Many, many congratulations to the happy couple!

A Honeymoon on the Paul Gauguin perhaps? It's great for Anniversaries too!

See what happens when I don't keep up with LCT??
Joanna -- a romantic proposal in Venice?? In St. Mark's Square?? I love this man! I hope someone took a photo of this fabulous event. Congratulations to you both!

Yes, we are all excited for Joanna and Mark, they are such a cute couple. Had the pleasure of dinner last night with them, Olivia and Bob/Suzanne, Tom/Mona. Then I went to the Casino for 1/2 hour, then joined up with everyone on the back deck, then we all went to Karoke. Now I must say, I have never in all our cruises on RSSC seen Karoke so packed, it was amazing. Lots of fun, and our guys did their thing very well.

Korcula was just beautiful, very impressive. We did a tour out to a family farm where they served us a wonderful lunch of sardines, olives, hams and cheeses, then a wonderful pasta like dish with a meat sauce. They served us wine they make themselves, in fact they cure the meats, make their own cheese, grow their own vegetables, olives, almonds. It was very nice - then we walked around the old city, got caught in the rain, and then came back in time for trivia. We actually lost with 14 right answers!!!

BK cocktail party was fun and then dinner, as mentioned above.

Today we are in Sarande. Not sure what we are doing, as we chose not to take a tour, so guess we will just take the tender in and walk around, then maybe come back and try to do some laundry and just relax.

Yes, VL was packed last night - we had dinner with Marc and Arlene and another couple last night, then met on Horizon deck for our nightly after dinner chats....unless this port has some hidden magic it looks awful from the ship - plus raining a little - we'll walk in and check it out but have a feeling this will be a sea day for us. This has been so port intensive and I do miss sea days - BUT the ports have been great and 3 days in Venice was perfect. Tomorrow Taromina very excited and hope weather this week will be as outstanding as it was last week.

Just back from a taxi ride in Saranda. This is a developing country so not much infrasture for tourists. Our taxi was cheap 45 euros for 3 hours. Our guide spoke a little English enough for us to communicate.

There is nothing in the town at all to see. So if you just walked into town you would be highly disappointed.

We did the same itinerary as one of the tours. Went to the Lekuresi Castle on the hilltop which is now a restaurant. The view was spectacular. Reminded me of Cape Town.

Then on to a park that has a spring that comes from underground that bubbles at the surface. The call it Blue Eye. What makes interesting is that there are so many colors in the extremely clear water with the deepest blue being in the middle. The water pressure is so strong that divers can not go down the spring.

On the way back we saw an 11th century Monastery.
Two horses were in the area and one ran into the grounds of the monastery when the gate was opened. I guess the grass was greener inside.
This old building had some wonderful decorative brick work so it was nice to see.

The other tours went to some archeological sites that were much further away. Marc in on one of the longer tours today. Some of the pictures of the ruins at Butrint National Park looked really interesting. The site is next to a Butrind lake and the ruins looked in wonderful shape with frescos and tile work still intact. They are still uncovering some ruins of grand Roman villas on the other side of the lake. I think in time this will become a huge tourist destination.

Not an exciting port but it is a developing area for tourism and the natural setting is great and I am sure with time things will get better here. It was fun to just visit Albania that has not been opened to tourism until fairly recently.


The Lekuresi Castle.


Debbie & Ngaire taking in the Great Views from the Castle.


The Blue Eye of Blue Eye Park. The water is coming up from an under water cave and is so swift that divers cannot explore it.


This Horse came into the Monastery Grounds when the Gate was Opened.


11th Century Monastery.


A Dragon on the side of the Monastery Wall.

More great reading with my morning coffee. How many people can say they visited Albania?

I think I'm posting for the first or maybe second time for this cruise. Busy, busy itinerary, but I am loving the cruise, as usual with any BK adventure!

