cruiser, too.

Please give Marge our love. I am knee deep in laundry tonight so the knickers story is timely. Marge made quite sure Gary knew our mischievious deed had gone "straight to the top!" She is one of the better sports I've run into. :woh:

If you've met either St. Gladys or Roz, please give them our best. There's a lovely couple, Larry and Liz Doyle, aboard who we enjoyed meeting as well. We miss them all.

Cheers, Anne

Another day at sea. Decisions, decisions. Should I attend the naturopath’s lecture about why I shouldn’t drink milk or go to the Horizon lounge to learn about black pearls and be eligible for the free necklace drawing? I bet you can guess what I did, along with most of the women on the ship. No, I didn’t win the necklace but learned something about black pearls. The weather has been very cloudy today, perfect for a long afternoon nap. I’m resting up for the “Shaken, Not Stirred, Martini Night in the Voyager lounge after the show. So far, you PARTY’ERS would be disappointed with our night life. See, you should have stayed, Alan and I needed your influence!

Tonight, before dinner, we’re attending the “Feeling Good” cocktail party. One of the passengers is “feeling good” and he had a flyer prepared which invited everyone on the ship to his “feeling good” party. I think there will be a special performance by the ship’s cast. My interest is piqued.

Last night, we met the young gentleman host, Alex. I’m intrigued with a 20-something man who doesn’t mind spending his time entertaining “senior” women and is so passionate about dancing. He’s going to make a great story. LeeAnne, the writing ideas on this ship are everywhere!

Hi Marcie, no we haven’t met Harry and Mark yet but I’ve certainly seen them around. Glad you are having fun on the Mariner.

Olivia and Ngaire, I’m going to find Marge to ask her about the “knickers” story.

Tomorrow we should cross the equator. Bye for now.

Editing to add:
Marcie, I met Harry in the Voyager lounge last night. He can’t say enough good things about you.

Olivia and Anne, I asked Marge about the “knicker” story. Cute!

We just crossed the equator and had the celebration on deck along with the country fair. Fun day. Tonight we're having dinner with Clay and Debbie.

Good to hear from you Donna! A "feeling good" party sounds like a wonderful thing. Alex certainly made an impression on us during PARTY. He's working towards a master's degree in geology and likes to explore caves in his free time if I remember correctly.

So glad you've now crossed the Equator and can be considered one of the Loyal Order of Shellbacks.

Cheers, Anne

I love reading your seamail Donna as you head west and we head east!! Isn't LCT the greatest! Glad you met Harry....he's a real sweetheart!

Great Seamail Donna, and so glad you are feeling better! I know you guys are just loving every minute of your cruise. Keep the posts coming and if you see Steph, tell him "hi" from Frank and Joann (Voyager Dover - Rome Aug 30-Sept 17). Great guy and loads of fun!!

definitely enjoying the seamail Donna.

How nice of you to take the time Donna to give us a little fix!!!! Thanks so much and take care.
Cindy

How nice of you to take the time Donna to give us a little fix!!!! Thanks so much and take care.
Cindy

Donna, thanks for checking in with us! Sounds like you're having a wonderful time.

Nancy

Donna - glad to hear that you're having a good time! I hate to bother you here but I don't know if you're reading the rest of the board at this time. Are you and Alan still on MUSH and if so, are you still interested in the whale watching expedition out of Juneau? I need to finalize numbers ... :)

Masaki

Hi Donna....I'm enjoying your blog reports and photos. Thank you for sharing the fun!

JoAnn....unfortunately for the WC'ers (but certainly fortunate for him) Steph is not on the WC. He received a promotion (well deserved!) and is now the Hotel Director on the PG. He left the Voyager when PARTY cruise ended January 10th.

Marcie - thanks for the update - I knew he had been promoted to Hotel Director, but I thought he was still on Voyager (well guess he was until a week or so ago haha). Glad you guys are having a great time on SAMBUCA, its neat that so many of your friends from the WC last year all did this too - must be like "old home week" so to speak.

Donna - looking forward to your next post! :D

I can’t believe we’ve been on this ship 7 days. On Sunday, we had the Equator Crossing Ceremony combined with the Country Fair. What a fun time and we are official shellbacks! But first, there was a champagne breakfast. I had planned to attend a workout class right after breakfast. What was I going to do, give up my Mimosa? I am now living proof that one can have a Mimosa for breakfast and complete a low-impact aerobics class in the next hour.

Alan and I ended the day by having dinner with Debbie and Clay. We planned to meet in the Observation Lounge but, once again, it was closed for a special function. We headed down to Horizon Lounge. “Sealover” (Elaine) was there and Debbie introduced us, nice to put a name with a face. We enjoyed our dinner in Compass Rose with Debbie and Clay.

