Only two days until I get my documents. Woo hoo!
I'm coming in on a red eye on Saturday night but I factored in a five hour nap ;) to get ready for the Bimini Boatyard. Work was stressful today but I have a mantra....one month, one month

Hooray Julie - we're waiting for you to join our dance in progress....

Hi Everyone:

Just got back yesterday from Voyager Med trip and then extended trip of Eastern Europe. Have to admit, everything was a bit of a letdown after the cruise was over. I loved everything about it so I am hoping I will like SAND as much.

I love the room signs. What a great idea - Our room is 724 - Tina & Peter. Our friends, Kim and Jeff are in 722.

We will book Portofino's for Wed.

Is there anything else I've missed? Looking forward to the hall parties - how are we coordinating?

Tina

One more thing....does anyone else drink Caesars?

Still no docs here either! Where is that Fedex guy?

I like a good Caesar once in a while--my husband hates them, can't stand the clamato juice.

What's in a Caesar?

Chester and I got new passports last month. Do you need to take your passport to the carribean or is a driver's license sufficient?

Take your passport. Soon it will be manditory even to Canada.

It doesn't kick in until January, according to Regent's website. I don't want to take it if I don't need it. My family all lives outside the U.S. so I hate the thought of losing it and being without it for any length of time.

When you board the ship, they hold it for you for much of the cruise. We always take it to the Carribbean.

Got it. We'll take it with us. Thanks.

You need your passport for the Bahamas in any case.

A Bloody Caesar is like a Bloody Mary, but with clamato juice instead of tomato juice.

Finally got our docs on Thursday, so we are pretty well set. Now that the wedding is over, we can finally concentrate on the cruise. Got my diving set for St. Thomas. Still have questions about a BC vest that I sent on the form to Regent, but no response. Guess I am going to have to email them. Now we have to figure out what we are going to do all day in San Juan. We are thinking of renting a car and just getting out and exploring more of the island on our own. As far as Nassau, we are there such a short time that we will may just head to the beach somewhere or just stroll down Front St. Is anybody taking the water taxi over to Atlantis?

Does anybody know if where we will dock in San Juan? We are renting a car from Hertz at the Old San Juan Sheraton, and I'm hoping we will be at the pier right across the street.

BTW, if anybody wants to join us, just let us know. We opted for the PT Cruiser Convertible.

I think that Karen and Mark and Frank and me are doing that. We booked a tour of San Juan. We will have the AMEX Credit to burn.

Kathy, did you and Frank, Karen and Mark book a tour of San Juan? Where does it go? I've always started out here, never had it as a port, so just wondering.

Karen and Mark and Frank and I are going to Atlantis in the Bahamas. Frank and I booked a tour of San Juan and then we are walking Old San Juan. We went there as a port on our honeymoon - 9 years ago. Frank had a cold so we were in search of a drug store for Nyquil or was it Contact. We've been 4 times down that way since but never back to San Juan. So I remembered that the architecture would be beautiful to photograph, but, since we had an agenda last time we decided a tour would be a good way to use up our Amex Shipboard Credit.

Nice to have a convertible, Don! Where do you think you will go with the car?

We hadn't really decided yet. Going to do some research on Frommmers and Fodors. We may head to Dorado and go to one of the resorts there, or we may go south and go up through the national park and back down to the south coast of the island, or maybe even head east over to the Caribbean side and hop a ferry to one of the outer islands for some snorkeling.

Off the wall question. Is Puerto Rico still considered regular long distance for the purpose of roaming charges for cell phones? The roaming charge for T Mobile is $4.99 per minute while on the ship. In the Bahamas it's $2.99 per minute. Puerto Rico isn't listed at the International Site so I assume there are no roaming charges since it's part of the U.S. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I have phoned home from Puerto Rico with no roaming charges while using my Verizon phone. It was clear as a bell, as well! Now, with the ships new cell phone service, I think we have to make sure we are away from the ship before we use our phones to make sure we don't pick up the ships cell service.

Julie, we used our Sprint phones in both Puerto Rico and in the USVI without any problem and no roaming charges.

Karen, I hadn't thought about that. Maybe if we switch off the roam features on our phones, then it won't interfere.

Thanks. I just want to be prepared. Barring any emergencies, I won't be calling home much in my vacation fog ;) There's a dozen deck chairs in the carribean with my name on them. Only three weeks and six days until we leave SFO. I just like the sound of that....

I never had a problem with roaming on the Mariner or Voyager last two trips. I just kept my regular cell phone off. I do have a second cell phone that I left ON but only two people had the number in case of emergency they could reach me. But then again if I was on the ship, they could also call me onboard.

Kathy, I think we are talking about if you call home from your room while we are in Puerto Rico, someone else mentioned that we will automatically connect to the ships cell phone service and it will be considered roaming on our phones.
If you call home from port but are not near the ship, you won't roam.

Yes, I did use my Verizon phone on ship in port in Alaska. Did not get clipped for Roaming. I did not use my T-mobile phone in port on board since that could have been a roaming problem. Something to do with Verizon not being usable since it's not GSM phone service. T-Mobile is GSM Phone.

