December 2010

If you are lucky enough to be cruising during the month, please list your cruise and the date and we will do our best to stalk you along your journey to get a glimpse of your ship. Please list your dates and ports.

Yes!!! Voyager, December 10th, Western Caribbean.

Here's the itinerary, we've done it before, but don't mind that at all, very excited to be doing *any* kind of cruise:

Dec 10 Fri Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Dec 11 Sat Key West, Florida 7:30 am 2:00 pm
Dec 12 Sun Cozumel, Mexico Noon 7:00 pm
Dec 13 Mon Belize City, Belize 8:30 am 8:00 pm
Dec 14 Tue Santo Tomás de Castilla, Guatemala 8:00 am 6:00 pm
Dec 15 Wed Costa Maya, Mexico 8:00 am 4:00 pm
Dec 16 Thu At Sea, International Waters
Dec 17 Fri Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

We're also looking forward to the Dec. 10 Voyager cruise -- and for the opportunity to meet Wendy.

Bobby & Marti

I will be on the Navigator sailing from Auckland to SFO. I am most excited about Hawaii, seeing the USS Arizona and sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. Perfect weather can only be a wish... that I know. Fiji sounds like one of those places I will also like.

Hi.

Coffeecup and I are on Le Boreal from Abercrombie on our way to the Antarctic, to see the penguins.

Marcia

By golly, I can finally post! The "Lovely Miss Lynn" and I will be aboard Silver Spirit from 2-20 Dec FLL-Barbados-FLL.

We're doing the AMA Amalyra with the Huffords & another couple. We sail from Prague to Budapest for Christmas markets Dec 13 to 20 with some time in Prague & Budapest on land.

Bobby & Marti, there's a roll-call over on cruise critic. I'm sure somebody will organize a meet & greet.

I'm so happy penguin time is almost here.

Dah dahhhhhhhh!

As Marcia said--penguins. Haven't traveled with my sister in far too long.

Please pray for us through the Drake.

Nova, I think it was, just had an hour on the penguins. They reminded me of my son waddling in diapers and then tossing himself into the rubber pool.

And Betty, in 13 months, you and me--back to the bears. I'll show you Susan's and Lynn's favorite breakfasts. Bring a blood sugar meter.

Joan & I are sailing from Cape Town to Ft. Lauderdale in December. It's our longest cruise so far. No promises but we'll try to leave the Mariner in good shape for the FUN2 folks. :D

Dec 03-04 Cape Town, South Africa
Dec 05 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 06-07 Walvis Bay, Namibia
Dec 08-09 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 10 St. Helena (Jamestown), UK
Dec 11-14 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 15 Vitória, Brazil
Dec 16-18 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dec 19 Búzios, Brazil
Dec 20 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 21 Salvador de Bahia, Brazil
Dec 22-23 Recife, Brazil
Dec 24-25 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 26 Belém, Brazil
Dec 27 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 28 Devil's Island, French Guiana
Dec 29 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 30 Bridgetown, Barbados
Dec 31 Roseau, Dominica
Jan 01 Gustavia, St. Barts
Jan 02-03 At Sea, International Waters
Jan 04 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Lots of travel going on! Betty going Down Under, Diane and and Marcie, sisters have good times together (Diane, I survived the Drake)! Doug on Spirit(can't wait to hear more on this ship), Wendy, Bobby/Marti in southern climes, and Jim/Pat on a Christmas Market cruise, hope you have fun as many other lct'ers last year

Dave, I've done that cruise itineray before, but in two segments, very relaxing cruise, except not sure if you are going into Amazon like I did in January of this year as part of the SA circumnavigation. My last one was 21 days, longest ever in many cruises, perfect for me! Hope you enjoy the month. Moreso, I hope you avail yourself of taking a safari since you have gone so far to start your cruise!

