Tedson

Glad to see RCCL is helping S.F.'s maritime business.

Isn't that in 2007, Andrew? :)

Happy New Year everyone. For NYE, we had a nice dinner at Grissini's at the Hilton, then went over to our friend Larry's and watched the new year arrive on TV. Anyone do anything exciting?

Hi Ken, welcome to the group. The "East Bay Contingent" has met for coffee twice, but the last get-together on your side of the Bay was back on Pride Parade weekend, so I guess we're overdue for another. Are you still going on the Disney Cruise?

You must be back by now...let us know how your B2B was :)

Gails...ditto what aerobear says. We had rougher seas in the Caribbean last month than any I can remember out of San Francisco.

Brian, if you sell real estate like you sell people on cruising, you'll be a big success :D No, I didn't know you had departed the Farg...I'll miss our little inter-office email chats :rolleyes: Ralph is doing an obligatory trip to visit his folks in NY next month, so not sure he'd want to go back east again that soon. And I think my manager is doing the Dawn Princess 10-day SF round trip in February so I wouldn't be able to get the time off.

But I really do want to try Holland America someday :o

Serendade?

Another Kid-Friendly RCCL ship?

Come to HAL, Ted - Come to HAL....

;)

I mentioned your invite to Ralph last night, and he started "Well, we COULD stay at my sister's on Long Island...and you know, Jet Blue has these great fares to New York..."

Oh Gawd, why did I mention it!?

Ted--

Have you thought of joining us on the Noordam Inaugural in February?

There's gonna be quite a crew of us boys on there - and I'm organizing some of my fabulous parties! ;)

Sounds like fun, Brian, but I'm saving up for the Hawaii cruise on Serenade next October. How's the availability?

Ted--

...come to HAL where we lock the children away in Club HAL, then dump them overboard if they dare come out! :D

Now THAT'S the way a cruiseline SHOULD be run! :D

 

Tedson,

 

Are you and Ralph back from the Caribbean? Anxious to hear about your cruise!

Yes, we've been back since Monday. I decided to try staying away from Cruise Critic in the hopes of curing my cruising addiction, but my need for a "Hyacinth fix" drew me back to my favorite thread :D

All in all, we enjoyed the cruise but can't say it was one of our favorites. We found Mariner to be too large for our tastes, and it appeared to be more geared towards families. The ship was overrun with teens who, even with all the activities offered, apparently got bored and took to running down the hallways in packs. One night, a group of them came around a corner and literally knocked Ralph to the ground, turned around and laughed at him and then kept going. I wasn't there but fortunately another passenger came along and helped him to his feet. We reported the incident but all they did was give us a copy of the policy regarding undesirable behavior. The seas were a bit choppy all week and it rained several of the days. Food was average for what we've come to expect from RCI, though the meal in Portofino's was excellent.

Will we cruise with RCI again? Yes, but not on another Voyager Class ship. I shuddder to think what Freedom Of The Seas will be like. We're booked on Serenade next October, Honolulu to Ensenada, and I'm sure we'll enjoy that much more as we really liked sister ship Brilliance with all its glass.

Have fun on NCL; a couple of friends are doing the 2 night cruise to nowhere after it returns from your 5-nighter.

Well, we're just about all packed. We leave tomorrow for Orlando, then cruise from Pt. Canaveral Sunday on Mariner OTS. I'll report in when we return. And no get togethers while we're gone, OK? :D

Okay, looks like the 17th is a pretty good date, huh?

 

Brian (bdjam) how is that date for you? We definitely want you to come this time since you were off CRUISING in April.

 

And Tim (tjinwc) how's your dance card look for the 17th ???

 

Tedson, how very Hyacinth of you to mention the 17th is acceptable, however you'll be cruising on the 1st. As a late bloomer to the 'Keeping Up Appearances' club, you're coming along JUST fine!

Beav, thanks for the compliment (I think?) :)

So what do you think, Gents? 10? 10:30? 11?

I think THE WC coffee clatch was back in April. Time certainly flies by!

 

If the Saturday thing worked well for everyone last time, then how about...

 

Saturday, Sept 17 or

Saturday, Oct 1

 

?????

 

Suggestions?

We can make the 17th. We'll be in Port Canaveral on 10/1 for our Mariner cruise.

Beav, a question regarding proper attire...are "tighty-whities" on cute guys still allowed? (gawd, I hope so!) :)

We had a wonderful cruise on Infinity. It was nice seeing Andrew again and finally meeting Ed. I believe there were 5 FOD's in 6 nights, and they were mostly scheduled in the Martini Bar which was also where our Cruise Critic gatherings were held, so that made it very interesting. Dinner in the United States was the perfect birthday gift for Ralph-the meal was absolutely phabulous!

Brian J-we'll let you know about any upcoming get-togethers. Where are you sailing in October/November?

Brian P-How was your cruise?

 

And by the way, are you and TEDSON in the single digit countdown stage for your rendevouz w/Infinity? I guess I can't schedule a C5/WC koffee klatch THIS weekend if ya'll are heading north. Have a phabulous cruise...all of you! Is Hubble-the-wonder-dog going to the doggie spa this time? When are visiting days/hours? Misery loves company...I'll go down and sit with Hubble and cry that our daddies didn't take us along this time.....LOL!

 

Tedson...is the "surprise" still on ?????

Beav, no I broke down and told him a couple of weeks ago. He's thrilled of course-keeps talking about it with anyone that will listen :D

I still wish you were joining us :(

BepSF

 

Where is this group cruise information? I'm curious.

Here you go...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=212175

Hey Beav, did you ever go see Debbie? A friend of ours went and said it was a great show.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Happy Birthday, Brian. I guess winning that Celebrity cruise was a great birthday present :)

And thankfully, our "cruise card" is filling up nicely for Fall 2005!

QUOTE]

OK Beav, care to supply any details? :confused: :D

That's great news, Brian! Have you cruised with Celebrity before?

Did a hard hat tour the other day.

Hmmm...I've been humming YMCA all morning! :D

Andrew, hope you have a great time back east at your brother's wedding. :)

I went back and checked the press release they put out in 2004. Apparently construction is not due to begin until 2006. A coworker of mine who lives in the area told me the condo's, which are the first phase of the overall project, are nearly completed.

Sorry to report we never made it to the city yesterday. But I did watch both ships leave on Kroooz-CAMS website.