Hey Everybody,
Portofino's reservations has opened up, but I have to select a table size. Do I select table for 2 for Wed. Dec. 13th, then will there be someplace beyond that that I mention LCT?

Betty, go over to this post where we are discussing our reservations. I think we should keep it all in one post or we are going to get confused, lol.

If anybody else is interested, in Puerto Rico we found a sailboat charter that takes a maximum of six people on a 50' sailboat for sailing, fishing, snorkeling, and swimming off the east coast islands and coves. Here is the information from tripadvisor and the reviews Erin Go Braugh Charters

The cost for the charter is $85 per person plus tax and gratuity and includes all the equipment, lunch, and open bar. The day charter is from 10am to 5pm and leaves from Fajardo, which is about an hour east of Old San Juan, and we could share the rental car. If there are six of us, I could change the reservation and get a van.

Here are some pictures.
[img]http://images.vrbo.com/vrbo/images/91b06[/img]

Wow, that looks awesome, Don! I'll mention it to David at dinner tonight, although we already have one sailing adventure scheduled, and was kind of looking forward to seeing San Juan, since we haven't been there. Do you happen to know if they provide snorkelling equipment?

That is appealing. Could they pick up nearer to the port to avoid a van rental? Would we have time to be there in the morning?

That looks like fun, Don! Sometimes the pick-up spots for sailboats depend a lot on how the currents and seas go. i.e. an hour's drive would be several hours sailing to good waters. We have charted several sailboats in BVI's for a week, always from Tortola. The one time we did it from Charlotte Amalie, it was very rough til we cleared the eastern side of the island.

Wendy, they do provide snorkeling equipment.

Kathy, I will email them to see if they can send somebody to the ship to pick us up and if so what the charge would be. Even if they can't, I know that Hertz has a seven passenger van that we can share and I can pick it up right across from the pier at the Sheraton. With tax it is only $85. I'm a pretty good driver in spite of them taking my license away! LOL As to the time, we board the boat at the Puerto Del Rey Marina in Fajardo, which is about an hour away, so we would need to leave about 9am and should be back around 6pm.

Here is a copy of the description that I received from Bill this morning about the day charter.
-------------------------------------------------
Captain Bill Henry and wife, Dr. Ingrid Klich, offer luxurious sailing and snorkeling charters on their 50-foot Gulfstar Ketch Sailboat. We take
only small groups aboard EGB III offering room and comfort not available elsewhere in Puerto Rico. Captain Bill's more than 50 years of sailing experience, thousands of charters, and local knowledge will ensure a wonderful, safe, and fun time. Ingrid's (aka Dr. Dirt) love of music, geology, soil science and the environment adds a musical ecoadventure to your trip on the Erin Go Bragh III

It is no wonder why we enjoy 75% repeat and referral customers.

We provide personalized day charters, overnight charters and even customized vacations. Sailing out of the Puerto Del Rey Marina in Fajardo,
Puerto Rico, our Caribbean trips include sailing, swimming, fishing, snorkeling, sightseeing and especially fun and relaxation.

Day Trips

Our day charter leaves approximately at 10 a.m. and will return around 5 p.m.-ish. We sail to the local off-shore islands of Icacos, Lobos,
Palominos or Palominitos. Weather permitting, we can even reach Cayo Diablo or Punta Arena on the western end of Vieques.

For $85 per person (not including gratuity and PR sales tax as of November, 2006) you will enjoy a delicious BBQ lunch, plus snacks and
drinks, including open bar. Both Ingrid and Captain Bill are excellent cooks. You can also book the boat exclusively for $510/day (plus PR sales tax and gratuity) and only your group (up to six passengers) will be aboard
for the day. Our arrival and departure times on exclusive trips are flexible to your needs.

We are equipped with fishing poles, snorkel gear for adults and children as well as a CD player (bring your own CDs to listen to or try our
diverse selection). We won't decide on a destination until the morning of a
trip, when we can consider what would be the best islands for the day.

Lunch

Our lunch is one of the best parts of a day trip on the Erin Go Bragh III. Enjoy Captain Bill and Ingrid's "world-famous" complete BBQ chicken,
ribs or marinated steaks with salad and side dish, snacks and drinks. Don't forget to let us know ahead of time if you are a vegetarian, have food allergies, or keep Kosher.

I am deciding if I should pack our snorkel equipment. I think the only time we would need it might be the private island. It's been a while since I have been there and can't remember it they had snorkels there?

Don, you are too cool! That looks like so much fun. You made me look at our Shadow itinerary to see if we happen to be in San Juan the same day - alas, we will miss you by 3 days.

I sure wish we could be on two cruises at once - we'd have loved to been on this one and met all you SANDies!!!!

Karen, I've been poking my head into the Private Island forum over at CC, and they do rent equipment at Princess Cay. I'm going to bring my own mask and snorkel, but David may or may not rent, he's not much of a water-baby.

Don, I think we'll stick with exploring San Juan, since we're doing a sail/snorkel in St. Thomas.

SANDies, only 4 more weeks!!!!!!

'til we are all "Beach Birds"!!! WOOHOO!

LOL Betty, how cute! Can I be that one in the middle? That hat will cover up my humidity puffed out hair!