First, I want to thank you all for your very good wishes for my Joanna and Mark. As Suzanne asked me, is she over the moon?! YES! They both are! When we got in the taxi today for much the same thing Ngaire and Ken did, she had already read all the posts, and it meant a lot to her that our lct family has sent so many congratulatory messages, even people she has not met! Thank you all for that! She can't be home in the U.S. with friends, so all her sharing of this occasion is by email mostly, and believe me, she and her 3 sibs and friends have been having quite a time of it! Seems one brother and sister had bets on the month the question would be popped! She, like the rest of my family are lurkers, so I just wanted to pass this along~

This has been a great cruise! A bit port intensive for me, but each port is different, and some require only getting off the ship for an hour or so, like yesterday in Korcula, a beautiful town. Of course, nothing can rival Venice, but I have to say that our taxi venture from Koper ranks way up there, much like when Ngaire, Ken, Suzanne and I went to the "white village" of Mijas on TAP. Today, you definitely had to get out of town for a positive impression. We got off the ship, and for 45 Euros (about $70) for the 3 of us, we covered in about 2.5 hours what takes 4 hours for the Regent excursion for $69 pp. No commentary, however, as the driver, as much as he tried, just did not have command of the English language. I have no idea how the coaches maneuvered those roads! Tomorrow is Taormina, one of my favorite ports!

I have to find a "Mac" person in our group. Won't be Ken, and I wish John and Kimmie were here, he could help me. Somehow, I plugged my memory card into my card reader to download to iPhoto, and thought I clicked "import" and poof! I lost all my pictures from the second day in Venice (including sailaway) after lunch through yesterday in Korcula! I even put the card back into the camera and they are gone. Hopefully, they are buried somewhere in this computer that I only use for travel. (Not that I know my PC any better)

Olivia, so sorry about your photos. Is Marcos still on board? he can help you I bet. We are all so thrilled for Joanna & Mark. I talked to Gina last night and she said to tell Joanna congratulations from her too! Have a wonderful day in Taormina, that's one of our favorites too!!

Olivia, congratulations to Joanna & Mark. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

Russ & Susan

Congrats to the newly engaged couple! :app:

Oh dear! I don't use a card reader, I plug my camera directly into my computer by USB cable and it asks me several times if I want to delete the originals (on the card) as it downloads to my Mac. Olivia, I'm not quite sure how to tell you a way to search; maybe Robert will stroll through in a little while, or Margo.

I also plug my camera in directly. I also import into Kodak Easy Share software first.

It would seem to me that the photos should be on your computer, somewhere. I'm on a PC now so can not "try" different mac scenarios but will do so when I get home tonight.

You might try taking a picture, download it to your computer and write down exactly where you are saving it to. Then go to that file and I bet all your pics are in the same file.

Will post more later and I've PM'd Masaki who is a mac power user to come look here.

FINALLY...

...a photo!!

Yes, they are both glowing :hug: .

Maybe this cruise is giving them ideas for a honeymoon! The PG as Lauri sugggested (B&K escorted group cruise?), return to Italy? The romantic Amalfi coast <img border="0" alt="[naughty]" title="" src="graemlins/naughty.gif" /> ? Venice, the scene of the crime?

Do the Aunties get any say in this??

We took the long tour to Gjirokastra today. It was a wonderful tour. We didn't see as much as promised but had an excellent guide. Lunch was also great. Albania is beautiful....but not ready for tourism.

Tonight, we had a wonderful dinner in Signatures followed by Pooch and Name that Tune. Then, everyone crashed early. I am up late getting ready for Arlene's birthday. Tomorrow (today) is Taormina which brings back great memories from VOF. Arlene and I are planning a low key birthday celebration then on to a wonderful dinner with great friends....life is good.

This cruise is ending too soon. I can't wait for retirement! As this one wraps up, we can look forward to our next cruise; whenever it may be.

Suzanne, are you mad??!! (Or maybe just having a group senior moment from spending too much time with some of us senior groupees, despite your emphatically junior status, age-wise?) Yes, indeed, for a honeymoon, the PG sounds marvelous, as does French Polynesia; but for a honeymoon, a group cruise (even such a delightful one as an escorted B&K cruise) seems a bit bizarre. The Aunties may just have to monitor the honeymoon from a (long, long) distance.

Hmm, a honeymoon cruise WITHOUT a group - priceless. For everything else, there's M/C and B&K.

Just my humble observation, of course.

Wow!!! What wonderful news...Our very best to sweet Joanna and her fiance.

Curses...foiled again! :mecry:

So Freddie, you're saying you don't think Joanna & Mark want to have all of us AND HER MOM with them on their honeymoon?? Geez, what fun will that be? :D

Joanna and Mark,

My heartiest congratulations to a beautiful and radiant couple! Long may the romance (St. Mark's Square) reign!

Hope you will keep the voyeur LCT'ers apprised of your wedding plans!