It does sound like LCT will be represented all over the place.
Dave I did part of your itinerary last Dec. Wish I could see some of the places you are going that I missed.
Diane, they haven't cashed my deposit check yet. Hoping it is just one those internat'l banking slow ups. And then have to worry about getting on the PA2 in 2012.
Remind me when I should start worrying about saving money. Probably not going to happen. Who will support me in my old age? Ngaire and Apollo will have all my money by then. I vote they should support me. :)

I'll drink to that Betty
Pat

me too

We will sail on the brand new Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam with our friends (Mike & Donna from No-Name) Dec 5 to 12th
12/5 Ft Lauderdale
12/6 At Sea
12/7 Grand Turk
12/8 San Juan
12/9 St. Maarten
12/10 Sea Day
12/11 Half Moon Cay
12/12 Ft Lauderdale

We've been to all the ports, but our friends haven't. We reserved a Retreat Cabana for the week on the top deck to enjoy since we will not be taking any excursions in port.

Sailing Disney Wonder Dec. 19 to 23

12/19 Port Canaveral
12/20 Nassau
12/21 Castaway Cay
12/22 At Sea
12/23 Port Canaveral

From the ship we drive to Disney World 12/23 to 12/28

Sue, looks like you will be cruising way the month of December. How lucky!! ;)

What a perfect December Sue!

We are flying to Singapore on Dec 3, then joining Diamond Princess to cruise home to Auckland ,and have Christmas and New Year on board.

Diamond Princess Cruise
05-Dec-10 Singapore
07-Dec-10 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam
08-Dec-10 Nah Trang Vietnam
12-Dec-10 Benoa Bay, Bali, Indonesia
15-Dec-10 Darwin, Australia
18-Dec-10 Port Douglas, Australia
19-Dec-10 Airlie Beach, Whitsunday, Australia
22-Dec-10 Sydney, Australia
24-Dec-10 Melbourne, Australia
26-Dec-10 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
29-Dec-10 Scenic Cruising Fiordland
30-Dec-10 Dunedin, New Zealand
31-Dec-10 Christchurch, New Zealand
02-Jan-11 Tauranga (Rotorua), New Zealand
03-Jan-11 Auckland, New Zealand

Also working on another with Cunard. Booked a 6 day cruise from Sydney to Auckland in Feb 2011 on QM2, but also waiting for the segment to open up so we can join the brand new Queen Elizabeth on her way through from Auckland to join QM2 in Sydney , as they will both be meeting there on the same day. Be great if we could do that , as we would end up with a 12 day return cruise from Auckland , with no flying or hotels involved.

Hope you have wonderful trip (s) - would love to be on a ship for Xmas and New Years!

We're doing a B-2-B with 6300 flight miles in between, Oceania's Insignia from Barcelona on December 6th, to Rio on the 21st, to Los Angeles for Crystal Symphony's round trip L.A. to Hawaii, 14 days December 22nd to January 4th, 2011.

6300 miles--you'll need the back of the back to back

My husband Roger and I will be joining Joan & Dave for part of their trip leaving Cape Town on the Mariner, 12/03/2010. We are going as far as Rio. This will be our first Luxury cruise and we are so looking forward to it.

Carolo, You are on a great cruise with interesting ports and wonderful sea days. St. Helena is a delightful, undiscovered island. Be sure to go out in the countryside as it is quite lovely. The roads are like a roller coaster at times, but views are gorgeous. If you like history, go by Longwood, Napoleon's house (a reproduction). The gardens there a lovely.

Carolo, Joan and I are looking forward to meeting you and Roger on the cruise. It should be a wonderful cruise as Beth says.

Beth, I read your reports from a couple of years ago about a similar cruise and they were very helpful. Based on your comments, I changed our tour in St. Helena from the walking tour of Jamestown to the tour that goes out into the countryside. In Namibia, we are booked on the Treasures of the Namib Desert tour which I believe you took and didn't like as much as the Living Desert tour that Ngaire took. Again, based on your comment, I've wait listed the Living Desert tour.

Enjoy DINGO next month. We took a similar cruise in 2008 and enjoyed it immensely. Just be prepared for rough seas between Tasmania and New Zealand. :D If you like gardens, be sure to visit the public botanical garden in Christchurch. It was fantastic. Also, the Te Papa National museum in Wellington was another highlight.