Yesterday was our 2nd formal night and I finally got to dance some Rock and Roll. We had dinner with our British friends, Katie and Keith and then went to the Magician’s show. This time I stayed awake for the whole thing (there’s something about sitting in the Constellation Theater that puts me right to sleep.) After the show, we dropped by the Voyager Lounge where the Voyager Quintet was playing. Oh boy, they played “That Old Time Rock and Roll” and I finally got to dance. Of course they only “boppy” song – that’s British for fast dancing - but I was happy.

Currently, we are sailing away from Nuku Hiva. Alan and I took the ship’s tour: Visit to the Taipavai Valley. We ended up in a Toyota mini-truck with a driver who spoke no English. So, we had a quiet, peaceful ride into the Nuku Hiva countryside. There isn’t anything that special to see except the lush landscape; but riding with the windows rolled down inhaling the flower-perfumed air was enough. Also, we could hear the birds singing and the roosters crowing. It rained on and off but not enough to spoil the ride. We were supposed to sail away at 5pm but Capt. Dag moved it up to 2:30. Not sure why. Well that’s all for today.

A word about the internet and my sporadic postings. I’m finding that my blog is taking up too much of my internet time and I hope to fix that. We bought the 250 minute package for $50 and it’s almost gone with a lot of cruise days left. Also, Club.com stays really full. I can’t imagine what it will be like when the “free” internet for Silver and up members begins in April. Most of the time I use my laptop. Thank goodness I brought it. Unfortunately, the wireless connection does not reach to Cabin 807. Tomorrow is a sea day and I hope to catch up with more of my writing and posting. Bye for now.

Masaki, yes we are still on MUSH. Not definitely sure we will actually go on this cruise. Should make up our minds in April. If we go, we want to do your whale watching excursion. If our indecision is messing things up, take us off the list for now and hopefully we can get back on when we know for sure?

Sorry double post.

So appreciative of your wonderful posts, Donna! Thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date.

Hard to believe you've been aboard for 7 days! Time goes too quickly when you're doing what you love - cruising!

Take care and continue to have a marvelous time!

Donna and Alan, so glad to hear you are having a great time! Like the pics, too! Jeff

Love to hear from you Donna!! We have the same 250 minutes for $50 (actually we get it for 1/2 price because we're on the full SA trip). It's best to use "free" Microsoft word, then copy and paste to save $$.
I hope Debbie and Clay are adjusting and having a good time now.
Look so forward to reading your seamail!

Enjoying it all Donna!

Enjoying your posts and pics - thanks much!

Wow Donna, I am so enjoying your cruise .. um..posts
Thanks so much for making us jealous.
I am so amused at the "block party" ..how did that come about? Do they send a letter and say be in hall-come as you are at such and such a time or what?
Also, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the feeling good party..
that is fantastic. What great passengers on your cruise!
Keep on posting kiddo..

Donna - sounds like you and Alan continue to have a great time! Congrats on staying up for the show - sitting down and watching a show is guaranteed to make me start feeling sleepy, that's for sure!

For now, I will probably remove you and Alan from the whale watching tour as there's a $25 cancellation fee if you cancel after we reserve you. If you let me know in April that you still want to go, I don't think it'll be a problem to add you and Alan back in. :)

Masaki

Hello again. I meant to post earlier today but I’ve been too busy with an exercise class, lecture and a long nap. I just love those afternoon naps at sea! Last night, we had dinner with our British friends in Compass Rose again. They were serving Grand Marnier Soufflé for desert and there was no way I was going to miss it. We started the evening in the Observation Lounge. What a nice ending to a day, Frankie was playing beautiful guitar music, the sun was setting into the water and we were drinking our champagne. Life is good!

Tonight we are meeting two couples for drinks in the Voyager lounge and then dinner. The ship’s dancers and singers are performing their first show. Since I had that nap, I should stay awake.

Thanks, Marcie for the internet advice. I do type most of my messages in Word and then copy and paste to the internet. My problem is happening with my blog site. It’s a little slow and posting the pictures can be confusing. I’m getting better though.

Masaki, read your message about MUSH and that works for us. Will contact you in April, when we know for sure that we're going. Thanks!

Tomorrow we will be in Papeete.

I love your blog Donna..and after reading the whole darn thing sweetheart, will post this q for you.. the burning LCT question..lol

how is Alans' breath?
:woh: :woh: :woh: :woh: :woh: :chicken:

Good morning from Papeete! We enjoyed our morning coffee on the balcony watching the Voyager pull into port. Breafast is finished, suntan lotion has been applied, it's almost time for a walk around town and a visit to the market. We have an excursion later this afternoon, just one of those bus rides around the island.

Last night's production show was great. I've seen it before, Lullaby of Broadway, but the singers are especially talented this time.

Claudia, Alan's breath, as well as mine, is fresh as a daisy! And just think, we will dump the big bottle before returning home. More room for shopping!!

Donna wrote this earlier:

Last night, the ship had a block party. Passengers were instructed to listen for the 6pm bell, take the wine glasses from their cabins, step out into the hall and meet their neighbors. The stewardesses poured wine and we mixed and mingled with other passengers on our hall.