Congratulations to Joanna and Mark! Wow! We hope to get a chance to sail with Joanna again one of these days ... :D

Olivia - if you did it through iPhoto, odds are that the pictures are somewhere in your iPhoto library since it's highly unlikely that the program would have erased the photos unless they had been successfully copied. The only glitch with that is the memory card reader - if it had had some error, it is possible that it might have erased the card by accident (though pretty unlikely). If you really can't find the photos, maybe we should wait until you get back to Florida and then either Robert or I can iChat with you and take control of your screen so we can look for the photos. I'd do it now but given the bandwidth and the spotty connection onboard, it'd probably be hard to do it.

In the meantime, if you can spare the memory card that the pictures were on, you might want to reserve it and not use it for any further picture taking. One possibility is that the memory card itself is bad and it might do it again. The other possibility is that if the card remains intact, we might be able to retrieve the lost photos off the card itself if we needed to.

Freddie, as usual your comments are hysterical! :banana: :banana: :banana: I am sure all of Joanna's aunties could plan a humdinger of a celebration!

Such a wonderful cruise, such great friends! Only problem... this cruise is so port intensive there is not a lot of time for Pooch. But... we HAVE found out that Joanna's Mark is a wiz at Pooch so we have a new enthusiastic convert for the game.

Do you 'spose Joanna and Mark would agree to a honeycam? LOL!

Joanna - I am so very happy for you and Mark! I wish both you lots more romantic times, health and happiness. That's just such great news!

Now .. for that group planning cruise ..

Cheers, Anne

Joanna, Clyde and I join the rest in wishing you a boatload of happiness on future cruises! What a romantic guy--St. Marks Square. Wow!

Well just back from Taorimina - what a beautiful place. We walked around with Tom and Mona, then Frank, Tom and I went up to the roman theater - very impressive, not to mention the views. Just a wonderful place. Did a little shopping and then stopped for some lunch and of course wine and beer.

Came back and did a little packing and organizing. Now just relaxing. Don't know if there is pooch today, but probably not, although we will most likely have everyone back in time for trivia.

Tonight is the big birthday celebration for Arlene and Rod. The "athens group" will be dining together along with, so rumor has it, the Captain and Ngaire and Ken - so it should be a very festive evening.

Tomorrow Sorento, one of our favorite places.

Life is good here in paradise, not to mention the wonderful people we are cruising with - we have had so much fun and enjoyed everyone.

Well Frank just came by and said he was going to the pool bar, so guess I'd better hussle up there, time for wine!!!

Congratulations to Joanna & Mark - how romantic!

How about a wedding ceremony at sea?

Congratulations, Joanna and Mark! What happy news. George and I wish you a lifetime of happiness.

Photos From Venice, Italy:




Saint Marks Square.


the Grande Canal.






The Island of Burano.


Burano.


Burano.

We have an early tour in the morning (Pompeii) but I had to come down and post tonight before I go to bed.

Today was my 50th Birthday and thanks to all the LCT'ers and the Ship's staff I had the best birthday ever. When we were in Athens the night before the cruise began a few of us LCT'ers got together for dinner. We all met a new LCT couple, Rod and Cynthia. We discovered that night that Rod and I had the same birthday. To make a long story short, Rod decided to plan a Birthday dinner celebration for us. What a night!!! Tom and Ken and one other (nameless) person also had a birthday during the cruise so we had a lot to celebrate. We had a dinner tonight for all of the birthday people and their spouses, and two other couples. Rod did all the planning with Martin, the Dinning Room Manager. The Captain joined us for dinner also. We had specially created menus for the group, with the names of all the persons at the table, the "map" of our cruise, etc. But.... it did not stop there! They planned a special menu.... the appetizer was (according to the menu)....... "The Lobster and Crab Tantalizer heretofore to be known as the LCT" We all just busted up laughing! We also had Dover Sole, Rack of Lamb, and Steak Au Poivre. Toping it all off were Grand Marnier Souffles. Then to even top that off, Martin presented me with my birthday cake..... a Cinnamon Ice Cream Baked Alaska! Most of you know that I am a die hard Cinnamon Ice Cream fan, so you know how special that was. Rod and I had our menus signed by everyone at the table, and then Martin took them, signed them all, included an 8x10 pic of the ships staff, put them all in special folders for us and finished them off with Voyager Money Clips! Just an absolutely unbelievable night.

