Well we had a great flight to FLL with no delays as projected. We are staying at the Hyatt and it is quite nice. Long walk to some of the rooms. The group at the Holiday Inn Express are happy with their hotel also.

Gorgeous day, sun shining. Ken and I arrived at around 3.00 pm so we took a walk around a residential neighborhood that backs onto a water canal. Wow there are some absolutely spectacular homes here, cannot imagine the price tags.

At 7.00 pm we met at the Bimini Boat Yard. We had 18 people at two tables of nine. The food and company was great. Seeing Olivia, Jim and Jan again was so wonderful. Also for me so nice to see some people that were not actually coming on the cruise and spend a little time with them. They are not LCT posters. To have a full 14 day cruise ahead of us it means so much more time to visit with the LCT group, so many more dinners to share, 7 days just goes by so quickly. Briefly met Bette and Marty and Carol and Charles (Jim and Jan’s friends) looking forward to getting to know them over the next few weeks.

I am really anxious to get onboard the Voyager. No matter how much I cruise I just love being on the ships. Will post again after we board.

On board now - last night guess what -- herb crusted rack of lamb. We ate with Debbie (my office) and Russell, Olivia and Marjorie (one of my new adopted mothers). Had a wonderful time, the food and company was great. Then we went up stairs to the Observation lounge with Jim, Jan , Bing and Carol and ended the night upstairs. It is so nice to be back on board the Voyager.

The ship is beautifully decorated, I think it looks lovely.

Great staff, Dag, Steph, Patrick and many others all send their best to Marcie and all the other LCT members they know.

Formal night to night so we know it will be another great meal. They originally had New Years as country club casual black and white. It has changed to Formal black and white. I guess many people wanted that so they changed.

So off to my first lunch aboard. The day is glorious sun is shining and we have been doing nothing this morning. We are in Key West. After lunch we will go ashore and stroll around. We are parked right in town so that is very handy.

Ahoy Matie!! I am just watching the Duvall St. cam, you ARE having a spectacular day in Key West!! I am glad everyone has safely made their way to the ship :)

Thanks for posting Ngaire! Glad all is well and I hope you continue to have great weather.

Anthony

So happy that everything is going well for you! We're all envious!! Got a email from Steph this morning and he assures me that you all will be well taken care of! Keep up the seamail...you know how much we love them!! Hopefully 14 days of lamb for you!

Hi Ngaire,

Say hello to the group! Enjoy!

Thanks, Ngaire, for posting for all us "left-behinders". Sounds like a good start ~ good weather ~ good company. Great reasons to PARTY!!
Enjoy!!!!

Betty

Have a great time!

If you get a chance can you ask for the recipe for a Midori Margarita?

Thanks!

Good hearing from you, Ngaire! Hope you all have a wonderful PARTY and keep those informative seamails coming.

Got you hooked on those Midori Margaritas, didn't I, Leslie? :pass:

http://www.midori-world.com/recipes/cocktail_recipes.html

Here you are:

1 1/2 oz tequila
1/2 oz triple sec
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz Midori® melon liqueur
salt

Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass with lime juice and dip in salt. Shake ingredients together, and pour into a glass filled with crushed ice.

Optional: Mix above ingredients with one cup of ice in a blender for a smooth, "granita" type drink.

Granita is THE way to go with this drink!

Thanks Kathy & Denise!

I just bought a bottle of Midori - we have friends coming in from out of town for New Years and the plan is to hang out drinking margaritas, munch on quesadillas and watch some concert DVDs.

The ones on the Voyager were great - I had one that wasn't blended/"granita" at a restaurant here and it didn't really work.

The ones we had on Voyager were excellent! Granita-style is the only way to go when you make this fantasic drink.

You have a great NYE planned, Leslie! Drink a few for us!

Love the seamail, Ngaire. So glad the weather is nice and you are all having a good time. Have fun and keep the seamail coming.

Not too much seamail from the Partiers!!! Must be having too much fun - Joanna

I was just thinking the same thing, J! Hey PARTY crew - what's happening???

Maybe they are having too much fun or the charges for the internet are too expensive now. I hope it is the former and that all the LCTs have a healthy and happy New Year on the ship.

Or the computers could be down. Remember during 008 some of you thought we had sailed off the end of the earth.

I think the internet must be down. They couldn't be having that much fun! And, without us no less!

Donna - you are right. Internet down most of yesterday. On the second night out, they did the "block party" start to the cocktail hour. This is a lot of fun. Capt. Dag ran down our hallway. I reminded him Joanna & Marcie wanted us to kiss him on New Year's Eve. He just smiled & said, "Well, let's get started!!" and gave me a big smooch.

