Margo, I'm finally catching up on all the posts here. Your cruise sounds fabulous. So glad you are having a good time. And, lucky you, getting to meet "Little Fish" in person. Can't wait to see the photos.

Margo, how nice that you and Brian and Denise had an evening together.

We have had just a little rain but not enough to slow things down too much. It's usually sporadic and then we have brilliant sun.

Can't wait to hear about your lunch with Little Fish. I hope she brought her parents!

Had the most wonderful time visiting with Margo and Tom aboard the Navigator. Being aboard again brought back a lot of memories of our cruise on the Navigator from NYC to Montreal. Tom is an absolute hoot with a dry wit. And Margo is such a dear - they were very gracious with our tardiness and our uncooperative munchkin! Marika was in one of her moods where she's tired/hungry/mad all at the same time and refuses to do anything to fix any of the 3 conditions (grin) Despite her moodiness, she was quite the hit aboard ship with multiple people asking to carry her. :)

Margo - we had the best time having lunch with you two - hope to be able to repeat it soon on a future cruise! As you well know, the blanket was immediately loved and had Marika's "personal touch" added all too soon! And Marsha/George - the puppet was way too cute! Thank you for thinking of her (once again) :D

Masaki

PS: so now I know, Gannett newspapers is pronounced "gah-NET" as opposed to "GAH-net"

What a great time to be able to get together! Masaki, as any of us who have raised kids know....some days they are great and some days are, well, just not so great! Been there, done that!

That is so wonderful that you were able to go onboard with Margo and Tom!!

How great that you all were able to get together. Can't wait to meet Marika in person, no matter what her mood.

How special that must have been for all of you. Now on to the West Coast. First stop in Port Hueneme!!! Yippee! One week from today! Then on to the MIMOSA Brunch!

I am so glad you all had such a nice time! I am envious as can be that Margo got her hands on Marika and I still have not but oh well, these things can't be helped!!

I know Marika is too young for the bath puppet but maybe when she's a bit older she'll enjoy it. I appreciate Margo and Tom bringing the package to you.

Marika was adorable...no matter what her mood! And of course Masaki and Amanda were anxious that she not bother anyone so they were probably more sensitive to her behavior than we were. She is such a sweetie...and everyone loved having a little one on board! Our waiter Lucius even offered to babysit.

In the evening another set of friends joined us for dinner, it was so fun to see them again after several years - Tom and Mark once worked together so the old company gossip ruled the evening.

We were so tuckered out from all our entertaining that we were fast asleep when the ship sailed at midnight.

Today we are in Maui but there have been a couple of problems.....after I left early this morning on tour it seem the ship's anchor wouldn't hold against the current so they have basically been running the engines all day just to keep the ship in position for the tenders. We were suppose to remain here until 11 pm but the schedule was adjusted, we will sail at 6 pm - hopefully those who left on tour before the announcement was made will return in time - their tours will be done, but if they strike out on their own afterwards they may have a big surprise! I'll let you know if anyone misses the "boat"!

Our deck barbeque was also cancelled because we'll be underway and it's too windy to serve outside.

So today had a few surprises and disappointments, but nothing really serious. We're off to Kona next - I'll try to check in tomorrow.

PS: Masaki & Amanda...thanks so much for coming to the ship with Marika - we had a wonderful time with you and can't wait to see you again.

Margo - sorry to hear about Maui - too bad about the anchor not holding (!). Lucius was quite funny - we ran into him as we were leaving the port building and gave him last minute directions on how to get to K-mart. We would have offered to have driven him there but we needed to shop a bit at Aloha Tower to get our parking validated. :)

Have a great time in Kona!

Masaki

Aloha...we are anchored! We arrived off the Kona Coast this morning, greeted by sunny skies and smooth seas.

It was a very quite cruise between Maui and Hawaii last night, but our depature was delayed a bit - when they raised the last tender at around 8 pm the dining room erupted in applause - still haven't heard exactly what happened, but I'm sure today's grapevine will produce some news.

I have no tours planned for today but will certainly go ashore and walk around Kona. I plan to pick up a few small gifts for crew members - they seem to come back with munchies when they go ashore, so food items might be a good choice. I also plan to get a couple of phone cards because both our stewardess and our butler love to phone home.

Kathy...there has been another change in our stop at Port Hueneme....we are only staying until 5 PM! All tours have been cancelled not enough time to go and come back! Someone told me we are just stopping to disembark passengers. The government controls the time we are there so the ship has no real say in the matter. Anyway, wanted to give you the headsup on that - We would still love to have you visit us on the Navigator - and if it's not a long drive to come to the port I hope we can still plan on seeing you. Just wanted to let you know.

So wonderful to hear that you all had a lovely visit. I'm sure Marika won over everyone's hearts!

