HI everyone. I am on the way from Kodiak Island to Dutch Harbor. So far lovely weather a little rain late this evening but we are at sea so it does not matter. Still calm seas.

Enjoying the Mariner and getting it ready for the invasion of the MINTERS.

Had dinner tonight with YALL CRUISE and had a great time.

I am ashamed to admit I went to put on my tennis shoes and to my dismay I had done it again. Two Right Feet shoes. I thought I had been so careful and only had one pair of these shoes. I guess I bought two pairs. At least last time I had one of each foot so I could wear them. I am beginning to think I have a shoe monster on my shoulder. Karen oh princess of the shoes I need your assistance. Help me pack my shoes next time.

Will post again as the cruise progresses. Right now it is midnight and I am a tired little person and need to go to bed.

Ngaire,
So happy that things are going well so far!
Re: the shoes....uh, oh..time to buy a new pair in port. Once I discovered at a tennis tournament that I had two different sneakers on and won the tournament. Superstition made me wear that "odd" pair for at least a month after that hoping to win more!(but mine were at least one of each foot!!)

Good to hear from you Ngaire and I am glad all is going well!

Anthony

P.S. - Be sure to warn the MAriner staff of the pending 'trouble' on MINT

Great to hear from you Ngaire. I'll be sending you a private email in a few days. Either you or your office can respond. You may have already heard from Ilene Block or RSSC that we have changed plans for next summer. We had a FANTASTIC time in FP!

My tennis shoes were my traveling shoes when we left home so I had a complete matched pair on my feet! And I packed just 2 pair of sandals. I'm no match for Karen.

Good to hear from you Ngaire - have a great time - I so love the Mariner!! Sorry about the shoes, thats a funny story you tell about not getting a "matched pair".
JoAnn

Ngaire, it's great to hear from you! I think your shoe problem is so very funny, only you!! Just put your best foot forward :)

Ngaire, It's so good to hear from you.
Too funny about your 2 right tennys!
Have a great time!

So, Kathy Z, are you going to give us a report of your trip? How did you like Manihi?

Ngaire
Your shoe story is great. I just can't believe it happened to you. This sounds like a stunt I would pull, although I probably would have forgotten to pack any.
Enjoy the trip

Ngaire - glad to hear you are enjoying the MAriner.

Funny story about the shoes. But just think, if you would be on MINT, just leave the shoes outside at night & that problem will be solved. You will no longer have two of the same shoe. You may no longer have SHOES! You might have different problems - but what the heck!

I hope you and Ken have a wonderful time!!

Be sure and say hi to Carolyn and Don from me!!

Ngaire....at least your don't have (as the saying goes) "two left feet" . I guess it will be a while before you're in port to buy another pair.

Hope you're having a great time - even if you have to do it in your stocking feet!

If I had my life to live over I'd like to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual trouble, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds, I would pick more daisies.
Nadine Stair

Wendy - yes, I'll give a full report after I am more caught up around here. Manihi was so relaxing after the faster pace on the PG. We loved it all! With early check-in (10am) and late check-out (2:30pm) it was almost like 4 days for the price of 3! We did find that the further away we traveled from the major Society Islands the less English was spoken. But when an employee at Manihi Pearl did not understand us they would give a friendly smile and say "one moment please" and promptly bring back an employee with fluent English.

Ngaire, last time I was with you (Black Sea, or maybe it was VJ7) you had a shoe problem, but at least you had a right and left foot, just different tennis shoe styles! What are we going to do with you? Hope you and Ken are having a great time, as I know you do not let these things get in the way of it (we all need to learn that lesson)! (Okay, I learned it on VJ7 when no luggage for 5 days!)

Having a lovely time. Kodiak was really a beautiful place did not see any bears though. The people that took sightseeing flights did see bears. We rented a car and drove around and had a good day. They call it the "emerald isle" and it is SO GREEN here that really surprised me.

Had a cocktail party last night and everyone got acquainted. This is a lovely group of people.

Did not win trivia, our team on the Diamond was awesome I may not win many times on this cruise without them. Marc, Ralph has already collected a ton of tokens for the events he has played in so far.

Lovely relaxing day at sea today and we slept in had a great lunch and played scrabble with a client of mine that loves to play. Now doing emails and going to get ready for our first formal dinner. Black outfit with MATCHING sandals. Same color and a shoe for each foot.

The Mariner is a nice ship. It has been a while since I have been on the Mariner, the Chilean Fjords was the last time. The ship sails well, the food has been great and the service excellent.
Computers are working really well, resonably fast and there has always been one available.