Seas were calm yesterday & it was a lazy day. Ngaire & Ken had a lovely cocktail party for their group & then we were all invited to various officers' table. Olivia, Chetaun, Ngaire, Ken, Marge, Gary & I joined Dag & his wife, Christine. A lot of fun. Thank goodness they moved the captain's table out of the middle of Compass Rose & back towards the back entrance. You can hear a whole lot better that way.

There's a new gentleman host, Alex, on board. He is a riot. Showed up looking like a 1930's style gangster last night. Said it's his country club casual version of "black and white" attire. Working his way through a masters in geology and sailing the world cruise. What a life! This guy will go far.

Bette and Marty are doing marvelously well. It's so great to sail with them again. I've met most of our group - Deb and Clay are delightful and the fabulous foursome (Jim, Jan, Bing and Carol) are great.

We haven't been on board this ship since June 2004. Minor differences are noted. The mixed nuts are not as good; and you can't burn a CD from your picture card in club.com anymore. Instead, it's $14.95 at the photo shop. Hope my flash drive will read on the new computer set up. I can probably just store the photos there. Otherwise, next time I"ll have to bring my own laptop. It's minor but it's annoying. Love our cabin stewardess and am seeing lots of old friends in the waitstaff. Cheers, Anne

That's about it for now.

Great to hear from you Anne! Makes me want to be with all of you - keep having fun and post when you can - make sure Olivia behaves - Joanna

Anne, I was beginning to think that it was "Server cleanup time" affecting your internet access. So good to hear from you! Congrats on getting at the front of the line for a new year's kiss from Capt. Dag! Can't wait to hear what the "Alex" character wears on New Year's Eve! Continue having fun. - Michele

Anne, so good to hear from you!! Sounds like everyone is having a great time. I didn't realize Chetaun was on PARTY. We met her and her sweet Mama on the WC, such lovely people! Tell her Hi for Tom and me. Is she still going on ROAR?

Continue to have a great time and keep us all posted! Have a wonderful New Years!

Hi everyone.

Last night was fun. We started with the block party and enjoyed that, it is a great idea. Then the Captains welcome aboard party and then dinner. The dinner was truly outstanding. The Beef Wellington and lobster were as good as I have had on RSSC. In fact I hate to admit it but I had two Beef Wellingtons and one order of lobster then they bought around a little more lobster and I just had to have one more piece. The soft shell crab and mushroom soup were also outstanding. From the LCT group we had the pleasure of the company of Olivia and Bette and Marty last night.

For those of you have met Cheutan on another trip she looked absolutely stunning last night. Not sure if anyone got a shot of her but in her red dress and diamond necklace – and new curly hairstyle - Julia Roberts move over.

We then went up to the Observation Lounge and visited with Jim and Jan their friends Bing and Carol. This is a very happy foursome and Jan is a riot.

Trivia, we got 12 but one couple got 15 – they may be a hard team to beat. Wont stop us from trying though.

Tonight we have our cocktail party and then dinner with the officers so it should be a nice evening. Picture taking of Captain Dag is bound to be happening. Ken and Olivia are at the photography lecture right now getting last minute tips for tonight and ROAR.

Internet is down we are out of range so I will post this when we get a new connection. May end up adding to this if we don’t get a connection at some point.

I just read Annes post, mine is behind the times now she must have logged on late last night and found the internet up and running.

Enjoyed our party and dinner last night this group is very congenial and everyone is getting to know each other better.

I am determined to go to bed earlier tonight it has been 1.00 am every night since I got on board. Since we hit the locks in the morning I need to wake up a little earlier.

Marc, they are not releasing the society program on board during this cruise I did ask. So it is bound to be posted by someone shore side first. Look forward to seeing all the details posted. It may end up on the web first and I am sure you will be watching to alert us if it shows up there. May be on the LCT board already I have not read any posts yet.

Ken took some great shots last night. Later on today we may try to post them here. RIght now he is at the wine tasting - he loves those so wild horses would not keep him away.

Steph and Dag send their best to everyone. It is so wonderful to see Steph as a hotel director. Well deserved promotion and I know he will be oustanding in this capacity. For those of you who may remember the Host of La Verandah, Laurence he has been promoted to F&B manager and he is excelling in his new spot. He is so good with the guests he can utilize those skills more in this position.

Suzanne, Arnold and Patrick wish you were here. So do we!!!

By the way the Voyager has the fastest internet I have ever experienced on the ships. A new system was just put in place and it really is so much better.

