We boarded a little while ago and had a quick lunch by the pool. What a beautiful ship!!!! We are really looking forward to cruising on the VTC. We met up with Mary Ellen for dinner last night at the Queen Mary and had a very nice evening. We’ll post more as the trip goes along. Remember to watch for us as we pass through the canal.

Mike

Be sure and say Hi to my Dad and step Mom (Mason and Maggie) when you meet this evening in the "O" Lounge (Isn't it now called the "Song of Flower" Lounge??), or wherever you're meeting on the "pointy end"!!

Mike...Bon Voyage!

I'm so glad we have another LCT member on a ship sending us "sea mail".

Thank you! We'll look forward to hearing from you.

Sea Mail......I love it! :app: :app:

Thanks for posting, Mike! Looking forward to hearing more!

Masaki

Last night was the first of our two formal nights. It was also the night of the captain’s reception. Bette and Marty joined us for dinner (last night we ate with Neville and Hannah). We had lobster tail for dinner. Then the Peter Grey Terhune Dancers and Singers put on a nice show in the theater. Then we went dancing until the lounges were ready to close. What a great evening.

Neville has been sending some e-mails to Karen to post also. Here are the answers to questions people have had:

Captain Dag is not on board for this trip. He left as we were getting on for some vacation time (when you work on a cruise ship, how could you need vacation time?). He will rejoin the Voyager when it reaches the Baltics in a few weeks. Captain Knut Hanssen is on board as the captain for our trip.

Andreas is the hotel director. He very graciously arranged a cocktail reception for the LCT/CC people on board. The captain also accepted our invitation to join us for the reception. That will happen at 6:00 pm this evening.

Perry Grant is still on board. He is playing in the Voyager lounge this trip. Other entertainment includes Double Time in the Horizon Lounge, The Voyager Quintet in the Observation Lounge (and other places on the ship), and a Harpist named Jacqueline Dolan.

Jamie Logan is the cruise director, Elda Pauluzzi is the assistant cruise director. Dana Logan is the ship hostess. Peter Sporndli is the executive chef.

If you want to know about any of the other staff, let me know.

Today is our second day at sea. Tomorrow morning we port at Puerto Vallarta. This has been a great way to start the cruise (with two sea days). It gives us time to relax, unwind, and get to know the layout of the ship.

Yesterday was Gail’s (Gail&Rich) birthday. I printed out all your b-day wishes along with the cake Karen baked and put the pages on her door. She appreciated all the good comments and thoughts.

Tonight, the dinner dress code is informal. Tomorrow morning we are going to do the canopy tour in Puerto Vallarta. But that is still a long way off. There is still a lot of drinking and dancing to take care of before then. And we will get some help from our other LCT and CC friends at the reception this evening.

Until next time.
Mike

Mike - thanks for posting!!! Enjoy!!!!

Great to read the Live feedback from the ship! It sure sounds like a great time! Perry Grant was on HAL in a smaller more intimate piano bar when we first met him. I'm having a difficult time imagining him in a lounge as large as the Observation Lounge. Keep posting!

Glad to hear that Jacqueline Dolan is still on board. I thought she was outstanding.

Keep posting I love hearing from people on the ship. They have become my favorite posts.

Margo - sea-mail!!! Love that!

Kep posting MIke.....what, enjoy your trip and the ship?....naw...keep posting!!

Knute has always been my captain on my Diamond sailings. He can be a lot of fun - although I don't know if he appreciated the high school "cheer" a fellow passenger & I were giving him when he was having a little trouble getting the Diamond away from the pier in Funchal. He smiled, but he was also very busy. You know the cheer. "Lean to the left, lean to the right", etc. But maybe our encouragement is what made it finally work. I am very sure his sailing skills had nothing to do with it at all.

Mike...we hang on every word - and tomorrow you will be hanging in the trees - can't wait to read your report!

Sounds like you have a great staff - Peter was the chef on the Mariner last fall - we though the food was wonderful - hope it's the same for you.

Keep the mail coming - your loyal readers await!

Mike,

Please tell Jamie and Dana that Kathy and Frank Rappaport say hello. We've been on two cruises with them. Peter gave us a great galley tour on Mariner last year through the Canal.

Wait until you Canal Day - a huge treat is in store for you!

Mike, Could you please ask Neville to email me the time and date of the canal cam stalk?

It sounds like you are having a great time! Thanks so much for updating us.

Mike; Thanks for the staff info. Don't know Capt Knute, but I guess he's going to be our skipper for the Transatlantic cruise. Hope they have good dance music and that the Glenn Miller orchestra will play some for dancing in addition to their shows. On our last crossing we had a great time with the Russ Morgan group. They wanted to play more for dancing, but the ship wouldn't allow it.

Was having too much fun yesterday so I did not have time to post. Sorry.

We went on the canopy tour in PV. What a blast. Even mom was able to do it (although she was very scared for the first couple). By the end she was zipping along and loving it all.

Then we went to Pipi's to eat (based on the recommendation of a local). I did not have much to eat but the margaritas were out of this world (you can see where my priorities lie). I think it must have been one of the most potent margaritas I have ever had. I could barely walk to a taxi to get back to the Voyager.

We had dinner with Bud and Hazelle. They have been stalking at LCT and CC but have never posted. We encouraged them to sign up for an ID and start to post. Hopefully we'll get two new members. They are in the cabin right next door to us and saw the door signs.

After dinner we went dancing all evening. We went from lounge to lounge sampling all the different music on board. What a great time.

We had a wonderful reception on board for all the LCT and CC folks . We had 100% attendance and had a great time visiting. The door signs and matching name tags have been a big hit. It was fun to put faces with names. we took a group pic that I will post when we get back.

Today we are heading out for a private tour of Manzanillo with Neville and Hannah. Neville arranged for the tour guide. Should be a good time.

The weather has been fabulous. Warm and sunny just like it should be. Captain Knut has been very warm and friendly, probably almost as good as Captain Dag.

We will send the time for the canal stalk to you later. We are off to have more fun now. More to come.

Mike

One more thing - we did get what appears to be some very credible inside information from two different sources that RSSC is planning to go to open bar for the 2005 season. I will provide some more info about this later.

Mike

Captain Knut is great. A really personable man who enjoys what he does. I dont think you will be disappointed with him Doug.

The Voyager World Cruise 2005 is definitely going to be open bar. I am not sure if that will be extended beyond the world cruise or not or if it will apply to the other ships.

I would dearly LOVE to be wrong and I dont "know" anything but my instinct tells me it wont be all ships and ONLY on the Voyager for the World Cruise. I wish they would do go open bar for the whole fleet.

Mike, Wow, that is interesting news! I can't wait to hear more about it.

It's so nice to hear that you had a great day yesterday. Thanks so much for taking the time to update us.

Well, isn't Richard onboard right now? If anyone can encourage them to consider Open Bar, we have the right person, in the right place at the right time.

I can understand Ngaire's point - it would be a rather radical change. I'll cross all my fingers AND toes!

I am not holding my breath, I can't imagine they would raise drink prices this year and go open bar the next?!?! But I will be delighted if they do.