Hello, All!

Well, it still appears that we are the only "novice" cruisers posting here; we will look to you all for your collective cruise wisdom!

We have a "D" guarantee but have not received any docs yet. The TA apprised us that we have a gratis excursion, courtesy of Virtuoso, from Casablanca to Rabat. We spent a few days in Rabat on an earlier trip to Morocco, so we're not sure we'll do that again. Any of you going on that? For sure we'll be doing Barcelona, Valencia, and Malaga on our own (did you see the NY Times articles on Valencia (8/7/05) and Malaga (6/12/05)?

We're arriving 11/5, staying at the Columbus Monaco hotel-- anybody else staying there?
Looking forward to meeting you all!

Shirley and Peter TerMaat

Shirley & Peter:

I called RSSC and asked about a cabin assignment. We had an E guarantee. You need your booking #. We were upgraded to a C. Hope that it works out.

Shirley and Peter,

Rick and I will be on the Virtuoso excursion to Rabat.

Debbie

I checked out the average weather for ports of call on the 11/06 Monte Carlo - FLL voyage.
Hopefully we will see temperatures a little above average on this journey.
Here they are:-

Average Monthly Temperature. Monthly Precipitation.

Monte Carlo 61F 4.6”

Barcelona 62F No Data

Valencia 65F “

Malaga 67F “

Casablanca 68F 2.6”

Agadir No Data No Data

Lazarotte 66F - 78F “

Funchal 66F 4.5”

I do hope you find this useful. See you all soon.

Bumping this thread up again. Won't be long before we sail away!

How about a quick "meet and greet" right after the muster drill? Observation Lounge, ok? Any takers?

or, David has suggested sometime in the morning on our way to Barcelona.

This group has been really quiet. Time to start the anticipation!

Yes, Donna, we're game for a quick "meet & greet" right after muster drill (Observation Lounge is perfect.) We're fine with any arrangement.

Serious packing is taking place as I type! We leave next Friday (10/28) for land portion. ......getting excited!

- Michele

Count us in for the "meet & greet" after the muster drill. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Debbie

We will also join the "meet & greet" in the Observation Lounge. We're counting the days!

Gwen

So glad I logged on to this thread again. I wanted to find out what was happening. We look forward to meeting you all after the muster drill in the observation lounge. I guess we will all recognise each other by the quizzical looks!!!
We are very happy to be joining such a happy group of folks. See you in a couple of weeks.
David & Betty..

Sure, but what's a "muster drill", and when is that likely to happen?

Shirley TerMaat

Sorry Duplicate post.

Shirley:

Before, or just after we sail, all passengers and crew must carry their lifevests and proceed to muster stations, which are usually designated on the doors of cabins.
You are instructed in the correct proceedure of donning the vest in case of an emergency.
This is done on all cruises, sometimes more than once.
Don't forget to take your camera. It will be a fun photo of you with your large orange chest!!!!

Irene, let's make sure we arrange a meeting when you and Carol board in Funchal. And David and Betty, thanks for posting our gathering on the CC board. The more the merrier! Not sure all the CC posters know of our thread on LCT.

Debbie

Debbie:
I tried to advise the CC thread some time ago but the message got bumped!!!!!

Thanks Debbie for remembering us. Carol and I are so looking forward to meeting everyone. Carol is in #672 and I am in #941.

Think your brother is coming in from Dayton as is Carol.

Have a wonderful first week and save me some Grey Goose!!
Cheers, Irene

Irene, my brother, Edward, will be directly across the hall from you in suite #940. He'll be leaving from Cinn. going into London and leaving the following morning on a direct flight into Funchal. We will meet him the next morning at his hotel, the Madeira Palacio, and then head into western Madeira for some sightseeing before going back to the ship. When will you and Carol be arriving?

Debbie

David & Betty,

It is such a shame CC feels so threatened when someone mentions LCT. You would hope, as on our LCT board, CC would be delighted to bring as much information as they could to benefit their readers. Obviously, not the case since they bumped your attempt to advise their readers of this thread.

Debbie

Debbie:

It would seem that like everything else the cruise information business is very competitive. It would appear to me that each of these boards is run by travel agencies anxious to attract customers.
I have been a member of CC for about 5 years and of this board only since I booked our next cruise, about 6 months ago.
I have been encouraged by the postings on this board and when I book our next "luxury" cruise I will contact the agency that runs this page.
See you soon on the "good ship," Seven Seas Voyager.