Partyers -- glad you're having a great time--we knew you would. Ngaire, sorry I'm missing Trivia--hope you win the next time.

BTW, has anyone run into Peggy (xrvlcruiser)?? She got on the cruise before PARTY and will be on through the WC. How about Debbie and Clay?

Olivia & Ken are attending a photography lecture! And Joanna wants Olivia to behave. If they are sitting next to each other, they are probably both having too much fun to behave or to learn.

Arnold!!

Arnold and Patrick!!

Boy, now I am really missing being onboard!

Big hug to both of them and a kiss to Arnold from Mrs. McCartney.

I just looked at Debbie & Clay's journal - last entry from Key West. Also a few photos. You can see a world map on the wall - ready to track their WC journey. I think we are all jealous.
Ngaire, tell Debbie (your office) hello. I know how much she was looking forward to this trip.

Maybe there could be an easier way to link to Debbie and Clay's journal?? They seem to be posting there but not to us. Not sure who is doing the writing Debbie or Clay as it's not written in the first person. I hope they continue with the journal so we can keep up with their journey.

It was sad about their luggage pilfering....nothing like that happened when our luggage went through IPS. Not good!

Just got off the phone with Julie at B&K.

Sitting here in soggy Northern California reading this great sea mail I got this crazy idea that I could fly to Huatulco on Tuesday and board the ship on Wednesday.

Air was a go, hotel in Mexico for one night a go, but, whoops, RSSC will no longer prorate a "mini segment". I would have to pay for all 14 nights and only sail 6. That's a no go for me.

I guess I'll just be content to read sea mail... :mecry:

Oh Suzanne, that would have been so much fun for you!! What a shame that they won't allow that anymore...especially when there's empty cabins. That's lost revenue to RSSC!!
You can always fly down to the OC next week and help me pack!! (hold back your excitement!) You can even bring Suzette! We're very open to mini-segments!

The two ladies you may not recognize are one of my adopted Mothers, Marge and then the other lady that is seated is Captain Dag's wife, Christine.

Suzanne, I tried to do the same thing 4 years ago & got nowhere. They would have been happy to let me disembark early but would have had to pay for the entire segment. Marcie's right - lost revenue, but it probably turned into a nightmare for RSSC & they stopped it. Things - they are a changin'!

Oh, love the photos!

Suzette's glad to see Olivia is in good "hands". (It looks like it is all too much for the poor guy to the right who's quickly taking some meds).

So wish they would have let you come Suzanne. They are sticking with the rules more than they used to. I will tell Patrick and Arnold that you wanted to join us. Next time.

Debbie and Clay are lovely. Debbie had dinner with them last night and had a great evening.

We have not heard from Paula, she did not turn up to the get together after the life boat drill. I am sure we will meet eventually.

Yes, we ran into Peggy in Key WEst and visited for a while. I need to introduce her to everyone else.

Ngaire:

Is Marge on your trivia team??? She is fantastic!!! She was on our team during the transatlantic last year. Please say hello from Arlene and me.

Thanks for the Sea Mail, Anne and Ngaire. If you can't be there, then at least you get to cruise vicariously.

Suzanne,

That would have been wonderful to join PARTY! Next time we will just have to book ahead. Like MUSH and PIP!

Wasn't Olivia's daughter supposed to join in Hualtulco? If she's not going, Suzette, can Olivia sneak you on board?

Oh how I love seeing everyone!! If Marge plays bingo with you...she will win most days! She won more Bingo on the WC than anyone! Please give her and the others hugs for me! Cheutan looks as gorgeous as ever! Seeing these pictures just makes me realize how many WONDERFUL people (including staff) we've met because of cruising Radisson! :banana: I hope you know we're there with you in spirit!

Love reading all the reports. And, the pictures add so much. I recognize almost everyone. Don't see any lipstick smudges on Capt. Dag's face. Guess he can't do much kissing with his wife sitting next to him. She was on one of our Song of Flower cruises along with his children. She's a lovely lady.

Anne, I didn't realize they had started charging to make a photo CD. I took our laptop last time so didn't need to do that. Just assumed you could still copy photos in Club.com. Hard to keep up with all the changes. Glad to hear that the internet is faster.

I wonder if Alex will be on the World Cruise? Must be an entertaining guy!

Ngaire, how do you eat two Beef Wellingtons plus extra lobster? Wish I had your metabolism!

Have a wonderful time, all. New Year's Eve should be so much fun. I would love to celebrate it on a ship. One of these days.

Can't wait for more reports.