Oh my late arrivals to deal with - I hope all works out for everyone! :)

Brings back memories of MUSH.

Hopefully Regent will help out those who incurr big change fees. I know they will take care of those with Regent air.

Grant, I spoke to Aaron today - He got a huge smile on his face & said, "Oh yeah! Tell the PANDA characters hello! They were great at playing the games." He remembers you all being an enthusiast group! Tabitha got her scuba certification after the dive in Vietnam. She's enjoying the sport immensely. We are enjoying Aaron & Tabitha's creativity with the games & with their huge part in running the Dancing With The Stars program. Aaron sang during the DWTS program & Tabitha danced. They are quite a talented & handsome pair.

POOCH REPORT: AM...Pat
PM...David

AM and PM....yipping at the back of the kennel was our own ...BETTY !!!!

With all of us at the LAX Hilton....going to be Party Central

Pat ...Please keep those highways and runways open at Pearson on Sat. the 22nd,NOOOOO MORE SNOW PLEASE

to all LAMBERS It is a shame that over the holidays this delay has to happen.
Karen: right now the forcast for Saturday is cloudy and 44 degrees, so you won't have to fight the snow.
Joanna, at least it now won't matter if you are later arriving than 3PM and you won't have to deal with winter weather.
Betty: you too will not have weather problems.
Good luck to everyone and, of course, let us know you got home safe and sound. Have a wonderful party at the LAX Hilton.
Lynn

Keeping my fingers crossed that you all arrive home safely and without too much delay/hassle!

Ditto what Kristin said!

11:30 am - Overcast today darn! Fun dinner with John and Kathy last night in CR - tonight Formal Night and the dance off at 9:45 PM - think this will be the first "show" I have ever attended - this continues to be a wonderful cruise despite our problems returning on time - may have mentioned we have 6:20 am flight Saturday so guess we'll just stay up all night (kidding) but I do dread an alarm going off at 3 am to prepare for trip from the Hilton LAX to LAX - oh well small price to pay for a fantastic 23 days of travel! Joanna sorry if this posts more than once computer acting up

Lynn, thanks for the weather forecast, I hope it doesn't change in the meantime!

I am still waiting for the sun to come out, as JOanna said it is overcast this morning. I checked the radar and the Pacific looks pretty clear but then again, I really have no idea where the ship is at the moment :)

Tonight is our last formal night and we will be a table of 8 tonight and then off to the dancing with the Mariner stars finale where we will root like crazy for Valerie!

Joanna, PLEASE ask my buddy Tony to try to get a video on his little Sony!

Will do Olivia!!! Our table of 8 hopes to get front row seats! Looks like weather is clearing - would love to sit on balcony and bake and read - BUT I will settle for hanging out with friends and a few margaritas!! This trip has flown by :mecry: :mecry: :mecry:

Wow, I sure do feel for you that booked your own air and now have such mucho dollar change fees. I can only imagine what the premium is with it being the last weekend before Xmas. I sure hope that Regent helps you all out with some sort of compensation. Hope you all get home with time to spare and without too much stress.
Pat (RPM) they are predicting milder weather this weekend....still cold but not like it was last week and no snow so I think you should be okay arriving home at Pearson....other then the holiday crowds. I sure hope so as our oldest girl is arriving from BC same day for her Xmas visit and I don't want any delays either. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for both of us.
Pat

Karen, weather forcast still the same.
added 20% chance of precep. Nothing to worry about.
Have a safe trip home everyone, and I hope to sign on tomorrow morning to find that Valerie is a STAR.
Lynn

Yippee!! Valerie won last night!! Besides the trophy engraved with her name on it (can't keep), she won a $2,500 cruise credit. She was outstanding! Another friend, Dotty (and next door neighbor) came in 2nd place....also fantastic!

We were so proud of Valerie....had great seats and were cheering our heads off. Once again, the theater was packed. What a big success this competition has been.

Today the packing will begin. Luckily, due to our delay we don't have to be out of our cabins till around noon tomorrow (I think). Last day of poker, games, trivia and bingo! Yesterday was another winner for both trivia and poker....
Last night we had a huge table with 10 of us. The young couple, Frank and Angela, on their honeymoon ate with us too. Frank plays poker with us every afternoon and he and Angela also danced in the show last night as professionals. Also at our table were, Mondaes, Websters and Staneks. Such a fun dinner!

What a great time we've had!

Fantastic outcome for both Valerie and Dotty! Congratulations to both of them. Has Valerie picked her cruise yet?

Waiting for today's POOCH update ..

Thanks for checking in, Marcie. Hope you can make up a little speed on the way back to LA.

Cheers, Anne

POOCH REPORT for Wed.....in AM SHIRLEY 114
DAVID 54

in PM Judith 92
Carol & Shirley 54

Poochers David and three of his "harem" with their spouses had dinner last night in their finest clothes...no we women did NOT wear sheer transparent harem clothes!!!

11:30 am - Last night was very exciting watching the dance competition - Valerie did steal the show!!! Overcast today... but we plan to pack two big suitcases between eating, drinking and chatting this afternoon - pack the smaller ones later tonight - sad trip is over but now excited about getting home and checking in with family and friends for the holidays - we have really enjoyed the new pals we have made and, as always, love spending time with old cruise friends - I give this trip an A plus - Joanna

YEAH! Congratulations to Valerie. That is fantastic! Marcie, seems like you had a great table for dinner last night.
Lynn

Awesome dinner table, congratulations to Valerie and sad to be packing. Thanks so much for reporting your adventures to us landlubbers.