We love Hawaii and have visited Kauai and Maui twice. We've yet to visit Kona, but have heard it's a beautiful and very interesting island.

I do hope you are able to connect with Kathy and Frank while in Port Hueneme.

See you on Sunday!

Hi....checking my email this morning - we changed our clocks again last night so now we're on west coast time...our brains are still in Tahiti I think - slow start this morning - at 7:30 I was the third person to show up for coffee in the Navigator Lounge - that's unusual.

We'll be in SF on Friday and I'm looking forward to some shopping and just wandering around - may have to buy a pair of shoes - just realized I have sneakers or sandals but nothing in between - and it seems things are a little cooler than I expected. Oh well, can always use a new pair of shoes (or two)!

Yesterday we found out we can stay on the ship the night of December 4th! Originally there was a charter and we were suppose to stay at the Beverly Hilton for the evening...but the charter has been cancelled so Hurrah...we get to stay. In fact I think there will only be three or four passengers onboard! I'm excited to have the ship almost to ourselves. And they will just move us while we're enjoying Mimosa, can it get any better than that?

When I talked with our Stewardess last night she told us the housekeeping staff is going to Disneyland on Sunday - they are very excited - a special treat for them. I hope the waitstaff gets a treat too. They all work so hard to make our shipboard life wonderful. This unexpected night "off" should be fun for all of them.

California LCTers...what's the weather like? We have CNN International right now and sometimes it's easier to figure out how to dress in Turkey than SF! The weather seems to be getting cooler but haven't heard a forecast.

Can't wait til Sunday...see you then.

Margo, right now the So. Cal weather is delightful, cool mornings but warms up to around 70. I hear there's a chance of rain for the weekend. Hope they're wrong as Saturday is the big USC vs. UCLA rival game!

Pray for a dry Saturday & Sunday!!

So happy you get to stay onboard and not leave for a hotel!

Really enjoying your reports, Margo, and looking forward to many more!

Are we going to see a picture of you with Marika??

Margo - congrats on getting to stay onboard the ship for that one day!!

Masaki

Kathy...right now I can't post any photos from the ship, but I promise to do it when I can...perhaps Masaki can put one of if he would.

Margo, I have missed something. Where do you go next?

Margo,

Can you burn a CD on the ship and give it to me this weekend and I will upload some for you!

I'll be interested in how your cabin change goes, Margo. We are going to have to do that on Leg 2 of the WC. Enjoy seeing everyone at MIMOSA.

Kathy...as far as I can tell there is no opportunity to burn a CD here on the ship although I can probably do that on my own computer, so I'll try to do that before we get to you.

Donna, I'm told that they will just exchange the drawers etc and bring all the hanging clothing on a cart to our new suite. I promise to let you know how it goes. I think they will tell us more on how to prepare on Saturday.

We are now about 36 hours out of SF...the weather is cooler and cloudier and we're all feeling the "end" is near. It's been so wonderful and we are still enjoying meeting new cruise friends. Tonight we decided to take a chance and form a new table with people we hadn't meet....it was great, in fact we've almost always find it a great way to meet new friends.

I'll try to write more tomorrow....sweet dreams to all...after dinner and wine, I'm sure we'll have ours!

Kathy...the security officer called me this afternoon...the Port Hueneme (sp? can't ever remember how to spell that) officials have now told RSSC that they will not allow visitors.

He has promised to follow up, telling them that they had granted permission, but he isn't optimistic. I promise to call you tomorrow to let you know what I know, but perhaps we should just agree to meet on Sunday. I hate for you to drive to the ship and not be able to board. They are offering us a free shuttle to the shops at the mall so I have a backup plan if none of this works out.

I'll call you tomorrow when we have cell service.

Sorry for all the confusion - I know Radisson is upset that is was so poorly handled.

We had our farewell party and dinner tonight. Everyone was so beautifully dressed. The crew had a wonderful dinner for us.

We're so sorry to think about saying goodbye to our shipboard friends. We will loose passengers for the next 3 days....but it's been a wonderful voyage....today at lunch they had the most incredible "market" lunch in Compass Rose... stations for all of the international foods from shashimi to pasta to tacos...and everything inbetween. The day was rainy but who would know, we were having the most wonderful lunch. I'll post the photos when we get to a high speed connection.

Tomorrow SF....I can't believe we're back to the US.

Good night and sweet dreams to all!

We'll be cruising under the Golden Gate bridge in about a half hour...it is clear but very cool and windy - quite a change for us. Everyone is excited and headed up top to watch. Guess I'll join them! It's exciting to be coming "home"!

Margo has your trip, so far, gone as quickly for you as I feel it has for me - feels like yesterday you were getting ready to leave Florida - Joanna

Hi Joanna...yes, sometimes it really does seem as though we left only yesterday, but then again as we sit down each evening to another fabulous meal in Compass Rose we feel like we've been eating FOREVER! LOL!

