Yay!!! What exciting news! And how fun to now just consider all your choices!
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Helen

Congrats Kim & Alice! Great news!

Hooray! Congratulations, Kim and Alice! Very happy for you...

Alice & Kim, I can honestly say that I am HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY and jumping up and down on my imaginary pogo sitck with both of you. Couldn't happen to a nicer couple!!!

Thank you very much everyone! (Sorry to hijack this sea mail thread, though.) Our heads are still spinning and Alice thinks her's is going to explode! All the nice congratulatory words from everyone are soooo sweet to read. To have such good fortunate is really incredible.
Well, I hope you all on PAGODA don't mind putting up with a couple of freeloaders on board!

Yeah, we will get to see you again in March on Pagoda!!

WOO HOO....yippee...just added you to Pagoda Roll Call...let me know when you know cabin #.

WONDERFUL news. Can't wait to see you both.

That's fantastic. See you in March!

Taormina Sicily was just cancelled due to swells as it's a tender port. Hope we don't have this weather the rest of the cruise.

Captain Felice told us about this weather front a day ago and it did stop our port call in Naxos and we are on our way to Sorrento now. I do not have high hopes for tendering there either but getting through the straits of Messina today is probably a very good idea. Can be rough here and a lot of traffic as well.

Hopefully it will all blow over after tomorrow and we will have nice weather for the rest of the trip.

Bought my glass in Malta yesterday and for the first time I can remember in years I took a nap in the afternoon. Slept right through trivia and I was in trouble for missing that event. The first two days we played we won so we had a winning streak going. My fault the streak failed (of course I might not have known a thing anyway).

Nice lazy forced sea day today! However, I am sorry for those who have not been to Naxos and Taormina before.

More Photos Form Gondola:


Captain Felice Picks Free Cruise Winner for 2013, Kim & Alice !!


Leaving Valletta, Malta Last Night.

Congrats Kim and Alice!!! Ngaire, you look so pretty. Love that outfit! Hope the seas will calm for you all soon.

I agree with Betty, that outfit is gorgeous!! I bet Kim and Alice are still walking on air!!!

We are happily cruising north along the Calabrian coast en route to Naples, where to our great delight, Regent has secured a spot at the cruise dock. As we almost certainly would not have been able to anchor and tender in Sorrento tomorrow (due to this tough weather system with lots of wind and sea swell), it is indeed excellent that we will be docking in Napoli.

Most of the tours originally planned from Sorrento will still be offered, as well as three new tours, including a visit to Herculaneum, which we will be taking. We have been told by reasonably reliable travelling friends that Herculaneum has better-preserved ruins than Pompeii, for which we were previously booked.

As Ngaire mentioned, our LCT trivia team was gloriously victorious two days in a row, until yesterday, when our dear Mama Superior slept in on her afternoon nap and left Andrea and me to battle the vicious forces of trivia alone. The tragic result was our placing 3rd or 4th (not a total disgrace for a 2-person team, but not a day of great honor and glory for LCT). We hope for more honorable results this afternoon, when (as this is a sea day) the place will likely be filled to capacity and the competition will be most fierce.

Ah, time for me to take a pre-Trivia nap. Our lovely butler has just brought in two bottles of Veuve Cliquot (geez, we have to use those OBC's some way, no?) to begin chilling for our little champagne tipple with the two wonderful LCT couples with whom we will dine tonight. All things considered, this ain't too bad, right?!

As Capt. Felice made the announcement this morning that he had secured a docking spot in Naples tomorrow, you could hear in his voice how pleased he was to be able to ensure that people would get to go on their excursions tomorrow. A really good save on his part and that of the destination excursions team!

We are having a great cruise. Lovely LCT group, and the first three ports were very nice. I second all that Ngaire and others wrote above about the day at Kotor. Great port, and the walled old town is fantastic. Several hundred people still live within the walls, so in addition to the shops and restaurants we strolled past a barbershop, lawyer's office and workers repairing shutters on a residence. It feels like a slice of real life, not only a tourist destination. And gulp about the 25 switchbacks on the scenic drive! I have to say that the drive was ... breath-taking, in the literal sense, at times.

Fred - we missed Amalfi on one of our cruises, and we docked in Naples. Frank took the Herculaneum tour and he said it was definitely much better than Pompei.

Cudos to you and Andrea, pretty good for a two person team. Good luck today.

Sounds like everyone is having a great time, thanks for the Seamail.

Kim and Alice, add mine to your bucket of congratulations. We were sitting with Kathy and Al when your names were announced, and there was much happiness in our corner and around the room.

Rack of lamb from the Mariner says hello

Ngaire, that outfit is just gorgeous. Great pic!

Lucky people who are going to Herculeneum. It is very nice.

A PLUS to have an Italian Capt. when in Italy!

(I'm presuming he's Italian.)

Fred - Yes, Herculaneum is very cool. I hope you & Pat have a good day to enjoy it!
Ken! Thank you so much for posting the photo of Ngaire and Capt. Felice holding our winning names!
Karen, you're sooooo right! Alice and I are still in the clouds. I should not be allowed to drive. I drove to the grocery and found my mind wandering twice that caused me to pull out in front of a car.
(I'm going to the PAGODA Roll Call so as to not further hijack this thread.)

Another sunny day in Livorno.

We looked out a window and saw a container ships with a band playing with white tents and waiters in tuxedos. A priest was talking from a podium. We thought it might be a wedding but now we think it was a christening for the ship but then again no bottle hit the side. If we could understand Italian we might have understood the celebration. At one point they released hundreds of balloon and also white doves all flying into the air together. This was followed by hundreds of brightly colored streamers floating down onto the guests. Pretty fascinating thing to see, I wish Ken had taken pictures.

