Things are going great here. We were amazed to find that Regent had remembered the many small items we needed in our suite such as a long extension cord and dish detergent. They were wonderful.

Some changes: The amenities in the bathroom are no longer the strong rosemary ones but have a delicate scent somewhat like orange. Captain Dag is not having small dinner tables but entertaining 30 at a time at one large table in the Veranda. It seems to be working our well.

We are at Hilo today with lovely weather, sunny and not too hot. We found out that we will not have the children's hula school in Honolulu this year since it would be on a Sunday evening and interfere with their school the next day

Ray and Penny are delightful people that remind me of Larry and Karen. We are looking forward to getting to know them better.

McKeever

Ardis,
Glad you're off to a fantastic start. Keep the good times rolling. So good to briefly see you and Stan Saturday night. How's trivia going?

Ardis --

Sure wish we were with you. We have tentative plans for the whole 2009 Voyager World Cruise...hope to see you again.

Ask Ray and Penny to tell you about their visit to NYC where they ran into our daughter. They were at a group dinner and mentioned their upcoming WC. Our daughter, who was with folks they knew, said, "Oh, my parents just returned from a world cruise where they wrote a daily journal." And Ray said, "My godness, are they Karen and Larry? We followed their entire trip." Small world.

Look forward to reading your reports. All our best to Stan.

Hi Larry:

I relayed your best wishes to Jamie and he said "How do you know them?" and I told him you were helpful in getting me ready for the World Cruise.

It was obvious that he was happy to hear your name. I haven't caught up with Capt. Dag as yet but will.


Yesterday Stan & Ardis (screen name: McKeever) stopped us in the corridor to mention your note about us meeting your daughter in NYC. We're looking forward to breaking bread with the McKeever's soon.


Cheers! Ray & Penny

YAHOOOO! No more 'rosemary mint'!!! On last year's WC I actually went onshore to buy something (anything) else. I thought the products themselves were fine, I just really didn't like the scent.

I'm SO envious not to be on this year's trip. Nothing will ever match how great last year's WC was for us.

We leave for Antarctica in just two weeks. It will be interesting to see what bathroom products they have on Explorer II.

I know you're all having a great time. If you've never done this before, you'll be astonished to see that you're having as much or more fun four months from now.

Betty

I agree Betty and orange is my favorite scent!

Thought I'd add a bit more about last night.

Not only was the evening a festive affair but was entirely suprised to have some pleasantly long individual chats with Capt. Dag, Jamie, Dana and Lisa.

Penny and I were alone at a standup table so I could take photos and video and during the course of the evening, one of them would stop by with a plate of goodies to munch on and have a nice chat.

McCrackens--yep, I remembered you to Capt. Dag and Dana and we got an earful of compliments.

In order to obtain credibility with anyone we meet, we now instantly tell them we're friends of the Matassas and McwCrackens. :>)

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Capt. Dag, Jamie, Dana and Lisa...how fun this must have been for you and Penny! Please give them our regards as well. Great group of friends.

Love your blog and the pictures....

Thanks Masaki and Ray for the wonderful posts and pixs - they sure make a rainy day in northern Florida "bright" .. yes, I learned to name drop the Matassas long ago :app: :app:

Ardis

So happy that you and Stan are cruising again. Donald and I really miss you guys when it's 4P and we have no one to play trivia. What a wonderful game. You do really get to know your cruisemates while playing games. Hope to join you for more trivia when we can join the WC even if we are only seggies.