For the ROAR group - I have heard from Tiffany and she is still working on trying to get some of the pricing confirmed so we dont see to much of an increase in the rates for 2006. Will let you know when I hear more. She is emailing me directly on the ship with any news.

Ngaire; Please give our best to Ilse and Dieter, the dance instructors. You and Ken should give their classes a try while you're at sea; they're really great and a lot of fun. If you run into our friends, Robert Morris and Donna McInnis please give them our best as well.

Ngaire, glad to hear you are having a wonderful time. Tell Ralph thank you from me for the Florida Voting Machine.

If I can ask a favor. Can you ask who will be CD on Voyager transatlantic in November.

thanks,

Too funny re: the shoes. Maybe you should always leave a spare true pair in your suitcase so you never have that problem again! :)

Glad to hear that you're having a great time. Can't wait to experience the Mariner for ourselves during MINT!

Hello Ngaire,
My husband and I happened to be on the South America Mariner Cruise when your group joined us.Wasn't that trip fantastic!
We sailed with HAL in September of 2002, Circle the Pacific. When we crossed from Vancouver to Russia, we hit 55 foot seas! Glad to see that you have calm weather now.
Do you know Geoff Clyesdale, the host for Golden Bear Travel? He is currently onboard to Hong Kong. If you do, please say Hi to him from us!
Happy Sailing,
Mary Ann and Bill

WCB....we were on the same cruise - had terrible banging noise in our Suite during that crossing - almost flew home from Tokyo. It was a great cruise but HAL's passenger service leaves a lot to be desired - my husband swears that was his LAST HAL cruise!

Ngaire,

Perhaps we should send you some shoelaces to help you match shoes. :)

Glad your having a good time. Enjoy!

Betty

Hi MaryAnn and Bill! We were also on the South American sailing with you as far as Lima last year. Hope all is well with you.

Ngaire - what size shoes do you wear? I'll bring a back-up in case of other unforeseen packing accidents for the China leg. I'll think about what you and Ken can tote in case I have a momentary packing lapse for the same trip. Cheers, Anne

I will ALWAYS check and double check my shoes from this point forward. I will not be a "shoe deficient" person again.

We have been to Kodiak Island and Dutch Harbor. We are sailing to Russia now and we have calm seas. Sun is shining. Hope it holds.

Dutch Harbor was tiny not a lot to see but it had a serenity that was kind of special. A simpler way of life that is for sure. We had shuttle school buses to the four different spots on the island.

Looking forward to some restful days at sea.

Sorry I do not know the host for Golden Bear travel but if I do meet him I will give him your best.

Will try to post again. The internet is working better and faster than i have experienced on a ship before. It is still the download and upload charge basis on the Mariner. They say this will be the last ship to move over to the "block" time type charges.

RACK OF LAMB SPECIAL ORDER TONIGHT - YEAH

Good hearing from you, Ngaire. Hope you and Ken have a wonderful time.

Betty - Love those laces.

Ngaire - I had the same problem with shoes in the past. I wrote inside the shoes with indelible markers for a very long time - my closet in the old house didn't have a light inside and I got dressed for work frequently wearing odd shoes. Was very good for a laugh at the office more than once. Also mismatched clothes but usually caught that in the mirror, Just missed the shoes several times too many.

Oh, I'm going to be on Mariner in just over six weeks, I can't wait!!

Going to mark my shoes off in pairs right now!

Once the Mariner gets to Japan, there are plenty of webcams to stalk them from located here:

Webcams

I think we might get some good stalking in! Someone might have to cypher when it is daylight in Japan for me, everytime I look, its dark :)

Tried taking a look at that site, Karen - didn't see many ports in Japan listed. Hmmmmm.

Masaki

Just get a close in shot of cute blond walking with 2 right tennies... LOL

Masaki,
When you click on that link it automatically starts with the Germany cams, did you click on the Japan cam link?
They will be stopping at Hakodate and that site had 11 Hakodate webcams, Sendai, with 2 webcams and Tokyo with 25 webcams. It appears to be morning in Japan now so I guess I should look to see if there are any harbor cams amongst them all.

This Hakodate cam might be good:

Karen - it would help if I looked at the right cruise - I was looking at the Hong Kong/Tokyo cruise in October (sigh). You're right, most of those cities on the Alaska/Tokyo cruise are web cam enabled. Though it does surprise me that there is no port of Osaka webcam. I'll have to check out the Tokyo cams ...

Masaki

Does that mean Ngaire will be walking in circles???? :D