Seems like everyone enjoyed their tours to Lucca and Pisa today. The longer tours are not back yet.

We missed in trivia by ONE answer today and we had the right answer and changed it at the last minute. Oh well at least a respectable showing.

Dinner tonight with Mary Ellen, Jim , Peter and Mark. We are looking forward to that.

This has been a very restful cruise for us - we have slept in late on several occasions and not done many tours. Ken and Al went to Lucca on the afternoon tour and are not back yet.

Life is good on the Mariner.

FORGOT TO MENTION. The top I was wearing in the picture with Captain Felice was one I purchased in Mumbai. On the Dubai to Cape Town Voyager cruise in November of 2014 (SPICE) I am planning on going back to this store that carries designer Indian clothing and picking up a few more things. Not cheap but not expensive either. Just a little more than Chicos prices. Beautiful silk fabrics and made extremely well. They adjusted it to fit me within two hours. The store is two blocks from the Taj Hotel. Anyone on that trip that wants to come is welcome to join us.

Mangalore has a wonderful mall that the shuttle bus from the ship goes to that also has some great values in clothing. I think India is the one place I have actually had a blast buying clothes.

Were in Genoa now, changed from Portofino due to sea conditions and tendering. For us, both changes worked out since we got to see Herculaneum and the Genoa excursion was changed from 7 hrs to 4. A little disappointed that we don't get to see Portofino since it was so charming.

Photos From Lucca, Italy:








Part of the wall around Lucca.


A Bed & Breakfast in Lucca.

Photos From Saint-Paul de Vence:






Burial place of the famous painters Chagall and Matisse .


Jim makes a new friend, Fifi.

Great pictures Ken, brings back fond memories of our tour of Lucca and St Paul de Vence, loved both places. Don't remember seeing that b and b in Lucca, what a charming place.

Chagall is buried in the small cemetery in St. Paul de Vence in Ken's beautiful picture.

But as I recall Matisse and his wife are buried nearby in Cimiez near a Franciscan Monastery and not too far from his museum.

I am sure you are right Ted. He probably heard Matisse was buried and missed it was not in the same place as Chagall. We did see Chagall's grave.

Had a lazy day today and took plenty of time to pack away safely my Malta glass. I found their website and next time I need something I think I will order it online and have it shipped. It is just fun to wander the store and chose but a much easier exercise on line.

We are in some really rough weather right now. Rocking and rolling. Worried about some of the new sailors this is a pretty rough ride for newbies. Hope they are laying low and watching a movie to keep their minds occupied. I am going to check to see if there are cancellations in Prime 7 tonight I think it is highly likely.

Flying home tomorrow and we have to spend a night in London. We stay at the Sheraton at Heathrow. Sure wish we could get all the way home.

I have such fond memories of getting a coveted reservation at Colombe D'Or in St Paul de Vence. I had waited a year for that meal and on the way there from Monte Carlo, Jerry just had to dip his foot in the Med. Of course he fell all the way in and we were at this so famous restaurant with him in a bright yellow T shirt he bought in the souvenier shop across the street that was along the lines of "My Husband went to St Paul de Vence and had to wear this stupid T shirt"!! They put us away on a corner but we enjoyed it anyway
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Helen

That's FUNNY!!

MEN!!!!

Helen that is just TOO funny. I can just picture him that tee shirt and your joy at being accompanied by a man dressed in such a smart outfit.

Okay NOW I understand and feel more empathy for those who get seasick. After five trips to Antarctica and some very heavy seas over the years it happened. I actually got sea sick.

Well in reality not sure it was sea sick since we DID get into Prime 7 and it was the "last supper" so I went a little overboard. Not been eating much meat recently I have moved over to the "fishy" side. However last night I ordered prime rib and it was big and I ate the whole thing. Plus I ate a hamburger and fries at lunch not had a burger for along time. I think my body went into carnivore shock and couple that with some pretty healthy movement it got to me. However once my body rejected all that meat I felt fine and had a good nights sleep. About midnight we were behind Corsica and the heavy movement subsided.

So sad to say goodbye to everyone and we were figuring out when we would see each other again. Some are not too far in the future so we just said "see you soon" instead.

Okay in the lounge at Rome time to pack up now and get ready to board our plane for London.

Helen, that is a great story. I can just see you and Jerry. So funny.

Ngaire, I think your body just couldn't digest all that heavy food, and something had to give. I bet if you had eaten light, you would have been fine. We have to spend the night in LHR too at the end of this cruise, but when you are flying on miles, you do what you have to do!

We want to thank all of the GONDOLA sailors for the wonderful virtual sailing. New virtual ports were included, too! So cool.

Gary told me this morning he had dreams of riding around on the Mariner last night. I haven't told him it would have been a cruising experience akin to the 'return of the sick bags on the hallway hand rails' from our Antarctica trip.

Hope the airways are no where near as chopped up, and everyone returns home healthy, happy and treasuring lots of memories.

Cheers, Anne

Lots of memories to treasure for sure! Thanks once again to Ngaire and Ken for such a special cruise with such delightful people. We're sitting in our hotel in Rome wishing we could just have one more night (at least!). Hope everyone has a good trip home!

Safe travels home, everyone! It's always sad to leave the ship. But, that makes you know you had a great time!

Gary had dreams of being on the Mariner? Well, last night I had dreams of someone filling in for me when I was supposed to be making a presentation because, for some unknown reason, I was wearing a yellow t-shirt!

haha...the funny dreams we have!
So happy everyone had such a great trip, safe travels home guys.