All our friends will be leaving the ship on Sunday and we are sad to say goodbye but also happy that we have 2 more weeks.

Today was a perfect day to be in San Francisco. It was cool and clear this morning. Everyone was off to see and do things around the city. We've been here many times but this was the first time I actually rode a cable car. It was fun to really be a tourist.

We sail tonight at 6 pm. One more day and we'll be in LA....and Mimosa for us! hurrah!!!!

Hello from the West Coast!

This morning we are cruising south from San Francisco towards LA. The first part of our voyage is coming to a close but we have Mexico and the Panama Canal ahead of us.

Unfortunately, almost all of our South Pacific friends will leave the ship today or tomorrow. Last night we felt a tinge of sadness as we gathered in Frank and Wendy’s (Cairns, Australia) suite to share some champagne and canapés and reminisce about the last 24 days. Larry and Judy (from Camarillo, CA) brought along their laptop and we relived each port as we laughed and talked about their photos.

Digital cameras and laptops make travel photography so easy and the results are instant. Remember when you used to come home form vacation and have to mortgage the house to get the film developed? Thank goodness those days are gone.

Jens and Gunhild (Vancouver Island) also joined in our celebration and we continued on to the dining room. We’ve had the pleasure of dinner in this group of eight several times. Inevitably we are one of the last tables to finish. I’m sure there are some nights when the wait staff wishes they could whisk the table cloth right out from under our elbow to move us along!

One of our favorite wine stewards Yavuhs (I’m sure I didn’t spell that right! He’s from Turkey) know all of us so well; he arrives with several different wines to satisfy all tastes. Wendy is allergic to sulfites so they have a special wine for her. Tom wants Sauvignon Blanc do his choice arrive, I like the Coppola Merlot, another bottle appears, before you know it our table is crowded with bottles and Gunhild decides to try them all! You can imagine the laughter we shared.

On Monday, when the next group of passengers arrives, we will be very lucky if we meet others that are as gracious and friendly as this special group of cruisers that we now think of as friends.

But enough…don’t want to get misty eyed and foul up the keyboard. Let me tell you about my day in San Francisco!

Yesterday dawned bright and clear. After 3 days of mist and rain it was like magic, everything was brilliant…but a little cool. Burrrrr! Many of us gathered on deck 12 to view our passage under the Golden Gate Bridge. We were all bundled up to our ears with any warm clothing we had the foresight to bring along. There was a buzz of excitement, land ho...after four rough and sometimes rainy days at sea. And for most of us, the sight of what we call home, the USA.

The pilot arrived onboard and the coast guard cruised alongside as we entered San Francisco Harbor. Open your golden gate….here we come!

Soon many of us were headed for some shoreside touring and shopping. After so many trips to SF, I finally visited Fisherman’s Wharf. It was fun to just poke around in the shops. I found some small Christmas gifts. Next I wandered down to the bakery to have some sourdough, yummy, couldn’t miss that.

My digital camera batteries have been fading fast during the trip so I set out to find a shop that sold the right kind of replacement. While on that mission I passed an “In ‘n Out” burger store. After so many comments by California friends, I had to stop and try just one double-double...double Yum- Yum! So now I had a few calories to walk off!

I also wanted to ride the cable cars. Yep, never done that before either, so today was my day to be a real tourist. The drivers are almost as good as the ride. They each have their own driving “stick” and by the end of the line you’re a part of the act! When I arrived in Union Square I needed to walk around a bit and consider some shopping. Tom was lucky, the crowds and the time kept me from doing any serious damage. So I boarded another cable car and took a different route back to the wharf. All too soon it was time to set sail again.

So here I am. checking email from home and wishing all of you were here to enjoy the Navigator with me. Maybe someday!

Hi Margo,

I have enjoyed reading your posts so much. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences from the South Pacific. I'm glad you had a fun time in SF. Isn't the sourdough the best?

Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow and hearing more of your adventures!

Dena

Well....we're in Port Hueneme and it's been a very interesting exprience. First we waited quite some time for all disembarking passengers to leave the ship. Next the captain announced that all shore leave for crew was cancelled. Then he announced that the ship had to be cleared by the coast guard and they were not at the dock yet????? By now it was after 2 pm....still no clearance and the ship must sail at 5 pm (again at the insistance of the port authority) so the time for the two tours was dwindeling very quickly. Finally the captain comes on and announces that only passengers with tour tickets may leave the ship - anyone else who hoped to just walk off to catch a taxi or meet friends (like Kathy and Frank) were not allowed to go off.

You can imagine the uproar. There are many unhappy passengers. The cruise director apologized and immediately organized a pool cocktail party from 2:30 - 3:30.

I met one of the offices returning to the bridge -they are very upset with the local port authority - not because of their decisions, but because they failed to communicate any of this ahead of time. It does seem like very poor business to treat the ship and the passengers (90% Americans)like we're a national threat!