Not a lot going on today. Luggage tags have arrived but we don't have to be totally packed and have luggage in hall until tomorrow at 10. Our group is having a farewell dinner in the CR. So many new friends on this cruise and many sailing on SAMBA. It will almost be like a reunion.
They are serving a Xmas dinner on the pool deck for lunch today. Cool weather. Finally showing a little Xmas spirit on the ship. They even have a HUGE gingerbread house and staff all wearing elf or Santa hats. Wish I could get that turkey and dressing home for my Houston Xmas dinner.
I'm off for short nap, then last game of pooch, then will probably pack.
I agree with Joanna. Cruise gets an A+. Hopefully some will now be able to post more photos.
Happy holidays everyone.

3:15 pm just checking in as I run past coffee bar to grab a cookie - we packed for about 90 minutes and Tony is almost finished I am 50% done- how did that happen? He is in card room with the "players" - he and I had farewell drink at pool bar - deserted as it is windy and chilly but we braved it - Kathy introduced me to new evening drink "lemon drop" so good you have to be careful - more than two I think you'd "drop" - think I will squeeze nap in and get ready for last night dinner - oh the thought of grocery shopping, cooking, making my bed etc when I get home :( :( BUT we miss our home, the kids and the cats....

Oh you little Lambs enjoy your last night on Mariner and safe travels home to one and all. I have enjoyed the Sea Mail!

Sounds like a a bitter sweet day on the Mariner. Glad you all had such a fun cruise. Yes, it's back to the grind, but with a holiday flavor. Save travels home, LAMBsters and happy holidays.

Yeah VALERIE - you go girl. I am so tickled and what a GREAT prize that is really wonderful. Wish I could have been there I do hope we get to see the video.

Welcome home fellow lambers. Glad the POOCH tradition continued during the cruise. It is such a fun game.

It was so hard to leave in Tahiti but as it turned out with 2009 opening it was the best thing to do. As all of you who have your prime cabins locked in for 2009 already know.

Ngaire, I know you knocked yourself out for us getting in all those 2009 requests locked in, and for that I thank you! I'm a happy camper!

Last pooch report

Have loved all your wonderful "seamail" and hope everyone has a safe jouney home! Merry Christmas!

Hi all! just catching up after over a week of missing all of your wonderful stories. So sorry about the delay/airline changes.......big drag. This trip just sounds too wonderful...

Betty, kudos for getting the upgrade. We always think of things like this when we consider Regent air.

Joanna, loved hearing about you having the pool bar drink when it was coolish....can recall all of us sitting there in parkas and mittens on Fjords.....hard to kill a party. Travel safe!

xoxo

Can't believe this cruise is almost over. Spent the last few hours in Horizon lounge saying goodbye to everyone to some jivey Christmas tunes. Now it's time to put our bags outside the door.

Valerie was awesome last night. What a successful event for the Mariner.

Pooch has been so much fun. We have one more session planned for 11 am tomorrow.

Sorry to see this end but ready to get back to Tucson and Christmas. Already anticipating the next fun cruise.

Valerie & Chuck:

Valerie, how cool are you! Wow, we were cheering you on from home and truly wish we could have seen you perform.

We'll be in touch.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Congratulations to Valerie for her first place finish in the dance competition!

You LAMBies have been so good about "taking us along with you" on your marvelous cruise. Thanks for all the reports. Best wishes to all of you for a safe return back home.

I guess we were probably the 1st LAMBies home yesterday. Disembarkation was such a breeze as we carried our own luggage off. Never even went through customs! Our driver picked us up and we were home in 30 minutes, probably before most passengers were even off the ship. Others had much longer days....Karen & Mark got off early too but had to hang out at LAX until their 1am flight. UGH, makes for a really long day!

Quite a few of us sat on the pool deck as we cruised into San Pedro. It was a bright sunny day, the best day we'd had in days! We enjoyed meeting lots of new friends on this cruise (many through playing poker in the afternoons)....many whom we've told about LCT so we'll have new posters!

I'll download the few pictures I have soon.

Welcome back, LAMBies. Hope you all arrive home without too many more hassles.

Cheers, Anne

Well we got to Jans brother's home in Mission Viejo about 7 pm Now we get to spend a few days here flying home Christmas Day.

Welcome back, LAMBS! Thanks for taking us along with your great seamail. Hope everyone gets home without further delay.

Dena

We staggered into our home at 8:30 p.m. We had quite a different experience compared to the "priority" folks! What a long drawn out day! Immigration & Customs' process took approximately 3-l/2 hours from docking at 2 p.m. Then, no cabs available. We were with Joanna, Tony, Jan & Jim until the bitter end. Traffic to LAX (to pick up our car) was not bad, thank heavens, since by then it was 5:30 - 6 p.m. Our drive home was very long though I was still happy not having to fly! We live on the road to the mountains ...bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours. It's good to be home but we so enjoyed a wonderful bunch of friends & a terrific cruise. Merry Christmas everyone!

Welcome home one and all! Now we need to hear from Karen and Betty!

Well, we're home too. Arrived in Tucson about two hours ago. Guess we need the secret on how to become "priority." By the time they let us off the ship yesterday and we met our driver and drove through bumper to bumper traffic to Irvine, our Christmas dinner plans with Alan's family had to be cancelled. So, we all went out for Mexican instead. Suited us just fine after all the rich food on LAMB but the family was disappointed.

We were back at LAX by 6 this morning. I don't know how I can feel jet lagged when I sailed across the Pacific, with no long flight home, but I do.

And, guess what I did when I got home? Started Christmas decorating. I hadn't planned to decorate but just couldn't stand it. Only doing the easy things though.

The cruise was great and we loved our wonderful travel companions. Merry Christmas everyone.

Welcome home everyone! Thanks for taking us along with you.