Debbie, we are arriving the day before the cruise and staying at the same hotel. What fun that things turned out so due to this great message board. Looking forward to meeting all the others. I lived near David and Betty for many years in Westlake Village and hope to catch up.

We fly from Newark to Lisbon and on to Funchal.

Irene Heitzman and Carol LLoyd

David and Betty--

Thanks so much for the "muster" explanation. I will save the camera for other photo ops-- we have enough "outtakes" as it is!

And to both of you and Debbie-- it is indeed a shame that your postings get bumped off the other cruise board. Such actions don't do anything to promote good will among prospective clients-- in fact, the opposite!

See you all on the 6th...

Shirley TerMaat

See my post today (10/25)on the "other" cruise board. Apparently fishermen at many of Spain's ports have instituted a "blockade"-- preventing any cruise ship from embarking or disembarking. The Crystal Serenity was supposed to disembark this morning at Barcelona but is still at sea, trying to find a port at which to dock. If you go
to the "other" cruise board's "News" section, you'll see the article listed as "Crystal Serenity-- Out to Sea!" Worse, passengers who booked their own air, and have to incur additional expensive for alterate arrangements to get home, may not get any help from Crystal, according to Carolyn Spencer Brown (the editor).

With three Spanish ports on our itinerary, let's hope this is over soon!

(Jeez, and we figured this would be a "safe" itinerary... no Wilma-esque hurricanes likely,
no Italian air/transit strikes to iterfere, no G-8 conference scheduled anywhere near....... never figured a Spanish Armada could be a threat!)

Shirley T.

Just let me finish my game of bowls and I will take on the buggars!!!!!

Thanks for the "heads-up", Shirley. Oh my. Thank goodness we board in Monte Carlo. Hope it will be resolved by the time we arrive in Spain. If I have to be stuck somewhere, I'll choose the Voyager any day!

This group has the makings of a great cruise group! I have met nary a one of you other than Donna and Alan (Southernlady) for a brief time in California for an lct function, and I wish I could be on this cruise, as a crossing is so high on my list! I, too, think it is too bad that the CC board has the need to delete any mention of lct, but I can see why; it is so much friendlier on this board! A lot of us here have been cc board members for a long time and even though I post frequently on cc, it is just different here, more than just information. Ngaire has enough confidence not to have their rule here, and allows open discussion, just no meanies allowed!

I would definitely plan a place and time to meet after muster, as after that it is hard to get everyone together to meet for the first time. Those of us at home will be sorely in need of some Sea Mail by that time~

Spanish Ports now open see
http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1440

Thanks for the info, David. Glad to see we get to visit our Spanish ports instead of sailing round and round in the Med.

Donna:

I can think of a lot of things that are a lot worse than sailing round and round in the Med!! The weather looks like it will be qute mild in Monaco 66F and maybe a little wet in Barcelona, according to the extended weather forcasts.
david.

David, I've been checking the weather forecasts too. Let's hope the sun decides to shine for us. Cruise is almost here, can't wait!

Not much longer now! We will be heading to Atlanta on Wednesday to catch our flight on Thursday. Safe travels to all, and we will see you at our “meet and greet”.

Irene, my brother, Edward Deen, sends greetings to both you and Carol. He’s looking forward to meeting you and plans to leave a message for you at the hotel once he arrives. Maybe the three of you will be able to meet for a drink or dinner or just a quick hello on Saturday.

Debbie

We would be delighted to meet Edward at the hotel. I will be registered under Ella Heitzman (per my passport). Carol Lloyd will be in a separate room as we did the single supplement.

I will definitely be ready for a drink after a six hour wait at Newark!! Have a safe flight and looking forward to meeting everyone.

Cheers, Irene

In our original mailing on the Funchal - FLL section, the trip was advertised as a Salute to the Big Bands with, I believe, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. There does not seem to be any mention of it in the RSSC pages. Does anyone have any information?

Checking the weather forcasts for the first few ports looks like nice moderately warm weather. Not like the 92F we have today in Calabasas,CA!!

Looking forward to our meeting and the cruise.
Safe journey to all of us.

David.
Reply With Quote

We psoted our review of the cruise on the Cruise Review thread.