Oh well...off to the pool party!

PS...Kathy, so glad you and Frank didn't drive over here just to be turned away - I decided to skip the shopping trip - they are on such a tight schedule it didn't seem worth the hassle. See you tomorrow.

Dena...can't wait for MIMOSA..it will be so much fun.

What is sad about this whole experience, is that RSSC gets all kinds of press when there is a cruise ship stop at Port Hueneme. In May, the Mariner left for Alaska on the first Alaska Cruise of the season and they even had a big group depart from Ventura County. Being it's a primarly a Naval port and used for shipping, it only has had the Mariner visit in the past. I guess the port authority isn't used to much people traffic. There really is not much to do there at all and actually some of the surrounding neighborhoods are not all that great to be walking around. Go figure - maybe it'll be the last RSSC stop there. I met the mayor of Port Hueneme last year, maybe I ought to call her (ha ha)

Kathy...I'd recommend that chat...everyone is writing very negative comments about Port Hueneme...is sad when your last impression is not a good one.

Even as we were leaving there was a fire engine following us down the pier as though we were some kind of danger - I think homeland security is doing all of their drills right here!

We stayed on ship this afternoon and had a wonderful dinner with Frank and Wendy. I will be so sad to see them go tomorrow.

Right now we are going 6 knots....we're so close to LA...can't arrive too early! Originally we were suppose to be in Port Hueneme until 10, but again, they kicked us out early - but all is well, the casino is open so we can win or lose a few dollars before tomorrow.

Can't wait until MIMOSA...SEE SOME OF YOU SOON!

Love your reports Margo, that was really an unusual circumstance in Port Hueneme. Keep them coming.

Good morning from LA! Bright and sunny - but a little cool, 54 degrees. The ship is abuzz as everyone prepares to leave. It strange to feel sad and happy at the same time, but we do.

Tom has finally caught the cold that's been going around the ship. I'm not certain he'll come to Mimosa...he doesn't want to give it to anyone else. I've been taking my airbourne at a constant clip - hoping not to catch it from him (or anyone else).

See some of you in a few hours!!! :)

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Margo, it's fun to keep track of you via your reports. Sorry Tom is ailing, but I hope you enjoyed MIMOSA enough for the both of you.

I hope your canal transit is as pleasant as the first segment of your journey.

Hi Marsha...we've enjoy following you and George on the PG and in Bora Bora!

Tom and I both have the COLD now...we've spent the last 4 days in our suite...a very nice suite, but not where we hoped to be 24/7. We even had to decline an invitation to dine with the Captain :( We're hoping to face the world again today. This is my first time at the computer in so long, it may take awhile to just check the email.

We have seen both grey and humpback whales off the Baja...and the weather is glorious. We hoping for a cure by Acapulco!

Hurrah....we had our first dinner in the dining room in a week - I think the "cold" is almost gone. I've heard other coughs on the ship...hopefully they don't have what we HAD!

Everyone has been so amazing - we had calls from the nurse, and guest relations asking how we are doing. And every staff member we meet asks if we're feeling better. We really do feel as though the staff cares that we are doing better.

Tonight in the dining room our favorite wine steward came across the room to see us - he thought we'd left the ship....you know, the staff really is wonderful, they have made us feel so well cared for. Our waiter Alberto told me to see him tomorrow for "early coffee" in the Navigator Lounge - he has something good for a cold. Just can't remember when a crew was so sweet and caring about our health.

Well, we'll see if Tom is on the mend, I left him in the casio at the blackjack table!

Welcome Back, Margo. It's been quite a week around here.

Margo, I am so glad you are feeling better. It's rotten to spend your cruise sick!

We walked in the door on Friday and a few hours later I said to George, "How weird, that airplane seat must have made my back hurt. And it gave me a headache and a sore throat."

It turns out I think I have the flu!!! I am miserable. I can't have the flu shot and it looks like it got me this year. Oh well, it waited until we got home, how lucky is that? It's slowing me down getting ready for Christmas but that is hardly a crisis.

Marsha....get well soon! It's NEVER easy to be sick, but being in your own bed has some advangages - all your comfort things are nearby.

Kathy...I've been wondering how everyone else is? Tom said I'm worse than Typhoid Mary....but I'd be shocked to know that what we had would spread that quickly. If it did, I am soooo sorry - I didn't even know I was sick or I would have stayed away. Hope all is well.

Margo, you're better, hooray! Hope you can get back to enjoying your cruise and posting more seamail.

Margo, so glad you are feeling better. Marsha, so sorry you're not feeling well so get well soon.

I've really enjoyed reading all of your wonderful posts.

Nancy

We all got it at the same time so we can just blame it on the limo driver! As long as we're all the mend, that's what counts