Then we all went out on the back deck off the HL and watched Stromboli erupt. Life just does NOT get better than this!!!!!!!

The cruise is terrific, such wonderful friends. A few new LCTers, plus friends of Joanna and Tony from Florida. The weather today was post card perfect.

Off to bed now gotta get a little sleep.

:lct: :lct: :lct:

Arlene, what a wonderful birthday celebration you and Rod had this evening. Yes, life doesn't get any better.

Happy birthday!

Nancy

Arlene...what a fantastic birthday celebration!! Now I know what I'm doing on my 50th...Ngaire, hope you're having a group cruise on September 10, 2015!!

Congratulations to Joanna and Mark! Jim and I wish you all the best.

Arlene you may have set a new standard for birthday celebrations. That sounds like a wonderful evening.

Cheers,
Mary Ellen

WOW, Arlene. What a birthday celebration. Plus, it ended with nature's fireworks. It doesn't get any better.

Ken, your Venice photos are beautiful.

Please...birthday pictures! Super celebration....Life IS good!

Sonds like a fabulous birthday Arlene! :hbday: :hbday:

Absolutely fabulous birthday dinner last night. Arlene described it so well, that I will just add how much fun it was.

Seeing stromboli was magical last night.

This morning we are anchored off Sorrento.

Getting close to the end. Every cruise has some special event or experience that makes it great.
They are really all great just always different.

A quick overview of the basics of the cruise. Nothing is perfection but overall I would give cruise an "A" for sure.

From the weather point of view this has been the most perfect weather cruise ever. Seas have been incredibly calm and the sun shining every day. It was a little warm the first week but still wonderful.

The ports have been great. The weakest port being Sarande, Albania, but that was to be expected as this country only opened up to tourism not that long ago. I found it an interesting stop. Koper, Korcula and Navplion were really great new ports.

The food. Without a doubt the best food I have had on a Regent cruise. Since my tastes are pretty simple I am not really a good judge. However, many in the group have expressed the same sentiments with regards to the food.

The staff. GREAT as usual. Martin the dining room manager who I have known for a long time has turned into the Dining Room Manager Extraordinaire. Absolutely impacted the cruise for our group in many ways making it really something special. Captain Knut has been everywhere and as usual so delightful to be around. The upper management, bar and wait staff have provided exemplary service.

People - the best. Some new people joining the LCT fold which is always such a treat. 14 days to get to know people is so much better. The 7 day cruises seem so short to me now.

Only thing I would have changed was a sea day here and there but not sure what I would want to give up for a sea day!! Ken and I are going to make the next two ports sea days. Not getting off the ship in Rome and just a short walk around Sorrento today.

On the personal side we had many hightlights. Joanna and Mark getting engaged, and all the birthday celebrations. I have always downplayed my birthday and prefer to keep it low key but this group may have "moved me to the other side". As I am sure you can guess the references on the post to the "shy" birthday girl was me. I had an incredibly good time on my birthday so decided if I am on a ship then "lets celebrate". Ken's birthday is just 3 days before my birthday so we can celebrate both birthdays at the same time.

Then there were so many special touches by Martin the Dining Room Manager. Some great new people have joined the LCT family. Stromboli last night was fantastic. So many wonderful moments we have shared with lots of laughter.

I found a new Mother, Polly to join Jean, a girl needs two adopted Mothers.

POOCH has been squeezed in where possible with some new pooch addicts joining the pound. Our team has won at trivia multiple times. Token count quite high! I will do the statistics to see who wins the POOCH tokens this afternoon after our games today.

A fantastic cruise full of memories that I will always treasure.


Stromboli Erupting Last Night Around 11:00PM Sailing to Sorrento.

Dear Shy Girl and Guy,
Happy Birthday's to you both and ah hah, now we know! :hug:

Happy Birthday to both Ken & Ngaire! The first week was wonderful and the second week is spectacular---fireworks and all. :app:

Susan

A Happy "shy" birthday to Ken and Ngaire, what a way to celebrate. Wish I could have been onboard to give you a birthday hug. This will have to do... :hug: :hug: :hug: ... to two remarkable people that I'm proud to call my friends.

Happy B'day Ngaire & Ken! Sounds like a super celebration for all b'day girls and boys! I'm so glad you are all having so much fun!

The photo of Stromboli is fantastic!