Dave, I hope you and Joan enjoy St. Helena as much as I did. We only had 5 hours on the island, so it was a whirlwind trip. In hind sight, seeing the Namibian desert was unique. The moon-like landscape and fascinating plants were a highlight. Hope you will take time to post seamail while on board.

Thanks for the heads up on the Tasman Sea. Got my bonine already. We may change our excursion in Christchurch. The gardens do sound nice. I have read about Te Papa and hope to go there if we have time.

Dave, I did the Namibia and St Helena cruise last year. I had to cancel the desert tour I had planned there but loved the sea tour to see the ocean animals. Sorry I can't remember what it was called but I was glad I did it. And yes, the St Helena country tour is a must. It will remind you in places of New Zealand - beautiful countryside. I do wish the ship would stop there longer. It would be nice to have the time to be in Jamestown to meet some of the natives. They get such little contact with the outside world.

Beth & Betty,

Thanks for the comments. Beth, it's good to know that you think more highly of the Treasures of the Namib Desert tour now than you did originally. I'm sure either that tour or the Living Desert tour will be great. Betty, I think the animal tour to which you're referring is the Seal & Dolphin Cruise. We're taking that tour the morning of our second day in Namibia. Everyone raves about that tour. I just checked our itinerary in St. Helena and we will be there for eight hours so we should have time to wander around Jamestown as well as seeing the countryside. We're looking forward to it.

This morning, I forgot to mention the Nature's Wonder tour out of Dunedin. It was a lot of fun and I recommend it.

Thanks, Dave, we are getting off in Milford Sound and taking the overland excursion to Queenstown then straight to the ship the next day. So we will just get the city tour as we drive into Dunedin.

I do not mean for this to be a longwinded story, but it is a bit involved: Dad and I did a crossing a few years back on Voyager, and enjoyed it immensely, promising to return. Last year, our Navigator crossing we planned got nixed for an early drydock, and we could not reschedule. We found a Silversea crossing in Sept, but then found out in July that Mom was terminal, so we cancelled and enjoyed her final months with her.

Mother passed away recently, and now Dad and I, and my brother will be crossing from Cape Town to Rio (Regent Mariner) in celebration of mother's life and our fabulous family. You may not have wanted all that detail, but it means so much to me to be travelling with Dad again, and that my brother has agreed to join us, that I decided to share it:

Dec 03-04 Cape Town, South Africa
Dec 05 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 06-07 Walvis Bay, Namibia
Dec 08-09 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 10 St. Helena (Jamestown), UK
Dec 11-14 At Sea, International Waters
Dec 15 Vitória, Brazil
Dec 16-18 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The boys are headed to sea.

Tyler, I think I remember your cruise with your dad and now with your brother going, you are going to have some wonderful memories!

you all deserve this and your mom would be thrilled for you all to be together

Love it Tyler!!!!!!

Tyler, what a heartwarming story. I do hope you and your Dad and brother have a great time on this cruise. I did the same itinerary last year, and there was lots of time for relaxing and kicking back. Sounds like just what you need!

Tyler: your mom will be looking down on "her boys" and will be sailing right along with you! Have a lovely trip :hello1:

Doc dancing here! For our December 10th Voyager trip! :app: :app:

Wow, that's an early delivery Wendy! Hope you guys have a great time.

I just booked the December 1st sailing of Royal Caribbean's new ship Allure of the Seas. I haven't sailed with RCCL since 2003, but for some reason I really want to see this ship.

12/1 Fort Lauderdale
12/2 Day at sea
12/3 Labadee
12/4 Day at sea
12/5 Fort Lauderdale

I'm going to spend a couple days in Miami afterward and then go to Ohio to visit my mom & sisters for a week. I've been enjoying my little break from employment. :D

Good for you, Andrea! We are in the same "boat", so to speak. Might as well use the time wisely. And hey, in this day & age, you can interview while on vacation from pretty much anywhere. Greg has a phone interview on the way to our Voyager cruise! ;)

Hope you enjoy your reacquaintance experience with RCCL...and it'll be a good way to "tide over" until FUN2!